We just read a newspaper article about some beauty institutes that offer body and face packs of gold and pearl so that people can shine sublimely.

You are wrapped with this exquisitely expensive material to boost your energy. And what have you not…

One of the institutes goes as far as to say that it can meet the “aesthetic and spiritual needs” of today’s men and women.

Spiritual needs? How on Earth can they cover them when they do not know what they are?

You can only know your spiritual needs when you have a sober look at today’s world and your role in it. And when you make a – small – contribution toward reducing the grave injustice between the rich and poor countries.

To wrap yourself in a layer of gold or pearl powder has absolutely nothing to do with your spiritual needs. Think of the famous spiritual leaders. They did not bathe in gold.

Such extravagance – we and many with us consider it disgusting extravagance – again confirms that some people on this planet “drown in shiny gold and others in dirty mud” (see “Lea’s dream“).

Those who can afford this kind of extravagancies, often have an offshore company in a fiscal paradise where to hide their riches. One might wonder how they obtained these riches.

These offshore guys usually do not pay the taxes they should in their home countries. Yet they take advantage of the infrastructure and facilities available there thanks to the taxes ordinary citizens and companies do pay.

The latter pay too much tax, because the offshore guys pay none or too little.

That is unfair and dishonest. Untenable in the long run. It leads to discontent, tension, conflict and worse.

Honesty (boosting it through global measures like prohibiting or controlling fiscal paradises and other fraud facilitating instruments) would make a large contribution towards a more just and stable world.

The extra means made available, could be used to improve education for all, a solid basis for a better world.