In fact, money should only be a medium of exchange and that is what it was created for at some point. However… man is inventive, likes to shape the world to his own will, is greedy for power, prestige and so on. These are all things for which money can be “used”. Society has shaped itself this way and the question is whether there is a way back, if there should be one at all. The many meanings of money.
Money
Van Dale says the following about it: general medium of exchange of metal or paper, or cashless, which means that we still officially see it as a medium of exchange. A means of exchange that goes further than exchanging goods one for one. After all, you can exchange money with anything and it is therefore not focused on one person you want to do business with. Everything represents a monetary value.
But it is no longer just the medium of exchange, because money is much more. Money is emotion, money is power, money is even an obstacle etc. etc.
Shortage
Most of humanity is deficient in it. Some people have it every now and then, others chronically and others never actually have it. We call the latter group survival and although we often associate it with the third world, there is still abject poverty elsewhere in the world and a shortage can cost lives. One person sees this as a crime, after all, there is enough in the world, but the other sees it as part of nature. Under the motto weak animals do not survive either.
Poverty as we know it in the Netherlands is not life-threatening, but all the extras that we have come to take for granted in the Western world are not always included in the real minimum income. The fact that this was not the case for most of humanity in the past is no longer relevant. The world offers it now and then you or your children are entitled to it, or at least that is how it is explained.
Abundance
In addition, you have the people who have an abundance and, except for the benefactors who do something good by setting things up structurally, the majority simply like to be rich. After all, wealth is power, prestige, opens doors, etc. But actually it is a strange phenomenon, if you have a lot of something then you have prestige. However, this is not the case, because it actually only applies when it comes to money. Because money opens doors, offers you security, you can buy almost anything with it and it is power.
It is not uncommon to see that a certain group sees it as self-esteem. Not that it is explained that way, but that special house, that special car, those expensive watches and vacations, if you realistically look at why you have or want to have them now, will certainly partly fall under the motto of prestige. Many people look up to people with a lot of money, especially if they have expensive things in return. The feeling that people look up to you often makes the man or woman with abundance feel powerful. In fact, you get your self-esteem from the wrong things, but no questions are asked because of the large amount of money. It goes without saying that this does not apply to everyone and therefore money is not always a bad thing. You may also look up to someone because of the way he or she has collected money. Think of something heroic, businesslike or creative, a brain, etc.
When is enough enough?
An additional effect of having a lot of money is that a large group wants to have more and more. Not so much from the fact that one follows one’s passion and this coincidentally (or less coincidentally) yields a lot of money, but because collecting money is addictive. Van Dale says about this: unable to break free from the said habit. With an addiction you are not your own boss, the addiction makes you do things that do not come from yourself, as conscious actions. The idea that money can do this to you can be scary. Continuing to consciously manage money, even if the amount is not necessary, does give you the realization that you still decide everything yourself.
Finally
Money is not dirty, there is nothing wrong with money, but what matters is what people do with it!