Growing up as teenagers, we hear the saying, “money is the root of all evil”. Personally, it never made sense to me because I’m sure everyone wants to be economically prosperous and financially free. But after reading about money in Siddhartha, it became clear to me that money and material wealth is not the problem, it is the love of it that is.

As humans, we are naturally wired to want more, and when we get what we want, we want more of it. Siddhartha is the perfect example of this, because in Siddhartha Chapter 7, we see Siddhartha become addicted to gambling and turn bitter because of it. Siddhartha who once lived as a Samana, became “child-like” himself, the very thing he was opposed to. The love of money through gambling deluded Siddhartha’s mind, as gambling became the top priority for him. Thus, he lost his kindness with beggars, buyers, and the people around him all because he craved the feeling of winning lots of money.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_money_changes_the_way_you_think_and_feel

The article above states that having lots of money goes much deeper than just being unhappy. If we are not careful with how we use our money, it will definitely lead to physiological problems and even mess with our humanity. Research at UC Berkeley shows that even fake money can make others act with less empathy towards others. This makes a lot of sense if you think about it, if you ever played monopoly, those with the most money tend to be very cruel. Another study in the article found that luxury cars in San Francisco were four times less likely to give pedestrians the right of way. Thus, it is apparent that having lots of money can make you subconsciously egotistical and can cloud your judgement, so what do we do knowing this information?

Moderation is the answer. Moderation is the key to life. Too much of a single thing is bad, even eating too much vegetables is terrible the same way constantly pursuing money is terrible. The thing with money is that it makes us experience many highs in life, and if we keep spoiling ourselves with it without control, then everyday life seems boring. I am by no means saying you cannot have a lot of money because we all would, but you need to be able to use it moderately if you want to be content. By using money reasonably, we can enjoy the mundane things in life and find beauty in it and at the same time, enjoy the luxuries of wealth without becoming addicted to it. And this essentially applies to everything in our lives. Such as work, entertainment, and exercise, they all need be spent in reasonable time or else otherwise it will consume us.

So what’s the big take away? Well after learning the relationship between money and people and how it affects us, we can confidently say we need to find balance in our lives. The love of money is just one problem of the millions out there but there is a recurring theme with most of our issues in life. It is becoming too addicted or obsessed with a single thing. Live in moderation and control what you can control, and I know for a fact you will find your happiness.