Get Rich With Philosophy: No Really!

Summary

In this engaging talk, Wes Cecil redefines the concept of wealth through the lens of philosophy. He humorously reflects on his own misconceptions about wealth being solely monetary and examines the historical meanings of wealth-related words. Highlighting how philosophy seeks to enrich life beyond mere financial gain, Cecil explores how ancient and modern philosophical thoughts aim to cultivate a broader comprehension of wealth encompassing health, joy, contentment, and efficacy. Through various philosophical schools, he illustrates how true wealth is rooted in well-being and fulfillment, not just accumulation of money. This thought-provoking discussion challenges conventional beliefs, advocating for a holistic approach to understanding and achieving wealth.

Highlights

• Wes Cecil jokes about realizing true wealth isn't about money 😂.
• Historical definitions show 'rich' and 'wealth' mean more than just cash 🌱.
• Philosophy argues for health and happiness as key to riches ✨.
• Epicureanism and Stoicism differ but both aim for life fulfillment 🧘.
• Modern language limits our understanding of wealth 🗣️.
• True power comes from influence and efficacy, not just payouts 💪.

Key Takeaways

• Philosophy offers a richer definition of wealth beyond just money 💡.
• Historical meanings of 'wealth' emphasize well-being and power ⚖️.
• Total wealth includes health, abundance, contentment, and efficacy 🌟.
• Philosophy encourages asking what truly brings joy and fulfillment 🤔.
• Modern culture has skewed our understanding of what it means to be rich 🌍.
• Re-evaluating wealth can lead to a more fulfilling life 👌.

Overview

Wes Cecil takes listeners on a humorous yet impactful journey to redefine what it means to be wealthy through philosophical thought. He starts by recounting his own realization that wealth isn't simply about money, a misunderstanding even he had fallen for. Delving into the etymology of words like 'rich' and 'wealth', he shows how their meanings have shifted from concepts of power and well-being to mere financial assets.

Exploring historical and modern philosophies, Cecil highlights that both ancient and contemporary thinkers view a fulfilling life as a chief aim, often seeing wealth as encompassing health, joy, and contentment. He points out that while philosophies like Epicureanism and Stoicism differ in practice, their core message about pursuing balanced, rich lives remains consistent. This reflection serves not only as a reminder of philosophy's relevance but also of its potential to guide us in finding what truly matters.

By challenging the modern, narrow focus on wealth-as-money, Cecil reminds us that true riches lie in areas like health, fulfillment, and personal power – aspects often overshadowed in today's culture. Through engaging stories and historical insights, he makes a persuasive case for adopting a broader view of wealth, one that could lead to genuine happiness and success in life.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Joke The introduction begins with an acknowledgment of Patreon members and the availability of the episode on major podcasting platforms. The host shares information about the purpose of the episode titled 'How to Get Rich with Philosophy,' which intriguingly started as a joke. The host reflects humorously on the development of this topic, hinting at an underlying truth within the jest.
• 01:00 - 04:00: The True Meaning of Wealth This chapter explores the concept of wealth from a philosophical perspective. It reveals the common confusion about the true meaning of wealth and how it has been a central, albeit misunderstood, goal of philosophy throughout history. The aim of philosophy has been, surprisingly to many, to make people 'wealthy' in a way that may differ significantly from the conventional understanding of financial profits and material accumulation. It sets the stage for a deeper investigation into what wealth truly means.
• 04:00 - 08:00: Transformation of Language Around Wealth The chapter discusses the philosophical exploration of wealth and its transformation in definition over the past couple of centuries. While the pursuit of wealth remains consistent, its definition has evolved significantly. The conversation highlights the realization and introspection about these changing definitions of wealth.
• 08:00 - 11:00: Philosophy and Concepts of Wealth The chapter discusses the commonly accepted notion that wealth is solely associated with money or monetary equivalents, a belief deeply ingrained in society. The speaker reflects on the misconception that philosophy does not contribute to acquiring wealth because it doesn't directly generate money. However, they acknowledge that this belief is fundamentally flawed, indicating a deeper understanding of wealth beyond its financial aspect. The narrative further suggests a self-deprecating humor regarding the fallacy in their own previous thinking.
• 11:00 - 17:00: The Illusion of Money as Wealth This chapter delves into the deeply ingrained perceptions of wealth in society. It examines how these notions dictate our understanding of wealth, its function, and the traditional pursuit thereof. The narrative challenges readers to explore alternative perspectives and actions, noting that words like 'rich', 'wealth', and 'prosperous' traditionally did not bear the same meanings they hold today.
