Welcome to The Stoic Ledger, a daily money meditation from one of the Stoic sages.

63/365: Seneca on a well ordered mind

The reason we buy our things is because of a tribal need to status signal. 

And if we were content in our own company with our own thoughts, we wouldn’t need the golden trinkets. 

We value things not merely because they are valuable, but because someone else deemed them valuable. Isn’t that interesting? That if someone came out with a loudspeaker and announced, “Okay everyone, diamonds are actually worthless, they will no longer be exchanged for any sort of economic value.” we’d instantly stop using the diamonds. 

Value is something we’ve collectively settled upon. The notion that there are hierarchies of value available keeps us scurrying up the ladder. 

This status signaling stems directly from an inability to be comfortable alone. If you can operate well in your own company, you have a real independence and a well ordered mind.