Customer Reviews

The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of Our Inner Resources

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Most of us think that we understand the facts of money: money is good, lack of money is bad; having more money is better than having less money; competition and scarcity are normal because it's a jungle out there; the way to cure economic depression and hunger is to throw more money at the problem; and so on. But these aren't "facts" in the sense of objective realities; rather, they stem from attitudes towards money that are so ingrained in our culture that they rarely intrude into our consciousness.

This book is an eye-opener: as a highly successful fund-raiser and representative for the Hunger Project, Lynne Twist has worked with everyone from Amazon tribal members to CEOs of multi-billion-dollar corporations. Her sensitivity and willingness to listen have given her insight into the real-life consequences of our attitudes towards money (and resources in general). The money consciousness that she propounds in this book is transformative, but it's based on a breadth of experience that makes her conclusions convincing -- for instance, she's worked in real jungles, and the "law of the jungle" is NOT the way they actually operate!

Despite the many well-chosen anecdotes, this book deals primarily in generalizations. But that's appropriate: the author's purpose is to make us aware of our attitudes towards money, and suggest how changing these attitudes can transform the way we go about solving some of the world's most vexing problems. This book deserves not only to be read, but taken to heart.

Wow! This is like no book about money that I have ever read, and I've certainly read my share. From her vast experiences travelling around the world, from the ghettos of Calcutta and Mother Teresa to high-level fundraising with CEO's and "movers & shakers" in the West, Ms. Twist looks deeply into the human needs that are associated with money. Not just the needs of human beings in what she calls "resource poor" (developing) countries, but the needs of people like me who have resources, abundant resources, but who still struggle with our relationship with money and its meaning in our lives.

What I think impressed me most was that this book was fun to read, as well as informative and (dare I say) profoundly philosophical. Unlike many of the other books I've read about money, this one was much more experiential. Others take on the philosophy of money, while Twist seems to be sharing her experiences, truly remarkable experiences, with people all over the world, and then boiling them down to the lessons that she has learned in the decades of work that she's done working to end world hunger, empower women, save the rainforest, etc.

This book is truly an amazing adventure because of the scope of her life's work. I think there's a depth because her message is authentically based on her experiences, not just of her ideas or thinking about the subject. As a result, I think that this book hits home. It speaks to us where we live, in terms of our relationship with money and the difference we can make. If you are interested in (as the sub-title says) "transforming your relationship with money and life," then this book is an opportunity not to be missed. I'm sure that I'm going to want to re-read it. Very highly recommended.

Rusty Schweikart was the first man to walk in space. He had been tightly scheduled with activities each moment he was floating outside the command module in the late 60's. But at one point his camera jammed, and he was able to experience just being in space and circling the earth. Many of you may have seen the video he made from this remarkable experience called "No Frames No Boundaries."

It took Rusty many years to digest and integrate this planetary experience and to realize the responsibilities he felt to mankind for the privilege he had been given. He came to call himself "a sensing element for mankind" (to know more about Rusty, his life and work  http://www.well.com/~rs/ ).

When I read "The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship to Money and Life," I found that Lynne herself is also such a sensing element for mankind.

She worked for several decades as the chief fundraiser (she's raised $150 million from individuals) for the Hunger Project, which has been a revolutionary effort far beyond what some of us may remember it for in its beginnings. In that role her travels have taken her all over the world--from Bangladesh to Ethiopia, from the Women's Conference in Bejing (where she reports some of the most poignant and heartbreaking stories you'll ever read) to South Africa and the installation of Nelson Mandela, although that story is not included.

Lynne has been with the rich and famous. One of her great stories is her returning a $50,000 check from a corporate CEO because she realized it was guilt money. Read the book to find out what happened next! And, of course, she has been with the poor and apparently downtrodden. They have been her great teachers and inspiration for this book. They taught her how money can be blessed, how when it comes from love, appreciation, and intention--from the soul--it has power, it flows and it can transform lives.

Where she has been on this planet, what she has seen, and how she has thought about it and integrated it into the soul of her being is the gift she gives back to us, her readers. Very few of us have had the opportunity to go where she has gone, to meet whom she has met, and to have contributed as much as she and her colleagues have to helping to end hunger and poverty on our fragile, blue orb, as Rusty first saw it.

