00:00:00
Money allows you a lot wider range of
00:00:04
choices in life but it doesn't
00:00:06
necessarily make you happy. So the
00:00:08
parable is there are these uh two boys
00:00:11
who grew up together. They're childhood
00:00:13
friends. As frequently happens, they go
00:00:15
their different directions in life as
00:00:16
they become adults. And one becomes a
00:00:19
very successful, powerful minister to
00:00:21
the king. And the other becomes a humble
00:00:24
monk in tattered robes with a begging
00:00:26
bowl and what have you. And years later,
00:00:28
they run into each other on the road.
00:00:30
And they're getting reacquainted.
00:00:32
And as they are, the minister of the
00:00:34
king takes pity on on his
00:00:36
povertystricken friend in his tattered
00:00:39
robes. And he says, "You know, if you
00:00:42
could learn to cater to the king, you
00:00:45
wouldn't have to live on rice and
00:00:46
beans." To which the monk replies, "If
00:00:49
you could learn to live on rice and
00:00:51
beans,
00:00:52
you wouldn't have to cater to the king."
00:00:54
For me, I've always been a little bit
00:00:56
more towards the monk side. I'm not a
00:00:59
very materialistic person and I'm
00:01:02
comfortable and able to get along on on
00:01:04
very little and I think there's
00:01:07
something beautiful about needing less.
00:01:10
I think it's safe to say that the
00:01:12
richest people I know are amongst the
00:01:14
least happy people I know. I think
00:01:16
whatever's taken them there is still
00:01:19
haunting them while they're there. So,
00:01:20
it could be the chip on the shoulder,
00:01:22
the insecurity. whatever happened to
00:01:23
them that made them so driven and
00:01:24
obsessed with validation and climbing is
00:01:27
still haunting them now. But I do also I
00:01:30
do know people like I say that are very
00:01:31
very rich and that live remarkably
00:01:34
content lives. And I think part of it is
00:01:36
their relationship with the stuff. It's
00:01:38
the journey that's really satisfying.
00:01:40
>> The destination tends to be less so. And
00:01:43
I think that's one of the problems with
00:01:46
being very materialistic because if your
00:01:49
definition of happiness is if I only
00:01:51
owned this watch then I would be happy.
00:01:54
Well, I mean maybe but probably not.
00:01:57
You're probably going to have that
00:01:58
watch. You're going to look at it and
00:01:59
say that's really nice. Wow, that's and
00:02:03
then well what's next? But if you enjoy
00:02:06
the journey or if you reset your
00:02:09
expectations and say, you know, I'm
00:02:11
going to have this nice house or this
00:02:13
nice watch, but I don't expect it to
00:02:15
make me happy. As somebody once said
00:02:17
much wiser than me, you know, money
00:02:19
doesn't change who you are. It it can
00:02:21
magnify who you are. So if you're an
00:02:24
unhappy person and you're have lots of
00:02:26
money, you will probably still be an
00:02:28
unhappy person. There's other things
00:02:30
besides money that makes you happy.
00:02:32
Money gives you options.
00:02:35
Right.
