The Touchstone and the Labyrinth Ch. 14- Genius of Money

In Bloom's opening paragraphs, he quotes Paul Klee saying that the purpose of visual arts is to make the invisible visible. Well I believe that from reading the first 2 paragraphs of the chapter, Bloom is going to seem as if money can bring out certain intangibles as well and I think it does as he states "Money is linked to our material needs and our participation in economic life, and yet what it represents is entirely abstract, non-material, and, to a degree, faith based. Value is thus a big player in the  mystery drama of money." We value the dollar at what we want it to be. If we think that a smoothie is worth $5, then that is what we pay, if not, we don't value the smoothie the same as $5. So by looking at purchases on an individual, you can see what their values are through the lens of money.

Bloom actually continues to mention that money is both a medium of exchange and a measure of value-- a kind of mathematical metric of meaning. Bloom relates the labyrinth with money saying that labyrinths have their own horizontal and vertical measures and their resources of stones can always be used as a currency as we see gold and the more precious metals much more valuable then pebbles. And this is where the touchstone comes in, measuring the quality of gold.

Bloom continues to say that there is no relevant test for the purity of the medium of exchange, and no time to journey with it through transactions. The touchstone and the labyrinth are about real experiential value, much as money has been throughout its history. But recent current has no real value, no reference point as found with the touch stone. We live, instead, with fiat currency which means that it has no standard or reference tied to the mineral world, or otherwise. I think the point that Bloom is getting to here is that we see money purely as a form of government currency and we let it dictate our lives. No long do we see the real value of money but we live to only make money and to spend money without really thinking about our spending.