What are some of the double edged swords of life? Check out this wise answer....add yours

[Shandi]

This woman, is a stranger that I've never met, yet we've become online friends because we resonate with each other so strongly. I don't feel so alone with her in my life. She lives in California, and we plan to meet this year in the spring or summer. It gives me something to look forward to, even if it never happens. The fact is that because we both want it, makes the difference for us.

From my friend Carol Cotton on Quora, answering the question: "What are some of the double edged swords of life?"


"One of the biggest problems that stems from having “ a lot of money” is that most people don’t recognize that unlimited funds doesn’t mean that money has unlimited abilities. It can really only do one thing: Procure that which is legitimately for sale—material goods made by man. And those material goods are almost always symbols for the things we can’t buy with money—what a paradox. We buy a fancy sports car as a symbol of animal attraction/sex appeal; we buy a Hummer as a symbol for the invulnerability/power that we otherwise do not possess; We buy ultra-expensive designer clothes as a symbol of our perceived physical worth, which is practically nothing in terms of dollars and cents per pound; we buy homes as a symbol of permanence and armor them to the hilt as a symbol of much-coveted security. Money can only buy the symbols that represent the reality we can no longer relate to—again, because of our estrangement from the Natural World; or to represent our best and only hedge against death and decay and eternal Nothingness by giving us the illusion and delusion of immortality. If we ever lose our fear of Death and Nothingness and Meaninglessness, we won’t have much need for money, except to buy a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk.

P.S. I think the way money has catapulted from Millions to Billions in personal wealth, and now Trillions in national debt, is a barometer of how much we need to distance ourselves from the realities of life and death. The more money we churn out, the more we delude ourselves into thinking that this flimsy bit of paper is the new, improved God that will deliver us from all the flaws the Old God designed into us. It won’t happen in our lifetime, but very soon, it will reach a tipping point and the house of card will come tumbling down. With all our trust, faith, belief, hopes and dreams “In God We Trust” greenbacks, there will be nothing left to fall back on.

Back to Square One with nothing but the hair on our backs and a piece of whittled stone between us and the grim reaper. It may not be pretty, but at least it’s honest and real, and not delusional."

I truly love her wisdom!