What if you were paid to be yourself?
Say money wasn’t an issue.
Say you were given enough money to get by, to eat, to have shelter, to splurge on occasions.
Say that certain careers weren’t given higher salary brackets over others.
Say that everyone was paid for exercising their own talent.
What if there was pure EQUALITY?
If everyone was given the same amount of earnings for just being themselves and doing what brings them joy and purpose, would this not make life more meaningful and elevate our spirits?
Imagine if this utopian society existed, where you could live without the concern of money.
Without a doubt there would still be problems in the world – there would still be suffering and struggle in one form or another. You might even wonder if there would be people filling the roles that are required for a society to function (from the doctors to the rubbish collectors).
Well, it’s hard to know, but it’s nice to think that God has purposefully given each of His crafted children a talent that is specifically theirs. Surely we can then trust that this means He would have distributed each talent accordingly so that each role in society would be fulfilled.
Obviously, we do not live in a perfect society: but we are not yet in a complete dystopian society either (despite what some movies portray!).
Say that this utopian reality we’ve imagined truly did exist – what would you be doing?
Maybe the more important question to ponder is – would you be doing what you are doing now?
Alan Watts has pondered this before us:
What If Money Didn’t Matter
What about our lives would be different?
What goals would we reach for?
What kind of person would we strive to become?
Of course, money matters and money is important.
Of course, money needs to be earned and spent responsibly. If not, we suffer.
But maybe the better question is, what if money wasn’t that determining factor (as it is for some many people)?
What if we were able to earn money from our passions or our service? What if we knew we could? What if we did?
What would be different?
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What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?
Let’s go through with it. What do you want to do?
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If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time! You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living – that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing!
Are your motives for success and a secure job based on money?
We live in a money-driven society, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that is one of the factors influencing your thoughts of the future.
The beauty of this exercise of imagining and pondering a different reality, a different society, is being able to look at your own reality, your own society, and seeing your place and purpose in it.
Ask yourself – are you doing what you love, what you would do if money was or wasn’t involved?
May you be honest and true to yourself and to the talents that God has given you.
Blessings!