• 17:00 - 23:00: Examples of Wealth in Philosophy and Religion The chapter 'Examples of Wealth in Philosophy and Religion' explores the origins of the words 'rich' and 'wealth' in old English, highlighting their distinct etymological roots. It discusses how 'rich' historically implied strength and power, akin to ruling or being king, linked to the Indic root 'regg'.
• 23:00 - 35:00: Components of True Wealth This chapter explores the original meanings of the words 'rich' and 'wealth.' Traditionally, 'rich' was associated with power and being in charge, rather than just material possession. 'Wealth,' in Old English, referred to being whole, healthy, and flourishing, implying a state of well-being and happiness. The Latin origin of 'prosperous' is also discussed, although it is not fully elaborated upon in the transcript. The chapter seems to delve into the deeper, more holistic meanings of wealth and prosperity beyond mere financial gain.
• 35:00 - 42:00: Conclusion: Philosophy as a Path to Riches The chapter discusses the positive perception of wealth and prosperity in ancient societies, emphasizing how richness was culturally important. It highlights the societal view that being wealthy and prosperous was desirable and something people aspired to achieve. The tone is optimistic and hopeful, suggesting that philosophy might be a path to attaining these riches.

Get Rich With Philosophy: No Really! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Thanks to our Patreon members for helping to make this episode possible, and we're now available on all the major podcasting platforms. You can find more information at the links below. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to How to Get Rich with Philosophy. No, really. And this started out as a joke that I told to myself at the coffee shop when I was taking notes on possible topics. And then I realized and this is the part that's painful is that ah the joke was
• 00:30 - 01:00 on me that this is a joke um that I'm telling on myself and it just shows how far gone I am um and how confused how easy it is to get confused about these things because the one of the central goals of philosophy throughout history not the only one but one of the central ones has been in fact to make people wealthy. This is a very very specific goal outlook. I mean this foundation of
• 01:00 - 01:30 what philosophy has been doing, what it's been trying to do, what it will continue to try to do, I imagine for as long as philosophy is around. But what's happened is particularly over the last couple of hundred years, not the pursuit of wealth has not changed. It's the definition of what we count as wealth has changed. And so it to the point where I actually laughed at the idea in my own head and then caught myself going, "No, no, see
• 01:30 - 02:00 I've I've so been sucked into a culture that says wealth is this single thing essentially money or money equivalents." And that obviously philosophy doesn't help you get that. Therefore, philosophy doesn't help you get uh wealthy. Therefore, that's why that's the joke on philosophy. But of course this is 100% wrong. And the fact that I was telling that joke to myself is you know again just telling of
• 02:00 - 02:30 how deeply ingrained in us is the sense of what wealth is and how it functions and how you're supposed to pursue it and what it is uh is just so deeply ground into us. And so how hard it is for us to see other possibilities, other outlooks, other actions. And and part of the telling issue here is again as I mentioned the word rich, the word wealth, the word prosperous. None of these had as their primary or even secondary
• 02:30 - 03:00 connotation money in their origins. So both rich and wealth come from old English, but they have different origins before there. And they both well one well rich means basically strong powerful able a able to order people around and it has a deep root probably I mean when you get this far back it's you know it gets a bit sketchy but probably with the uh Indic root uh regg which gives us rex which is to rule or to be a king or to order people about
• 03:00 - 03:30 that kind of power or or again strong like I can pick things up strong but mostly strong in the sense of powerful and in charge. kind of strong. So that was originally the word rich. And then wealth in old English meant to be whole or wealthy. I mean wealthy whole or um well healthy. Well, it really meant healthy, filled with life, flourishing, happy. That's what wealth meant. And prosperous in Latin meant um
• 03:30 - 04:00 hopeful for the future, bounteous, upbeat, u optimistic, right? So again, you can see how they have a little bit to related to what we would call now just basically money. But what happened was is these were very val societies viewed as being very culturally important and valuable. So to be rich was great, to be wealthy was great, to be prosperous was great. Like these were things people strove for. And and what
• 04:00 - 04:30 happened was all the other words for money or gold although we did keep the word gold uh for money or treasures or material wealth those have tended to go away. Those aren't around anymore. they in a few places they are but but basically we don't use them except for you know like the uh from Greek the word plutos became plureaucrat in in English was you know sort of wealthy person so there are this you know these sort of momentary uses
