Genius Post # 3

Money and the Meaning of Life

In an interview with Jacob Needleman, I learned his insights between the relationship of money and the meaning of life. Money may be one of the greatest influences throughout the course of ones life. For some it comes easy and for others it can be challenging to obtain. The key is to know you own personal views on money. How do you value money and how does it affect your behavior. Needleman proclaims that money cannot change who a person is. I am not sure if I agree with this statement but I agree with his point that a competitor will always try to compete the same way a nervous, stressed person will find reasons to worry about. In addition Needleman talks about how being wealthy does not make a person intelligent or smart in other areas. I agree with this statement but I think that people who are wealthy do have access to resources and people to better equip themselves with knowledge in other areas and subsequently giving them a major advantage. Lastly I agree that having money is not how success is measured rather one can measure success through other measures like how happy one is, and the kind actions of giving back to something bigger than yourself.

Genius Post #2 - Chapter 9

In the introduction, the author mentions three perspectives of financial transactions, which are faith, hope, and love, and he wishes to bring more consciousness to money and its uses to an evolving appreciative economy by letting people understand these qualities. One way the author uses to explain faith is by relating it to brand allegiance: if customer’s experience with the product confirms the promise of the brand, the product earns customer loyalty and makes itself a shopping habit of the customer. Loan transactions is another example: the lender look over borrower’s creditworthiness and financial history to establish enough faith for himself to make the decision, while borrower need a faith of himself to honor the loan commitment before he asks for the service. The author says hope is a future bearing since it processes over time and gift transaction, one example of transactions based upon hope, to charity is entirely future bearing because no one could expect what the outcomes of the charity activity are and what impact the activity sponsored by this gift could bring to the world.

I believe that faith, hope and love are 3 characteristics that exist in most transactions that take place in our daily lives, whether it be economical or not. Faith in regards to that the idea that you must have faith that what you are doing and where you are going in a given moment will end up okay. Hope that we need to look forward and believe we can be better and work towards a goal and love in the way that you must love who you are and the process of who you are becoming. All three characteristics are intertwined in our everyday lives both personally and economically.

When we take a deeper look at our economic life, the way we conduct financial transaction is similar to the way we look at our soul. By slowing down and think carefully, we recognize the deepest meanings of faith, hope, and love in financial transactions. This allows us to transform the way we look at our economic life and to conduct businesses with faith, hope, and love. “So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”

The Genius Of Money

Chapter 7: Cyberbeg.com and Online Begging

In Chapter 7 of The Genius of Money we learn a little about the rich origins and history of begging. The author talks about the cross class interaction of giving money to a beggar and the associated benefits for both parties when a donation is made. From a beggars standpoint they receive a financial gift that they can use to better their quality of life, and from a donors point of view they are giving to the less needy.  It is a conscious self-imposed choice that leads one to the path of enlightenment. There is a sense of connection between you and the person you are donating to, even for a split second.

With the rise of new technology, specifically a website called Cyberbeg.com people can now go online to donate to your local homeless or beggar. This relatively new idea adds additional value for the common beggars as they can now be exposed to more people than they otherwise would begging on the streets, but it also grants them physical relief of having to stand in the streets and beg. They can go do something else with their time. For beggars perhaps this idea is a win, but the author discusses his experience with the site. Not only does he mention he wouldn’t want to visit such a site, which I completely agree with, but he talks about how he felt like a consumer rather than a donor when using the site. There was no spiritual connection or sense compassion when donating through an online portal.

What do you guys think, would it make a difference to you guys when you donate? Which do you prefer?

Chapter 15: The Transcendentalist and the Immigrant

In Chapter 15 we are introduced to two different approaches of money in America. The first are the views of Ralph Waldo Emerson who proposes that almost all people who are wealthy have that wealth because they inherited it and the wealth stays amongst the wealthy. He dislikes this idea and questions it. He believes that the wealthy are shaping the unequal distribution of wealth and that nobody should have the right. Emerson instructs the rich to channel their inner transcendentalist and help those who are less fortunate. His ideas would lead to the “evolution of public charities in America.

Different from Emerson, Eva Hoffman focuses on the relationship of money and people’s personal desires. She wonders if what people desire is actually what they want or a product of advertising and other social influences. She believes that desire is more heavily correlated to the worldly and material rather than the spiritual. Both Emerson and Hoffman discuss the difference between spiritual and materialistic and how one must channel their spiritual side to find deeper meaning. I think both Emerson and Hoffman have profound thoughts on the subject and offer interesting styles of delivering their message.