Soul Currency: Investing Your Inner Wealth for Fulfillment & Abundance

by Ernest D. Chu

Overview

In tough times, we look outside ourselves for things to change instead of looking inward, where true abundance resides. It’s tempting to downplay important values like generosity, integrity, and intuition. These niceties can take a backseat because we think the world needs to change before we can find wealth. But they are what make it possible to find prosperity, no matter what happens in the world around us. These inner traits help us reach our outer goals. Ernest Chu’s transformational concept of “soul currency” refers to both something we use to exchange value (as with money) and the circulation of a divine force in our lives. Chu’s own example, as an entrepreneur who pulled himself out of crushing debt, shows his practical, ready-to-implement principles in action. Soul currency bridges the material world of finance and the invisible world of Spirit, allowing abundance to come to us and flow through us. When we tap into the creative force of soul currency, we can experience unprecedented abundance and fulfillment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781577317739
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	11/30/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	362 KB

About the Author

Accomplished entrepreneur Ernest D. Chu has been a spiritual teacher for the past decade. Prior to that, he had a distinguished thirty-year career in finance, including as an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange, an investment banking executive, and a capital markets expert. He has advised some of America's largest companies and has raised capital for hundreds of public- and private-growth companies in a variety of industries. As an entrepreneur, he funded or was a member of the founding executive team of nine companies, three of which went public. He has raised more than $150 million for these and other client companies, and he has generated more than $1 billion in market capitalization value. He began teaching spiritual abundance courses at the Center for Spiritual Living in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he has served as a trustee for more than ten years. He was licensed as a staff minister in 1999. In 2004, he became the Center's assistant pastor, and he was ordained in 2006. Through the Soul Currency Institute, he coaches socially and environmentally responsible entrepreneurs and companies. Chu has published dozens of articles on corporate finance and entrepreneurship in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Corporate Finance Week, MBA magazine, and the Palm Beach Times, and he has contributed to three business anthologies on finance, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. His articles on abundance and personal wisdom now frequently appear on blogs and in a variety of personal growth and business magazines. His website is www.soulcurrency.org.

Read an Excerpt

Soul Currency

Investing Your Inner Wealth for Fulfillment & Abundance

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By Ernest D. Chu

New World Library

Copyright © 2008 Ernest D. Chu
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57731-773-9

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CHAPTER 1

THE FLOW OF SOUL CURRENCY

Experiencing the Infinite Power of Harmony and Creation

The thought manifests as word. The word manifests as deed. The deed develops into habit. The habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.

— BUDDHA, Dhammapada

An old Taoist riddle asks: What can be created, but is not seen? What can multiply, but is one? What is felt, but cannot be touched? This riddle might be best answered with a single phrase: the soul's currency, love, which by its very essence is pure, creative spiritual intelligence.

To understand soul currency, you may have to redefine your relationship to other people and the world around you. It's common for people to feel separated; after all, as individuals, we are separate. Yet there is a bigger picture, an underlying level of connection that you can train yourself to perceive. In order to open yourself to receive more abundantly than you do now, you may have to cultivate an awareness of how your success, happiness, relationships, financial well-being, and physical health include and involve the rest of us. Your good is ours. When you are nourished, your fulfillment benefits others.

It's erroneous to give to others without giving to yourself as well, just as it's mistaken to believe that giving to yourself, that taking care of your own needs and interests, is selfish. When you realize your connection to the world, you strengthen and support yourself in a way that benefits others and strengthens and supports the world. You are the steward of your special qualities and talents. The world would be diminished if it lacked your magnificence.

What does soul currency really mean? In everything that exists, there is an intangible spiritual force, an ever-present energy of creation. The term currency describes its movement. Like an air current or an electrical current, the divine current is one of the most important patterns in our lives. The more freely divine energy circulates in your life, the happier, more success-filled, more gratifying and rich your life becomes.

At the macro level, your soul's currency is the energy of the universe, which can never be created or destroyed but constantly changes shape, assuming endless combinations of visible and invisible form. Another name for this energy is love, which is the medium, or currency, of your spiritual capital, assets that you can consciously invest in different opportunities by using practical principles of value-added entrepreneurship, which I discuss in this book.

