Can't think of any link to other pieces. Just put this here for reads. It's about money. I think the second most toughest part about being jobless is the money. The toughest part is the people thinking that not working is like I'm a useless.
Death Matches
There are compensations to being jobless, you know. For the lack of money, I get a lot of leisure time. Lin Yutang, who wrote on the importance of living, educated me not to waste my leisure time, and I must treasure, appreciate it, and use it wisely.
So, yesterday in a bid to maximize my leisure time, as I was packing or cleaning my room, I also watched a Chinese movie on a DVD that my friend lent me. This Chinese movie is about a fighter who fought death matches for fun. And here I was packing my room for fun.
As I watched the characters batter each other with force and skill, a spontaneous questions came to me, and the internal dialogue is as follows:
“Do the fighters get money out of this?”
No, it doesn’t seem like it. (The best fighter becomes bankrupted.)
“Do the fighters get some product sponsorship or endorsement fee if they become famous?”
No, it doesn’t seem like it either. It looks like they are just fighting for fun and glory.
“Why do I think about money so much?”
I don’t know why I think about money so much. Perhaps it is because I don’t have enough of it. Or it is because the modern day fighters are all fighting for money, because nobody really cares enough to give them any glory. Or it doesn’t occur to me at all that fighting can be fun. But noticing that I think about money so much makes me feel a little embarrassed and guilty.
In religious Taoism, there is a money god, or the god of wealth. I am not sure if there are also money gods in other religions. With all imagined prejudices aside, from my professedly amateurish point of view, I think this is telling of at least one thing: the religious Taoist thinks money is governed by gods of fate, and money is like the wind, or good weather, or good marriages (also governed by gods).
The Taoist’s ideas of many things are governed by gods of fate. There are gods who dictates the natural forces, for example, and there are many Earth Gods (土地公), a Goddess of the Sea (媽祖), and a Thunder God (雷公) who also judges filial piety. There are also many other gods, like Confucious (孔子公) who will help with good grades and academic achievements, and Guan Yu (關公) is the God of Justice. These pagan gods are manifestations of the forces of nature, and with the Money God (财神爷) alongside, we can begin to imagine how the Taoists envision money to be as fluid as the weather or as Justice. We pray so that these forces will work with us and not against us, or we pray so that the Gods will be kind to us.
Like I said about putting the prejudices aside, and just looking at this phenomenon as some socio-ideology or something similar, we can notice this and wonder together.
I did not read George Orwell’s “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” where Gordon fought with the money god, but I heard he lost the futile fight, because he thought the money god will take up the fight, from start to the end, he was just fighting with himself. What a waste of time for Gordon, so let us not busy ourselves with this imagined antithesis. The Money God will not fight with us. If you were a god, do you think you will fight with a human? Who do you think you are? Will a God of Justice fight you? Will a Thunder God fight you? He will either punish you or reward you, and you better take it easy.
Back to why I think about money so much. I think money is the new denomination of modern society. In order to understand across cultures or another person money is universal. Whether one denies himself of the influence of money on his decisions or lets money dictates all his decisions, one has the option to use money or money’s expression to explain his actions.
Q: Why did you buy that?
A: Because it was cheap.
Q: Why did you buy that?
A: Because I am rich.
Q: Why do you ignore him?
A: Because he is poor.
Q: Why do you hate him?
A: Because he is rich.
This is the new world that is driven by forces of money, and instead of denying it, I must recognize it. Only with recognizing it, can I recognize its limitations. Like with the death match fighters, I can recognize that they might be fighting for glory or dignity. There are also things like integrity and fear for life, or dreams, or art, or food, to fight for. When we recognize the power of money and accept its influence and how you can use two dollars to eat another ice-cream or buy another old man a cheeseburger, then can we tai-chi the force of money to affect change. Then can we harness it with like how we harnessed the wind to move the sailboats. The masters or heroes of this fashion are the Gates couple and Sir Shaw Run Run.
If we make money the embodiment of greed and all things bad, we are forcing ourselves to go against money. It becomes a death match of good and evil within each one of us. This is the reason why I will feel the sense of guilt when I think I think too much about money.
When there is a death match, one must win, and one must lose, and it becomes a struggle to be good and poor or rich and evil. This is an unnatural antithesis! This is unnecessary! Maybe I want to be good and rich! Maybe you want to be good and rich!
My brothers and sisters of the human race let us not fight the futile fight against the Money Gods. It is unnatural to fight. Let us not impeach ourselves against ourselves, but accept the humanity in money and end the struggle.
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