More Than Money

     Gertrude Stein said, "I've been rich and I've been poor. It's better to be rich."

     So concludes "Money Really Can Buy Happiness, a piece in a recent issue of Maclean's magazine.

     Who knew?

     Well, when you come right down to it, we all had our suspicions, didn't we? But isn't it nice to have those suspicions confirmed by the experts? Otherwise, we might have gone our whole lives thinking it was just our imaginations that having the wherewithal to take trips to the Bahamas on our private jet would be pretty cool.

     Paris Hilton, the current poster child for conspicuous consumption, graced the issue's cover. Sporting jewel-encrusted necklace and earrings of course. Baubles that would have been just a tad out of place while slopping hogs in that inane unreality show she was in. Don't get me started.

     We spend untold amounts of time and energy debating how much is enough when it comes to material goods. Proponents of consumerism would have us believe that "enough" doesn't exist, that "more" is the only measurement we need. You and I wanting more is how we generate jobs for those who want what we had before consumerism helped us realize that we needed more. Or something.

     At the opposite end of the scale are those who say that "enough" is food and shelter. But what kind of food? A loaf of bread and a jug of wine? A ketchup and baloney sandwich? Caviar from farthest Russia?

     How big a shelter? A one room hut? A three bedroom bungalow? A ten thousand square foot mansion on fifty acres?

     Those with a vested interest in the continuation of the consumer society may be distressed to learn that while money does indeed buy happiness, it is apparently not because it allows us to buy "stuff." According to those same experts, it's primarily because it allows us to have freedom, choices, and security.

     We often use that freedom to choose to buy stuff of course. Hence the confusion between happiness and stuff.

     But security now, that's an interesting idea. To be happy we need to feel secure. Seems simple enough. And in our society financial security is given great emphasis (It is, after all, tax time). So it makes sense that money, because it makes us feel secure, can indeed "buy" happiness.

     It also explains why religious traditions have always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with money. On the one hand we have quotes like Matthew, telling us not to store up treasure on earth where moths and rust will get to it.

     On the other hand, we have folks like Job, who, because he hung in with God, ended up with fourteen thousand sheep and a thousand she asses (I'm assuming that's a good thing). The Bible isn't entirely against "stuff". God just wants us to look at why we have stuff.

     Living a Golden Rule life is not to be confused with sacrificing our security. We cannot "do unto others" if we are afraid for ourselves. If we understand that money isn’t important because it buys us stuff, but because it gives us a sense of security, we may just find that other things do any even better job of it.

     Building strong relationships with family and friends can give us a tremendous sense of belonging, and hence, security. Being involved in our communities is equally beneficial. And our relationship to the Creator can make us feel secure as part of Creation.

     Maybe it takes a lot less money to buy happiness than we thought.