Let’s make no bones about it. We are living in a consumer driven society. We are urged by our government leaders and businesses alike to spend, to throw away old stuff and replace it, to go for a holiday, to do this and that, of course for a price. That is how the capitalist system works. Buy, throw away and buy again. Have you noticed how many thrift shops there are in North America? This stuff don’t just appear there, they are stuff that people do not want anymore, stuff we are tired of seeing around us even though they may be quite functional, we want to replace the old. Have you ever stopped and consider what it is you are actually throwing away? Yes, you are throwing away your energy. All the things around us represent energy. When we work and earn a living we are using our energy to earn that money so that we can transfer our energy in exchange for those things we need, things another individual might have in abundance and which you do not have. So we exchange energy. What about those people who do not work? Those of us who are fortunate to work donate some of our energy to those less fortunate than ourselves willingly or unwillingly, unwillingly when the government taxes us. But that is not such a bad way to expend energy. When we waste our energy, we are not conscious of what we are doing. What if we thought about what is it we need as opposed to what it is we want and then decide to spend our energy for those things we need. Do you think the economy would come crashing down? I don’t think so. Money is not to be hoarded as well; according to Patrick Barker in “Created Rich” “The possession of wealth and the role of detachment is analogous to the flow of water from a lake. Whenever water from a lake is released and flows onward, the lake remains alive and healthy. It is only when a lake retains everything that it becomes a lifeless and even lethal body of water.” This is the materialist principle that is behind our constant promptings to spend our money. When we react to those promptings we are unconscious of where we put our energy. You have to be conscious of where you spend your energy. Is it to buy useless material goods or to help make the world a better place, are you using your energy to feed the poor, heal the sick, educate the children, or build a school for poor children to have access to education? When our energy is spent in these positive ways we are living fully, we are making the world and ourselves, as an integrate part of the world, a better place, you will then receive in equal measure as that which you give out. That is the spiritual principle of output and return to which we must give our attention. “We must be like the fountain or spring that is continually emptying itself of all that it has and is continually being refilled from an invisible source. To be continually giving out for the good of our fellows undeterred by fear of poverty and reliant on that unfailing bounty of the Source of all wealth and all good – this is the secret of right living.” We must have faith in the Creator and living fully means being conscious that the earth is filled with abundance enough for every living soul, there is no shortage, we must do our part to keep the wheels turning in a good way and we will become rich beyond our wildest dream. Meditation I will be conscious of my spending, I will be the fountain that springs continually without fear of poverty because I have everything I need.
