A different measure of wealth

    If we lived in a truly free society, would we be living the same way we do now? Would we go to the same schools, watch the same TV, and run the same rat race for the same prizes?

I don't think so.

    I think a truly free society will be much wealthier, but just as important, it will be a different kind of wealth. Right now, we live in an economy based on spending. Spend today, and the GDP goes up. Spend today, and you will have the latest shiny object that gives you status, just like that shiny sticker did in the 2nd grade.

    Meanwhile, some of the most beautiful things in the world, things like the terrace farm in the image above. This is a very different kind of wealth:

> Wealth that is in the form of true savings.

> Wealth in the form of capital investment.

> Wealth in the sense that 100 years from now, your great grandchildren will have a better life and can devote less time to work and more time to life.

    In order to have that kind of wealth, simply having "living wages" and "affordable X" will not cut it. That is a mediocre, barely-existing life where you rot away in some ugly housing project. To build the kind of the kind of wealth that goes far beyond you, you will need a history, and a future. That takes family, in which you are tied to your ancestors and you recognize that you, too, are an ancestor to your descendants. It also takes sacred spaces, where men (yes, I just uttered that modern western blasphemy) can get together and dedicate time to see the future together. Further, it takes prayer and meditation to escape daily issues and distractions. We're talking about the kind of project that takes 20 years, so these sources of stability and guidance are absolutely necessary.

    What must be swept out of the way, meanwhile, is the kind of politics where everyone spends every day in agony over the latest utterance from people they never met. Never thinking beyond the next election, and coming to hate your neighbor because you both bow to different idols presented by the television, is absolutely draining. You can't think a century into the future when life beyond the next election is uncertain.

    For this reason, starting today, dedicate some time to reading. In particular, start reading history. Here through Minds we might network and find like-minded people, and maybe one day, we can have our own culture, that makes its own mark. Maybe we can leave behind wealth in the form of knowledge that will help others to also become free people, free from debt and free from mass media.