• 04:30 - 05:00 and rare examples but basically we eliminated all the words for uh cash you know cash money uh riches and treasures of which old English and Latin have is rich it has plenty of those and we just got rid of those and they took over these other concepts. And so in doing this, what they did is they drove out conceptually what it meant to be rich,
• 05:00 - 05:30 what it meant to be wealthy, how these goals are understood, how they're promoted, what you should be searching for. And that think about that. This is this is the blinding power of of language and culture and how it shapes our thoughts and outlooks. And I didn't look at this for other languages. I should do this. I should I probably will now do this. I'd be interested to see in Eastern European languages and Sanskrit how all this rolls out um in other languages as well. Asian languages might be fascinating. But
• 05:30 - 06:00 um and there's just too many African languages. I mean it would be great to do this in African languages too but there's just so many of them. But uh anyway, I'm sorry. Uh the so the the the concept of being powerful and being able to control and to you know express your will to have efficacy in the world. This is you know like yes like this this seems good to be healthy to be well to be buoyant to be filled with life that seems good. uh to be prosperous in the
• 06:00 - 06:30 sense of to filled with hope and to believe in the future and to have abundance in that sense. That seems good. And what we did is over time we being culturally over time our culture has slowly erased all of that to the point where now that when we say to be wealthy that we know that means have lots of money. Period. Full stop. There is no other definition. And what happens is we think that if we're
• 06:30 - 07:00 rich or wealthy or prosperous all mean the same thing, then all those older meanings will come to us, right? Well, if I'm rich, I'll be I'll be healthy. Which of course, by the way, there's no correlation here whatsoever. But obviously this is the idea uh just saw a recent uh data point fascinating one that uh poor people in Europe live longer than wealthy people in the United States. So um there you go right so
• 07:00 - 07:30 being being wealthy in the United States doesn't help you live longer than poor people in uh Europe. So what this tells you is that wealth does not equate with health. It's there's it doesn't these things don't don't line up. And so that notion which is sort of vestigial in the language suggests oh yes or that if you have a lot of money you will become powerful. Of course, this is the critiques here go, you know, back to Plato and before beyond um earlier than
• 07:30 - 08:00 that, but you can look at Plato's was it Protagoras uh and other other dialogues that comes up in the Republic where you re you know where you realize like there's so many problems here. But imagine um to be rich but to have a lot of debt or to to be rich and not have any self-control means you can have money but this does not make you powerful. This doesn't allow you to do the things that you may want to do. And so again, the mistake that we make here is we go, "Oh, if I have money, then I
• 08:00 - 08:30 want to do those things that money allows me to do." Well, now you're just a slave to the possibility that money gives you as opposed to potentially what you would like to do. And these can be very very different uh examp uh ideas. So for instance, if I want to play the piano, this is powerful. This is a capacity. This is a great ability, right? This this this would be rich if I can play the piano. To have money allows me to buy a piano, it doesn't allow me
• 08:30 - 09:00 to play the piano. And so what we do is we continuously watch people in the world continuously make this mistake, right? Because we have the money and we think it gives us power. It gives you a certain kind of limited power in certain circumstances, but it doesn't allow you to do maybe the things that you want to do. And so this is the kind of distinction that we've lost. It is a type of power, but it is not the and certainly not perhaps the most important type of power. And it's certainly not the kind of power that they were talking
• 09:00 - 09:30 about in uh old English, right? this was a this was this came from personal respect and uh authority granted by your peers and all these other you know issues that were not relevant um that that money was not the primary or even tertiary arbiter of this capacity to rule in this sense or to have sway and so we we've we've lost all this nuance and so then when I make the joke to myself oh yeah get rich through philosophy haha and then I have to catch
• 09:30 - 10:00 myself and go ah what You fell for it, right? You you you made the joke. You fell for it yourself for this linguistic trap that blinds us to that this is indeed what philosophy is striving to do. Now whether it achieves it, you know, it's a highly variable. It's philosophy. So it never wants to be too clear on anything, right? The goal of philosophy is never really clarify anything too much. Uh because then we'd be unemployed. I guess that's what happens. Uh it's job security over here.
