I want to ask a question.

Trouble is I don’t know how to word it. We need some context.

There is an idea around in the new age community that you can have whatever you want in life, through the process of manifestation. There are teachers (plenty) who will tell you that to have a six figures income you just have to do what they did and you will have a life of wealth and comfort.

If you don’t achieve this then maybe you are “blocked” in some way, perhaps through not having sufficient self-belief, or through some other negative karma which is holding you back. Perhaps your intentions are not robust enough, or you haven’t visualised your goal clearly enough.

These promises are alluring. You can pay money to these teachers to enter into their programmes and learn the skills which they used to achieve their wealth. No one seems to notice the irony that this automatically makes you poorer and them richer.

The idea seems to be that there is enough to go around and everyone can have untold wealth and riches, if you don’t you’re just not trying hard enough, raise your vibration and get with the programme and it will all come right.

I want to call bullshit on this teaching.

First, if you read this article you will see that excessive wealth is excessively damaging for our planet.

Secondly take a stroll with me in your imagination around our marvellous planet…it is still beautiful. What strikes me is that this blue-green wonder rotating its way slowly through the universe is (as far as we know) a one of a kind deal. Everything on our planet is just that…everything on our planet.

When we have used up all the minerals buried in the rocks, or all the wood from the forests, or all the clean water, there won’t be anymore. We might be cunning enough to create some wonderful technology which will help us eek everything out a little further, but there are, unequivocally, finite resources.

Thirdly let’s take a look at the creatures living on the planet. Human creatures have been very successful at manipulating said resources to the point where the population is having a negative effect on other forms of life here. Then look at human creatures. While some are teaching that a six-figures salary is just a powerful visualisation and a well-managed list away, a staggering 790 million people (11 % of the world’s population) do not have access to clean water.

I passionately believe that we need to flip the script. Endless growth is not sustainable. It is natural, hard-wired into us, to fear lack. Our animal selves want to survive. But I do not believe that anyone needs a six figure salary. No one “needs” a holiday every year or £3000 handbag. These might be nice things to have, but they are not needs. Needs are clean water, shelter, adequate food, basic clothing, healthcare, security. Not a Netflix account or a pedicure each month or a bar of chocolate…

Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate and Netflix and I am fortunate enough to be able to afford them at present, but these are luxuries and to think otherwise is kidding myself.

I do not want to align myself with beliefs and practices which are detrimental to other creatures and our home planet. My very existence does this in any case, every time I use my car or buy a loaf of bread I am creating pollution and waste.

We don’t need six figure salaries. If we could stop imagining our lives of luxury and prosperity perhaps we would have more time and energy to make positive changes for our planet and neighbours (both human and not) perhaps we would be able to see through the rosy pink glow and understand that if we don’t do something to help out, if we don’t make the changes, albeit at a micro level, nothing will change.

I do not want to “ascend” to another plane of existence. I want to savour and delight in this marvellous world and the crazy, wild beauty it encapsulates. I don’t want to “escape” I want to embrace…What am I willing to let go of to “be the change”? What am I willing to live without? What vision can I create to make this world a better home for all creatures…because it starts with me.

And you.