The poverty referred to here is not indigence, the lack of basic needs for a decent life. It is to our shame that we allow this to exist by preventing the planet’s resources to be distributed evenly. The Spiritual Poverty represented here is a state of complete selflessness, having no desires for oneself and so being entirely in the service of the whole. This doesn’t even mean living in poverty (unless by choice), but one certainly finds oneself keeping only what is needed as the desire to own things vanishes entirely.
Poverty of the Heart فقر
“Last night my teacher taught me the lesson of Poverty:
Having nothing and wanting nothing.”
— Rumi
Watercolor, ink, metal leaf on Cotman paper 300gsm. 50x50 cm.