Illusion of Money

"Money Talks." Day in and day out, it is easy to find this exaggerated importance of wealth in society. Money is often rationalized as a means of survival but its utility in today's society goes far beyond that; people use it to satisfy their desires, feel powerful, and have a sense of accomplishment in their life. These same people also get amazed when they hear of someone amassing large sums of money and furthermore, they echo their own value of money by respecting the wealthy for their accumulation of wealth. And it doesn't just stop there. Having equated wealth to personal happiness and a sense of well being, acquiring money turns it into a personal obsession. Wealth becomes the security blanket that everyone wants and life starts to be a hunt for this treasure. We start to say, "If only I had this much, I would be happy" and subtly these if-only's translate into a lifetime of mundane pursuits.

What is it about money that consumes people? If we think about the roots of money, it started as a form of barter in efforts to make it more convenient for people of different trades to exchange goods and services. But with more desires for material possessions, the dollar bill has started to mean a lot more; initially, it poses to fulfill our sensual cravings and then it serves to impress that "success" onto others. So much so, that without money, an individual starts to be feel worthless.

When money takes too much importance in life, we lose touch with the essence of our existence and get sidetracked into unimportant and banal details. We start serving ourselves and in due time, lose our connection with others as we get isolated into an individual world. Activities like donation serve to dissolve this attachment to the illusion of security in money while meditation works to bring forgotten but crucial notions to the forefront.