Economy: Reclaiming the Heart of Value and Abundance
Economy is something we’ve come to associate with systems of money and trade—how we distribute energy, resources, and power on both an individual and collective level. But its origin is much deeper.
The word economy comes from the Greek oikos (home) and nomos (management or distribution).
At its core, economy is about the administration of the home and, by extension, what we need to sustain life itself. To truly understand economy and approach it with integrity, we have to look back at its origins, how it has evolved, and how it reflects both our internal and external states.
The Early Human Economy
The earliest form of economy was all about survival. Like the rest of the animal kingdom, as early humans we had three primary needs: to eat, to reproduce, and to sleep. What set us apart was our access to consciousness, which gives us the ability to collaborate, innovate, and create.
In those early days, we lived in groups, working together to meet our needs.
Resources were shared to ensure survival.
For example, if someone hunted, the food was distributed among the group, or if someone gathered plants, those were shared as well. Even something as simple as sleep required protection, and this is where strength and safety became highly valued—it was dangerous to sleep without someone guarding the group.
This kind of resource-sharing was the first form of economy: pooling what we had to meet collective needs.
The Transition to Exchange and Evolution of Economy
As humans evolved and communities grew, the economy naturally shifted.
Some resources became abundant in one area and scarce in another, which led to the first systems of exchange. Families might trade surplus food with neighboring groups for tools, clothing, or other essentials.
This exchange laid the groundwork for trade and, eventually, the complex economies we know today.
The transition from hunting and gathering to farming and sedentary lifestyles further transformed the economy. By staying in one place and cultivating food, humans could create surpluses and store resources for harder times, like winters or droughts.
This introduced the need for administration—managing and allocating resources to ensure survival and meet the needs of the community.
In many ways, this evolution of economy is a reflection of our ability to work together, innovate, and plan for the future, and it’s a powerful lens through which we can understand both ourselves and the systems we’ve created.
The Invention of Money
This shift in human history gave rise to the earliest forms of currency—items used to facilitate exchange.
These currencies were often durable, portable minerals like gold, silver, and others mined from mountains. Value was tied to the effort it took to obtain them. For example, salt was highly prized because it was essential for preserving food and had many medicinal uses.
Eventually, money as we know it today emerged as a universal medium of exchange.
Instead of bartering goods directly, or minerals and resources, people began using coins as a means by representing value. This innovation made trade much easier and expanded economies, but it also introduced new dynamics of power and control.
The Rise of Power Structures and The Concept of Rich and Poor
When we think about wealth during these earlier times, it wasn’t measured in the way we think of it today.
Wealth was about provision and the strength, resources, and alignment with the divine that one possessed.
Those considered “rich” were people who had the strength—whether physical, intellectual, or spiritual—to protect the community, ensure its survival, and provide leadership.
The word “rich” was then associated with those who were believed to have divine power, like kings and priests. They were thought to be chosen by the gods, and because of this, they held both power and resources. Gold and silver became symbols of this divine alignment, not because they had inherent value, but because they were rare and difficult to acquire.
As societies grew, wealth and power became more concentrated in the hands of kings, priests, and rulers.
This created a pyramidal structure where those at the top controlled most of the resources and decided how they were distributed.
Redefining Money: A Reflection of Human Nature
We’ve turned money into a massive misconception—believing it represents or holds power. But the truth is, money is just a tool, something we created to represent value, effort, and resources. The problem arises when we assign it an illusionary value and believe that having more of it makes someone richer or more powerful.
This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, though. Any tool will always reflect the hands of those who use it. Money has always been a mirror of human nature and the way we operate collectively as a species.
When we use money from a place of disconnection or lack, we accumulate out of fear. This misalignment only amplifies the harm we see in our global economy, keeping us from using Earth’s resources in a way that’s balanced and equitable.
While there may have been a time in the distant past when humanity lived more harmoniously, even in the earliest days of economy, there was still corruption and abuse of power when it came to navigating and managing collective resources.
The only way forward is for us to come together, fully embodied in our innate abundance. When we align with that abundance, we can begin to explore ways to use money, alongside our skills and resources, to build a sustainable economy that truly serves everyone.
Use it from a place of collectively harmony, as the tool it was intended to be, recognizing it as a gift for us to manage wisely, while holding the possibilityof collectively transcending the need for it altogether.
The Illusion of Wealth: How Money Became Power
Our pursuit of money often feels tied to a need for safety and security, but at its core, it’s really about accumulating wealth out of fear—a fear of not having enough. This is perpetuated due to the very real society we have constructed with our current ecomony.
In today’s world, money is required to meet our basic needs. Without it, especially in the isolated and often abusive structures of modern society, the consequences are devastating. People who lack the ability to earn enough money to meet even the basic standards of living are pushed to the margins, treated as second-class citizens, and often left with no options beyond poverty or at worst homelessness.
We’ve come to equate having more money with a better chance of survival—and ultimately, this drives our primal need of tribal acceptance. And once those basic needs are met, the focus tends to shift to exist as part of the tribe that is our current economy.