Like money, love can be given and received or it can be withheld. Your effective use of your soul's currency depends on your awareness of its presence and whether you decide to invest it. Love operates according to universal law. Your belief in the immense value of your inner assets will increase as you become more aware of love's real potential and see how it grows when circulated.

There are two meanings of soul currency that we need to explore: first, the nature of the energy itself; second, what you can do to encourage it to circulate more effortlessly and abundantly through your enterprises.

LOVE AS THE SOUL'S CREATIVE CURRENCY

Love is the essence of Spirit as it gives of itself. It doesn't actually come from you; rather it moves through you. In the context of soul currency, love should not be confused with an emotion. It is more than the different aspects of well-being and compassion that we feel as it flows through us. Rather it is an unconditional, immensely creative force that connects to all of life. Love is responsive to our thoughts and intentions and is the invisible source of the events, coincidences, and effects in the visible world that we call our life. Your soul is the medium that expresses Spirit. The soul yearns to express itself in meaningful activity.

My longtime friend Richard Shulman, an accomplished jazz and New Age musician from Asheville, North Carolina, expresses love through his unique, flowing musical pieces inspired by his trips to places like Assisi, Italy. His musical soul-portraits of people and animals are Spirit-inspired, and utter bliss and light emanate from him as he performs on two and sometimes even three keyboards.

As defined earlier, love is a form of currency because it can metamorphose into a wealth of possibilities, just as monetary currency flows into, shapes, and flows out from different businesses around the world. But unlike monetary currency, soul currency is alive with intelligence, insight, and the essence of Spirit. Unlike monetary currency, which consists exclusively of one symbol of value being exchanged for another, soul currency is infinite. It can become anything. Soul currency is the common denominator of both the material and the invisible universe. The form it takes is your creation; it depends upon your thoughts and intention.

While we've all heard that money can't buy love, love — soul currency — can help you attract money. My friend and business associate for many years, Peter Yip, founded China.com, China's first major Internet portal. He is now chief executive officer of the CDC Corporation, a publicly-held, thriving, integrated supplier of personnel, customer service, strategic, and other business software that has evolved to become more than just an Internet portal. This skinny, unassuming man might easily be mistaken for a schoolteacher, but colleagues describe him as a "rainmaker," an accolade related to his uncanny ability to walk into a room, meet the six people who can help him most, and know exactly how to work with each of them and how each could work with the others to produce benefits for all. It's a skill and vision that can't be taught but which flows from within.

Peter is a perfect example of how even in the business world, where many people consider cooperation a weakness, it's not what we do that defines us, but what we become. Our soul's currency is visible in each of us when we respond and act authentically.

Faye Harris, a pioneer in recruiting women as agents in the insurance industry, a male-dominated business, remembers one of her most challenging moments and how her love enabled her to resolve the problem she faced. Her agency, one of the fastest growing, with women accounting for nearly 90 percent of the employees, specialized in equipment-leasing insurance and depended heavily on a single well-established insurance company.

It came as a shock to learn that her major insurer had decided to discontinue that special insurance. Immediately she thought, "We'll be out of business." She thought of all the women she had recruited who now were doing as well as or better than some of their male counterparts. She thought of all the sacrifices she had made when she had started the company and all the shared hopes and dreams. Her love for her employees and their families drove her to make phone call after phone call, taking advantage of relationships and calling in favors.

Finally Faye was able to arrange a meeting with the insurer's top-level management people. As she sat at the conference table with them, they asked, "Can you assure us that we won't have losses with your accounts? Can you assure us that there won't be ongoing risks?" These were both questions she had anticipated, and she had decided to answer honestly no matter what the consequences.

"No, I can't guarantee there will be no losses or risks," she said. "The probabilities are low, and we've always had a good history. If you decide to discontinue this insurance line, then you'll put us out of business." She spoke from her heart, knowing that she faced long odds.

When she was finished, the committee thanked her for coming in to make her case. Faye wondered if she had just signed a death warrant for her business and her business family. She felt a sense of sadness, as if it were all over. Perhaps she could have sugarcoated her replies. Would that have changed the outlook? How was she going to tell all the women on her staff who had believed that she would somehow pull this out?

When she got to the parking lot, she saw that one member of the committee had followed her down. Initially she thought she'd forgotten some papers, and then when she saw he wasn't carrying anything, she believed he had come down to console her. This man, head of agency sales, was breathless. "You made your case," he said excitedly. "They're not going to put you out of business. They want more people like you to run their agencies and represent our company."

