Why do people use so much of their energy to pursue money? It comes down to peace of mind. We think that if we just had enough money, we could buy our way out of whatever problems came up, and we'd live happily ever after.
In other words, people want security. That might mean the security of having a house and food. Or it could even mean the "security" of being able to travel deep into exotic lands or go skydiving or cliff-climbing. Regardless of the lifestyle, the reason people want money is security.
Security is an illusion. No matter how much money I have, it could all lose its value because of economic/international/military affairs completely outside my control. No matter how much money I have, I could get hit by a car and killed today. Anyway, I'll die eventually, and won't be able to take any money with me.
The Solution to the Money Game is to accept and embrace insecurity as part of life. Know that everything can change, and everything will change. Your own lifestyle will change, and you can't fight it, so just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. You can't find security in any lifestyle or job or house or political ideology or religion. You can find security in insecurity itself: insecurity is one thing which is totally, absolutely secure, and which will never stop.
To end on a more practical note, what is money anyway? By itself it's worthless. It's only worth anything because of a social contract. When I have money, it's supposed to indicate that for some reason I (or my ancestors or my business) provided some kind of service to society and that I "deserve" a certain amount of service in return. Rather than seeking money, I'll seek to provide valuable service, valuable enough that people are willing to give service in return. If I should succeed in this mission, I'll be about as close to security as possible, and it won't depend on any particular currency or stock market success or land value or government or physical trinket.
(This article is shorter than most articles I write. That's because I'm writing shorter, less fleshed-out articles lately to try and explore and defeat perfectionism in myself.)
Here are some other articles I've written, in an attempt to provide a valuable service to you.
The Relationship Between Happiness And Material Success
Life Is A Game
Is Society Biased Against Smart People?
What Is Karma? Is There Really Any Karmic Justice?
In other words, people want security. That might mean the security of having a house and food. Or it could even mean the "security" of being able to travel deep into exotic lands or go skydiving or cliff-climbing. Regardless of the lifestyle, the reason people want money is security.
Security is an illusion. No matter how much money I have, it could all lose its value because of economic/international/military affairs completely outside my control. No matter how much money I have, I could get hit by a car and killed today. Anyway, I'll die eventually, and won't be able to take any money with me.
The Solution to the Money Game is to accept and embrace insecurity as part of life. Know that everything can change, and everything will change. Your own lifestyle will change, and you can't fight it, so just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. You can't find security in any lifestyle or job or house or political ideology or religion. You can find security in insecurity itself: insecurity is one thing which is totally, absolutely secure, and which will never stop.
To end on a more practical note, what is money anyway? By itself it's worthless. It's only worth anything because of a social contract. When I have money, it's supposed to indicate that for some reason I (or my ancestors or my business) provided some kind of service to society and that I "deserve" a certain amount of service in return. Rather than seeking money, I'll seek to provide valuable service, valuable enough that people are willing to give service in return. If I should succeed in this mission, I'll be about as close to security as possible, and it won't depend on any particular currency or stock market success or land value or government or physical trinket.
(This article is shorter than most articles I write. That's because I'm writing shorter, less fleshed-out articles lately to try and explore and defeat perfectionism in myself.)
Here are some other articles I've written, in an attempt to provide a valuable service to you.
The Relationship Between Happiness And Material Success
Life Is A Game
Is Society Biased Against Smart People?
What Is Karma? Is There Really Any Karmic Justice?
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