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It is commonly accepted that money is not a goal, but a means, i.e., a possibility to obtain all kinds of things we want, and to enjoy ourselves and fulfill our aspirations through the money we gain. The problems begin when we notice a simple calculation: we run after money much more than we actually enjoy thanks to it.
Add up the amount of efforts, pressures, and anxieties against the amount of pleasures, excitements, and joys, and we will see that we live in deficit. This is evident in the abounding depression found among so many wealthy people.
Originally, money emerged to help us manage our interactions. Before the invention of money, our strength was measured by physical power and by the quantity and quality of produce one would own, such as grain. Money introduced the ultimate measuring stick. We could be old or physically weak, but if we have a lot in the bank, then we are considered powerful.
Essentially, money means an ability to cover. Through money, we can cover different desires that arise in us, and bring them fulfillment. Other than matters of fate that are outside of human control, such as illnesses, accidents, and disasters, we value money as a kind of overlord in our lives. Therefore, throughout history wealth became very important to us.
However, in the 1960s, a different developmental trend began. The flower children, tired of the perpetual money race, stated that they had enough, and that people could find happiness elsewhere. Even in our generation, people indeed need money in order to live comfortably, but they are no longer able to agree with a life of destructive competition against everyone, and the constant anxiety and stress about what will happen with their money.
The more we encounter exhaustion from our pursuit after status symbols, sales, and ads that urge us to shop, the more we consider whether we should be living simpler lives. How did it happen that we direct so much energy and attention to a few more zeros in our bank accounts? It is clear that we must care for our sustenance at a reasonable level, but how did we become so obsessed with adding more and more numbers under our possession, up to a point where we define so much of our lives accordingly?
Such questioning marks a looming turning point in humanity’s evolution that we are undergoing today. At such a juncture, we find more and more people sinking into depression, relying on medications, and barely dragging themselves from one day to the next.
To exit this turning point as stronger, more aware, and happier beings than those who entered it, we will need to face a major challenge: While we constantly aspire to enjoy our lives, how can we actually find genuine fulfillment? After all, we need pleasure in order to live. What desires will be worthwhile for us to cultivate within ourselves, which will let us feel complete, happy, and fulfilled? Money itself is never a goal, but a means to acquire pleasure, enjoyment, fulfillment, happiness, and confidence in one way or another.
In the process of this self-scrutiny, we will need to learn how to distinguish between two key levels in our lives: the fulfillment of our life’s essentials alongside the development of the human spirit within us.
Every reasonable person understands that today’s technological advancement is leading humanity to have the possibility to provide every person in the world with their needs of existence in dignity. The problem is only with the negative human relations, which block us, and suck our resources into myriad conflicts and wars. This is true not only at the macro level, but also in individual relationships. How many couples today live happily? The growing ego makes us intolerant of anyone besides ourselves.
Our future depends on developing the ability to harmoniously, integrally, and mutually connect, and there is a method of connection that still needs to reveal itself to the world. When computers and robots will expel billions from the labor market, the need for positive connection will be the central business to which we will be able to devote ourselves.
Tomorrow’s human being will receive enjoyment from new connections between hearts. Energies, fulfillments, and pleasures will flow between us. There will be no end to it, because an integral connection will lift us to a space of constant renewal, joy, and delight. The power of life will flow between us like between cells in a body. But unlike every system of nature where the individuals connect naturally in integrality, with us it will come from self-examination, choice, and awareness. Accordingly, the human species will rise to the next evolutionary level in which the concept of money will acquire a higher meaning. Money will become the ability to cover for one another out of love, to fulfill others through oneself.
After a long egoistic history that reaches a dead end, we are already preparing ourselves to begin such an ascent. From matter to spirit, may we succeed in it.
Based on “New Life 62 – The Power of Money” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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