“Observe all men; thy self most.” — Benjamin Franklin

Part 2… It seems I’m not the only one that wonders about the meaning of our current productivity.

Po Bronson wrote an article in Fast Company about “What Should I Do With My Life” and why money will not fund dreams. He writes, “Shouldn’t I make money first — to fund my dream? The notion that there’s an order to your working life is an almost classic assumption: Pay your dues, and then tend to your dream.”

“It turns out that having the financial independence to walk away rarely triggers people to do just that. The reality is, making money is such hard work that it changes you. It takes twice as long as anyone plans for. It requires more sacrifices than anyone expects. You become so emotionally invested in that world — and psychologically adapted to it — that you don’t really want to ditch it.”

“I met many people who had left the money behind. But having ‘enough’ didn’t trigger the change. It had to get personal: Something had to happen such as divorce, the death of a parent, or the recognition that the long hours were hurting one’s children. (One man, Don Linn, left investment banking after he came home from a business trip and his two-year-old son didn’t recognize him.)”

“The ruling assumption is that money is the shortest route to freedom. Absurdly, that strategy is cast as the ‘practical approach.’ But in truth, the opposite is true. The shortest route to the good life involves building the confidence that you can live happily within your means (whatever the means provided by the choices that are truly acceptable to you turn out to be).”

“It’s scary to imagine living on less. But embracing your dreams is surprisingly liberating. Instilled with a sense of purpose, your spending habits naturally reorganize, because you discover that you need less. This is an extremely threatening conclusion. It suggests that the vast majority of us aren’t just putting our dreams on ice — we’re killing them.”

Fast Company has mulled about this topic many times. There’s an interview with Jacob Needleman, philosopher and author of the book, “Money and the Meaning of Life”.

“Having lots of money can be like a drug. It can make you feel powerful and giddy. It can convince you that everything’s going to be okay. Years ago they asked the great fighter Joe Louis what he thought about money, and he said, ‘I don’t like money very much, but it calms my nerves.’ Money makes us unjustifiably feel that we’re better and more important than we really are. When money can make you feel humble, then I think it’s really useful. But if it fattens your ego, which it often does, then look out.”

“That way lies madness. That’s what all the Greek tragedies are about — hubris — and that’s part of the problem with money. It is greatness, it is power, it is beauty. Money is about love and relationships. It has a wonderful power to bring people together as well as tear them apart. You can’t escape money. If you run from it, it will chase you and catch you. Even Thoreau today would need a real estate agent to help him buy the cabin at Walden Pond.”

“If we don’t understand our relationship to money in this culture, then I think we’re doomed. If you don’t know how you are toward money and really understand that relationship, you simply don’t know yourself. Period.”

Know thyself… now that’s an undertaking.