Last update: 13 March, 2016
Many people possess enormous wealth, but, at the same time, they are intimately or inwardly unhappy. They know they have many things, but deep down they feel they lack something. Something that they cannot buy and that is fundamental: a raison d'etre.
Money is essential to survive, just as clothes, a home and daily nutrition are necessary to lead a dignified and healthy life.
This is precisely the paradox: money is indispensable and, at the same time, it impoverishes our existence if we consider it fundamental. Enduring this contradiction in our daily life is not at all easy.
“I carry a terrible weight within me: the weight of wealth that I have not given to others”.
(Rabindranath Tagore)
If you manage to find a balance point on this aspect, you will have triumphed, you will have achieved a real feat in every sense, especially from the point of view of your personal fulfillment.
Working exclusively for money makes no sense
According to the 2013 World Wealth Report, prepared by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, 10% of people own 86% of the world's total wealth. Surely this data makes us reflect.
Apparently, there is a certain amount of people in the world who accumulate far more than they need and who are totally uninterested in the fact that others suffer from poverty.
When everything is subordinated to wealth, as often happens, one ends up becoming a "product", a "thing" in turn. You become part of an unfair economic system, especially from the point of view of equity. We begin to see everything in terms of economic benefits and to treat others as if they were merchandise.
Due to the logic of the best result with the least effort, even love has become, for a few centuries, a product to be bought and sold.
It's no surprise that some women marry to be supported: in reality, they don't need a man by their side, just a wallet to back them up. Nowadays, there are also many men who behave the same way.
We are the real wealth
Those who have a lot to lose also have a lot to fear. For this reason, there is a real forest of anguish in the lives of very rich people. Money must be protected, preserved and it must be made to flourish day by day. They become ends in themselves and, as you accumulate goods, you become empty in other aspects of life.
There are many examples of rich and unhappy people. Individuals who commit suicide because they realize they don't know if those around them are really their friends or just customers looking for favors. They do not know if they are loved or simply exploited to obtain benefits.
When you only think about money and material possessions, you don't even have time to enjoy what you have anymore. We forget that most of the most important things in life are free and are within us, they have nothing to do with possessions and material goods.
Not everything has a price and money isn't everything. In general, the more things you have, the more things you want. It is an endless vicious circle, as in the myth of Sisyphus.
Obviously, money itself is not a bad thing; what can turn out to be harmful is the use made of it. Because money is necessary to live, but we don't have to give up our essence or what we want to be.
Those who have the most assets are those who need them least
We are what we are, not what we have. Of course, there are people who know very well how to make money, but have forgotten how to give a hug or a kiss or how to say "thank you" and "sorry". They don't know how to enjoy the simple things in life, all that can be achieved without calculations and planning.
In fact, most of man's great virtues emerge in conditions of necessity. Behind every scientific invention, every great creation, every admirable achievement, there is a necessity that has served as a source of inspiration.
“Man is a God when he dreams, a beggar when he thinks”.
(Friedrich Holderlin)
Those who live on money do not dream, they calculate. Problems begin to appear when life demands something from them that money is not needed for. Something like laughing or accepting death. How to love or be happy to be loved.
In reality, wealth is within you and not in what you own. They can take everything away from you, but they can never take away what you are. If you are more than the money you have, you can always start over.
