For Those Struggling with Capital

Capital

The etymology of the Chinese characters for “capital” (資本) contains the meaning that “essential content has been accumulated.” The English word capital, which means capital, comes from the Latin word caput, meaning “head.” In that sense, it refers to something important and fundamental. In economics, capital means “accumulated wealth, that is, a large amount of money or such means as land and factories that serve as the foundation of production.”

All of us should strive to become familiar with capital, which forms the basis of life. That is because capital makes human beings free and prosperous. Capital makes time truly time, and space truly space. Genesis 1 of the Old Testament says that light came into being with the words, “Let there be light.” The coming into being of something is both a concept of time and a concept of space. For time to become truly time and space to become truly space, meaningful human action that creates value is necessary.

As the process through which human beings became more fully human accumulated, civilization developed, and capital made humanity freer and more prosperous. It is above all important to build a system for accumulating capital, which is formed by the accumulation of what is good in human life.

As good things accumulated, envy began to take root, and forces emerged that destroyed the value of civilization. They regarded the things people had made and accumulated as inhuman and understood them in terms of conflict. As a result, human beings and capital, which had in fact been in a cooperative relationship, came to be perceived at times as standing in opposition. What provoked conflict between human beings and capital was socialist thought and its psychological foundation, egalitarianism. The thinking of anti-capital agitators is grounded in hostility toward capital, and this is a phenomenon that arises from not understanding the world very well.

Human beings have long sought to accumulate better things as they confronted what threatened them and worked to master space. Yet there are many historical examples of oppression that sought to confine individuals’ natural movements and isolate them behind partitions. This can also be seen in the lives of Joseon potters who went to Japan. Potters whose abilities were not recognized in Joseon achieved great success in Japan. As porcelain made by Joseon potters became a leading export, it led Japan toward modernization through trade. Japan accumulated capital through trade and came to enjoy prosperity.

It is our mission to pass on to the next generation the know-how for becoming familiar with capital and accumulating it. The pattern of one’s own mind is sometimes called habit, and the pattern of people’s voluntary cooperation is sometimes called social order. As time passes, not only this know-how for living but also material know-how accumulates. When this experiential knowledge comes together, it becomes capital.

Devices that make time shine more brilliantly, and the material foundations that make space more truly space—these are gifts given to our lives. They reduce the time we spend working and even give us the leisure to enjoy life. As a result, people came to enjoy prosperity while working only a few hours a day, and this in turn led to the development of leisure.

To accumulate capital well, enrich our lives, and pass that on to the next generation is a meaningful and rewarding task that must be accomplished. Becoming familiar with capital can, in a word, be called experiential knowledge that lays golden eggs. Conversely, attacking or destroying the creation and accumulation of capital is to destroy civilization and undermine human life. If we want our society to become more prosperous and future generations to advance further, we must become familiar with capital, firmly build a system for capital accumulation, and pass it on to the next generation.

If you want to gain economic freedom, and if you want your family and neighbors to enjoy prosperity, I hope you will become familiar with capital.

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Original title: 자본이 어려운 당신에게

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2024-10-10

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=1&idx=26946