How to Think about Making Money 4 Minute Meditations

Good morning and welcome to your seventy-third meditation. The global system in which we live is a capitalist one. Countries jostle for ever-better economic standing, just as the corporations and individuals within them do. And this worldwide obsession with growth is simultaneously outward looking and competitive - the more we see our neighbour reap, the more we tend to want for ourselves - and self-interested and individualistic - we are fixated on immediate benefits as they accrue to us, and tend to be blind to the true costs of said benefits. On the one hand, the competitiveness drives or perpetuates this growth, while the individualism ensures that it never slows or ceases. One is like an unlimited accelerator, while the other is like the absence of a brake.

As anyone can see, the effects of the rise of capitalism are mixed. In India, for example, the overall quality of life has improved drastically over the past 30 years. The BBC reports that rapid economic development in that country has led to improved access to healthcare and hygiene among its citizens which has in turn resulted in life expectancy increasing from 38 to 68 years within a generation.

And yet, along with India’s life expectancy, inequality in how wealth is distributed has also radically increased in recent years. According to Wikipedia, the “richest 1% of Indians own 58% of wealth, while the richest 10% of Indians own 80% of the wealth. This trend has consistently increased, meaning the rich are getting richer much faster than the poor, widening the income gap”. The poor are exploited for their labour and as a result, actually have less access to education and healthcare due to a phenomenon known as poverty trap.

And of course, the exploitation and serious damage left in the wake of capitalism does not end there. Our earth and all the species within it are paying a toll that is inestimable and yet perfectly predictable. Only our blinkered view of the importance of the acquisition of wealth and luxury enables us to magically ignore this fact.

So what can we do? It’s not like we can simply choose a different economic system to operate in, and renouncing all capitalistic ambitions is not going to help anyone. Rather it will likely make your life very difficult and possibly make the lives of those around you more difficult by extension. Remember that it is possible to have financial goals without being mercenary. You should not feel guilty or dubious about your motives. You deserve money. You need it. So go after it! Allow it to improve the quality of your life.

What we can do, however, is to check in with our motives. Ask yourself why you want more money. Is it to make ends meet? For security in case of an incident or for retirement? Maybe it’s so you can live a little more comfortably or fund interesting projects. These are all worthy reasons. If, on the other hand, making more money is about having what others have or having more than them, about status, about excessive consumption, or if your hunt for money becomes a goal in itself and is interfering with, rather than facilitating, an improved quality of life, then it might be worth reassessing. Keep it up. You’re doing great. Have a wonderful day.