I watched Risky Business again the other night. Two quotes stuck with me. When Joel Goodson (played by Tom Cruise) asks his college-bound friends, “Doesn’t anyone want to accomplish anything, or do we just wanna make money?” To which they all answered, “Make money.” And a line at the very end in which Joel recaps the movie, “My name is Joel Goodson. I deal in human fulfillment. I grossed over 8 thousand dollars in one night.” 

Basically, of all his friends, Joel was the only one interested in a purpose beyond making money. And he was the only one who quickly made it, and enjoyed making it.

Money works in mysterious ways. We make it to spend it. We work hard or we work easy for it to then spend more of it or turn it into something. Clearly, money buys us experiences. It opens doors, grants us opportunities. It permits us an enhancement and exploration of our lives. But all too often (especially in America, if I may), its many symbols can greatly overpower its actual purpose.

For instance, some of the less obvious acquisitions of money I find quite intriguing. Like the fact that, through the image it gives to our lifestyle and possessions, it can buy us “friends” or attention. Heck, it can even buy lovers or “good” looks. But in these cases, the question to ask is whether these things buy its spender the actual root motive of connection, intimacy, deep joy, self-love… or in Joel Goddson’s words, human fulfillment.

No, money can buy no such things directly. But the way we make our money can and should surely focus on these things. But I digress. Back to Joel’s college-bound friends who want to make a lotta money. Did their money-starved minds understand that money exists as a means to serve us, not to control us?  A bit of perspective here:

-With more money, yes, we can buy a bigger, more beautiful house, with gardens and a pool and 6 collector’s cars, but that doesn’t mean it buys us a home.

-Money can of course buy us a diamond-dusted Audemar Piguet Royal Oak watch, but it most certainly doesn’t buy us more Time.

-With money, one can buy a bed dressed in the finest embroidered Matouk sheets. But does that buy us sleep or peace of mind?

-More money most certainly can buy us the best food or allow us to dine at the most extravagant restaurants in the world, but that doesn’t mean it will buy us appetite or the joy and art of eating.

-Money can buy us the best doctors, or the best plastic surgery, but clearly, it cannot always—even in the most capable of hands—buy us good health, wellbeing, self-esteem or self-love.

-And money can also buy us insurance—of all types and the highest standard for each—yet no, this does not necessarily mean it is buying us safety (and well, the topic of American health insurance is another money-leeching ploy where I could surely go off and lose myself in a rant).

If we’re not careful, we can become slaves to the seemingly glittery glory of money. 

There comes a point when MORE MONEY can’t buy us a better coffee or a better suit. There comes a point in which more money can’t buy us a better life.

When they say, “money is the root of all evil” it is only because it can cause us to lose touch with reality and to live in a world of illusions. There are many who would much rather have money—and/or power—than a wealth of authentic material pleasures and fulfilling human experiences. So often we may not perceive an event as worthy unless it is photographed. Or we may get more pleasure from seeing it on our feed or hearing or talking about it the next day than from the event itself. We can sometimes confuse the real world with the representations and symbols we give to money. We’ve become so tied up in our minds that we might often lose sight of what matters. Like our common sense and our need to pleasure our starved senses. 

This brings me to my main point. Our 5 senses–as well as and especially our COMMON SENSE–are being compromised big-time. We’re not realizing that our air stinks of pollution, our water reeks of chloramine, our trash and waste abounds, and American food (produced by the few multinationals that create the majority of what sits on our supermarket shelves) has no taste (and is killing us slowly but surely). TIME TO WAKE UP. AND SMELL THE TRUTH! Let’s not let money and those with too much power take over our senses, especially our common sense. 

It’s most certainly human, and innately necessary, that we seek pleasure in the arts—culinary, music, literature, dance, design, fashion and the fine arts. But our culture has come to focus more on accumulating the symbols of wealth (power, social status, image) rather than the real wealth the pleasure provides. It’s like devouring the image of a restaurant and the photos acquired during the dining experience instead of savoring the actual meal. We experience the world through our five senses but fundamentally we’ve made our need for sensory indulgence more conceptual than experiential. I’ll never forget sitting at Marchesi Cafe in Via Montenapoleone, Milan, and watching as a beautifully tiered showcasing of mouth-watering canapes and pastries was snapshot for thirty minutes by a group of young tourists and then just stared at—left untouched and untasted—for the remaining time before getting on their way. 

Do we attend art exhibits or concerts to enrich ourselves or to impress others? Do we go to church to feed our spirit or do we go to church to be “good” people? 

Where are we putting our money when we fill our faces with fillers, or our bodies with implants? Are we investing in enhancing our lives or buying our way into impressing others? We’re paralyzing our sense of touch and movement with such procedures and they don’t buy us happiness or pleasure, only a distorted view of ourselves. 

Real wealth comes from living and enjoying the goods and services which give us real sensory pleasure. Money is a means. It’s our servant. Not our master. Let’s not let its symbol make us any more crazy and self-destructive than it already is.