Money Makes The World Go Round....or does it?

There is one thing that I have learned over the years, and the foundation of that learning came from my practice of Buddhism at an earlier time of my life. Happiness is not acquired through material wealth, relationships or worldly influences. True happiness comes from within, and is a perpetual state of being, resting on the fact that no matter what happens in the external world, it does not affect that state. People have conditioned themselves over time, withdrawing from the world, checking into convent's, choosing life in a monastery to try and capture this perfect state. Their idea, supposedly, is the path of least resistance. Knowing man's nature, they refuse to allow themselves to be caught up in the path of temptation, and ultimately spend a good portion of their lives in celibacy, chastity and living an incredibly difficult austere life. My thoughts are this is a terrible mistake for those people, because challenges are essential to our growth. It's how we meet challenges and our ability to avoid the pitfalls that come along with them, that tends to be our downfall. If you have a problem, and in trying to arrive at a solution, you hurt another person, whether intentional or not, this will be a thorn in your side eventually. Oh yeah, it's called "KARMA" and it's real, as much as western civilization and the christian church would like to tell you different. Just try and avoid experiencing it, and it makes you a believer. Just like what you sow, you will reap...same thing, just East vs West! I would never laugh at another's misfortune, but I have to admit, when someone has a string of problems that date way back in time, and they are still struggling down the trodden path, pulling the weight behind them like a mule pulling a buggy full of rocks, it amazes me to hear them say, they don't believe in the term "Karma". It's human nature to want what you can't have, and the irony of it is that always, once you get it, you can't relate to why you wanted it in the first place. Why is that? Did you know that you can look at the present life of a person and get a pretty good idea of the activities of their past. People base their happiness on the temporal world, but when it comes down to it, that is a fleeting happiness that is subject to collapse at any given moment, by the conditions they set forth. That's not happiness, it's an illusive state of being, and given the reason, subject to change without warning. Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.___Albert Einsten Many people claim that money is the root of all evil and they say this in sheer ignorance, because money in itself is not evil, but the love or worship of money is, and above all, what you do with the money! The sad thing about these poor souls is that they do not understand the true meaning of love, because love is nurtured and grows deeper with time and its reciprocal. Love and money are truly incompatible, because the more you have the more you want, and there is never satisfaction. It's a perpetual evil and it usually manifests as arrogance, selfishness, greed and possesses the people causing them to horde and elevate themselves over those less fortunate. It's easy to become comfortable and at ease when things are going well, and you shine like a brilliant diamond. You become the light of your world, and could care less about all of the other stars that light up the heavens. Someone said...Every man and woman is a star, as above, so below...Eventually, when your light dims, becoming less brilliant by the conditions of your life, you lose the "bling-bling", and fall apart, bottom out, resemling just an ordinary beaten up rock. Usually, then someone generally comes along, picks you up, dusts you off and gives you a really nice polishing, and set you up to recapture your brilliance once more, only to continue the cycle. The way I see it, if you want to know how rich you are, don't look in the bank, or your purse, or the car in your garage, look at all of the things that you have that money can't buy!