Universally we all know money doesn't buy happiness but for some reason we will not give up our persistent pursuit of money and success under the guise of a better life for ourselves and our family.
Over time I've come to realize we don't want to give up on our pursuit because isn't not happiness we seek we are pursuing hope…The Great Financial Hope.
The hope that when we get money our problems will go away
The hope that when we get money we will feel more valuable, self confident, and worthy
So to say that the pursuit of money won't work is hard for people receive…cause it's a shock to their system. It negates their hopes. It challenges their sense of themselves and makes them ponder the imponderable. "What will make my problems go away, if not money?, What will make me feel more valuable, if not success?"
We see other people's success and think Gosh they have it…they have that thing that I am striving for. And we tell ourselves they are there; that place of inner peace and happiness that we so long for. And we tell ourselves if I could just get there…I will be free.
Here's how Rick Rubin describes this phenomenon on the Broken Record podcast while speaking to Andre 3000:
Rick: When you suffer from depression let's say and you feel like there's this hole in you, you don't know what it is, you just know you feel bad
But you have this dream that well I'm gonna do this through music….and when I do that the holes gonna go away
Andre: oh no
Rick: But at least during that time you have hope because you know I'm going to work really hard because I wanna feel better than I feel now and you do all this work and that hole is the thing that allows you to have that drive and perspective to break through and then you break through and your dreams come true and the hole is exactly the same
Andre: yes, and actually it opens up a little bit more
Rick: Absolutely cuz now what I was spending all my time; my way of solving it, I did it and it didn't work at all. If anything, like you said maybe it's worse.
We often pursue something outside of ourselves to feel fufilled. Believing that money or success will solve our problems.. its what gets us up in the morning. So we can have something to hold on to because if not, when will the suffering ever end? The good thing is the solution to all your problems is already here.
In the Movie Hunger, the lady chef said "I want to be special". She wanted to be apart of the Celebrity Chef's team because from afar she said to herself that's what special is.
Of course like us she thought being special was having financial success and recognition like the Head Chef. Until the moment when they are at the hospital. When they sat and talked after the Celebrity Chef had been stabbed by his sus chef. Where she expressed her philosophy that food is about love and he disagreed. In that moment, she had an epiphany and realized her family's "crybaby noodles" was in fact special. Her culture, her style of cooking, and her grit was special. SHE WAS and had always been special. So she realized something the Celebrity Chef knew from the moment he hired her. Because it was her brand of "special" that he wanted.
A lot of times in life we look for things outside of us to feel special. I know I did.
For years I was searching for affirmation for others and the amount of money that would make me feel special, like my family and society implicitly and explicitly told me would come once I got there. I spent those years hiding who I was replacing my uniqueness with uniformity in order to be special. Always wondering why I never measured up. But after 20 years of searching outside of me I'm now realizing what I already am is what makes me special. Embracing that is what will make you feel fufilled.
In this way when Lecrae Says in the song "Broken" "Regardless of our money we all 'broke' together". We all are broken. We all have problems, problems don't go away. Money won't fill the hole. So it's not about making problems disappear its about the attitude you have when faced with problem and challenges in life. We are all broken in some way so if you think someone else's life is better because of what they have you are fooling yourself. Their life can only be better because of who they know they are. Never for what they have. That's how God levels the playing field.
So you say:
If money's not gonna solve my problems then what will?
If money's not gonna make me feel more valuable then what will?
You. You will.
By knowing, being, & doing You. And that's it. Just that Simple not that Easy. But worth it.