IT IS NOW TIME TO LOOK AT FIRST CAUSE, that from which everything arises. Know thyself—so has it been said throughout the ages.
Your Self, your spirit, or your soul, whatever you call it, is the real you. The rest of you is just a set of tools. Your personality and body and ego are just temporary tools of your Self, which always remains even after you drop everything else.
Your Self is First Cause of your entire world. Any state you find yourself in must be caused by Self. Your thoughts come from your Self. Your desires come from your Self. Can you think of anything in the world that does not arise from the spirit? Nothing can exist outside of spirit; nothing can exist outside of life. Even wealth has First Cause. Now you see why it is crucial to know what spirit is, so that you may know how to be more in touch and aware of First Cause in your life, so that you may create the experience of wealth and happiness in your life.
We have already touched on spirit many times before in this book, especially when we were referring to states of being. Now we shall look at two aspects of Self—the actual spirit side of you and the things you do here in life as a personality. We'll consider what is healthy for you and your Self—what helps you to have wealth and happiness.
You are First Cause.
People attract what they are, not what they want. They attract what they love and what they fear. They sustain what they judge and condemn. What they resist persists. What they accept and examine mindfully releases them. What they truly believe is what becomes real in their lives.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
See good in everything. Look at the light, and you will never see the dark.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Change is the only constant in the universe. Everything changes at every moment. Life is all about change, and with change comes growth. You will one day leave even your own body. You can never truly own anything here on earth. Thinking that you own something results in that thing owning you. The thought of ownership causes resistance to change, resistance to the workings of the mighty universe in its infinitely intelligent fashion. The minute you start thinking you own something, it owns you. For you to enjoy and use prosperity and wealth wisely and fruitfully, you must replace the idea of ownership with the idea of temporary custodianship—having the use of something, keeping something, of taking care of something. This is what makes you ready to “go with the flow” without loss and suffering when the time comes for change to work its inevitable ways. So much suffering is caused by resistance to change. Resistance to change shows that you believe it is possible not to have something, to lose something; yet on a higher level, on the level of spirit, you have it all at all times.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
What are you holding yourself back for? You have it all. You can experience any part of your Self that you choose, so long as you make the choice earnestly and with conviction. With faith, everything is possible. It is all yours anyway.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
What are you waiting for?
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Calmness is the fruit of wisdom acquired over time. Calmness affords true control and precision of thought.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Celebrate life!
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Fear of the unknown is paralyzing and totally unnecessary. Only in the unknown can you find growth, freshness, and creation. The known, the past, is already experienced—it is gone. A past moment is a moment gone, lingering only in your memory. Sometimes we keep recreating the past, over and over, sustaining it out of fear of losing it. But new growth, new creation, lies only in the unknown. Learn to love and cherish the gift and power of the unknown. Choose this, and you will find yourself traveling on a wonderful journey of exploration and growth. Remember always that your Self knows everything—nothing is unknown to it. It is only your ego—with its limited perspective of space-time—that knows only fractions of the All. Trust your spirit—your Self can never harm you. You are your Self, not your body and ego. All suffering is caused by fear and by believing strongly in the illusions of this world. Let go.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The unknown carries tremendous opportunities, knowledge, potential, and rewards. Step into it often.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Consistency of purpose. Curiosity. Confidence. Courage. Cheer. Certainty of intention. This is all good stuff.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Why are you holding back?
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Let go.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
At every moment and in every situation, with every thought and action, ask yourself two questions:
Is this the greatest version of the grandest vision I have ever had of myself?
What would love do?
Then adjust your thoughts and actions based on the answers to these two questions. This is a very fast way to grow in all areas of your life.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Question everything and rule out nothing. Be willing to suspend everything you know. You cannot discover new things until you stop telling those new things what you think they should be. Let them tell you what they really are!