• 10:00 - 10:30 No, it's just it's just hugely complicated. and humans are great and so societies are rich and so you know there's lots of variability there but what this means in practice is we've lost culturally the ability to actually see and understand wealth which is a crazy thing to say in this society and in in cultures not just in the United States but you know all over the world that have come to rule or uh worship wealth as the single greatest
• 10:30 - 11:00 good. And it's like, ah. And so what we've lost and what philosophy has always been trying to do for us um throughout history is to say, no, no, no. Here is where wealth resides. Here's where you find your your wellness. Here's where you find your riches. Here's where you find prosperity. And so, just as a I mean, this is a quick list just to give you some examples here. Epicurionism. Uh the goal of Epicurionism was adoraxia, which is sort
• 11:00 - 11:30 of a state of a lack of stress, being uh being peaceful, living with friends, living in a community, feeling harmonious with your world. And so this was and you know, really on emphasis on low stress, the Epicurans, people criticized the Epicurans because they were like, you know, it looks stressful out there. We're just going to hang out over here or the garden with our friends and life will be fine. Uh you know, obeyance of pain. They're really big in the obeyance of pain. So meanwhile, stoicism on the other hand was like o deio. I never know how to pronounce that
• 11:30 - 12:00 one. I apologize. But it means to be possessed with the spirit of life to have this just um thriving sense of well-being that but in but for for the stoics this meant engaging in the world that you get that through engagement and certainly wasn't avoiding pain. The stoics had no problem with pain. They uh they were they were fine with it. They didn't seek it out. you didn't want pain but you know if it came along in the way well that's the way the world works and so you should expect some pain and not get too flustered about it uh Buddhism
• 12:00 - 12:30 of course nirvana which is to leave the cycle of uh rebirth and and death right so that's the idea is if if you can get things worked out well enough you can reach nirvana and that will release you from all the struggles and pains from this world and boy you'll be it'll be great uh Hinduism is moka which is often people confuse this with the Buddhist nirvana but It's important to remember that Buddhism was in its foundation a critique of Hinduism. Like this is where it got rolling. And then I think as I mentioned recently that the then
• 12:30 - 13:00 Buddhism sort of gets reabsorbed into Hinduism because Hinduism is excellent at absorbing everything. It's sort of it's one of its superpowers. Um and with moia it is just simply unity with what you've always been is one way to think of it or kind of how I think of it. talk to the Buddhist or the Hindu scholars to to un unweave this one because it is it is subtle and complicated but it's not about it's not about leaving uh per se it's not about getting rid of the world because that would be silly as far as Hinduism is concerned um Islam means is
• 13:00 - 13:30 it's closeness to Allah right this is this is if you live a just life and you follow the the the preachings of Allah then you or not the preachings of Allah um the preaching of Muhammad if you can get the closer you can get to Allah, the better your life will be. This is the origins of of wealth. This is the origins of riches because everything, you know, it's it's all from Allah. So everything good, everything positive flows from Allah. So the closer you are to Allah, the better your life will be.
• 13:30 - 14:00 Absolutely. Right. So this is this is a very clear one. Christianity, salvation through forgiveness. um you know, you're you're bad, you're awful, but if you um if if you get lucky or if you do the right things, maybe uh you'll be forgiven and then in the next life everything works out great. That's just a few. What is that? One, two, Epicurism, Stoicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity. So, there's just six quick um different philosophical, religious um approaches to the world that want you
• 14:00 - 14:30 to have uh to to basically flower to flourish except for the maybe Christianity, which is a weird thing about Christianity. It's never quite clear that's what they want. So, put the little star by that one. But Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Stoicism, Epicurianism definitely have this as a goal. They have different paths. They have different ideas of how you should achieve this. But when you talk about wealth and health and power
• 14:30 - 15:00 and these great things, they, you know, this is these are the ways, right? It's pretty clear these are the ways. And there's no evidence. There's no strong philosophical arguments that have been made to say, oh, if you just pile up money, you'll be in business. Like then then everything is fine because again, the evidence is clear. and what and so what are the components of wealth or riches as traditionally conceptualized not in our modern idea because again we've stolen the meaning from the words and you again
• 15:00 - 15:30 these are diverse and there's more schools as well but as a as a sort of a rough outline I'd say there's five elements you can look at um that seem moderately consistent but not absolutely it's a complex world with many philosophies but one often clo always almost always close to the top is health, right? If if you were not healthy, yeah, you know, what is the use? Like to be a billionaire on life support is not nearly as good as to be a
• 15:30 - 16:00 poor person anywhere, right? Anywhere else. Like it's it just doesn't it's not that fun. And and so to be in pain, to be suffering, uh to to be subject to all kinds of things, this is not great. So health um has generally been very high up on the list. So if you even look at something like both in Buddhism and Hinduism, the eight-fold path is can can be looked at as a sanitary idea, right? As a as a mode of creating health for
