The money abundance lie is this: that abundance in money creates abundance for all. In reality, fiat money is a control system designed to impose scarcity through the appearance of plenty. The spiritual communities that teach us to manifest more money have, with few exceptions, never questioned what money actually is or how it functions. This article is an extract from Beyond Money: Regaining Sovereignty, Rediscovering Humanity by Daniella Liberati, available at daniella.io/book, and it makes the case that manifesting more fiat is not the path to abundance, because the system itself is designed to extract it from us.
Abundance often evokes the image of an endless supply—much like our ever-expanding universe, filled with countless stars and planets. Far from being separate observers, we are an integral part of Earth, with its rich tapestry of trees, animals, fungi, and diverse life forms. Recognizing our connection with everything deepens our understanding of abundance—not merely as external plenty, but as a shared and interconnected reality.
| Universal Law of Abundance The universe is abundant and there is enough of everything for everyone. |
Drawing from this idea, humans have attempted to apply the Universal Law of Abundance to money by printing it in infinite quantities. Based on the positive perception of the Law of Abundance, we assume having boundless quantities of money will lead to wonderful outcomes for the collective, and we also assume that it is worth spending our finite lifetime ‘manifesting’ more of it.
In theory, the vast abundance of fiat currency—over 900 trillion USD and counting—should lead to a world where everyone has everything they need, and more. Logically, if abundance in money were the key to prosperity, this sheer volume would translate into widespread flourishing. Yet, reality tells a different story. Despite the seemingly endless supply of currency, the vast majority of the world’s population continues to struggle, unable to access the abundance they inherently sense is possible.
This highlights a key point: when it comes to money, abundance isn’t merely about quantity, it’s about control.
I’m going to argue that an unlimited supply of money doesn’t equate to abundance—for ourselves or for everyone. In fact, it leads to the opposite. I am also going to argue against personal development narratives and spiritual beliefs on the Law of Attraction, and demonstrate how there is no point in manifesting money in the first place.
As we delve into these ideas, I invite you to approach them with curiosity and openness—they will challenge the mainstream spiritual, financial, and self-help beliefs we still hear today.
Manifesting money is a major topic of discussion in these communities and mainly focuses on radical self-responsibility, specifically around the subconscious programming that we pick up in childhood. The idea is that generational beliefs—like money is evil, rich people are bad, or money doesn’t grow on trees—sink into our subconscious mind forming a paradigm that influences our relationship with money as adults. Growing up in poverty may instill limiting beliefs that, if left unaddressed, can perpetuate a cycle of scarcity into adulthood. Based on the Law of Mirroring and the Law of Attraction, this early programming can attract similar experiences into our lives—so if we believe we can attract money, we likely will; but if we view money as unattainable, we may continue to experience scarcity. These beliefs form our money paradigm.
Individuals who win the lottery often find themselves back in financial instability within a few years.1 This generally occurs because holding a substantial amount of money is beyond their paradigm; they do not have a mindset that is ready to receive or manage such wealth. Without adjusting their beliefs about money, they eventually return to the comfort zone they know best, even if it’s financially limiting. Similarly, those who consistently earn around a specific income level might find it challenging to surpass that threshold, hitting what is often called an upper limit; and even if they do surpass this limit, their income is likely to return to the same level as long as limiting beliefs remain unchanged.2
Our money paradigm may also be influenced by cultural and spiritual narratives. Figures like Gandhi or Mother Teresa are sometimes held up as models of virtuous poverty, leading many to internalize the notion that spiritual people are supposed to be poor. On the opposite end of the spectrum, notably when it comes to self-help content targeting young men, we see wealthy gurus, who equate money with personal worth, promoting the idea that material success is the ultimate measure of one’s spiritual value or masculinity. Subconsciously, we may also fear that money will corrupt us or make us morally suspect. Even if these ideas are not at the forefront of our minds, they can subtly shape our actions and reinforce cycles of scarcity.
Our Individual Matrix must be addressed, of course, if we are unhappy with our financial reality. Working through personal beliefs, breaking upper limits, and shifting out of a poverty mindset can indeed transform our financial experiences. Yet, even after working through limiting beliefs, those who previously blamed their childhood programming may still struggle to feel abundant—why?
The reason is that there is more to our money paradigm than just our childhood programming; collective subconscious beliefs about money are also the problem.
After many years in this space, I’ve noticed that even the most well-known self-help gurus, who have written finance books or produced wealth documentaries, have not questioned collective beliefs around money—tangible reality is never addressed.
In Western spiritual circles, endless resources tell us we can have all the money we want; we just need to ask, visualize, think positively, and believe it’s already ours—we must know we are abundant. If the Law of Attraction isn’t working, you just need to work harder, love your bills more, and repeat affirmations.
These ideas, rooted in the individualistic ethos of Western capitalism, assume equal access to opportunity and resources—a perspective far removed from the reality of systematically imposed poverty and economic instability in a fiat-driven world.
