Can you be spiritual and wealthy?
It's one modern dilemma: does having spiritual beliefs mean you can't be rich? The coexistence can create conflict for some so an expert weighs in on how to balance your financial and internal chakras.
Can you be spiritual and wealthy?
What happens if you are really spiritual, someone who is really connected with a higher purpose and spirituality—however you define it—and you also want to be really wealthy?
Is there a conflict?
For a lot of people, there is.
It’s something in their beliefs and mindset that says, ‘If I am spiritual, if I am connected to something that is greater than the earthly plane, then I can’t also have everything the material plane consists of."
And one of those major things is money.
I think that belief is absolutely crazy. And philanthropists who just happen to be stonkingly rich—Melinda and Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan—might agree.
For me, true spirituality should include being wealthy, because ultimately wealth is a measure of value.
It’s just simply a question of how much value do you give to the world—I don’t mean what are you worth as an individual, but how much actual value do you give to the world?
So in a really functional resourceful way, wealth and spirituality can comfortably co-exist.
Now if you’re someone who has a life where spirituality doesn’t have a role, that’s fine—it’s not a pre-requisite. If it’s of no importance to you, rock forth, be wealthy, create an amazing business, live your dream and serve people.
If it is important to you, I encourage you to have both wealth and spirituality.
I meet a lot of people who say they are spiritual and if you believe in spirituality then everyone is spiritual. We all have a spirit and access to something greater.
The thing is, a lot of those same people say they are spiritual but broke. They are spiritual but can’t pay their bills. They are spiritual but are wishing, waiting and hoping for clients to arrive.
We have to marry the spiritual world—the metaphysical world—with the literal and material world. And we want to have access to both.
They should not in any way conflict with each other.
I remember having a conversation with a guy once at a free event we were running, and I was talking about the importance of developing business skills.
Here at TCI we are really good at taking on people who are passionate about making a difference and creating the life they want and combining those passions and desires with real life business skills.
His response was, “I don’t charge people because I love them.”
And I thought, ‘Woah, that is an amazing insight into his world’. The insinuation was that because I am open to people paying for coaching I don’t love my clients.
That’s crazy.
So a lot of people have these weird beliefs around what is possible when you come from a space of love and open heartedness.
I was talking to one of our amazing students the other day and said, “You are here as a coach so your intention is to do business—let’s be real about that. It just happens your business is serving your clients to make the biggest impact on them.”
When we open ourselves up to seeing our world in a way which includes spirituality and the material side of the world, then we can be a complete human being.
The last part is this: if we don’t take care of finances, someone else needs to take care of us.
If you’re in a situation where you’re not taking care of finances then you’re not taking responsibility, and I truly believe spirituality should have a value around taking personal responsibility.
The ultimate best version of a coach to me is someone who has access to spirituality and takes care of business.
MATT LAVARS
One of Australia's leading coaches, trainers and speakers, and head facilitator at The Coaching Institute. In between mentoring thousands of coaches and leaders all around Australasia and helping others build incredible culture, Matt is passionate about fitness and music. His healthy office lunches whipped up in five minutes are the stuff of legend
