Aesthetics of the Invisible World

The Power of Money: 

It is an unusual prerogative to me - being motivated by the accumulation of money and the things it purchases.  I sometimes think about the freedom and comfort it can provide.  Then the better person within myself realizes that that type of freedom can easily become a cage.

Steve Jobs, a man who made a lot of money, suggested this to Walter Isaacson:

and I saw these people who were really nice, simple people turn into these bizarro people. And I made a promise to myself. I said: “I’m not going to let this money ruin my life.”

But Jobs in no saint, as many have attested.  A man who aided Mr. Jobs early in his career, Chuck Peddle, talks frankly about Jobs’ true shortcomings in a 2006 interview:

There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates.  Gates is a good man.

Of course, Jobs is quoted as saying that Gates is “fundamentally odd” and “weirdly flawed as a human being.”  Perhaps this is because Jobs was trapped and never fully understood the value of money.  He only saw the problems.  Philanthropy was never a strong suite of Steve Jobs.  It is of Bill Gates.  

In the end, this is indeed the only true power of money - having the ability to give it away.  Anything that you cannot part with possesses you.  It is a difficult practice to work with but one that I’m trying to wrap my head around.  Once you part with everything, you can see what you really have.

~ü