The following article was first published in One Earth Magazine Volume 5 Issue 3B June 1985 and is an edited version of a talk given by Lionel Fifield at The New Economic Agenda conference at the Findhorn Foundation in the previous October.

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How rare it is that people go to economics conferences for a good laugh! A good laugh does so much good – it takes people out of all that seriousness and non-creative state of worry. When I work with business groups I sometimes suggest we take a moment or two to relax before we start, to let go of the stress of life and go into a state of peace and creativity … and I see people start heading for the door. To let go of stress after so many years is a very frightening thing to do. But to me, the next economy deals with the quality of life – especially in what we call the well-to-do nations where so many people are hurting themselves unnecessarily instead of focusing in and enjoying themselves.

In the next economy people will move into being much more part of all that is, rather than thinking it’s a question of getting out there and knocking the hell out of everything to win. We will get to a state of ‘win-win’ instead of ‘win-lose’. I call this economy ‘Echo-nomics’, the science of come-back or ‘as you sow, so you reap’. It’s the law of karma, of cause and effect; ‘givers gain, takers lose’; ‘those who live by the sword, die by the sword’; ‘as we judge, so we are judged’. In other words, it means taking responsibility for ourselves and our thinking, and realising the importance of our attitudes, perceptions and the way we treat other people. It means saying, “Hey, I’m a powerful beacon and magnet, and whatever I’m doing or thinking is affecting me and everybody around me. ”

Here we are then, beginning to realise we can be masters instead of victims. It is fascinating how money has become  a master in our society – we have lost control over it. When you suggest to people that they could become masters of this energy, they laugh. But we have the choice of taking control, because that is the dominion we have, or of deciding to be servants of money, which is the way of thinking we’ve learnt up to now.

I have seen groups of business people get together to discuss a new project and become really excited about it until someone says, “Of course, there is one problem – money.” And all these people who are in control of huge funds as individuals and professionals sink back into their chairs. Normally the saviour of the group then stands up and mentions that the government is giving subsidies to people like them, and an overwhelming air of wonder goes around the group: they don’t have to give anything. They go sailing off, having delegated one of their number to go for the money. But that is very sad, because they have given up and handed over responsibility to someone else. If you stop seeing what makes a project impossible, stop looking for easy manipulative ways out, and begin actually to go ahead and start something because it feels good, then it’s as if the whole universe begins to support you.

The new economy involves a very wide process of change. Sometimes in seminars with business groups I can sense people sitting there thinking, “Don’t change me.” But what they are really saying is, “I don’t want to find me.” They don’t realise that within them is a being of beauty, love and power, and that everything they are going through will help them move into what is most appropriate for them. Stress is costing them and our society a fortune, in whatever way you want to measure a fortune. Let’s not forget that the greatest cause of stress is fear of change. As we are able to accommodate change, we can move ahead rapidly.

Much of the future economy will be based on people’s ability to relax and listen, to move into their potential. When we can hear ourselves, we can hear other people – the employers and employees and unemployed, the ‘with-it’ nations and those without. We can start communicating effectively.

When I do workshops I am amazed at how many people even in ‘good’ jobs lack self-esteem. In the next economy, education in companies and universities will help us feel better about ourselves. Then we will feel better about everything. Echo-nomics is how we attract what we feel – so if we feel bad about ourselves, then the world, the firm, the employer, the employees also seem bad. Instead, we can open up and discover the absolute marvel that we dream of.

When I first began to explore some of these so-called laws of echo-nomics, I began to notice how some people were constantly running into problems, even though they had good ideas. Some people were consistently successful and others were consistently failures. And some people were successful with their money and unsuccessful in other aspects of their lives. I began to see how many people, whatever their outer expression, were thinking lack, and fearing not being able to do. They were reaching out for others to subsidise them instead of knowing they had the power to carry out their visions.

As I began to work with the ‘rules’ of echo-nomics – ‘as you give out, so it comes back’ – I realised this also involved facing my fears. For instance, in the mid-70s I decided to work on a donation basis. I had come from a background as an accountant where I charged a phenomenal amount for my time because I was ‘professional’. Now, instead of this, I was sitting in front of audiences talking about prosperity for whole weekends for no set fee at all. People would come up afterwards, hug me and tell me I was fantastic and I would have to pay the rent of the hall myself. It really faced me with the question of whether I was the victim or the master of the situation. Was I willing to keep on giving out? And would it come back?

