Why does money seem to be the most important thing to people.

ningjing1977

I Sometimes talk to friends or people I know anyway, about studying course like learning mandarin, philosophy and pyshchology , and all I ever get is , but your on good money in your job, you wont earn any more studying that. I have 2 degress, biomedical sciences, and electronics /electrical engineering, i gues si just love learning, but i dont feel i should stop just because theres no more financial gain. Why do people seem to struggle to understand that I might want to learn something because im actually interested in it , just because its not going to bring home a few more 1000 a year so what. I know we need money to live, i have kids so i understand being in debt is horrable, trust me ive been there , but why does EVERYTHING have to be about money and when you mention to someone your doing something because you enjoy it or find it interesting, they think your crazy ? Or is it just me, should I only do things if it means more money, but im not like that, maybe the fact money doesnt motivate me is why i had a bad past with debt, im not in debt now, but maybe thats why i was, am i strange to not be all about money ?

WilliamHobbs

To survive in the modern world, you must have a fair deal of money. If you have a family or a house, you need money to pay for food, bills and healthcare. I know that, where I live, to practise Buddhism in a local temple, you usually have to donate money. So if you want to live a standard quality of life, you need money.

RebeccaS

Well, money is important. People associate having more money with having more happiness. While it's not as causal as that, it does have some truth to it.

Not having to worry about making rent is one less worry

People are probably just concerned for you. They might not understand your motivations or goals, they could just be seeing money being spent (on school) where they possibly would have done something else with it. I wouldn't fret about it.

ningjing1977

Yes I agree william, but does that mean you shouldnt do anything unless it means money? Hmmm well I wont earn anything doing that, so i wont bother kinda thing?

ningjing1977

Hi Rebecca, i dont mean to rant, butt peoples comments make what i think is a posistive exciting thing, start to then doubt myself and think maybe im stupid for not wanting to make it all about money. Then when im a bit skint, i think, yeah maybe i should just do stuff that only brings in more cash, even if its boring and im depressed, ill earn more money.

RebeccaS

Middle path. Make enough money and do the things you find exciting. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Ficus_religiosa

People regard studying as something you do out of need, not out of interest. So when you study something, it better pay off they think. Most people don't care about real intellectual pursuits, which is a shame. Often they can pull theirs' together to study something fashionable like the supernatural or Swedish Crime Fiction on a completely superficial level. It's fine for them, and one would think they could understand that more in-depth is fine for you. The world just doesn't work that way

I once heard this quote btw:
"When you have money, they aren't important. When you don't have money, they become the most important thing in your life".
It's all about survival

ningjing1977

Hi Rebecca, yeah I know what your saying, what i think is a shame is that others feel the need to tell me what im doing is wrong as it doesnt earn me more money. Ficus yeah your spot on, but who is they ?

Ficus_religiosa

Hi Rebecca, yeah I know what your saying, what i think is a shame is that others feel the need to tell me what im doing is wrong as it doesnt earn me more money. Ficus yeah your spot on, but who is they ?

Most people I run into anyway

taiyaki

Money is the sign that we give the illusion of power to.

With power we get comfortable. We equal being comfortable with happiness.

The basic drive is to move away from suffering and to grasp at happiness.

RebeccaS

Well, people are people. We get it wrong most of the time

ningjing1977

Yes we do often get it wrong, as child I got bullied for being mixed race , my mums whie and my dads carribean, but can imagine looking like a cat must of been tough lol, sorry too much sugar at lunch time, well i guess i best get earning then

RebeccaS

Actually I was universally adored thanks to my playful nature and extremely soft fur

ningjing1977

lol did you use to to purr as well , Rebecca stop purring at the back of class i cant hear myself think lol

Zero

Consider ape societies (and I say ape very broadly) - there is an order of priority - this is 'survival credit' - an alpha will have much more credit (more access to food and mates say) - how that is enforced is not understood - there is violence in there but it's not just that - it is complex and broadly agreed by the participants based on comparisons of 'survival credit'.

In human society, money is society's way of 'capitalising' survival credit - the financial system keeps track of your net worth to society and determines therefore the modes of survival open to you - it also allows efficient trade and permits cooperation even across vast distance and communication barriers - everyone understands 'survival' and the motivation to continue living is the strongest drive we have - the financial system aids larger cooperative societies to maintain and grow - it is the natural culmination of our base instinct and a very simple immediate way of filtering through the myriad of human demands and prioritising.

Life's uncertainties are largely ignored or reconciled to temporary positions (which are then perceived as absolutes) - schooling habituates you to take part in society in the manner required by society to function in the mode it is functioning in currently and growing into the future - this is maintaining the status quo - by conventional education, considering money is not the be all and end all or worse still not even a motivating factor is nonsense (worse still it may be communism or socialism!!) - what would then motivate you to do the things you may not want to do but which society will need to be done irrespective? Or how then do the few rule the will of the many?

So in my mind, you're not strange for not being all about the money - sure you need it in this framework and you have family responsibilities so you need to earn to meet your responsibilities - but you seem to have considered that this is not the ultimate motivating factor so good for you - others may or may not support you - everyone has their own motivation and foundation - some things are so fundamental that if you challenge them, it causes too much instability and the immediate reaction is to reject - worry less about what others think and more about what you're thinking... then stop worrying all together and get on with it.

A passage from a wailers tune:

Slave driver, the table is turned
Catch a fire, you gonna get burnt (catch a fire) burn...

