MONEY IS A LEASH, NOT A LADDER: THE GRAND DESIGN OF CONTROL
- Madhukar Dama
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
INTRODUCTION:
Money is not wealth.
Money is not security.
Money is not freedom.
Money is a psychological leash — wrapped in dreams, marketed as liberty, and enforced by invisible laws.
You think you work for your family.
You think you save for your future.
But in truth, you obey a system.
And that system was never created for you.
---
PART 1: THE INVENTION OF MONEY — NOT EVOLUTION, BUT STRATEGY
The myth says: “Money came from barter.”
But barter was based on needs — not greed.
No potter ever told the farmer, “This bowl is worth 7 carrots today, but tomorrow it may be worth 4.”
There was no profit, no hoarding, no stock market for chickens and wheat.
The moment standard currency was introduced, it severed need from value.
Now, value was not what something did — but what a ruler said.
The state stepped in as the arbiter of worth.
And slowly, the baker stopped baking bread for neighbors.
He baked for coins.
---
PART 2: HOW MONEY BECAME A SYSTEM OF OBEDIENCE
Money brought with it three hidden controls:
1. Scarcity Illusion:
There’s enough for everyone. But the illusion of “not enough” makes people compete, not share.
2. Future Anxiety:
You stop living today because you’re afraid you’ll starve tomorrow.
3. Transactional Relationships:
Affection, service, care — all became billable.
Even time became something you sell by the hour.
And so, in exchange for safety, the population surrendered sovereignty.
---
PART 3: THE MYTH OF WELFARE
The government says: “We collect taxes to serve you.”
But most of the budget is spent on defense, infrastructure for corporations, or interest on debt created by the same system.
Welfare is a PR stunt.
Handouts are consolation prizes for lives rigged by design.
Money from the poor flows to the rich — through medicine, education, housing, and courts.
Every “development project” that brings money also brings debt, displacement, or disease.
---
PART 4: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ENSLAVEMENT
Money is not just paper — it is belief.
It is faith.
It is God in numeric form.
You obey traffic signals not for ethics, but for fear of fine.
You wake up with an alarm, not your body’s rhythm.
You apologize to your boss, not your child.
Money broke natural instinct and replaced it with incentive.
It teaches:
Love must be proven with gifts.
Success must be shown with things.
Failure is lack of income, not integrity.
Thus, a salaried slave may feel richer than a barefoot free man.
---
PART 5: MONEY AS ADDICTION
Money doesn’t solve problems.
It only amplifies your addictions.
More money means:
A bigger house you’re never in.
A car that burns time.
Devices that steal attention.
A diet that poisons.
Vacations to escape a life you built.
People don’t spend to enjoy — they spend to feel alive.
And the system rewards this.
Because an addicted population is easy to govern.
---
PART 6: THE TRAP OF RICHNESS
The wealthy believe they’ve “won the game.”
But the game was fixed.
They now:
Own what they can’t enjoy.
Earn for a future they won’t live.
Buy love they don’t feel.
Fear losing what they never needed.
Depression in rich households is not rare — it is expected.
Because the higher you climb the pyramid, the more you realize: It was hollow all along.
---
PART 7: ESCAPING THE LEASH — CAN YOU?
True escape is not “quitting money.”
It is to refuse the worship of it.
Money is a tool.
Like fire.
You warm your home — not burn it down.
The hermit does not hate money.
He uses it rarely, reluctantly, respectfully.
He walks barefoot unless necessary.
He trades labor for labor.
He grows his own food.
He doesn’t count savings.
Because he has reclaimed time, instinct, and sovereignty.
---
CONCLUSION:
To be born into a world ruled by money
is not your choice.
But to live by its laws —
is.
You can either measure your life by digits,
or by moments.
One makes you obedient.
The other, alive.
---
PART TWO: THE DIALOGUE
“WE HAVE EVERYTHING, BUT SOMETHING’S MISSING”
A long afternoon dialogue between a Hermit and a group of five wealthy Indians:
Karan, a 45-year-old software company founder
Megha, a luxury resort owner
Sameer, a crypto investor
Pooja, a celebrity fitness influencer
Ravindra, a 70-year-old retired bureaucrat
---
[Scene: A quiet mud house in the hills. The group sits on floor mats. The Hermit, dressed simply, pours tamarind water into handmade clay cups.]
Karan: We’ve built everything. But we feel… nothing.
Megha: We thought more money would bring joy.
Sameer: But it’s like drinking seawater. The more we earn, the thirstier we get.
Pooja: My life is full of followers, but I’m empty inside.
Ravindra: I retired with more money than I can spend. But death doesn’t care about bank balance.
Hermit: So why are you here?
Karan: We want to know — how did you escape?
Hermit (smiles): I didn’t escape fully. I still use money. But I disarmed it. I stopped giving it power.
Pooja: But how?
Hermit: I saw money like fire.
Too close — I get burnt.
Too far — I freeze.
So I keep it in a lamp, not a mansion.
Megha: What about emergencies?
Hermit: That’s the trick.
When you live simply, there are fewer emergencies.
When you live excessively, every day is a crisis.
Sameer: I can’t grow food. I don't even know how to fix a tap.
Hermit: That’s not failure. That’s design. The system made you skill-less, so you’d always need it.
Ravindra: But we were told — earn, save, invest…
Hermit: By whom?
By people who earn when you obey.
By textbooks written by economists who never baked a roti.
Karan: So what do you do now?
Hermit: I trade work for food.
I live under the sky.
I teach what I’ve learned.
I use money once a month.
I have no savings. But no fears either.
Pooja: Don’t you get tempted?
Hermit: I do.
But I remind myself — every item I buy owns a piece of me.
So I ask, “Do I want to be owned?”
Megha (teary): We worked our entire lives, and we don’t even know how to be.
Hermit: Then don’t work now.
Just watch. Listen.
You’ll find that joy was never expensive — only forgotten.
Sameer: But what about our kids?
Hermit: Teach them to need less.
So the system never owns them.
---
[The group falls silent. Birds chirp. The wind plays with the dry leaves outside. They sip the tangy water. None of them checks their phone.]
---
CHARLES BUKOWSKI STYLE POEM
“THE PAPER GOD”
they said
money would solve everything.
but they never said
whose everything.
I watched a man
sell his breath
for digits.
watched a woman
fake love
for a house she’d never sit in.
watched a kid
eat alphabets for grades
and forget
how to dream in colors.
money —
that perfect little bastard.
never shouts.
never bleeds.
just
waits.
waits for you
to need something
badly enough
to crawl.
I once had it —
gold, green, plastic, coin —
had it falling out of my jacket
and still
I was empty.
you don’t buy peace,
you buy noise.
you don’t buy love,
you buy a performance.
you don’t buy time,
you rent out your life.
and every man I met
in silk
was weeping on the inside —
quiet, polite
breakdowns
over sushi and stock reports.
they say
the hermit has nothing.
but I saw his smile.
his hands didn’t shake
when the bill came.
his heartbeat didn’t depend
on the market.
he owned a tree,
not a TV.
a cup,
not a cupboard.
a songbird,
not a salary.
hell —
maybe that’s all it takes.
not to beat the system,
but to
refuse to play.
and let the rest
choke
on their
golden
leashes.
—Buk.
