The bounty of the Earth is for all
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book, What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
“As heaven is for the gods,
so the earth has been given to all mankind,
and lands uninhabited are common to all.”
Tacitus (c. 55 – c. 117)
The wonderful thing about our world is that the fundamental things we each need to survive are, in principle at least, available to each of us: food, water, shelter. I don’t mean that each of us actually and always has access to these fundamentals. With poverty so great in our world, that’s patently false.
I mean that we weren’t put into a forbidding world like Mars which produces neither food for us to eat, water to drink, or trees that can be formed into shelter. No matter how great our wealth, had we been born on Mars where none of the fundamentals exist, our physical nature would have condemned us to a quick and dusty death.
No.
You and I were put into a rich world that provides us the fundamentals that, by nature, we need; a world wonderfully proportioned to our needs, a world that, in all its basics (land, air, water, weather, and the millions of plants and animals that populate it) and in its goodness and beauty, seems particularly designed to sustain us, to make us thrive, and even to give us joy.
God did not place us into this world filled with the fundamentals that, by our nature, we need, and then condemn us to quick death by denying us the right to use these fundamentals to sustain ourselves.
Instead, on the use of the fruits of the earth, there has been no divine prohibition or other natural prohibition that we have ever encountered.
At this fact we marvel too little. We were not just placed on this planet; the planet was given to us for our home.
Given.
We did not purchase it; we did not inherit it. It was given.
From that one fact flow incredible conclusions.
Unexamined wealth is not worth having
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book, What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
“Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary.”
Shakespeare
(1564–1616)
Shakespeare was wonderfully able to show us human nature as it is, parading before us vanity and pride, humility and integrity, lust and hypocrisy, and all the other virtues, vices, and quirks that make us who we are. In the passage above quoted from King John, the Bastard celebrates the myopia, deliberate or not, of those who have money or have it not.
In What Your Money Means, I believe I provided a pretty good explanation of the meaning of wealth. Hearing too well the song of the Bastard in King Lear, I wanted to ensure that I didn't fall unconsciously into the hypocrisy that the Bastard celebrates and so ably mocks.
For years that was one of my fears, a fear that became a major reason to undertake the investigation of which the book is the fruit.
It’s simply not right for those of us who are wealthy to take our wealth for granted. We’ve each of us got to confront the fact of our wealth and seek to discern its meaning, not only in our own lives but in the overall scheme of things.
Just as Socrates insisted that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” so I’m convinced that unexamined wealth is not worth having. Indeed, as will become evident here in the coming weeks, wealth can be downright dangerous — to those of us who have it and to those we love. With the stakes so high, it would be wrong of us to act like the Bastard and cavalierly defend it because we have it.
No.
Either we discover its meaning and live in accordance with that meaning, or rid ourselves of it, because, like fire, it will harm us if we don’t use it as it’s meant to be used and handle it as it needs to be handled.
Let us be slow to judge each other
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
Let me say one thing for your sake and for mine: for years now, as they’ve grown clearer in my mind, I’ve slowly been embracing the principles enunciated in my book, and shifted the way I live so that I’m abiding more closely by these guidelines . . . but I’m not there yet.
So you’ll sometimes find me explaining and defending standards I don’t yet live by. That’s because either I see they’re true but haven’t yet gathered enough interior strength to make myself live by them or I’m in the process of changing from my old ways to the better ones I explain here, and I just haven’t completed the transformation.
So let’s you and I make a pact — about the principles that we discuss on this blog and about our lives. Together, we’ll inquire into the truth, regardless of where it leads us. Then, having seen the truth, we’ll each try to live in accordance with what we’ve seen.
But we’ll always understand that we each are works in progress, and we’ll never judge each other, but rather will support each other as we try to learn the meaning of our wealth and to discover the uses that each of us, in particular, are called to make of it.
We must seek truth and struggle to live by it
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
When I decided to try to study these questions, I resolved to follow the evidence where it leads, and not draw back from conclusions that might leave me uncomfortable or looking bad. In business and in my private life, I’ve always believed that if I’m going to handle things the way I ought, I’ve got to do four things: it's 1) Find out how things are now; 2) Discover how they’re supposed to be; 3) Figure out how to change things from how they are now to how they’re supposed to be; and 4) Make myself want to change them enough that I’ll do what’s necessary to bring about that change.
Generally, once I’ve discovered how things are and how they’re supposed to be, the hard work begins: figuring out how to get from how they are to how they’re supposed to be, and — hardest thing of all — make myself want to make that change. I mention this because writing my book largely accomplished steps 1) and 2) for me, but I’m still working on steps 3) and 4). It’s not easy for any of us to examine our attitudes and habits. It’s even harder to want to change them. So although the book is done, my own life is still a work in progress.