One Earth 5-3B p9Gradually I began to realise how it works: providing I keep giving out, somehow the money comes. I don’t have to expect it back from a specific person or organisation. I don’t have to go and say to someone, “By the way, do you know what I’ve just given you? Do you know I have a bill to pay tomorrow?” No, it comes in extraordinary ways, from somebody I haven’t seen for five years who writes, “I realised my life changed when you said who I was and what I could become, when you reminded me of my own beauty. Suddenly I had the overwhelming feeling to send you this amount of money. ”

Of course, for anything to be able to ‘come back’ to you, you have to be able to receive – and another thing I had to face was my unwillingness to do this. One day a woman came into my office and put $30 on my desk. “What’s that for?” I asked.
“It’s for you.”
“Oh, we’re just about to publish a little book,” I said. “We can put it towards that. ”
“It’s for you,” she said.
“We’ve started a donation box for the centre. We can stick it in there.”
” It’s for you.”
“I tell you what. We’re going to invite a visiting speaker over next year. We’ll put it towards his fare.”
“It’s for you.”
Then she left. My shirt was soaking, I was bright as a beetroot and my fingers were dripping wet. I picked up the $30 and walked around. This was from a female woman and I was brought up in England where you didn’t get gifts like that from women. But she played her part beautifully. She gave me the opportunity to face my fear and then to begin to relax and open up, to allow something to happen.

There is also a kind of ‘plastic echo-nomics’ where people make sure things come back to them. It’s the manipulative part of our society – constant unnecessary extended credit or undue charging of fees or powerful organisations taking more and more from each other. Its essence is taking.

Business can be a beautiful process of expansion, of people interacting and enjoying being together, watching a dream come into being and seeing a service that can be provided. These to me are the qualities of the next economy: information, communication, cooperation and living together. There’s nothing wrong with business itself; it’s just that we don’t always bring these qualities into it.

For instance, people are constantly trying to overcome the need to pay other people, entering into legal processes where they can’t be got at. But when they stop paying, they also stop communicating. Credit managers are constantly trying to get people on the phone and instead reaching a blank, which finally ends in a huge legal process. When people do commit themselves to starting even just a small amount of repayment, they are astounded how things begin to work for them. They have broken the cycle of running out on each other.

Another example: many people get caught up in systems of tax evasion. Sometimes in seminars I suggest that people start to love paying taxes, and a laugh goes round the audience. We have reached a point of believing that taxes are our enemy. But not paying taxes can cause tremendous stress because we cut ourselves off from working with the whole. We separate ourselves from the nation and the world to which we belong.

The word abundance,
which most people think of
as total overflowing, is a
magnificent word that says
everything is there in
perfect timing and perfect
proportion to what one
needs.

When I give seminars on prosperity I mention the power of affirmations, that people caught up with all the bad things that are happening can move their thinking to the positive. I ask people to say this affirmation: “My financial affairs are in perfect order now. ” Everybody roars with laughter. They seem to believe that their financial affairs are not in perfect order. ‘Lack’ thinking isn’t just in the third world, it’s in us too, right here in the society of abundance and enormous wealth. The word abundance, which most people think of as total overflowing, is a magnificent word that says everything is there is perfect timing and perfect proportion to what one needs. We are part of a universe that can supply perfectly.

Altogether I am full of positive anticipation for the world we’re going into. I believe we’re right on target. When I look at all the ‘dreadful’ things needing to be put right I see a magnificent lot of God-given opportunities. I even wonder if God gave them to us, or if we gave them to ourselves, because everybody loves a challenge that’s what life is about. The greatest enjoyment comes when we’ve broken through a challenge.

Without challenges, what would we be doing? They are doorways for every one of us to go through and find meaning for ourselves. It is not a question of whether we will. Every single individual can and that is the important thing: feeling the power to do. For me that is life and it’s very exciting.