Can money buy happiness? It's easy to say no, and probably correct, but that's just a way to stop thinking about the tougher issues. What is your relationship to money, for example, and how do you use this most powerful of worldly tools?

Maybe you see that chasing after money for its own sake is destructive, but isn't it equally damaging to have such a powerful instrument in your hands while pretending it has no importance?

Money Is Important

Some say that money isn't important to them, but this isn't true. The truth is they don't see the importance. They make more than they need and yet complain they have no time for their children, when they could clearly trade time chasing money for time with their kids.

They want self-improvement, but instead of buying the tools to help them (a book, a class, a trip to a monastery) they put $800 televisions on credit cards. Then they work to pay for it all, taking even more time from their children and their own personal development.

It's not about televisions. They can be good things. It's about priorities. How we make money and how we spend money reveals ourselves. Do we like what we see? Clearly money is important.

Happiness

So, can money buy happiness? Well, it can help put the right conditions in place. Is it easier to be happy if you have food to eat? Whether you call that buying happiness or not, the understanding is more important than the argument.

Name any valuable goal or direction in your life. Can't you, with a little imagination, see how money might help? Earn your money in a healthy, satisfying way, and spend it wisely, and of course you have a better chance to be happy. Clearly we need a deeper understanding of this issue than a cliche can provide.