Financial and spiritual balance
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Just as the pure capitalist is removed from the actual workings of his business and becomes a bean counter serving the bottom line, this so-called merchant is no longer what he seems. Instead he stands above and divvies up the smallest amount he can get away with paying his laborers.
Well, first off, our merchant isn't paying a laborer. He's giving money to a beggar. That's an important difference, as it this beggar didn't earn anything for the merchant. This is philanthropy. Second, we have to avoid a certain economic bias when we look at any of the Pents. Yes, there have been tribes where everything was shared equally (socialist), and there have been socialist theorists before Marx. But let's face it, if we look at the most ancient civilizations (one with records of how things were done), like Ancient Egypt what do we see? A capitalist system. Oligarchies have been the name for thousands of years and 99% of the time, those in charge also own 99% of the material wealth.
That said, there is a modern misunderstanding of Feudal thought. Farmers farming the land didn't think "that noble does nothing and takes all the food I labor to bring out the ground." The Farmer thought, "I am a farmer and this is what I do. I provide the noble with food so he can do what he does" (manage the kingdom and protect the farmers). So, what we see in the 6/Pents is not Capitalism vs. Communism. It's (1) "the norm" for most of the world for most of human history (certainly the Medieval norm pictured in the RWS card), and (2) It's actually about *BALANCING* out an economic imbalance.
The Merchant isn't doling out a tiny bit to a laborer who did all the work. The Merchant is *realizing* that he has more than enough--way more than he should. He is giving away some of that to someone who has nothing and thus making them not so unequal. It's not communism, I grant you. But it is "To each according to his needs." The beggar needs that pocket money, the Merchant does not, and so he gives it to the beggar.
The Merchant, in giving to that beggar, balances out his soul. Charity is a blessing, and many religions require members of the faith engage in it as much as they require members of the faith pray, etc. It's a spiritual requirement. In lightening his pocket, the Merchant learns the spiritual joy of sharing, and helping, and doing more than just earning money. The beggar, in turn, not only gains the money he need to live, but learns that sometimes we all need some charity. And there's nothing to be ashamed of in letting yourself be helped.
That's what the card is all about--and it while it can be taken literally, it usually isn't that literal. So seeing it only as an event created by a capitalist economy (in a socialist economy there'd be no beggars, the state would take care of them), misses, I think, the point. We all need to be charitable in our lives sometimes and share out "wealth" whatever that is. And we all need to accept charity in our lives sometimes, and allow others to share their wealth with us.