We were having a quite in-depth discussion yesterday. I did a Q&A with the billionaire, David McCourt. I invited about 100 of my supporters to come and be in the live audience. We hired out a lovely cinema room at the British Transport Museum. We had a great time.
And of course, the subject of money is coming up when you’re in a very small room with a billionaire. He was talking a lot that he wasn’t really focussed on money. He didn’t really care about money. And I sort of push back and said, well, you say you have a massive boat. You say you have planes. It’s all right for you to say, money isn’t really that important to you now, that you’ve had it all. Let us have billions, try all these things, and then give it away.
But actually, it raised a really great point about the relationship between wealth and spirituality. It was a question that was raised in the group. And it reminded me of a very, very profound quote that Dr John Demartini told me a few years ago, and that is,
Spirit Without Matter is Expressionless, and Matter Without Spirit is Motionless.
I think that’s really worth considering. I’m going to give you a few points in this article to think about. If you’d like to ideally be wealthy and have material items that make you feel good, but also be very spiritual, and considerate, and caring of others, and not too materialistic.
Generally, you get people that are either side of the extreme. They’re either would consider themselves in their own definition very spiritual. Therefore, they maybe anti-materialistic or perceive that materialism is somehow bad, or greedy, or powerful, or wrong. Then of course, there are people that are very focussed on making money and wealth, and you might deem as somewhat material, or chasing money. They may not deem themselves as material, but they would certainly look for experiences, which cost money. I don’t think that the two can be separated. I think it’s the human construct and our mind that is confused and separates wealth and material with spiritual like, they’re different.
This quote and certainly some of the work from Dr John Demartini and my research over the last 12 years would indicate actually, that they’re inseparable, or you don’t have to separate them.
Spirit without matter is expressionless. Matter without spirit is motionless. Let’s explain that. Spirit without matter is expressionless. Whatever being spiritual, is, if it doesn’t take a physical form, a human form, a material form, then it doesn’t express itself. Okay, yes, it could be a thought. But until it manifests into something physical, there is no expression of the spirituality.
Even the most spiritual people in the world, they were expressing their spiritual form through the material. It took a great amount of wealth to take Gandhi around the world, by the way. A huge amount of money to travel him. It was funny, because Grant Cardone said to me, if Jesus or Mother Teresa was alive today, they’d need a private jet. He was kind of being flippant. But they would, wouldn’t they, to get around the world, and share their mission to the masses. You’re not going to walk in your sandals. Okay, maybe, I’m being a bit stereotypical.
But how do you express the spirit, travel the spirit, get the spirit out to the masses? Well, you need the material items and the wealth behind you to that accelerate and create the speed and the momentum to do that.
I wrote in my book, Money, that actually one of the most spiritual things to do, is, to purchase, own, love and share great material items. Now, there’s a beautiful, I guess, it’s almost a way of living and being. You could call it an advertising slogan, but I think it’s way more than that, by Patek Philippe, and that is, you never really own a Patek Philippe, you merely borrow it for the next generation. I’ve probably butchered the quote. But you know what I mean.
A Patek Philippe is probably one of the most beautiful watches that can be made. Yes, they are expensive. They can be 50, 100, 200, 500 thousand pounds, which of course, many people would deem to be very anti-spiritual. That money could go into the Third World, et cetera.
But the watchmaker’s art and lifetime of study and service to watchmaking that they put and express their spirit through their soul and into this watch. Then of course, it pays their mortgage and their children’s school fees, et cetera, and sustains an eco-system and an economy in a very small watchmaking hub of the world. Of course, someone owns that, and connects with people who own that watch, are very much like, ah, someone who owns a Patek Philippe, we must have a lot in common. That watch may last 200 years and go to our children and our children’s children. All the memories of your father, and your father’s father go through that watch as you put it on your wrist, and you see it. And I believe that’s a very spiritual thing.