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Exercise your body daily. Your body is an energy system and an extension of your mind. Exercising opens up the energy channels in your mind and body. Remember, thought is energy, and your mind is all over your body, in every cell of your body, not just in your brain. Exercising your body every day makes your mind and thoughts a great deal better.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Change is the only constant. Love it. Embrace it. Find the gifts that it brings to you. Change. It is the only game there is anyway—the game of life, the game of changes.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
To the extent that a person has and exercises their wealth consciousness, that person finds themselves in the company of opportunities, businesses, situations, and people that enable them to manifest into physical form the amount of wealth consciousness they have and choose to exercise. Luck and coincidence have nothing to do with it. What some people call luck and coincidence is the precise execution of an infinitely intelligent universe that works in amazing ways to fulfill exactly what we imagine ourselves to be, with conviction.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are your own luck.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
What is “can”? What is “should”? What is the line between can and cannot, should and should not? Is there really such a line? Or do you, we, make it up?
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are the magic.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Change is the order of the universe. Life is change. Growth and evolution is what life is all about. Clinging to things is not only futile; it is harmful to you. You cannot win a game when you resist change.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Now that you know the truth, the laws that drive the universe unfailingly, hold this truth in your thoughts at all times and you will not be affected by the physical world again. You will become its master instead of its slave. The truth will set you free.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Life is all about growth, expansion of consciousness. Life, the Source, God, has never designed or planned that you should not expand your consciousness. In fact, the whole design of life is for consciousness to keep expanding. It is in the whole universe's best interests that you expand your consciousness, including your wealth consciousness. Life seeks to express and experience itself to enable that evolution and growth. Wealth, if you consider it clearly, does a whole lot to enable that growth. Once you have wealth, you have freedom to explore many other aspects of life you would not have had a chance to explore without it. The true nature of all life is to increase life. Anything to the contrary is going against life. Your desire for wealth is very natural and necessary for you to move on to higher levels. Not only is it natural, it is fully supported by nature if only you follow the laws of nature. Ancient texts tell us that it is the desire of God that you get rich, and nature is friendly to your plans, as long as you are in harmony with it.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
We live in a realm of relativity. Everything else outside of you exists, in a most clever way, to help you know yourself and recreate yourself anew. It is most clever, because that statement is true for each being. Without short people, tall people would never know they were tall. Without “bad” people, “good” people would never know they were “good.” And vice versa. You need a frame of reference and an opposite to know what you are, and to choose what to become next. The day you start seeing everyone and everything as bringers of certain gifts for you—when you seek to find out what those gifts are and you realize you are also there to enable the self-definition of others and willingly give others what they ask—that is the day you will start moving very rapidly toward more wealth.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Love yourself, your customers, your world, your family, everyone and everything. Love is the strongest power.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
So you wish to be wealthy. That is great. But who are you? That is a very deep question. Ask yourself: “Who am I?” Your first answer may be “I am Jane” or “I am Joe.” Then you may say something like, “I am a twenty-eight-year old female, Croatian, short-tempered but happy, sometimes doubtful but generally confident.” Really? Is that really you? Each of those things started at some point in time. Your parents gave you a name; you acquired your habits, personality, and disposition over time. You were born with few of these things, and you were conceived with none of them. In other words, none of these things is really you—you leave them all here on this plane of existence when you move on to the next plane. So they are not the real you, your Self. They are “jackets” you wear over your Self—jackets that you take off as time goes by (people change), and some that you take off when you leave the earth.
Try this: “I am a twenty-eight-year old female.” Is your Self really only twenty-eight years old? Could it have been there before you were conceived into this world? Is your Self definitely male or female? You do not have to know the answers to these questions to become wealthy. But it is important to recognize that, just as we said and saw that you are not your circumstances, you are also not some of the things you have all along thought you were. These “jackets” are helpful and useful, but sometimes they can hold you back. People who identify too much with their jackets, especially negative ones, place themselves in a prison, a box, a position from which they are unable to escape for fear that their self will be violated, or that their self is not capable, while all along it isn't their true Self. The next time you catch yourself saying “I can't do that because I am...” reexamine the “I am” bit and ask yourself whether that is really you or a jacket you picked up along the way, a jacket that you know for sure you will one day take off, a jacket that you may as well take off now.