Lynne offers great guidance about how we can each be and be better philanthropists (the amount doesn't matter, but the intention and commitment surely do). But the core of the book (which many of us may already know) is a transformation from a "you or me" world to a "you and me." one. Buckminster Fuller first articulated that as the necessary condition we are challenged to make on spaceship Earth (also his articulation). He was someone who profoundly influenced Lynne.

She leads us through the belief systems around scarcity (fear of not enough, push to always get more, resignation that it's just the way it is) to belief systems around sufficiency (there is always enough; turn our attention and appreciation to what we already have). Sufficiency becomes a more useful word than abundance. Creating a world of sufficiency (includes sustainability) is where we are headed together.

The most compelling parts of the book are the stories she tells from around the planet about actually ending hunger and poverty. She shows that this change of belief systems (we actually do have enough most of the time; we can focus on and appreciate what we already have to get to where we want to go) along with love, understanding, and effective facilitation can get the job done. "The Soul of Money" adds the interior dimensions as a vital and necessary component to solutions to hunger and poverty.

Lynne is herself a gifted and expert facilitator, and at the personal level the stories she shares of people who pull themselves out of poverty and lack are equally riveting. She concludes with a remarkable narrative about the last months of life of her mother, her first role model as a fundraiser and philanthropist. How Lynne assists her mother to fully complete her life is a wonderful offering to all of us with aging parents.

"The Soul of Money" is about far more than just the soul of money. Lynne reveals her own soul, the souls of the rich and the poor, and the collective soul of which we all partake that holds the promise of a sufficient, just, and more peaceful planet. Just as Rusty Scheweikart took us around the whole earth from the outside, Lynne, gives us many inside views of the beauty and commonality which we share. She provides an outstanding, authentic, and worthy ride!

--John Steiner

The Soul of Money is fully worth the praise it is getting and far more. Rooted in sufficiency and backed by moving stories situated throughout the world, this book will inspire you, enlighten you, give you hope, and certainly will make you cry.

If this book can help those of us who have been siting on the fence looking for the motivation to invest our souls in the transformation of this world, join those who are engaged in this effort, I believe that we truly can change the world. I believe that Lynn's message is one to help move all of us into activism, whether it is quiet or out there.

My personal commitment is to engage. Lynne asked me at her book signing during a conversation if I had invested in the Pachamama Alliance. I had been taking the newsletter but did not believe I was in a position to participate. I had to say no and I felt small knowing that I could have but did not participate. Oh I had my excuses, many of us do. I made a commitment to invest and I did. First a small donation to the Pachamama Alliance; then a visit to the adoption agency from which I was blessed with my little girl from India; next calls to NGO's working in the Telangana in India looking for ways to donate my time; and finally a commitment to bring Lynne to Yamhill County Oregon for a fundraiser, workshop and a book signing.

Yes I am moving out of my comfort zone of non-action and it is based on Lynne and her inspiring message. Please read this book, yes, but more than that, please join me in taking action to transform our nation and world.

Thank you Lynne for your great work though out the world and for funneling your experiences and insights into this great book.

Personal and practical, this thought-provoking book offers a fundamental wisdom that draws you into a larger perspective on the subject of money - a perspective beyond the everyday.

Reading The Soul of Money, you can see the enormous influence that money has on all of us - from affecting our tiniest interactions to shaping who we are, the relationships we have, and how we live our lives.

Recalibrating your relationship with money is not just a one-time process. This is a book to read again and again at various stages of your life.

"The Soul of Money" is profound and magical. It not only provides a wealth of information about fund-raising and the incredible adventures Lynne Twist has experienced in her pursuit of making the world a better place, it also offers a road map for each of us to use to change our lives and transform the world. Read it and your relationship with money will change. You will be stunned by what you did not know about yourself and your attitides toward prosperty. You will be inspired and empowered to focus the rays of money's transformational energy in ways that will bring you prosperty on many levels.

