I recently actually wrote about something very similar. It talks about a very similar concept: Money as fuel, not the destination. When you’re on a road trip you don’t constantly think about getting to the next gas station. You focus on the destination. And just like a good driver you glance at the fuel gauge instead of staring at it.
Hi Dan, I’m Zach, a high school senior. I just wrote a short essay reflecting on Moby-Dick and how it taught me about accepting uncertainty. I’d love it if you’d check it out and maybe give it a restack if you enjoy it:
The problem I see is the underlying issue of effort. Most people see AI as a means to do things "easier" when that isn't want they're here for. AI won't make you a better writer if you're not committed to writing. AI won't help your business explode if you're not committed to the work.
AI is like most tools. Those with skills and effort with outpace everyone else because they will grow faster. Those who are looking for a life raft to ease will lose themselves to AI.
I think its an underlying belief/perspective issue. People believe that life is about productivity. And, in their quest to become robots and mindlessly produce objects, they have themselves invented 'AI'. And now they worry that AI will steal all of the jobs they said they never wanted to do. It's hilarious, in its own way.
If belief systems were adjusted, just a little, to understand that life is about enjoyment and not production, AI would be seen as a wonderful friend, and not a dangerous opponent.
So sick of the 'money is bad' belief, it's everywhere. It's aimed at spiritual systems too. People criticize TM and Isha Kriya because it 'costs money', despite the fact that it would change their lives and despite the fact that they spend 100x more on things that harm them. Not that programmed belief systems were ever meant to be logical, of course.
The money is printed out of thin air anyway. You might as well funnel $100k annually while having fun and growing across the 4 quadrants. Somebody has to be receptive to the printed funds, and it can only be those that have no hangups about increasing financial flow.
The issue is how most are conditioned to relate to money. They give it some sort of moral value when that's not what money is. When people brake out of the lower levels of Maslow's and realize money is just a tool, they begin to widen their perspective to what is possible.
Unfortunately the majority of the time is trying to break that paradigm.
I just wrote an article on this actually. The conflation of money with morality stops so many from being able to allow themselves wealth, and there's no evidence that being poor makes you moral (the opposite, IMO). If money is the root of all evil, it's going to be very tough battling against your own belief system to survive.
Breaking out of the paradigm, in the lower level, is the most difficult part. There's a pull towards a steady job as the most obvious means of earning money, which comes with so many trappings.
It's a painful to realize that you lived (unconsciously) in survival mode your whole life. But what a relief to know that the way you choose to play the game is 100% your choice. Right now I can only play Sacred. The rest are game over.
The celebrity posse offers a special opportunity to support the passive income community. Before you open your wallet…
I’ll share another profit pathway from experience at a surface level. The note comes from deep underground as that is where I find myself tonight.
Assume the assumptions are not true. Let’s break it down from underground. We know it’s marketing hooked. You’ll see this instantly.
Survival (90% of people): Make enough to not die. Money as master. Success (9% of people): Make enough to matter. Money as scoreboard. Sacred (1% of people): Make enough to authentically create. Money as energy.
It’s possible that AI wrote this, because it’s wrong, stupid, and not useful.
What Dan assumes—and gets wrong—is the math.
Him and the popular crowd blinded by the light missed the entire thing again. Be like Manfred Mann. Look into the light of the sacred to profit.
“Madman drummers, bummers Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat In the dumps with the mumps As the adolescent pumps His way into his hat. Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun But mama, that's where the fun is” A man from New Jersey made coin in time.
Bruce was Born to Run. You are too. That’s what Dan won’t tell you. Then he doesn’t get paid. That’s the thing. You got to earn that song Mr. Koe.
Money = freedom.
There. We said it. Dan, you must agree. Your standard of measurement remains only based on coin as proof.
Here’s another way to crack this code: Consider money as it’s been written into the code of our DNA, The Gita, and taught by the Dao crowd.
This kills Dan and his company’s passive income strategy.
Does that get you there yet?
Survival: 100% of our DNA includes survival frequency genetic code. Success: 100% of human beings can release from the suffering caused. Sacred: 100% of sacred traditions support doing this throughout history.
It is therefore not only wrong, but ignorant, damaging, and annoying to think that focusing on his own passive income will help you get to sacred.
As we know from The Gita, money is not the point. We are entitled to the experience of life, know our destiny, and release our own gifts in the world.
The pathway through this inner pain, transmuting pain to power, then helping others get what they want, is a great profit pathway.
It’s not only always worked for me—it works for everybody who does it. Suffering is optional. Pain, however, is part of the equation. Run from Dan. He knows not what he does. The pain of his ignorance kills others’ dreams.
Hi Dan, just letting you know that I used the human 3.0 model and I felt stripped down to the core of my identity.
Then I asked for system thinking advice and I found out everything I need to know. Or that I was hiding to myself.
Thanks again, see you.
I recently actually wrote about something very similar. It talks about a very similar concept: Money as fuel, not the destination. When you’re on a road trip you don’t constantly think about getting to the next gas station. You focus on the destination. And just like a good driver you glance at the fuel gauge instead of staring at it.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thepurposeproblem/p/why-a-6-figure-income-can-keep-you?r=61kswz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Hi Dan, I’m Zach, a high school senior. I just wrote a short essay reflecting on Moby-Dick and how it taught me about accepting uncertainty. I’d love it if you’d check it out and maybe give it a restack if you enjoy it:
https://zachkahn.substack.com/p/the-worldwide-quest-for-certainty?r=43zlkt
Digital tools, especially AI, have created endless possibilities, but also endless dangers.
