Monetary Problems

Desperation, apathy, and greed often seem to drive various people to either hoard or spend money, perhaps without ever taking a moment or two to evaluate the true nature of money and the craze surrounding it in American culture (and other societies too).  Money can either erroneously be seen as the source of all evil, rather than having the potential to motivate every category of evil acts, or as the single, grand solution to all of humanity's collective and personal problems.  In reality, money is neither the heart of reality nor something to dismiss altogether, especially since it is so intimately connected with morality and social structures.

Epistemological limitations and moral flaws cannot possibly be rectified by having all the resources in the universe, but having money does allow for an otherwise unreachable kind of practical security amidst life's uncertainties and trials that go far deeper than having or not having money.  In this sense, monetary problems can be some of the most grueling.  A lack of money can mean a lack of life-preserving factors like medicine, food, and water, not to mention a lack of relaxed leisure time that can so heavily impact a person's quality of life.  All but a few could always benefit from having additional savings just in case random trials befall them, for money softens many blows of life indeed.

Resolving the problems money can fix is enormous not merely because money is sometimes necessary to obtain the solutions, but because the problems money helps with--medical interventions, transportation, housing, mental health treatments, and so on--are vital to wellbeing and, in some cases, survival itself, not that survival is important outside the context of foundational philosophical ideas and values anyway, and not that survival without some kind of wellbeing is even personally fulfilling.  Monetary problems are not the deepest possible ones and usually do not overlap with the deepest kind of trials, but they are still significant parts of life in most cultures.  The paradoxical nature of money is that in conventional societies, it is a necessity to live or at least to live easily and with less vulnerability, yet it is still secondary to other parts of life and at best simply a way to achieve some other goal.

Money is despite its practical convenience and cultural status at most a means to various ends, these destinations often having more centrality, gravity, and even personal stakes than the financial means of reaching them.  Bills, coins, cryptocurrencies, and other possible forms of functional currency like animals or spices do not even have any inherent economic value and could not have either financial purpose or personal, moral, or metaphysical significance apart from the goal of providing security or allowing one to achieve certain goals.  Monetary problems are thus not capable of being as central or vital as epistemological, existential (most of the time), and moral problems, before which money is but a petty shadow that is inherently far from the nature of core reality.

Only by understanding these objective truths can someone intentionally find the greatest possible rationalistic awareness and personal peace about the matter.  Money is neither an utterly trivial part of human life (though it is objectively trivial compared to logic, justice, self-awareness, friendship, God, and so on) nor the light that illuminates the most crucial parts of reality or resolves all problems.  When it comes to the kinds of problems that can be avoided or lessened by having money, wealth in general and disposable income in particular is still an extremely helpful solution.  One must not distort this in one way or another to ensure total philosophical accuracy and as much personal stability as one can attain.