The insurance agency that Faye Harris founded continues to thrive a decade later, although she sold her interest in it. Women still make up a majority of the agents — nearly 70 percent — a group in which she invested her love.

DRAWING FROM THE SOURCE

Love as a manifesting energy has been described by Sri Chinmoy, a master spiritual teacher, as savikalpa samadhi, or the first stage of enlightenment, which is an exalted and glowing state of consciousness that is both deliberate and natural. When we create through the flow of love, we may appear to be creating results as individuals, but we are actually creating from the source of oneness.

Our world appears to be full of duality. There is prosperity, and there is scarcity. The stock market goes up, and then it goes down. There is good, and evil. There is Spirit, and there is the human body. But duality is an illusion.

Quantum physicists have observed the underlying intelligence beneath all creation. Intelligence is embodied by even the smallest subatomic waves or particles, and it imbues them with the ability to reorganize instantaneously, respond to thought, and make a universal connection to other particles no matter what distances are involved.

In The Science of Mind, Ernest Holmes writes, "There is a Universal Mind, Spirit and Intelligence that is the origin of everything." He goes on to say that "we are thinking, willing, knowing conscious centers of Life. We are surrounded, immersed in, and there is flowing through us ... call it what you will."

In essence, the universe is always answering yes to what we put into it. But we are not simply caught up in the flow of Spirit; we are one with the Spirit flowing through us.

Creative flow is called by many names: inspiration, imagination, and insight, among others. It pours into us in the moments that occur between thoughts and busyness. When author Deepak Chopra spoke at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2006, I heard him say that being in a state of flow is akin to "being in the gap," the timeless space between our thoughts. Soul currency emanates from this space and shows us what to do.

To effectively navigate life in the illusion identified by Hindu sages as the "material world," we must recognize that our creative ability is actually a form of cocreation with the universe that goes beyond anything most of us learned during our upbringing. We live best by following the calls of our souls, because heartfelt intentions activate the flow of creation. This is why the broader meaning of prosperity includes not just financial freedom but also a quality of life that comes from our participation in a supportive and loving world.

Since we are such fundamentally powerful and connected beings, we have a choice to consciously transform our circumstances and prosper. Why not create meaningful work and, with it, enjoy the laughter, the fun, and the ingenuity of Spirit, as well as increased financial rewards? Ernest Holmes says it best: "When we learn to trust the Universe, we shall be happy, prosperous, and well."

THE RESTLESS SPIRIT AT WORK

Our jobs are important to us: they occupy most of our waking hours, and our thoughts about them sometimes even intrude on our sleep. It has been estimated that we work (as opposed to play) at our jobs for nine to ten hours a day, and even more if we take into account the time we spend preparing to go to work, traveling to and from work, and unwinding from work. For the 30–35 million people who are self-employed or who telecommute, there are often periods in which work never ends, even on weekends. We give so much of ourselves to our work, but at the end of life, no one ever says, "I should have spent more time at the office."

A 2005 survey by the Conference Board showed job satisfaction at an all-time low, with about 14 percent of the total number of respondents reporting that they were very satisfied with their jobs. Of the five thousand households interviewed, only one out of every three workers was satisfied with his or her pay. Only one out of every five workers was satisfied with the opportunity for advancement. So why do people choose work they don't especially like?

One answer might be found in the results of the 2007 "Getting Paid in America" survey conducted by the American Payroll Association, which found that 67 percent of American families are only one paycheck away from financial hardship. Even two-income families, which might be better off, would have to significantly cut back on their lifestyles if one income ended. The heads of such households don't want to risk deprivation.

Of course, this isn't new. People have long traded satisfaction for security. In his book Working, written nearly three decades ago, Studs Terkel observes, "Most people's jobs are too small for their spirits." For security, at one time or another most of us have settled for what we had: a job, a relationship, or something else that "happened" to us that we didn't relish.

In fact, job security is an illusion. We have been brought up to believe we can survive on a single source of income. In the 1950s, common wisdom about how to have a successful career borrowed a page from the Japanese: find the right company, such as IBM, follow the rules, and you'll have security for life. Yet we know this is no longer true. Companies get downsized, philosophies of management change, and even entire organizations become obsolete. Courts have allowed some companies that filed bankruptcy to do away with pensions earned over decades.

