Most people find it easy to say no to this question, and that
answer is probably correct for the most part. But it is also
just a way to stop thinking about the tougher issues involved.
For example, what's your relationship to money, and how do you
use this most powerful of worldly tools? Can it buy a bit of
happines maybe?
We can see that chasing after money for its own sake can be
damaging to our true values. Isn't it equally damaging, though,
to have such a powerful instrument in our hands while pretending
it has no importance? Is it important that children eat? Is it
important they have access to education? Is it important that
we have time to share the lessons of life with them? Is time
to explore our own spirituality important? Money can buy all
these things.
Money Is Important
When people say that money isn't important to them, they are
usually either lying, or they just don't see the importance.
They might make more than they need and yet complain they have
no time for their children, when they could clearly trade time
chasing money for time with their kids.
Here's a short video on the
topic of money and happiness...
People want self-improvement, but instead of buying the tools
to help them (a book, a class, a trip to a monastery) they put
$800 televisions on credit cards. Then they have to work to pay
for it all, taking even more time from their children and their
own personal development.
This isn't about televisions, which can be good things. This
is about priorities. The ways in which we make money and how
we spend money reveals ourselves. The question is, do we like
what we see? Are we using money in ways that move us towards
true values? Money IS important, isn't it?
Money affects every aspect of our lives, including the meaning
of life itself. We sometimes over-rate the value of money, and
surrender real values to chase it. We pay for money in time,
a compromising of our ethics perhaps, and in additional stress.
The price is sometimes too high.
We also under-rate the importance of money in our lives. Name
any valuable goal or direction in your life. Can't you, with
a little imagination, see how money might help?
Money and Happiness
Can money buy you happiness? No, but it can help put the right
conditions in place. Is it easier to be happy if you have food
to eat? Whether you call that buying happiness or not, the understanding
is more important than the argument. If you pursue your spirituality
in a church, you pay for that place with money, right? If you
have money, you have the power to help people, right?
It is fashionable to say that money can't buy happiness, but
it doesn't help our understanding. Earn your money in a healthy,
satisfying way, and spend it wisely, and of course you have a
better chance to be happy, and to help others be happy. Clearly,
we need a deeper understanding than is provided by a cliche about
money and being happy.
Note: Check out my new website: The
Meaning of Money (And sign up for Money Matters newsletter.)