• 16:00 - 16:30 oneself and that sensibility. So health, you know, you would think it would be self-explanatory, but look at how many people are sacrificing their health at their jobs, which means you're trading wealth for something else. You're literally wealth. You're trading your well-being, your health, your life force for something. And man, that is a rough trade. That is a rough trade. If if if it does damage, by the way, not
• 16:30 - 17:00 everybody does this. Lots of people have jobs that make them feel fine or don't bother them too much or they're great, they're fine, they're just they're, you know, they're there or they give them a lot of joy and they give them health, right? But, you know, you see a lot other people and you go, oh no, this is not working for you. You're actually trading your life force for something else. And when you think about those terms, you realize like, oo, that's probably a very, very, very bad exchange. Um, so yeah, so health is definitely one to keep an eye on. Two, abundance. And this is one of those
• 17:00 - 17:30 tricky ones to keep uh to keep track of because you know this is where we think oh if I have a lot of money well that is a type of abundance okay you know fairsy squaresy but this is not what abundance means. Abundance is an outlook or an attitude or an experience if you will of of life. So um two two examples here hopefully provide some clarity. One is haste. I see people rushing and I'm subject to this myself because I tend
• 17:30 - 18:00 to, you know, get up in the morning and press my foot down on the gas and go and I catch myself in patterns of haste and I see people in patterns of haste. And what haste does is robs you of abundance because it means like oh if I if I get this done and I do this and I get this done I do this and I get this done I do this I and so there's no sense of excess or extra or you know cuz if there's abundance if there's plenty if there's a lot there's no reason to rush if where if you can experience
• 18:00 - 18:30 where you are is pretty good why do you want to go someplace else and when we get the mindset of haste then you sort of start losing the possibility of abundance in some ways. I think they they may almost be opposites. I don't think they're quite opposites, but they're certainly antagonistic because you go, "Oh, you know, you can't enjoy uh this is the the drive-thru coffee versus the coffee at a cafe. If you sit,
• 18:30 - 19:00 take some time, get a good cup of coffee, drink it, and enjoy it. Now, your life is abundant. This is the nature of abundance. If you have to go through a drive-thru, which is an irritating experience, I would say, um, and then you have to get some stuff put through before your window and you drive off drinking coffee out of a paper cup with a plastic lid. None of this helps the
• 19:00 - 19:30 flavor of coffee by the way and you know pretty much destroys it any chance that it had although if you're getting it through a drive-through window I'm not convinced it had much of a chance to begin with like okay so ah so right like how can you have abundance and the idea is oh if I get to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and if I do lots of things then oh but that's not abundance right abundance is not a thing or a quantity or a or something you have. It's an outlook. It's a state of mind. It's an
• 19:30 - 20:00 experience. It's kind of a phenomenology of the world. And that sensibility only can come to you, I think, in some ways, when when haste is removed, when you do slow down and when you do say, "Oh, like I'm just going to sit and drink this cup of coffee. Wow, I feel great. The world is great. My coffee is great. Things are good." And I know sometimes it's important to hurry and you know the haste happens. I get
• 20:00 - 20:30 it. I'm not you know saying but when it becomes a pattern and a mindset and uh um a lifestyle right then it you basically be it becomes impossible for you to experience abundance because as soon as you have anything you want to be on to the next thing and and if then then you're then you're in a state of perpetual lack which is of course the opposite of abundance. So it doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how much quote unquote wealth or how many
• 20:30 - 21:00 possessions you have. It this is pointless. This doesn't help you in any way. Again, where where I used to live, the sailing is just such a great example of this. all these sailboats, very expensive, beautiful sailboats that never sailed because to sail is a slow, somewhat difficult uh weather dependent process that people who have worked hard and gotten the money to buy
• 21:00 - 21:30 a boat often I would say I mean I know the percentage is 80% of the time something like that don't have the mindset that allows them to ever slow down and stop and go, "Oh, okay. Now I have the sailboat. I am an abundant person. So I will just sail off slowly subject to weather, not under my choice. I have to go with the flow. I have to go with the tides. I have to go with the wind." Like this is what sailing is. This is the
• 21:30 - 22:00 beauty and the power and the greatness of sailing. Um now you have abundance. But just having the boat this does nothing for you. This is not sailboats are not abundance. They don't represent abundance. And if you have that that haste mindset, the hurry mindset. And they actually said that for people that do have sailboats, if they go out, which is rare, um they spend like 90% of their time motoring, right? So because they just don't have the mindset. They don't they don't have the outlook to allow them to sail because if
