A World With Trillionaires
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.” — Proverbs 30:8–9
Elon Musk is expected to become the world’s first trillionaire.1
It’s hard to even imagine that amount. A million dollars is already a huge sum. A billion is almost beyond belief. But a trillion is on a whole different level. At that point, wealth isn’t about comfort or security. It’s about power.
But here’s the thing: wealth this size isn’t accumulation. It’s siphoning. It’s not that Musk will have a trillion dollars. It’s that a trillion dollars has been pulled from somewhere else. While people talk about the world’s first trillionaire, House Speaker Mike Johnson is considering cuts to Social Security and other programs, saying the government needs to fight fraud and save money.2 Millions of older Americans rely on these programs to get by. Food banks are seeing more people in need. Housing is still too expensive for many families. And many communities are still trying to recover from disasters like floods, fires, and storms.
I find myself wondering what kind of society can hold all of these realities at the same time.
The question is not really about Elon Musk’s net worth. In fact, the grammar of “net worth” is a lie. There is no “worth” that is net. There is only taken and left behind.
The question is: have we come to accept this as normal?
We often talk about wealth as if it comes from individual talent, innovation, or hard work alone. Of course, talent is important. So are effort and vision. But no fortune exists apart from relationship.
Every company needs workers. Every industry relies on public infrastructure. Every market depends on things like laws, courts, schools, roads, utilities, natural resources, and the knowledge built up over generations. Wealth is always social before it becomes personal.
Musk isn’t an aberration. He’s a symptom made flesh, the logical endpoint of a system that treats extraction as genius, that calls hoarding “innovation,” that lets one person’s IPO feel like a national event while USAID’s dismantling gets a paragraph.
At what point does accumulation cease to serve human flourishing and begin serving itself?
The ancient Israelites in the Book of Exodus wrestled with a version of this question in the wilderness. Each morning they gathered manna from the ground. The instruction was simple: take what you need.
This story stands out because it challenges a basic belief many of us have. We often think security means having more than we need. But the manna story suggests real security comes from trust, community, and believing that everyone should have enough.
The text says, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” That is a long way from the world we live in now.
In the fourth century, Basil of Caesarea looked out at the vast inequalities of the Roman Empire and wrote, “The bread that you keep belongs to the hungry.” Basil saw that wealth isn’t just about what you own. It’s also about what you owe to others. Every extra bit of wealth brings up questions about responsibility.
That’s why Jesus talked so much about money. He knew that wealth shows what we really believe about the world. It shows our fears, our loyalties, what we think about scarcity, and what we believe makes life meaningful.
A trillionaire is not simply an economic phenomenon. It is a cultural and spiritual one. It shows what we choose to reward. It shows what we’re willing to accept. It also reveals the stories we tell ourselves about success, value, and what makes people matter.
The question facing us: do we still have the moral imagination to ask if anyone should ever have that much?
What are your thoughts?
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
When you hear that someone may soon possess a trillion dollars, what emotions arise in you?
How has our culture shaped your understanding of success, wealth, and what constitutes “enough”?
Where in your own life are you being invited to practice sufficiency rather than accumulation?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For a World That Has Forgotten Enough
God of manna, We confess that we have built a world that is hungry in all the wrong places. We gather more and more, yet remain afraid. We accumulate wealth, yet struggle to share. We celebrate excess while children go without. We call it success when fortunes grow beyond imagination, and wisdom when markets expand, even as loneliness deepens and communities fray. Teach us again the holiness of enough. Enough bread for every table. Enough shelter for every family. Enough dignity for every person. Enough belonging that no one must prove their worth. Break the spell of endless more. Free us from the fear that drives us to hoard and the stories that tell us abundance belongs only to a few. Help us remember that we belong to one another. And help us build a world where no one is forgotten and no one is left behind. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Counting What Is Enough
Today, choose one ordinary part of your life. It might be your closet, your pantry, your schedule, your savings account, your calendar, or even your ambitions. Spend a few moments looking at it honestly.
Then reflect on the question: What would enough look like here?
Do not ask what would make you successful. Do not ask what would impress other people. Ask what would be sufficient for a good and meaningful life. Sit with the discomfort if it comes.
Many of us have spent years inside a culture that teaches us to measure life through accumulation. Our spiritual traditions offer a different measure. They invite us to consider whether contentment, generosity, and right relationship might be more reliable guides.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
TODAY!!!! June 11, 18, 24, 2026, 12:30pm ET - I will be joining Jackie Sussman on The Commons for a three-part series on practicing eidetics as a part of our “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination” series. Jackie, a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During these sessions, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
June 16, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are starting our next book, The Glorians by Terry Tempest Williams. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
June 15, 2026, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
June 16, 2026, 12pm ET - My friends at the Franciscan Federation are launching a new online community called “The Piazza.” This is a place for all Franciscan-hearted people to gather, connect with one another and build community together. They are launching the community on June 16. I hope you can be a part of their launch event. I will be there, for sure!
June 20, 2026 – ONLINE EVENT – Margaret Wheatley and Mary Daniels will lead a special three-hour online gathering titled Fierce Compassion: The Power of the Sacred Feminine. In a time marked by fragmentation, fear, and exhaustion, this program explores compassion not as passive kindness, but as a courageous force that protects life, tells the truth, and remains deeply rooted in love. Drawing from spiritual traditions, contemplative practice, and the imagery of fierce feminine wisdom figures such as Kali and Durga, they will reflect on what it means to stay human and spiritually grounded in difficult times. LEARN MORE + REGISTER.
JULY 12, 2026, 8AM–8PM ET in NYC - My friend Monika Son is helping lead a powerful Buddhist-led, interfaith pilgrimage across New York City titled “Day of Remembering Our Interdependence.” Inspired by the Buddhist monks’ 2,300-mile Walk for Peace and grounded in the wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, participants will gather for walking meditation, prayer, chanting, ceremony, and collective reflection across all five boroughs, including stops at the African Burial Ground and the Metropolitan Detention Center where ICE detainees are being held. The day will culminate in a joyful community gathering in Queens with music, poetry, movement, and food. Participants are welcome to join for the full pilgrimage or any portion of the day. LEARN MORE HERE.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/09/elon-musk-trillionaire-oligarchy
www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-explains-social-security-fraud-comments-blasts-fearmongering-12047490
This - as with all your posts Rev T - is so thought provoking. I think your last sentence, asking whether we still have the 'moral imagination', has really made an impression. 'Imagination' requires us to want to see where our thoughts and feelings go... to take the thinking further. Imagination sounds easy, but it's effortful when the subject matter is troubling. I think this is, maybe, the heart of the problem. Imagining what might be or what could be, or should be doesn't feel pleasant or easy, so we avoid it. And the work that needs to be done is individual as well as collective... we need to engage that moral imagination, I think.
Thank you