Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth
Perspectives on money, wealth, spirituality, and life from a classic book
On the recommendation of a friend, I recently read Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth. It was a really good read!
Below are some notes I jotted down, along with commentary from me, a financial planning professional and a fellow author.
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The Meaning of Words
My favorite thing about Spiritual Economics is how Butterworth helps us rethink the true meaning of words. Let's focus on some new language and refresh other terms that have become stale.
Healthful → Wealthful
Healthful is a common word that connotes "conducive to health," that is good food, plenty of rest, and an environment of high vibrations. There is no word, however, that relates to the things that make for a personal experience of wealth…
…Just as there are experiences that are healthful for us, so there are experiences that are wealthful.
~ pg 5-6
We know and understand the basis of health. It’s not just exercise, diet, or being free of illness. It’s a multi-factored concept that includes all of these things and more.
It is the same with wealth. Wealth, being wealthy, or ‘wealthfulnes,’ is a multi-factored concept. Yes, it includes money - things like income and investments, but it also includes your spending habits, how you feel about money, your financial skills, your sense of engagement and positivity around money, and much more.
Butterworth rightly argues that we must move on from a narrow conception of wealth, such as how much you make or your net worth, and broaden it to a wider concept. Personally, I am partial to the idea of financial well-being, or as Martin Seligman fans might call it, financial flourishing.
All to say, wealth, like health, is holistic.
Affluence
The word affluence is an overworked word in our time, usually implying cars, and houses, and baubles of all kinds. Its literal meaning is 'abundant flow' and not things at all. ~ Page 9
My favorite part of Buttersworth's book is how he redefines words for us based on their Latin roots. Words matter, yet we often allow their true meaning to be hijacked by the zeitgeist.
When I hear 'affluence,' I often think of nice houses, large paychecks, fancy trips, and private schools. I can't help it! What do you think of when you hear the word ‘affluence?’
Do you think of things?
Do you think of cabins, boats, private planes, and fancy hotels? Or does something else come to mind?
Buttersworth points us to the literal meaning of affluence: abundant flow.
Wow, that's different. Don’t you think?
Affluence = Abundant flow.
Money flows through our lives. It's not the receiving or 'owning' that makes us affluence. It's not the spending or the investing. It's the flow of money.
I capture that in my RISE Framework, which guides us toward a healthy movement of money through our lives - without clinginess, profligateness, indifference, or attachment.
Prosperity
How about prosperity? What comes to mind when you hear that word?
For me, ‘prosperity’ has more of a utopian energy to it, even in modern vernacular. Prosperity also feels more holistic and sustainable.
What comes up for you when you hear the word 'prosperity’?
According to Butterworth:
The word prosperity comes from the Latin root which literally translates: "according to hope" or "to go forward hopefully." This is not so much a condition in life, but an attitude toward life." ~page 10
By this definition, do you feel prosperous?
To go forward hopefully.
Hmmmm…
What might that look like?
"The starting point in realizing prosperity is to accept responsibility for your own thoughts, thus taking charge of your life. You are not responsible for what is said in the Wall Street Journal or what comes out of Washington in the form of economic indicators, but you are very much responsible for what you think about these things. You cannot afford to let the so-called experts decide how you are going to think and feel." ~ Page 11
One of the challenges of investing and personal finance is focusing on what you can control versus what you cannot control. You cannot control interest rates, the direction of the stock market, or global events. You can control your savings rate, spending, investing habits, and daily financial decisions.
Time and time again, the newsflow, clickbait, your co-workers, a friend at the gym, and your wife's cousin will all try to suck you into the things you cannot control.
Tom, after a game of pickleball at the gym: What do you think about the market? It has really been in the pits lately. There goes my retirement.
Tina from Marketing: The President will tank the economy and social security right alongside it. I know it.
Your neighbor, Jimmy: I'm thinking about buying into (hot new investment). What do you think? I'm hoping to make a quick buck in (hot new investment) and then get out. Want to join me? Everyone is getting rich, and I don't want to be left behind.
But none of this involves going forward forward with hope. What most of us encounter day in and day out is going forward with cynicism.
Yet, Butterworth reminds us that we are responsible for our own thoughts and feelings. The media has its job - get clicks. Your friends and colleagues are just nervous about their own future or anxious about their financial decisions or lack thereof. But what about you?
No matter what happens in the economy or markets, you are responsible for you. Control what you can control, and detach from the rest.
Better yet, be prosperous.
Go forward with hope.
What is a Goal?
Often, in financial planning, we get overly focused on material goals.
