Prosperity cannot teach certain things.
When a man is financially secure, useful to others and socially relevant, people gather. Friends, relatives, business associates, admirers and people who simply like being near success all appear close, and from where he stands there is no way to tell them apart. Prosperity hides the real structure of his relationships, much as a calm sea hides the reef.
Then circumstances reverse. Money weakens, influence declines, and a difficulty he expected to last months stretches into years. He can no longer offer what he once offered. Slowly, another world shows itself.