If everyone was rich, only your virtue would count

Imagine a world where there were no more poor people, no more social distinctions, no more classes, no more hierarchies based on wealth. What would be the consequences of this change? The first would be the need to distinguish oneself by one’s character and not by one’s possessions.

Money, in an unequal society, has the advantage of offering a kind of immediate compensation to all those who lack values. Being rich allows immoral people to find a form of respectability. This distinction disappears as soon as society becomes more egalitarian. When differences in wealth are reduced, the only way to find social recognition is to become a respectable person in the eyes of others. As a general rule, this phenomenon occurs in all egalitarian societies, whether rich or poor

Give him power and I will tell you who he is

Power is the amplifier of who we are and often more of our faults than our qualities. If you wanted to test a friend, put them in a situation where they could benefit from some kind of advantage, give them some attribute of power (money, fame, symbolic power etc.) and then observe how they behave. This is the best way to test people’s character. It is easier to be humble and modest when we have no power than when it is there in our hands.

If you think of virtue, it is as if you are already rich

An interesting paradox is that when you live to improve your character, it simply means that money does not control your life, and therefore you are somehow already rich. The human mind goes in search of what it lacks. If you are rich but still chasing after wealth, it shows that you are not as rich as you think.

In the same logic, you should look for what you lack in an opposite environment to get it. Yes, it’s weird, I agree. If you want to find calm, you have to be able to find it in the hustle and bustle. That’s the real test of how good you are at it. If you want to be rich, try to find abundance in poverty. If you seek justice, try to find it in arbitrariness.