Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» What if LOVE OF MONEY is a test you either fail or pass? What if it tests what you are willing to do for it? PASS/FAIL?
Money is like a car battery. Life can be better with a full charge. Money is a great invention---- it was designed to be a way to exchange labor for labor.
The "test" (if that's what you want to call it) is how we use our money (regardless of how much of it we have). Do we use it for ourselves (greed) or do we use it to help others. Many people say that they don't love money. Yet the lengths they're willing to go to get it say otherwise. Whatever it is that one puts all their time and effort into, that's what they love.
Of course how we use anything including ourselves is always material. But I disagree with thee. Why would anyone LOVE money regardless of what he/she does with it? I think that is misplaced love. You focus on what you love. So you focus on getting MORE MONEY because you love adore admire lust after it strikes me as being very superficial and thoughtless. You LOVE people. You LOVE your country. You LOVE your pets. You LOVE good food. But LOVING money? No sale. Thank you for your reply Shuhak and Happy Tuesday! :)
What does it mean to "love"? You gave several examples of things one can "love". Tell me, HOW do you love your country, your pets, people? Is it by just saying (I love you)? If I shouted out my door, "Oh dear country, how I love you" does that mean I actually love my country? Does telling your pet, "I wuv you snookums" even mean anything to an animal? If you husband says, "I love you", does just saying those words mean that he really does? Or is there more to it? If we truly love something/someone we put it ahead of ourselves. You show love for your pet by feeding it, taking it to the vet when it's sick, occasionally talking to it. Your husband shows he loves you by (perhaps) giving you flowers now and then, communicating with you, (perhaps) touching you affectionately, missing the Super Bowl game to take care of you because you're sick or sad. or to visit you in the hospital. That's how it is with money. Some people put money higher than they do themselves, their family, their pets ... or even their country! Hmmm... can you think of anyone who puts making money for themselves ahead of what's best for their country? Yes, some people focus on making more money with their money, but that doesn't necessarily mean they love money. I use my money to make more money (investing, IRA's, etc.), not because I love it, but so I can have some when/if I retire. That's called being prudent.
One can love money and yet have very little of it. I highly doubt anyone goes around saying , "I love you" to their money. When one "loves money" they letting it control them. Their main focus is on money and what it can do for them (not necessarily making more of it). They'll marry for money. They'll ignore their family for money. They'll withhold helping others with their money for fear it'll be gone (a "scrooge", if you will). I'm not saying money isn't important. Our society is geared so that we need money to survive. If one's focus is on money and the things it can do for us (self), then perhaps we are guilty of loving money.
The definition of LOVE like anything else depends entirely upon the definer. I cannot define it for you Shuhak. For me LOVE means you don't harm/hurt/destroy/lie about/betray. Now of course that cannot apply to all things. How do you betray food for example? But it applies to living beings. It also applies to one's country. If you LOVE your country you do nothing to harm/hurt/destroy/lie about or betray it. You do not sell it out to the highest bidder for your own self-aggrandizement. Of course if you are the kind of person who LOVES to see harm come to your perceived "enemies" it is the same love in its intensity only it is manifested differently. Loving THINGS is different from LOVING people. It is all in the context. I LOVE it when my computer is working efficiently. I LOVE getting bargains when I go shopping. I LOVE seeing people treat one another with grace/dignity/affection/respect. I just ate breakfast and I LOVED what I prepared. There is nothing in any of those manifestations that is destructive deceitful harmful self-aggrandizing. I could go on but to what end? I will never LOVE money. I LOVE what billionaires who are charitable and kind do with theirs. Money is the means to an end. If it is always only and foreverly what it can do for self I pass. There is no intrinsic value in it. Only what we impute to it. Which means it is transitory flexible changing. undependable quixotic erratic flamboyant wanton promiscuous. Beyond that? There is more I could say I'm sure only I'm tapped out. Thank you for your reply Shuhak.
This post was edited by RosieG at June 14, 2018 8:36 AM MDT
B.H.Wilson 