We are in an age of great change ... corporations are streamlining their workforces ... industries are either being eliminated or are moving into new fields. ... Jobs once considered to be secure are being eliminated. Many workers are being faced with ... retraining for new fields of work [or] ... launching out in entrepreneurial endeavors, calling for faith and vision and the need to tap into the universal flow of substance.
Healthful is a common word that connotes "conducive to health"-that is, good food, plenty of rest, and an environment of high vibrations. There is no word, however, that relates to the things that make for a personal experience of wealth-and there should be. So I have taken the liberty of coining the word wealthful.
There is a great need to establish ourselves in those things that are conducive to prosperity. We need to turn the focus of attention away from lack, layoffs and limitations, and on to the omnipresence of universal substance. We can see it in the everywhere presence of life all through nature, and we can feel it in the endless flow of creative ideas that issues forth from our minds in moments of inspiration. Just as there are experiences that are healthful to us, so are there experiences that are "wealthful."
Expose yourself constantly to wealthful ideas-think prosperity ... substance ... affluence. Your life will be influenced for good or ill by the kinds of thoughts that rule your mind and manifest themselves in your world.
The Universal Flow
... Lack and limitation of any kind are aberrations in an opulent universe. Any person who is experiencing lack is, in some way, living in opposition to the universal flow. When we establish ourselves in the consciousness of God, the whole universe moves to flow into us with its abundance of life and substance. This is obviously what Jesus had in mind when he said, "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Mt. 6:33).
It has been commonly assumed that in times of economic reverses; we are all victims of a strange malaise about which there is little that can be done other than to wait and see. However, the study of the laws of spiritual economics reveals that there is much we can do, personally for ourselves and in concert for our country and our world.
... Even as most physical ills are now considered to be psychosomatic in origin, so we must begin to face the possibility that financial problems may be the outer manifestation of inner states of consciousness. There is no such thing as a purely financial problem unrelated to the false attitudes and emotions that caused it or to a healthy attitude or emotion that can cure it.
True Prosperity
The word affluence is an overworked word in our time, usually implying cars and houses and baubles of all kinds. Its literal meaning is "an abundant flow"-not things at all. When we are consciously centered in the universal flow, we experience inner direction and the unfoldment of creative activity. Things come too, but prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness that attracts these things.
The word prosperity comes from the Latin root which literally translates "according to hope" or "to go forward hopefully." Thus it is not so much a condition in life as it is an attitude toward life. The truly prosperous person is one who is experiencing what Jesus referred to as the life more abundant.
Prosperity is a way of living and thinking-not just money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking-not just a lack of money or things.
Considered in the broadest sense, prosperity is "spiritual well-being." This involves the whole experience of healing life, satisfying love, abiding peace and harmony ... a whole creature in a whole universe.
We have been erroneously conditioned to believe that our lives are completely shaped by what happens around us and to us. But life is lived from within out. It is not what happens "out there," but what we do or think about what happens.
What Is Required
The starting point in realizing prosperity is to accept responsibility for your own thoughts, thus taking charge of your life. ... You cannot afford to let the so-called [economic] experts decide how you are going to think and feel, ... how you think and feel ... will invariably determine what you experience.
Make a commitment to get yourself and keep yourself in the positive stream of life. ... Eliminate such thoughts as I can't, I'm afraid, and There is not enough from your consciousness. Talk only about the things you want to see live and grow. Keep your thoughts centered in the ideas of abundance, self-sufficiency and well-being.
... Work on the realization that you are surrounded by a divine presence which wishes for you only good because you are expressing its life. The exciting Truth is that God will make you prosperous and successful in all your ways if you do not make it too hard for God. Infinite Mind will put ideas into your mind, words into your mouth, creativity into your hands, boundless opportunity before you, and guiding light on your way
