[jamesn.]

Yes Stephen; to me your point has to do with where we both as individuals and as a collective society place value and how we define it. If we say money is a vehicle or transfer system to negotiate value as in a transaction for commerce then the means or type we use is still serving the same function; (i.e. bitcoin or crypto-currencies as opposed to cash or gold is usually economically oriented); then it serves as a means of transfer for a monetary value. But if we say spiritual or emotional wealth that’s not quite the same value system that’s being served.

Metaphors aside; I think the questions we are asking are: “how do we create value and what that value as a commodity or quantity represents or symbolizes”; and “what functions do they serve?” The human heart does not respond in the same way to a transaction of a (material) nature as it does to a spiritual or emotional one. Still we must come back to the question of: “What kind of value are we addressing?” That is if I’m understanding your proposition correctly. You may be looking at this from another vantage point.