squinney, Thomas; now stop that bickering!
the best thing to do is to put all that loose cash in a safe reliable place until this little tiff is settled - maybe a bank - er, trust account, - maybe bonds........
oh, here, i'll hold it!
Perhaps I'm being unclear. I agree wholeheartedly that money alone cannot buy happiness for all people. For me it could. My excursions to Costa Rica have proven this. You've heard me say before "a happier populace, I've never seen". While there; no one is happier than me. Given a windfall of money, I'd relocate there in a heartbeatÂ… and may yet without it. In the event it became boring; there are a thousand other places I want to see. If you consider money a means to an endless, rather than the end itself, than I believe you are perfectly capable of purchasing happiness with it. I know I am. Remember when Forest Gump learned that he didn't have to worry about money no more? He thought; "Well that's good, one less thing".
I should disclose that in my entire life, whether I've had money or not, I've always been a pretty happy person. The "Costa Rican Withdrawals" I'm going through now, are as close as I've ever been to depression. On the other hand, even as I write this, I'm sitting here smiling... and I have a pretty ugly day ahead of me.
I was really hoping that that would be my time to win!!
O'Bill, when I read your first paragraph I was gonna say what you beat me to in your second... yer just happy!! :-D
OCCOM BILL wrote: I believe it would take an exceptionally unhappy person to remain unhappy once they can afford to do what ever they like with their life.
Perfect choice of words.
I have been trying to put this argument in words for a while now but it always ends up long-winded.
This is great essence.
BoGoWo wrote:i remember a customer who was a dentist. he had money coming out of his ears, and he and 'Ms. Dentist' wanted only the most expensive (not best) appliances and trim that i could find.
it also became apparent that his debts were readily keeping pace with his income, and he had to virtualy 'live' at his office, and was constantly responding to 'final notices' with 'payments in full'.
Ms Dentist totally bored herself with every child appliance known to 'yuppydom'.
he was a nervous wreck, and a thoroughly nasty man!
happy?
Great point.
I think that the only way for non-rich people to be happy is to give up the "yuppiedom" mentality; to cut back on material wants and curb the instinct to "prove yourself" in order to be able to save something - both in terms of money and in terms of time.
I believe that for happiness to occur, a good chunck of your time needs to be spent in the presence of people you have some sort of emotional attachment to.
sozobe wrote:O'Bill, when I read your first paragraph I was gonna say what you beat me to in your second... yer just happy!! :-D
Be that as it may; I assure you I am capable of purchasing additional happiness. :wink:
For a while, anyway... ;-)
excellent points;
money buys nothing, if not 'freedom of choice';
and happiness is 'people'!
The Science of Getting Rich (Hereinafter SOGR) Chapter 5 Increasing Life:
"The intelligent substance which is all, and in all, and which lives in all and lives in you, is a consciously living substance. Being a consciously living substance, it must have the nature and inherent desire of every living intelligence for increase of life. Every living thing must continually seek for the enlargement of its life, because life, in the mere act of living, must increase itself.
A seed, dropped into the ground, springs into activity, and in the act of living produces a hundred more seeds; life, by living, multiplies itself. It is forever becoming more. It must do so, if it continues to be at all.
Intelligence is under this same necessity for continuous increase. Every thought we think makes it necessary for us to think another thought; consciousness is continually expanding. Every fact we learn leads us to the learning of another fact; knowledge is continually increasing. Every talent we cultivate brings to the mind the desire to cultivate another talent; we are subject to the urge of life, seeking expression, which ever drives us on to know more, to do more, and to be more.
In order to know more, do more, and be more we must have more. We must have things to use, for we learn, and do, and become only by using things. We must get rich so that we can live more.
The desire for riches is simply the capacity for larger life seeking fulfillment. Every desire is the effort of an unexpressed possibility to come into action. It is power seeking to manifest which causes desire. That which makes you want more money is the same as that which makes the plant grow; it is life seeking fuller expression.
The one living substance must be subject to this inherent law of all life. It is permeated with the desire to live more, and that is why it is under the necessity of creating things. The one substance desires to live more in and through you. Therefore it wants you to have all the things you can use.
It is the desire of God that you should get rich. He wants you to get rich because he can express himself better through you if you have plenty of things to use in giving him expression. He can live more in you if you have unlimited command of the means of life.
The universe desires you to have everything you want to have.
Nature is friendly to your plans.
Everything is naturally for you.
Make up your mind that this is true.
It is essential, however, that your purpose should harmonize with the purpose that is in all.
You must want real life, not mere pleasure or sensual gratification. Life is the performance of function, and the individual really lives only when he performs every function ?- physical, mental, and spiritual ?- of which he is capable, without excess in any.
You do not want to get rich in order to live swinishly, for the gratification of animal desires. That is not life. But the performance of every physical function is a part of life, and no one lives completely who denies the impulses of the body a normal and healthful expression."
So, it's not about just being rich to buy yachts, unless a yacht would help you fulfill life. Would a yacht take you to parts of the world in a personally enjoyable way that would allow you to learn about parts of the world in which you ar interested? Just as Bill has been saying (as I understand it) about his visits to Costa Rica?
squinney, I see two sides to that yacht scenario. When traveling the world, you want to make contact with people during the travel and at your destination. It would seem to me that a yacht isolates the traveler unless he brings family and friends along on the voyage, and the invidiual is able to mix with people once at the destination. Staying in first class hotels to be catered to all your whims and desires is not really seeing the country one travels to - IMHO. I could be wrong, but I highly value my contacts with people on my trips.
squinney; i think you have just managed to fill a post to its absolute fullest!
if this were life...............................
[will that be Visa, or Mastercard?]
Cicerone- Perhaps YOU want to have contact, but others may not. It is up to the individual to find what makes them happy. In the end I may donate my symbolic yacht to the Yale Yacht Clubbecause I have watched them compete on TV for several years with an inferior yacht. You may donate yours to a poor fishing village after having made contact with them and taught them to fish. Because my gratitude reaches 20 and yours 100 doesn't matter (according to Wattles) because we have each shown gratitude in a way that again makes each of us individually happy.
BO GO WO- Sorry, all I have is a debit card. But I'll be happy to send you an IOU.
I forgot to add that other result of the study that was done on happiness and income. Those who were indigent, were miserable.
squinney, as long as the Bi plays, and as long as you manage the books, you'll stay out of debtor's prison.
Still like Thoreau's observation;
"...simplicity, simplicity, simplicity..."
But then he didn't have no family nor cubs.
and he obviously didn't sell real estate!
Hi, Letty!
Some things I like simple... Like not acquiring things that require more dusting, more washing, more scrubbing, more mowing.
Some things I do NOT like simple... Like meals, books, and my spouse's mind.
Was Thoreau married?
Letty, But debtor's prison means free transportation to Australia. Not too bad a deal, if you ask me! LOL
No, squinney. Thoreau was NOT married. That's the reason he could afford to go to Walden and watch the ants. Me? I can watch 'em for nothing.
C.I. Poor old Columbus. That Italian did all that stuff for Spain and ended up without a pot. They won't let 'ya grow that stuff in debtor's prison, ya know. Even Australia and Canada aren't that liberal.
And for dys. Didn't the Lord buy you a porshe instead of a mercedes-Benz? For shame!
