Money - Root cause of all evils??

"Money is the root of all evils."

I really pity the misguided soul who made this stupid observation. People have been fooled by it for decades, centuries even.

Money is NOT the root cause of all evils. Rather, it is the LACK OF MONEY which is the root cause of all evils.

"Why?", you ask. Elementary, my dear Watson. When you don't have money, you miss out on a lot of things. This lack breeds desire, which in turn breeds discontent and so on. It is like the legendary monster, Hydra, which keeps on sprouting more heads to devour and destroy everything it can lay hands on.

The myth of the happy and contented poor man is just that, a myth. You want proof, go and look at the people living in the streets. You can look for (and will most probably, find) almost each and every social evil there.

And lastly, happy and sad people will always exist irrespective of the amount of money they have. But, it is equally obvious that the amount of happy people having money far outnumbers the amount of happy people not having money.

Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,

I Think I see my friends coming, Riding a many mile.

Friends, you get some silver?

Did you get a little gold?

What did you bring me, my dear friends? Keep me from the Gallows Pole.

What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?

I couldn't get no silver, I couldn't get no gold,

You know that we're too damn poor to keep you from the Gallows Pole

- Lyrics from Gallow's pole by Led Zeppelin

Selflessness??

We all have heard this, "He/she is so selfish!!"

Nowadays, every other person we meet seems to be a selfish, stuck-up prig. Not being a very philanthropic individual myself and having heard this phrase far too many times, I started thinking. What is Selfishness? Does something called Selflessness really exist?

What I came up with is this: there is nothing called Selflessness.

We all are inherently selfish. No one's at fault. Selfishness is hard-wired into human nature. Whatever we do always has some personal interests in the background.

Even our so-called "selfless" acts are not an exception to this.

Parents expect children to take care of them in their old age, respect them and bring honour to their name. The devout worship their God in the hope that he will grant good fortune (physical or spiritual) to them.

Even our Gods are not immune to selfishness!! (Pardon my blasphemy)

They'll bestow all boons and good fortune on you . . . provided you worship them and follow all their rules and regulations.

I'm sure you all are thinking, "What nonsense is he talking about? Isn't that what is expected of us?" My reply is, "Expectations" is just another better sounding word to express what you want from others.

Now, isn't that selfish?

Selfishness is the basis of all relationships. If you doubt what I said, take any relationship you are in and ask yourself, "What is the reason I am sustaining this relationship for?"

The answers you will get will be varied and numerous. "Companionship", "Understanding", "Attraction", even "Money/similar benefits" might be some of the answers you come up with.

Many friendships are prime examples of this shallowness. We fulfil our human need for companionship through our friends. But, as soon as we get a "better" option, be it love or maybe even another friend, the previous relationship often disintegrates and slowly destroys itself, often despite the best efforts and intentions of both parties.

That is how Nature works. Whatever is necessary and beneficial is retained, everything else is purged. It's the way of evolution. Whenever you find something better, you discard the older substitute , even if it worked fine all this time.

Hence, I believe 'Selflessness' is just a delusional thought, another redundant product of the human mind. The only eternal feelings are life's most primitive instincts: survive, procreate and nurture your lineage, in that order.

Probably, the biggest folly of the human mind is in thinking that it is superior to Nature merely because it is capable of generating these apparently "superior" ideals as compared to the "primitive" instincts adopted by Nature. We have a lot to learn from Nature.

"Vanity of vanities," saith the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."

- Ecclesiastes 1:2