It becomes about accumulating more wealth to project power, maintain control, and access privilege. The lifestyle we’ve normalized far exceeds basic human needs and does not consider the equity or the well-being of all.
This cycle of accumulation doesn’t stop with the meeting of our current needs.
It extends to securing comfort, retirement, and even a legacy for future generations. This drive for more, while ultimately not supportive for all to begin with, has now expanded into unsustainable levels of excess, which is the a major challenge we now collectively face as a species.
The Roots of Imbalance: Power, Wealth, and Mismanagement
This pattern can be traced back to the origins of currency in the form of coins. Once the medium of exchange was no longer tied to resources that had to be obtained through strength, people who were once considered poor found new ways to accumulate money and gain perceived power.
Suddenly, those who would never have had a chance at being rich by earlier standards could artificially wield the illusion of power simply by hoarding wealth.
This shift is what brought us to where we are today, living by the narrative of “the dream of becoming rich.” But it’s so important to remember: money itself isn’t the problem. Money is ultimately just the reflection of how we, as a species, fundamentally organize and operate.
Religious institutions also played a huge role in creating the extreme imbalance we face today.
Poverty was promoted as a virtue, and accumulating wealth outside the church’s control was strongly discouraged. Many people gave away their money, believing it was the right thing to do or a way to fulfill divine or moral duties. But over time, this created an imbalance where the people were impoverished while the institution flourished.
Political systems made things even worse by imposing taxes on citizens for services, resources, and safety. These taxes weren’t based on collective agreement but instead on the government’s own valuation of those things. Over time, these systems were no long by the people and for the people and instead became sources of extreme waste and mismanagement.
Reimagining Money as a Tool for Harmony
True power goes far beyond money, but that’s something our current capitalistic systems often fail to grasp.
Our economy is built on accumulation, and it may be next to impossible to imagine a system that doesn’t rely on itself to perpetuate itself. Yet, the more we try to make sense of things within this current framework, the further we move away from money’s true purpose.
As a society, we haven’t yet figured out how to use money in a way that’s truly fair or supportive. While our systems have distorted its potential, it’s important to recognize that money itself isn’t broken. When aligned with abundance and a shared commitment to harmony, money has the potential to be an incredible tool for good.
Now, imagine a world where everyone’s needs are met because we’re working together to make it happen. In that world, money wouldn’t divide us—it would become a force for growth, connection, and balance. It could benefit all of us rather than driving the separation and inequality we see today.
If we can align with love, abundance, and harmony, we can reclaim money’s purpose. By shifting how we view and use it, we could leverage this tool to support humanity as a whole, creating a system that uplifts and sustains everyone.
Returning to True Abundance
For far too long, we’ve tied the concept of abundance to money, creating a dangerous illusion that’s hurt both individuals and the systems we rely on. This distorted view has led to fear-driven actions, misuse of power, and control—disconnecting us from the true source of abundance: our divine state of infinite love.
Real abundance comes from a place of alignment and love. It’s a state of being that allows us to recognize and share our natural gifts, talents, and resources freely. When we don’t have this foundation, external wealth becomes nothing more than a shallow reflection of an internal sense of lack. From this place of scarcity, we unintentionally harm both ourselves and others, perpetuating cycles of fear and imbalance.
But when we embrace true abundance, we step into the transformative power of love, coherence, and generosity. By restoring balance within ourselves, we can start to heal the broken systems around us and imagine a collective economy rooted in harmony, care, and connection.
Reclaiming Economy and Redefining Home
To reclaim the idea of economy and abundance, we have to start by looking inward. Our inner economy is all about finding balance—learning how to give and receive in a way that truly nurtures us. It’s deeply connected to the idea of “home,” a place where our needs are met and we feel safe, cared for, and supported.
But in a capitalist society, this concept of home becomes more complicated. We’ve been conditioned to associate safety and security with external conditions, like earning enough money to keep a roof over our heads or staying connected to systems that provide basic needs. Because of this, home becomes less about balance and care and more about keeping up with external stability.
The same society that promises us the resources to create “home” often keeps us trapped in fear. There’s the fear of losing those resources, the fear of falling behind, and the fear of not meeting the expectations of what a stable life is supposed to look like. In this system, home doesn’t feel like a sanctuary—it feels fragile and conditional, something we could lose if we don’t comply with the demands of the world around us.
Untangling Fear from Abundance
To navigate this reality, we need to develop a dual awareness. First, we have to recognize just how much our understanding of "home" is tied to capitalism and external validation. Acknowledging this connection helps us see that while money and resources are part of physical stability, they’re not the ultimate source of what makes us feel at home.
Second, we need to reconnect with the internal experience of home. True abundance isn’t about money or possessions—it’s about alignment, coherence, and love. It’s about creating a sense of balance, safety, and care within ourselves, no matter what external pressures we face.
This doesn’t mean we reject the reality we live in. Instead, it’s about shifting our perspective. For example, instead of seeing money as the key to security, we can reframe it as a tool—something that supports us when we use it wisely and intentionally. By changing our relationship with money, we can stop chasing it out of fear and start seeing abundance as something that comes from within.
