Money. Can’t live without it. And for many of us, we have a difficult time living with it as well. Or more precisely, we do not fully understand our relationship to it.

That is where I am at. I really only know a few things about how I relate to money. Over the course of my life, I have been both conservative and careless with it, and I have no idea why the chasm has existed. I know that I am repulsed by the way some deploy money as a weapon to willfully harm others for their own needless benefit. And I know I have a subconscious block. Not only do I intuit that, but an energy therapist recently told me that my issues are “ancestral” in nature. Did he really say five generations?

And yet I feel wonderfully prosperous and deeply fortunate in many other areas of life. While I am unsure about retirement, I seem not to be overly concerned. Interestingly, I seem more concerned about my lack of concern than being directly concerned about outliving my savings.

For years I have heard and become acquainted with the gospels of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret and The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks, etc. But I have always been bothered by the manner in which these approaches were presented, always wrapped up, primarily, in attractive green paper; prosperity is most typically spoken of in the aspect of money and materialism. This seems inappropriate to me, which, of course, could be a contributing factor to whatever block I have. At some level, I seem to have revulsion around acquiring more and more things that money can buy, knowing that money cannot buy happiness. Indeed, if one is not careful, it is possible that more money leads to more misery.

But the principles behind the law of attraction and its ilk have always struck me as right on; what I sought was a presentation that focused less on goals, or even the process of engaging the imagination to realize one’s goals, and more on the person one needs to be in order to attract prosperity. Where does my consciousness need to be? How do I develop that consciousness? I realize now that I don’t want prosperity per se, I want to be prosperity.

And I found my answer in Eric Butterworth’s Spiritual Economics: The Principles and Process of True Prosperity. This wonderful volume was recommended to me by my friend Theresa Bogart, who reviews the book in this issue. Staff writer Lucretia Robison also mentions it in her article on page 16 and quotes the author saying “...prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness that attracts things.”

I have some ways to go in my relationship with money, but this I know: It’s been a very long time since I’ve been as invested and excited about that which I do for money. I am totally committed to helping readers reach their highest and best being and purpose. This magazine is an intermediator that connects those who are awakening and seeking to the perspectives, information and resources that can help them. And when I wake up each morning, engaging the new day with enthusiasm and the wish to serve others, well, I feel pretty prosperous.

Paul Chen