There is a famous saying in the book "La Traviata": "Money is a good servant and a bad master." Whether to be the master of money or to be the slave of money reflects two different views on money.
The outlook on money is the fundamental view and attitude towards money, which is closely connected with the outlook on life. Money was created to meet the needs of commodity exchange. With the high development of commodity economy, money has gradually become a symbol of wealth. The bourgeois view of money has two characteristics. One is "money first". They proceed from their own class and personal self-interest, put money in the supreme position, and focus on money in everything. As long as you can get money, you can do whatever it takes. The second is "money talks". They exaggerate the role of money, advocating that "money makes the world go round", "money determines everything" and "money is happiness".
Marxism scientifically reveals the essence and historical role of money. It believes that money, as material wealth, is created by human beings and serves human beings. Human beings should be the masters of money, not the slaves of money. People rely on their own labor to create wealth and acquire property. Money is glorious, but it is shameful to get something for nothing through exploitation, robbery and fraud. Money plays an important role in promoting the exchange of goods, but money is not everything. There are things in the world that are more important and valuable than money. Marie Curie gave up the huge sum of money from the "radium patent", resolutely announced the technology of refining radium to the world, and donated the world's first gram of radium worth 1 million francs to the research institute for cancer treatment. In 1950, the famous mathematician Hua Luogeng refused the lucrative offer of a tenured professor at the University of Illinois in the United States, crossed the stormy waves of the Pacific with his wife and children, and devoted himself to the construction of the motherland.
Money is a necessary condition for a happy life, but money does not equal happiness, because human beings cannot live without spiritual life. People who are rich in material life but empty in spiritual life will not have real happiness.
I love money, get it in a wise way, and use it wisely. Money is not everything, but nothing is impossible without money. When it comes to money, everyone has his own view of money, just like everyone Every individual has his or her own outlook on life. We live in a contradictory world, and everything has two sides. Therefore, when we look at anything or anything, we should look at things in a principled and connected and developmental perspective. Money is closely related to our lives. The status and role of money from ancient times to the present cannot be changed by our human power. However, it is static and we are dynamic. It has huge transformation ability, so we can own it and use it. It makes our ideals come true. However, we cannot go too far, otherwise we will act like a miser. The key to treating money is to see its huge role and highlights, so that it can serve us, help us, and enable us to better achieve our goals.
How to treat money and power is a common problem encountered in the journey of life. If we want to establish a outlook on life that serves the people wholeheartedly, we must establish a correct outlook on money and power. The outlook on money and the outlook on power are both important components of the outlook on life. In particular, establishing a correct outlook on money, that is, a correct view and attitude towards money, is an issue that no one can avoid.
Money, as a general term for currency, is a product of the development of commodity exchange. It is a special commodity that serves as a fixed general equivalent. It can be exchanged with various commodities, which makes money a symbol of wealth. Whoever has more money will possess and control more wealth. As a result, money became the object of people's pursuit, and money fetishism, or money worship, emerged.
1. There is a Yap Island in the Carolai Islands in the Pacific. The residents of the island use the mined stones as money, that is, they obtain currency directly from nature. The stone money, known as "fi", was mined from another island 400 miles south of Yap. As long as the texture meets the requirements, the value of the stone depends on the size of the stone. The larger the stone, the greater the value.
Because people are pursuing greater value, many local residents take huge risks to mine large stones from overseas islands and transport them back.
Because the stone is large, it is inconvenient to use it as a trading tool. Therefore, when the residents of the island conduct transactions, they do not move the stone. Instead, the owner of the stone only makes a verbal statement telling everyone that the stone has changed hands. It is said that such an interesting thing once happened on Yap Island: a wealthy family claimed to have a huge and boundless stone "Fi" on the island 400 miles away to represent their family's huge wealth. In fact, the residents of Yap Island have never seen what the stone looks like and how big it is. The wealth of this wealthy family only exists as a concept in the minds of the island residents.
In 1898, the German government took over the Carolais from Spain. Managers planned to renovate the roads on Yap Island, but the island residents resisted.
When the Germans learned that all the wealth of the islanders was the stone "fei" scattered around the island, they came up with a way to subdue these residents. They sent people to use black dye to draw black crosses on all the "fei" stones on the island, and announced that the stones with black crosses were no longer currency. In this way, the island residents suddenly lost all their wealth and had to build the road honestly according to the will of the Germans. At this time, the Germans sent people to clean the black crosses on all the "Fi" stones, declaring that these stones were still money. The people of Yap were overjoyed at their renewed wealth.
Unfortunately, in the era of monetary economy, money has to a considerable extent monotonized people's pursuit of wealth diversification goals. Money seems to represent and measure the value of all wealth in the world, and seems to be exchangeable for all wealth in the world. People's pursuit and possession of it seems to be synonymous with the pursuit and possession of all wealth. In this way, the purpose of life, apart from the pursuit and possession of money, will no longer have anything else of value. There is no doubt that this is an illusion, but this illusion confuses the vast majority of people. Especially when money can be used to avoid labor and personal punishment, buy marriage, and compensate for life, money is directly related to the value of life. , the illusion that "money talks" has become even more widespread.
Based on the understanding that money is a "comprehensive representation" of wealth but not wealth itself, and that money cannot completely measure, represent and exchange all wealth, our wisdom about money is: in real social life, We must pursue money not only to obtain the wealth it can represent (such as housing, cars, etc.), but also to pursue the wealth that money cannot represent (such as inner peace); we must have a certain amount of money, but we must not stop at it. Just in the situation of having money, you must also enjoy the real wealth itself that money can exchange for, that is, you must be able to spend money. Otherwise, we will just possess the form of money and wealth in vain and become an authentic "miser"; we must pursue money in a certain time and space, and we must give up the pursuit of money in a certain time and space to enjoy enough leisure in life. In such a wise life, money will always be your loyal servant, and you will win the rich content of life and the true realization of the value of life. In other words, you are surviving and living wisely.
Concerning money, money and life, money and society, many thinkers in history have shown strong pessimism. Marx fiercely criticized the "fetishism" of commodity currency and determined that under the conditions of commodity currency, especially in capitalist society where labor is transformed into commodities and currency is transformed into capital, this "fetishism" has an ineradicable attribute. Deeply enslaved or "alienated" human existence. Therefore, overthrowing the capitalist social system and abolishing the commodity and currency system have become the basic prerequisites for the ideal construction of a better society in the future. German social thinker Simmel believes that the reality that "money is the secular god" is sad, because money is just an empty form, not wealth itself, and cannot represent all wealth. "Money is only the path to the end." A bridge of values, and people cannot live on the bridge.” Unlike Marx, Simmel did not have an ideal design to abolish the monetary system. He just sighed helplessly in the face of reality, full of endless sadness.
We "unfortunately" live in a historical stage and society where money exists. In the foreseeable future, we cannot abolish money at all, but is it necessary for us to succumb to money or indulge in pessimism about money? At least, I think it is not necessary. For individuals, if they can treat money wisely and only use it as a tool or means of life, rather than as the purpose of life, I am sure that this kind of life with real content will have a rich wealth structure. Life is a relatively successful and valuable life, although it is not and cannot be a perfect life.