Recipe For Riches - Money, Angst, selfishness and existentialism

What is the deal with getting rich? And 'the American obsession (obviously extends to many other global settings). We have the money on the brain. We have the anxiety to prove it. I suppose the argument can follow this line: if we are unfortunate enough not to have an adequate income, we bust our humps to try to find a way to do it, that is, unless we gave up. But, making a fortune that would be better, right? And, we would like it to be easy, fast and simple. We all want to be winning the lottery and there are just sick of reading about some other schlep winning instead of us. Oh, but he'll keep his day job. Yes, yes it will. For about 3 days. Yet, we want to be that guy.

The play also in the selfish desire to make great, although these days, selfishness can also be described as a vital necessity when you lose jobs and homes are on the verge of foreclosure. And 'the survival instinct in us all. When selfishness is controlled, it may be a runaway train of greed, as we have seen in our current economic conditions. When developing governments and their institutional partners, the public does not figure into the equation anymore. Rather, it is at the expense of the public that this type of unbridled selfishness flourishes.

Here is where existentialism comes into play. This philosophy associated with Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Soren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche and others, goes against the grain of rationalism and empiricism (the undo reliance on own experience). Rather, it relies on the unique position of the individual as self-determining agent who is responsible for the correctness or "wrongness" of his or her choices and decisions. Therefore, people are completely free and therefore bound by the actions taken. But, with this responsibility is profound anguish or dread. We have all felt the pressure of existential thought, especially when the chips are down?

With the total freedom of choice is the difficult realization that you and only you, must live with the choices, directions and actions you make and take. There is plenty of opportunity for feelings of depression and despair here. It may take up to land, or it can become a springboard for growth, change and success, how come you choose to define them.

So, what is the conclusion? We are all saddled with making our lives our own. There are many factors seemingly beyond our control, but we still have the responsibility to carry the light of all. So, how do we proceed? Good question ....