By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning
In Your Money or Your Life: Unmask the Highway Robbers, we expose a powerful truth: that much of today’s financial system is not built to serve you—it’s built to extract from you. Through a combination of debt, distraction, and dependency, the wealth of the many is siphoned off to serve the interests of the few. It’s a system designed not to empower, but to pacify.
That’s where Bitcoin enters the conversation—often heralded as a rebellion against financial tyranny. A decentralised currency with no central bank, no borders, no inflationary policy. On the surface, it seems like the perfect tool to help us break free from the highway robbers.
But is it really? Or is it just another mask?
The Illusion of Liberation
Bitcoin markets itself as digital gold: scarce, independent, and secure. And in some contexts—particularly in hyperinflationary regimes or among those locked out of traditional finance—it has been a lifeline.
But behind the revolutionary veneer lies a system with familiar flaws:
- Early adopters control the wealth. Those who entered the market a decade ago acquired coins for pennies. Today, they hold disproportionate power.
- It produces no real-world value. Bitcoin mining consumes immense energy, yet it doesn’t build homes, feed families, or educate children. It creates digital scarcity, not social utility.
- It thrives on speculation. Its value is driven less by need and more by narrative—hype, fear, and the promise of future gains.
The result? Bitcoin can easily become a theatre of wealth extraction—transferring value from the latecomers to the early elite, all while masquerading as financial freedom.
A Mirror, Not a Tool
In Your Money or Your Life, we argue that true wealth comes from alignment—from using your money, time, and energy in service of your values. When we pursue assets like Bitcoin without questioning our motives, we risk falling back into the very scarcity mindset we seek to escape.
We ask:
- Is this decision grounded in purpose or fear?
- Is this wealth being built through contribution—or through speculation?
- Am I moving toward sufficiency, or grasping at scarcity?
Used with integrity, Bitcoin could play a small part in a diversified strategy. But it should never replace what really creates wealth: your human capital, your purpose, your service.
The Real Revolution
The revolution we need isn’t digital—it’s personal. It’s about reclaiming your financial agency, planning your life before you plan your money, and investing in what truly matters. It’s about seeing through the illusions, whether they wear a suit or a blockchain.
So we return to the question:
Is Bitcoin helping you unmask the robbers? Or is it just another mask?
At the Academy of Life Planning, we help you answer that question not with speculation, but with clarity, strategy, and soul.
Join the movement. Discover true wealth.
Seeing Bitcoin Through The Energy of Money
In The Energy of Money, Maria Nemeth invites us to view money as a neutral form of life energy—something we can align with our purpose, clarity, and integrity to manifest meaningful results in the physical world.
When viewed through this lens, Bitcoin presents a paradox.
On one hand, Bitcoin is hailed as revolutionary—decentralised, borderless, scarce. It promises liberation from corrupted systems and inflationary currencies. To some, it represents a new form of energetic sovereignty: a financial system governed not by banks or states, but by mathematical consensus.
But on the other hand, Bitcoin—like any speculative asset—can pull us out of alignment with our true values. When we pursue it out of fear, greed, or scarcity, it becomes less a tool of purpose and more a distraction of the survival self. It consumes attention, time, and energy—often without creating anything real or of service.
In Nemeth’s terms, the “trouble at the border” arises when we try to move life energy (money) from the metaphysical realm (vision, purpose, dreams) into the physical realm (savings, spending, investing) without clarity or intention. Bitcoin tempts us to believe that wealth can come without contribution, reward without work, gain without growth.
If we don’t consciously use Bitcoin as a means to manifest our values—justice, freedom, sustainability—then it risks becoming an energetic trap: a vortex of speculation that drains more than it gives.
In short:
- Used wisely, Bitcoin could be one form of energy aligned with autonomy and freedom.
- Used unconsciously, it becomes just another illusion of wealth—divorced from real value, impact, or meaning.
Seeing Bitcoin Through The Soul of Money
In The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist teaches us that money is not just a means of exchange—it’s a mirror. It reflects our values, our fears, and our deepest assumptions about worth, power, and possibility.
From this perspective, Bitcoin is not inherently good or bad—but it reveals much about the consciousness with which we relate to wealth.
At its best, Bitcoin is seen as a tool of financial autonomy—a challenge to extractive systems that hoard power. It speaks to our longing for fairness, transparency, and decentralisation. It arises from the same hunger Lynne Twist identifies: the yearning to reclaim agency in a world dominated by scarcity narratives.
But at its worst, Bitcoin becomes a symbol of the “myth of more.”
The idea that if we just acquire enough—be it Bitcoin, pounds, or prestige—we will finally feel secure, successful, significant. This myth drives us into comparison, anxiety, and speculation. It disconnects us from the soul of money and seduces us into a game where value is based not on contribution, but on accumulation.
In the language of The Soul of Money:
- Bitcoin can be used in the spirit of sufficiency—as a conscious choice for those seeking ethical alternatives to broken systems.
- Or it can be driven by scarcity and fear—a modern alchemy that promises gold without grounding.
Ultimately, the question isn’t “Is Bitcoin good or bad?”
The question is: Does our relationship with it deepen our integrity, align with our values, and serve the world we wish to create?
Your Money or Your Life
Unmask the highway robbers – Enjoy wealth in every area of your life!
By Steve Conley. Available on Amazon. Visit www.steve.conley.co.uk to find out more
Academy of Life Planning 