Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten

Part one of a series of articles to help encourage abundance and peace in our lives.

1. Attitudes to Money

Most people would like to be just a little bit rich. All of us would like to be happy. Apart from changing jobs or partners, we think that the reasons we are not happy or rich are outside our control.

They are not. In fact there is much that we can do to bring the flow of abundance into our lives.

We live in the physical world and to a certain extent are bound by the laws of that world. In our society there is an agreement that certain pieces of paper or lumps of metal are intended to ensure all things should work out fairly.

In ancient days, when there was no money, if one family had a pig and another had chickens, they would swap a haunch of the pig for a supply of eggs for the year. One year, perhaps, the pig died and there was no haunch available but the family who owned it still needed the eggs. They gave a token to the people with chickens as a pledge of an agreement to give them two haunches of pork the next year if they could only keep having the eggs.

Very simple, very honest, very sensible. And for centuries it seems to have worked very well. Then the symbol came to be seen as more important than what it symbolised.

Money problems are mostly about something else...

The real problem about money is the projections that we put on it. Where there seems to be an issue about money, it is actually more likely to be a problem about self-worth, anger, grief, about childhood experiences of conditional love or about an authority issue.

Nowadays, most of us know the phrase 'What goes around, comes around' referring to the cosmic law of Karma. It is also known as 'what you put out, you get back' or 'measure for measure.'

Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion says the same: 'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.'

Money conforms to this law exactly. It is like water; it flows where the channels are clear and becomes trapped and stagnant where its path is blocked. What you put out, you get back. What you believe about something will be fulfilled. The Universe obeys this law without exception. Sometimes the repayment is immediate and sometimes it takes years (or even lifetimes).

If we believe that money is evil and beneath us, or if we believe we are unworthy of it, we will subconsciously set up barriers to reject it and all the benefits it can bring. For a while, the Universe will still try to recompense us for what we are giving out, but it is only interested in banging its head on a brick wall for so long. If we won't receive, the Universe will bypass us, giving the money (or any other kind of abundance) to someone who will. That is one of the reasons why so many people who refuse to charge a reasonable amount for their healing arts or for their work may have financial problems.

It is like the old story of the man who was trapped on the roof of his house after a flood. A friend with a boat rowed up to him and offered to take him on board. "No thanks," said the man. "I've prayed to God and I'm trusting in him to save me."

Later on, a police launch came by and when the police offered him a ride, he gave the same answer.

Meanwhile, the water kept on rising. By the time a rescue helicopter flew over, the man was sitting on the top of the chimney waist deep in water. But he still refused help, trusting that God would save him.

The water rose again, and the man drowned.

When he reached Heaven, he was furious and he began to shout at God: "What kind of God are you ? " He bellowed. "I trusted you to save me and now I am dead."

"You don't understand," said God. "I sent you a friend in a boat, a police launch and a rescue helicopter to save you...It was you who refused to be saved."

In the world we live in - one of mortgages, rent, bills for heating and light and council tax - money is essential for a comfortable life — and we all deserve to have a comfortable life.

However, when there is fear and hatred around money, the Universe (in its wonderful, impartial way) will simply assume that if those are the thought-forms we seem to like to live with, it had better give us the opportunity to create more of them.

Of course, the attitudes of the really rich can be difficult to deal with sometimes and we may try to hide envy by slagging them off, but it is just as arrogant to flaunt your poverty as it is to boast about riches.

Also, feeling guilty about becoming prosperous when part of the world is starving doesn't actually help the starving people. People who are prosperous can do far more for those who need help than the poverty-conscious can — not only through giving, but through teaching others how to overcome their troubles.

Religious attitudes to money

We are taught that Jesus was poor - but there is little or nothing in the Bible to support that view. The carpenter in a village was one of the Elders, a prosperous respected craftsman and second only to the Rabbi — not one of the lowest of the low. Jesus, too, always manifested whatever he needed — and that included money for his taxes. What he taught was that possessions could be just that - people can be possessed by material wealth rather than the other way around.

The New Testament also gets misquoted — everyone knows the phrase 'Money is the root of all evil' (1 Timothy). What is actually written is 'The love of money is the root of all evil' which is a very different thing.

Moses and the six hundred thousand Israelites had treasure given to them by the people of Egypt when they left for the promised land. These built the Tabernacle which was later transformed into the inner sanctum of the Jewish Temple. They also had Manna from Heaven - everything they needed every day of their life on the way to the Promised Land.

The Buddha certainly renounced the riches of being a prince, but they were just clutter to him — not true abundance. Mohammed was inundated by people giving him riches and houses.

It is always worth investigating the inner truths of all religions...they usually tell you only to take as much as you need — and that means enough to pay your bills and to live peacefully so that you are able to be happy and to grow.