E3: Money Wealth and Greed

[MUSIC] Hey, what's up guys? Good day to you. I hope everyone listening is in a good place and are having a pleasant day. Please note that this show is meant for a mature audience. Welcome back to the Accountable Mentality podcast. My name's John and I'm back to share with you some very dynamic and thought-provoking concepts that could help you improve your life. On this show, we challenge one another to think critically about our behavior and our approach to the way that we live. The Accountable Mentality podcast aims to empower each of us to focus on getting it right, not just being right. So today, we're going to discuss something that most of us think about a lot, right? Even if we don't think about it, we're definitely affected by it. And the discussion today is about money, right? Money, wealth, and greed. So what is our infatuation with money? I mean, at least in the US, it seems everyone believes that money solves all problems. I mean, is that true? Do you think that? I don't think so. I mean, someone did tell me this morning it was pretty compelling because they told me this morning we were talking about this and they said, "Well, at least you can cry in air conditioning." Okay. I got it. I mean, I get the point. It's a little morbid, but I get it because it is hot outside. And I try to explain to you, and that's not what we're talking about. We're not really talking about the basic necessities of life. If you are starving, if you are living outside with no roof over your head, so to speak, running water, I get it. Those are extenuating circumstances, and I know that there are many, many people across the world. Unfortunately, that live like that. But beyond that, right? What? Beyond that. Most of us in the US and a lot of other places have enough money to survive. And even maybe even have excess money beyond that to maybe buy trinkets, buy things that aren't necessities. But do you think that that money is the root of all evil? Because we've heard that, right? I mean, it's possible, I guess. I mean, I think we're infatuated with money because it's what we use to buy extra conveniences and extra comforts, more elaborate food and amenities and better education and a lot of cases, better justice. But it even goes beyond that. I mean, do we, I guess especially here in the United States, do we know the difference between needs and what? The line blur is pretty quickly. Do I need my smartphone? But I need to buy a blue Yeti microphone so that my voice sounded a little better when I did this podcast. Cost me over 100 bucks and some people don't make 100 bucks in a month. Did I need that? Hell, when I'm on my third podcast. You know, it's been said that too many people spend money they earn to buy things that they don't want to impress people that they don't like. You know, we see that a lot here, right? If you're rich or financially wealthy, I would ask you, please don't put too much weight in that. Don't get high on your horse. Don't think you're all that because you got a lot of money. The amount of money you have has nothing to do with your happiness as we've discussed. It certainly doesn't say much about the caliber of person you are, which to me is the most important thing. If you're not rich, you know, don't get down on yourself. Don't feel like you're less than or unworthy or you're crappy car compared to their big truck or whatever would have you. The way life works is that we always have problems no matter how much money we have. You know, those problems just look different. You know, they say, "Mole money, mo problems," right? And that's true. It's very true. It's very true. I mean, Ken, if you're like filthy rich, if you're very rich and you're well known and you're famous, right, can you count on your friends? Do you know who really is your friend or do your so-called friends disappear when your money does? Or whenever you lose your job and you have to move to a crappy neighborhood, are they going to visit you there? When your kids have to change schools, right, they move a different school district or change from the private school to another place of education, are those parents going to bring the kids to their year child's birthday party? Yeah, those are issues that money brings to life. That folks that don't have a lot of money don't think about or don't have to deal with, right? When you're poor, you know how people feel about you. No one's holding their tongue. No one is biting their tongue, right? No one's kissing your ass because you don't have the power to change their life. What are you going to do? You don't have enough money to sue them. They don't have enough money to sue you. So, you know, I mean, but seriously, all jokes aside, think about this, right? This is how we should be thinking. How do I go about making, spending, and saving my money? Can I do better? Am I open to change in my behavior in a positive way that can affect my financial position by maybe improving my work ethic or showing better self control over frivolous spending? You know, we have to ask ourselves that, right? It's part of the accountable mentality. It starts inside, right? You can't take money with you when you die. So the important thing that we should be thinking, guys, is what can money do from my soul? What can I do with my money to enrich me internally? You see, we're constantly being shown all these things we can buy externally that's going to make us happy. So what can I do with my money that's going to enrich me on the inside? Where my happiness and my sadness reside, right? If in life, it's all of our responsibility to do our best to align ourselves with the powers of good, then even isn't it even that much more important for those of us that have more money and more power to do this also? I mean, with great power comes great responsibility. Aren't we all judged based on what we do with what we have? I mean, if I have a million dollars and I donate $100 to charity, is that the same as someone who has $100 and they give $100 to charity? Or if they have a $1000 and they give $100 to charity? And so I think that's where the conversation about wealth comes in. Because wealth, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, is plentiful supplies of a particular resource. So a lot of times we think of wealth as money and I think that is stance true, but it could also be other plentiful supplies that are very valuable. I would think that knowledge and wisdom, skills and trades, along with money and power are all examples of things that add to one's wealth. So what should we do with that wealth? How do we use our wealth to enrich us internally? How do we do that? Well, that's a good question because Jesus said about wealth, right? He said, it's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to make it into heaven. That's deep. That's deep. And you know, me personally, I'm not going to argue with Jesus for sure, but my personal thoughts on matter is that, you know, having money and just being wealthy does not make you evil. You're not a bad person because you have wealth. I think the way you acquire your wealth and the way you distribute your wealth is going to be a much better assessor of your character and what you're about. Right? There's no one really owns money or property for that matter. If you think about it, it's all part of trade, it's all moving. You may think you own it. It may seem you like you own it. You can look at your bank account and see seven zeros on it, but you go to Bank of America or Chase or Wells Fargo and you say, yes, I'd like to take out my $999,000, please and you're not going to be able