How to Get Rich With No Money
The buck stops here.
How to get rich with no money
I’m reading a book, written a number of years ago, called “The Rape of the Mind.” Sounds foreboding, and in many ways, it is. I’ll be writing about it another time, but right now I want to discuss just one aspect that the author, Joost Meerloo, discusses.
Money. Whether actual paper, or digital, or credit cards, commerce is about money. It’s the only way for an advanced economy to function. It gets us more product with less stress and effort. And it is thoroughly impersonal.
We order from Amazon and never talk to anyone. We buy at a store and generally have a pleasant interaction with sales staff. That’s nice. But it’s not a relationship.
I’ve said in previous posts, money isn’t real. It’s an artificial construct in our heads that is necessary for commerce, but it’s not a real thing. Consider that some people work at jobs that have no real meaning to them, so that they can get paid in money that is not real, and then buy stuff on Amazon with no personal interaction with anyone.
I have another way to get what you want/need, that is much more personal. By way of example, I need cover art for two novels I’ve written. I checked out online purveyors of such art. There’s a lot to recommend many of them. If I went that route, I would text back and forth with an artist and hopefully come up with a cover, and pay them.
Here’s what I’m doing instead. I contacted a friend who is an artist. I say friend, and she is a good friend, but our interactions tend to involve trades. When I need art, I make something for her. When she needs something made, I trade for a custom painting. What can I offer in return? I’m a skilled tradesman, an architectural woodworker to be precise. Right now, she needs to have her Victorian porch rebuilt. And I need that cover art.
This is not necessarily the most efficient way to carry out commerce, but it just may be the best way. It’s not about the money for us, because there is no money involved. It’s about us. It’s about doing for each other. Life was largely like that, once. Trades and barter went on continuously. A person’s livelihood might involve little money. Doctors took payment from farmers in chickens and canned peaches. Blacksmiths did much the same. Farmhands got free room and board and maybe a little cash, when they needed it to buy something. The farmer’s wife might make the farmhand some clothes. (Where did you think clothes came from back then, Amazon?)
It was a different world, arguably a better world, a more personal world, when commerce was about relationships as much or more than about money. Can we get back there? Should we get back there? To the extent possible, yes. Don’t expect it to make you rich, expect it to enrich you.
I haven’t had a job, with a paycheck, since I quit teaching at the age of twenty-seven. That was almost exactly half a century ago. Since that time, I’ve been a contractor (now retired, but still at it to some extent). Yes, the medium of exchange is usually money. The upside is that every commercial interaction I’ve had has been a personal, direct interaction with clients; relationships at least to a degree.
We all know something is wrong these days. We delude ourselves into believing that it all comes down to who we elect. Elect the right people, and it will all get better. No, it will not. It will get better when we all relate to each other personally, and not just within family relationships (Family relationships are not strongly encouraged by our politicians. They don’t like competing with family for your attention).
Don’t seek entertainment, seek relationships, personal involvement. Make it personal. Make everything personal. One on one. I measure wealth not in dollars, but in relationships. I am rich. I am wealthy. It is because I never focused on the dollars.
Some measure success in terms of money in the bank. I’m in favor of money in the bank, but it is not a singular measure of success. You can’t buy friends, and you can’t buy respect. You have to earn both friends and respect the hard way. With personal commitment to each other. That is what we should all work for.
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Here’s a song from a different perspective:
Comments?
One could have money in a mostly local village/tribal economy to the benefit of that economy. The main problem would occur if someone has so much money that they don't produce anything anymore, only consume, hurting their relationships with others in the community. Conversely, a global economy that has destroyed villages, tribes and families is not going to get much better (will probably get worse) without money.
I'm also a woodworker involved in restoration.
My problem with your analogy of barter is when I soend three weeks fixing someones windows/door...whatever and they spend one hour (an example) doing something for me.
Or conversely I know tricks with windows and have them back working within 1 hour and they spend 3 weeks doing something for me.
How do equivalents work?