A friend of mine asked me a very interesting and important question just the other day. Her question was: "Doc, don't you think that having a lot of money will certainly make a person happy"? In reply I told her to read this Blog today as I would make Money and Happiness the focus of my discussion today.
So here we go!
Permit me at the start to concede that any discussion involving the twin complexities of Money and Happiness is bound to be huge and seriously multi-dimensional. As such I will only touch on what I believe to be some essential aspects of this issue and return to it at a later date.
The Chinese (specifically Cantonese) have a saying: Moh Ching, moh meng. It simply means: No money, no life.
Our Cantonese friends are quite right in the sense that money is essential in the world in which we live. We basically need it to survive. The lack of money can be dehumanising. To live a life of being constantly under siege from creditors, landlords, friends and relatives we owe money to etc. - is a nightmare come to life indeed. And living under such distressing conditions simply destroys the peace of mind that is essential in the pursuit and attainment of Happiness.
Unable to afford the bare necessities of life or even a few token luxuries for our dependants or loved ones is not a pleasing existence at all. Many of us even know of loving relationships, Happy partnerships and even strong marriages that have irretrievably collapsed because of lack of money issues.
To have money or to be comfortable in financial terms not only makes us free from want but also has the positive effect of giving us options in life.
However, having a lot of money can never fully equate or guarantee Happiness. In fact some of the wealthiest people whom we know of or have read about are in many instances also some of the saddest and loneliest.
It may not be for all of us to seek fabulous wealth.
But it is for all of us to aim for being free from the dehumanising problems that the acute lack of money brings to our doorsteps and into our lives.
In may parts of the world, for example, the horrors associated with absence of money is mind boggling in an extremely disturbing sense. Life for billions of people on this Planet is a living hell because of gut-wrenching, unhappy poverty.
In such situations money or access to money can indeed bring with it a whole heap of Happiness in its wake and that certainly is a very good thing.
Too many crimes, however, are also committed in situations of relentless greed in the pursuit of money. Too much heartlessness and destructiveness is employed in the excessive craving for money.
At the level of Nation States - the vast Catalogues of Horrific Historical Crimes that have been committed against vast segments and sections of Humanity by the 'Powers-that-be' in their single-minded pursuit of money and power are already well-documented enough for us to know about.
Truly for many of us, a good portion of our daily existence is necessarily devoted to the pursuit of money. This is simply the case in order for us to survive. However if most people are able to do this in a manner that does not infringe or trample upon the rights or Happiness of others then maybe we can begin to emerge from the mayhem that money issues always seem to bring about.
Thus we applaud the pursuit of money so as to be free from want but can never endorse the excessive craving for money as the main component or true path to Happiness.
I will leave you with this today and be back soon for more discussions on Happiness:
True Happiness must necessarily come from within ourselves and that is what we are seeking here and that is what we will achieve!
I shall return.
I wish us all Happiness Everlasting!
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