The etymology of "stock exchange" came up today and that got me talking about the intriguing development of the idea of "currency" alongside the barter/unsecured coinage system that people used to get by with in local economies. Which linked over to the the quantum-self-help-guru world where money is referred to as "energy", and driving in the car this morning the thought that "money changes people" is often a derisive or negative thing to say.
You know what I mean, there's occasionally an interview with some new sensation where they assert "Money hasn't changed me" or won't or one of those variations.
I wonder why they want that money then if not to change? If not to enable a broader scope of activity, a change of venue or an expansion of influence, where is the motivation for the activity that results in the cash they apparently don't desire.
For some reason Russell Crowe came to mind. Now I don't think that he's ever been one to say anything this flaccid, but he's the kinda guy who *could* and it would make at least some sense. Liked rugby league, buys a league team.
But what about those people who say they would win lotto and keep working?! What's with that? Why buy the lotto ticket then? This sounds slightly white-shoe brigade, but it's not meant to be. Actually I'm coming at it more from a "wouldn't the world be better if more of us were more emotionally and creatively fulfilled - and wouldn't moving towards that state be the first thing you'd act on if you were given a wad of cash?" point of view.
I'm not saying that I expect everyone would open an orphanage or buy Sumatran rainforest to protect orangutans - but *some* people would. Other people might take up watercolours, or scuba diving, or leave the town they were born in and see some other parts of the country. Usually with a bit more of a smile, and a bit more patience at the red lights along the way. Most people harbour a secret desire and acting towards that, even partially, constitutes a change.
Ergo, I guess, when people say they "wouldn't change" they mean only in a *bad* way.
How frustrating then, that this useful word which is conceptually neutral seems to be loosing valency. For a positive meaning to the word "change" which words can we fall back on in English - "improvement"? Euch. How 80s.
So thinking back to the money as energy or within the context of currency... the entire structure we have for exchange, for transaction - it's all predicated on the supposition that all is in motion, that there is no true static point anyway.
The only static point in the entire universe then is in human minds where we think we can attain some perfect state and hold it. Despite how much money we may someday win in lotto.
1 comment:
Two things: firstly, what's the "white shoe brigade"? This isn't an idiom I've previously encountered.
Secondly, I think there's actually something pretty interesting to think about in the case of someone who purchases lottery tickets, and, upon winning, continues to work. Perhaps it's that they've already found the peak of emotional fulfilment in their job, but somehow I doubt that. My experience working in a large corporation for the first time is increasingly convincing me that most people simply haven't ever had their life or worldview sufficiently shaken up by circumstance to cause any reflection or self-analysis to take place, and to cause any larger ideas of who they are and what they might want to form. They've simply been on a long, largely smooth ride the whole time.
They purchase lottery tickets because they're somehow dissatisfied with their life, but the level of dissatisfaction never reaches a level that inspires change. They seem to exist in a constant state of slight grey.
When they win the lottery, then, they genuinely have no idea what to do with themselves, and so simply continue to go through the motions, robotically. Perhaps they buy a bigger television, and a new car.
This is also related to the reason people insist that "The money hasn't changed me". The company they keep surrounds them with the light grey attitude -- it's a comforting, self-reinforcing cocoon. They don't know what to do with the money, but that's okay, because no-one else does either.
All of this makes me continuously rejoice in, and further cultivate the weirdnesses in which I'm fortunate enough to be enmeshed, and to attempt to spread them to others as much as possible. The sea of human entropy is vast, and they have my sympathies.
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