Money and Hedonism

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Immerse yourself in a community of faithful Christians, who will help build you up in following God and reel you in if you stray.
 
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One needs to understand that worldly things are temporary. One needs to be detached from things of the world. Use what you have for the good of others. As @ahs posted, put God first.

Example: a priest told a true story about a man who had a friend who was trying to provide aid in Africa. The friend told the man that the group was getting the aid to the port but was having trouble getting it to the villages. They needed ten trucks. The man wrote a check to his friend so that he could buy the trucks. When I heard the story I estimated that the man probably wrote a check for $750,000 to $1,000,000. And he did it without making a big deal about it. That I thought is an example of detachment.

Now, we cannot all give that kind of money but most can give to others in the way that they can.

One last point, we all have obligations for rent, food, etc. It is not prudent to give away what one needs to live on. Just do what you can.

Blessings
 
Spend any time at all in ministry with St. Vincent dePaul and you will see/meet people who don’t worship money or power. It’s a humbling experience.
 
Realize that money is just a medium of exchange. Don’t let it define you. Don’t place too much value in it. Realize there are more important things.
 
But then again, the probability that you would get into a position to make that kind of donation without being motivated in part by money is very low. They correlate, people don’t tend to become millionaires by accident.
 
I think that we are all motivated by money to some degree. No one goes to a company looking for a job without expecting compensation for their time and talent. Likewise, someone who starts a business and does not make a profit will not be in business for long. Of course, the reason that we need money is because we are physical beings and need “stuff” to survive. In my post I mentioned rent and food as examples of necessities. And I think that becomes the challenge - how much “stuff” do we need and how attached are we to it? Are we willing to let it go?

Blessings
 
Quite right. Money is not a problem, greed and making it the end all be all is the problem.

Let us pray that those in tremendous need be able to obtain the resources they need in 2018.
 
That indeed is a good thing to pray for. The same priest that told the story about the trucks also said that it is difficult for someone who does not have the basic necessities of life to live a moral life because they are spending all of their time struggling to survive. Further, they can be tempted to do immoral actions out of desperation to get what they need to survive. So it is good to pray that they get what they need.

Blessings
 
Stop buying clothes and items you don’t need. Understand that it will leave you only temporarily satisfied. Read spiritual books and focus on the happiness of the saints who gave up all in order to serve and love God. I have tried to stop wearing makeup, buying clothes without necessity, and the latest tech and superfluous foods because they contribute nothing to my well-being besides the satisfaction that it is pleasing to the senses.

Pay no attention to those who worship money, who talk about the trends and give in to materialism. It will only tempt you.
 
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To quote John Hope Bryant, if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you first have to accumulate money like a capitalist. John Studzinski is a good example.
 
Spot on^^. We must have a means of completing trades for necessities i.e. money. The hedonism comes in when we value money more than we value our neighbor or God.
 
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You have to build an inner spiritual life that does not require spending money. The problem you are stressed with it is that you spend more than you make.
And overcome these illusions that this or that expensive object or habbit actually is a miracle or a life changer. None of them are. If you are centered deep within ( and I think you can only do this with God) you will need less and less. When you will give up certain material ideals you will be able to enjoy your work more and even keep money.
Hey, I ain’t no money guru here, but these are my ideals too. 🤡🤡🤡 :hugs::hugs::hugs:
 
It’s important to note that not everybody who’s after money wants to live a hedonistic life with it. Some people, either because of their personalities or upbringing, are really concerned about having “enough” put away to keep their family at a certain standard of living, or pay for something like college or health care. In the USA, you can easily get into a lot of debt if you become ill, or in connection with college costs, or in connection with the purchase of a home in some parts of the country (and it’s not always just feasible to pick up and move to a cheaper state).

My husband and I have always been overly concerned about being prepared for emergencies. Even though it’s possible that some “emergency” could wipe us out anyway, at least we’d have tried to be responsible. (Many others we know do not even try, and while in some cases there are valid excuses such as other life problems that these folks had to focus on overcoming, there are also a lot of people who are just irresponsible or living in the moment. ) There are spiritual pitfalls such as anxiety and lack of trust in God, as well as possible overconcentration on making and keeping money, associated with this mindset as well, but they’re different pitfalls from the person who wants to make a lot of money so he can live a pleasure-seeking lifestyle.
 
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