I often feel torn between the two boats I sail. As oarsman of the economy-business-wealth boat, my advice to readers is to maximise — pursue economic reforms so companies can create wealth that PLUs can partake of and benefit from the growth momentum of the world’s second-fastest growing economy. But as oarsman of the religion-spiritual boat, I find myself questioning my advice — of what use is wealth, do we really aspire to be in the wealthiest grave? Because they comprise two ends of incomplete ideas rationality and morality, I appear to be caught in a contradiction — as the two boats pull in different directions, I wonder about the hungry sharks waiting in the waters below.

The logical explanation for both ideas stand strong, but restricted. One says that you should work hard when you’re young, accumulate as much money as possible, deploy it reasonably and enjoy it when you retired; the other wonders whether the quest for enough will ever end, whether it’s all part of a great dream, maya, that the creator has woven us into, and out of which we must step out for salvation.

If the objective of wealth creation is to enjoy a comfortable life, 60-plus, is that any good? With all the healthcare that money can buy, will I be able to climb mountains, swim seas? At the same time, without wealth we may not even have a house to live in — prices have already taken housing away from most of us — so, it’s best to pursue wealth, accumulate it while we can and reach somewhere.

Perhaps the error lies, as I mentioned earlier, in the incompleteness of the two ideas. While morality is something best kept at two arms’ length, reason needs to be enriched with something beyond facts. It is only when the logic of wealth accumulation is put under the blue light of the spirit that we get answers to these tricky questions. For instance, what will I do when I have all the money I need and want? Is that the end of life as I see it? Will it mean the end of growth, the end of expression, learning, experiencing? Will something that’s a means become the end? And finally, just what will that end deliver — a wealthy death?