Ron Robins: Investing for the soul

Investing for the soul, resources for spiritually (or ethically) oriented investors. Ron Robins, 60, has made it his mission to bring enlightenment to economics. Enlightenment? The theory is simpler than it sounds: a person governed by a stressed out, unfulfilled (and unenlightened) mind is more likely to buy and seek goods and services that harm the earth, while those who enjoy “higher consciousness” are more likely to invest their money in “good” things, like green products and educational services. Robins, who studied both business and spiritual studies in the UK, Switzerland, Canada and the USA including an MBA in finance and marketing, worked formally as an investment analyst for leading investment firms in Canada before setting up his own activity in 2001: Investing for the Soul. Part of his work involves workshops that teach investors and investment professionals how to find, research and evaluate ethical stocks and bonds. He has also practiced and taught meditation to leading North American corporations for over 30 years.

How did you become interested in combining spirituality and economics?

During the late 60’s I was an investment analyst. I began to be intrigued by the idea that we didn’t use our full mental potential and became curious to know what kind of society and economy would be created if we did use our full mental potential. I read hundreds of books in psychology and spirituality and came across many on meditation. After tying various types of meditation and yoga I settled on Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation (TM), which is the technique I also teach.

Is it realistic to imagine finance actually embracing ethical values?

I believe that it not only realistic to believe that finance can embrace ethical values, I see it as absolutely necessary that it does so. And, I believe that humanity is evolving to higher consciousness and it’s only a matter of time when finance becomes highly ethical. See my article, Everyone becoming a Cultural Creative.

What are the concrete steps that must be taken to ensure that financial decisions take into account ethical considerations as well as other factors?

As for the concrete steps to ensure that financial decision  makers take ethics into account, they must first be in a global environment that is ethical. For many years I taught TM to executives in the banking, finance and investment industries, and I was happy to see how their stress would dissipate and how they became happier people caring more for others. I don’t believe that ethics can be forced onto people. The environment has to be right and they have to feel comfortable with being ethical. It particularly has to come from within themselves. For my thoughts on consciousness see my blog.

Is this financial crisis the end of capitalism, the end of capitalism as we know it or just a temporary crisis that will be followed by business as usual once it blows over?

I believe its the end of capitalism as we know it. In the short term, we seem to be going-over to more of a fascist kind of economic model where the tie-in between big finance, business and government is total, overwhelming the influence of democratically elected officials. Note the power of Hank Paulson, US Treasury Secretary and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve. They now dominate the US government economic decision making process. This crises is going to deepen much further and I believe that these aformentioned individuals together with most of the leading economic and political figures in the majority of western countries are going to create such a mess that the public will demand a complete transformation to an invigorated, new economic and political structure.  Exactly what this new structure will be, I don’t really know at this point. But what I do believe will  be the case is that it will encompass the beliefs of the Cultural Creatives, who, “…  [care] deeply about ecology and saving the planet, about relationships, peace, and social justice, about self-actualization, spirituality, and self-expression.”

What effects will this crisis have on ethical investing generally?

I feel this crises is already having a tremendously beneficial effect on finance ethics in general. Ethical investing will get a huge boost from the poor ethics that has been evident so far in much of the financial world. I see ethical investing becoming much more mainstream, as society’s consciousness is transformed. I also feel that the kind of industries that will be supported in the future will be the ones most helpful to us environmentally, spiritually, ethically, and for our quality of life, generally.

What is the difference between ethical finance and plain old finance?

Ethical finance is just that, it engages our higher values and ethics. Plain old finance was done by individuals whose primary values were greed and status to the exclusion of everything else and often to the detriment of the wider society. Ethical finance on the other hand, engages a much more wholistic set of values that are likely to be in harmony with our higher values, and as such, investments made in this way may well be more successful, since they will more than likely attract and benefit more of the whole society!

Find out more: Investingforthesoul.com