• 22:00 - 22:30 you have a sailboat, you have to sail with the winds and the tides. It's not up to you. It's a negotiation. Well, the tides are this way, the wind is that way. I kind of want to go over there, but nah, that's not going to work. I better go someplace else cuz or it's just going to take me forever and that would be sort of painful to tack up wind that much or you know, whatever the problems are. So, you just go, well, I'm going to sail and we'll see where the winds and the tides take us. And then that's where we want to be. That is a sense of abundance. That is a sense of
• 22:30 - 23:00 saying, "Oh, the the weather will will help me and the world is open and so wherever I go, we'll probably be okay. So, let's not get too hung up on anything." Now, you're in abundance. But it's an outlook and an attitude that again, haste, I think, is a is a great killer of um contentment. This is this is another one. This may be just a version of abundance, right? It's contentment is when you're like, "Oh, I've got plenty. I've got more than enough." Abundance. I've got more than enough. But again, this is an this is an
• 23:00 - 23:30 outlook. This is an idea. This is an ideal uh state of being, not a a the condition that that you go, "Oh, I've got a million dollars. I got $10 million. I got $100 million. I got a billion dollars." This none of these things clearly generate um you know, health or a sense of abundance or a sense of contentment because they they aren't nested there. And to the degree that we think they are is the degree to which we've gone wrong. And which philosophy
• 23:30 - 24:00 is there theoretically to help us to go, "Oh, no, no, no. This isn't this is not going to help." If you don't like yourself today, if you aren't content with your condition today, the notion that if you had a million dollars, you would like yourself more is is it's counterfactual, right? Like just this is, you know, you might be more excited. You might be momentarily like, "Oh, okay." But this this does not generate contentment. There's all these videos on YouTube and stuff like for like a Ferrari, like get a Ferrari and then then life would be
• 24:00 - 24:30 great. And so I think I'm going to just say primarily young men, maybe not exclusively, but primarily young men who live in apartments look at that and they think, "Oh my goodness, if I could get a Ferrari, then I would be so happy. I would be feel abundant. I would be so content with my life. Things would be so great." The problem here is if they look around, you know, maybe they live in an apartment. Do they have a place to park it? Do they have the insurance? Are they going to have mechanics? Do they know,
• 24:30 - 25:00 you know, like you look at everything that goes around what is necessary for doing something like this. And then there's a whole process of like apparently you can't just buy Ferraris. You have to go through all these back flips to be able to get one of the nice ones. And so it's this whole lifestyle. And so what they're imagining is, oh, if I were the kind of person who could afford to get that Ferrari, then everything else about my life would be great, too. I would be
• 25:00 - 25:30 organized. I would have a mechanic. I would have the insurance taken care of. I would be able to negotiate with the Ferrari people. I would be, you know, check check. All this whole basically encyclopedia of outlook position. None of which comes from having a Ferrari. Like having the Ferrari is has nothing to do with any of this other sort of paniply that would is necessary to be in place for this to be possible.
• 25:30 - 26:00 And so there it's this dream this fantasy of like oh if I were wealthy then then then then then then all the thenick tick chick. And I was like ah then you would be content then you would say I am finished I am done and what's interesting to me is car guys of which there are truly there are people who really like cars and so it's like this I think this is a different category in a way you know car guys will like oh Ferraris are great you
• 26:00 - 26:30 know what's also great is like a fully restored Dodson B210 that's a cool car too right and so they like cars. They like the process of fixing cars. They like the process of selling cars. They like the process of buying cars. They just like the whole thing. And they seem happy and content. They're like, "Oh, you know, I used to have this fancy Porsche. I got a, you know, this crazy truck that I put, you know, they they're just always in this process of and for
• 26:30 - 27:00 them it's just fun to be in the process. It's not about having, you know, they'd like to have, but then they tend to swap all the time, or some of them do, but for for those people, they're like, "Oh, look, this, you know, this this relatively speaking, very inexpensive car that's just been fixed up by somebody and made cool is is great and and rarer, by the way, than a Ferrari, right? Interestingly enough. So that person is in some ways wealthier than
• 27:00 - 27:30 someone who has a Ferrari or these other you know theoretically exotic and desirable cars which are of course you know produced at factories by Volkswagen or whatever I think Volkswagen owned anyway it doesn't matter it's it's these that sensibility so it's not again I don't want to criticize the material good itself because notice that's also this can be a mistake to go oh the materiality has no component well no that you know People do like stuff. We're we're humans like material goods like you know sort of primaasy. And so
• 27:30 - 28:00 to pretend like there's nothing there I think is is is also an error. But certainly this projection of contentment when if you know ah like these these moments and then so the the question to ask relative to something like contentment or abundance is to say oh what are those things that make me feel content now what are those things that make me feel discontent
