Money is what Money does

By Akhilesh at 28 January, 2010, 1:49 pm

Eureka! I found the fourth dimension of our Universe! And the fourth dimension is none other that our beloved MONEY! Physics tells us that we are trapped in a three dimensional universe which comprises time, space and causality. We live, breathe, eat, drink and smoke in the constraints of the above three factors. Though, metaphysically speaking, we have infinite dimensions in the Universe but our eyes are not adjusted (to their frequency) to see them. But one dimension that pervades all the physical dimension of our Universe is MONEY.

I say it because all the above three constraints of the physical universe have started to talk in the language of money. “Time is money”; “Only if I had enough money; I could have been making a trip abroad”; “We need money and investment for exploring whether there is water on moon or not for future human settlements” are few of the very common statements that we hear in our everyday life. So I got tempted to rechristen MONEY as the fourth dimension pervading all the other three.

In Some Economics books, money is defined as a Medium of Exchange, a unit of account, a STORE of value. The definition provides us with a very interesting piece of information of MONEY being a store of VALUE. “Value” for any commodity, service or any work is the ‘value’ that we perceive in our minds. So do we decide whether we want to part away with that much ‘value’ in exchange of goods, services or commodity that we are acquiring. A very simple example for such exchange of value that I discovered was when I paid Rs 800 to watch Avatar in 3D at PVR cinemas in Bangalore. I found the experience was very ordinary as compared to a Red Lounge in Mumbai where I just paid Rs 300 for similar kind of movie viewing. My mind created a perception that Rs 800 did not justify the service I received in exchange and hence I found that VERY EXPENSIVE. So according to above deduction- MONEY is a store a value, a value that our mind perceives for the exchange of good and services.

Our Indian Hockey Team chose not to come to practice sessions because they perceived that they were not being paid their dues (read: value) in exchange of the service they were providing to the country. It reminded me of a mutiny kind of a situation. It also made me reach a conclusion that MONEY (in present times) had the power of creating a mutiny.

No one of us hesitates to pay our very friendly Traffic Havaldar when we are caught driving without a license or any other similar offence. We do that without giving a second thought and take pride if we negotiated well on the bribe. It is also a part of our dinner table conversations. So again MONEY came into a picture, as a tool of rescue for the offender, and as a symbol of upholding of power for the Havaldar.
Money rules our lives from making the decisions of what we are going to study and what career we are going to choose. From creating a perception of deprivation and poverty (the lack of it) or creating an image of being Super Rich, MONEY is DOING something or the other to all of us. We have given it the power to create a sense of security or otherwise within ourselves.

Oh! This all pervading dimension is forcing us to create songs like – ‘Na baap bada Na Bhaiya , the whole thing is that ki bhaiya sabse bada rupaiya’-howsoever funny it may sound but many people believe it from core of their hearts.

We can call MONEY with different names, assign values to it, call it a medium of exchange or even imagine it to be a fourth dimension but it still remains the pivotal and most important decision makers of our lives. This makes me conclude that Money is nothing but what it does to various people, Nothing More, Nothing less. MONEY IS WHAT MONEY DOES.

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