Do you think that to be happy, you need at least a certain amount of money?
I've been thinking about the veracity of this statement -- that every endeavor, both noble to base, requires money -- and I'm not quite sure what I think.
For sure, you need money to contribute to society. You need money to build schools, hospitals, nursing homes; you need money to employ teachers, nurses, social workers; you need money to buy meals, food and transport vouchers for the poor; you need money to help the unemployed tide through a rough patch. In a way, you can't do very much to help others if you don't have any money. In fact, most of the social work in Singapore is achieved by the donations of the rich.
The need for money on a personal level is even more apparent. You need money to chase love; you need money in your quest for knowledge, for dinners, movies, running shoes, presents, clothes, bills, bus fare, send your kids to school, buy textbooks, buy medicine, toothbrushes, etc.
There are only a very small number of people who could say, hand over their hearts, that they would be happy with nothing at all. These are usually the monks and religious types who have reached some level of self-sufficiency (or dependence on God) to be happy. This is not your average church-goer. In fact, the average church-goer here in Singapore thrives on money. This is not saying that they don't use money well, in fact, most are "good stewards", giving a significant percentage to good causes. But they are just not "nothing types".
"Nothing types" are people like St Francis of Assisi, a rich man who took the vow of poverty, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and other types of monks. These people have lost that edge that makes a human being fight for his own survival, and are happy to either live or die for God. Even so, they still depend on the generousity of other people to pay for their food and for the orphanages that they run, which comes down to the necessity of having money, again.
Given a choice between lots of money along with the great power to do good and super-spirituality where you know the deep things in life, I'm sad to say that I'll choose lots of money. But with great power comes great responsibility and despite my utopian ideas of doing lots of good, I know that in my heart, I still haven't really really figured out that money is only the means to an end rather than the end itself.
Friday, August 05, 2005
What do you think?
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3 comments:
I like your post... it helped me remember what being a Christian is...
first, let's break up the issues clouding your comment on happiness... at the very heart of it, happiness is not about money, we all know this... no amount of money can buy one happiness... it can only fulfil the material longings found in Maslow's pyramid of needs... such as a full stomach, a roof over the head, even security... see this page... notice that on the very apex is spiritual needs??...
so money can buy a ton of material comfort... but can it buy one true love/friendship? can one find real self respect? true freedom? and achieve one's fullest potential as a human being?
it all depends, on how contented one is, doesn't it?
my theory is, that happiness and contentment go hand in hand... one can never get enough money nor buy enough cool things, and the more one has, the more one needs, and out goes contentment...
i find the happiest people are the ones who are contented with their lot... we may think they are underachieving, lazy and good for nothing, but deep down, they're infinitely happier because they can make do with less and are not tied down by, nor are they sucked into this material world...
there was a joke/story that was circulating a few years back about a simple fisherman and the management consultant...
it goes something like this: the fisherman was a simple guy, lived in a hut by the beach, fished when he was hungry and sold his excess catch for his other needs... he was happy and carefree... along comes the management consultant, (some say from McKinsey's, others say from Arthur Andersen)... the suit rocks up and says that if the fisherman worked harder, say 18 hours a day, he could afford a motorised boat in a month, a fleet in a year or two and so on... so the fisherman does as he's told... he toils and toils till he has his first boat, then five, and in a year, twenty... soon, the management consultant comes back and tells him how to expand and work towards a listing on the stock exchange... finally, the poor man is the epitome of a rags to riches story... the newly minted CEO turns to the suit and says: what do i do now? the reply: now that you're financially secure, you can do the things that you really want, like a home by the sea and sit around and do nothing all day... dunno about you, but the irony sure struck me...
the second part of the happiness equation is that a large part of it is based on faith... if one has faith in God as the ultimate source of power and provider of one's every need, why is there ever a need to worry about the simplest thing like having one's next meal, to as big as what will happen if we're not saving enough or have sufficient insurance cover in case of some unforeseen crisis? having that kind of faith liberates one from the material, a freedom that brings happiness no money can ever buy... because you know that what ever your needs are, your God will be on hand to provide...
so what about the nitty gritty stuff that makes up life as we know it? the stuff like your post mentioned - the money required for chasing love, for acquiring knowledge, for food and entertainment, for running shoes even?
if you have faith, even an iota of it like that of a mustard seed, that your God will provide, and step out in that faith, will he not give these things and more to you? take love for example, if it was meant to be, that God had ordained, will it not be found? and no amount of money will be required because God in His infinite wisdom will bring the both of you together?
the trouble with the "regular" church-goer is that many of them have a fuzzy image of God, about what He can do, what He can't... hence, their faith in Him is stunted because they feel they can't rely on him totally to meet all their needs, and that they need to compensate this by their own efforts... their lack of knowledge of His true power limits their ability to put their faith in Him...
downward spiral? not necessarily... some develop insights on their own, others get help... I, when I was much younger, benefitted from a stint with Youth With A Mission, did a six-month Discipleship Training School... it opened my eyes to many things we take for granted, glossed over in Sunday School, or just simply have the absolute lack of knowledge about...
the one certainty about our God is this: He doesn't shut us out, ever... Knock, and the door shall be opened, seek and ye shall find... that's one of His promises... take Him up on it and see where He leads in your quest for true happiness...
sorry if this comes across as a little preachy... it wasn't meant to be... ;-)
Hey, thanks for taking the time to comment Colin. I appreciate it. I agree with you, happiness and contentment go hand in hand. The fisherman story is quite telling too.
I was thinking in extremes -- having absolutely nothing as opposed to having lots of money. Not so much about faith whether God will provide, but just which is the better, to be poor or rich, and which can you do more good?
Yes, God will provide and it is possible to find true contentment; but sometimes his purposes are inscrutable (e.g. starving children) and unless your faith in him is surer than your faith that he will provide, the contentment will shatter quickly.
In any case, a bit heavy for a Monday morning.. ;)
Only the truly affluent can say money doesn't matter. Pose that to the young beggar woman sitting with a small child in her arms along Jalan Padma in Bali and I think she is in a better position to answer. Sure, we can say she's lazy not to work; stupid to have a child when she's probably no older than a secondary student and thoroughly irresponsible to become a mother when she can't afford it. Or worse, we can say she's faking it all and she's in fact "working", to milk the tourist sympathy and $. If the last, she's in a sunset industry as not one passer by dropped her even 100 rupiah.
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