Your body cells change daily; your thoughts come and go; your ego and self-image change. They are not the real you. Your Self is the timeless Being that takes on all these jackets of illusion—jackets that should serve you, not hinder you—jackets that are really under your Self-control, although often you forget this. The illusions, the jackets, are very necessary. They are the tools by which your Self experiences itself on a physical plane. Think about what you know so far about spirit and quantum physics. All physical objects look separate to our limited five senses; but, in fact, they are part of a large pool of energy that is not separated at all. Spirit is also just One, individuated into “individual people.” It is individuated, not separated—just as the oceans of the world are individuated into waters with different depths and tides and characteristics, yet they are all one ocean. All your spirit knows is love, for it cannot kill or injure itself—it is immortal. It is also One. It cannot “go broke,” for it has everything, pure wealth and abundance.
Why is it necessary for the spirit to have an earthly existence? Imagine that you were born in a very rich land where everyone was super wealthy, no one lacked anything, and all desires were fulfilled instantly. How would you ever experience the thrill of having wealth? It would be impossible. You would know you were wealthy, but this would be meaningless because you would never have compared it with being poor. You would never have risen out of poverty and become wealthy. See? You would need first to “go broke” in this super wealthy land, then appreciate how uncomfortable that felt, then work your way back to wealth to feel the thrill and experience of wealth.
You cannot experience something, even if you know it, unless you create the experience of its opposite. This is the position spirit is in; it knows all, but it cannot experience wealth unless it creates a realm of illusion of not knowing and not having. Let us go back to our example. If everything in that super wealthy land were wealth, you would be unable to become poor. So you would have to create an illusion where you saw only extremely small segments of your whole world at a time. For instance, instead of seeing that you have a car, a road, a house, and a shopping mall all at once, the illusion would limit your vision so you can only see the car—at first. Then, after working, you would start seeing the house. And so on. Once you could see it all, you would feel the thrill of realizing what you already knew and had all along but could not experience. This is the purpose of our earthly physical experience.
Another way to look at it is to think of something you really like. Think of your favorite food or even having great sex with your loved one. If you ate your favorite food all the time, at every moment of your waking and sleeping, or if you did the same with sex, do you see how the experience would cease to be an experience and become a knowing without experience, for it would be all that is. Your entire eating experience would be comprised of eating that one favorite food, and you would finally know no other eating experience, and the favorite food would cease to thrill. This is a very simple example; it gets very complicated at the highest spiritual level, but at least you get the picture.
Still not convinced? Here is another example—the experience of love. Spirit is immortal and at one with all. It knows only love, but cannot experience it because there is nothing to compare it to. At the ultimate level of spirit, all that exists is One and the One knows that it is all One; it has no illusions of separation. This is what some people call God. Let us think of it as Being, life, or the Source, the All That Is, the I Am. All That Is, life, Being, is exactly that—all. It is not a he or she or an it—it is All. There is nothing else except the One, so there is nothing the One can use to experience itself unless it individuates itself. The individuation and illusions start at lower levels. It is necessary to create a limited-consciousness physical plane where the illusion of separation exists, where it is possible to “kill” a body, to hurt, to suffer, to lack. And on this physical plane—where it is possible to act in unloving ways and do harm—love rises, and its fruits and the experience of it are then possible.
Now you see that the illusion is very necessary. You, your Self, need it and use it. The only problem comes when your ego makes you believe in the illusion. The ego was designed to create the illusion of separation. It is necessary. But when the illusion is taken as the reality, it no longer becomes a tool with which you can experience the greatness of your spirit and all that it has. It instead becomes a painful trap. You stop “pretending” that you do not have wealth in order to experience the thrill of having wealth, and instead start “believing” that you really do not have wealth. You stop pretending that you are separate and at risk, and start believing that you are. This is the cause of much suffering. Learn to use the illusion instead of believing in it. This is what Jesus meant when he said: “Be in this world but not of it.”
