Faith & Spirit Quote by Dan Millman

Money gets demoted here from moral deity to moral amplifier, and that demotion is the whole move. Dan Millman is writing from a late-20th-century self-help/spirituality lineage that distrusts both Wall Street worship and anti-capitalist purity theater. By insisting money is "neither my god nor my devil", he sidesteps the culture war reflex that treats wealth as either proof of virtue or evidence of rot. It is a clever bit of disarmament: if money isn’t inherently good or evil, you can’t outsource your character to your bank balance.

Calling it "a form of energy" is classic Millman: a quasi-spiritual reframing that shifts the conversation from economics to psychology. "Energy" makes money feel neutral, movable, and revealing. It implies flow and direction, not judgment. The subtext is accountability. If cash makes you "more of who we already are", then greed was already in the room; money just turned up the volume. Same with generosity. That’s a comforting idea for people who want success without moral contamination, and a warning to anyone fantasizing that a raise will fix their inner life.

The intent isn’t to absolve money, exactly, but to relocate the real battleground inside the self. Millman is arguing that wealth doesn’t change you into someone else; it gives your existing values better lighting, sharper edges, and bigger consequences.