The Essence of Wealth

Through the ages the most enlightened teachers used the lens of their own time to help people see true wisdom. Shastri Matthew Lyon is that type of teacher. An accomplished financial planner, he uses wealth — the dominant lens of our time — to teach the dharma. Matthew’s not-yet-published book, “The Essence of Wealth” is about much more than money. It is about finding our true prosperity, and stepping onto a sacred path to success in everything we do.

The first in a series of excerpts from Matthew’s book is below. If you want to read more, watch here for future excerpts. — Larry Steele

The Warrior’s Meditation on Wealth
by Shastri Matthew Lyon

By cultivating the inner experience of wealth, we avoid falling under the spell of an illusion-that changing our outer circumstances will bring about the deep inner experience of fulfillment, contentment, and joy. When we live in the illusion, we discover again and again that satisfaction based on manipulating our material world is temporary and fleeting.

With practice, however, we can learn to give attention and respect to our basic human experience. We begin to awaken to the discovery of our own indestructible nature, a power which arises from an ability to be present with every occurrence in our lives. We feel an indestructible abundance which cannot be defeated by challenges and obstacles. True abundance does not depend upon expected results, and is willing to learn from each outcome.

Wealth is experienced as a state of being. From this root, a great tree of enrichment grows within all of our experiences which cannot be swayed by the winds of chance and adversity. Material wealth can be taken away, but the great tree still grows. When the storm abates, its brilliant leaves attract new opportunities. The path to this discovery is the way of true prosperity, the way of the warrior of wealth.

The inner path of wealth awakens our potential to enrich external circumstances. Our ability to appreciate the current scenario in our life, even in the midst of events that are unwished for, is the fuel which energizes our power to bring about growth and change for the better. We can discover a fundamental sense of appreciation for the wonder of our human life which is much more basic and powerful than the nervous stream of anxious fearfulness which often underlies our goal seeking and our aspirations. With training in mindfulness and awareness, we discover the primordial state of victory.

The state of victory is unconditional, and is not dependent on losing or winning. Appreciation of the present doesn’t mean that we are not intent on bettering ourselves and developing our abilities and our material wealth. It is simply acknowledging that appreciation and gratitude form the basic foundation for the structure of fulfillment in our lives. On the way of wealth, gratitude magnetizes the energy of accomplishment and victory.