Those last three paragraphs hit me. Such a good framing on how to look at money for real (inner) wealth and freedom. It's true, there isn't enough dialogue on the way we feel and think about money. It's so often tied to the numbers alone (which is also important, just not the full story).
Numbers/intellectual understanding are important. Without it, people get taken for a ride. But based on my own experience, it's not enough. When it comes to money, I really just got into my own way over and over again in surprising ways :)
"The tyrant believes that the more control he has, the more freedom he will enjoy. But the freedom that belongs to the tyrant is the freedom to be shielded behind ramparts, to insist on flattery from those he encounters and to devise ways of exerting his will on the world around him.
What we can easily fail to realize is how deeply we are guided through our lives by that same belief. With enough status, with enough power, with enough money, we could finally be free. The ads for lotteries promising instant millions eloquently sum up what we have so deeply in common with the tyrant’s agenda: to have enough money to be able to detach altogether from what the world might be asking of us and devote ourselves to a distracted indulgence of what we want from the world.
The tyrant’s dream of freedom is compelling: achieve independence, and you will be liberated from any possibility that the world might change you. The truth is that all the wealth in the world—all the gated compounds, handlers, security guards, offshore assets and vacation properties you could assemble—will still fail to hold life at bay or keep the world from changing you. The world’s job is to knead you like dough, that you might eventually rise into your fullest possible embodiment of compassion, clarity and engagement—and however you might attempt to thwart its work, the work goes on. The choice to refuse to rise, of course, is ultimately yours to make.
Our ideas of freedom through disconnection are tethered as though by an umbilical cord to the belief that the more you can limit your engagement with the world—the more you can determine and control your relationships with it—the better off your life will be. The image of the tyrant in his dark, fortified castle is different in degree, not in kind, from the houses in my mother’s neighborhood."
Wow, great riff and powerful reflection. A post in it's own right. What does it really mean to be in the 'fortress of solitude'.
Yes, we find ourselves in that tension: what we deeply seek is love and connection.
But also . . . we seek stability, safety, a break from the constant threshing and change. "With enough status, with enough power, with enough money, we could finally be free."
A thought I had many times.
What a great way to frame the journey through life. Truly, I love this image: "The world’s job is to knead you like dough, that you might eventually rise into your fullest possible embodiment of compassion, clarity and engagement—and however you might attempt to thwart its work, the work goes on. The choice to refuse to rise, of course, is ultimately yours to make."
It really struck me and flipped a lot of what I used to think of as the noble side of money on its head.
In simple terms I now think of f.u. money and "financial freedom" as its own trap. It's the ultimate goal of left hemisphere mode of separation, a kind of disconnection/independence from everything and everyone.
Reminds me of a carreer advisor explaining golden handcuffs to me in my mid-twenties. I subsequently chatted with some partners and heard the stories. Seems easier to see with religious/spiritual grounding, reading of classic literature, or greater maturity. Great post. Thanks.
on how much is enough and vivid void's quote, Bill Gates put it in a diff but similar way:
The perfect amount to leave to your kids, ″enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.″
on the "psychology of money" spending and saving, Morgan Housel is indeed the expert:
"Happiness is result minus expectation; wealth is what you have minus what you want"
Morgan is the GOAT in this area. What a quote!
Those last three paragraphs hit me. Such a good framing on how to look at money for real (inner) wealth and freedom. It's true, there isn't enough dialogue on the way we feel and think about money. It's so often tied to the numbers alone (which is also important, just not the full story).
Numbers/intellectual understanding are important. Without it, people get taken for a ride. But based on my own experience, it's not enough. When it comes to money, I really just got into my own way over and over again in surprising ways :)
"The tyrant believes that the more control he has, the more freedom he will enjoy. But the freedom that belongs to the tyrant is the freedom to be shielded behind ramparts, to insist on flattery from those he encounters and to devise ways of exerting his will on the world around him.
What we can easily fail to realize is how deeply we are guided through our lives by that same belief. With enough status, with enough power, with enough money, we could finally be free. The ads for lotteries promising instant millions eloquently sum up what we have so deeply in common with the tyrant’s agenda: to have enough money to be able to detach altogether from what the world might be asking of us and devote ourselves to a distracted indulgence of what we want from the world.
The tyrant’s dream of freedom is compelling: achieve independence, and you will be liberated from any possibility that the world might change you. The truth is that all the wealth in the world—all the gated compounds, handlers, security guards, offshore assets and vacation properties you could assemble—will still fail to hold life at bay or keep the world from changing you. The world’s job is to knead you like dough, that you might eventually rise into your fullest possible embodiment of compassion, clarity and engagement—and however you might attempt to thwart its work, the work goes on. The choice to refuse to rise, of course, is ultimately yours to make.
Our ideas of freedom through disconnection are tethered as though by an umbilical cord to the belief that the more you can limit your engagement with the world—the more you can determine and control your relationships with it—the better off your life will be. The image of the tyrant in his dark, fortified castle is different in degree, not in kind, from the houses in my mother’s neighborhood."
-- Philip Shepherd, Radical Wholeness
Wow, great riff and powerful reflection. A post in it's own right. What does it really mean to be in the 'fortress of solitude'.
Yes, we find ourselves in that tension: what we deeply seek is love and connection.
But also . . . we seek stability, safety, a break from the constant threshing and change. "With enough status, with enough power, with enough money, we could finally be free."
A thought I had many times.
What a great way to frame the journey through life. Truly, I love this image: "The world’s job is to knead you like dough, that you might eventually rise into your fullest possible embodiment of compassion, clarity and engagement—and however you might attempt to thwart its work, the work goes on. The choice to refuse to rise, of course, is ultimately yours to make."
It really struck me and flipped a lot of what I used to think of as the noble side of money on its head.
In simple terms I now think of f.u. money and "financial freedom" as its own trap. It's the ultimate goal of left hemisphere mode of separation, a kind of disconnection/independence from everything and everyone.
Reminds me of a carreer advisor explaining golden handcuffs to me in my mid-twenties. I subsequently chatted with some partners and heard the stories. Seems easier to see with religious/spiritual grounding, reading of classic literature, or greater maturity. Great post. Thanks.
Thanks! Yeah, I think it's one of those things you have to see up close to get it.