From God to Greed: The Christian-Capitalist Soul of US Spirituality
✍️ How a nation's hunger to feel safe and worthy gave rise to the worship of wealth, fame, and force.
Spirituality never grows in a vacuum. In the USA, it takes root in a particular cultural soil—fertilized by Christian theology, capitalist ideals, and a deep psychological need for safety and significance. This post intentionally navigates between culture and spirituality, because in this context, the two are inseparable.
A Mirror Named Victoria
I had been in the U.S. for a year or two and kept in touch with a dear friend named Victoria. Not only we were both French, but we had shared home in Thailand and India in previous years, while immersed in a spiritual community. Our connection ran deep, we shared an intention not just to explore consciousness, but to truly wake up from the dream — not give the dream a more beautiful polish.
One day, on a call, I shared something I had recently experienced, and she responded with words I didn’t expect:
“Oh, so now you’re buying into U.S. spirituality.”
I was stunned. I didn’t even know what she meant. I’d never heard the term before. And yet, the irreverence in her voice and the sting in my gut, told me there was truth there. And like all things that sting the ego, it marked a blind spot.
This post is the result of the inquiry into “culture and spirituality” in the land of Christian capitalism.
Sometimes the only way to see clearly is from the outside.
Ego with Mala beads
It was Chögyam Trungpa (the founder Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado) who gave the world the phrase: spiritual materialism. His 1973 seminal book, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, was a response to what he saw unfolding in the U.S. — a culture where even the pursuit of enlightenment could become just another ego project. He warned that the spiritual path—meant to dissolve ego—could just as easily be co-opted to inflate it.
Years later, it is not hard to see: instead of letting go of self-importance, we made self importance a proof of spiritual achievement. The ego did not chose good old humility, but arrogance, a lot more convenient for the materially inclined.
The ego did not surrender from the practices of the spiritual path, it adapted by possessing the path. Now the path is another tool in the toolbox towards material success, it is accessorized, polished, and commodified.
Spiritual materialism is when the ego hijacks the path to transcendence and turns it into a tool of self-reinforcement.
When we use the path to build a stronger self-image instead of dismantling the illusion, we miss the point, and we might believe we’re awakening, when we’re just enjoying a spiritualized flavor of the dream.
The Invention of Material Spiritualism
Yet the ego did not stop at just using spirituality to look spiritual, it invented a new paradigm: material spiritualism, something even more insidious, we are now using spirituality to justify materialism.
This fusion didn’t arise in a vacuum. It came from two core currents in U.S. culture: the ego’s appetite for identity (spiritual materialism) and the Calvinist legacy of measuring spiritual worth through material success.
Spiritual Materialism + Material Success as Divine Favor → Material Spiritualism
In this model, money is energy, material success is spiritual alignment, and the divine is something you access through famous teacher workshops, high-ticket retreats in Costa Rica, and weekly uploads of Source on your favorite social media platform.
God is now a vibe you tune into for abundance. Enlightenment is a scalable business model. Spirituality has become performance. Awakening, a commodity.
Material Spiritualism: where wealth, luxury, and comfort are no longer obstacles to awakening—they are evidence of it.
The “Billionaires Saint” syndrome
Once we understand material spiritualism—this cultural myth where wealth is the evidence of spiritual alignment—then the rise of the billionaire-saint begins to make perfect sense.
In the U.S., wealth isn’t just admired. It is sanctified.
From Silicon Valley to Wall Street, billionaires are hailed as visionaries and spiritual icons. They are seen as proof that the system works, that prosperity is a form of divine favor. We quote Warren Buffet for his humility (while he quietly profits from a system designed to reward hoarding over fairness), Bill Gates for his philanthropy (while his Foundation reinforces dependency and influence) or Steve Job for quoting zen (while sending production to sweat shops).
Yet we stay away from Jidu Krishnamurti who shows “how sick our society is”, we ignore David Graeber who “tell the world is a story we make”, or James Baldwin “who ask us tho face the lie within”. The ego conveniently cherry pick our references to justify our ways. We confuse financial dominance with clarity, and success with virtue, wealth as a form of divine alignment.
