Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above' and is therefore not meant to benefit any one person. In consonance with this, Annie Besant urged all who receive education to return it in service, and all 'owners' of wealth to hold it as a trust for the common good.
Altruism is the supreme characteristic of a true Theosophist.
Even though the odds may seem unfavorable in the present day, it is necessary for an increasing number of people to learn to become altruists by conviction. Then their very existence will help to change the mental atmosphere of the world and the state of human society. The gap between the small minority of fantastically rich 'digital billionaires' and the extremely poor continues to widen. The rich are able to increase their fortunes without any labor simply by operating their computers, while the poor, bearing incredibly hard burdens, cannot even dream of ordinary education, let alone of entering the information age. Let us hope not until social order has been transformed, lest they should only give more to those who have, and leave the wretched still wretcheder by force of contrast.