Have you ever wondered why there is no money or not enough of it, even though you work hard, invest in your education and personal growth, and try to think positively?
Today we offer a perspective on financial problems and their solutions from the standpoint of psychology and spirituality.
We will explore the spiritual vow of poverty and other similar pledges, and how they work.
To put it briefly: the world is abundant, there are enough goods and resources for everyone.
Modern reality provides you with every opportunity for earning and self-fulfillment. If something goes wrong – it is not external “enemies” that hinder you, but internal causes.
If you have little money – it means your subconscious is protecting you from a larger sum.
It believes that wealth would be dangerous for you in some way, or would destroy your core life values.
This is called money vows.
Signs that you have a vow of poverty or similar ones:
- you work at full capacity, but there isn’t enough money to meet your needs;
- there is enough money, but it comes with great difficulty, you dislike your job, or it exhausts you severely;
- when money comes to you, it quickly “slips through your fingers like sand”;
- if your financial situation improves, troubles, unexpected expenses, and other events that drain your material resources immediately occur;
- if you end up with more money than your loved ones and acquaintances, you feel awkward, experience guilt, and perhaps start solving other people’s problems, “saving” someone, and so on.
If you have found one or more of the listed points in yourself, carefully study this material.
We will look at the types of money vows and their manifestations, and seek ways to break free.
1. Spiritual Vow of Poverty
The most common money block. Its core idea is the rejection of material wealth in favor of spiritual pursuits.
Examples: “Money is unspiritual. I reject wealth to be closer to God,” “All rich people are immoral and sinful,” “Only by being poor do I lead a life pleasing to God.”
Origin story: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” [Matthew 19:23]
There are various interpretations of this well-known biblical saying.
For example, that people commit sins and crimes on their path to money; that an excess of money leads to vicious behavior (debauchery, gluttony, vanity).
Also, among spiritual people, there is a common belief that money has “low vibrations” and blocks the perception of higher realms.
How it may manifest in your life: You and those around you have little money, not enough.
As a variation: you had less money after you started spiritual practices. At that moment, the vow of poverty manifested itself particularly strongly.
Additionally, these beliefs may be reinforced by your environment and family: “poor but proud,” “all rich people are thieves,” “but we are spiritually richer,” judging more successful people and expensive purchases.
It’s clear why there is no money – how can you possess it if it is sinful, immoral, and hinders the spiritual path?
A new perspective and liberation: Crimes and excesses are not a characteristic of money itself, but simply a choice and behavior of people.
Although wealth can amplify human vices, poverty handles them no worse. Recall the crime statistics in marginalized segments of society.
Poor people, in essence, are also not very engaged in spiritual pursuits – they are tormented by thoughts of how to get money for survival every day.
In the very word “wealth” (bogatstvo in Russian), the root “God” (Bog) is embedded, meaning material wealth is a gift from God for you and your life.
It turns out that Christ’s phrase mentioned in the previous point condemns not wealth in general, but an excessive fixation on money.
In the modern world, of course, it is possible to possess financial freedom and be a spiritual person – you just need to revoke the vow of poverty and form a new mindset about it.
See also: How to work through limiting beliefs about money. Three simple techniques
2. The Vow of Selfless Service
This point especially concerns those whose work or additional activities involve serving people – teacher, doctor, psychologist, healer, and others.
You are aware of the high social and moral value of your work, but the pay (and therefore your standard of living) leaves much to be desired.
Examples: “You need to help people for free,” “If I have money, I lose my spiritual gifts,” “Healing people for money is a sin, God will punish me,” “I choose high service to people, not money.”
Origin of the concept: The roots lie in the priestly traditions of ancient civilizations.
Let’s look at the example of Ancient Egypt. Those who are into past lives have probably “remembered” themselves there in one of their incarnations.
Priests — servants of the gods, were among the most influential and enlightened people, performing the functions of teachers and healers.
