I've mentioned that The Richest Man in Babylon is a bit of an odd book for me. After all, I'm a religious man and Babylon is not exactly highly looked upon by Christ. On the other hand, when you look at the history of Babylon you can see why it would come to symbolize worldliness, and why someone seeking to become financially independent might want to learn from the "lessons" of Babylon. The final portion of the book gives yet another repetition of the principles, this time is a slightly different fashion: now it's about paying off debt. Here's the plan:
1) Pay yourself 10% for savings (and invest it wisely when appropriate).
2) Live off of 70% or less of your total income. This may require serious changes to your budget.
3) Pay your debtors out of the remaining 20%.
Again, these are good principles, and hopefully you're in a position where you can make such a plan work -- or even better, hopefully your not so far in debt that you need to use 20% of your income to pay that down! (Don't we all wish that was the case?) If you don't feel that you can implement "The Plan", then make the changes necessary, whether that be moving to a smaller place, taking a second job, or something else. I do get a chuckle out of the final sentence in the book, which I want to quote as well:
"The eons of time have crumbled to dust the proud walls of its temples, but the wisdom of Babylon endureth."
The above statement is a wonderful contrast to one of the talks I listened to while painting my office this morning (more on that in a separate post). Elder Cook's talk, Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness, is much more in line with what I think of when it comes to wisdom that endures. It's not the money I earn or the words I write that will be around in another 100 years (though potentially these words will still be around long after I'm gone -- not that I expect many to read them). About the only things I can truly leave behind are my legacy and my posterity, and hopefully both of those will be things that will make the world a better place. Here's a few good quotes to ponder:
"What are the sources of peace? Many search for peace in worldly ways, which never have and never will succeed. Peace is not found by attaining great wealth, power, or prominence. Peace is not found in the pursuit of pleasure, entertainment, or leisure. None of these can, even when attained in abundance, create any lasting happiness or peace.... Peace is not just safety or lack of war, violence, conflict, and contention. Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are and knows that we have faith in Him, love Him, and keep His commandments, even and especially amid life’s devastating trials and tragedies."
I admit that I arranged the above quotes slightly differently from where they appear in the talk, and as always I commend the whole talk to anyone that reads this. It's not that we should avoid wealth, power, or prominence in life; in fact, being "provident providers" for our families is a topic we have heard many times from the pulpit over the years. However, we should make sure we first seek God's will, and then if we seek these other things it will be for the intent to do good.
Have a great day, and may peace be with you all!
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