The ancients understood what money means
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
My book offers a lean, no-nonsense explanation of the meaning of our wealth, and a sure guide for dealing with it constructively. Some of it won’t surprise you: other times you’ll think my conclusions novel; but they’re not original. For I discovered an understanding of wealth that developed almost 2,500 years ago with Aristotle and was later embraced by Cicero, Aquinas, Emerson, Carnegie, and wise souls in other times and cultures — an understanding rooted not in religion or mysticism, but in virtue, common sense, and the pragmatism that allows societies to flourish.
There I found simple criteria by which to determine how much wealth is enough for us, now and in the future. In the coming days, I’ll explain these criteria, and give you rules-of-thumb to help you judge how much of your wealth to devote to the common good, and when you should do so. Best of all, I’ll show you how to use what you keep as an instrument to strengthen your family and loved ones, while making each of you wiser and the world a better place.
Can these questions about money really be answered?
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
In my past few postings, I've asked lots of questions about how we ought to be handing our wealth. A more fundamental question is whether, in fact, there are reasonable criteria that allow us to provide reliable answers to those questions. Is it possible to figure out — once and for all — just what it means for us to have money, and what we should be doing with it? What Your Money Means is the result of my efforts to discover the answer to those questions.
Although it answers to those questions for people who’ve inherited Old Money, it's really aimed at hard-working men and women who are still deeply engaged in intense efforts to generate wealth: folks who have strong wills, quick minds, and a sure grasp of what it takes, day-by-day, to make money now. If, like me, you value the virtues of capitalism and moral virtue but have too often been stymied when you’ve tried to figure out just what you should be doing with your wealth, then buy the book, or come back here as we address many of its themes.
What about those who depend on us now?
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
Then there’s that more radical response that some established men and women have given. With twenty or thirty good working years still ahead of them, they’ve stepped away from the enterprises that first brought them money and power.
Are you and I called to take such a radical step? Should we stop making money today, and devote the rest of our lives to using what we have now to support good causes?
Most of us have families or others who depend on us — even if they’re only employees and stockholders who expect us to sustain the business from which they derive their salaries or income. Would it be morally permissible for us to walk away from them in order to serve others?
Might it even be wrong for us to cease creating wealth now that could later be used to serve others? Do you know the answer?
Should we give to charity now, or later?
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
Let’s add to the questions we have to address if we are going to approach charity with the same rigor that we approach business: yes, I have more money than one family can use on itself, but should I give the rest away? If so, how much? And when? And how can I be sure?
Would giving substantial amounts today be good for my family, for my businesses, or even, ultimately, for the charities that would receive the money? You see, in twenty years I might quadruple the value of what I could give today. Should I give my wealth away today — or twenty years from now?
Maybe we should just sit tight: devote the rest of our lives to making money — which we do well — and then give it away once our earning ability ceases or we pass away. That guarantees charities the largest contribution. We'll address this problem, too, in the coming weeks.
Do we donate too casually?
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
A friend calls asking me to give to his favorite charity.
“Sure! I’ll send $1,000.”
A week later another friend calls, and I promise him a contribution, too.
I hang up and wonder whether I made that last donation just to get someone off my back. Did I give enough? Was I properly motivated?
Like you, I’m willing to share my wealth. We want to help the needy, and, while providing for our families, contribute to others as much as we ought to give. But the casual ways we do so — a contribution here, work with a charity there — bother me. I didn’t grow rich handling money haphazardly; I ought not to be giving it away haphazardly.
We have strict standards by which to judge the business projects we invest in; that’s one reason we’ve done so well. Shouldn’t we approach the challenge of charity in the same way? If so, how can we do it? Do you have a solid, differentiated answer to that question?
If not, then stick around. For that;s just the question we will address here in the coming weeks.
What does your money mean?
These brief remarks are for those who’ve asked me to summarize the main themes in my book,
What Your Money Means and How to Use It Well (Frank J. Hanna, III, Crossroad Publishing, 2008).
I wrote What Your Money Means because some time ago I realized that I'd spent years learning how to make money, but never expected that spending it — in particular, spending it wisely — would be so challenging . . . or so frustrating.
Money can accomplish a lot of good for ourselves, for those we love, and for others we don’t even know. Yet sometimes it’s almost impossible to decide which of those countless good things we ought to be doing, and when we should begin devoting our wealth to those tasks: now or later.
Sure, there are plenty of people ready to tell us how and when to part with our money: friends, relatives, economists, sociologists, financial planners, and various others, few of whom have worked to accumulate wealth, and therefore don’t really understand what it’s like, day-to-day, to carry its burdens. So I decided to see if I could offer answers that would satisfy me, and all the rest of those groups. In the coming weeks here, I'll sketch out some of those answers.
