Is our slavery to money making us misinterpret what happiness is?

Question

in developed countries money is happiness.

If you go to a developing country, money is a privlidge, making it not so important.

We should earn money, but our lives are geting so busy we are cramming everything together we're forgetting what we want to do with our life.

You spend 18 years training yourself, a quarter of those things you learn in those 18 years become irrelevant in the life you live.

Why do we have jobs? To help each other. Cashier, bank manager, coach.

But in the end what are you doing it for, your doing it for the money.

So you spend all that time slaving away to money.

Does life start when you retire?

Answer 1

It is entirely possible. Have you read Alain De Botton's "Status Anxiety"? I think you would find it interesting!

According to him, anxiety and money-based depression is particularly troublesome in developed (esp. Western) countries because the differences between people are comparatively small. That is, even a person considered on the poverty line has a near-zero chance of dying of starvation (due to government assistance and charities if things really get desperate) and may have a house (probably very modest and possible commissioned by the government, but still a shelter). That person's children receive an education and the government would give them assistance. That is probably the lowest in our societies that would get save for the homeless.

This means that, although the life differences between working class people and billionaires is very great, the differences between the full range of people in our society is comparatively small (compared to traditional lifestyles and many developing countries). This also means that though some people we know may be richer or poorer than us, that difference is comparatively insignificant.

Therefore, a minute change in the social strata can cause us great grief. For example, if your neighbour gets a new car, this fairly insignificant change can change your social-economic self-perception (especially since, as De Botton says, Western society teaches that wealth is based on merit-- so this perceived relative change in wealth caused by the magnified social stratum can cause us great stress).

It would be wrong to say that money can bring us happiness. Many very rich people are depressed (see celebrities!) and there are people living very modestly who seem to have found happiness. I don't know exactly what happiness is or how to get it (I wish I did, though!) but surely money is not answer. It can certainly help in some cases and open the potential for us to find happiness (see Abraham Maslow's heirachy of needs) but in the end, money is only a means to an end. We must find that end, and Western culture telling us that money is the end leads to one end only-- a dead one.

Answer 2

You can't be a slave, if you have no money! You're supposed to be the master, not the slave!!

Answer 3

Are americans these days talking out of their asses?

Answer 4

yes... we assume that more is more... complicating things... trying to achieve a status most of us will never reach... simplicity is the true route to achieving a sense of happiness... and money can do that... but only if perspective is kept...

Answer 5

i do not think so,

making money is our fight for survival and pursuit of happiness. By working hard and making more and more money we gain the power to change the world the way we want it to be. We can provide better for our loved ones and share our wealth with the disadvantaged.

it is the ill ways of making money and ill ways of spending them that is the culprit.

EnJoy

Answer 6

YOU ARE WAY AWAY FROM THE THING YOU STARTED AND THE THING ENDED WITH!

Not all of our activities end with earning money! We do work in home, do many things with family and friends and also in the society and all of them are not money oriented in earning and spending OR to keep that in center to decide our action!



We have made the money to keep all of us engaged in all the social activities in buying, keeping, maintaining and selling and finally the GREAT THING BY USING HUNDREDS OF THINGS to complete all of our mission in day to day affairs in living the LIFE!

May be we get more OR less of that money which may be stopping us not go for more of anything more than what we need! Less of money does teach you to be wise in spending and to conserve for future and to be secure in life!

Yes, money gives you the power to buy and enjoy many things in life which may give you the joy and pleasure which you dream for! But many do not dream for happiness out of overspending for which they profoundly know they have to work hard to get more money or else to do something morally and ethically wrong and illegal to gain that money!

It is better to plan for the happiness we deserve than to PLAN for that unhealthy money to arrive to doom our life!

Answer 7

NO, BECAUSE MONEY = HAPPINESS.

I DARE YOU TO TRY AND REFUTE THAT.

Answer 8

Yes it most def. is...

“Money often costs too much.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Answer 9

i was not going to respond to this question, but now i think i have to bc i disagree with the first and only two responses i read.  i think money definitely makes us misinterpret happiness.  money does not equal happiness.  you can have all the money in the world but if you don't like your lifestyle or job you will be unhappy and that will take a toll on your health.  look at other countries that have long vacations, unlimited sick time, 3 years off for pregnancy, etc....  these people live longer.  they must be happier.  here we are told we can only be sick whatever amount days your job gives you/ per year.  is that realistic or even fair??  no.....  people get sick for months sometimes years before they recover. as a result people go into work sick and infect the rest.  the sick person is grouchy so the rest of the people become grouchy.  what a crummy lifestyle!  i could go on but i am already rambling so i do not want to bore anyone any further...

just read your update.  that is the problem.  you should never be doing a job for money.  you should be doing a job that makes you happy (whatever it is- bank teller, lawyer, etc...).  money just happens to come with the job.  you spend the first 18 years of your life learning about yourself and you use those skills everyday.  during that time you learned how to make friends, deal with people, do math, read, write etc...  it is a necessary part of growing up.  does life start when you retire??  it shouldn't.

Answer 10

friend!! I have got a friend on cougarkiss.C O M a kind of friendship site I have many friends on it ! the man is young and handsome and the woman is charming and rich !!you may have a try if you want to have a happy time !!