Simply being aware of who you really are will change your life amazingly for the positive. You are a spirit with a body, personality, and ego. You are not a body, personality, and ego with a spirit.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The most important thing is definitely to have joy in your life. Lighten up; do not take things so seriously; do not be too hard on yourself and others; let joy into the lives of people. Joy is natural; it is the soul expressing itself. It keeps the energy circulating and makes the whole ride worth it! Joy multiplies everything it attracts. And it is fun. Enjoy!
Decide at all times not to worry, not to get frustrated, not to wish you were somewhere else doing something else, and not to fear. All these are statements of not having, and they perpetuate the state of not having.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Before you do anything, always ask yourself: “Is this who I Am?” “Is this how I wish to define myself into a higher next?”
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
It is all inside of you.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
For everything you see around you, you are the cause. Why then would you hate something around you now? If you don't wish to have it around anymore, ask yourself what part or aspect of yourself is causing it, and you will soon discover something about yourself that you will find beneficial to change.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Nothing happens around you of which you are not wholly or partly a cause at some level of your whole Self, even though you may not be conscious of the choices you are making that are causing your world.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Condemnation and judgment keep in place that which is condemned and judged.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are not your past, any of it, at all, unless you insist you are.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Your soul is the part of you closest to the Source of All That Is. It is an individuation of the Source, in the image and likeness of the Source. Your soul knows and perceives a lot more than your physical body and mind do. Your soul communicates with your mind through your body using feelings and intuition. Listen to your feelings and intuition always if you wish to speed up your growth and reduce unnecessary setbacks and suffering.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are a soul with a body, not a body with a soul. You are a soul with a body, a mind, a personality, and an ego. Knowing this and knowing what a soul is makes a huge and empowering difference in the acquisition of wealth.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Meditation places you in direct contact with the unified field of consciousness, the unified mind, and infinite intelligence. Through meditation, a completely new world will open up to you. Through meditation, you will find calmness, wisdom, and inspiration. It is yet another way toward wealth and many other things. It is the home of infinite wealth consciousness, and you are welcome to it any time.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Inspiration and desire come from the soul seeking expression and manifestation in the physical world. One fast track to get to where you are going is to pay attention to your desires and inspirations. Develop your intuition.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Mind, body, and spirit are all connected. One way to think of it is to see the mind as the subtlest part of the body, and the body as the most solid part of the mind. By living in this knowledge—by treating mind, body, and spirit with equal importance, care, and attention—you grow most quickly and become wealthy fastest.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The root of a bulb which shall produce a white lily is an unsightly thing; one might look upon it with disgust. But how foolish we should be to condemn the bulb for its appearance when we know the lily is within it. The root is perfect after its kind; it is a perfect but incomplete lily, and so we must learn to look upon every man and woman, no matter how unlovely in outward manifestation; they are perfect in their stage of being and they are becoming complete. Behold, it is all very good... It will make an immense difference with your faith and spirit whether you look upon civilization as a good thing which is becoming better or as a bad and evil thing which is decaying. One viewpoint gives you an advancing and expanding mind and the other gives you a descending and decreasing mind. One viewpoint will make you grow greater and the other will inevitably cause you to grow smaller. One will enable you to work for the eternal things; to do large works in a great way toward the completing of all that is incomplete and inharmonious; and the other will make you a mere patchwork reformer, working almost without hope to save a few lost souls from what you will grow to consider a lost and doomed world. So you see it makes a vast difference to you, this matter of the social viewpoint. “All's right with the world. Nothing can possibly be wrong but my personal attitude, and I will make that right. I will see the facts of nature and all the events, circumstances, and conditions of society, politics, government, and industry from the highest viewpoint. It is all perfect, though incomplete. It is all the handiwork of God; behold, it is all very good.”
—James Allen
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
How do you start doing all these things? Just start doing them. Now. It is that simple. Just do it. Now.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Your truth is always truest to you. Truth is personal and everchanging. Even though you should surround yourself with experts, advisors, and good books, always follow what rings true to you. Do not follow external sources blindly; check them with your Self.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The Source always talks to all of us through all forms of internal and external communication. Always in all ways. It is we who shut out that communication. Start paying attention to the movies you watch, the TV shows you see, the magazines you read, the people you talk to, the events of life that you watch, and the intuitions you have. All these, and many more, carry messages for your advancement, messages from the Source. Simply be open and willing.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Act as if you are already wealthy, for you are.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
There are no real limits other than those you set on yourself.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Become unstoppable by refusing to stop.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired.
