Instructions for Using Money

The food packaging has a set of instructions printed on it that tell me what to do to have edible food, so that I can be satiated, so that I can not be made ill, so I can keep on living and read more instructions printed on food packaging. This is a neat invention. How fortunate we are to be given the exact rules to sustain our bodies. How easy it is to read these words and to follow what they say and to cook and to then be allowed to live on.

Where else does this exist? What is on the surface of a bank note? What instructions for the use of money will I find there? Let me see.

I have in my hand the item that represents twenty British pound sterling. I think it was made in 2018, for on one side towards the bottom is: “THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND 2018”.

“Bank of England” makes seven appearances on this note. This tells me the Bank of England must be important. If a phrase made seven appearances in the instructions for how to cook a chicken breast I would pay (ha ha) a serious amount of attention to that phrase. I would probably even deem it the most important part of the instructions.

According to Wikipedia, the Bank of England is “the central bank of the United Kingdom”. I do not know why it wasn’t titled ‘Bank of the United Kingdom’. Maybe it details that reason further on in the page. I do not know. I lost interest in reading any more about the Bank of England.

That bank’s name appearing so many times seems to me like a smokescreen. I think it’s a distraction tactic to make lazy people not discover the true and best ways to spend money. I will continue scanning this bank note.

I have found something. Under the largest and most pretentious looking “Bank of England” is “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of twenty pounds”. This seems obvious but has also confused me. Does that mean that the bank note doesn’t represent twenty British pound sterling but instead the transaction? Or is the sentence’s existence just encouragement for the user? I’m going to leave this sentence alone, and back away slowly. It confuses me too much.

Along with three images of Queen Elizbeth II, there is one of Joseph Mallord William Turner. I think I have found what I am looking for. There seems to be a quote under his portrait. It sits there as a piece of advice would. Perhaps this man who was born in 1775 will know how I should cooperate with money. The sentence is: “Light is therefore colour”. Perhaps not.

There aren’t too many more words on the bank note. There are many “20”s and not much else. But there is an onslaught of symbols and images. It’s quite chaotic, actually. Buildings and towers and moons and shields and crowns and many tiny yellow circles. This is the opposite of what I’m after. I have a headache.

Well, it seems that my goal won’t be achieved. I don’t think I am going to find instructions on a bank note for how to use money. But perhaps I am looking in the wrong place. For when was the last time I used a bank note? When was the last time I bought something with physical money? Maybe the instructions have changed location. Maybe they now live inside the 1s and 0s and bits and bytes and screens and screens and screens. How dull. I think I’ll just continue living in my way of money confusion.

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[24.05.2023]