While many spiritual traditions have plenty to say about money, it’s my understanding from what I’ve learned in meditation, that much of what’s been said (and translated and re-translated, I might add) over the years has been misunderstood or has not been properly restated to be relevant in our modern world.

One thing they all get right – loving money, in and of itself, wanting to hoard it away, being unwilling to share it and worse, willing to step on a fellow soul to get more of it – that’s evil. That’s a sickness of our incarnate bodies of which our souls have no understanding. (After all, souls don’t need money.)

Bodies, however, at least an overwhelming percentage, do need food and clean water and shelter, and according to our society’s standards, clothing. To remain incarnate longer, our bodies need health care and, to procure everything previously mentioned, transportation. The list goes on. Thinking back to our “do to be” philosophy, just doing in this world requires an immense number of various resources, and in this day and age, that largely, means money. If you have the means, the liberty and the desire to convert your life in such a way as to live without or nearly without money, I urge you to do so, because it can bring great peace, but for many, these rare unconventional opportunities just aren’t realistic.

So let’s address the majority, shall we. For the majority of us souls, money is not an option. It’s a necessity, and what I’d like to convey here is simply, the pursuit of money for your own, your family’s and your fellow souls’ betterment is not evil. I had an unpleasant run-in with a “spiritual healer” once who chastised me for wanting payment for my professional writing and web-building service in monetary form, instead of in trade. She tried over and over to shame me for pursuing money for the valuable work I’d done for her. Actions like hers reveal cognitive dissonance with this life and misalignment with one’s own spiritual path. An aligned soul will never seek to shame another soul for having a different approach to this life. Only souls insecure about their own approach seek to undermine the healthy approach of another.

The pursuit of enough money to live a comfortable life is both healthy and 100% consistent with a spiritual walk. The desire to extend your incarnation and vitality is one of the best indicators of a soul at peace. If you’re tending to your spiritual growth and practicing your meditation, you’ll naturally behave properly toward money and feel called to share what you have with those who have less. When you’re spiritually in alignment, you can’t possibly become wrapped up in something so foolish as the pursuit of stockpiling money, because your Universal core will constantly call you to use any excess for the betterment of your fellow souls.

Pursuing enlightenment and practicing your meditation should reveal your natural gifts. Doing to be will free you from any limiting beliefs or societal fetters that might otherwise hold you back from putting those gifts to good use. Thinking critically about which of your gifts can bring you the most money in this life should reveal your best professional path. Follow it. Make as much money as you can and share as much of it as possible with your fellow souls. Laugh the next time someone suggests that pursuing money is shallow or evil. You know from Universal assurance that it’s not. Use money in this life to enhance your experience of it and that of your soul brothers and sisters. In these ways, you can’t possibly err.