Volume 19

Issue 2
August 11, 2005

Toward A Spiritual Economics

Part I

By Amit Goswami

“The implications of research on consciousness ...suggest interconnection at a level that

has yet to be fully recognized by Western science, and throw into doubt the pervasive
conception of a world dominated by competition.”
If Willis Harman’s nine-year-old prediction is proving correct, what are we to do when capitalism, the
centuries-old, but lone-surviving major model of
economic organization on Earth, collides with the
advent of consciousness?
“One of the most important aspects of these forces
for change is the apparent emergence of a new
worldview... On the other hand, there are many indi-
cations of the possible emergence of a trans-modern
picture of reality differing both from the scientific
worldview and the traditional religious worldview.
“This emerging trans-modern worldview involves
a shift in the locus of authority from external to ‘inner knowing.’ It has basically turned away from the
older scientific view that ultimate reality is ‘fundamental particles,’ and trusts perceptions of the whole-
ness and spiritual aspect of organisms, ecosystems, Gaia and Cosmos. This implies a spiritual reality and
ultimate trust in the authority of the whole.”
Can capitalism accommodate consciousness? Or, is a New World Order in order? Academy Fellow Amit
Goswami picks up Willis’s torch and examines these topics in a three-part Transformation series. A
quantum physicist, Amit also guides legions of people who seek his knowledge of the mysterious border
where science and consciousness meet.
 M any people think that capitalism and market economics grew out of the
materialist philosophy that classical physics has given us. But this is myopic
thinking by people who have missed the evolution of consciousness in the af-
fairs of the manifest world.
First, notice that during the period that capitalism developed in the hands of
such luminaries as Adam Smith, it was Cartesian dualism under the modern-
ist umbrella that was the influential metaphysic, not materialism. Modernism
values mind and meaning.
Second, notice that capitalism replaced feudalism and the mercantile economy
(Adam Smith’s term for the economy prevalent in England in his time) in which
the pursuit of meaning is highly limited and vast numbers of people are denied
it. Compared to feudalism in which wealth or capital remains in the hands of
a fortunate few, capitalism and the market economy have certainly brought
capital to the hands of many more. This has given a large number of people the
economic freedom and flexibility needed to pursue meaning in their lives.
Third, notice that the only serious challenge to capitalism after the demise of
feudalism/mercantile economy is Marxist economics. And it was a failure! In-
It does not stead of Adam’s Smith’s “invisible hand” to drive the market and distribute capi-
take a ge- tal, Marx envisioned that such a distribution can be done more effectively under
nius to see a dictatorship of the proletariat in which labor directly takes over the distribu-
that capital- tion and equalizes wealth. But Marxist economics so far has been installed only
under the politics of communism (in which the dictatorship of the proletariat
ist econom- become more like a dictatorship of a bureaucracy), and it failed miserably. And
ics as is the failure is primarily due to the fact that most people just cannot work hard
practiced when their labor does not inure to the benefit of their own private property and
private wealth.
today is at a
crisis point. Unfortunately, it does not take a genius to see that capitalist economics as is
practiced today is also at a crisis point. First, present day capitalism is based on
continuous growth and expansion that require unlimited resources; this can-
not be sustained on a finite planet. The finitude of resources may already have
caught up with us. The finitude of the environment is an additional constraint
on unlimited growth.
Second, the free market does not seem to be quite so free anymore. (Consider
unequal access to information, tariff barriers, rising industrial concentration,
etc.) Why? And what is the remedy?
Third, capitalism and its continuing economic expansion produce higher and
higher standards of living. Wages do not keep pace without producing infla-
tion. To meet the demands of higher standards and their higher cost, people are
forced to give up their higher needs, such as the need of children to have a non-
working mother or leisure time to pursue meaning. Thus, invariably some of the
basic promises of capitalism are shortchanged by the nature of the beast itself.
Fourth, and most importantly, no thanks to the development of multinational
corporations, the process of equilibrating the management-labor relationship

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that feeds the equalization of the movement of meaning between the classes is
stalled. What is the remedy for this?
Actually, capitalism is superior to Marxism because it recognizes one basic hu-
man need: the survival and security of the physical body. This basic ego-need
requires private property; any economic system that ignores this basic require-
ment is bound to fail. Our capac-
But as the psychologist Abraham Maslow pointed out, besides this fundamental ity to rep-
need we have an entire hierarchy of needs. Capitalist economics ignores people’s resent the
higher needs. This is one of its major defects. Following Maslow, but modifying supramental
his theory according to the insights of my general approach to spirituality -- sci-
ence within consciousness -- we can easily see what these higher needs are. has not yet
evolved. How-
Our Redefined Higher Needs and the Rudiments of a Spiritual Economics ever, there
The basic elements of the developing science within the primacy of conscious- is evolution-
ness are as follows: ary pressure
• Consciousness is the ground of all being. on us in this
• The possibilities of consciousness are four-fold: material (which we sense); vital direction.
energy (which we feel, primarily through the chakras and secondarily through
the brain); mental meaning (which we think); and supramental discriminating
contexts such as physical laws, contexts of meaning and feeling such as ethics
and love and aesthetics (which we intuit). The material is called gross, and the
others make up the subtle domain of our experience.
• When consciousness chooses from the possibilities the actual event of its
experience (with physical, vital, mental, and supramental components), the
physical has the opportunity of making representations of the subtle. The
physical is like computer hardware; the subtle is represented as software.
• Our capacity for making physical representation of the subtle evolves. First,
the capacity for making representations of the vital developed through the
evolution of life via more and more sophisticated organs to represent the liv-
ing functions, such as maintenance and reproduction. Next, the capability of
making more and more sophisticated representations of the mental evolved.
We are at this stage of evolution right now.
• Our capacity to represent the supramental has not yet evolved. However,
there is evolutionary pressure on us in this direction. This provides the prima-
ry reason some of us are attracted to spirituality.
In this way, there must not only exist the urge to satisfy physical needs but also
needs in all the other dimensions of our experience. In addition to the satisfac-
tion of physical needs, a spiritual economics must address:
• Gratification of emotional needs; positive emotions such as love, compassion,
and satisfaction itself, both conditioned and unconditioned;
• Pursuit of meaning, including the pursuit of new mental meaning that re-
quires creativity;
• Pursuit of spiritual and supramental (soul) needs such as altruism, love, and
happiness.

