Money, Happiness, and Worth

What do we value?

Two Men Contemplating the Moon by Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1825-30 (public domain, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

“Money is human happiness in the abstract.” — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851

Money is one of those topics that traditionally hasn’t been discussed in polite society.

People who don’t have enough of it may be embarrassed or anxious, and people who do have enough of it may not give it a second thought. But it’s on all of our minds.

Not necessarily in an obsessive way, but certainly in a practical way.

Money defines how we live: the circumstances, possessions, and even the people with which we surround ourselves.

Like it or not, it also determines how we’re judged. Our classist tendencies still tend to force rank strata of society based on wealth, or lack of it.

And, all too often, money is at the core of how we define our happiness. Too little, and we spend too much time worrying about the next paycheck or even the next meal. Too much, and like King Midas, we find ourselves becomin…