If we separate them into extremes, being purely material, is of course, maybe overly greedy and powerful, but you don’t need to be like that. And maybe, being overly spiritual, might be deemed to be a little bit hippie, or ethereal, or you don’t have to self-negate and have extreme poverty around you to be spiritual. You don’t have to give it all away and live in one set of robes in your whole life.
I believe mastery of life, the wholeness of life, the life balance, the gifts of life that you receive and you give equally, are, in the fusion and merging of the spiritual and material. Now, if you want to give a lot away, which I know you want to do. Let’s be honest, it’s a very spiritual act to help people. I think David McCourt says, he says, put the ladder down for someone else. I see a lot of people doing finance raises on social media.
My good friend, Jay Alderton who become my good friend recently. I’ve always followed him. I think he’s great. He just did a box jump, and got a World Record for the number of box jump. I was able to donate a decent amount of money for his World Record attempt. Every time I see someone do a little race for a charity, well, I’m able to give 250 quid, or 500 quid, or 1,000 quid, or 3,000 quid. And that is because I’ve earned money, and leveraged the capital system, and being an entrepreneur, and created wealth through fair exchange.
I have a pair of speakers here. They’re Wilson Audio Sasha DAWs. They’re £45,000. So, they’re not cheap. But someone comes and listens to the speakers. By the way, I love listening to music. I absolutely love it. But sitting there on my own, it’s a great experience. But sitting with someone else there, and having them listen to the play of their favourite song, and see them come alive, and hear sounds they’ve never heard before, that’s a very spiritual act.
I brought one of my friends over a few weeks, and he played vinyl. He got really emotional. He almost cried, because he connected with the music on a very spiritual level. Of course, he felt the emotion of the artist that was expressing through the vinyl, the warm vinyl.
If you embrace the material and spiritual as one, then the spirit comes through the material. So, I guess, that’s my way of saying, is, it’s okay to have some nice things, without being greedy. It’s okay to want to be rich and wealthy so that you can travel and live in luxury.
The three commonalities of the richest people in history, one of them, is, their belief that they deserve opulence. Having opulence in your life or people who believe that those who have opulence in their life is to the detriment of others, that is a very scarce mindset. Someone who lives an opulence lifestyle is not opulent having taken away from 1,000 or a million people in the developing world, in the Third World. It’s not binary like that.
Money and wealth don’t act in that way. In fact, you creating wealth and then doing great things with it, is often a great way to redistribute wealth. So, people talk a lot about ah, well, wealth needs to be redistributed. Well, that is what taxation does, by the way. Many billionaires are doing a fantastic job of redistributing wealth.
Bill Bartmann, a billionaire, who’s famously giving it all away. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have given billions, tens of billions away to charity. You know, their responsibility has grown on them to do good things with their wealth. Society has somewhat intimidated them into being more responsible with their billions. And they are. They’re stepping up to their mark. Now, they couldn’t, if they weren’t billionaires.
You can leverage the capital system. And you can leverage being an entrepreneur. And you can do great things with your wealth. That could be passing on to children. That could be inspiring others. I know, it’s maybe a little bit of a superficial item, but my Lamborghini Aventador does inspire a lot of people. And no one looks at you in a shitty rusty banger, and goes, I want to be like that person. I’m going to work hard. I’m going to sacrifice. I’m going to be someone. I’m going to do something. I’m going to step up. I’m going to make a difference. I’m going to share my legacy with the masses and change the world, because I saw that rusty beraged Vauxhall brown Nova, and it inspired me. No, it doesn’t work like that.
I’m not here to judge. I’m here to try and explain, and express to you what I believe the ideal balance in life is. For me, if I buy a nice material item, I know that I’ve invested in that company. That company continue to grow and pay the staff and pay its business rates. The staff pay their mortgage and their kids, et cetera.