But let’s look more closely: these billionaires are not just icons—they are the very architects of the systems that deepen inequality, erode democracy, and exploit the earth. They are disconnected from the common man, their wealth insulating them from the consequences of the world they shape.
Wealth disparity is the root of most societal dysfunction. Yet spiritual communities still chant "abundance is my birthright" while living on stolen land, slave labor, and national privilege.
“Abundance is my birthright” sounds different when spoken from a Beverly Hills mansion—or your vacation home in Costa Rica.
The ultra-rich hoard what others need to survive, then point fingers at the poor, the migrant, the disenfranchised. In the myth of material spiritualism, billionaires became gods and being poor is divine retribution for lack of worth. But their temples are built on exclusion, and their gospel is greed.
What if we stopped projecting spiritual value onto material gain, and started measuring worth by presence, depth, and care?
Fame as Identity
National Fame
The U.S. doesn’t just want to belong—it wants to be chosen.
From the myth of the "city on a hill" to the doctrine of American exceptionalism, the U.S. has long cultivated its image as a beacon of freedom, a land of opportunity, a protector of democracy. It wants to be seen. To be admired. To be followed. Fame becomes national identity.
Like with personal fame, this identity is fragile and performative. To maintain the image, the country must always be winning, always right, always admired. It will project this even if it must do so through manipulation, propaganda, and military intervention.
Just like the individual ego builds a spiritual image to prove its superiority, the nation builds a moral brand to justify domination.
In the U.S. narrative, freedom is what we deliver, force is how we deliver it, and God is the why we use to justify ourselves.
The result is a self-righteous global ego that can’t tolerate dissent. The U.S. plays like the world’s spiritual teacher—offering democracy, moral superiority, and divine purpose—while ignoring the cost: toppled governments, drone warfare, corporate imperialism, and deep internal injustice.
What if true wisdom is not trendy? What if spiritual maturity means seeing clearly? What if being unseen is part of being awake?
Personal Fame
And fame has also entered the spiritual arena.
In this system, to be followed is to be trusted—a proof of one's awakening. To be seen is to be special. To be visible is to be chosen. Marketing skills are mistaken for spiritual gifts. Lead magnets and sales funnels are the new incense and prayer beads—tools of attraction in the temple of monetized transcendence.
Even in spiritual circles, visibility has become virtue.
The silent equation: the more followers, the more enlightened.
But what if the soul thrives in silence? What if it takes to leave the palace and the privileges to truly walk the path? Even if only to share space with the vast majority of humanity who have no privileges to leave behind.
Force as Sacred Duty
Let’s follow the logic all the way: if wealth is seen as proof of spiritual alignment, then protecting wealth becomes a sacred duty. The logic between wealth and force is simple:
Wealth enables force. Force protects wealth.
The obsession with dominance, military superiority, global control, the right to intervene, occupy, surveil, is fueled by a deep national insecurity born out of the trauma of rejection, and the derived belief that safety comes from power not justice; that peace comes from intimidation, not community.
Yet force is the voice of the weak for kindness is the voice of the strong.
A nation that doesn’t feel safe will seek strength not through collaboration, but through domination. The result isn’t safety—it’s oppression, control and its corollary: paranoia. It will build weapons instead of trust. Walls instead of bridges.
And when you believe your wealth is blessed by God, then force becomes holy. Violence becomes righteous. War becomes mission.
But spiritual force never looks like domination. It looks like surrender, compassion, humility, and presence. What we call "strength" is fear hiding behind a wall.
Awakening From the Nightmare
Now, years later, I understand what Victoria meant and I see Trungpa’s predicament came true. In the process, the ego dream has turned into ego nightmare. Wealth disparity leads to loss in democracy, justice, health and education, minority rights. The land of the free is now the land of the manipulated, free speech has become brainwashing. The ego is winning this battle, at the cost of almost everything valuable, freedom, peace, happiness and even safety.
