Loosing fortune means that life is over? Money and the power are not means to achieving peace of mind

 

(from https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/vzyidb/my_life_is_over_hopes_and_dream_are_crushed_it/):

A person shared this screen where he lost around 130k $ and have written, "My life is over.. Hopes and dream are crushed. It was a nice life while it lasted. Farewell all, it’s been a fun journey"

One of the best answers was, "As an ICU nurse who has personally watched probably at least 200 people die over the last 2 years I can confidently say it is just money. As long as you have the physical capability to continue to work and earn more of it while continuing to breathe and pump blood and stay above the dirt, you're doing all right. Not that life doesn't come with difficulties, struggles, pain and disappointment but those things are surmountable. One must have perspective or everything would feel shitty and awful all the time. Of this guy had 130k to begin with he is doing better than the vast majority of everyone in the world. It sucks to lose a large sum of money like this but in the grand scheme of things that is about 2 or 3 years of the average person's annual pay. Not the worst thing he could be facing. His life isn't over"

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Guruji Amritananda

(from "Harmonizing with the environment" discourse by Guruji Amritananda): 

Guruji Amritananda: Peace of mind loses the battle when making money becomes the goal. People believe that money and the power are the means to achieving peace of mind. Then once they’ve accumulated these “means”, they reason that since they can get peace of mind eventually anyway, why worry about it today? So it doesn’t work – at the end of the day, you’ve got to ask yourself, “Look, do I want peace of mind? Or do I want power and money, which are the means to peace of mind?” If you choose the means, you forfeit the end: That’s the clash that exists.

You see, what’s wrong with the present paradigm is the equation that people make between possessions and happiness: The more you have, the happier you are, right? But that equation is valid only to certain extent: If you have a comfortable, air-conditioned house, what does it matter if that house has 60 rooms? You can only sleep in one of them. They say Bill Gates has a house with 120 rooms! But how many rooms can he live in?

What you enjoy is your wealth – what you don’t enjoy really isn’t yours at all. So this proportionality between possessions and peace flattens everything out. If I visit my friend’s home for the night and he gives me the master bedroom to sleep in, then it’s my house for the time I’m there. If you just let go of the concept of ownership, then all the houses in the world are yours. The concepts of “I” and “mine” are the problems.

The problem people have is failing to distinguish the point at which their wants and means are in proportion with one another. Because once you’ve crossed that equilibrium, it makes no difference whatsoever whether you have one million or 100 millions. Once you realize this truth, you’re free to say, “I’ve got enough. I don’t have to bend to anyone.”