Money, money, money

I have read the book before, but suddenly, unbidden, unconnected with anything, this line hit me today:

"Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five."

-W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage.

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Made me think. Don't you need the other five serving as strong auxiliary tools to the powerhouse, in order to make money in the first place? Or, at least, for one to get hold of the first installment of the "sixth sense", someone else had to use his other five. Right?

So what is cause, and what is effect? Or does it depend on the type of individual you are? On the type of work you do? Or the type of people you interact with?

Somehow this is raising even more questions right now, since I'm in the middle of a real-life situation, trying to understand for myself the nature of the transaction between talent and money, and the wo/men who can exercise their power over one, with their reserve of the other.