Money – Between the Means and the Aim

Money has existed since men first encountered the need to exchange things. In order to make possible exchanges of object and things of different value, there emerged the money, people’s most desirable thing. The great debate around money arose immediately after different view to money came forth. This debate is not simply about money, but money is the central topic as it makes the change. To put it in other words it would be: How you earn money and how you spend it is the central topic of the debate about money and makes the difference between the ideologies which support them.

What is this debate that makes a change. The great debate about money is made about the fact that is money a means of leaving or it is an aim in life. The idea that we have about money, the importance it has to us determines the ways we allow ourselves to gain money and to spend it. So to say, in order to get the right use of it in the right moment, one must definitely have the right grasp of the concept of money. In order to have an as accurate view of money as possible, first let us have a look at the dictionary definition of the word money. According the Compact Oxford English Dictionary money has to different meanings related to our discussion. First – “a medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes” and second – “wealth”.1) It seems the Oxford dictionary definition matches perfectly to the flow of the topic. The two general views towards money are the spiritual and the materialist one. Let us examine them both on detail.

The religious viewpoint of money takes hold of the idea that money is a means of leaving end can never go beyond that limit. According to this viewpoint, it is as much important to get the right gain of money as it is to get the right use if it. This means that you cannot be a philanthropist with the money you earn form drugs and other illegal activities, even though philanthropy is a admirable social contribution. One cannot pretend beneficence while the means of this beneficence is a criminal one, gained at the expense of another party. So, one should always keep in mind that earning money and spending it are to equally important in kind of life we lead, that one cannot ignore one and support the other, otherwise it is not part of this standpoint.

Another issue that needs discussion so far is the fact that the religious motion of money is also as something not deserving human sacrifice and pain. As Marian Wright Edelman has said: “Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night”.2) This furthermore certifies that money will not give rest to the people who are keen just on it.

On the other hand, the materialistic viewpoint has another grasp of concept of money. This grasp matches with the second definition of the Oxford English dictionary, which defined money as “wealth”. There is nothing wrong with the word “wealth”, the problem matches with the concept of wealth in this context. The materialist view on money and wealth is such that it is the most important thing in life, as such that it is the source of felicity in life. This is what one can draw out of claims such as “get rich or die trying”, expressed one of the members of one of the means of massive propaganda, music. When one hears “get rich or die trying”, one concludes that that money, wealth, richness is the aim of life for this people, is the factor that gives meaning to life. In fact, this claim is as false as the fact that humans have no soul. I wander why Britney Spears would try to give a premature end to her life, even though she has everything she wants.

The most problematic part of the materialist ideology is the fact that they believe in the dogma that “the aim justifies the means”. What does this mean? This means that if their aim is to get rich, this aim justifies every possible way and path taken to reach it. This is why we see more a more criminal behaviors everyday, this is why no one cares for the fact that another one is suffering because of his or her unscrupulous aim – the aim of getting rich.

All what was previously said does not mean that money is something that we should not work for and possess. No! Best about this has spoken Mohandas Gandhi when he tells us that “Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed”.2) This is the best definition of money we can get. Money will always be a means for regulating and improving people’s lives, sometimes it is crucial for continuing living, but it is never the right thing to be an aim in life. One who believes money as his or her aim in life, if they do not reach this aim, they will die desperate, and if they will reach it they will die desperate too. Money did not give them what they expected.

1) http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/money?view=uk
2) http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_money.html
3) Ibid