“U.S. spirituality” is a mirror for all of us to look at. This land is not without incredible achievements yet certainly not in the spiritual realms. If I want a specialist of awakening, I would turn my gaze to the asian subcontinent, the source of most spiritual achievements and technology.
In the U.S. the sacred is being sold, awakening repurposed for ego convenience, the divine is now a commodity. When spirituality becomes performance, the soul goes silent and watches, waiting for its turn.
This is not awakening, this is sleepwalking at best, sycophancy at worst.
Awakening was never something to succeed, to be seen or to dominate.
It was something to surrender, to see, and to serve.
This post is the result of much research and inquiries, not all of them could be reflected to keep my objective of “5 min read or less”. I just wanted to bring these final chapters, not needed to understand the logic above, but to clarify aspects of the enquiry.
Now what?
In many places, people sit with hard truths. They let the discomfort ripen. But here in the U.S. we're trained to seek resolution. Wrap it up. End on a high note. Expect the happy end. So let’s acknowledge the cultural reflex—without bending to it.
This isn’t a post about fixing the world. It’s about waking up inside it.
It starts with:
Notice where the dream still seduces you.
Where you measure your worth by what you produce.
Where you conflate visibility with virtue.
Where wealth feels like safety, and spirituality becomes a quality label.
Awakening starts by being honest. Radically and lovingly honest.
And if you need a compass:
Presence will never betray you.
Compassion will never mislead you.
And service to the whole is always the way.
Addendum: Seeking the Meta Stories Behind it All
In my post The Two Seed Stories Beneath Every Story I shared an inquiry about the two meta stories behind all stories, and how these two seeds shape the entire landscape of Western striving.
I am not safe. I am not worthy.
In a culture where the two seeds story are “I am not safe, I am not worthy” is it just coincidence that our addictions are wealth and fame? Or is it that wealth and fame are just the most extrovert expression of the two root beliefs? Is the constant pursuit of wealth as an attempt to feel safe and the never ending pursuit of fame as an attempt to feel worthy? I have worked with a large number of rich and famous people. I have my own answers, I’ll let you find yours.
Wealth may try to soothe the fear and fame may try to soothe shame. But no external pursuit can heal the internal wound.
———
I mention above “Christian Capitalism “ and the “Calvinist legacy of measuring spiritual worth through material success”, and wanted to dive a little deeper here.
The roots of Protestant Christianity in the U.S. is rooted in Puritan Calvinism, enhanced by the collective trauma of forced immigration.
The sociologist Max Weber coined the term Protestant Work Ethic in his 1905 book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He showed how Christian thought—especially Calvinism—linked salvation to signs of worldly success.
The U.S. is a nation largely built by religious dissidents rejected by Europe. A people trying to prove they belonged, that they had value, that they were chosen. Hard work became more than virtue: it was salvation, an atonement. Work is worship. Hard work is spiritual zeal. Wealth is divine recognition.
The “American Dream”: anyone who works hard enough can rise. Shame on you if you haven’t risen, you didn’t work hard enough!
At its root is a psychological wound: I must earn love, safety, and belonging.
This is the source of burnout, spiritual bypassing and justifying injustice while believing in merit.
Work replaces presence and becomes disconnect. We exhaust ourselves trying to deserve what was never supposed to be earned. We focus on wealth at the cost of everything else.
And in the process, spiritual materialism became material spiritualism. We do not disconnect from the story, we do not wake up, we turn the dream into an excuse. And the dream is now turning into a nightmare.
PS: “Change Your Story, Change The World” is a storytelling endeavor that looks deeply into the psyche that creates the stories we live by—with the intention to help us shape better stories, both personally and collectively.
Because the stories we tell are not just stories—they are the reality we live.
Brilliantly written, Gabriel. And spot-on.
Phew! There are several posts here. The Puritans are still running this country, for sure. They were a fear-of-death cult, terrified of their god, and of the genocide they were perpetrating on the indigenous people they first depended upon then sought to displace. They hanged witches in Hartford and then 40 years later in Salem. This is what we must wake from. They taught that wealth was a sign of their god’s favor. This post is fabulous, but it could be a series.