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 And in truth, this ladder of needs is not entirely hierarchical. If one satisfies
higher needs, the urge to satisfy lower needs actually decreases. The opposite
is also true. If a lower need is satisfied, the demand for satisfying a higher need
increases. In this way, the strategy for an economic system more suitable than
capitalism is to address all the needs simultaneously.
Whereas capitalism is an economics of physical well-being based on the satis-
faction of our conditioned physical ego-needs, idealist or spiritual economics
must be an economics of holistic well-being based on the satisfaction of both
our (physical) ego-needs and higher needs (pertaining to the exploration of the
vital, mental, soul and spirit).

Micro Economics of the Subtle

We may Economics is about production-consumption, demand-supply, prices and all
have to that. How does that kind of stuff work for our subtle needs? Let’s talk about
these micro details.
develop new
spiritual or- Production of positive vital energy can be accomplished in many ways: foresta-
tion -- plants and trees have abundant vital energy; cultivating positive health
ganizations. (for a definition, see my book The Quantum Doctor) in society: people of positive
health radiate vital energy; and so forth. But the best way to ensure production
of vital energy is to encourage the workplaces for ordinary people to offer facili-
ties so that their employees can achieve positive health, for example, by practic-
ing yoga, Tai chi, and meditation, to name a few.
As for production of mental meaning, in the contexts of the arts and entertain-
ment industry we already have some of the means in place. Both of these indus-
tries have the capacity to produce positive vital energy (positive emotions) as
well. However, much of the arts and entertainment industry has bogged down
into the negativity of a materialist culture. But we can shift the emphasis from
negativity to meaningfulness and positivity.
The production of supramental and spiritual energy requires more effort right
now. In the olden days, spiritual organizations like churches, temples, syna-
gogues, mosques, and the like cultivated and produced supramental and spiri-
tual intelligence in their leaders and practitioners. Nowadays, many of these
organizations are more interested in influencing mundane politics than invest-
ing in the supramental. But make no mistake about it: it can be done, although
we may have to develop new spiritual organizations to do it. In the olden days,
perhaps the most effective means of production (and dissemination) of supra-
mental energy were travelling monks (called sadhus in India; in the West, trou-
badours are an example). This we can revive; to some extent the many New Age
conferences on spirituality are already serving this purpose. Also effective are
group meditations through which, as some of parapsychologist Dean Radin’s
experiments show, people can experience non-local consciousness and hence
can take creative leaps to the supramental domain. This can be done even in
workplaces.
Now to the question of consumption. Because the vital and mental are mappa-
ble in us, they can be consumed both by local and non-local means. For exam-
ple, if we see good theater, it cultivates the processing of meaning in us, even

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new meaning. When we partake in good meaningful entertainment, we also feel
positive emotions; we are consuming them. As we consume, we ourselves have
the potential to become producers.
Supramental energy consumption is non-local, but it requires local triggers.
There are scientists who subscribe to the so-called Maharishi effect, according
to which the spiritual and supramental energy generated by a group meditation
is consumed automatically in the local vicinity. Data is cited with claims of crime
reduction in big cities where TM groups perform such meditation. However, this
is controversial and I am not advocating it. A purely quantum mechanical con-
sumption of your spiritual energy requires that I be correlated with you by some
means or other. For example, experiments by Mexican neurophysiologist Jacobo
Grinberg suggest that if two people intend together, they become so correlated,
but it should be simpler than that. There are many anecdotes of how people feel
peace in the presence of a sage. (I myself have experienced this.) So just being
locally present may trigger consumption.
The best part of the story of subtle energy products is that it is mostly free. The The best part
subtle dimensions have no limits; we can consume a sage’s love all we wish, the of the story
supply is not going to diminish. There is no zero-sum game in the subtle. There
may be a bit of material cost of production. So one may put a material price tag
of subtle en-
on subtle products to offset this; that may not be such a bad idea because it ergy products
enables people to be more serious about their intentions when they consume is that it is
subtle products. Here is also an opportunity for the government to subsidize mostly free.
the subtle industry.
In the next article of this series, I will take up the subject of how spiritual eco-
nomics saves capitalism.

About the Author: Academy Fellow Amit Goswami was recently a research fellow of the Institute
of Noetic Sciences, and now has returned as a professor of physics at the University of Oregon’s In-
stitute of Theoretical Science. He has taught physics for 36 years in this country. His education was
in India with a Ph.D. degree in physics from Calcutta.
Amit is the author of six books including the successful textbook, Quantum Mechanics. Amit is a pi-
oneer of science within consciousness — science based on the primacy of consciousness — which
is developed in his books The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World
and Science and Spirituality. He has also authored Quantum Creativity and The Visionary Window:
A Quantum Physicist’s Guide to Enlightenment, and Physics of the Soul, and the upcoming Integral
Medicine. Amit gives workshops in the United States, Brazil, Sweden, and India on the subjects of
quantum creativity, quantum healing, physics of the soul, and science and spirituality. He recently
appeared in the film What The Bleep Do We Know?
He can be reached via the physics department of the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, or by e-
mail at agoswami@oregon.uoregon.edu

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