In our current world, being rich is equated to how much money one has. After all, this image is presented in all forms of media. The king decked out in jewelry and gold. The cosmopolitan businessman swimming in a vault of gold. The rapper flashing his $100 dollar bills as he’s decked out in gold chains. Money is given such reverence, it has fooled everyone in the world that it is the one-all be-all of how rich someone is.

Real wealth is not in money.

It is in the assets you own. The connections you form. Your family. Your land. All of these form what is considered true wealth. Money is nothing but an exchange medium. It can be in the form of anything. Bottle caps, metal coins, paper money, even 0s and 1s of a computer. But what you own, what connects you to this world as an individual and a unit, cannot be replaced. When one covets money to the extent where it becomes their sole obsession, what they are really doing is lying to themselves of their true value. No matter how much money one acquires, it does not make them any richer. You can buy labor, you can buy cars, houses, even friends. But most of these will not be considered real wealth. If you can only acquire people through buying them rather than forming a bond with them — if you can only obtain assets through purchasing them — if friends can only come because you flash your money at them — you have obtained nothing but false wealth. And when that money is gone or worthless, as all money eventually becomes, then you become worthless yourself. How will you get those things then? Your mind will say “I’ll just get more money.” And then you have truly failed yourself.

Wealth is produced from inside you and those you surround yourself with.

The truly wealthy person produces real value. Whether through his hands, or through the capability of forming bonds with people. Being able to relate with them and build them up rather than seeing them as just temporal labor that can be replaced with another individual, unlike money which can be substituted with another form of money. Truly wealthy people can weather many storms. Recessions, famines, even war, for the valuable person will be resistant to all these forces. Self-sufficient and with people around them who will support them in times of trouble. And at the same time, he will support them back. In tribes, money was not needed. Everyone knew what their role was, and they also knew that there was an exchange that they can get later that will make up for their work. In addition, the fact that their role was only making the tribe stronger was the true benefit. In such an environment, money is meaningless.

As the saying goes, some things are priceless

. They cannot be bought with money. The worship of money has perverted the concept of wealth. It has fooled an entire world into believing that they must work 40+ hours a week to acquire enough money to live and be sheltered. Yes, under the belief of money, it’s no wonder everyone in this day and age feels hopeless. Feels empty. Because no matter how much they acquire, they find themselves still poor. Still unhappy. As if the money didn’t feel the need it was supposed to. That’s what money is. It is a hollow existence that does nothing on its own.
But society, the government, academia, the media, the news, everything around you keeps saying:

“Get money. Get more money now! What, are you a fool not to work long hours for it! You’re worthless if you bum around all day. Get a loan for a new business! But you better hurry, this other guy is running right past you!”

In the world of paper money and our society ran on the worship of money, it’s no coincidence that we continue to race toward impossible ends of acquiring money faster, working harder, driving our sanity more toward insanity…all of it is a curse that leads to nothing. Or burnout. Or even death. One could even say it was made like this on purpose. Like a rat on a wheel going nowhere.

Strip yourselves of the belief in money.

It is nothing. It is temporary. Burn the altar of money. Put your belief in something far more tangible and priceless. Make your own wealth. Escape the system that wishes to imprison you in its never-ending maw of money worship. Instead of working 40+ hours a week, learn a real skill that produces real value. It can be anything, as long as it’s not in the pursuit of money nor toward a vice that is only self-indulgent. Again, money is temporary. Build relationships with people instead of trying to out compete with them. The system of money has fooled you into thinking that money is king, so you believe if you do not stomp down the people around you, they’ll become richer than you or advance more than you. This is false. Even the “richest people in money” value friends more than anything. Why do you think they fund people they know more than those they do not? Willing to give away millions of dollars because they believe in what said person is doing. Not caring for any interest back. Just the joy of knowing that their friend or family member is doing an endeavour. And it might return in the form of equity or strengthen the family or tribe that they already part of.

Obtain your own autonomy.

