Most people won’t admit it out loud, but they worship money.
Not consciously, of course. They’ll say they “value hard work,” “prize freedom,” or “chase opportunity.” But look closer: watch how they flinch when the bill comes at dinner, or how they light up when a wire hits their account.
That isn’t logic. That’s reverence.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: money isn’t real. It’s worthless until we agree it has value. What you’re really bowing to isn’t the dollar in your hand — it’s the collective trance we’ve all agreed to participate in.
The Social Construct of Money
Before money, there was barter.
You had grain. I had goats. We argued until we found an exchange we could both stomach. The “value” wasn’t written down anywhere — it lived in the friction of negotiation.
Then came proto-currencies:
- Sheep in Mesopotamia (literal livestock as units of wealth).
- Salt in Rome (so prized that soldiers were partly paid in it; hence the word “salary”).
- Beads and shells across Africa, the Americas, and Asia — chosen not for intrinsic worth but because they were scarce, shiny, and hard to counterfeit.
Notice the pattern: none of it was “real.” A sheep is food. Salt is a seasoning. Beads are decorations. Their leap into “currency” status happened only once groups of humans agreed to pretend these items were more than their practical use.
Fast forward: minted coins, paper notes, electronic balances. Each step pulled us further from physical utility and deeper into shared belief.
And today? You’re staring at numbers on a glowing screen. Pixels that change when your employer “pays” you.
It’s hypnosis with better UX.
The Placebo Effect of Money
Hold a crisp $100 bill in your hand. Feel it.
Now hold a penny.
Both are slips of minted material, created at negligible cost. Yet one floods your nervous system with dopamine and possibility; the other barely registers.
Why?
Because your brain doesn’t respond to paper or metal. It responds to the story.
Neuroscience shows that expectation shapes reality. Placebo drugs can reduce pain, improve mood, even shrink symptoms — not because of chemistry, but because the mind believes in the capsule.
Money works the same way.
The $100 bill and the penny carry different placebo weights. You don’t crave the material; you crave the meaning projected onto it.
The Psychology of Money Beliefs
Here’s the kicker: money doesn’t exist outside you.
It’s a mirror reflecting back your fears, desires, and identity.
- If you see money as scarce, you’ll cling tighter.
- If you see it as abundant, you’ll take risks others won’t.
- If you see it as proof of self-worth, you’ll ride emotional rollercoasters with every market dip.
Economists talk about “animal spirits.” Psychologists talk about “money scripts.” I call it the mind’s operating system for wealth.
Unless you examine it, you’re trapped by it.
Why We Worship
Money feels real because it controls access. Food, shelter, health, status. It’s the key that unlocks them all.
But ask yourself: does the bill have inherent power? Or is it just a token we’ve collectively agreed to treat as power?
That’s why people panic when currencies collapse. The hypnosis wears off. Germans in the 1920s carried wheelbarrows of marks to buy bread. Venezuelans in the 2010s treated stacks of bolívars as kindling. The collective agreement dissolved, and with it, “money” evaporated.
The Bank of England explains that modern money is mostly IOUs — trust-based agreements, not physical assets. In short, pixels and paper are backed by collective belief.
The Cost of Believing Too Much
When you worship money as real, you give away power.
You:
- Delay life decisions until “the money is right.”
- Confuse financial growth with personal growth.
- Trade health and family for more digits in an account.
You’re not managing money. Money is managing you.
And here’s the paradox: people who treat money as real rarely feel they have enough. People who treat it as symbolic — as a tool, not a deity — are free to use it without fear.
The Deeper Root: Self-Worth vs. Net Worth
Here’s the truth: money problems are often self-worth problems in disguise.
If you measure your value by your bank balance, you’ll always feel one transaction away from being “enough.”
High self-worth leaders flip this script. They see money as a tool, not a mirror of their identity. And that shift changes everything about how they earn, spend, and invest.👉 For a deeper dive, read 4 Mindsets of People with High Self-Worth.
What’s More Real Than Money
So what is real?
- Time. You can’t mint more of it.
- Health. No currency can bribe your cells.
- Relationships. Try paying your spouse to love you more.
- Attention. The scarcest resource of all — and money can’t buy back lost focus.
These aren’t just philosophical niceties. They’re practical anchors. The entrepreneur who remembers that time is more real than money won’t waste years chasing marginal gains. The leader who values health as more real than cash flow won’t grind themselves into burnout.
A Simple Exercise to Break the Spell
This week, every time you handle money — cash, card, or pixels — pause for 10 seconds.
Write down one thing that’s more real than the bill.
- Paying rent? Write “shelter and safety.”
- Logging into your bank app? Write “peace of mind.”
- Buying lunch? Write “connection with my colleague.”
Do this for 7 days.
Watch how your attachment loosens. You’ll start to see money not as a tyrant, but as a placeholder — a symbol pointing to something deeper.
Expert Insight
Anthropologist David Graeber wrote: “Money is not a measure of value. It’s a measure of debt.”
In other words, every dollar isn’t worth anything in itself — it’s just a record of obligation within a system we’ve chosen to obey.
Understanding this doesn’t make you reckless. It makes you free.
Closing Thought
One of my core beliefs: you gain your life by losing it.
When you stop worshipping paper and pixels, you reclaim the real wealth already in your hands: time, health, freedom, love.
So ask yourself:
👉 What’s one thing more real than money that you’ve been neglecting?
Call to Action
If this reframed money for you, reply with one “real” thing you’ll focus on this week. Forward this essay to a friend who still thinks money is the endgame.
Next week:Envy Is the Fastest Way to Go Broke — why financial envy is really contagious, poverty beliefs, how parents’ money scripts shape your behavior, and why blessing others’ success daily rewires your own wealth story.