For many, barriers to success aren’t simply a matter of mindset but include tangible challenges, like keeping up with inflation while already working full time or legally being allowed to open a bank account, something that is currently systemically gatekept from individuals in many financially colonized countries, women in some parts of the world, as well as the undocumented. It is clear, in the context of fiat, that our successes or failures are not always direct outcomes of our own decisions or choices.
Contrary to what these narratives want us to believe, we do not live in a meritocracy in which individual advancement and success are predicated upon skill, merit, or equal opportunity. The fiat system does not reward the most talented individuals or those who provide the greatest value. As we have already seen, wealth attracts wealth. Financial and geographical privilege play a key role in determining who can thrive in a fiat world and advocating for self-improvement and manifestation without acknowledging these disparities ignores the fundamental root cause of the problem.
Once we stop and actually question the nature of money itself, we realise it is a control system designed to keep workers impoverished while enriching asset owners.
However, within personal development circles, after doing all the inner work, those who fail to achieve their financial goals are often blamed—or blame themselves—for their lack of results. Those who have been in the space long enough have certainly heard—or have been told—“you didn’t put in the work” if all else fails. When struggling individuals bring up real-world issues, like working 50 to 60 hours per week and being exhausted, blame is often placed back on them for their limiting beliefs or not being in their vibration—outrageous, I know. Out of touch with reality, such replies often lead to copious amounts of guilt and shame and can create susceptibility to predatory tactics from gurus promising more expensive healing, money meditations, or manifestation techniques. Instead of addressing the root cause of the issue—the nature of money itself—many leaders will gladly sell more workshops, ‘masterminds,’ bootcamps, and courses often while pushing more products, sponsorships, and five-figure retreats in order to help their followers make more money.
It’s ironic that those promising to guide others toward attracting wealth, achieve their own success by extracting from those who seek the same abundance they claim to have mastered. In essence, they are ‘manifesting’ by profiting off the very desires they purport to fulfil. Self-improvement, spirituality, or leaving the Matrix does not require a monthly subscription fee. If there were nothing to sell, maybe the truth would be more accessible.
We can try to understand these contradictions by looking at the history of modern Western spirituality. In many ways, it was born in California where a large majority—around 60-80%—of major Western spiritual teachers have lived or worked, including Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and Michael Singer who all have had strong connections to this State. Indian and Tibetan gurus, like Paramahansa Yogananda and the Dalai Lama, also spent significant time there. Influential self-help figures including Tony Robbins, Marianne Williamson, Byron Katie, Jack Canfield, Oprah Winfrey, and the late Louise Hay have also made a lasting impact on the personal development and spiritual wellness scene in California. It is a place of both synergies and contradictions; it was the birthplace of the 1960s counterculture that embraced Eastern philosophies and an openness to new ideas, but it is simultaneously a very financially affluent State—home of Silicon Valley’s tech giants including Meta, Google, Apple, Tesla, and Intel, as well as some of the wealthiest individuals in the world. The rise of Silicon Valley, hustle culture, financial materialism, and its scalable monetization models further shaped this movement, merging spirituality with productivity, biohacking, and the relentless pursuit of financial success. What began as a search for our inner-truth became a global industry infiltrated by the incentives of fiat money, with California exporting its unique brand of commercialized spirituality to create what is now a global wellness market worth $5.6 trillion USD.3
It pains me to meet so many hard-working people, particularly in the spiritual and personal development space, who continue to blame themselves for their financial woes even after years of deep inner work. I’ve met countless individuals—mainly women—who disempower themselves through self-blame, unaware that the true source of their financial struggles lies beyond their control. Many have poured thousands into in-person retreats and online courses, trying to master the newest manifestation techniques, only to feel like money is still out of reach.
I compassionately empathise with those who fall victim to these “manifest more money” traps; I’ve been there myself. I’ve also watched the groundbreaking webinars filled with covert advertisements, waiting for the ‘revolutionary’ new formula to increase my income, only to find the same rebranded ideas. I eventually amassed a library of well-intentioned personal development, spirituality, business, and finance books, cultivated a better relationship with money, and manifested more of it, and yet, I still struggled—why?
Because we are all subjected to the monetary debasement designed to steal from us in fiat.
I recognize that many manifestors—generally asset owners—have successfully raised their vibrational frequency to manifest more money using the Law of Attraction. Many believe they are winning because they manage to keep up with, or even surpass inflation. Yet, there is a reason why, after many years of repackaging the same information, seemingly abundant gurus are still charging tens of thousands of dollars for their ‘secrets;’ they are still on the treadmill too, needing to earn more to keep up with inflation.
All of us—poor, abundant, student, guru, wage worker, and asset owner—are subjected to the same trap of monetary inflation within the fiat paradigm.