Whether by befriending those who have skills you do not, or by producing said autonomy. Acquire land. Acquire the means to make your own food. Build your own house. I understand these are hard to do in these times considering many governments have control over them. Regulations, eminent domain, subsidizing selected people so that they have lower costs. That’s why you form tribes. Ease the burden between trusted people…remember, not people you can only obtain by buying, but people that are loyal to you and you loyal to them. The wealthy person can do this, whether by having social cohesion or being able to use their own hands to make it. A mason will never be homeless because he can build a home anywhere and in any form. And a person who everyone loves will never be without food or shelter. They know he or she is worth assisting during times of trouble. And know he will return the favor.

Money is not real wealth.

Throw it away. Throw away the mindset that you must be beholden to it. You have all been put under a spell, and it is time to unchain yourselves from that greed. It is that greed that is making you depressed. That greed that is making you miserable. That greed that is making you hateful to those around you. Blinding you that the chains you wear are self-inflicted. If only you looked down, you will see that you can unclasp them at any time. All you have to do is wake up. Realize all along you were clouded by dissent and deception. And that the money you coveted for so long…is just physical material, or digital. You spent all your life earning it, but what has it given you? Why do you keep having to go to work? Why do you keep buying lottery tickets? What are you actually getting out of all of this? Nothing. Because money always comes and goes.

The origin of my username zeroinaire

…came from my realization of this a few years ago. Because I came from a poor family, I only cared about chasing and pursuing money. I thought that was the true form of wealth. After all, most of us are taught that. But when I finally got into six figure income, I realized that I didn’t obtain much. Why did I not feel anymore richer than I was when I was on minimum wage? I kept my costs down and frugal. I was saving. But realizing my money and savings always kept dwindling in value. Time had beat my savings. I was getting nothing. So I looked to what richer people were doing. Those who can afford trips every year, who had lands and ranches, who can go on yacht parties and such. I saw families. I saw people who helped one another. They weren’t flashing money around nor showing off gold. Their wealth was in their families, their land, their businesses, and their homes. They were self-sufficient. Even during times of trouble, they were the most resistant due to their network. I finally saw what true wealth was. My chase of money was foolish. And what is sad is that the majority of people in the world are taught a similar thing.

Why not invest, you ask?

After all, putting your money into stocks and such is the play. Build a 401K. Well, like most poor people, I didn’t know the value of this. We aren’t taught this in school for reasons that are obvious now. And I eventually did make both. But then I realized…how pointless it was. It was just another function of the money spell. You put money into stuff…to make more money. You’re suppose to be running away from it, not toward it! No value came from it. I just made more money but it didn’t even come from my own hands. Stay away! And all I did was enrich some company that has no connection to me. Even if I know a company could be working on something that can be beneficial to me, it’s indirect. The company has no familial or friend ties with I. That is not real wealth. It’s just another form of the same thing I had been doing. And by the time I’m 50 or 60, what do I have to show for it? More money? Do you know how foolish that sounds now? I only built up someone else’s wealth. For free! Yes, in context to everything I’ve told you, I just gave away my time for free to something that has nothing to do with my own wealth. And the only thing I will have to show for it is me having a smooth retirement where I don’t work again. That’s a sad existence. Money but no bonds or family or land of my own. No legacy.

This is not a plea for socialism or communism.

Both of those are the extreme ends of the greed created by money. People seek to make a class of society where you are separated by how much money you make or how close you are to the money creators instead of by the merit of your self and the weight of your sack. Why else do those who eventually come into power live different than those they subjugate? There is no connection, no pathway to exchange favors or wealth. Just slavery. This is a plea for simply escaping the spell money has over all of us. We must throw away the worship of it. Any systems that perpetuates its existence as a facet of society has to be demeaned. Banks should not have the power that they do now. We do not need a central bank or a council in the government that tells us what money is.

Money can be whatever we choose it to be.

And when that happens, everyone can finally obtain real wealth. For no longer can you pretend to acquire wealth through stacking paper or gold. You’ll have to actually get more valuable things through your hands and your skill of the tongue. Through honour and integrity, given value over time much like finite precious metals. Isn’t it amazing? There are more ways than one to acquire wealth. You don’t have to work 40+ weeks or kiss up to a “rich” person. The wealth has been around you all along. It is simply up to you to grab it. And best of all, violence and war will go down. People will still clash, but with more at stake like the reputation of an individual or even the tribe they are with, people are less likely to fight. After all, money can buy tanks and guns, but it cannot buy back a taken life or destroyed relationships.

Money is nothing.