What often goes unmentioned is the increased personal effort this demands: a conscious investment in knowledge, skills, and self-development.
Without that, it’s easy to drift into passive comfort, enjoying the benefits of technology while leaving our inner capacity untouched.
The real question is: are we using AI to grow ourselves, or letting it quietly replace our effort?
Because this conscious effort is the true prerequisite for escaping the vicious cycle of Level 1, the very first step toward freedom.
The problem I see is the underlying issue of effort. Most people see AI as a means to do things "easier" when that isn't want they're here for. AI won't make you a better writer if you're not committed to writing. AI won't help your business explode if you're not committed to the work.
AI is like most tools. Those with skills and effort with outpace everyone else because they will grow faster. Those who are looking for a life raft to ease will lose themselves to AI.
True - AI cannot replace commitment.
But if effort is tied only to productivity and not to inner growth, we’re just spinning the same wheel faster.
I think its an underlying belief/perspective issue. People believe that life is about productivity. And, in their quest to become robots and mindlessly produce objects, they have themselves invented 'AI'. And now they worry that AI will steal all of the jobs they said they never wanted to do. It's hilarious, in its own way.
If belief systems were adjusted, just a little, to understand that life is about enjoyment and not production, AI would be seen as a wonderful friend, and not a dangerous opponent.
So sick of the 'money is bad' belief, it's everywhere. It's aimed at spiritual systems too. People criticize TM and Isha Kriya because it 'costs money', despite the fact that it would change their lives and despite the fact that they spend 100x more on things that harm them. Not that programmed belief systems were ever meant to be logical, of course.
The money is printed out of thin air anyway. You might as well funnel $100k annually while having fun and growing across the 4 quadrants. Somebody has to be receptive to the printed funds, and it can only be those that have no hangups about increasing financial flow.
The issue is how most are conditioned to relate to money. They give it some sort of moral value when that's not what money is. When people brake out of the lower levels of Maslow's and realize money is just a tool, they begin to widen their perspective to what is possible.
Unfortunately the majority of the time is trying to break that paradigm.
I just wrote an article on this actually. The conflation of money with morality stops so many from being able to allow themselves wealth, and there's no evidence that being poor makes you moral (the opposite, IMO). If money is the root of all evil, it's going to be very tough battling against your own belief system to survive.
Breaking out of the paradigm, in the lower level, is the most difficult part. There's a pull towards a steady job as the most obvious means of earning money, which comes with so many trappings.
Is it possible to be at level 3 but broke ? Or you need financial success at level 2 to fully be at level 3 ?
It's a painful to realize that you lived (unconsciously) in survival mode your whole life. But what a relief to know that the way you choose to play the game is 100% your choice. Right now I can only play Sacred. The rest are game over.
You connected many dots at one place. Great read!!
Another awesome letter. Glad to know Kortex is not for sale like Loom.
Hey Dan, I can't thank you enough for this. It makes me feel not alone anymore.
Just one quick question, I see that you're willing to help readers catch up on important concepts by refering to previous newsletters.
Could you point me to a sequence or recommended order of reading past newsletters to be knowledgable in Dan Koe's world of Future/Proof'ing'?
You're the best, much thanks.
The hustle continues.
The celebrity posse offers a special opportunity to support the passive income community. Before you open your wallet…
I’ll share another profit pathway from experience at a surface level. The note comes from deep underground as that is where I find myself tonight.
Assume the assumptions are not true. Let’s break it down from underground. We know it’s marketing hooked. You’ll see this instantly.
Survival (90% of people): Make enough to not die. Money as master. Success (9% of people): Make enough to matter. Money as scoreboard. Sacred (1% of people): Make enough to authentically create. Money as energy.
It’s possible that AI wrote this, because it’s wrong, stupid, and not useful.
What Dan assumes—and gets wrong—is the math.
Him and the popular crowd blinded by the light missed the entire thing again. Be like Manfred Mann. Look into the light of the sacred to profit.
“Madman drummers, bummers Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat In the dumps with the mumps As the adolescent pumps His way into his hat. Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun But mama, that's where the fun is” A man from New Jersey made coin in time.
Bruce was Born to Run. You are too. That’s what Dan won’t tell you. Then he doesn’t get paid. That’s the thing. You got to earn that song Mr. Koe.
Money = freedom.
There. We said it. Dan, you must agree. Your standard of measurement remains only based on coin as proof.
Here’s another way to crack this code: Consider money as it’s been written into the code of our DNA, The Gita, and taught by the Dao crowd.
This kills Dan and his company’s passive income strategy.
Does that get you there yet?
Survival: 100% of our DNA includes survival frequency genetic code. Success: 100% of human beings can release from the suffering caused. Sacred: 100% of sacred traditions support doing this throughout history.
It is therefore not only wrong, but ignorant, damaging, and annoying to think that focusing on his own passive income will help you get to sacred.
As we know from The Gita, money is not the point. We are entitled to the experience of life, know our destiny, and release our own gifts in the world.
The pathway through this inner pain, transmuting pain to power, then helping others get what they want, is a great profit pathway.
It’s not only always worked for me—it works for everybody who does it. Suffering is optional. Pain, however, is part of the equation. Run from Dan. He knows not what he does. The pain of his ignorance kills others’ dreams.
I'm pretty sure I had a lv 0 job but I got level 3 training in the pipleline so now I'm stuck and still broke. Thanks
Absolutely beautiful!
I love how you're bringing the idea of levels into money and content creation!
I really need to get a way to use this in my own stuff, lol!
Fair onboarding, I suppose. Nothing that hasn't been said a myriad of times.
Thanks for the encouragement n enlightenment Dan❤️❤️