if not money, then what?

Further thinking on my last post, if we don't approach life's decisions based on money, then what? Once you get past the inherent "heresy" of anti-capitalist living as an American, the answers become quite clear. Namely, we are to focus on all of the things that we claim to be striving towards by earning more money - freedom, happiness, beauty, independence, love.

All of these items do not go hand-in-hand with money. Pop music got it right ("Can't Buy Me Love"), so why can't we? In fact, if anything, money only lengthens the journey to these items. It gets in the way. It confuses. It pollutes our identity with self-images based on our finances. Sure, "the system" is built to allow those with more money to feel that they are closer to achieving more "enlightenment", but those who bravely ignore "the system" quickly find that there are better ways of reaching those goals.

For example, "the system" teaches us to cherish material possessions to make life feel more worthwhile and yet, disregarding material possessions as meaningless trinkets makes us feel more fulfilled and allows us to relax in our "life journey" knowing that we have better goals to strive towards - goals that don't need to be bought and/or replaced because they frequently go obsolete. Material possessions can be taken away, broken, devalued, or lost - my experience reading a good book, taking a walk with my child, or learning a skill can not (short of coming down with Alzheimer's).

It is important to remember (and naive to forget) that money, itself, is not evil - only the way that we place it on a pedestal and use it as a driving force for all of life's progress.