Real Value
Value is an awakening. An alertness. It is found in things that bring life and make us feel alive. The more life, the more value. Words that inspire and direct us bring great value. It is true. Still that does not mean people are willing, or sometimes able, to pay for them.
Value, then, is not directly proportional to what someone is willing to pay for. Someone or something’s worth (its fair market value in our economic system) does not tell us its impact. Some of the most valuable things in life (it follows) appear to be “free” of worth.
What is the worth of life itself? How in the world do we valuate the very gift of life?
We do not pay to be born. Nor would we likely (given the choice ;-). Of course our biological parents do pay, in more ways than one. To think that we can’t pay for (or really help with) anything for the better part of our first decade on this planet. We are deeply dependent from the beginning.
Yet, if you are reading this now, you likely made it through that first decade (;-). You survived.
You made it through the neonatal stage (which itself is a miracle). And you were safely born (also a miracle). Many were not. Don’t take that for granted - you are here right now!
Life is a gift. But you have been born into a value system that does not see it that way.
We did not pay to be born but are told from the beginning that “nothing comes for free.” Somebody has to pay. We can see it in every adult’s face. Our parents warn us it is coming. Adulthood. Responsibility. Boredom. Death. The system. We prepare for the worse.
We prepare to reduce the miracle of life into a mere system of survival.
Without serious intention, we become a transactional cog in the system. Consume this. Exchange that. Fine. But not enough. We need space that is trans-actional, that is beyond simple commerce. Real value. Things, like words, that though free, may indeed cost - and be worth - the most.
Thankfully, there are different forms of currency.
In estaimating value, we must remember this. Some currencies give us the right to buy or trade in order to get things we want or need (and don’t currently have). In such a currency, things are valued based on demand and scarcity. But this is not only one form of currency.
Energy is a currency. Love. Inspiration - how (and why) we keep going. These are currencies.
These other forms do NOT fluctuate as rapidly as financial markets shift. Even the most astute investment broker must eventually admit there are no perfect predictors of the future. We are guessing. Valuations are guesses. No one actually knows what will work - because no one knows the future.
That is the transitory nature of the world.
So economic value is circumstantial. What is valued in one context will not be in the next. Economic value is always shifting with needs, and needs with the circumstances of life. But real value transcends those shifts. Real value defies measurement. Real value always matters.
Keep that in mind net worth. You will never define us!
