Is financial wealth the apex of our lives?
We all know the answer to this. It’s not like no one has ever told us that money isn’t everything in the world, or money can’t buy happiness. I’m sure we’ve all heard some money-isn’t everything quote at some point in our lives.
But the thing is do we buy it? Are we really buying into that philosophy? Are we so certain that money is or is not everything for us in the world? I’m convinced otherwise. In a way, it is a twisted paradox. On one hand, we criticize people who make excessive money, people who have an avarice for money. We condemn such people, judging them as having no values in life, and criticizing their glutton behavior for monetary cravings. But on the other hand, we measure a success of a man by the land area of his house, by the size of his car, by the position he holds in the company. We applaud and admirably look upon people who have made it to the top.
Is financial wealth our life’s apex? Granted that money IS required to survive, and if we think that life is about mostly surviving this cold, harsh world, than it’s obvious isn’t it, that money is about surviving through this lifetime.
I find it really disheartening to think of life as just merely surviving. Perhaps at some point in our lives, driven by external circumstances we were/are forced to survive in order to get by. But having said that, to think of life as just merely surviving through money is just despicable. And I’m not talking about the under provished, or the poor. Not everyone in society can get equal pie of the share, that’s just a given fact and that is for another entry and time.
Controlled by the World
But most of us have jobs, many of us have good stable careers. Most of us are intelligent. Yet somehow, despite all these blessings, we still want more. A bigger house, a higher salary, a faster car etc. We think the world is getting too expensive so we need to this and that. It’s as though sometimes I feel the world is tells us how to live our lives. And to a certain extent they do, but that doesn’t mean the world should cloud and pervert your happiness and your desires, because let me tell you this, even in good and bad times, you will still feel dissapointed with yourself. You know why? Cuz in bad times, the world becomes paranoid and you go along with the flow. In good times, the world is telling you how much you’re left behind because you don’t have this in your life or that in your life, and that makes you frustrated and you work harder, you try to make more money, you work longer hours, you spend less time with people, and at the end… you’re just burnt out. But the world is moving ahead of you, and so you think that if you don’t catch up, you’re going to be left behind.
Sometimes I feel that few people really know how to live a fulfilled and happy life. Yes you may think that to some people, making their first million dollars would be fulfilling, but it won’t be. You may think that you’ll be fulfilled when you reach the senior management club circle in your company, but it won’t be. You think owning a beautiful house with a splendid lawn will make you fulfilled, but it won’t be. You even think that having a family would finally fulfill your life….sadly it won’t.
Why? Why is it that despite achieving everything we want in life, we’ll never be fulfilled? Because we have not been taught how to be CONTENT first. We are always taught to think the sky’s the limit we forget about the ground we’re standing. No one rewards contentment. To some, contentment is equalled to mediocracy, and the ways of the world equates the term mediocracy to “LOSER”.
And sometimes we wonder why the world is so messed up and harsh…
