189-钱能买来自由吗？

What does money buy?

钱能买来自由吗?

Sometimes, people say that money doesn’t really buy happiness, but that it buys freedom. Does money buy freedom? What does ‘freedom’ really mean? Because inner-freedom and the ‘freedom’ that money buys are not the same thing.  Does money buy neither freedom nor happiness then, and only buy problems? What can money buy on earth?​

有时候，人们说金钱买不到幸福，但它可以买到自由。金钱能买到自由吗？“自由”到底是什么意思？因为内心的自由和用钱买来的“自由”不是一回事。那么，金钱买不到自由和幸福，而只能买到问题吗？钱究竟能买到什么？​

Does money buy happiness?

金钱能买到幸福吗？

First things, first. Let’s look at the money and happiness question. The simplest way to answer this is by saying that money is neither necessary nor sufficient for happiness. So, having money may help, but it is not required for happiness. Furthermore, the fact that someone has a lot of money does not mean that it will bring them happiness. The reader can easily verify this for herself through direct observation of people in different economic circumstances. ​

重要的事情先做。让我们来看看金钱和幸福的问题。回答这个问题最简单的方法就是金钱对于幸福来说既不是必要的也不是充分的。所以，有钱可能会有帮助，但它不是幸福所必需的。此外，一个人有很多钱并不意味着钱会给他们带来幸福。读者可以通过直接观察处于不同经济状况中的人们，很容易自己证实这一点。​

On the large-scale level of human communities over time, it is not clear that more material wealth has made us any happier either. We are definitely the most economically prosperous as a species that we’ve ever been, but are we any happier? If the example of contemporary hunter-gatherer tribes, who have very simple material cultures, is to go by, the answer is ‘no, not really’. Actually, much of modernity is about running faster and faster just to stand still. Despite our material progress, we are seeking and seeking but never finding. ​

从长期以来人类社会的大范围来看，我们也不清楚更多的物质财富是否会让我们更快乐。作为一个物种，我们绝对是经济上最繁荣的，但我们更快乐了吗？如果以拥有非常简单的物质文化的当代狩猎采集部落为例，答案是“不，不完全是”。实际上，现代社会的大部分都是为了保持静止而跑得越来越快。尽管我们物质上有了进步，但我们不断地寻找，却永远找不到。​

So, once again — money may help, but it is neither necessary nor sufficient for happiness. ​

所以，再一次，金钱可能会有所帮助，但它对于幸福既不是必要的，也不是充分的。​

Does money buy freedom?

金钱能买到自由吗？

Now, on to the more interesting question of does money buy freedom. Money can certainly create options by freeing-up time and allowing more flexibility to do the things you want. But, this is freedom only in a narrow sense. For, one can have the freedom that money buys and still be locked in a mental prison. A mental prison that pushes you to prove your self-worth through the achievement of external status benchmarks. Such that it is like being trapped in a golden cage. 【背诵】​

现在，我们来看一个更有趣的问题：金钱能买到自由吗？金钱当然可以释放时间，让你更灵活地做你想做的事情。但是，这只是狭义上的自由。因为，一个人可以拥有金钱可以买到的自由，却仍然被关在精神的监狱里。这座精神监狱催促你通过实现外部地位标准来证明你的自我价值。就像被困在金笼子里一样。​

No amount of freedom bought with money can ever replace the inner freedom that is about how you relate to yourself and the world. The inner freedom that comes from investigating and realising how we are often mentally enslaved — victims of our own unexamined deeper beliefs. Beliefs that keep us trapped in constantly seeking happiness in the future, rather than in the infinite wonder of everyday human experience.  ​

任何用钱买来的自由都无法取代你将自己和世界联接起来的内在自由。内心的自由来自于调查和意识到我们是如何经常被精神奴役的——我们自己未经检验的更深层次信仰的受害者。那些让我们陷入不断追求未来幸福的信念，而不是每天人类经历的无限奇迹。​

So, money may help to buy freedom, but only if you are already seeking such freedom in the first place. It is finding freedom within that naturally leads to seeking it without. Freedom is found inside-out, not outside in.​

所以，金钱可能有助于买到自由，但前提是你首先已经在寻求这样的自由。寻找内在的自由，自然会导致寻求外在的自由。自由是由内而外的，而不是由外而内的。​

Does money buy problems?

金钱能买到问题吗？

One thing that is not always appreciated is that while some money is useful, money can also bring problems. The Roman Stoic, Seneca, who some say was possibly the wealthiest man in the world at the time, noted that what counts is one’s attitude towards wealth —  “it is the wise man’s servant, but the fool’s master”.​

有一件事不总是被重视的是，虽然有些钱是有用的，但钱也会带来问题。罗马斯多葛派的塞内加(Seneca)，有人说他可能是当时世界上最富有的人，他指出，重要的是一个人对待财富的态度——“财富是聪明人的仆人，傻瓜的主人”。​

So, money can bring with it increasing problems and complexity that actually cause problems! For example, you might exhaust your precious mental energy worrying too much about your investment portfolio or about the plumbing issues at your holiday home in the south of France. These may seem like good problems to have, but cognitive bandwidth is limited — there is only so much we can mentally juggle. And, having other people manage your affairs does not solve it, as you still have to manage the managers.​

所以，金钱会带来越来越多的问题和复杂性，这些问题和复杂性实际上也会导致问题！例如，你可能会耗尽你宝贵的精力去担心你的投资组合或法国南部度假屋的管道问题。这些问题看起来似乎很好，但认知带宽是有限的——我们能在心理上处理的事情只有这么多。而且，让其他人管理你的事务并不能解决问题，因为你仍然需要管理经理。​

189-钱能买来自由吗？​

189-钱能买来自由吗？