Khrietuonyü Noudi
What talks, burns a hole in your pocket, doesn’t grow on trees and makes the world go round. Of course, it’s money. It plays such a big part in our lives. It affects nearly everything we do and influences virtually every decision we make. Money is one of life’s necessities. We just cannot survive without it. For most of us, money can be a problem…. usually because we don’t have enough of it. But there are also people who have a huge money problem not because they have not got enough money… but because they have got too much of it. Some pray for more money but some have learnt the hard way that when we feel abundantly blessed with money, we are often in the most spiritually dangerous stage of our life.
Ever since the barter system ended, money has come to dominate the human mind like no other phenomenon. Perhaps the human mind was not so besmirched when we were still in the age of barter system because during that era, things around us were not measured or weighed in terms of money. But the barter system had its own limitations, shortcomings, hassles and constraints due to which something had to be finally invented which could be used as a medium of exchange and a common measure of value. Thus, against this backdrop, money made its entry and made our lives much more hassle-free and easy because we now have a common measure of value and a medium of exchange. Besides, money has no physical weight and can be easily carried everywhere a person may go. And in this way, money grasped its permanent hold in the polity, society, mind and psyche of man never to let it go again.
Many philosophers and teachers down the ages have taught about the evil effects of money. Almost all religion preaches about the danger of blind greed for money and the disastrous impact it could have on one’s life, one’s family and society. Perhaps, this was why it was said, “money is the root cause of all evil” and many have probably taken this to mean that one should not own or possess money or that money is evil or that having lots of money is a sign of man’s decay or fall from grace or separation from God. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Money is one of the most fundamental dynamics of man and his society today and the truth is that money is indispensable for human society. And this is why it is crucial to develop a right perspective towards this fundamental aspect of our life.
Firstly, it is okay to have money as long as money does not have you. Yes, there is a big difference between a person owning money and money owning a person. When a person owns money, it means that he has control over his money and knows to what extent he should pursue, utilize and value money. And such a person, whether he is rich or poor in money, has still not lost his identity, character and integrity. But a person being owned by money has an altogether different perspective. Such a person is someone who thinks that money is all that there is in this world. He measures everything in terms of money. He does everything for money and for him a person without money has no value and he is blind to the fact that there are other things much more significant, powerful and greater than the pursuit of money.
Another positive aspect of money could be that money can serve as a great motivating force. Life is precious and we live only once and as such this life should be lived with full of vigor, enthusiasm and passion. And the desire to have more money can stimulate people to work harder, to live with passion and enthusiasm. And in many ways, living with a purpose, passion or enthusiasm for something is certainly better than living without any hope, expectancy or passion because such a life will not be able to inspire or touch anybody. So in this case, money provides a very positive ground because it motivates many to work harder, to sacrifice, to go the extra mile and to work with passion and enthusiasm.
But money becomes bad when a person is so consumed by the thought and desire to have more money that he becomes literally blind even to the feelings and sentiments of others. One of the core issues here is that the lust for money is a never-ending cycle. A person may start with the desire to make a thousand dollars but once he has the thousand dollars, he will never settle down satisfied and he would start dreaming about making a little bit more. So in the pursuit of money, the “just a little bit more” syndrome will keep him occupied throughout a journey that may end only with the person six feet under the ground.
There is also a saying that, “only when all the trees are cut down and the waters run dry that man will realize that he cannot eat money”. This saying would mean that we should always remember that money in itself is just a medium of exchange and a measure of value. We tend to think that as long as we have money, we are okay and will be able to live out our lives to its full purpose. But is that really so?
There is also a big difference between ‘working for money’ and ‘letting money work for you’. Majority work because they want to earn and have more money. This is working for money. But letting money work for you has a different connotation. Letting money work for you means you are willing to part with your money for noble purposes. It means that you are more inclined to making a difference with your money rather than just earning and keeping it for yourself. So, in a sense, letting money work for you has a wider and nobler connotation because it means you are more interested in the outcome rather than the income.
There is also the saying, “if a person thinks only about money, then money is all that he will ever have”. Living a life consumed with only having or making more money will ultimately be like living a life pursuing some mere pieces of paper that have no eternal value. It may make the person feel good and gratified during his lifetime but his legacy may not be worth even a penny.
Then there is the issue of hoarding. Man is by nature selfish and it is not surprising that he wants to have everything for himself including money. Hoarding is prevalent in every society and this results in wide disparity in the living conditions of people. And this is the reason why thinkers like Karl Marx had advocated for a socialist society where there is proportionate distribution of resources. Though such ideas may have its own merits, it is also true that people will lose the desire to work harder and earn more if they know that ultimately what they earn with their sweat and labor is not going to be solely theirs. A society will prosper only when its people are passionate and committed to the work they do and are willing to do even extra and go the extra mile. And such a scenario is much more possible in a capitalist society where the people who work harder will end up with more and the people who work less will get lesser.
Here, it would also be worthwhile to make a distinction between an owner and a steward. A person who thinks that he is the owner may not feel like sharing something which he thinks he owns. But when a person thinks he is not the owner but just a steward, he may not mind sharing it. So, when a person believes that everything belongs to God and God is the ultimate owner of everything and considers himself just as a steward of God’s property, he may be more willing to let go of his money. But the problem is that majority considers themselves as owners and not stewards.
The ultimate footnote to end this discourse would be to remember that “money was made for man and not man for money”. Trying to hold on tightly to money will be like trying to grasp dry sands. The more tightly one grasps, the more the sands will slip away through the fingers. Though human nature is such that we do not wish to let go of things that are in our possession, let us remember “sometimes we may hold on to everything but still lose everything…and sometimes we may give away everything but still be left with plenty for ourselves.”