• 28:00 - 28:30 now that that is the power of philosophy is to ask us to ask those questions tends to be pretty poor on answering or or if it does answer too strongly then I get suspicious of it but it does ask the questions well and it says okay if if you want a feeling of abundance when do you feel abundant what makes you feel abundant when when do you feel the world is uh uh just filled with abundance I I went for a walk the other day past uh
• 28:30 - 29:00 the field of just not really weed it was just grass to cut for hay essentially But it wasn't alalfa. They I'm not sure exactly what it is in France to tell you the truth, but they they cut it for hay. It's somewhere between wheat and alalfa. I'm not sure what it is exactly. And but where we are is a relatively poor part of of rural France. And they don't spray chemicals. Not because I mean they're sort of bo, but I think they're mostly just they can't afford chemicals. I think so. Which is also beautiful, right? Like yay. Yay for not being able to afford to spray everything. And so
• 29:00 - 29:30 the fields are just filled with wild flowers. And so you walk along a country road uh that I walk on to go to the bakery. Um and the the the field is just there's I I was started counting the many varieties of wild flowers. And I stopped when I hit about 11. And I was like, "Okay, that's 11 varieties here in in this side of the road in the ditch of of wild flowers." I thought, "Wow." I just felt like, "Wow, what a great world. What a great world when you're surrounded by, you know, thousands and
• 29:30 - 30:00 thousands of wild flowers and all these many varieties in a field of hay. And that's it's I was just that made me very happy. I like, okay, things like that make me feel abundant. But maybe different things make different people feel abundant. But if you if you don't ask the question, what makes me feel content? What makes me feel abundant? What takes away my feeling of contentment? what takes away my feeling of abundance. ah chances are it's going to be
• 30:00 - 30:30 difficult to ever really achieve that sensibility which again are historically speaking philosophically speaking and I think even to sort of self-reflectively these when you ponder like oh yeah these are the components of wealth this is the this is the kinds of things that we really um feel good when we strive for almost by definition maybe it's a tutology in a way um joy by the way which I you again contentment, abundance, health, you know, maybe those
• 30:30 - 31:00 are just, you know, mix in various proportions and you will feel joy. Um, and I and again joy may by definition be impart lack of fear, lack of anxiety. So, as with the other ones, you can say, hey, what are those things that make me feel joyful? What are those things that make me feel anxious or or take away from my feelings of joy? And when we ask again, the asking of the question then allows you to come up with
• 31:00 - 31:30 and go, "Oh, you know, I really feel good when I'm hanging out with my friends in the garage and we're working on a car. I feel great. I feel healthy. Uh we have fun. I feel joyful. I'm not afraid. You know, we drink some beers. We're not in a hurry cuz we're just, you know, there's no deadline to get this finished, per se. And life is great." So it's like great, right? Notice that it doesn't need to be a Ferrari does or a
• 31:30 - 32:00 Dodson or whatever. Who cares? Like in some ways it's, you know, every the car is the sort of least interesting part of it. It's it's all of that in surroundings. And if that's what makes you feel good, gives you that sense, then that is wealth. This is what wealth is. And this is again why philosophy really truly is the path to wealth and why when I caught myself making the joke basically on
• 32:00 - 32:30 everything I believe in I was it was it was somewhat painful. Right? Perhaps this is a a a confession of sorts, like, "Oh my gosh, how could I have been so stupid and blind to make that uh comment again in my own head?" And then to catch myself going, "Right, of course. Of course, this is the kind of mistake that we make because we're so immersed and all of the nuance, all of these other elements are taken away."
• 32:30 - 33:00 Even though if you look at rich, rich and wealth and prosperous, what they meant was healthy, abundant, content, joyful, lack of anxiet powerful by the way. And that's one I'll leave on this because I think you get the idea. We could keep going, but the the the notion of power that you get from Rex or uh Rege or you know uh Rich, these these sorts of roots is efficacy, right? So efficacy is
• 33:00 - 33:30 to be able to impact your world. And what what I noticed I actually made this joke in the coffee shop I used to go to all the time is people would come in generally tourists and when they ordered they would you know they're they're putting their card down or they're putting their money down and they are for that moment they get to boss these baristas around not my coffee shop it turned out much of their frustration but in theory
• 33:30 - 34:00 they were supposed to be able to and they got really really upset when when the when the staff did not respond appropriately. I always told them they needed a sign that said, "We love coffee, not you." Because that would sort of capture the mood. But yeah, this notion of going, "Oh, I've I've given you $6 for a coffee. You are now for six minutes my servant and I will tell you how I want it made and you will deliver it speedily and you will do as I wish as I demand in
• 34:00 - 34:30 the way I demand because I am the boss and now I feel powerful. So that is that sense of efficacy is we we're we're just desperate for it and we think money will give that to us. But of course you know this is so obviously wrongheaded that what it does give you is in some circumstances the ability to pay people to do what you say.
