On Money and Wealth

People usually think that wealthy people are people with lots of money, and thus could buy whatever they want or need. This is a basic misconception that drives lots of people to try and earn (or "acquire") as much money as they can, because it's supposed to be their source of happiness, of comfort.

But wealth isn't just about money. Money is a resource, but an artificial one, created by man to simplify transactions between those who have and those who want. If you have an ox and I want it, instead of gathering several chickens to trade for it, which you might not want, I just pay you for the ox instead, so you could use the money to buy other things later on. But what are we looking for, really, the money, or the opportunity to fulfill our needs and wants?

People say that money is an object that we must not worship, yet day in and day out, we cry out in frustration about how much we owe, how little we earn, what jobs we couldn't get because someone else got it... in short, in spite of our acknowledgement that money is just a tool, we slave for it, we trade our services for it, we live a major part of our lives not just with it, but for it.

The question is: do we REALLY have to stay this way?

Frankly, there's no real need to worry about money, for the simple reason that it is just a tool. Scroungers -- really stingy people -- realize that there's a lot in the world that's given away for virtually no cost on their part (free tissue, catchup, etc.), and if people are willing to sacrifice comfort and ease for the more natural and *cash-free* method, there's even more out there that can be obtained without spending a coin. Planting food in the backyard is the easiest to cite as an example.

Also, for one to truly consider money as just another tool, we must change our mindset from making it the objective to making it just one of several means of obtaining our real goals. Again, you could buy food, or even grow food instead. You could earn money, or you could make money earn for itself (starting a home-based miniature business, or the like).

[ The Law of Attraction is a very good thing to keep in mind when doing this, as it would help you get more of what you actually want, rather than what you think you want. ]

Keeping this short (for now), all I can say is this: even the richest people aren't wealthy, because wealth isn't just having lots of cash, wealth is having lots of everything, which means cash, love, friendship, comfort, happiness, and peace.

[ I personally consider myself *almost* wealthy, save for the fact that I'm concerned about the welfare of my family as it stands... ]