He highlighted the spiritual dangers of wealth, which draws us away from God and towards the things of the body. Voluntary poverty is the most powerful way of taming one’s desires, comparable to the vow of chastity undertaken in the monastic life. And if, as everyone admits, perfect chastity is better than lesser forms of sexual restraint, how can one deny that perfect poverty is best? Ownership is inextricably bound to sin. In fact, it became a feature of human life only after the fall from grace. In a state of perfected nature things would be shared by all.
