by Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning
“Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.” — Bhagavad Gita
“I do not serve God for heaven’s sake, but because I love Him.” — Catherine of Siena
1 The Search for Wholeness
Modern economics is built on separation.
We divide capital from conscience, money from meaning, labour from love.
The result is a world of abundance without harmony—prosperity without peace.
At the Academy of Life Planning (AoLP) we believe that planning is a sacred act.
When we plan our lives before we plan our money, we re-member the unity that older wisdom traditions called Gnosis—direct knowledge of truth.
From that insight arises a new model: Gnostic Economics, or the Economy of Wholeness.
2 What Is Gnosis?
Gnosis means knowing from within.
It is not belief handed down by authority but awakening discovered through experience.
Early Christian mystics like Valentinus taught that the world’s suffering comes from amnesia—forgetting our divine origin.
Salvation, he said, is not escape from the world but integration with it: restoring fullness (Pleroma) where ignorance has created emptiness (Kenoma).
This mirrors the GAME Plan™:
- Goals — Intention: Remembering who we are.
- Actions — Alignment: Living truthfully.
- Means — Structure: Designing systems that serve life.
- Execution — Embodiment: Manifesting wholeness in community.
3 Valentinus and the Circulation of Light
Valentinus saw creation as an ongoing flow of divine energy.
When human beings act in ignorance, they interrupt that flow through greed, control, and hoarding.
When they act in knowledge, they restore circulation—the giving-and-receiving rhythm of the cosmos.
In Gnostic Economics, this circulation becomes our model for prosperity.
Wealth is not stored; it moves.
It nourishes everyone it touches, like sap through a living tree.
The role of the wise planner is to keep the current clear—to design financial systems that express rather than suppress life.
4 Clement of Alexandria and the Stewardship of Wealth
A generation after Valentinus, Clement of Alexandria sought to reconcile philosophy, faith, and daily practice.
He taught that wealth itself is neutral—its moral value lies in its use.
Possession without attachment, he said, turns money into a tool for virtue.
Clement’s “Gnostic Christian” is the mature soul: contemplative yet active, intelligent yet compassionate.
Their economic life is guided by Logos—divine order.
Resources are managed, not possessed; shared, not displayed.
At AoLP we recognise this same principle.
Money is the Means that supports our Ministry, never the other way round.
When we subordinate the life plan to the financial plan, we reverse the natural order and enter what we call the exhaustive cycle of extraction.
Clement would call it misuse; Valentinus would call it forgetfulness.
5 From Extraction to Empowerment
Our modern economy runs on anxiety and scarcity.
It rewards accumulation, not contribution.
But in the Economy of Wholeness, value is measured by the life it sustains.
| Extractive Economy | Economy of Wholeness |
|---|---|
| Accumulation | Circulation |
| Ownership | Stewardship |
| Competition | Cooperation |
| Profit as End | Purpose as Means |
| Control | Trust |
When we replace extraction with empowerment, every financial decision becomes an act of regeneration.
The client, the planner, and the wider world all participate in a single flow of wellbeing.
6 The Human Capital Revolution
Traditional finance counts only financial capital.
Gnostic Economics expands the ledger to include human, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual capital—the very assets that make life worth living.
This is why the GAME Plan Taster and Practitioner Pathway focus on modelling total wealth:
Financial Capital + Human Capital – Lifetime Liabilities = Total Wealth.
By recognising human potential as a form of capital, we re-align economics with anthropology, ethics, and ecology.
Every person becomes both investor and asset, steward and beneficiary, giver and receiver.
7 A Gnostic View of Work
In the Gnostic understanding, creation is ongoing; we are co-creators.
Work, therefore, is not servitude but sacred participation in the unfolding of the world.
When labour serves love, it liberates.
When labour serves fear, it enslaves.
A life planner working from Gnosis helps clients rediscover that sacred relationship with their work: to earn not from necessity but from calling.
8 Designing the New Economy
To bring Gnostic Economics to life, AoLP champions three design principles:
- Transparency → Trust. Open data, honest fees, product-free advice.
- Empowerment → Autonomy. Teach people to plan their own lives.
- Regeneration → Continuity. Wealth that restores ecosystems of wellbeing.
These principles shape our programmes—Planning My Life, Financial Life Coach, M-POWER, and Get SAFE—all facets of one integrated Academy devoted to structural trustworthiness.
9 Wholeness as True Wealth
Valentinus called it Pleroma—fullness.
Clement called it Logos—divine order.
We call it Holistic Wealth—the balance of body, mind, heart, and spirit expressed through sustainable livelihoods.
Wholeness is the new currency.
Its interest rate is joy.
Its return on investment is peace.
10 Conclusion: The Planner as Gnostic Builder
The modern planner is not merely a technician of money but a builder of wholeness.
Every plan is a micro-cosmos—a chance to restore harmony between intention and institution, soul and system.
At the Academy of Life Planning we invite you to join this re-enchantment of economics:
to see wealth as energy, work as worship, and planning as participation in the divine flow of creation.
The Economy of Wholeness begins when we remember who we are — and act from that remembering.
đź’ˇ Join the Movement
Learn how to apply the GAME Plan™ and become a Holistic Wealth Planner through the Academy of Life Planning.
Together we can build a world where economics once again serves life, not the other way around.
Academy of Life Planning 