“Why isn’t everyone a millionaire?”
This is the proverbial question we all happen to hear at the beginning of “wealth mindset” conferences or any other corporate/sales event. This phrase is typically followed by answers such as: “Not everyone wants to do the work!” or “Everyone sets themselves up for failure!” These answers are continuously repeated and incessantly. We’ve convinced ourselves that if we just thought more like a millionaire, if we just behaved more like a millionaire, if we just talked like a millionaire, then maybe we could be the ones imparting that talk one day.
They speak like prophets, sent down from above to share this hidden secret none of us has dared to even dream about. It’s as if God himself has spoken into their ear—and, of course, that god happens to be money. They have it, so they must know how to get it, and as prophets, of course, they’re generous enough to teach us their own secrets. Right?
Prosperity, the only religion we all want to follow. Money, the only god we all want to be blessed by.
“Everyone can be a millionaire if they set themselves out to be.” The answer has been given!
With hard work, perseverance, and grit, everyone can be sitting next to God! It’s easy—to reach prosperity, you must work hard and follow the path, and you’ll reap the fruits of your labor.
It’s something we’ve all been told. It’s in the “American Dream” ad, and it’s in the “Study hard or you’ll die of hunger!” saying our parents always repeated.
Marx said it first, of course: with capitalism, comes the fetishism of capital.
We’re told money is the epitome of success. Money solves each and every problem we have. Money gives us all the power to do whatever we want. Money gives us freedom.
It’s the very same way we used to look at God. Through God, we find freedom and salvation. God gives us willpower. God helps us solve each and every problem we might face, but God is no longer needed now that money has become ever-present.
Even so, prosperity has failed to be an open religion. It’s held a universal place inside the stronghold of capitalism–but it’s never been open for everyone to learn, practice, and follow. Money does not smile upon everyone–only a select few, and its prophets know so.
Capitalism has enabled it as such. It has created its very own church, it’s very own elite. If you’re born into it, it won’t be easy to leave. If you’re left out, it’s even harder to get in.
We know the formula is flawed—that results aren’t equivalent to our efforts, that our efforts are rarely ever appreciated, that we’re of little value to our god if we do not produce. Despite this, we still hold on tight, because “money will save us from our problems.”
But it won’t save everyone. As a matter of fact, it buries most. Our youngest of adults are crushed under the unbearable weight of abandonment by their god—the one they never had a chance to meet. The rest of us merely live in the hopes that someday, we’ll at least get close enough to stay in limbo.
Our god has been kept on a leash, and our heaven has been reserved for those who hold it.