Remember playing “what if” as a child? What if you had a million dollars? What if you could live forever? I used to spend a lot of time day dreaming about what if. Today, as I consider my life, I now wonder what if my life was free from the constraints of money. The more I think about the impact money has on my life, the more I realize I am a slave to the need for money.
Virtually everything I know, everything I do, everywhere I go, everything I eat, and everywhere I sleep…is all determined by money. It has always been this way.
Yet in many ways, I’m a very blessed man. I was born and raised in the richest country in the world. I was provided a fantastic private school education. I entered my adulthood at a time when opportunities were opening to aspiring adults from an expanding range of ethnic, racial, and gender backgrounds. My chosen career came from amongst a wide range of choices, informed by extensive access to our accumulated knowledge. Despite all of these advantages, virtually every choice I have made was a function of money.
What if we all were free to make choices not constrained by the need for money? Let that thought sink in.
Imagine being born in a world where global resources were managed to maximize sustainability and minimize waste. Technology and innovation are deployed to produce the best products and services based on the accumulation of human knowledge. Automation is maximized to provide all the mundane, repetitive processes and services necessary for modern life, freeing each of us to focus our energies on pursuing our highest vocational aspirations. Every person would have access to a comprehensive education where the goal is scholarship not wealth. In such a world, a virtuous life would be measured by how each of us contribute to the well being of all of us.
Sounds like Utopia? Actually, this is what freedom feels like. Free people are empowered to reach their full potential. Slaves are constrained from reaching their full potential for the benefit of their masters. As we examine our lives today, how many of us can truly say we are free?