Aisha, thank you for being brave enough to actually say this out loud. So many people carry this guilt silently. They sit down to imagine financial abundance and immediately feel like they’re being selfish, superficial, or somehow taking from someone else. I carried that exact shame for years, and it kept me stuck in ways I didn’t even recognize at the time.
Let me walk you through this, because it deserves more than a quick “no, it’s fine” answer.
Where This Guilt Actually Comes From
Most of us absorbed messages about money long before we were old enough to question them. “Money is the root of all evil.” “Rich people are greedy.” “Good people don’t care about money.” “You should be grateful for what you have.” These messages came from family, religion, culture, and media, and they went straight into your subconscious mind without a filter.
The guilt you’re feeling isn’t evidence that wanting money is wrong. It’s evidence that you have a deeply held assumption about money that needs to be examined.
Joseph Murphy tackled this myth directly, and he didn’t mince words:
“It is your right to be rich. You are here to lead the abundant life and to be happy, radiant, and free. You should, therefore, have all the money you need to lead a full, happy, and prosperous life. There is no virtue in poverty.”
– Joseph Murphy, Chapter 11
Read that last sentence again. There is no virtue in poverty. That might feel confronting if you’ve been raised to believe that struggling financially is somehow more noble than thriving. But think about it honestly: has being broke ever made you a better, kinder, more generous person? In my experience, financial stress made me anxious, resentful, and so absorbed in survival that I had little energy left to give to anyone else.
The “Greedy” Lie
Here’s what I’ve noticed about the people who worry about being greedy: they’re almost never the greedy ones. Genuinely greedy people don’t stop to ask this question. They don’t feel guilt about wanting more. The fact that you’re asking tells me your heart is in the right place.
Wanting enough money to live without constant stress isn’t greedy. Wanting to provide for your family isn’t greedy. Wanting to experience the world, take care of your health, or help people you love isn’t greedy. These are human needs and reasonable desires.
Greed isn’t about having money. Greed is about hoarding, exploiting, and valuing money above people. You can have wealth without any of those things. They’re separate issues entirely.
What Money Actually Represents
In the context of these teachings, money is just a symbol. It represents freedom, security, options, and the ability to express yourself fully in the world. When you manifest money, you’re not pulling it from someone else’s pocket. You’re shifting your assumptions about what’s available to you.
Neville Goddard framed it beautifully:
“Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled and observe the route that your attention follows. It will take the path of fulfillment. You do not have to concern yourself with the means. Your assumption has all the power it needs to rearrange the world to express itself.”
– Neville Goddard, Chapter 3
When you assume wealth, you don’t need to figure out where the money comes from. You don’t need to worry about whether someone else loses so you can gain. The subconscious finds a path, a raise, an opportunity, an inheritance, a business idea, a solution you couldn’t see before. The “how” is not your department.
Poverty Doesn’t Help Anyone
Let me push back gently on something I see constantly in spiritual communities: the idea that wanting less makes you more spiritual. I used to believe this. I thought that if I could just need very little, I’d be enlightened or something.
What actually happened is that I was broke, stressed, and unable to help anyone, including myself. I couldn’t donate to causes I believed in. I couldn’t take time off to rest. I couldn’t support friends who were struggling. My poverty wasn’t serving anyone.
Meanwhile, people with financial abundance were funding charities, creating jobs, supporting artists, and having the mental space to actually show up for others. Money in the hands of a good person does good things.
A Practical Exercise to Heal Your Money Beliefs
This exercise isn’t about manifesting a specific dollar amount. It’s about cleaning up the guilt that’s blocking your natural flow of abundance.
- Write down every negative belief you hold about money. “Money changes people.” “Wanting money is shallow.” “I don’t deserve to be wealthy.” “Rich people are dishonest.” Get them all on paper.
- For each belief, ask yourself: who taught me this? Was it a parent? A religious leader? A movie? Identify the source.
- For each belief, ask: is this universally true? Can I find a single example of a kind, generous, honest person who is also wealthy? (You can. There are millions.)
- Write a new assumption to replace each old one. “Money flows to me easily and I use it to enrich my life and others.” “Wealth allows me to be more generous, not less.”
- Before sleep, repeat your favorite new assumption in the drowsy state, feeling its truth, for at least a week.
Giving Yourself Permission
Aisha, you don’t need anyone’s permission to want a comfortable, secure, abundant life. Not mine, not your family’s, not society’s. The desire for financial wellbeing is as natural and legitimate as the desire for love, health, or peace of mind. In fact, financial wellbeing often supports all of those other things.
The guilt you feel is a conditioned response, not a moral compass. Examine it, question it, and then let it go. You can be wealthy and kind. You can be abundant and generous. You can have money and still be the deeply thoughtful, considerate person you clearly already are.
That question you asked me? It didn’t come from greed. It came from a good heart that’s been taught to feel bad about wanting good things. Time to unlearn that.
