a meaningful life
WEALTH
Somebody Has Convinced You That Money Is Everything And Now You Are Busy Chasing It, While Stupidly Loosing Everything Else.
Mon.June.10.2024 - Ubochi Nkwo
What exactly is wealth? That a woman who is happily married 98% of the time can split with a divorce settlement that gives her half of the man's financial wealth and non of his mental, physical and spiritual capacity.
What exactly is wealth? That a man should leave his children in the care of maids and end up with a teeming bunch of loosers whose sole career direction is to wait out his inheritance.
What exactly is wealth? That one should forsake a lover, change schools, part with a course, discard a hairstyle, make up a lifestyle, all for the styling and appointments of often inconsequential properties that store neatly in living rooms that no one gets to "live" in.
What exactly is wealth? And is it really a necessary component of "A Meaningful Life".
WEALTH DEFINED
I don't know a single human being who needs this, so please prioritize what matters.
The Oxford Dictionary defines wealth as;
1. an abundance of valuable possessions or money:
2. the state of being rich; material prosperity:
3. plentiful supplies of a particular resource
4. a plentiful supply of a particular desirable thing:
and in a "archaic" terms as it coins the last one...
5. well-being.
I agree only to the degree that it is the English man's forte to define English words.
Our parlance separates it succinctly by adding a qualify to the word like as follows;
The word wealth being known as Uba (Abundance), it is always made with a context as follows; Aku na Uba (Riches in Abundance) Ani na Uba (Lands in Abundance) Uche na Uba (Understanding in Abundance) I prefer this "civilization" of the word. It does not allow wealth to be limited to itself without a qualifier and wealth "must" be qualified, as much as it is often quantified.
Wealth therefore is anything in abundance. That is to say, any volume of supply that out strips demand - In quantity. In quantity, it is therefore any quantity above enough. In essence 1 more dollar that one needs, one more son that one asked for, 1 more room that one has beds, 1 more shoe than one can wear, one more being in fact too much in some cases, because 1 more child is a lot more but a little more performance from the ones you have is in fact abundance.
In essence wealth isn't all of the money in the world, in fact if you have all the money in the world and your need outstrip it, your name would be America or Bernie Madoff and that is not wealth but fanciful presentations of Indebtedness. This state of glorious, self Aggrandizing acquisition of volume that out strips others but nurtures an insatiable appetite for further obscene Acquisitions of more, is the norm and this is not wealth.
Wealth is more than enough and most of us already have enough but out choices in life will not let it be enough.
Yes, wealth is a keep part of "A Meaningful Life", true wealth that knows that its limits are set at enough, because if you are living A Meaningful Life, you must also learn that enough, is, enough.
WEALTH AND A MEANINGFUL LIFE
If you build her a pool in the backyard and never play in it with her, what a waste.
Does wealth have a role to play in living A Meaningful Life, yes, da, si, nam, of course.
It would be punishment that living life right would negate you from a life of abundance and this is counter to nature's commitment to allowing the planter to "reap what he sows". A Meaningful Life, without abundance would be synonymous with a painful life and that is not the case. Meaning eases, it does not burden.
On my own path to A Meaningful Life, I have had many challenges and met many discomforts but my life has been filled with abundance, even in the midst of seeming gloom.
Wealth as defined in the Igbo parlance of Aku na Uba (Riches in Abundance), is important for A Meaningful Life, but where the challenge lies is in definition. If your definition of riches in abundance is Dangote or Adenuga, this may never be attainable for 99% of the human population.
Given the list of natural sacrifices to make and keep this level of financial wealth, for those who are gifted and designed for such, you may still well pass on it and in fact, if this level of financial wealth is not for you and you attempt it, you may very well make it to the grave before you make such "volumes" of financial wealth.
Wealth and A Meaningful Life, is wealth that accompanies you , on your journey and makes your visions easier to achieve. It is about "sufficient" financial muscle to stay the course, the right morale and spiritual supports to stand and the general abundance in the needs of the mind, body and spirit at the level of sufficiency and not excess, that is enough to allow your dreams to stay clear as you wake up to the realities of life, such that you can still dare to draw them, write them, share them and dare to make them real.
