Buying a Stairway to Heaven

2012-04-23T02:00:00.002-07:00

Religion (spirituality) and materialism in one song, I am not certain of what is "the song's" exact message; what is clear to me is that in this musical piece, the power of money and the importance of godliness was stressed. In this song by the very famous rock group of the 70’s,Led Zeppelin, the word money was not mentioned; but it’s the vital element in the lyrics of this immortal song. In its powerful closing verse, the word buying that subtlety contradicts and intrigues the word heaven is very much associated with money. Gold was mentioned, but nowadays, we don't use gold to buy things, we use money.

Heaven is closely related to life after death and to God, who is the King of heaven. That is why; buying heaven is actually buying God; for no one can enter that abode without the knowledge and sanction of its King who is God. But can we buy the self contained God, who is called love, which no money can buy? The writer is somewhat cautious when he decided to write about buying the stairway to heaven rather than directly buying the heaven itself. One of art’s subtlety, buying the stairway is actually buying the heaven itself; for what is the point of having a stairway that leads to nowhere?

There is a saying, "Money is the root of all evil." Some people pointed out that the root of all evil is actually the "love for money". But I think that that is a false notion. Love is eternal and divine, and money is neither good nor bad. Love is love, it can never be evil. But when love is in contact with the temporary and material, when love was misused by focusing it on dead matter, it turned into lust, which is oftentimes mistook as love, the real root of all evil. And evil is not just lust for money, for lust has many forms.

Money, unlike the person who owns them, is actually neutral; it is not good nor bad or evil. But power corrupts, and money is the source of power that corrupts. Indeed, it will be very hard for a "rich person" to enter the heavenly kingdom, particularly if that rich person is so engrossed or in lust with his wealth. However, there is a question of what is a rich person really is, because money, if used correctly, can actually buy everything including heaven. Money if used in the name of love can buy love. And in the song "Stairway to Heaven" a wealthy woman's priority is not her money, and she was only using it to buy a stairway, which will lead her to Heaven.