The Spirituality of Money

How can I reconcile the duality of money versus spirituality?

When I am worried about my money, I get further and further away from Spirit, my soul, my inner guidance. I can’t hear my subtle inner messages. I stunt my growth.

We look out in the world and, due to the disproportionate reporting by the media, see extraordinary pain, suffering and lack. How can I want to get a bunch of money? Shouldn’t I be doing something about all this pain, suffering and lack in the world?

Well, how can I? If I can barely pay my bills, how am I going to help someone across the world, much less help my neighbor. If I can’t even help myself, how can I help another?

On an airplane, in order to be prepared for an emergency, you are instructed to place the oxygen mask over your own mouth FIRST. Only then can you guarantee not passing out, in order to help the person sitting next to you.

Regarding all the suffering and crime and lack in the world, if we want that to change, who is going to change it? Is it going to be the sick and suffering? Is it their job to change themselves? How are they supposed to do that? They are sick! They are suffering. They are in pain. They are afraid.

Imagine, for a moment, a world in which people are not worried about money.

No, really, try to imagine a world where people are not concerned about money! No concern at all! What would they be focusing on? I believe that people would be interested in growth, joy, love. Am I being too idealistic?

I think not.

I have a vision where people are not concerned about money. And, therefore, are abundant. And, therefore, are creative. The world is full of people who are living in joy, are open and able to express love to each other. Poverty-consciousness doesn’t exist and so people don’t have to rob each other or beat each other up over things like sneakers.

I have a vision of a world where no one is concerned about resources. We have plenty of energy sources from the sun, the wind, the water, the tides, the static in the air. Therefore, groups and leaders are not concerned about territories. I see a world where we are free to enjoy the beauty that each area of the earth has to offer. Transportation is abundant. Generosity is abundant. If someone needs ‘help’, we freely and easily go and help them.

I have a vision where children know the power they have within themselves. Parents aren’t terribly concerned about how to provide for their children, so they aren’t stuck in jobs they hate, and then come home and take it out on their partners or their children.

With abundance, it is easy to love. With abundance, it is easy to be in joy. Abundance is spiritual. Money is just a form of exchange. You are already seeing how you don’t necessarily need dollars to find your love and joy. But it sure is an easy way to move it around.

Start this shift now. Pay it forward rather than waiting to get it ‘back’ from the recipient of your generosity. Expecting it ‘in return’ is stunting our growth. This is a form of poverty mentality. I prefer a shift to something more along the lines of “I got it, so I give it.” For one, it solidifies the sense of “I got it”, which is abundance thinking! I got it. I’m ok. I’m not scared. I don’t have to hoard. I don’t have to self-sabotage due to my fears. I have PLENTY. I have plenty. I give it. I give it. It feels good to give. Wait! What? I get more when I give it? This doesn’t compute!! Don’t I have to EARN it?

I have a vision where we don’t feel like we have to earn anything. We exist. We deserve. If you think or feel like you do not deserve all the abundance of the Universe, you are pretty selfish and self-centered. Source created all out of love and yet you are the ONLY one who is so special that you are the one who has to suffer?

I think not.

And it is time to stop that.

Let it go. Let it flow. Know your greatness. Know you ‘deserve’. Know that everyone ‘deserves’. If you think they don’t, if you think they are not ‘earning it’, stop it. You are adding to their pain.

See others as having the capability to be love, be joy, be abundant. This is how you create this new world. It’s you. You have the knowledge and the power. It is now your responsibility. Now you know too much. Go! Live! Love! Enjoy!

Finding Divine in Everything

I had to laugh when it occurred to me that when I used to look for the Divine in everything, I figured that I found it in a beautiful flower, or a child's laugh, the sunrise or sunset, a babbling stream.

Those are all wonderful. But isn't the Divine also in the rainy day, on a Monday, with no money in the account? Isn't the Divine in the earthquake, the hurricane?

I realize that I separate myself from the Divine when I judge that a creation is 'bad'. Who am I to judge? 

I know that I must accept that there are much bigger plans going on, that have very little to do with me. I must accept that the Divine knows what it is doing. 

That will just make it easier on me, because the Divine is going to do it anyway; I just won't be kicking and screaming anymore.

Service as a Gauge.

My selfishness is dangerous. Doing things so that I benefit from it, thinking things that alienate others away from me, setting goals that will get me things will all send me down a very dangerous spiral.

I can easily stop that with some service. This does not mean I need to do something huge like start a non-profit agency. It could be a smile I offer someone, where I would normally judge them and frown at them, or just look away.

It could be that phone call I've been meaning to make to an old friend who's been on my mind. They may not be 'fun' and I know they get more out of the conversation than I do; but isn't that the point?

How about doing the best job I can at work? How about picking up that piece of trash I see, rather than leaving it for the cleaning people who won't even come in until next week? I don't need to leave it there. How about doing my job with a smile, rather than judging how crazy people are? Why should I care about that?

And all these things can be done anonymously, secretly. If I need to do service and then proclaim how much service I am doing to show others how well I am doing is a clue that I am still doing them for selfish reasons.

This will not solve all my problems, but having an attitude of 'helping' rather than 'getting' is going to help me connect with my Divine. I can do these things from a place of peace and serenity, and I know that doing these things will deepen my Connection as I am serving my purpose for being.

Changing.

The weather is changing. Do you notice that it is a fairly gradual change? It does not happen all at once. Sometimes there are spurts of change, but mostly it is gradual.

It is sometimes like that with us. It is gradual. You must be patient. But you must still change. 

You must also keep 'up to speed' with the changes that are happening. In other words, you start changing, but you cannot go back. Going back will cause extreme pain.

It is NOT "giving up" your Free Will.

With my free will, I can choose to live more spiritually, which means be more loving and tolerant, less judgmental. I don't need to force things into place.

I can use my free will to be in a more joyful place by letting go of expectations. 

I can use my free will to enjoy this ride, up and down, this way and that, by staying centered and connected, rather than being pulled into any direction by any other person, or fighting the ride by trying to force it to go in any particular direction.

Spirit can give me a better ride. I just have to go with it.

Moments filled with Joy.

The more you fill yourself with the joy of the moment, 

the more moments you will have joy 

and the more joy you will have in your moments.