We are all chasing more money because we ascribe to a system that imposes scarcity through a false sense of abundance. We know that there is more than enough for everyone, yet the very thing that we believe is providing abundance—fiat money—is designed to extract it from us.
| Abundance in Money Creates Scarcity Everywhere ElseCoined by Jeff Booth, this truth challenges the fiat control system that manifests as abundant money designed to impose scarcity on the collective. |
When money is abundant, our time, energy, and resources become scarce. Imagine all the compounding innovation and prosperity that has been withheld from ourselves and humanity over the centuries. We cannot experience true abundance while partaking in a system that requires us to forfeit it. If we want to live in an abundant, honest world where technology, rather than our labour, serves as the catalyst that expands our life force energy, then we require a scarce currency to accurately represent our finite lifetime on Earth. So, instead of relying on gurus and imposed constructs to determine our freedom and potential, let’s question the need for fiat money itself.
In order to do so, I must ask; why are we even trying to manifest more money in the first place? Are we seeking financial abundance itself (the money in the bank)—or is it the outcomes that we believe money will provide? As we saw earlier, I would argue that we don’t actually want the money; we want the freedom, security, and opportunities it can grant us through purchasing power.
Think about it; would you prefer to have 1,000,000 units of currency when bread costs 5 units per loaf—a purchasing power of 200,000 loaves; or would you prefer the same 1,000,000 units when bread costs 999,999 per loaf—allowing you to buy just one? You would probably want the purchasing power. During the inaugural Bitcoin Atlantis conference in Madeira, I received a 1,000,000 Venezuelan bolívar bill—I became a millionaire in that instant! Then, I checked its purchasing power. The once valuable bill I was holding in my hand could now buy a piece of gum. Along the same lines, a 1,000,000,000 Zimbabwean dollar note from the late 2000s could only buy three eggs.
Remember, the numbers do not matter—purchasing power matters. Money is a means to an end, not an end unto itself.
Take an alien perspective with me; imagine we arrive here from another planet with no judgements or preconceived understanding of money. We observe a world where people spend their lives working for pieces of paper or digital numbers, believing that these symbols hold power and security. We see individuals who accumulate vast amounts, yet often remain anxious and unfulfilled, while others struggle to meet their basic needs, despite contributing far more to society. Thousands of people die every day of starvation on a planet where thousands of people throw away enough food to feed them. From our perspective, the entire system seems strange—a shared belief that an infinite resource dictates worth, happiness, and freedom. We may wonder: why is it these humans have accepted to place a third party between themselves and their innate ability to directly manifest their desires?
Striving for financial abundance feels like endlessly trying to fill a cup with water, only to discover a hole at the bottom—but we are ignoring the hole. We can pour more and more water in, but it will continue to drain, leaving our cup perpetually unfilled. Frustrated, we seek help from authorities who tell us we simply need to ‘manifest more water.’ This might help for a while, but the hole remains, and soon enough, the cup empties again. What we fail to address is the hole itself, which, in terms of money, represents the unlimited printing that steals our lifetime. So why, instead of fixing our old, leaky cup, don’t we try finding a new one—an entirely new system where unfathomable abundance is the norm?
Our modern view of manifesting places money between us and our dreams; it’s an unconscious arbitrator that we have empowered to control outcomes. When we use the Law of Attraction for money, we intentionally place an intermediary in our manifestation process; in reality, we have put central banks, manipulated exchange rates, and inflation between us and our dreams. When we choose to manifest from a fiat paradigm, we forfeit true abundance in order to experience abundance in paper money. Why not take money out of the picture?
There is some truth to the idea that “money is evil”—most people just do not know why. The real secret is that fiat money is a control system. The secret is that fiat money is designed to keep us constantly chasing more. No matter what we do from within this system, we will always be on the inflation hamster wheel, working harder for less purchasing power. From a 5D perspective, when we take money out of the equation, we know everything is abundant.
I understand that challenging these beliefs may seem counterintuitive, and adhering to the mainstream Law of Attraction narrative could still feel more aligned—but this seemingly novel idea is grounded in the actual, tangible truth of how our 3D system has distorted Universal Laws to impose another reality. If, after reading thus far, you still insist on remaining in the Fiat System even after understanding how money is designed to siphon your life force energy, then you must realise that you are playing a game you will never win—a game that is necessarily played to your detriment, and to the detriment of the collective.
We have been conditioned never to question conventional beliefs about money, even within the spiritual community; but we empower ourselves when we dare to question. We empower ourselves when we choose a system designed to free us rather than control us, a system designed for abundance rather than scarcity. We just need to be open to seeing that the cup we want exists—a cup without a hole that solves the root cause of the problem. To manifest freely and powerfully, we must step beyond the fiat-based framework. When we bypass money and focus instead on the essence of what we seek, we align directly with universal energy. True abundance is not mediated; it is experienced directly, as a natural state of being. It flows beyond material possessions and can also be found in the richness of our inner world.
Ultimately, money is not designed for abundance, it’s designed for control—not only of our time and resources but also of our beliefs.
If this framework resonates, Beyond Money goes deeper into exactly this. You can find it at daniella.io/book.