At the same time, they did not live on their own, but in a community. That is, the money and offerings for their work were received not personally by the “worker,” but by the temple.
The temple, in turn, guaranteed the priest safety and everything necessary for life.
The temples were wealthy, and spiritual servants could indeed afford not to think about the “vile metal,” focusing on improving their knowledge and spiritual abilities.
At the same time, the respect for priests in society was very great.
Echoes of this tradition can be seen in Christian monasteries and other religious communities.
Priestly and monastic vows were taken in a state of high emotional intensity and were accompanied by serious secret rituals.
They leave a certain energetic imprint and continue to work unconsciously even now.
How it can manifest in your life: If you have a “service” job, you have likely encountered the prejudice that in such professions it is “indecent to profit from people.”
This is often supported by “public opinion.” It’s as if you are not allowed to receive decent pay for your hard work.
As a result, you often work overtime, do a lot of things for free, and asking for a raise — especially in personal interactions with clients — is difficult for you.
Of course, you can work on enthusiasm and spiritual fire for a while, but without proper replenishment of resources, including financial ones, it can all lead to burnout and disappointment in your profession.
A new perspective and liberation: You chose an activity related to serving people, preserving the “genetic” memory of respect in society and care from the Temple.
You are sincerely and passionately involved in your work and, “out of habit,” expect worthy recognition for your spiritual labor, but alas…
Times have changed; there is no community or church that would guarantee your safety.
The words about the “great and selfless feat” of your profession have turned into propaganda, often used by manipulators to… yes, not pay you money.
The new task for you, as a spiritual person, is to independently recognize the value of your work and its benefit to people and proudly receive decent payment for it.
3. Asceticism and “Mortification of the Flesh”
Asceticism itself, as a spiritual practice, is beneficial, but within reasonable limits. However, religious fanaticism has often led to severe forms of self-restriction.
Vows of asceticism could have left a historical imprint on your subconscious.
Examples: “The body must suffer so the Spirit can soar,” “I renounce all worldly joys and pleasures for the sake of serving God,” “I must give everything I have to the poor / the church.”
Origin: An extreme form of the two previous spiritual vows – poverty and selfless service.
Throughout history, there have been religious hermits and entire mendicant orders who were not simply uninterested in finances but also sought to withdraw entirely from everything “worldly and transient.”
They owned no property and lived in extreme destitution. Additionally, they “subdued the flesh” through uncomfortable living conditions (sleeping on boards, strict fasts, hours of prayer, and even self-mortification).
And of course, ascetics took vows of sexual abstinence and celibacy.
See also: Why You Choose the WRONG Men, or Karmic Relationships
You may date men who won’t marry you for two spiritual reasons:
- Either marriage is “forbidden” to you altogether – this is a vow of celibacy, a renunciation of family for the sake of “spiritual service.”
- Or you are “already married,” meaning that marriage vows and oaths from past lives are still active for you.
How it may manifest in your life: Many spiritual practitioners bring these views into modern reality, adhering to strict dietary restrictions, control over bodily pleasures and sexuality, and other ascetic principles.
People like this often have issues with money.
Even if you don’t currently hold this worldview, past-life vows of asceticism can still be at work.
In this case, comfort is, as it were, “forbidden” to you. You feel awkward if you find yourself in a luxurious setting. You find it difficult to spend money on yourself, especially on pleasures.
You may have the necessities of life, but only the bare minimum (scarcity).
Also, people with ascetic vows typically cannot obtain their own apartment or other major property.
A new perspective and liberation: If you notice signs of ascetic vows in yourself, it’s simply time to cancel them as no longer relevant. You have already gained all the experience you were meant to gain long ago.
If you feel that life wouldn’t be sweet without some kind of “lofty overcoming,” try shifting your focus.
It’s not that difficult to live in scarcity and deny yourself everything; there’s no real feat in that anymore.
