It is total anti-capitalist horseshit that money cannot buy you happiness - the worst kind of self-delusional concocted propaganda that the hopelessly stuck-in-the-middle types placate themselves with. The truth is, the kind of happiness that lots of money generates – the ‘look World, how successful I am – so worship me’ type of happiness is deeply ingrained and Darwinian. Anyone denying that is bullshitting.
However the pursuit of happiness too brings another kind of happiness, which a lot of us, a substantial chunk of us, are familiar with. Infact, its a personal choice whether we pursue money, happiness or both. It depends on our internal frame of reference. The Buddha Siddhartha was a rich guy, and before giving everything up, he had lots of everything – money, girlfriends, cars (or its nearest equivalent), power … you name it. And it was money which bought him the happiness of giving everything up and search for Nirvana.
I believe that the happiest amongst us are are those who can draw the boundary lines between the kinds of happiness to look for. Happiness is there in throwing food up, having wild orgies in your nineties, inheriting money from your husband you just killed, reading this blog, fighting for peace and writing free software to bring Bill Gates down !
Master Buddha Gates is not a fictional character – he embodies the soul and spirit of Enlightenment : when people can give up their inheritance and enormous wealth solely for the pursuit of self-knowledge. Going back to my earlier premise – money can buy us happiness, particularly when we prepared the give up the right sum for it ! I agree however that Buddha need not necessarily have gone to Mars looking for it; he was giving up a bit too much. But then again, he is a Gates – how much is too much ?
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