Ev'rytime I hear the crack of a whip,
my blood runs cold.
I remember on the slave ship,
How they brutalise the very soul.
Today they say that we are free,
Only to be chained in poverty.
Good God, I think it's illiteracy;
It's only machine that makes money.

Slave driver, the table is.....

ningjing1977

worry less about what others think and more about what you're thinking... then stop worrying all together and get on with it.

Thats my next goal .......................

karasti

You might have enough money for all you need, but if you end up making extra because you get another degree or whatever, you can certainly share it with those less fortunate. People think money is important because it's how they judge their happiness. They very much tend to live in a "when I just pay off this car, when my kids finally finish college, why I pay off the house/credit card/student loans, I'll finally be free and happy" but all along the accrue more debt and more things that they then have to spend more money maintaining. Your relationship with money is yours and yours alone. There is nothing wrong with learning, and if people don't understand, well then who cares. But also be careful in what you spend money on. If you keep insisting on going to college to learn new things, could that money be better spent elsewhere? You can learn a lot of things without going to college. You can find teachers who will mentor you without charging you $1000+ to take a class. Learning is still learning even if it's done out of a classroom. I'm not saying you should spend it elsewhere, just saying it's worth investigating.

vinlyn

From a purely practical sense, money is the most important thing.

karasti

only if you live in a world where you can't do everything for yourself. You do need some money, of course, you can't just go out and squat a piece of land anymore. But with the right knowledge and skills you can spend a WHOLE lot less money. I know a family who lives on $4000 a year. It also of course depends on your challenges. I could live on very, very little, because I grew up with a lot of survival skills and am lucky to have good health for now. It wouldn't be a comfortable way of living, lol, but I'd be alive. My son will never be able to live without money, because he's diabetic. Also eventually everyone comes in need of medical care, unless you are just going to refuse it and take what comes. There are a lot of people in the US who would consider our income unlivable, because of the circumstances they live in. But a lot of those people also make themselves out to be victims of circumstance ("it's not my fault I was born in NYC!) rather than accepting that they are making choices that make them remain in a life that keeps them dependent on having a lot of money. A friend of mine who lives near NYC rents a house for $2200 a month (2 bedroom) and had to pay $10,000 in deposits just to get in the house. She hates it, but can't admit that she makes the choice to live where she does. It just depends what is important to each person.

Bunks

I sit next to a girl at work who mentions that she wants to win tattslotto (the Aussie version of the pools / lottery) at least once every two days. She is always on about it.....

She seems to think that will make her life complete.

If only she knew......

The more you have, the more you have to lose!

I have a fantasy about becoming a minimalist - my wife is kind of open to the idea. Maybe one day. We made the choice to move to the country so as to have a smaller mortgage (house prices in Melbourne are outrageous!) I have to commute 80 minutes each way to work but I use that as my time to meditate and contemplate. It's worked out well for us.

@ningjing1977 - I hope you find that balance that a few people have mentioned on here. I feel like I have at this stage in my life. Impermanence tells me it won't last but I am enjoying it at the moment. Good luck mate!

Dakini

OP, it sounds like you have some friends or relatives who don't share your values. Have they never heard of hobbies?? Of doing something just for fun, or to challenge yourself, or to broaden your horizons? Do they have no intellectual curiosity? Best to seek out friends who do.

how

Humans have an inate sense of separation from existance.

Those who are ego bound commonly try to solve this with money (the coin of power).
Form, sensation, thought, activity & consciousness are other ways of assuaging this.
Buddhists address it by unearthing and letting go of attachments. (that which gives life to that sense of separation to everything else).

music

Money is a necesary evil. Hate it but need it.

vinlyn

I would rather be mindful of money. No need to hate an inanimate, non-living object.

DaltheJigsaw

For most it's for survival and social conditioning.

music

I would rather be mindful of money. No need to hate an inanimate, non-living object.

Hate is perhaps a strong word. Maybe, it is frustration I feel when people respect those who have money and hate those who have little.

vinlyn

I would rather be mindful of money. No need to hate an inanimate, non-living object.

Hate is perhaps a strong word. Maybe, it is frustration I feel when people respect those who have money and hate those who have little.

Ah, now that's interesting.

DairyLama

Cash is nice.

ningjing1977

What you will relise, is when you have no cash, the only people left around you, are your true friends, a lesson i learnt.

Beej

What you will relise, is when you have no cash, the only people left around you, are your true friends, a lesson i learnt.

You said it right there.

:thumbup:

charirama

From what I have seen, I believe a person's life will be about money if they want it to be. The problem is most people want their life to be about money and are afraid to let go because of what they fear might happen if they do.

We live in a society where everything is held for ransom and, if we choose to play the game, we don't even eat unless we have money. This means that jobs or the lack of jobs have become one of the main issues facing people today.

The 21st century was supposed to be a time when technology took over a lot of the menial tasks and people were going to be able to have time to get away from the distractions of the hardships of life and find fulfillment.

The economic system, which is supposed to serve us, now requires us to serve it. Because of this, the use of technology is being restricted to preserve the economic model and people who have jobs are working harder than they should be and those who do not have jobs are suffering at the hands of the system.

If we give money the respect that it deserves, which is a lot less than it is getting now, perhaps then people will be able to find more contentment in their lives. If we bring our value system back to an emphasis on kindness, generosity and community then maybe money can go back to it's role as a tool that helps us rather than a main factor in our lives.

President Obama described the current situation quite well yesterday when he referred to it as "Robin Hood in Reverse".

zsc

People who have enough money are free to not worry about money. Debbie Downer over here, but it's true.