From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Thu Jun 10 2004 - 06:30:02 BST
Howdy focs:
MarshaV respectfully axed:
Why is money of low value? It seems to me, it's the individuals (or
societies) relationship with money that can move from level to level. As
an individual, shouldn't I try to move my relationship with money into the
intellectual level. That would mean I pay attention to its affects and
make conscious decisions based on my intent? What is money? Isn't it like
energy, rather than a pattern? I apologize if my questions are too
simplistic.
dmb says:
Exactly. We buy what we value and this can never be pinned down or
predicted. This is what the socialist and capitalists never really figured
out, as Pirsig tells it. The economy is a dynamic creature because people
have wildly different and ever-changing ideas about what has value. An ideal
free market would be a perfect reflection of what people really value. (I
suspect the results would not be pretty.) But as Marsha suggests, there is a
moral dimension to money. This is true by many standards, and within the
MOQ, where all of reality is a moral order, the earning and spending of
money is nothing by a moral decision.
Are you gonna buy some candy and porn or spend your money on some juice and
a philosophy book? Do you earn a living selling crack to children? Making
bombs? Poisoning the world? Or do you earn a living fighting those who do?
And we have laws against vice because we very well know that people tend to
value low level things a bit too much. Like booze and hookers, for example.
Every cent that passes through our hands matters in ways large and small.
And the issues get more subtle than my ham-handed examples might imply.
There is also the social/intellectual conflict and the rest of the moral
codes. I'm reminded of Pirsig's comments about Thorsten Veblen's THEORY OF
THE LEISURE CLASS and also his comments about his frat brothers "selling
out" to the chemical companies.
And I'm thinking of Lila's desperate attempts to get fed and stay dry
without money in Manhattan. (The place is really quite hellish for those
without money - and lots of it.)
I suppose the best a capitalist saint could hope for is to get very wealthy
by making the world better and then give it all away to improve the world
even further. Maybe some future Jill Gates will earn a trillion dollars by
developing toxic clean-up technology and she'll spend her vast fortune on
food, medicine, libraries, museums and such.
Thanks,
dmb
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