Customer Reviews

Money and the Meaning of Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

There are good ideas, interesting asides, and new philosophical propositions to spare in Money and the Secret of Life. The basic premise--that money is a technology invented, not to accumulate wealth, but to realize human potential--is certainly worth our attention. Needleman is best describing money as the great tool of capitalism and capitalism as a great metaphysical system. The problem with Money and the Meaning of Life is that Jacob Needleman set out to write an inquiry into the spiritual potential of money, then sketched out a history of Western religious thought, and ended up writing a first person narrative full of punch lines thinly disguised as surprise philosophical discoveries. Mixing Max Weber, Guradjieff, Maimonodes, King Solomon, and an anonymous businessman (who really DOES know the meaning of life) could have been a rollercoaster ride full of unexpected connections and insights; what it actually ends up being is long-winded, self-conscious, and pretentious. In terms of the capitalist object, a good product, but, word for word, not exactly a terrific value.

Could there be a subject more charged with the drama of human life? Each of us lives in some private, personal struggle with money that to a great extent dictates the course of our dreams, our search for meaning, and our compromises with deep Self. If you read nothing else about money, give yourself the great treat of opening the pages of this book. You may finally begin to comprehend why, if you have ever attempted to make money conscious, make it work for you rather than against you, take it into the domain of spirit, you have not succeeded. Not succeeded in finding deep or lasting satisfaction with it: as it squeezes you this way, frightens you that way, appears, disappears, plays with your hidden shame, seduces you to give up your heart's desire for more of it, etc. Beginning to understand why, you may also begin to have compassion for yourself in the midst of this journey, this search for The Way, in and through money. Needleman is fluent, wise, humble, and provocative as he lays out the foundation of a timely and really comprehensible thesis about the power of the most ubiquitous of elements fueling our lives and fantasies, money.

I have been on a never-ending search for a higher-paying, more satisfying job/career my entire life believing totally that this would be the answer to many of my life's challenges and problems. Further, I believed that all of these challenges and problems were for the most part being driven by external factors. After reading this book, I appreciate that my search surely was and is about more than making money.

The structure of the book is somewhat like a quilt pieced together of various subject matter, ideas and reflections about money. I had to make an effort to stay with the flow when I couldn't see where it was going. Perhaps this was a strategy the author choose to use and the one that kept me reading to the end.

It's not a book I was able to rush through because as I read the truth of what he was saying presented me with quite an accurate and painful reflection of my own behavior and beliefs about money. I could only read a little bit of the truth at a time because as I recall hearing once, the truth will set you free but first it's going to just about kill you. I had to let it kill me a little bit at a time.

An excellent companion piece to this book and one that Needleman cites is by Lewis Hyde entitled, "The Gift."

I'd give it five stars but 1) It lacks an index. 2) It borders on salve for gilded yuppies much like Chopra's Seven Laws for Spiritual success. Don't feel sorry about making lots of dough, even if it's a immoral occupation - you deserve it was the main message I got. Ok, I know there's more to it than that.

But when the author in Chap 20 says money can buy you everything even love, I was vexed. Or that ethics and morality can be bought and sold like a pair of sneakers. And that unless we buy them, we cannot understand the things we can't buy! So if you're middle class forget understanding higher concepts, you don't got the bucks to buy enlightenment. Hmmm sounds like Sam Walton meets Eckhart meets The Fellowship of Friends. Everything is reduced to transactionalism. No meanings or values only cost.
Your teacher is the Benjamin Franklin in your wallet.

It's odd that Needleman promotes a idea which would condemed by any authentic spiritual tradition in the world.

Overall Prof. Needleman did a good job, but just barely, his style of writing is as usual, excellent. But content wise it is not up to par with his earlier works on philosophy or religion.
The target audience which again seems to be well off folks with guilt trips, yuppies, dot commies, etc. Ought to love it. But start at chapter 20 cause that's where it gets interesting.

If you work hard at a blue collar job skip it, this book is not meant for you. Only wealthy types with spiritual pretensions need apply, since this book is partly derived from seminars he gives around the country based on similar topics for corporate clients.

He also skipped on the psychopathology of wealth and money obsession. Why are so many of the new wealthy class, anti-charity and greedy to the point of amoral? Witness the fraud on Wall Street, how money corrupted our democracy, Dot com swindles or the S&L scandals. He's seems to ignore the corrosive effect money has on people also or why it's worshipped so much in our society. Money counts not character or essence.

...

I found Needleman's book inspiring and profound. Not only did I learn a great deal about the history of money, but it helped me see how it affects my life. I have recommended it to many friends.

I've read this book a couple of times, and yes, I agree with my friends that the writing is a bit weak at the beginning--but the whole is very very strong. Needleman is excellent: catch his occasional lectures at various venues in SF. Overall, I think the notion that money developed in spiritual communities for the sake of handling material needs in an efficient manner is valid. I've handed this book out to many friends, and frankly, other than Michael Phillip's The Seven Laws of Money, there are not that many worthwhile titles out there. The landscape is filled with incrediblly preposterous junk like Suze Ormon.

The great challenge of a real philosopher is to bring philosophy into everyday life. This is synonymous to helping people attain a state of incresed awareness.

Money is a subject which tends to blur our awareness of our private lives, our professional careers and social problems as well. For instance, here, in Brasil, the government rates money as the most important national problem. Maybe this is how it should be, maybe not...

When I lecture, teach or write about business management, I try to show people that money is something that has to be dealt with, but is not everything. It is not easy, because there is a tendency to radicalism: some people (the so called materialists) think money is everything, while others think money is secondary.

Needleman's book performs an alchemical transformation, showing how money can be changed into a means to human development. This miracle can be performed if we increase our awareness of its role in our lives.

This book is everything a good philosophy book should be: it is pleasat to read and maintains the reader curious until the last page. It is clearly written, but faces the difficult questions, for which there are no easy answers. It contains references for peole who want to go further into the ideas it presents.

This is one of Needleman's best accomplished books!

Jacob Needleman does have many moments of eloquence, but unfortunately he suffers, as many professors do, from the art of filling up space. While this craft may come in handy during a college lecture, I prefer writers who edit, edit, and edit--leaving us with a polished gem. If you're looking for a wise and tightly written guide to financial matters, which offers both philosophical/spiritual insight and practical guidance, I strongly recommend The Mindful Money Guide. It tickled me while also giving lots of great advice.

I have to say I was very disappointed with this book. The author seemed to be reaching too often to come off as a wise academic and ended up surrounding a complex topic with stilted language and delivery that made the point be lost on the reader.

The writing style and tone is extremely pretentions and the recounting of the discussions with his students are dreadful. I continued to find myself wondering if the author was being serious and needing to focus on what he was trying to say. It was frustrating to continue to try to figure out what he was trying to say when he should have just been saying it.

Honestly, I don't think there is much new that this book is adding to any discourse on the nature of money. There seems to be little original thought and just the recounting of fairy tales, poems, myths, bible passages, etc., to convey the thesis of the book.

It should have been much clearer and could have been much better. The book also rambles and could have been 80 - 100 pages shorter.

In sum, don't waste your time. You'll get little out of this book b/c there's not much to get.

As a spiritual healer I have been recommending this book to clients for about ten years. The differences in their lives and their attitude to money have been simply amazing. Most of them have reported that they couldn't read this book quickly; their head would spin and they'd have to put the book down for several days while they thought about what they'd read. Soon after reading this book they began to make better choices in jobs and investments. It's not a logical change, it's a perception shift. Sometimes a book isn't just a book...sometimes it's a portal.