Questions for Reclaiming Balance
Finding this kind of balance isn’t easy, especially in a society that thrives on external validation and endless accumulation. But we can begin to reclaim our sense of home and abundance by asking ourselves some important questions:
What does home feel like to me beyond physical structures or material things?
How can I create small moments of balance and care in my daily life, even when facing external pressures?
How can I use money and resources in ways that align with my values and support both my well-being and the well-being of others?
By reflecting on these questions, we can start to untangle our idea of home and abundance from the fears imposed by capitalism. This process allows us to reclaim these concepts as something rooted in our internal state, rather than something entirely dependent on external circumstances.
And we must keep ever present that the center of any economy—whether it’s inner or outer—always needs to be love. Love is our ultimate resource. It’s the eternal energy that nourishes, sustains, and drives all life.
When we get our self rooted in love, abundance naturally begins within us. It flows outward, touching others and creating balance. You can think of love like rain, pouring down to water the dry soil of our being. With that nourishment, flowers of creativity, connection, and purpose begin to bloom.
Balancing Money and Integrity in Spiritual Work
It is a common perception that spiritual work shouldn’t involve money—that it should somehow be free. Charging for spiritual work isn’t inherently wrong. Supporting humanity in it’s overall well-being and embodying its divine nature which requires time, gifts, skills and abilities to facilitate this process. As we explore an economy that has integrity, receiving money to cover the time, energy, and resources needed to do the work would be needed to live sustainably.
That said, it’s also important to acknowledge that just because something is labeled as “spiritual work” doesn’t automatically make it virtuous. We’ve seen how religion itself has been corrupted by power and greed. Wherever humans are involved, money has been misused, and spiritual work is no exception.
Our current economy doesn’t account for everyone. It’s not designed to create equity or balance, so even well-intentioned spiritual work will operate under the same distorted patterns we see everywhere else.
This isn’t to shame those achieving extreme financial success in the spiritual domain—it’s to highlight how easily people, especially those with the potential to help co-create a more equitable and heart-centered economy, must exist inside of the same capitalistic system we have today as once again it’s almost impossible to imagine a system that doesn’t rely on itself. Yet it does seem that in spiritual spaces this possibility would more likely exist if the innate drive to build an equitable economy is the one that has accumulated the wealth.
This reminds me of the scripture, “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” The more wealth we accumulate through spiritual work, the harder it can be to stay aligned with the true purpose of serving others. It’s not impossible, but it takes a lot of self-awareness and accountability to ensure the work stays true to its values.
At its core, charging for spiritual work, when done with integrity, is about maintaining a balance of giving and receiving. And if we are mindful of how these exchanges fit into the bigger picture, approaching it consciously, rooted in our divinity and true abundance, we contain the opportunity of redefining how money functions in spiritual work, and ultimately helping to create a system that works for all that reflects equity, love, and abundance.
Final Reflection: Restoring Economy as Balance
So now when we think about economy, may we no longer to tie it to concepts of money and trade or what we relate to as our current economy today. May we see that at its core, economy is about so much more—it’s about balance, flow, and the thoughtful distribution of resources at every level of life.
May we reclaim economy to mirrors a experience as what one would expect from a loving and supportive family—a place where everyone’s needs are met, andwhere care and connection are at the center.
Right now, our global economy feels like the opposite of this and in its imbalanced rooted it systems that which doesn’t reflect the true essence of home or abundance.
We must to take an honest look at how we relate to money and know that we all are conditioned to relate to money in the imbalanced sense of security rooted in fear.
That our relationship with money may not change as we lack the economic structure to embody these ideals. Yes we can being to support us as a society shift this, by starting within ourselved.
Doing the deep inner work to shift our center of relatedness to true abundance not in how much we can accumulate and instead our ability to tap in and embody something far greater: love.
Love is the endless resource we’re designed to give and receive, and it’s the foundation for creating balance both within ourselves and in the world around us. And without this foundation we will never embody the means of restoring humanity to peace and harmony if we don’t first embody the integrity of abundance rooted in love compared to any relation to money.
Reclaiming Economy: What’s Next?
So, where do we go from here? How do we begin to reclaim the original purpose of economy—this idea of balance and care?
1. Rethink Money as a Tool
Money isn’t meant to define our worth or success—it’s simply a tool to help us exchange resources. When we stop equating money with value, we can let go of the fear and pressure to endlessly accumulate it.
2. Value Fairness Over Profit
Imagine an economy that values effort, contribution, and need over profit. Instead of being driven by accumulation, it would prioritize ensuring that everyone’s basic needs are met. This would create a system where resources are distributed to sustain life rather than exploit it.
3. Root Your Economy in Love
When decisions can you make in your inner economy that are guided by love and care for others, shifting the focus from competition and scarcity to collaboration and generosity. Creating an inner economy that reflect our truest values and truly balanced in both.giveing and receiving, rejecting scarcity mindsets, and aligning with the abundance that comes from love and connection.
