Bahá'ís believe that although social laws may be needed for the regulation of wealth, our worldwide economic problems are essentially spiritual in origin. At the core of Bahá'í thinking on economic problems lies the concept of trusteeship. Bahá'u'lláh writes in the Hidden Words:
O Ye Rich Ones On Earth!
The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease.[7]
The same principle of trusteeship may be found in Gandhi's writings:
We invite the capitalist to regard himself as a trustee for those on whom he depends for the making, the retention, and the increase of his capital.[8]
Those who own money now are asked to behave like the trustees holding their riches on behalf of the poor. You may say that trusteeship is a legal fiction. But, if people meditate over it constantly and try to act up to it, then life on earth would be governed far more by love than it is at present. Absolute trusteeship is an abstraction like Euclid's definition of a point, and is equally unattainable. But if we strive for it, we shall be able to go further in realizing a state of equality on earth than by any other method.[9]
The next few pages explore key facets of this important principle, as described in the writings of Gandhi and of the Bahá'í Faith.