Money and the Meaning of Life(金錢與生命的意義)
Money and the Meaning of Life
Recently, a professor of philosophy in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meanlng of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our day-to-day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week.From the way they spend their money, they can see what they
really value in life.
He says our relation with others often becomes clearly defined when money enters the picture. You might have a wonderful friendship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn't. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.
People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life7 In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.
金錢與生命的意義
最近，美國(guó)一位哲學(xué)教授完成了一本名為《金錢與生命的意義》的書。他發(fā)現(xiàn)日常生活中人們?nèi)绾螌?duì)待金錢所展示出的意義比我們通常認(rèn)為的更為深遠(yuǎn)。他讓學(xué)生們所做的一項(xiàng)練習(xí)就是記錄下他們一周來(lái)所花費(fèi)的每一分錢。從花錢方式上，他們可以看到在生活中他們真正珍惜的是什么。
他說(shuō)，一旦有金錢介入，通常我們與他人之間的關(guān)系就變得易于分辨了。也許你和某個(gè)人的友誼親密無(wú)間，你覺(jué)得你們是相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)的朋友。但只有當(dāng)你向他借錢的時(shí)候你才會(huì)真正了解他。如果他借錢給你，這帶給你們的關(guān)系一些什么東西使你們的關(guān)系也好像比以往任何時(shí)候都更為牢固。如果他不借錢給你，這就會(huì)突然削弱你們的關(guān)系。這個(gè)人可能會(huì)說(shuō)他有某種感情，但如果不在金錢的世界加以實(shí)施，這種感情中就有些東西不那么真實(shí)。
人們只想著要賺越來(lái)越多的錢，但賺錢為什么呢?生命中的一個(gè)特定目標(biāo)需要多少錢呢?教授在他的書中揭示了一個(gè)現(xiàn)代社會(huì)至關(guān)重要的需求：找回金錢只是工具而非目的這樣一理念。金錢在物質(zhì)社會(huì)中發(fā)揮著重要作用，但期望金錢帶來(lái)快樂(lè)也許是對(duì)生命意義的誤解。