Wealth. When people use the word wealth or refer to having wealth, they are most often referring to having a great deal of money. Or they are referring to having an abundance of material possessions like homes, automobiles, clothing, gold, paintings, and further expensive objects or items. Then there are people who cherish their stock market values and hold dear what their stock value means to them. Obviously when the stock prices rise to high levels, people feel even better about their own stock values, but when stocks fall to lower levels people feel less than enthusiastic about that type of occurrence as it directly relates to their own stock value.
In many nations around the world, a person’s financial or material wealth is often used as a barometer to place themselves within the hierarchy of a nation’s social status. The more financial or material wealth that they have or accumulate, the better the social placement within the society in which they live. People often perceive their financial or material wealth, or lack of it, as something of a social marker among people within societies in many nations around our world.
This attraction to financial and material wealth among societies within nations around the world has become stronger as human existence has evolved. It appears to have started very early on in the human experience, and history books are abundant with stories about those who have accumulated great financial and material wealth within societies over many millennia. This phenomenon of accumulating financial and material wealth only appears to continue as the human existence moves forward. There are even those people among nations of the world who are proposing that laws should be written that will penalize other people who do not, or cannot, accumulate what they deem as a sufficient amount of financial or material wealth during their lifetimes. And that to me, is a very frightening proposition to bestow upon people’s lives as they try to exist with the precious gift of life that they have received.
But thankfully, wealth is not only measured in the abundance of money or material goods that one may possess. Wealth can and is also measured in many other ways that have nothing to do with the material goods or financial standing of an individual within a nation’s society. When we realize this, we look at the intangible gifts that a human being has and is shared among all of us during our lifetimes. We hear the kind, non-judgmental voice of someone speaking with us when we are feeling down that brings a soothing, healing effect to our psyche. We hear the singing voice from a person who is not materially well off soothe us, bring us joy, and produce a wonderful experience for us which then leaves us with a wonderful memory.
We feel the touch of someone that also helps bring us to a better state of mind when we are in pain, whether emotionally or physically, and thankfully there are many volunteers working within organizations in many nations around the world who do this for us on a daily basis. Sometimes it is simply in the form of a sincere hug, or a hearty handshake, that can bring us to a more positive mental or physical state. We hear the music coming from a busker, or street musician, playing songs that take us away from the troubles or issues in our minds if only for a moment. It is difficult to place a monetary value on these things, in fact, I believe that it is impossible to do so.
I personally have never been in a place of abundant financial wealth or material wealth during my lifetime. Instead, I have placed great value on the intangible skills and gifts I have been given as a human being in this world. I worked very hard on achieving a proficient level of making music for other people to receive. I have also worked very hard to achieve a proficient level of technical expertise in the various technical endeavors that I have undertaken within my lifetime. Because of the fact that I have not withheld the knowledge that I have accumulated during my life with these endeavors, and instead desired to share them with other people, has brought me to a state of inner wealth that can neither be described, nor taken from me.
The inner wealth that I speak of comes through this sharing of experience that I have received with other people. While I was in the military service, after attaining a high level of technical excellence within my chosen technical vocation, I was able and more than willing to share this knowledge with other military service members who were working in the same technical vocation that I was. It was important to me to keep people safe at what they were doing, and to protect the service’s assets, and this allowed other people to remain safe as they worked within their service lives and careers. This in turn allowed my particular branch of military service to work to maintain peace in the world, which surprisingly, is what the military services want more than conflict with other nations or peoples.
My inner wealth has also been realized in my many years as an audio and backline instrument professional. I have read many, many technical manuals, and I have had hundreds of experiences mixing audio on a professional level at music and corporate events, as well as working in musical instrument backline support for many music events. I took the time to help teach the personnel at a musical instrument backline company I was working with how to work with the MIDI protocol and how it applied itself with the use of professional digital keyboards, drum machines, sequencers, tone generators, and digital audio samplers. As an audio professional, I worked with another stagehand company teaching their young stagehands the safety and workings of audio devices and audio apparatus they would be working with. This led to me writing my own basic audio connector course that covers the most commonly used audio connectors in the world. I have shared the different sections of my audio connector course with the audio stagehands that I have worked with over the last few years at no cost to them.
The inner wealth that I possess as a musician has also had a positive effect on other people around the world. I have been fortunate to have been able to be a music teacher to other musicians in my lifetime, and I have been able to have done this on the islands and continents that make up our beautiful planet. To me, teaching music is something very special to share with other people who also wish to share their own music with others. And no, I did not accumulate great financial or material wealth by doing so, but I maintain the belief that having done so cannot have a monetary value placed upon it.
There have been some gentle reminders bestowed upon me by those with great financial or material wealth who have attended some of the music shows and music events that I have participated in over several decades. Some of these people have spoken to me after a music show or music event is over and have relayed the fact to me that while they do possess great financial or material wealth, they cannot express themselves musically as I do. And sometimes, they have mentioned the fact that they wished that they had continued their music lessons on their chosen instrument as a child, so that as an adult they could have been able to express themselves musically as I just did in their presence. Having people of great financial and material stature share those kinds of personal thoughts with me has always been a reminder to me of the actual intangible wealth that I possess, and how special of a gift it is to have.
The fact is, when it comes to inner wealth, I know that I am not the only person who feels this way about myself. Thankfully, there are millions of other people out there around our world living the human experience who do not possess great financial or material wealth, but their inner wealth and what they share with the people of our world cannot have a monetary value placed upon it, ever.
Knowing the difference between having financial or material wealth, and realizing one’s own inner wealth and gifts, is truly where the treasure of the human experience resides. So, know that you are truly wealthy, from the inside, each and every day of your life.
