Spiritual Bankruptcy?

[Xmac]

The most heavily addicted people in the world may have the least compassion...I don't know.
Whether they deserve it or not, when "more" is chosen over "enough" we can know "they" are "us".

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/opinion/sunday/for-the-love-of-money.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

[Teacher Terry]

What an eye opener into a different world then most of us live. Thanks for sharing.

[catherine]

Very compelling read. I guess we don't have 12 steps for wealth addiction because people while may be disgusted by alcohol or drug addiction, they see wealth addiction as a positive thing--unless they are married and living a lonely life with its analog addict: the workaholic.

But, you are so right, Xmac.. "enough" is a strange concept to many people, and actually living out a life of "enough" is as hard as overcoming any addiction.

[happystuff]

. "enough" is a strange concept to many people, and actually living out a life of "enough" is as hard as overcoming any addiction.

Very well said - I agree.

Nice read. Thanks for posting.

[razz]

Wealth addiction has many forms not just large bonuses and high salaries. It can present in having the largest home with the most gadgets, biggest cottage, fanciest club memberships, etc. I see it often and shake my head. Being able to say, "I have enough" is one of the hardest things to do in our consumerist world.
Good article!

[reader99]

A few years back I was in a meeting with a bunch of people who made incomes that ranged from the top to the bottom of what the company we all worked for paid. Somehow the question came up: how much money is enough? There was nobody there who was making, or had accumulated, an amount that felt like “enough”. Even the highest paid people were unable to quantify exactly what “enough” would be in dollars. This suggests to me that “enough” is more of an attitude or belief than an actual number. Many people are driven by fear or lack or loss to have more and more and more, just in case.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

WOW! What a great article as far as being enlightening and, (to my mind at least), almost unbelievable! I don't know why I had never thought of the accumulation of wealth as an addiction, the need for more and more. The boundless greed was horrifying and as he compared it to drug addiction, there may be nothing a wealth addicted person would stop at to get more. Thanks for posting this.

[KayLR]

Yes, good article..I've shared it with a couple people, thanks.

[happystuff]

I was reminded of this thread when I saw... I think it is a Cadillac electric car commercial. The actor is walking through a huge house with pool/pond and lots of stuff, talking about how some Europeans take the month of August off while American's only take 2 weeks in August off and get more "stuff". Paraphrasing here, but the commercial really rubs me the wrong way and seems to be a good example of the attitude of "more stuff = better".

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f70/cadillac-launches-first-elr-commercial-151674/

Hope the link works.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

This is not exactly on the same note happystuff, but your post reminded me of a commercial from the late 1970's (I think) about a dishwasher and how quiet it was. At the end of the commercial the woman sighs and says something like "I wish everyone had one". That really rubbed me the wrong way! I am thinking, there are people with not enough food to eat or roofs over their heads and you wish EVERYONE could have a quiet dishwasher?????????????

[redfox]

In an economy dependent upon continual growth, there is no "enough".

[ApatheticNoMore]

A few years back I was in a meeting with a bunch of people who made incomes that ranged from the top to the bottom of what the company we all worked for paid. Somehow the question came up: how much money is enough? There was nobody there who was making, or had accumulated, an amount that felt like “enough”.

not enough so long as I still have to work here! :) Ha, that's probably the honest answer. :laff:


I was reminded of this thread when I saw... I think it is a Cadillac electric car commercial. The actor is walking through a huge house with pool/pond and lots of stuff, talking about how some Europeans take the month of August off while American's only take 2 weeks in August off and get more "stuff". Paraphrasing here, but the commercial really rubs me the wrong way and seems to be a good example of the attitude of "more stuff = better".

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...ercial-151674/

Well it is kind of true it's the upside of only taking two weeks off if you make decent money, or more honestly, it's the compensatory pleasure they still allow: having some nice stuff (of course buy stuff may mean the thrift shops as I can rationalize buying some stuff new, but not so much just to shop for googads). I mean they aren't going to allow us anything else as we live in a corporate dictatorship. We wont' go to cafes and will be too exhausted to have a social life after work, but we can at least enjoy stuff. It's not what one might choose or even what the majority who have enough income to weight stuff versus time might choose, but it never was voted on anyway. The U.S. space program mentioned in the clip of course has been discontinued and the countries doing space now and so on are places like China, the U.S. now makes use of other countries space programs. I'm so glad we bailed out GM, no wonder I can't take 4 weeks off and we can't have a space program, we have to support GM! Anyway I think for guys (and straight), while they like stuff just like women do, maybe different stuff, stuff addiction is mostly about impressing us females. :)

[pinkytoe]

I have always wondered why people want more and more even when they have what they need. I struggle with what ambition means anymore as it seems to be something like what this man started off with. A lust for more or better or what someone else has. I thought one of the more telling lines was "in the end I didn’t really do anything". He had finally realized the hollowness of his addictive and ambitious actions. Perhaps we are fortunate here for knowing the value of enough.

[SteveinMN]

I had a conversation with one of my neighbors yesterday. His son is in the process of divorcing so he has moved back here and currently is staying with neighbor's daughter. Well, part of son is staying with daughter. Turns out the guy has a penile-implant "pick-em-up" that rarely carries more than just him, a motorcycle, an ATV, a boat, fishing gear, a MIG welder, and other bits and pieces, stored in the basements and garages of four different relatives. He hasn't gone fishing in about a decade and hasn't ridden the ATV in longer than that, but he "needs" the truck to haul it all around. And he's always crying the blues about how much it costs to be him and how he can't afford to send child support to the STBX.

Sometimes you just have to wish for a flash of blinding insight to instill a Pauline kind of conversion. Why make yourself miserable and risk becoming persona non grata to your friends and family because you're so attached to stuff you don't even use? You want to own stuff? Fine. But it costs money to buy stuff and keep it. If you want or need to use the money for other things, maybe it's time to review. And it sure would help if his manhood was not defined by some Madison Avenue idea of what it takes to be a man. It's a different form of bankruptcy.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I have seen this mentality at work in my years of serving. There are servers who have to have the most amount of tables, have to win any sales contest, have to have all the attention directed towards them, have to make the most money and have the best sections/shifts and in general, have to be the Star. All I can say is that I'm grateful I'm not like that - for me I'd much rather have fewer tables, give great service and keep a low profile in general. I don't need to be the Star of anything - for that I'm grateful - and I take no identity from anything I do for money - something else I'm grateful for. It can be hard for me to deal with people who always have to be the Star, though - this is the restaurant equivalent of the OP's posted link.

Maybe it's because I have had recent brushes with death - people in my life suddenly passing on - that make me think that life truly is short. It seems like disrespecting life in a way to need to constantly be the Star. Rob