So if I never loose my money it is worthless! Ha!
Sorry, no. It is our attachment to things that determine their worth.
Sorry, no. It is our attachment to things that determine their worth.
That is Buddhism/Daoism in a nutshell.
And fwiw, Schopenhauer knew about Buddhism very well and talks about it in length in his essays on pessimism. What he means by attachment here is in fact, the Buddhist equivalent of craving. What you own can add to your vanity, but it is what you do not have or are longing for(in this case more money) that shows your true inclination, which Schopenhauer describes as worth. It does not mean that money has no worth, it means that the money that you already own has way less worth than what you don't. Aphorisms are pithy for a precise reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And I go to the Buddha if I want to know about Buddhism. Schopenhauer did not understand the difference between the Hindu's denial of self and the Buddha's idea of "not self".
You wouldn't call every non-instinctive skill (from reading to playing piano to shooting a basketball) that you learn in life a "utopian enlightened state", would you?
Maybe not but, you probably had to earn it in the first place and that is why you know its value.
I think if you were born rich and never had to worry about money in an existential way, then you would not really know the value of it. Not even from observing the pain of others. I think the only way is to really experience it first hand.
Even if a rich person tried to "simulate" it by not allowing themselves to spend more than x amount of money for say a month or something it still would not be the same. At all. Because no matter how bad that month would be, they still know all along that it's not a real threat and that the money is right there waiting for them.
But if you had to go through a lot of real pain, then you know the real value of money. I wonder, however, if with time we would forget still. I dunno, I have never been wealthy yet.
The more pain and suffering I have the more I realize money is not important at all and that money might be the cause of most of the pain and suffering in the world.
(Is that not a religious soul left on the internet?)
Money is important if you want a roof over your head, your children to have uniform for school and food on the table. If you want to be able to spend time with them rather than working 3 jobs to pay your rent, or put fuel in the car you drive to work, lest you have to catch the bus and spend even less time with them.
If you're fortunate enough to live where you don't need money for these things, I'm happy for you, if you're not turn you either have more money than these people do, or you're otherwise looked after.
From one perspective your money can sit idle in a brokerage account, from another it is put to use by someone else.
You could take out capital gains and dividends, and spend them, leaving your starting balance the same. That starting balance could continue making you money.
In other words there are ways to imagine money never spent, sitting in an account, that isn't worthless.
If you do not understand it is just you who does not understand. Misinterpretation? No, just a deeper understanding.
Sorry I interrupted the death porn. I will go now.
Yes, we all see you. You've gotten the attention you so clearly desire.