I have always had enough and enough is just enough, if what you want is "A Meaningful Life".
WEALTH FOR A MEANINGFUL LIFE
What exactly does a flashy new piano, have to do with musical genius?
To put it in context, wealth for A Meaningful Life, is enough of the particular things that are needed for your own particular journey and the things you in particular, find meaningful.
Wealth for A Meaningful Life, is not meaningless accumulations of nonsensical collections of music, when you do not care to listen. It is not a lubricated mass production of children when you have no time for nursery rhymes. It is not a collection or Rolls Royce cars when you do not like to be chauffeured. It is all of what you need and as little of what you don't as is possible.
in fact for the meaningful life, what is avoided is as important as what is acquired.
The Meaningful Life seeks both to accumulate what it needs as it equally fights to liquidate any things, people and Appurtenances that are distractive or even merely inconsequential to the final goal.
The Meaningful Life is not a hoarder of even treasures, because Treasures loose meaning when they are stored in boxes and do not adorn the neck and wrist.
He is a strategic acquirer of that which is needed for that which he wishes to create and equally a decisive dumper of all the things that gather, whose use does not make "meaning" within the context of his life of meaning.
I have personally been able to achieve so much in the strategic remodeling of Africa not because of my economic might but equally for my accumulation of relevant knowlegde and resources as my willingness to pass on fast routes and quick wits that serve progress which is not moving in the direction of the "pure" liberation and elevation of my people.
While people and organizations now give me money, after I had developed my ideas, when I was developing them, I had very little resources, but I made them enough by ignoring the need for tools like G-Wagons which in practice had no role in the mental, physical and spiritual stretch that is my core value and the seeds of my meaningful life. I had that "wealth" in abundance and a G-Wagon would have been good "packaging" but in no way adds a pinch of salt to my "wealth" or Knowledge, in fact it would have been a hinderance by exposing me in ways hat would be counter to the liberties it took to truly understand African life at its most general expressions.
Using myself as an example. When I was at the hardest stages of my quest I prioritized a healthy good meal and a reasonable consumption of relaxing substances over airconditioning because while airconditioning gives comfort, food and beverages represented the fuel and lubricants I needed to keep thinking, writing and dreaming in daytime, the outlandish visions of my meaningful life.
For some it is wives or a particular husband, kids or a particular friendship, love, praise or whatever little bit of encouragement that allows the "struggle" it takes to achieve a meaningful life and Yes, It Is at least a struggle and in some cases a pure fight, to achieve "A Meaningful Life".
I didn't however need more than the kind support of a loving mother and Brothers, I had no space for friends but you might, and if so acquire them. I had no concern for social acceptance but if you do acquire that, I had no need for a G-Wagon but if you do, acquire that - but make sure that you actually need, whatever it is you think you need and the quantity that is just enough.
WEALTH THAT IS MEANINGFUL TO LIFE
If the things you have weight you down, put them down, you're gathering too much. Sometimes a simpler life is much richer than a load of things you never use.
Any wealth that is meaningful to life must have morality. Note that when I write the "A Meaningful Life" series, I try not to be religious or esoteric. I focus on the practical steps that can be articulated with base human intelligence and so when topics like morality enter some may ask what role it has in "human grade pius living".
Well, "A Meaningful Life" is a life that you can be proud of if you get the chance to play it back on tape and I can bet a lot of money, that no one who even cares about the idea of meaning wants to watch a tape of a "bad" life.
Wealth the is meaningful is therefore the only type of wealth that can complement A Meaningful Life. The volumes can be whatever they are but they must be found in the context of at least, base level goodness. For example, if you accumulate wealth by causing unjustifiable deaths, what is the point of the wealth, how can it justify its meaning?
If you get fame, a type of immaterial wealth, by selling your soul and becoming a fame driven existence, what is the meaning of that? The very exchange of a soul for fame, has that not canceled out any value that the fame added? Since "you" now have to become insignificant, in order to be significant?