• 34:30 - 35:00 ah th this is this is generally the definition of either corruption or benality or or vice of some kind right this is this is not what the the kings of old meant by uh ruling by power because everyone understood that yeah that's great and everybody likes treasure and it's helpful and it you know greases the wheels of authority and it you know keeps your followers happy but if that's all you
• 35:00 - 35:30 have oh man, you're in trouble, right? Like now, as soon as you stop paying, oh, you're nothing, right? All of your power was wrapped up into this. And if and and once you can't pay, you're doomed, right? All of your power is gone. This is one reason people are terrified of being poor is because they that they feel like they would become powerless. And if all of your power is vested in things that you can buy and people you can boss around with
• 35:30 - 36:00 money, then you're correct. You would be. But if this is your definition of power, once again, your your your knowledge of philosophical history and ruling and all of these sorts of things is is scanty at best because, you know, clearly this is not uh this is not the roots of power. Never has been. And again, it's not that money isn't a component. It's not that it's not a type of power, but efficacy in the world is much deeper, much broader than this. And
• 36:00 - 36:30 so, for example, I mean, I'm narrow it down here. I'm trying to think of one that would be the best. The entire business concept or corporate concept or employee employer relationship concept is I pay you, therefore you have to do what I say. I get paid, so therefore I have to do what you say. Right? like this is this is the dynamic rather than the notion of hey, we're all in this together. We're working as a team and
• 36:30 - 37:00 your your capacities, your production, your performance is probably going to be heavily related to how well I can manifest as a leader what it is we're trying to accomplish. And then we can work together to try and accomplish that. And we tend to flip that around and go, "No, no, no. It's I pay you. You do what I say." And then, of course, employees are like, "Okay, well, they're
• 37:00 - 37:30 offering me more, so I'll leave." Or, "You don't pay me as much as I think I'm worth, so I'm just going to not work very hard." Or, you know, all of these elements. And it's, you know, you don't have to have gone to business school to know that the kinds of businesses that simply do the I pay you and I boss you kinds of leadership do not do that. Well, I mean that's not this is not this just doesn't work that well for whatever else you think like people this is not power. It's a type of power but it's not a very good type of power for getting things done cuz again there's so many
• 37:30 - 38:00 opportunities for people to not perform under this environment. Now an environment in which people feel invested and they feel bought in and feel like they care. Now you have a team. Now you have this sense of wow I have people who want to work with me. We want to accomplish this goal. I you know now my power is multiplied by the number of people who have bought in with me as we work towards some shared vision. I mean this is a completely different sense of efficacy and it doesn't mean
• 38:00 - 38:30 that people aren't getting paid. It doesn't mean that money isn't changing hands. is just not confusing that as the entire issue. And so even when we come to the notions of power which endlessly confuses people on this subject, if you look at the philosophical history, it's just not that confusing. People have been aware of the limitations of money as a type of power for a long time and that's why they're so suspicious of it and have been historically. But moving out again. So where we have landed is a world in which even our
• 38:30 - 39:00 language has obscured almost erased the notion that these other types of wealth ever even existed or are possible which is an extraordinary achievement. Right? This is the this is the great thing about about uh cultures and societies and languages and how all this works is it actually warps our entire outlook and and that this concept
• 39:00 - 39:30 is so powerful again like I said as my confession is I actually made this joke to myself getting rich with philosophy haha ah so painful and the last analogy I'll leave you with which I think is is a is a interesting one because it's a one which is the policeman sees a a drunk man in the dark searching around and he says, "Well, what are you looking for?" And he says, "Well, I lost my keys." And so there's the lamp post there and they're searching in the light
• 39:30 - 40:00 underneath the lamp post and they look and look and look and they're not find them and not find them and not find them. And finally the policeman asks the guy, he says, "Hey, um, where did you lose your keys?" And he says, "Well, I don't remember." And the policeman says, "Well, why are you looking here?" And he said, "Well, because this is the only place there's any light, right?" Which it has a sort of crazy logic to it, right? But if you think of our language as the light and and our
• 40:00 - 40:30 cultural shaping of our experience of that language, then what happens is we we know we're looking for something something we we maybe we had or something we feel like we want. But the only spot that's illuminated is, you know, essentially cash money, riches of the most benal sort. And so that's where we look which makes sense right because there is a certain logic to that but what philosophical history does and in
• 40:30 - 41:00 part some it does other things as well but what spends a lot of time pondering is throwing a much broader light it the it's the sun rising you can see everywhere you can see everything and so it says look like hey you can look a lot more places when the sun is up than When the sun is down, let's let's let's when the sun comes up, you can look everywhere essentially. So, it doesn't tell us. It
• 41:00 - 41:30 can't tell us because we're individuals and our situations vary. Our outlooks, experiences are highly varied, our interests. However, it can illuminate vast areas and say, "Hey, you know what you're looking for, what you may or may not have lost or may or may not have ever had. It's probably not right in that lamp post. There's a much much better chance it's in this space that
• 41:30 - 42:00 has been illuminated by the great thinkers and reflectors and ponderers of all of human history." And so when I say get rich with philosophy, no really, it's no really. And and the the joke is on me for having forgotten that and for catching myself having forgotten that. So really truly, philosophy, it's the path to riches almost by definition.
• 42:00 - 42:30 Thank you very much.