SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF WEALTH

 SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF WEALTH 

An atom of wealth is created every time a voluntary exchange of goods and/or non-financial services is completed. The completion of the exchange produces wealth because each participant in the exchange is more satisfied after the exchange's completion than they were before it was completed.

In other words an atom of wealth is a social creation that results from, the equal expenditure, of both parties, towards it's creation. Thus the creation of atoms of wealth can be seen as exercises which are spiritually healthy because in the creation of each one both parties have to expend the same amount of effort to get an end result which benefits them both in equal measure.

If money is one of the items involved in the exchange then there are two issues that now have a bearing on the exchange.

One, because money belongs to the category of universally exchangeable items, the exchange, although anyway part of the economy, becomes, through the money, an integrally meaningful part of the economy. 

Two, when money is involved however it is essential that it is dealt with honestly so that the end result of the exchange is still a healthy atom of wealth.

In order to explain what is meant by these honest dealings with money we need to:

Firstly, introduce the term purchaser for money's user, rather than exchanger, of the other item involved in the exchange. 

Secondly, recognise that the money's value must be exactly the same as that of the value of the other item.

Thirdly, recognise that there is a distinction that has to be drawn in respect of the money, i.e. whether it is old or new money. 

Old money is money the value of which has the guaranteed value of real goods or non-financial services backing it. 

New money is money that has a face value but no guaranteed value of real goods or non-financial services backing it.

When it is old money it can be regarded as, a universally exchangeable item, and thus when the purchase is completed it marks the completion of a voluntary exchange over time because the purchaser must have earned the money used for the purchase by having previously contributed a good or non-financial service to the economy.

But if it is new money then, as it is without guaranteed backing value, it cannot be regarded as, a universally exchangeable  item, until its backing value is guaranteed. The guarantee happens if, on issuance of the new money, it is recorded as debt against the purchaser and then the purchaser settles the debt. Why? Because settling the new money debt signifies that the purchaser has completed their half of the exchange by previously supplying goods or non-financial services into the economy.

Things go spiritually awry at the level of the individual however when the purchaser uses money, which they have not earned, to make a purchase. Then the purchaser is just taking from the common pool of wealth, that is the economy, without contributing anything else in return.

At a macro-level things go awry when those in charge of large economic enterprises corrupt the exchange process by becoming party to purchasing, perhaps even non-existent, goods and/or services at inflated prices from others who are willing to inflate the prices.