GIVE AND NEVER TAKE
In whatever you do, take yourself out of it and simply serve, then demand respect - after.
Sow and if in sowing you reap wealth, that wealth is yours and worth its wars.
In my own life, I have been faulted for loving blindly, giving blindly, living blindly. In fact today, while shopping for office furniture, a random young girl came and claimed to have be robbed of her cash and stranded. I gave what she asked and no, I did not collect a number, she couldn't have been more than 15 and that was not the point, she asked and what she asked for I had and so I gave. No expectations whatsoever, just help that mustn't we repaid. But what if it was? That would be shockingly wonderful.
A Meaningful Life, is a life that gives of itself, all that it has and receives from the world a just reward and that reward can include quite alot of wealth.
Most Kings are wealthy and the best Kings are givers. Most Visionaries are wealthy and the best Visionaries are givers. Most Liberators are wealthy and the best Liberators are wealthy.
Is it that being wealthy is for Kings or Visionaries or Liberators, no, it is because truly givers never lack because something about the will to give, gives the morale boost to "make", Since it is impossible to give what you do not have.
when you give, you often learn not only to give but to have. You learn to save and in giving cannot hoard. You learn to make and in giving cannot take. And the world gives you back, In ideas first, then goodwill and in some cases, right back, actual giving from those who received little from you, who now have much to give.
Many of the best Professors, without any political ambitions made it to the board of companies, states and nations just because they were good, and gave the best they could to a young student who had nothing to give then but who today sits as King.
Many of the best neighbours shared a pot of soup, a wrap of amala or a simple strip of poorly made suya, with the lowest tenant of their version of the earthly pits of hell, who now today invites them to be agents, contractors, stewards and partners to empires that they could never have imagined in their wildest dreams.
Wealth is not for the wicked. They may have money, they may hoard it and in that guise their stately mansions, fancy cars, fame and fortune may signify wealth but what is wealth without contentment and there in lies the nuisance of it all and what you want is music and not noise.
Give because there are only 2 ways to wealth. One is to take and the other is to give and if you give expecting to get, that is more aptly called trading and that is also a path to material wealth which you can take without pretending or packaging into some righteous quest.
If however, you are on the quest for A Meaningful Life, just give. The best of all of the things that you have to give. Give with love and not expectation and focus on building whatever your meaningful life calls for.
Rest assured. Every meaningful life ends in wealth.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
You can't know when you have enough, if you don't take stock.
See. Consider it an action word, a f**king verb. See.
Many people are immeasurably blessed but have no capacity to understand the blessing and in that guise are blind men in a pit of gold, who scream to be rescued and in that noise alert their redeemers to rewards well beyond the walking sticks they wish to trade for their rescue.
My greatest blessing is the unwitting ability to understand anything. This is much more valuable than silver and gold. But for years most people, in knowing my intellectual prowess only thought of its economic value and placed no value on all of the other wonderful things I became, simply by being grateful and allowing time to unveil the great wonders wrapped in this simple gift of understanding.
I have never wished for any other father than the one I got, nor a different village, or to be anything other than an Igbo, Nigerian, African, Black, Human Being.
These expressions of identity, while limited by global speculation on the human commodity they call the "Negro", are the perfect presentations that are creating the abundant wealth that I now represent.
Your Wealth Is Hidden Also, in your appreciation of the nuances of your own creation and journey to A Meaningful Life.
When you sit and count your blessings, the first thing you realize at the end is that you, are, not, cursed. And the liberty in this knowledge is enough to unlock your path to wealth. And if for any reason you do not see any blessings, then you are truly cursed. But how can that be?
The entire earth and life itself is a blessing. This unless you and/or your ancestors are responsible for terrible Irresponsibility at which realization you should start at redemption and recompense, Otherwise, rest assured that wealth is on the way.
When you appreciate your own peculiar nature and focus on your own peculiar needs, gifts and interests, you will always find a pathway, coded in your own being that leads to "sufficient" wealth for the specifics of A Meaningful Life, designed for you. Try as I may, I will never be a Genevieve Nnaji in movies, nor an Aliko Dangote in business, Nor a Paul Kagame in governance, I could be even better, but I must be me, within these fields to be so. Any version of them that I attempt will fail at Female, Muslim, Ugandan and all the other multiple intricacies of difference that makes them, them and me, me.
