Money is like an iron ring that we stick up our noses. It is now guiding us wherever it pleases. We just forgot that we were the ones who created it.

We may begin with some very fundamental observations if we peel aside thousands of years of cultural conditioning and preconceptions to take a fresh look at money. Money is not a natural product. Cash does not grow on trees. Pennies do not fall from the sky. Money is a creation, albeit a uniquely human invention. That is completely fabricated by our genius. We invented it and make it. It is an inanimate item that has emerged in a variety of shapes during its more than 2,500-to-3,500-year existence, whether it be shells, stones, precious metal ingots, a paper bill, or a blip on a computer screen.

Money was created from the beginning to ease the sharing and trading of commodities and services among individuals and groups of people. Money still promotes the sharing and exchange of goods and services, but the power we granted money outgrew its initial utilitarian purpose somewhere along the road.

Rather than viewing money as a tool that we developed and manage, we have come to regard it as a fact of nature, a force to be reckoned with. Money has become the single most powerful dominating force in our life. Money has only the power that we give it, and we have given it enormous power. We have delegated practically complete authority to it. If we merely look at conduct, we may see that we have elevated money above ourselves, giving it greater significance than human life. In the name of money, humans have done and will continue to do awful things. In pursuit of it, they have died for it, enslaved others for it, and shackled themselves to a joyless existence.