John Perkins, author of "The World Is As You Dream It" and "Shapeshifting"

This book causes one to think and look deeply into money as a true reflection of our state of being. So much more than a shallow "make a lot of money" book, or even a slightly shallow "manifest a lot of money" book, if you allow yourself to really reflect on Lynne Twist's words, they will bring you to reflect deeply on the mentaility of scarcity (that we can inhabit in any moment, no matter how much money we have), and the mentality of sufficiency (which, too, we can have no matter how much money is in our pockets).

Twist has spent years as a fundraiser for The Hunger Project and other charitable organizations aimed at fostering true empowerment, as oppposed to just a "handout". Her book is peppered with amazing exmples of how this sufficiency or lack mentality can infuse, and empower, or diseompower our lives. By including stories from her personal life, as well as her work with various "developing" people throughout the world, she makes it clear that the financially wealthy can easily become poor in spirit, and that the key to empowering those of little financial means is to empower their own vision for themselves and what they want to create--not to just hand them money.

I find that bringing this book into my life has enriched it tremendously. If you are looking for a book that causes you to reflect deeply on the meaning of money in our lives, and how we can find sufficiency and inner wealth in every moment, then I would recommend this book wholeheartedly to you.

The Soul of Money is a great read. Written by activist, Lynne Twist, it carries you through her journey in searching for the true meaning of money in our lives. She writes well and her book is easy to read and quite enjoyable. Through her example, we learn that money represents our life energy and that it can be used to express our "soul" or our values. It is a representation of who we are. If you are looking for a practical, how-to, book about money and finances, this is not it. It is much more the philosophy of the meaning of money. I use it in my money workshops and my Life Unfolds coaching because it helps folks to figure out where their money issues are. I highly recommend this book.

Are you in a life long struggle between money and the calling of your soul? Is money at odds with your most deeply held values, commitments, and ideals? Do you have an inner hunger to be authentic, to have a life of meaning, a life in which you can make a difference? If yes, then Lynne Twist's "The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of Our Inner Resources" was written for you. As Deepak Chopra notes, "To anyone who wants to transform their lives and the world, I give this book my highest recommendation."

Author Twist has found that there are striking commonalities across cultures in our basic human relationship with money and the way that relationship governs, dominates, and stresses our lives. In each culture, Twist has seen the powerful grip that money has on our lives, the wounds and hardship that it can impose, and the immense healing power of even the smallest amount of money when we use it to express our humanity - our highest ideals and our most soulful commitments and values.

"The Soul of Money" offers a way to "realign our relationship with money to be more truthful, free, and potent, enabling us to live a life of integrity and full self-expression consistent with our deepest core values, no matter what our financial circumstances. The book is not about turning away from money or simplifying expenditures, or doing budgets or financial planning, although the wisdom gained will be relevant to all those activities. This book is about living consciously, fully, and joyfully in our relationship with money, and learning to understand and embrace its flow. It is about using the unexamined portal of our relationship with money to deliver a widespread transformation in all aspects of our lives."

What a privilege to read such a work of art in a time when the healing of relationships is so vital. Lynne so beautifully expresses the deep interconnectedness we all share, not only with one another, but with money, and with the natural resources of our earth and within each one of us. Her passion to call each of us to an awareness that everything we do affects one another, and that the conscious choices we make each day greatly influence all people of the earth, not just our own personal lives, is so integral to the book's theme in understanding our relationship with money. Lynne eloquently uncovers some underlying assumptions we often make about competition, more is better, and that that's just the way it is. She shifts and dispells these myths creating a sense of hope for humanity through the lens of compassion, collaboration, sufficiency and community. Our reliance on one another and the acknowledgement of the gifts we each bring to our human community will reduce the chasm between the resourse wealthiest and poorest. The bridge to this healing will be found in spiritual wealth, through the development of human beings and each person's potential which will allow individuals to act as agents of change and authors of their own lives, rather than being dependent on the handouts of others. What a refreshing, empowering perspective on how each of us has the capacity to make global changes simply by changing our relationship with money. The Soul of Money will encourage readers to explore their relationship with money, and to discover how money can be a source of joy as one gets into the flow of money, rather than feeling the need to acquire and hoard it. The Soul of Money will impact readers on a very profound level.