As long as I’m wise with my money, I’m not buying liabilities with money, I can’t afford. I’m maybe buying assets that go up. Or, when I treat myself, I buy at the lowest point of the depreciation curve, then I’m not addicted to material items and wealth. And I’m not using that to create debt. For me, one of the lovely sweet spots in life, is to be able to buy nice material items that I get pleasure, and passion, and enjoyment out of, and see them go up in value.
I bought a Ferrari Tessarossa. And I just love looking at it. I drive it a few times a year in the summer. It reminds me of being a child, when I always wanted Ferraris. I was really into cars. I feel like it’s something that maybe, I might even hand on to my son one day. And just looking at that, makes me realise the beauty in that car, and the work, and the art, and the spirituality through the carmakers. It’s probably gone up to 150 grand now. I think I’ve paid 105 for it. So, that’s a pretty good win, win, win all the way around.
Again, like, I said, I’m not here to preach to you about what you should do with your money or how you should be with your money. I’m here to just maybe let you embrace a bit more, that it’s okay to have some material items that give you pleasure. Those material items can give other people pleasure too. That can be a very spiritual act. And knowing that material and spiritual are one, and not separable, means that, you can embrace both sides of what usually people really separate.
I think, if you really honest, completely honest, do you want a nice car or a shit car? Be honest. Tell me in the thread. Do you want a nice car or a shit car? Just, you know, a banger or a nice car? If no one wants to judge, no one. No one wants to say anything about you being opulent or scarce mindset of taking from others. What about a house? Would you like a lovely house or a shit house? You tell me. And I reckon that you’d probably want some nice things.
Let’s say, you’re not that material. By the way, nearly everyone who I’ve met says, ah, I’m not material at all. It’s not about materialism. They often have nice material items. They say, it’s not about that. Or, they spend thousands of pounds on First Class travel. Or, they buy really nice hotels. They say, ah, well, I’m creating memories. Well, driving Lamborghinis, and Ferraris, and wearing Patek Philippes, and having people coming over listening to my speakers, for me, that also creates memories.
Again, I’m going to summarise this now, because otherwise, I know I’ll get on my high horse, and I start to preach. This isn’t really about preaching.
Spirit without matter is expressionless. Matter without spirit is motionless. Merge the spiritual and the material.
For me, it’s a great thing to give gifts. And I like to buy expensive gifts for people. And it makes me feel very warm. It’s just a lovely feeling. I have to be able to run a good business and make good fair profit margins to be able to buy lots of expensive gifts to people. It’s something that I have become quite well known for. And I really like to do. Often, it makes me feel better than buying stuff myself for me.
You could say, ah, well, I’m not material. But if I’m using material items to give other people happiness, I’m leveraging the spirituality in materialism. Someone said to me, if you want to make a woman happy, buy her a Chanel handbag. Well, you know. Something in that, perhaps. If you want to make me happy, buy me Alexander McQueen.
Have a think about that. Let me try and challenge your own beliefs about wealth, and spirituality, and riches, and maybe, if you separated them, and maybe, if you judge others and how you judge others, and what you would really want in your life, if you weren’t judge by others. Because for me, there’s no doubt that money is a driving force. I believe I’m more centred and balance about it now. I was money hungry when I was skint.
Here’s an irony. Often, people who are multimillionaires or billionaires say, it’s not about the money, and they’re not focussed on the money. But the people who are skint are focussed on the money, and say, it’s all about the money. Because they haven’t got any money. So, often, a way you can become less focus on material items or less greedy, I suppose or less hungry for money, is, to make good money and have money not a problem anymore. When money isn’t a problem in your life, then you’re not an overly materialistic. And that certainly happen with me.
Then the ironic paradox is as soon as you’re more comfortable with money, and you’re not money hungry, money tends to flow much more easily, and effortlessly, and abundantly to you, because you’re probably working in the right areas of spirituality, and giving, and value, and fair exchange, which tend to bring a lot more money in.
Just challenge how you think about that, and how you embrace the two. I’ll leave you with that one.
