I don’t know about you but I’d rather be depressed in a mansion than in a studio.
Exactly. It can't buy happiness, but it certainly can alleviate a LOT of misery.
Not worrying about normal bills, being able to have some savings for if some home appliance breaks, being able to go grovery shopping without having to look at the price...
Thats my financial goal in life
Until the 13th century, the Church exalted poverty as a holy state and engaged in distributions of alms, trying to convince the rustics to accept their situation and not envy the rich. In Sunday sermons, priests were prodigal with tales like that of the poor Lazarus sitting in heaven at the side of Jesus, and watching his rich but stingy neighbor burning in flames.The exaltation of sancta paupertas ("holy poverty") also served to impress on the rich the need for charity as a means for salvation. This tactic procured the Church substantial donations of land, buildings and money, presumably to be used for distribution among the needy, and it enabled it to become one of the richest institutions in Europe. But when the poor grew in numbers and the heretics started to challenge the Church's greed and corruption, the clergy dismissed its homilies about poverty and introduced many 'distinguo." Starting in the 13th century, it affirmed that only voluntary poverty has merit in the eyes of God, as a sign of humility and contempt for material goods; this meant, in practice, that help would now be given only to the "deserving poor," that is, to the impoverished members of the nobility, and not to chose begging in the streets or at city gates. The latter were increasingly looked upon with suspicion as guilty of laziness or fraud.
From Caliban and the Witch
