Review – Busting Loose From The Money Game
Book Info
Title: Busting Loose From the Money Game
Author: Bob Scheinfeld
Publication year: 2006
Formats available: Hardback
Review
Scheinfeld is the grandson of Manpower founder Aaron Scheinfeld, and claims to have pieced together his philosphy on wealth creation based on initial advice received from his successful grandfather. I don’t regret buying this book, as I received some value from it, but at the same time I strongly disagree with some of his fundamental premises.
This review is based on the one I wrote for Amazon.
Summary
Basically Scheinfeld is saying – we create our reality (including our financial reality) with our minds. Our life experience is a illusory game created by what he calls our ‘Expanded Self’ – a larger, omnipotent creative intelligence, of which we are just a small aspect. This ‘Human Game’ is divided into 2 phases: Phase 1, which most people are stuck in, and Phase 2, the attinment of which is the goal of the processes in this book. Phase 1 appears to have rigid rules, and was purposely designed by our Expanded Self to convince us of our limitations and lack of power. When we are ready, we enter Phase 2, in which our Expanded Self leads us through the process of reclaiming our personal power and then ‘busting loose’ of the game. After busting loose, our desires and goals (including money) will fall into place with little effort, and we might experience seemingly ‘impossible’ events, as the illusory nature of reality becomes apparent, and life no longer has to follow the usual rules.
What I liked about the book:
- I found it to be well written, and some parts are interesting and thought-provoking.
- The idea that our consciousness creates our reality is nothing new to me, and I’m already familiar with the holographic model of reality creation that he discusses. This model is interesting and worth knowing about, although he does not go into much detail here (for a more in-depth discussion, I recommend ‘The Holographic Universe’ ‘The Holographic Universe’ by Michael Talbot).
- Scheinfeld offers four techniques which we can use to enter and progress through Phase 2. These are appreciation, the selection of an empowering vocabulary and what he terms ‘The Process’ and ‘The Mini Process’. Even though I don’t accept his notion of what Phase 2 should be like, I have found all of these techniques to be useful.
- I like his `no limit’ thinking – he proposes a vision of what life could be like unencumbered by all the rules and regulations that most people accept as normal or just `how life is’. I do agree with him that our potential as conscious creators of our own realities is unlimited, and that so called `supernatural’ or ‘magical’ events could be commonplace if only we could allow them, and it’s good to see a writer who is unafraid to stick his neck out and make claims that probably sound preposterous to the average person (Star Trek’s Q as a role model? – sounds good to me!)
- I also like his debunking of traditional ways of thinking about money, which I’ve always thought were rather unnecessary and limited.
What I didn’t like:
- While the holographic model in general makes sense to me, Scheinfeld claims that the other people (and animals etc) in my life are purely my creation, and I don’t accept this. I see them more as independent consciousnesses who are also creating their own holographic realities, some aspects of which intersect with my own (based on the law of attraction), thus contributing to our shared experiences. I do agree with his assertion that no-one else can create in my experience however, and tend to think that people will show whatever side of themselves that I attract from them, so in that sense we do have control over the type of behaviours we attract from others.
- I don’t accept his notion of the ‘Human Game’, or agree that we’re just pawns created by our Expanded Self for its own amusement. On the contrary – I don’t really see any distinction between that Expanded Self (or what Abraham would call the ‘Inner Being’), and the `me’ that is here experiencing this life – its power is mine, and my experiences from this self-created perspective are of value to it. We are on the leading edge, and we (the `expanded me’ plus the personality I know as ‘me’) are in control – together.
- I don’t agree that the `busting loose’ process has to be painful and traumatic, as Scheinfeld claims. Nor do I agree with his belief that we have to just passively wait for our Expanded Self to pop unpleasant events into our experience for us to react to. It’s perfectly possible to reclaim our power and release inner resistance without all the trauma and drama. The journey to complete freedom and personal power can be a totally fun, joyful, uplifting one.
- Scheinfeld says that what we experience doesn’t matter – it’s no better to be wealthy than to be poor, or to have good relationships rather than bad ones. While I agree that it’s unhealthy to be inflexible and to get overly attached to specific outcomes, and that valuable insight can be derived from any event, I can’t accept that our desires and preferences have no value. IMO we’re here to constantly formulate new preferences, and those preferences do matter – what’s the point of being a deliberate creator without a personally defined, constantly evolving purpose towards which we can direct our energies? Life may be an illusion, but some aspects of that illusion are undoubtedly more pleasant than others, so why not focus on attracting/creating the pleasant experiences that we prefer? Our positive and negative emotions are intended as guidance, and it’s only natural that we should prefer to feel good. To discount that guidance is to ignore a fundamental connection with out Inner Beings!
Not a financial advice book
I would also add – this is not a ‘mainstream’ financial advice book (which you’ve probably guessed from the above comments!) You won’t find advice about what actions to take to make money (there are plenty of other books on how to manage your money, choose investments etc), nor is it about the psychology of wealth in the usual sense. It presents a metaphysical approach that requires an open-minded willingness to suspend disbelief and the need for ‘proof’, so if you’re just looking for advice on how to get rich in the traditional ways, or are someone who isn’t willing to consider a new idea unless it has been scientifically validated, this isn’t the book for you!
Take what works…
There’s more in the book that I didn’t like much, but these are the main points. Scheinfeld is presenting his model of reality here, which is apparently working for him, and which seems to work well for many others too, but his model might not be the best approach for everyone. The material here is just one perspective on the purpose and mechanics of this physical life experience. As with any book or other information source, the best approach is to take what resonates with you, and discard the rest.
I still prefer Abraham!
Personally, I like to forge my own path, but in terms of external teachings I strongly recommend the Abraham-Hicks material
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