Counting everything with money - is like building a house with a supply of 'inches'
Counting everything with money - is like building a house with a supply of 'inches'
In one of his lectures, Alan Watts made an insightful comment about how we often measure everything in life in terms of money.
Money itself isn’t something we use directly in the way we use food, clothing, or shelter. For instance, you can’t eat dollar bills or enjoy them as you would a piece of art. Yet, money functions as a measurement for goods or services that we value. If the value of money fluctuates, the amount of goods or services we can exchange for it changes as well. Essentially, money serves as a measuring system, much like inches or centimeters do in construction.
Consider this: when you use inches, centimeters, or kilometers as units of measurement, these are not the actual things you’re measuring. They are simply tools to quantify something else. The materials used in construction—like wood, concrete, or steel—are the real things, while inches or centimeters are just ways to measure them. Alan Watts humorously imagines a scenario where a construction contractor tells you, “Sorry, we can’t build today; we ran out of inches.” This would be absurd because inches are just a unit of measurement, not the actual materials required to build.
Watts also points out that, too often, we become fixated on the "pointer" to something—like the menu at a restaurant—rather than focusing on the real thing itself, which is the meal you’re about to enjoy. The menu is not the food; it’s merely a representation of it.
The core takeaway here is that we value the real experiences of life. Simply accumulating wealth for the future doesn’t equate to a rich, fulfilling life. The happiness or satisfaction we get from a bank balance can vary wildly depending on how we perceive its value and use it. True richness comes from the lived experiences themselves, not from the figures on a bank statement.
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