enthusiasm vs. sour grapes

I found this statue the other day and fell in love with it

I realized as I started to write this post, that I had never written about money in such a direct way before, even though it is a “subject” that I think about every day.  Being able to do (and have) what we desire in this life is wonderful, and yet admitting that we would like to be wealthy or well-off financially, is socially unacceptable. When I am talking with a person who would like more money, almost always they will say something like,”I’d like to stop living month-to-month, but I don’t mean that I want to be a millionaire or anything like that!”  As if being a millionaire was somehow taking a step down as a spiritual human being. Why would we limit ourselves with this kind of thinking?

I bought the book, that I quoted below, a number of years ago because I was really struggling with the idea of wealth and spirituality. When I read the line about enthusiasm, I thought, “How enthusiastic have I been around money?” …not very. The dominant energy that I held about money was;  disappointed, discouraged, powerless, sometimes angry, confused longing, frustrated….a long way from enthusiastic expectation!

When I went through my, “Give it all away and serve those less fortunate” phase, on top of finding out that the less I had, the less I could do, I also saw the hypocrisy in myself. I have absolutely no issue with how anyone chooses to live, but if I feel deep down, that I cannot earn (or attract) a significant amount of money or financial abundance, and so I renounce money, I am not really making a choice. Only once I know that I can have something, am I free to give it up, free to make a choice.

A fun thing to do this weekend might be to start thinking more enthusiastically about money and abundance. Try saying a blessing over your wallet or purse. If you see a coin, say thank you. Smile at your money. Have fun. Make it a game. Start sending out a new signal and watch what happens!

“Money is energy. Your life is energy….Throughout history, philosophers and the great religious leaders have taught that there is divine abundance… We are loved and provided for. Money is just a symbol of the infinite goodness, the compassion that gave us life….money is energy and generating energy requires nothing except enthusiasm.” Stuart Wilde, The Little Money Bible

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Blessing our money…and a contest!

a cute little wallet

I had a love-hate relationship with money for much of my life. Money was a huge source of tension in my home growing up; the cause of endless arguments between my parents. And so without realizing it, I came to be suspicious of money; thinking that it was responsible for our unhappy home (so it must be bad), and yet wanting it (so I must be bad too).

When I started to change my attitude about money; when I began blessing it (instead of cursing it), more money flowed into my life. When I was afraid of money (afraid I wouldn’t have enough, afraid I wouldn’t look like a legitimate minister if I had wealth, afraid of what others would think of me….) it stayed away.

Money is neutral….until we put our judgements on it. It is a vital part our lives and our world, why not bless it? Why not enjoy it?

“Wealth is not his who has it, but his who enjoys it“. Benjamin Franklin

CONTEST TIME!

If you would like the little wallet above (it is new…I got it at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago, but it is too small for my needs…it’s a Liz Claiborne),  just post a comment with some positive thought about money. I will choose a random winner on Saturday the 29th!

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Our unique paths

Having been in, and around, the world of clergy, ministers, missionaries, monks, nuns…etc. for most of my life, the idea of self-sacrifice, poverty and suffering as the path to a spiritual life, was proffered constantly. Guilt for wanting nice things; comforts, beauty, and  time for one’s self, was the order of the day. So many of my good friends and colleagues won’t even talk about their desires for material possessions because they feel that this is somehow wrong. I used to be one of these too. At one point in my life, I gave all of my worldly goods away and went to work, and live, in the poorest region of the United States. My car barely ran, I owned one pair of pants and a few t-shirts. I lived in a house with fleas and plastic where a wall should have been. I don’t think it made me more spiritual. I don’t think that I was more helpful to people. It was just what missionaries did.

The thought in these circles is often, “Why should we have anything when so many are going without?” My question over the last 10 years has been, “How can we teach others that they can do, be and have anything that they want to accomplish in this lifetime, by a policy of self-deprivation?” So often, examples of great people who changed the world by embracing poverty, like Gandhi, (who without a doubt did) would be cited as the way to live, and yet,  Sarojini Naidu is said to have remarked, “It took a lot of money to keep Gandhi in poverty.”

We came here in bodies, that like soft, warm clothing, with eyes that can see beauty, taste buds that can appreciate wonderful food, bodies that have the capacity to love sexual experience and can appreciate rare and fine incense and perfume, minds that love great literature and books. Was the way that we were created a mistake? or one big test to be resisted? That does not seem like the plan of a loving God/Universal Spirit to me.  We are all different and have uniquely individual tastes and preferences for housing, cars, work, dress, worship….some find a very simple dwelling and no technology best for them. Others want elaborate furnishings and every gadget ever made to accompany them on their chosen path. How can we say what is right or wrong for someone else? There is no virtue in poverty or in living an inauthentic life. I am more helpful to others when I am living from my true center.

“It is quite a mistake to suppose that we must restrict and stint ourselves in order to develop power or usefulness. This is to form the conception of Divine Power as so limited that the best use we can make of it is by a policy of self-starvation, whether material or mental.” (pp. 90 The Hidden Power, Thomas Troward)

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