With luck, it buys a state in which we can find happiness.
Is it possible to be happy without money? I’d say it’s only possible for extraordinary people, not for the majority of us.
Is it possible to have money and still not be happy? Of course, many people have money but still feel empty, lonely, misunderstood, apathetic, bitter, regretful, etc. And many people have money, but they cannot be happy because their health is bad and it is not solvable, not even with their riches (e.g. treatment resistant depression, terminal cancer).
I’d say, for almost everyone, money is a necessary condition for happiness, but it is not a sufficient condition.
heavy@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
IMO the saying is more about how when you eliminate the struggle to acquire wealth, there’s less meaning in your day to day life. I’m sure folks like Musk and Bezos for example are looking for something that makes them feel purposeful, like going into space. Not necessarily trying to enrich the lives of others.
I agree though that not having to worry about bills or putting food on the table is it’s own kind of happiness. I think there’s a healthy balance.
whofearsthenight@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I think it is that and a bit about not letting envy of other people’s wealth/property interfere with your ability to be happy, eg: keeping up with the Jones’s. Obviously you can be wealthy and still not be happy (see Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams, etc) but for the vast majority I think the thing is that money, or specifically the lack of it, is the source of a quite a lot of unhappiness. Now, maybe if I had a million dollars, I’d still be a miserable bastard, but given that most of the problems I have now are either directly money related or significantly impacted by the lack of said money, I kind of doubt it.