You want to buy a new car next year. Or, in five years, you'd like to own a cabin. Even experiential goals can feel somewhat transactional. Travel is wonderful, but is it self-defining?
I have an experiential goal right now. My band, Stonearch Rivals, is working toward recording our first album. It's going to be so fun. We have booked a great local studio and will create great music together.
But recording the album doesn't define me. It's part of me and my experiences, but it isn't who I am. My core desire is to be a person who creates beautiful things.
I don't want to be a person who created one album. I want to be someone who creates beautiful music and is soulfully creative in multiple contexts on an ongoing basis.
Butterworth writes,
"A true desire is not to have but to be. We are whole creatures in potential, and the true purpose of desire is to unfold that wholeness, to become wht we can be. As Goeth says, 'Desire is the presentiment of our inner abilities, and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments.’" -79
What are your goals? Are they tangible goals?
That’s great. It is even better if you have a timeline for achieving those goals and microhabitats, or micro-actions, that will help you get there.
But here’s an even more important question: Who do you want to be? What kind of person accomplishes those goals? Or, better, what goals would you accomplish if you were who you desire to be?
Thinking like this flips the script. Instead of using the goals to define who you are, you define who you are and then back out the goals.
Last year, I worked closely with a fantastic coach who helped me hone in on what makes me unique and who I am at my core. I realized that my goals were small.
I was playing small!
Self-knowledge allowed me to start playing a bigger game, and it feels natural to do so.
Try this exercise:
Forget all your current goals
Focus on who you want to be
Imagine yourself as this future person (the future you)
What virtues would this individual exhibit?
What would a day look like in this person’s life?
How can I live these virtues now?
How can I live that ‘ideal day’ today?
What goals would that person have?
How can I bring those goals forward?
"What is your most important asset? Conditioned as it is to materialistic values, your mind might begin weighing the relative usefullness of things. however, if you carefully search within yourself , you may come to the awareness that your most important asset is the conscious control of your own life. Nothing else can satisfy or fulfill unless you enjoy the freedom that comes from control of your inner world of mind and emotions.” ~Page 85
What is Security?
When I elicit goals with clients, the number one thing I hear is, "I want to feel financially secure."
But what do we mean by security?
I note with my clients that feeling financially secure is highly subjective. What makes me feel secure differs from what makes you feel financially secure.
Butterworth makes a quip:
"If we are thinking of security in terms of protective barriers and a continuous provision of food, clothing, shelter, heat, light, and medical care, then (and this may seem shocking) the most secure individual is a life-term convict in a penitentiary....He or she has real security, but at such a great price! ~Page 130
Obviously, there is a limit to the type of security we want. Is personal growth secure? Is creativity? Is trying new things secure?
"Professor Peter Bartocci of Boston University has said, " It maybe that any view of life that puts security rather than creativity first has misread life at its best, and thus misinterprets the cosmic process." ~page 130
This brings me back to the concept of goals. What are we shooting for? If the goal is financial security, what else are we missing?
Retirees who desire financial security above all else often want to cling to cash or their bond portfolio because they worry about volatility in the stock market. But over a roughly thirty-year retirement, nothing else could imperil your financial security further than not owning stocks. Stocks protect your portfolio against inflation and grow in excess of inflation over the long term, allowing for greater spending capacity (or giving capacity) in future years.
That growth comes with risk. The risk is you don’t know how the market will perform today, this month, or even this year. But you have a pretty strong sense of how the market will perform over the long term.
Which brings us back to security. Like the stock market, personal growth comes with risk. This risk might not feel secure, but what would happen if you leaned ever so slightly into it?
What good might come?
A Cautionary Note
There are some curious suggestions in this book that reasonable people should fade. Butterworth seems to suggest you be underinsured, not always seek medical treatment, and not save for a rainy day (because then you may bring that rainy day upon you).
This is a book about perspective. And it's a great one at that. But his practical suggestions are a reminder not to take financial advice from an expert in spirituality.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed reading this book. There is a whole lot more there than I had time to summarize above. I didn’t delve too much into his more new age or spiritual suggestions. That isn’t to say I didn’t find value in them. I did. But I wanted to focus on the points above.
I love how Butterworth assesses our vocabulary around money and how it defines our thoughts and financial behavior. In particular, the words abundance (positive flow) and prosperity (to go forward with hope) have been forever changed for me.
Where can you find the book?
You can buy Spiritual Economics here:
Also, please consider subscribing and sharing this newsletter with someone you think would benefit:
And, if you’re interested in reading more of my writings on building a fruitful and purposeful financial life, you’ll enjoy my book, Money with Purpose: Receive the Dividends of an Undivided Financial Life.