Money Is Alive and Well

February 2020 • Revision: 4 October 2026

You may know that money is more than the notes, coins, and digital records that human civilization is built upon. Perhaps you sense that money is much more than the standard definition of it, i.e., a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange. Did you know that money is also the subtle, benevolent connective tissue of life?

Money is Love and money is every movement of Love throughout creation.

What follows is a distillation of insights gleaned from a decade of exploring what money really is, including co-offering dozens of retreats, workshops, and courses. This exploration of money has illuminated the true nature and purpose of money, as well as how we can partner with it more effectively to create beneficial changes in the world.

A Distillation of Key Learnings

1. Flows of money are the subtle connective tissue of life, and money itself is alive.

2. Money facilitates the coordination of increasingly complex activities among individuals.

3. Money systems are instruments of a higher level of mind (cf. Sri Aurobindo’s Supermind) which is creating a more evolved version of humanity through the day-to-day interactions of humanity.

A. A conscious collective is being created out of billions of humans relating to one another through increasingly sophisticated and ephemeral forms of exchange.

1. Buckminster Fuller defines ephemeralization as the ability of technological advancement to do “more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing.” In the limit case, all forms of money are ephemeralized out of existence and yet all is accomplished.
2. Bruce Lipton explains in detail how higher-order life forms emerge from cooperative clusters of approximately 10 billion individuals, and he concludes that humanity is becoming a superorganism. Indeed, as the global population of humans approaches the 10 billion number, people are concentrating in cities that are coming to resemble neural cortexes with different strengths and capacities. These cortexes are self-organizing and interconnecting using money as a principal technology.

B. To begin to comprehend the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual power of this emerging collective, or superorganism, imagine billions of highly conscious humans working together coherently and seamlessly in partnership with Money (as a superconscious being) and with the many forms of money. Each individual within the collective organism has access to shared cognitive, emotional, and intuitive resources that would make them a super genius – and super wealthy – by today’s standards.

1. Aside: To the extent that artificial general intelligence emerges, it will not overtake the intelligence of the coherent superorganism of humanity. Rather, the superconscious superorganism of humanity and AI technologies will work together to advance science, address environmental challenges, integrate the world’s wisdom traditions, etc. In the meantime, the perceived threat of AI is a significant catalyst for awakening the superorganism of humanity since humans are now feeling the pressure to discover their innate genius beyond computation and reasoning, which includes intuition and cosmic consciousness.

C. Coming back to money, it is important to recognize that humans did not invent what money really is. Instead, Money is working through humans, preparing individuals for a higher communion and weaving people by degrees into a global sentience, similar to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s theory of the noosphere.

D. The cortexes of the superorganism are being connected and trained, so to speak, through the money-mediated interactions amongst individuals and groups. This means that money is much more than a means of storing and exchange value. Money is working at a higher level than most humans have ever imagined. Even the apparent failures of our financial systems are part of a learning process that is shaping the emerging superorganism of humanity. The species is learning and becoming more conscious even as the majority of individuals are not yet exhibiting higher consciousness. However, once a significant percentage (around 10%) of individuals have seen the pattern and evolutionary trajectory of what is occurring, the awakening of consciousness will accelerate exponentially. When that happens we will be immensely grateful for Money and for all that it has shown and taught us.

4. Money is an evolutionary force, and the forms of money are also evolving.

A. The level at which society has been engaging with money is, by and large, 2.7 to 3.2 layers removed from what money really is in manifestation (the living connective tissue of life). This means that we have been working with very limited and distorted forms of money. The result is that, for most people, the contemporary forms of money are not working well. The deep dysfunction in humanity’s relationship with money creates an evolutionary pressure to discover and implement new forms of money that are more just and more functional.

B. The most progressive philanthropy is operating at 0.0 to 1.1 layers removed from what money really is.

C. Decentralized Blockchain technologies are 1.2 layers removed from what money is, the Sharing Economy is 0.6 layers removed from what money is, and the Gift Economy is 0.0 layers removed from what money is. Certain regenerative economic systems are already working with the essence of money, i.e., at 0.0 layers removed from what money really is. These calibrations point the way to emerging economic systems that will work with money ever more directly, with less and less distortion, for the benefit of all. These calibrations also suggest that widespread sharing and gifting based on trust work better than technologies that assume “zero trust.”

D. There is unprecedented financial innovation yet to come as the human family leans into the question of how we can partner skillfully with the true nature of money. To work with the essence of money requires using our minds, hearts, and intuitive abilities, as well as the gifts of awakened and awakening consciousness. The process of collectively growing up in relation to money is intimately connected with the awakening of consciousness at a species level, and with the practical applications of higher consciousness on a planetary scale.

E. Here are a few more understandings that are 0.0 layers removed from the essence of money. As such, they offer further insight into the nature of future economies:

1. Money itself is, and always will be, alive and well.
2. Money is the currency of aliveness (some forms of which are expressed as energy), which is always flowing.
3. Money is a creative force for good.
4. Money is alive and it has consciousness.
5. Money is an instrument of a higher order of being.
6. Money facilitates evolution.
7. Money has an agenda: It supports the enlightenment of living systems, which leads to their flourishing.
8. Flows of money are the subtle and often-invisible connective tissue of being.
9. Notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, money is infinite, and money is teaching infinitization in addition to oneness, relationship, and responsibility.
10. An extended definition of of money is available in Root Meanings.

F. The more closely we work with money as it really is, the more agency and power we have, and the more we contribute beneficially to the world. By partnering with Money, we align with the evolution of life from single-cell organisms to collaborating multicellular organisms to awakened, co-creative collectives or superorganisms. True power comes from aligning with the organizing principles of life, and by cultivating a healthy partnership with Money we can use this power to create a vastly more conscious human civilization.

5. Money is a powerful teacher and an awakener of collective consciousness, wisdom, and capacities that can heal humanity and the planet. When we look beyond the distorted understandings that have been present in our societies and psyches, we can see money as a being that loves each and every one of us and that is helping humanity to become a more mature and capable species. With this awareness, we can work ever more skillfully with Money to realize a world of universal thriving. Money is a sacred ally.