The Real Meaning of Wealth

The etymology of wealth is well-being, but we have strayed from that meaning. Wealth has twisted into the pursuit of money and possessions. As a result, we have replaced the qualities that make us whole—community, love, integrity, joy, autonomy, and safety—with money and status.

For example, I remember a time when there was no such thing as daycare. Our parents would give us our bikes, hats, bats, and gloves (hopefully someone remembered the baseball), and send us into the neighborhood to play. The community and neighbors would watch us, not money—not a hired profession.

No amount of money can make us feel whole and wealthy. This is because our well-being is inseparable from the well-being of the world. It’s impossible to be wealthy while we cut down forests and destroy ecosystems; it’s impossible to be wealthy while our gain in access and privilege creates strife and abject poverty; it’s impossible to be wealthy while we have systems of oppression that create trauma and displace communities.

Real wealth is feeling like you belong in the world. It’s having community support and stability regardless of position. Real wealth is having the freedom to choose a life path without consequence or fear of poverty. Real wealth allows self-expression and the space to grow. Real wealth is the freedom to give without worry of support in return. Real wealth is the removal of artificial scarcity and the equal distribution of resources to all.

Finally, real wealth is having the understanding that what is happening in nature and to others IS happening to “me”. We cannot be whole while the atrocities in the world rage on. Our well-being—our wealth—is directly connected to the improvement of the world, i.e., a gain for “me” must be a gain for “we”.

In order to be wealthy, we must give as much as we can with no expectation of return. Not because we believe it will circle back to us one day, but because the act of giving enriches us and the world at the same time.

The pursuit of real wealth is a noble cause. The pursuit of real wealth is the destroyer of scarcity.