Think about that question for a minute: “How much are you worth?”
On the surface, how would you define this question? Now, how do you define worth? Does having money make you worth-while? Are you worth-y of another’s love based on the worth of your IRA? As Carlin said, “Try to pay attention to the language we’ve all agreed upon.”
How does one measure self-worth in the first place? Well… what is the most valuable thing on the planet? If you were to ask an old Zen master he may say “But of course, the head of a dead cat.” Why, you ask? Because you cannot put a price on it.
Now think about how you feel when you buy something. You enjoy the process, the hunt; the narrowing to find the thingie that will solve problems of all the other thingies. You know, the thingie-dingy. But when you make the actual purchase, the “cha-ching” as it were, what feeling arises in the pit of your belly when at long last that elusive total is presented just before your credit card has time to swipe, tap, or insert; whatever orifice you prefer. I heard once that nothing should ever go into an asshole that is bigger than a fist and less loving than a dildo…
Think about it this way. When you buy a loaf of bread and the cashier takes your five dollars, is there a part of you that cringes as you walk away with the bread? Do you not feel a part of you that can’t help but jab at you that ya got screwed, that somehow the baker got one over on you by leaving you with this lousy loaf of bread? He has your money! But where is the value? What is the subject, and who are the objects? Even though we walk off with the real valuable - the bread - we have it twisted to believe that value was present in something that isn’t even real.
We are living in a hologram of our own design by waging the quality and merits of our lives on something that we cannot even eat. I’m aware it is the purchasing power of the money, the potential, as is the presupposition in the use of the word fiat. The question is, do you know what that money represents? Do you do it, or does it do you?
And then considering what went into making whatever this thing is that you’re buying, whatever labor, shipping, where it was made, what products were used, how you were going to dispose of this thing once it is no longer of purposeful use… then do you ask yourself who does this benefit again?