Do you relate to any of these statistics? If you associate work predominantly with the need to create cash flow so you can pay your bills and support your lifestyle, perhaps you, like most people, have forgotten that you have a choice about what you do. Perhaps you have chosen to stay in your current job not because you love it but because it's familiar and meets your financial needs. Even though you probably enjoy aspects of what you do, you might gladly trade it in for another, more satisfying and lucrative occupation. Any sense of restlessness is a sign that your soul is ready to grow.

Answering the call of your soul by pursuing a new entrepreneurial activity or a form of creative expression, such as writing, playing music, or sculpting, would be a natural process in aligning yourself with Spirit. If you are restless, this is how you are being guided or invited by your soul to find deeper fulfillment through more satisfying work and meaningful service.

The following story is an example of the transformation that opening to the flow of soul currency can bring to anyone's life, including yours.

MYRNA'S STORY

For Myrna Miott Woods, an African American woman in her late thirties, the biggest problem was finding a way to be of service to others and still be able to pay her bills. It was the same issue she'd dealt with throughout her career.

As a college student at Drexel University, in Pennsylvania, she had volunteered for the Mayor's Commission on Literacy and a nonprofit group called Women Organized Against Rape. She found she had a heartfelt connection with her community, so after graduating she took a job as an elementary schoolteacher in Dade County, Florida. It was fun and she liked the children, but it didn't pay very well.

Myrna always seemed to gravitate to computers. During school she had worked in the computer science department, and after she moved to Florida following graduation she mainly used email to keep in touch with her friends back home. One day when she stopped by a travel agency to buy a train ticket, she saw that the agency had a side business building websites for travel agents, physicians, dentists, and other businesspeople. She was fascinated by what they were doing. They offered to train her to do Internet marketing if she would give them a few hours of her time every week, working for a modest wage in their shop after school hours.

Myrna felt that, at the very least, it would be a way to bring in a little extra cash while having fun playing around on the computer. Since she counted on every last penny of her school-teacher's salary to cover her monthly expenses, she needed a part-time job to make ends meet. Little did Myrna realize that this "chance" encounter in the travel agency in 1997 would eventually land her a well-paying job at R.H. Donnelly, a large marketing company.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Soul Currency by Ernest D. Chu. Copyright © 2008 Ernest D. Chu. Excerpted by permission of New World Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

INTRODUCTION What Is Soul Currency?,
1. THE FLOW OF SOUL CURRENCY Experiencing the Infinite Power of Harmony and Creation,
2. SPIRITUAL ASSETS Recognizing the Real Value of Your Inner Treasure,
3. YOUR SPIRITUAL CAPITAL Where Purpose Meets Intention,
4. ELIMINATING COUNTERFEIT CURRENCY Downsizing the Power of Fear and False Beliefs,
5. ADVENTUREPRISE The Adventure of Life and the Enterprise of Your Soul,
6. YOUR STAKEHOLDERS The Power of Connection,
7. SOUL CURRENCY "MAGIC" Living in the Flow,
Acknowledgments,
Prayer: I Am the Source of Eternal Flow,
Personal Financial Balance Sheet,
Suggestions for Soul Currency Study Groups,
Soul Currency Programs, Classes, and Other Resources,
Notes,
Recommended Reading,
Index,
About the Author,

Editorial Reviews

“This book will bring you joy, success, and fulfillment.”
— Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

“A powerful blend of spiritual philosophy and scientific principles merged into the perfection of a real formula for joy and abundance....I love this book!”
— Gregg Braden, New York Times bestselling author of The Isaiah Effect and The God Code

“A unique and vital work that heals...An entirely new way of looking at and achieving abundance.”
— Jean Houston, author of The Search for the Beloved and The Possible Human

“Soul Currency eloquently teaches you how to manifest the earnings that you desire and deserve.”
— Mark Victor Hansen, cocreator of the #1 New York Times bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul and coauthor of Cracking the Millionaire Code

“More than just a book about prosperity, Soul Currency is about the richness of the relationship you have with yourself and all those around you. True wealth comes from within, and Ernest Chu provides you with the road map.”
— John Gray, PhD, internationally bestselling author of Men Are From Mars, Woman Are from Venus

From the Publisher