to, right? Yes, and eventually I know you'll get your money. No doubt. You see what I'm saying, right? It's money ebbs and flows. But keeping the mentality and the ideology that no one actually owns money that we're just the current possessor or the current caretaker of the money is a really interesting perspective because it allows you to look at the way you spend your money differently and it may help you change your behavior. If in fact spending money or saving money is something that you struggle with. So I would say though, if you do have a lot of money, you should be happy, but not for the obvious reasons, not for what it can do for you or buy for you short of the necessities. But you should be happy if you have that money because of the power that it gives you to do good things. Right? If you're using your money to encourage positive and loving growth and creating positive and loving change in the world around you, that says a lot about who you are and that says a lot about your character. If you're using that power to offer others a hand up or provide an opportunity that wouldn't have otherwise been there, how great is that? How good is that? How much more important is that than you looking at yet another bank account with more money in it that you're just hoarding? It's important for a person who lives with an accountable mentality to have that type of self-discipline when handling their wealth. And I'm not talking just about money folks. I'm also talking about the love you have in your home, the wisdom and knowledge and the skills that you have. You do not hoard that. You share that with people who would use it for good things. That's a lot of the reason why I choose to do this podcast because God knows I don't have a lot of money. That's for sure. But some of these tough lessons that I've learned, I feel like I need to be sharing that with folks. If anything, just to help them with the way they look at things, give them a different opportunity to learn from someone else so maybe they don't have to go through some of the crap I've gone through. But who are those people that aren't showing self-control over their money? What do we call those people? Who are those people that aren't showing self-control over their lust for wealth? They've got to get it, got to get it, got to get it, don't care how they get it so long as they get it. We refer to those people as greedy. So we've talked about money. We talked about wealth, let's touch on greed and I'll get out of here and let you finish your day. Greed is very dangerous. Greed is like fear. It contaminates and attacks all of your good values. Oh yeah, think about greed. It kills honesty. How many have lied for money? How many have been corrupted, right? By money. Payoffs. Bribes. Corruption. It's rampant. There's money there will be corruption, right? It kills generosity. When you're greedy, are you really as concerned about giving as much away or being as helpful or generous? Absolutely not. You'll give as much as you need to to make you feel better about yourself, even though it may just be a token gift, right? Greed kills affection. You're not showing love to your brother or your sister when you're fighting over your parents and heritants, right? That greed will. I mean, it will destroy your family. It'll destroy your. I mean, have you ever had a greedy employer, right, or a greedy lover? Maybe a greedy friend or like a greedy sibling? Woo! That's a quick way to make an enemy, right? Whereas an accountable person, they wield their wealth like a. Like a Spartan wields a shield, right? Like Michael Jordan wields a basketball. Michael Jordan is a master with that basketball. He can spin it around his back. He can shoot threes. He can dunk it. He can dribble between his legs, right? The basketball never owns Michael. Michael is always in control. But look at the unaccountable person. The unaccountable person who goes through life maybe not thinking, or they've just come to terms and they're okay with their greedy ways. That person. They're controlled by their wealth. They don't control it. They possess their wealth, but they possess it differently. They possess their wealth like a sick person possesses a fever. Oh yeah, you got it. It's yours, but it torments the shit out of you and you never rest. You never get good sleep. You're always tired. You're always vigilant because your life is not a peaceful place. And you're constantly tormented with that fear of loss. Your greed has you constantly focused on these earthly possessions. Right? Do you know someone like that? I bet you do. I bet you know at least one person like that. That's how it goes. Whenever you're desire for shit, for your earthly possessions, that clouds your judgment. And you can't clearly see what is yours and what is your friends or what is yours and what is someone else's. When that greed pollutes your mind, where you want more than what is yours and those lines get blurred. So what good is money and power if having so much causes so much evil? I mean, how many people have fallen victim to money? How many wars have there been over money and finances and resources? Isn't money and power hordered by the most evil type of people? And don't be unaccountable, revere money because they think that that money is going to somehow substitute for their lack of character, for their lack of inner strength. That person who doesn't have courage, that person that doesn't have a strong work ethic, they believe that that pick up truck or that big house or those fancy shoes are going to make them exalt them above someone else. Right? How many times have I heard, oh, big truck, little did. Right? Like a guy that has to go by a big vehicle is compensating for something and that's of course not always the case, but it's definitely something I've heard and I'm sure you have too. So I'll stop kidding around and I'll hit you guys with some real shit and then I'm going to get off of here for a row. In the test of life, we're all learning eternal virtues. Love, compassion, courage. The tricky thing is we're learning these eternal virtues through the perception of earthly values. Right? Because there's no true here. You're not going to get true truth. You're not going to get pure truth. You're not going to get pure justice on earth. But this is where we are and this is where we're learning. So we're learning these eternal peer ideals and virtues through the perception of earthly values. In that contrast that's created between rich and poor, have and have not, that serves its purpose on earth perfectly. The mental ideas, should I do this? What's right? What's wrong? Justice, free will. All of those things are constantly tested by money in the concept of it and that is the purpose it serves on this earth. Then test gold for its value, but gold tests men for their worth. So if you're willing to work on yourself and hold yourself accountable, then you're on the right track. Life's a whirlwind. Life's crazy. So until next time, I want you all to try to put yourself out there. I want you to be actively aware of what you're thinking, how you're acting and reacting to the world around you. I want you to think about whether or not your attitude is helping you achieve happiness. I want you to show yourselves some fucking courage and do something different today instead of staying in that comfort zone. Read, listen to another experience, right? Possibly gain a new perspective in a different way of looking at things so that you can grow. The best things in life are not free. You just can't buy them. There is a difference. Anything worth having requires hard work. And trust me, you're worth it.