September 2008 Prosperity Thoughts.

Affirmation: I trust that my mere presence is enough. I am a blessing to all.

As proponents of "applied spirituality" we are teaching our students how to enrich their lives now. Some other denominations tend to focus on teaching people how to get into "heaven" after they die, whereas we understand the "Kingdom of Heaven" to be within you, right now, and for every moment of your life.

There is admittedly a hierarchy to our perceived human needs. First and Second Chakra needs such as food, water, shelter and are often considered paramount. Continuing with the Chakra motif, when the first two Chakras are manifested, we tend to expand towards our Third Chakra; related to our need for safety and procreation. The Fourth Chakra needs tend to become activated when the Third is satisfied, we yearn for relationship, connection and society. After actualizing our heart connections, we focus on the Fifth Chakra, the need to speak truth and integrate our power. Finally, living from the higher Chakras we seek to make a difference in the world and to live a life of meaning and purpose.

The key take away item here is that our needs are not constant, as soon as we perceive that one of our basic needs is met, we self actualize and begin to yearn for fulfillment of those needs higher up on the scale. If on the other hand, one of our perceived needs is no longer met, we tend to go into survival mode until that needs is satisfied. This creates an interesting ebb and flow in our human perspective and in our prayer life. There is a healthy yearning and desire to expand the center of our life in higher and higher vibrations. We do not stay at any one Chakra, but we can for the most part inhabit higher and higher Chakras more and more of the time.

In terms of prosperity, and abundantly getting our needs met, our teachings of applied spirituality are thus laced with paradox. I will write about several over the next few months, but first, we run into problems of time frame. We want our needs met right this instant and if the need is not met Right Now!!, then we often ache with an urgency that creates a tempest. Even many New Thought teachers argue that we can demand of God results within a specified time frame. To my way of thinking, this reeks of spiritual temper tantrums.

Spiritual Maturity suggests that, by way of example, one way to enrich your life now is to recall that you are an eternal soul. From this perspective, any short term flatness in your joy barometer is so brief in the bigger picture that it is hardly worth fretting about. It is our unhealed trait of self centerdness that pushes so hard to get our way immediately. Focusing our attention on the inward cause will heal the outward manifestation. (the kingdom of heaven is within).

Today, a friend on the spiritual path mentioned an interesting case in point: Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick. Melville got his book published in 1851 to mixed reviews and paltry sales. He died in 1891. At the time of his death Melville was nearly forgotten in publishing circles and was financially impoverished. He was considered an insignificant author and Moby Dick was considered a literary failure.

Some 30 years after Melville's death, (70 years after it was written) there was a small literary revival of interest in Mody Dick. The stature of the work has continued to grow. Its influence, now, over a 150 years after it was published is far greater than the author could have imagined at the time. Moby Dick is now considered by many as an American Masterpiece.

Well, what is up with this? In the time frame of an eternal soul, writing a book of the stature of Moby Dick seems like a success in actualizing the desire to make a difference. It alone would imply a mission accomplished in terms of fulfilment of one life purpose. But in the time frame of a single lifetime, Melville could not know of this success, he would see his authorship as a failure. As an author he would probably have been living from a First or Second Chakra perspective.

I think we need the humility to remember that all unfolds in Divine Order, which is within a time frame of such complexity and depth that it is infinite. We do not dictate to our Creator, we listen to our hearts yearnings and surrender our self will over to the care of a loving Presence.... a Presence that has intelligence to see the bigger picture.

If we are looking outside of our selves for immediate acknowledgment and recognition, then perhaps there is a part of us that needs healing in terms of looking at our life contribution from a spiritually mature perspective. How about the idea we are here for our soul's own joy and not to meet just our lower Chakra needs.

Lets affirm that we always know how the last chapter turns out because we are eternal souls. In knowing this, we may not be able to get our peers to see the gift we have given, may not get the recognition and accolades that we would like. The practice then; humility and patience.

Today, we affirm: I trust that my mere presence is enough. I am a blessing to all.