The Insignificance of Money
by Guest Contributor Taylor Carr
Creativity is the ability to develop something new by throwing away past ideas or concepts. So to start, we first must reach into the depths of the seemingly impossible. We need to go beyond the innovative ways of making money and somehow transform the economic system altogether. As the philosopher Alan Watts says in his book Does It Matter, “money is a way of measuring wealth but is not wealth in itself”.
Our society is a victim of temptation and the more stuff that accumulates around us the more cluttered our minds become. Fortunately, these things and possessions have no feel. At most they are a temporary lust that fills an empty void. We have to move towards a system that caters to our most basic needs; food, shelter, mental/physical services and art in all of its forms. This also requires a society that promotes our growth toward becoming higher beings.
Herman Daly, an ecological economist, states that more growth in terms of physical product is not the answer. Daly says “this only compels people to work harder in order to be able to afford the unending stream of ‘new’ goods being supplied by the system”. Daly expresses that “marginal costs of additional growth in rich countries, such as global warming, biodiversity loss and roadways choked with cars, now likely exceed marginal benefits of a little extra consumption”.
The human being is considered a very advanced species, maybe because we hold the only opinion on the topic, but I would argue that our steps are minimal and all over the map. This is directly related to our lack of trust in one another and in the universe. We steal each others money and point fingers while putting all of our confidence in this ‘virtual’ wealth. Yet, there is no depth here. There is nothing pure or hopeful about it.
We have built and expanded our world from side to side and from top to bottom because we have no concept of the actual space that surrounds us, this infinite magic that is energy. If our goal can be to inherently help and improve one another we will reach a greater fulfillment and our society with naturally change to fit our mold.
We can no longer make physical products that are intended to break and fail for the sake of doing business. The number one reason being the environment and the second being the empty and disheartening experience we tolerate when deceiving one another. People in this period of time have no idea what they are really working for. We have created a continuous competition among ourselves while disregarding the beauty and health of a natural phenomenon that is our home.
Human beings never really appreciate something until it is gone. This is how we have evolved, to always have more, but we cannot buy back the lakes and trees once they disappear. We desperately need to connect and when we do I guarantee we will witness something amazing. This economic downfall is an opportunity for us to realize the insignificance of money. This may be a naïve way of thinking due to the current system we find ourselves in and I know people are suffering but we cannot look for a quick fix. We need to put our minds together, tap into the collective consciousness and build something new, something seemingly impossible from our current view.
7 Comments
1 amber foote wrote:
“This economic downfall is an opportunity for us to realize the insignificance of money”
I couldnt agree with you more Taylor. Great piece, keep up the writing!
[Reply]
2 adil wrote:
Taylor, really well written piece. The thing with creative pieces like this is they have me saying “yes!’ as I read along but then at the end I’m left asking “well, how?”
How exactly, could we turn ourselves of from the thing that makes the world go round? Its a sobering question to ask and I don’t know the right answer(s) but I do think it starts with a movement in the mind and pieces like this are part of the baby steps we take to enact that ultimate paradigm change.
[Reply]
taylor Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I thought love makes the world go round?….:) But I agree, it is progress within our minds first that will ultimately ooze off into everything else. Many things in human history have appeared to be impossible because at the time our mind cannot comprehend a solution but this is not the job of the mind it is the job of the heart and soul.
[Reply]
3 biggie wrote:
Mo Money, Mo problems
[Reply]
4 ayla wrote:
Wow.
“We steal each others money and point fingers while putting all of our confidence in this ‘virtual’ wealth. Yet, there is no depth here. There is nothing pure or hopeful about it.”
I feel SO rich all the sudden. As though, all of this time going to University and spending money (not making it) has been beyond all measure worth it because I am rich in every way possible other than the paper way.
Thanks for an inspiring post, Taylor!
[Reply]
anon Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Agreed, I like this piece alot.
[Reply]
5 Gustav wrote:
This was a really interesting piece. I don’t know if I agree with the idea that we have to totally throw out new ideas to develop new ones but perhaps if thats what people need to think outside the box, then it makes more sense.
I think you guys originally had this under a different title which wasn’t that compelling, good thing you changed it!
[Reply]
6 taylor wrote:
Thanks for the lovely comments guys
I didn’t expect to get such a positive response, WE are already changing human consciousness
[Reply]
7 michael wrote:
I really empathize with what you are saying. i came across your article researching Alan Watts’ essay ‘Wealth Versus Money” – I’m writing an article about it for my blog. I think there are are things that essay says that need to be more widely communicated.
We seem to have lost sight of what all this working, buying and selling is for. I think pieces like yours and as much dialogue about it as we can is one of the ways that change can happen.
[Reply]