Are we products of our environment?
I was raised in a household that valued intellectualism, worldliness, and mostly left wing cultural and political values. My parents grew up during the 60s/70s and were both, for a time, academics in the social sciences. My upbringing reflected this. It was good in many ways, and bad in some.
It might sound silly, but my first real effort at making money after finishing university was actually a large mental and emotional hurdle to get over. To provide some context, growing up I would often hear things like:
“Capitalism is evil”
“Rich people only care about money”
“Money isn’t that important”
“If you make a lot of money, the only thing you will care about is making more money”
“Big corporations are evil”
etc.
The things you hear as a small child tend to stick with you. You learn about the world from your parents and, for the most part, adopt their beliefs. For me it was clear: capitalism, money, and business were not good things. They were the cause of inequality, injustice, and a lot of human suffering. This came mostly from my Dad, and stayed with me as I grew up.
A large part of why this had such an impact on me, I think, is because it wasn’t just empty moralizing. My Dad’s entire career—and life—has been spent in support of global humanitarian and noncommercial causes. He’s made a good life of it too, living comfortably, travelling extensively, and semi-retired in his late 50s. In his free time he’s an active volunteer in other nonprofit initiatives, more local but no less ethically inclined.
This was the example I grew up with: a father who preached the evils of capitalism, big business and money, but also one who lived out the example of his philosophy.
Whenever I thought about my future or the direction my life would take, my Dad would be there in my psyche—rightly or wrongly—as an example of how to morally live one’s life. After all, he had spent all of his helping others, and that was a standard that I couldn’t help comparing myself to.
So when it came time to try and start a business, I was filled with feelings of guilt and self doubt.
How could I be focused on making money when there were people suffering, starving and dying all around the world? Victims of war, ethnic cleansing, natural disaster, human trafficking, little kids having their limbs blown off.. the list of injustices is long. And all I wanted to do was make money for myself? Didn’t I know that half the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day? And so on..
Now I don’t blame these thoughts on my Dad—that wouldn’t make any sense. And it’s important to note that in real life, he was nothing but supportive. It was my mind that created the resistance. The obstacles in my psyche were completely self imposed. But nevertheless, they were there.
When I first moved to Chiang Mai, I spent some time examining my beliefs about money. I sat in the park and wrote them all down. I came to realize that most of these beliefs, especially the negative ones, weren’t mine at all—they were my Dad’s (or at least – they were what I thought my Dad’s beliefs were).
And while this was a big realization, I couldn’t shake them 100%. Even today, to a small degree I still believe some of what he told me is true.
But I wasn’t about to stop trying to make money. Not only did I want to, I needed to out of necessity. So I came up with a justification to appease that questioning, doubtful voice in my head.
The following is how I rationalize it to myself, and as far as I can tell, it does actually make logical sense. It’s best explained with a thought experiment.
Scenario 1: Moral Cause X
Let’s say that right now, you decide to drop everything and go and devote 100% of yourself to a selfless/moral cause of choice. It could be digging wells in Africa, feeding starving orphans, helping the homeless, saving the planet, etc. Take your pick. We’ll roll these all into one and call it “Moral Cause X”.
Because for a long time, this is what I imagined the most “moral” thing I (or anyone) could do with their life. Drop everything and devote themselves 100% to Moral Cause X. I didn’t even know what the cause was necessarily, but I knew (or thought I knew) that there was definitely something I could be doing that was more moral than whatever I was doing at the time.
It didn’t help that—in his early years—this is basically what my father did.
So this is scenario number one. Forget your selfish, worldly aspirations, forget about making money, drop everything and go help the people who need it the most. You would be giving 100% of your time, effort and energy to Moral Cause X.
Scenario 2: 10 Million Dollars
Let’s consider the other end of the spectrum. Instead of helping those in need, you devote 100% of your time, effort and energy to becoming very wealthy. And for argument’s sake let’s say you achieve that goal, and that you achieve it in an ethical manner.
Now, instead of devoting your life to Moral Cause X, you donate 10 million dollars to it. Can you see where I’m going with this?
If you want to dig wells in Africa, you could spend your entire life digging, and the result will be maybe 1000 wells. With 10 million dollars, you could have 1000 wells dug monthly for the next 10 years.
If you want to feed starving orphans, one person’s manpower will only make a small impact. 10 million dollars, on the other hand, will put a lot of food in a lot of mouths.
If you want to help the homelessness, you can volunteer in a homeless shelter for every waking hour of the day. Or you could build 10 homeless shelters, and pay for full time staff.
If it’s environmentalism, you could work a low-paying career at Greenpeace.. or you could fund a multimillion-dollar research initiative to discover a viable alternative energy source.
Have I convinced you yet? I’ve definitely convinced myself.
What’s more, once you are wealthy you can devote 100% of your time, effort and energy to that cause anyway. And you can do it with the power, influence, help of wealthy friends, and other advantages that come with money.
And yes, 10 million dollars is a lot. But even if you donate one hundredth of that to your cause, it will probably still do more good than the manpower of a single individual.
So there you have it. I’m currently on the “get wealthy” path rather than the “Moral Cause X” path. And it looks like it’s going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
If you’re in the same (self imposed) bind as I was, then maybe this justification can be helpful to you too.
Good luck, and I mean that.
What are your beliefs about money? Are they really your beliefs, or are they someone else’s? What do you think of my thought experiment? Have you had to overcome similar mental obstacles? Let us know in the comments section below.