Try striving for a decent income and interesting self-realization in our highly competitive world, while preserving your moral and spiritual values – in my opinion, that’s a more worthy and interesting challenge.
4. Renouncing Wealth for Safety
These are all decisions to reject money because it is associated with danger, death, arrests, and the loss of friends and loved ones.
Examples: “Being rich is dangerous,” “I reject money for the sake of life/health/family.”
Origin of the pattern: Vast layers of misfortune and suffering specifically tied to money. This could have happened to you in other incarnations, if you believe in them.
But even without that, there are plenty of examples from family history, the country’s history, modern films, and the media.
Each person’s fear is unique and linked to a specific incident.
For example, my clients have recalled that their family line experienced dispossession (the decision “Earning is pointless, they’ll take it away anyway”), murder over money (“Having large sums of money is dangerous for your life”), and squabbles and betrayal among loved ones (“Wealth destroys the family”).
How it shows up in your life: As I wrote at the beginning, your subconscious protects you from danger — wealth.
If you come into more money than you’re used to, unexpected expenses immediately arise, or you quickly “blow through” the money on who-knows-what.
Often, even attempts to earn more money fall through. For example, major projects and high-paying job offers fall apart, and clients “walk away” at the last moment.
A new perspective and liberation: First, you need to understand that it’s not wealth that is dangerous, but carelessness, distrust of your intuition, and unestablished boundaries, which are what caused the aforementioned troubles.
A poor person is even less protected from life’s blows than a well-off person, meaning that rejecting money certainly does not guarantee safety.
You should heal the described traumatic incidents from your history and develop a healthier, more positive view of money.
5. Guilt and Atonement
Karmic “debts” manifest in the material sphere as loss of finances and real monetary debts (the so-called “payback”).
Examples: “I am in an unpayable debt to…”, “I am forever doomed to pay for such-and-such an action”, “I must be punished”
Origin story: Events from other incarnations or your real-life history make you feel guilty – before God, society, or a specific person.
Perhaps you really did commit some misdeed. Or perhaps a sense of guilt was simply imposed on you (from a real case – “you were born and ruined your mother’s entire life and health, and now you are in eternal debt”).
People also recalled “an indelible shame” (cases from samurai incarnations).
Add to this the pressure of the Christian ideology of “original sin” and breaking commandments – and you will understand that you can feel guilty about almost anything.
So you have to endlessly atone for this “guilt,” in the literal sense – with money.
How it manifests in your life: You feel guilt or awkwardness when you have more money or expensive things that your friends and loved ones don’t have.
You are deeply involved in volunteer and charity work, often to the detriment of your own well-being, health, and family. In general, the “rescuer” complex is characteristic of you.
Also, monetary debts and other burdensome obligations (for example, you cannot change a low-paying job for some moral reason) indicate the existence of a “need to atone for guilt.”
A new perspective and liberation: Understand that what is happening to you is not an external punishment by the will of higher powers, but a decision to punish yourself.
Even if you really “remember” actions that horrify you, such as violence against people – try to see in this an agreement between your Souls (all participants in the situation received some kind of experience).
If necessary – perform your own ritual of repentance, mourning, and atonement for that situation, and be done with it.
Your current life and personality, in fact, have nothing to do with those events; you should no longer suffer.
Moreover, sometimes the feeling of guilt is imposed on you altogether.
When examining clients’ situations, it often turns out that responsibility for other people or circumstances completely beyond their control was simply shifted onto the person.
Try to understand what is happening, to understand and forgive yourself.
Now you know about the main types of spiritual money vows that can hinder your financial well-being.
Share in the comments, what do you think – which of them are familiar to you?
If in this article you found signs of financial blocks from the past in yourself, don’t be sad. This is a sign that it’s time to say goodbye to them!
A challenge for seekers of the new age — to harmonize the material and spiritual in your life, to complete the agreements that are destroying you, and to treat yourself and money from a position of love and respect.