Money and Spirit

Most of us have uncomfortable relationships with money.

We may feel we don't have enough. We might wonder if God does not love us, or if we have done something wrong. I call this "spiritual guilt."

If we have enough, we might feel guilty because so many are suffering, and we don't know how to alleviate all the suffering in the world. Or, we may get caught in the trap of "spiritual pride" -- believing God has favored us and separating ourselves from the less fortunate because we think they deserve their difficulties. Jesus certainly would never have done that. Neither would have Buddha, Mohammed, Abraham or the Dalai Lama. All the great religious traditions teach compassion and love.

How do we create a healthier, more-balanced relationship between faith, spirituality and feelings about money? First, money is not the root of all evil. The correct version of this wisdom is: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6:10) When we place acquisition of money and things above relationships, love and compassion, we set ourselves up for suffering.

The spiritual problem with money is not the money itself, it is holding too tightly onto money.

I once heard a spiritual teacher say money and spirit are the same thing because they both are energy and they both need to flow. Spirit needs to move through us, and so does money.

My mantra for many years is a phrase I adapted from Shakti Gawain, author of "Living in the Light." The mantra is "The Universe pays me for being who I am and doing what I love doing." I used to think that meant I would get paid to do what I loved doing, but that was not what was happening. I worked at a university in Connecticut and taught management; while I loved my students and my courses, I really wanted to work more directly with spirituality in the workplace. I started the Center for Spirit at Work, but I did not get paid for running it; I had to do it after hours because it was not a part of my job.

Several years later, I got hired to be the founding director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace at the University of Arkansas, where I got paid well to do what I loved doing. I also was able to save enough for a comfortable retirement. So by doing what I loved and felt called to do -- even if I wasn't paid at first -- I eventually was able to work in my dream job and to have a beautiful flow of both spirit and money.

The key learning from these experiences are:

1. The way the Universe (God, Allah, Yahweh, or whatever name works for you) pays you to do what you love doing might be a regular every-day sort of job. But you must keep doing what you love doing on the side, even if you don't get paid for it at first.

2. Part of that mantra is "The Universe pays me for being who I am." So it's important to stay on the path of self-discovery and to be true to yourself even when it seems like it might not be the best path financially.

3. The Universe doesn't always pay you in dollars. Sometimes it pays you in books or other things on which you would have otherwise spent money.

4. Don't forget to pay it forward. Money and spirit need to keep circulating.

This is not an exhaustive list of ways to have a healthier and more satisfying connection between money and spirit, but I hope it helps you to see things in a new way -- and to have more flow in your life.