[Jesus said], “If you have money, do not lend it at interest, but give [it] to one from whom you will not get it back.”
In the midst of a capitalistic society, undoubtedly such a saying falls upon deaf ears. To the mind-set of selfishness and greed, it seems completely insane, but such a mind-set is exactly what the Master is intending to shatter with this saying, for selfishness and greed are a total obstruction to the flow of Divine Grace and self-realization. They are, in fact, the basis of a poverty consciousness in which, no matter how much one may have, it is never enough and there can be no satisfaction.
Merely in terms of the material world, consideration of the inner dimensions and spiritual world set aside, as part of collective humanity and the world, we are part of an abundant and universal supply of energy-intelligence. We are connected to an inexhaustible supply of energy, resources, and opportunity of every kind, but as long as we are bound to the selfishness of greed or a siege mentality, we sorely limit our ability to draw upon the abundant supply and to actually experience abundance in our lives. To freely give away money, lands, or other possessions can prove to have a healing effect upon the one who gives, along with uplifting and benefiting those who receive. It is a remedy to greed and poverty consciousness.
The teaching given here is perhaps most important to the initiate of the Christian mysteries living in this present generation and society, as the subject of material resources is naturally an area of the greatest resistance and obstruction to a holistic spiritual consecration. It is not only the heart, soul, mind, and body that the initiate offers up to the Lord for the sake of heaven and the great work, but their whole life, including the resources God has given into their care. Fundamentally, advanced initiates know the resources of their life, not as personal possessions, but as a sacred trust given to them by God to accomplish the upliftment of themselves and humanity. Whatever resources they may have, whatever powers in the world, whether it be money power, fame power, sex power, social-political power, and so on, they know it is their mission to redeem and restore these to God’s Will. They consider whatever resources they have been given by the Life-power, God, to be their offering to the Lord.
The question of the initiate in the assembly of the elect is, “How do I skillfully use my talents, abilities, and all that I have for advancement of my soul in conscious evolution and elevation of the collective soul of humanity? How do I serve the Lord with who and what I am and what I have in my life?” Such a question is the difference between the profane individual and the true initiate in the world. For the would-be truth seeker and spiritual aspirant in this generation, the offering of material resources and active charity prove among the most significant stumbling blocks on the path.
This is reflected in the issue of tithing to churches or spiritual communities. Tithing is the practice of giving 10 percent of one’s income to the service of the spiritual community and God. This is an issue of duty to the spiritual practitioner, and is itself a spiritual practice. To tithe is not charity, but duty. Charity includes those material contributions, as a free elective, that go beyond duty. Among both the faithful and elect today, it is more common that less than 10 percent is given to the service of the Lord. On account of this grave resistance, ministers and spiritual teachers are reduced to beggars, or worse, fall into the sin of selling teachings and initiation in order to ensure support for spiritual work. If this is true of tithing, one can only imagine the plight of charity in the spiritual life of the faithful and elect!
Obviously, this was as great an issue in the time of our Lord as in our own time, although our own ability and resources in this society are undoubtedly greater among common peoples. The Master is speaking here of money, yet it can be any power in the material world that can be placed in the service of an active compassion or charity. Behind what he is saying is the awareness of Sacred Unity and universal consciousness on a material level. Cosmic or universal consciousness is the threshold of supernal or messianic consciousness. Our consciousness must be universalized in order for Messianic consciousness to dawn, and we must actively live with an awareness of Sacred Unity underlying all life. While mental and vital-emotional consciousness must be universalized and transformed, so also must the physical and material consciousness. Charity is the active expression of that transformation, the active response of recognition and realization of our complete interdependence and interconnection with all that lives, with everyone and everything. The Master is calling for a practice of this Truth on a practical level.
As long as strong resistance and obstruction remains on the material level of sharing and giving, there are aspects and levels of our consciousness that cannot be universalized and transformed. Understanding this, the Master is encouraging us to actively seek to address and dispel the withholding of ourselves on practical levels, as well as on the more subtle levels of mind, heart, and soul. With all levels of our consciousness and being, we are to serve the Lord and act as vehicles of God’s Will and Grace. Material gifts, psychic gifts, spiritual gifts, all are gifts of the Spirit—and whatever gifts we may have, we are to share and give of ourselves through them. How will you use the Divine energy as it is manifest with you—to what end? This is the question the Master is asking us and that we are to ask and answer ourselves as disciples of Christ.
Considering that we are spiritual beings having a material experience, it might rightly be said that practical and material assistance may be most important in the great work, certainly as important as the invisible assistance we may render to others. Without material and practical support, the more subtle and sublime modes of assistance have no ground in the world. Thus, in the Holy Scriptures, we hear the Lord speaking through the prophets about true sacrifice not being in the religious services of the temple, as much as in acts of charity, providing for the orphan and widow, defending the oppressed and seeking justice, active compassion, kindness, love, and all manner of material and practical things through which the human spirit is cultivated and uplifted. Here the Master reflects this fundamental Truth.