If you want a challenge, try uncluttering your mind

Something about that last Whittle offering leaves me unsatisfied.  What is it?

Awhile back, there was this post about the difference between wealth and money.  We are so money-obsessed in this culture.  But are we really as wealthy as our money suggests?  If money was an honest store of value, the answer is yes.  However, if money is not an honest store of value, then the answer must be no.  It is not reassuring to contemplate that we are much more likely to be better described as the latter than the former.

So, what's the difference between wealth and money?  I've tried to answer that before.  I'll try it again.  Who is more wealthy?  The man who can feed and shelter himself, or the man who sits on top of a tall stack of money?  If the money becomes worthless, the stack isn't useful for anything but to keep warm when you burn it.  Thus, the answer is the latter---the man on the stack of money--- as long as the money has an honest value.  Therein lies the answer to the question of who is wealthy and who is not.  The answer is this:  who has a skill has wealth in spite of a lack of money.  In contrast, the man without skill has no wealth in spite of his money.  The latter is totally dependent upon those with skill to keep him alive.  Therefore, despite his money, he is destitute.  His money cannot save him.  He must have wealth in order to do that.  Money and wealth are not synonymous unless the money has an honest value.

Wrap your minds around that one and you will have the key to a lot of answers.  The failure to do so will keep you stumbling in the dark.