Your wealth is hidden in a righteous presentation of yourself to the world and the knowledge of your value, in order to insist on a fair trade and to unlock this you must appreciate the value of the nuances and intricacies that is you.
Love yourself, accept your limits and build wealth in the direction of "your" meaningful life.
REST
Let the photos you take feel cooler than they look, otherwise drop the camera and fix your life.
The point of wealth is rest. Yet I know many "very rich" men who do not rest. To have economic and social resources at abundance and not have time for your children, wives, husband, mother, friends, workers and other key people in your life and even your animals, the trees in your compound and to drive a clean car seems outrageous. But it happens.
Often we get in a perpetual cycle of wealth creation that develops a Truly Poor Human Being With A Lot Of "Excess" Resources.
What is the point of a massive mansion with a swimming pool and gym? Rest, so rest. But you don't swim, wow!
What is the point of a breakthrough in science after 10 years of research? Rest, so rest. But you are in the lab testing random samples with zero inspirations. Wow!
What is the point of 3 children in a row after years of seeking for them? Rest, so rest. But you are doing invitro fertilization to get 3 more in one pregnancy. Wow!
Often what we are lacking is not wealth but a stop button. We measure wealth not by our actual needs but in comparative analysis of the volumes others consume. For example, a man with a million dollars whose calling is to be a teacher, is extremely wealthy and should be content, yet if he measures himself with school proprietors who have a networth of 50million dollars he would have to exit his rest and work to own a group of schools, in the end he would neither get rest nor the time to teach, what a waste.
To achieve these articles I write for 4 hours every day. Imagine that. It is only 4 hours because I do not think or edit, I just flow. Even still, those 4 hours can make me millions per year if I dedicated them to trading stock but I don't trade stocks at all, ever, rather I write and when the day is over I rest. The rest, however still results in a chain of events that happens because I am in the line of my purpose. Calls come, opportunities open, ideas flow, precisely when I am resting,
why?
Rest is what the Christians claim that God did on the 7th day, all work and no play is what the writer claims makes Jake a dull boy, after smelting the metal must cool to be strong, in all aspects of life, rest refines. In your journey to A Meaningful Life, you must find time to rest, or shall I say, allow nature to refine you.
I cannot predict the level of wealth that will be enough for you, but if you do not take time to figure it out, you may well get it and pass it, never resting, all in the end to discover that you spent your life getting alot of things and still had very little of the things that you actually needed to have a life that can be defined as meaning anything, for you and the world around you.
Whatever you do, while accumulating the best "things", remember the Rest. In fact if the conversation is material wealth, be very careful, its only point is to allow you a break so that you can rest now and again while on your journey to get everything else.
And if you forget all I have said and spend your whole life accumulating material wealth while missing out on all the other things that life has to offer, building Mansions across the world that you do not live in and hoarding degrees you do not use and dating women you do not keep and milking men you do not breed and all of the other remnant, variants and derivatives of the acquisitive lives we now lead in the quest for "freedom" and globe trotting, photogenic imagery of a good life - all to end in a life that passed and never ever stopped to take stock of what it collected and the Genuine necessity for their accumulation.
Wealth all the same, but Where is The Meaning in That?
In summary, Enough - that is wealth. And enough, is enough and just about all you need to live "A Wealthy, Meaningful Life".
AML - SERIES PROFILE
A MEANINGFUL LIFE
the "A MEANINGFUL LIFE" series is a non Religious, Non Enterprise look at life and meaning, written with the hope of getting you to a life of pure Joy, real Happiness and Satisfaction with your own life, regardless of your faith and economic profile.
It does not intend to preach, but where necessary it will. At the end, the desired result is that from this series you will pick up the tools to give your life greater meaning, and live a more satisfying existence.
subscribe&follow
follow@instagram
latest blogs
predefined chunks as necessary Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia
