Is it more important to be rich or to be happy?

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I have asked myself this question on numerous occasions and my answer has always leaned towards happiness. But if I was poor (not in the North American sense but in the third world sense) and I was asked this very question…I wonder what my answer would be? Saravanan P of Engineer’s Finance (cited on JD Roth’s blog site), argues that from the perspective of the poor, money is more important than happiness*:

Being happy is a state of mind and heart that does not matter whether we are rich or poor. But we can only make statements like “It’s more important to be happy than it is to be rich” when we are rich and not poor. Being rich always gives us the power to do things at the time we want. In short, it gives us freedom.

Sometimes I think I know just what it means to have money more than Americans do. I have seen people here in India struggle to earn two to three dollars a day working for more than 12 hours. It’s hard, but still people do it. If we were to ask these people whether they are happy, they would say they are, but are they really? They assume they’re happy and move on with the life. For them happiness is merely having their bread and butter.

If you are poor, you yearn for food and nothing else — money matters more than happiness because without the minimum of money, you don’t eat. After you are rich, you tend to say that happiness is more important because your basics are already met. In fact, perhaps most rich people cannot even imagine a life in which the basics may be out of reach on any given day.

Many people argue that being rich is not as important as being happy. I just have two questions for people who say this:
• When you are in hunger, can you think of being happy?
• When you can’t keep yourself warm during winter, can you think of being happy?

Until you satisfy your basic needs, you can’t think of happiness. Forget about being happy. Once your basic necessities are met and you start living (not surviving), only then does happiness surface. When you are struggling financially, you don’t worry whether you’re happy or sad. All that matters is financial security. Once you lose the financial security, you can’t be happy as a normal human being whose needs are met. Because of this, I feel that being rich is more important than being happy.

So why then do people say “It’s more important to be happy than it is to be rich”? I believe we struggle hard to make ourselves rich. The path is difficult. We work hard and maybe we eventually do become rich. All this while we don’t give money the extra importance. We value our selves more than money.

After becoming rich, we value money more than our selves. We keep thinking only about money: how to save it, what to do with it. This all relates to money and not to our selves. We feel stressed out and begin to think of being happy again, that happiness we had when we were not rich.

The truth is: we are giving more importance to money than our selves, which causes pressure and makes us unhappy. Whether you or rich or poor, try not to give money too much importance. Then you can be happy no matter what.

*Reprinted with permission.

Tags: happiness, rich vs. happy

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Comment by Johnathon Martin on March 19, 2009 at 11:55am: Interested in manifesting greater happiness, well-being & success?

Please sign up for a free Yoga and Happiness ecourse & teleclass at www.YogaandHappiness.

OM Namaste

Johnathon martin

Comment by Belinda on July 22, 2008 at 3:07pm: It's hard to grasp, but worthwhile when you finally do... only Abundance awaits, and every day is like the best dream you could ever have imagined.

Comment by Peter Stodolak on July 22, 2008 at 2:56pm: "especially living within a system that, at even the most subtle level, functions on the basis that money is more important than happiness and cultures us to believe, think and act in ways that support and maintain its existence"

I feel that this is what I was attempting to address. You answered the question of money vs happiness better than I could hope to. A better understanding of why some are so committed to a path of suffering is where I am lost.

Comment by Belinda on July 22, 2008 at 10:59am: Actually, Peter, I don't think you understood my comment relative to the context of this blog. It addresses and answers the question at the heart of the post. And yes, there often a choice between money and Happiness needs to be made, as I have been faced with this choice countless times on my path. In fact, if you observe closely, it is a choice we make with every breath - especially living within a system that, at even the most subtle level, functions on the basis that money is more important than happiness and cultures us to believe, think and act in ways that support and maintain its existence It's the greatest obstacle we need to overcome (in ourselves, first) to bring the way we live back into Harmony with Nature and find true Happiness (the kind that demands the capital H).

Comment by Peter Stodolak on July 22, 2008 at 9:15am: A fine point Belinda. I think the quote touches upon something esle.

There isn't really a choice between happiness and money. We want what makes us happy. We sacrifice because we think we give for something of value. However, there are times it can be easy to forget what we sacrifice for and cause ourselves suffering needlessly.

I do not ask money or happiness. What I ask is if I believe the way I am spending my time serves something of value. Sometimes the answer isn't so clear. However, time usually brings the answer.

Comment by Belinda on July 21, 2008 at 7:52pm: This question I do not ponder anymore. I have lived at both ends of the financial spectrum... and the answer is Happiness. But I use a capital H for a reason...

Everything is relative. In North America, poverty has a different context - different criteria and a different environment - from the context it has in India. For example, in North America the poor have to face the burden of a culture and society much more disconnected from Nature and it's source of bodily and spiritual nourishment, as well as the energy of extreme fear of poverty that this creates in the people who observe their condition. In India, the nature of poverty differs at the material level greatly and there is much more connectivity, sense of community and connection with Nature and spiritual nourishment.

We could go further into the details... they would be endless, going in circles and never answering the question. Just as it is pointless (and negative energy) to compare one life to another, it also serves no purpose to compare poverty in one context to poverty in another. But it IS important to observe the differences... using Discernment, rather than judgement. Judgement comes from illusion and covers the True nature of the object of judgement with false qualities that come from our fears and ignorance. Discernment comes from the Heart, and allows us to discriminate one thing as being different from another, unveiling Truth. Discernment comes when we shed our samskaras (the 'mud' or 'dirt' on our lotus that comes from cultural programming) - through yoga, Ayurvedic ritucharya and meditation. Most importantly, Discernment frees up our energy to see WHY there is poverty in the world, why there is suffering... and DO something about it.

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Is it more important to be rich or to be happy?

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