Earning Wisely: Aligning Wealth with Happiness
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Earning enough to meet one’s needs is natural behavior. However, earning more than necessary often stems from imitating others, which is learned behavior rather than an inherent trait.
There are three types of happiness associated with earning:
- Joy in work: The satisfaction derived from the work done to earn.
- Achievement joy: The pride and ego satisfaction from the sense of accomplishment that earning brings.
- Benefits of wealth: The advantages of earning, such as social status, financial security, access to material goods, and leaving wealth for heirs.
These benefits should be considered side effects of earning, not the primary goals. While earning brings significant personal benefits, it has both advantages and disadvantages at a societal level.
Earnings transform natural resources into wealth, benefiting society as a whole and creating jobs. However, the obsession with earning more than necessary, driven by comparisons with others, pushes people into a “rat race.” This diminishes personal integrity, erodes inner peace, and leads to dissatisfaction.
The Rental House Analogy:
Life can be compared to living in a rental house. If you don’t clean the house daily, it becomes unlivable. Similarly, neglecting essential tasks makes life unbearable. However, building extra floors on a rental house doesn’t make sense.
Earning more than what is needed for a lifetime is akin to building unnecessary floors on a rental house.
Money can buy charity, popularity, and power, but it shouldn’t be the sole purpose of life. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, money is a powerful tool that can satisfy all levels of human needs. However, to truly enjoy life meaningfully, money should be seen as a means to an end, not the end itself. Recognizing the limits of wealth and focusing on what truly matters is essential for a fulfilling life.
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