Money Doesn't Grow on Trees...
This service is led by Rev. Lynn Woodland
This month of July is a lush and abundant one with nature producing lavish excesses that will sustain us through the winter months ahead. Growing our personal wealth and abundance is a theme that fits well with this season of plenty. But, unlike apples, cherries and peaches, we all know that "money doesn't grow on trees."
Who hasn't heard that expression enough to have it ingrained in our personal memory banks, perhaps even with a familiar family member's voice attached? While we may easily grow way too many roses, tomatoes and zucchinis every summer--enough to take offerings to our friends and neighbors without giving it much thought--we all seem to recognize that with money this easy abundance doesn't exist.
In his best-selling novel, The Celestine Prophecy, now out as a movie, James Redfield beautifully encapsulates complex spiritual and quantum truth by defining everything in the physical world as "a vast system of energy." As I wrote in last month's article, physicists call this the Zero Point Field and speculate that it could one day endlessly meet all our energy needs. But this abundance is invisible to our physical senses and, so far, outside the range of our physical attempts to tap it. In this sea of abundant energy, we experience ourselves in a world of scarcity. Consequently, Redfield says much of the current interaction among humans involves trying to steal energy from each other because we feel weak and insecure.
This insecurity compels us to go through life like containers, scooping up everything we can and holding on to it for fear that whatever we release may never be replaced. Those of us at the higher end of the wealth spectrum often suffer from money worries as intensely as those who have much less. Collectively we give tremendous attention and effort to making more money even though, as studies show, once basic needs are met, having more money doesn't make us the least bit happier.
In spite of the endless examples of extreme lack that can be found on our planet, scarcity is more a shared myth than a reality. Our experience of lack is created and perpetuated by the vast amounts of energy and resources we use up in protecting our wealth from others who might try to take it (or stealing a piece of someone else's). Imagine what might happen if all the energy that now goes into national defense budgets around the world was directed instead into raising the quality of life. Imagine what could happen if all the resources and creativity that now go into competition, advertising and going after a "bigger piece of the pie," went instead into producing the highest quality product and the highest good for all. It's hard to imagine, isn't it? It's easier to envision a cataclysmic end of the world than it is to imagine universal cooperation and well-being.
The wars, greed, military spending, abusing the environment for profit and other atrocities that result from our fear of not having enough aren't the fault of governments, corporations and large institutions. This is an insecurity shared and perpetuated by all of us, even the most politically correct. Consider your own "hoarding" tendencies: how many material things do you own that you haven't used in a year or more? Are there things in closets, drawers, boxes, your attic, basement or garage that you don't use, perhaps don't even like, yet keep because they're "valuable," because you might need them some day, or because you just haven't taken the time to sort through them? Do you hold on to money, waiting until the last minute, perhaps past the due date, to pay your bills? Or cheat a little on your taxes?
Now, picture your own small stockpile and minor withholding tendencies and multiply it by the millions of other people on the planet who are similarly sitting on their own small hoards. Imagine what could happen if each of these individuals released everything they had that they didn't use or like. Our problem isn't one of scarcity, it's one of fearful withholding.
The good news is that we don't need to wait for the shifting of world powers or the advancement of science in order to live amidst abundance. As the wise voice of the "Rich Dad" counsels in Robert Kiyoski's best-seller, Rich Dad Poor Dad, "Money is not real." Rather, it's "What we agree it is." "The more real you think money is, the harder you will work for it" Very true, and the more we agree that money is scarce, the more it is--and the more we struggle for it.
As we begin to imagine and believe in the abundance we can't always see, we naturally relax, feel safer and no longer need to relate to each other through control, greed and manipulation. Sharing what we have becomes easier (think how easy it is to give of your bumper crop of tomatoes) and we discover that giving energy to each other is the most self-serving thing we can do because it calls forth the best in that person. At their best, everyone just naturally begins to give back. And, as I proposed in last month's article, this flow of unconditional sharing may just be our easiest access to the mysterious potential of the invisible field of energy described by physicists and meta-physicists alike.
While changing the world's mind set may feel out of your realm, unloading your own surplus is far more doable. And it's not just virtuous--according to the widely-embraced Asian tradition of feng shui, cleaning out your clutter positively affects your health and well-being in just about every way. I've noticed that people who've made huge, quantum leaps in their growth often feel compelled to simplify their lives, clearing out all sorts of things they don't need any more, shortly before dramatic changes just seem to "happen" to them. There's nothing like the vacuum power of an empty space for attracting something new.
This month, try making wealth a little less "real." Imagine the stockpile of your unused excess is a garden full of flowers and vegetables with enough for you, enough to share and more still growing. Consider pairing down your excess of unwanted things--share them, sell them, release them--and create an empty space for something new. If you're really bold, experiment similarly with your money. Start with an amount of money you can safely play with and make it less "real." Offer it to someone or something for no reason other than prospering them makes you feel good. See if these offerings of your abundance don't come back to you in ways you never would have dreamed!
Thank you for coming.
Namaste
Rev. Lynn Woodland is a writer, and founder of Miracles of the Spirit. She has spent her entire professional life promoting spiritually empowering alternatives. To learn more about Lynn Woodland’s work, visit www.lynnwoodland.com or www.quantumspiritunlimited.com