Is Money the Biggest Barrier to Self-Actualization?
Not the lack of it. The Obsession with it above all else.
8:22 pm Concluding Thoughts
— I’m plagued by being obsessed with money. I have big dreams and more money is required to fulfill them. Dreams are unrealized desires. Desires are ____ and come from ____. Desires are basically a contract to remain unhappy with yourself until they are fulfilled. Happiness and self-actualization walk hand in hand.
Potential derives from natural skill and circumstances. Reaching your potential is an honorable goal in life. Is thinking you have a high potential a barrier to self-actualization without money?
15 Minutes Non-stop 7:54 (ish)
Hey SlowwCo, just did an extensive creep on your site and blog and I dig what you’re doing.
I too like thinking about things bahhaaa. It’s funny cause growing up I didn’t really think about things at all! I was just busy having fun. Baseball, friends, school, church, etc. my plate was full. Who cares about the why’s behind things when my bubble worked perfectly well for me.
Anyways, I got old. I got hair under my pits (way later than anyone else by the way) and eventually started to use my brain. None of my brain was truly used until I got done with my Masters degree. Ironic eh? Shoot, why am I beating around the bush here! Get to the question, Paul!
Well, I didn’t say exactly what I was gonna write, I just said I’d write for at least fifteen minutes straight. Which reminds me… I forgot to look at the time! AHHH. Okay, 7:57 let’s say I’m 3 minutes in. GO!
Money money money. Go to school get a job make yo money! I’m 27 now and I guess when I look back on my childhood and early adolescence I had close to zero thoughts about what my life would look like at 27. And shoot at 27, I have no clue what life will be like in 5 years at 32 or 10 at 37. Scary!!
Money, money, money. I always associated work with doing things I don’t want to do. It’s scary. Trading your precious time where you could be doing fun things for an hourly wage sounds and sounded horrible! But anyways, I worked and worked and paid my bills as they came up. I didn’t have much and I come from a family with decent money. Although my family was very conscious about how they spent it.
I keep beating around the subject! What is self-actualization? Well in hip terms today it can be described as being your best self, your highest self.
That’s an honorable mission! And there’s definitely no way to reach that unless you’re fed, housed, etc. Those lower level needs have to be fulfilled before you get to the top of that pyramid Maslow so kindly made for us.
It’s gotta be more difficult in a sense for … Whoa I just backspaced. Crap! that’s not part of the rules oops. …. privileged people to get to those higher-level needs, right? Nahh. That’s definitely not a rule. But people with all their basic needs met are constantly getting themselves into trouble. People who are given the money and have friends still might not be self-actualized.
On the flip side, a poor person in a 3rd world country may have a better shot at self-actualization. Ha! I have no stats or data or anything. This would be tough to attain, I mean can you even measure self-actualization? Not sure. But without the limitless doors that money can offer, the person in a third-world country may not suffer from the FOMO that comes with a taste of the luxury and experiences that money can buy.
Can a farmer self-actualize easier than a person growing up today? Maybe, maybe not. It’s kinda sad to me that not everybody has the same opportunities than others. We’re not all handed the same cards. I got handed a great card! But I’m not anywhere near self-actualization. Well shoot maybe I am, bahaa I don’t think so.
Well shoot what’s stopping me then… Money? What would money bring to me in my life? What do I actually want to do with the money. I’m an experience whore. There I said it. But I know that experiences aka highs are temporary. Also, I know that success is helping other people succeed. If I had more money I can help more people succeed.
I don’t know what exactly I’d do or how I’d do it, but I know we’re wired to be givers. Givers of time, energy, money, experience, etc. It feels good to give! It seems to satisfy our “why am I here” moments that arise from time to time. Or maybe not satisfy it, but temporarily distract us from those questions.
A family. To have a family, to perhaps fulfill our biological duties on this earth, our intrinsic need some may argue, I don’t even know what I’m saying at this point, oh ya.. a family requires money! A ton of it! Ya ya ya.. it depends on where you live and your comfort requirements, but being from a first world relatively wealthy family my needs are high!
Another thought.. What doors does money open up? How much of our brain is occupied by numbers. OOOo there’s the second half of that question. I know I’m constantly running numbers in my head. That can’t be healthy. If I somehow came accross a ton of money, or built a great business what new questions would I be asking myself?
Alright let’s wrap it up. Money, without question, is not essential for self actualization. As long as basic needs are met. Thinking of money 24/7 is the literal devil. Perhaps the issue and the beauty of life today is the 1000’s of doors that are open to people in situations similar to mine.
I want work to be play. The moment work is play rather than sacrifice, you’re retired! Now how to manifest such a thing like that. Oiii. Experimentation and iteration I guess.
Oh wow I’ve been going for wayyy to long it’s 8:16! Let’s see what came out.
