We, as people, have an extraordinary power – the ability to define what is valuable.
A lump of crystalline rock is precious for no greater reason than we care for it.
It’s so easy to look at something like online game accounts being stolen and to say, “That doesn’t matter at all, they’re just game accounts.”
Professional thieves aren’t stupid, however, and the good ones chase value wherever we assign it. A clever thief doesn’t care about a particular object beyond it’s value, and so he will steal whatever thing people put value on.
So I guess the interesting question is,
“Why do we value these game accounts so highly that virtual stuff is worth real money?”
In part it’s designed – game manufacturers work hard to make something people are willing to invest in.
Regardless, it’s important that our perception of what needs to be secure evolves along with our perception of what is important.
Harold P sr. used to contrast worth and price by looking at their negatives, worthless and priceless.
Just tonight I was reflecting on the common origin of the words “pricey” and “precious.”
hmmm.
You’re absolutely correct.
It suddenly strikes me that we have the power to define value in exactly the same sense that we have the power to define right and wrong.
That is, for most practical observances we can inflict our definitions on society, but there exists a greater definition that we cannot touch.
‘Value’ is all about our ability to direct the desires of the heart – and we do have real power to direct these, similar to the way that we are able to bludgeon our consciences.
Money is slang, a shorthand, for ‘desires of the heart’. Money is an abbreviated form of ‘what you desire’ because it is generally easily translatable into what you want. Of course, this is strictly within the context of the carnal system.
Of course, as a thief, you can’t gain spiritual things by stealing them. So you must steal other stuff, stuff that has value, if not worth.