Spirituality and material wealth; some thoughts

Many, if not most, of the religions of the world suggest that you need to be poor in order to be “saved”; or that some how, being deprived and poor materially is the way to heaven.
To some extent the definition of religion is going to get involved in any consideration of this suggestion.
Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs codified and administered by an elite group, with rules and punishments for acting against those beliefs. For this article I will use that definition and so religion is not necessary to spirituality.
In the period of time that we live in a person’s material wealth, the financial resources they have control over, is what allows a choice of actions. A rich human may act as though they were poor but a poor person can not act as if they are rich, not for very long anyway. So wealth is necessary for activity that raises spiritual awareness. The internet and web allows the dissemination of ideas at a far lower cost than other mediums, but you still have to have access to a computer, telephone system etc and to get your ideas noticed amongst the tens of millions of other ideas, you need publicity. This can be expensive unless you are very lucky.
An individual my be spiritually enlightened and they may have inspired thoughts that can benefit others, but they have to communicate with those others. Thought forms created by an enlightened individual may be available for others, who are homogenous, to connect to but this reaches only those already homogenous; it does not reach those seeking enlightenment. So material, physical communication is required. This costs money.
In past eras of human existence things moved slower and there were less people and fewer ideas seeking attention. A written statement or later in human development a printed book, could circulate amongst people and over time reach many of those with the willingness to take on the ideas. Now this may still be possible but the explosion in human population and the willingness of organised groups who oppose the ideas being circulated, to disseminate misleading and counter ideas, have made this slow way unsuitable to the times we live in.
This may or may not be a good thing; it is simply a fact of the times we live in.
History is full of examples where rich and powerful people gave patronage to relatively poor people who had talent as artists or ideas that needed expression. In those far off times the rich and powerful acted with a concept of time where generations of descendents were involved not the next years balance sheet. So time has moved on and spirituality has to move with it. The wonderful teachings of Lao Tzu were for his time. They still have relevance to how we should conduct our inner selves, how we should conduct our spiritual, emotional and mental beings, but we can not live our physical lives at the pace of a slow walk when all around us the world moves at the speed of electrons.
This does not mean I am advocating we give up the slow walk and all rush about without contemplation. It does not mean we should tear up all things regarded as traditional and seek only the new and untested. To me tradition is something that has evolved over time, something that has been developed and adjusted through countless repetitions in order to reach what it is now. The mistake is to think traditions are NOW fixed and so can not further evolve but can only be destroyed. Traditions like ideas and like the earth we live on, are always evolving, always changing always developing, we must evolve with it and our attitudes to spirituality and wealth need to change with the times.
A person with wealth can be spiritual. Spiritual enlightenment does not demand poverty, nor does it demand a controlling elite. It is not a set of rules that have to be enforced. Spiritual enlightenment is freedom; it requires recognition that there are many varied paths to enlightenment and many speeds of progress. No human person can say they know what God wants others to do. God is beyond human understanding, accept that and set yourself free to seek enlightenment by the path most suitable to you. For myself I find that in this period of my life, stillness and silence, mediation with out thought, help me to find com