I do believe that to a degree, the majority of us are conditioned to believe that life is all about acquiring things. Things that are nice to have, not necessarily “things I need to survive on this Earth journey as a human being”.
We can’t help being conditioned this way, after all, most of us see parents going to work, to pay for things, to allow us to survive. We also have pressure, consciously and subconsciously from companies trying to convince us that we need to buy stuff from them, because they need to get paid right, to live too? So, we are all caught up in this big old viscous cycle of materialism.
It happened to me too, after seeing my parents set a very strong work ethic to get off your bum, get a job, work hard and have nice things in your life, I wanted to do the same. I landed a well-paid job straight out of college and continued along that theme, the same as my boyfriend now husband, the pair of us, heads down, working hard, working hard on our goals and aspirations. This is in no way a bad thing, in fact, I would say it is pretty healthy to have this type of attitude. We live in a harsh world at times and I believe the combination of a little bit of luck and mostly hard work, you can make the edges of it so much softer and not quite as sharp as they can be. But when does materialism get too much? What do I mean by that? I used to think that the house you lived in, the car you drove, the job you had, was a mark of your success. I shudder when I think back to this thought process. I had no idea about the bigger picture, about how meaningless “stuff” actually has a carbon foot print that outweighs its necessity by a figure I can’t even contemplate and how the things you buy do not and will not make you happy. I guess this realization happened when I started working as a medium and that old saying of “you know you can’t take it with you” has never rung so true. Because you can’t take it with you, so if you are hell bent on trying to have the biggest house, the best car, if you accumulate things without the slightest twinge of guilt about its impact on Earth, you are going to have the biggest shock when death comes knocking because without all that stuff you going to be more naked than you could ever imagine possible.
If we were to remove all the stuff, what would we end up with? If we had to measure our success on our happiness, how we make people feel, what we do for others, how selfless we actually are, how rich are we exactly?
In my lifetime I have seen some people that are so driven by not only beating Mr Jones, they are actually a new breed of Mr Jones. An absolute drive to have material wealth to prove to others that they made it, congratulate yourself on your Earth journey because all this prosperity can only mean one thing: you are a wonderful human being.
It is little wonder that so many famous and rich folk end up pretty depressed, when they realise that actually, all that stuff they were searching for, meant nothing when their friendships are empty, when everything around them is fake, in fact, the whole foundation they thought was solid is actually pretty pointless if they are poor from their soul.
Having a materialistic and rich life means nothing if you have no moral fiber. How about being materially rich and then sharing your wealth with the human beings that really need it, now there’s a thought!
See I think its ok to be rich when it comes to money wealth and I find it a real source of inspiration when I see people (especially women!) that make it with their career or business and earn from that, I think it’s wonderful and empowering. But what I don’t like is people that are the true materialists and are greedy. The type of person that would spend £4000 on a champagne bill and walk past the homeless person sitting outside the bar.
This is what I think about wealth:
It’s totally ok to want a comfortable life and I believe every human being is entitled to abundance. It’s ok to work for that and strive for better. Money gives you power and freedom. If you are in a position to have choice without if affecting your basic survival and wellbeing, then I feel that as human beings, we have a responsibility to help others, to help the planet, to see the good that can be achieved from our own success.
I’ve changed my mind about things now. I used to think a huge house would be amazing, but now I see that a good view and cosy place is just as perfect. A smaller space, a better connect to those that I love. That is where the richness lies.
Also, put money into experience and not things, I love this! Going places, meeting people, making memories, exploring new feelings because different places holds different energies and that shapes your character, that’s where it’s at! Paying people for services and not things, even better!
Wealth doesn’t impress me, however your journey does. What you do, the choices you make, how you go about getting what you want with integrity and honesty and then treating others the same way, that impresses me. What hurts me the most is seeing people that will stop at no cost for their own benefit when it comes to their money greed.
I’m glad I feel differently about things now and I’m not hard on myself about that because I just grew up and saw the world differently. We are all guilty of being attached to this material world and at our cost now……..as the climate crises deepens, we all have a responsibility to stop accumulating and perhaps start using what we have to turn this situation around, not only for the planet but for our fellow humans. So maybe, if you do have more money than the Jones and you feel guilty about that, perhaps giving to charity, or helping out because you have the time, might lesson that guilt and also might make you feel amazing in the process, after all, you can’t take it with you.
Until next time,
Tanya