—Robert Strauss
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You have more potential in you than you can possibly use up in an entire lifetime or even in several lifetimes. Stop making up excuses and believing in limits.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
By our inherent nature, we have limitless potential and abilities. “I can't” does not exist—it is an illusion. If nothing outside yourself can hold you back, then what is holding you back?
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Your soul is that part of you that is closest to God, the Source. Your soul speaks to your mind through feelings and intuition. Listen to your feelings and intuition. Honor them over any conflicting thoughts and emotions. Be careful, though, because some thoughts and emotions camouflage themselves as feelings. But be still and you can distinguish between them.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The desires that you suppress become depressions, and that leads to something even worse. It can sometimes lead to unhealthy ways to fulfill those suppressed desires. Express your desires, and you create life and joy.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Persist in following your feelings and intuition. They are your closest communications with the Source.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are a soul with a body, not a body with a soul. When you see this clearly and live your life at all times with this in mind, your power increases.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
“I Am.” This is your new way of making statements. “I Am.” The universe absolutely listens to whatever you place after the phrase “I Am.”
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You need nothing outside of yourself to be wealthy.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Freedom. It is your nature. Keep it and express it. Allow others to keep and express their freedom.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Stop choosing what has been chosen for you by others and start choosing on your own.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Meditate every day, even for just fifteen minutes twice a day. This connects you with the Source, lets you know your true nature, brings inspiration, and shows you the ultimate reality.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are who you say you are.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Experiences are within you, not outside. For example, two people can take the same roller-coaster ride in an amusement park. One walks out of that ride very happy and thrilled, and the effects of that, over a lifetime, are positive, for everything is a cause of something else. The other person walks out of that same ride full of fear and shock, and the effects of that, over a lifetime, are negative. The same ride was experienced in two very different ways by two people. No experience exists outside of the person experiencing it. Even what you may consider a terrible event is joyous to someone somewhere. The point is that, when you choose to experience things positively, your life will be positive. The meaning of everything is the meaning you give it, and your experiences are what you say they are.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The next time a situation comes up, see it as the illusion it is; decide the experience you will have of it; then recreate yourself anew so that the illusion changes to your liking. This is so for financial situations and all other situations in life.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
A healthy person is usually in a better position to create wealth. Health is an indication of agreement between your body, mind, and spirit. Lack of health is caused by a disagreement between these three: for example, a mind with negative thoughts and anger causes an unhealthy body. A body that is not rested, nourished, exercised, and kept free of toxins kills the mind. Listen to, notice, and honor what signs your body, mind, and spirit give you.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
A daily combination of exercise and meditation raises your energy levels and positive emotions, leaving you in an extremely powerful position to create wealth and growth.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Remember “I Am.” The universe, the Source, manifests to perfection all your “I Am” statements and states of being made with certainty. The only time in the universe is Now—the present time. “I Am” works and is in agreement with the ever-present time of Now by being in the present tense. “I will be” barely makes it.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Freedom. Maintain yours and allow others theirs.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Do not take life too seriously. Enjoy it! Play with it like a child. Laugh at every corner. Joy is your true nature, and aligning with your true nature boosts your acquisition of wealth.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Rest and eat properly. Recharge your mind and body's energy system.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You become more conscious of your unconscious aspects by raising your awareness. You do this by deciding to be aware of all your thoughts and actions. Be watchful and guide them. You enhance this greatly by meditation. A good technique is the Vipassana (insight) mindfulness meditation.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Here is an amazing truth. As you enrich your inner self with enlightenments, your outer self will grow correspondingly richer, yet you will become more and more indifferent to riches, and riches will let go of their obsessive hold on you. You will finally become a naturally and automatically wealthy person with the carefree abandon of a child, and you will enjoy freely.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Desires indicate to you things for which you have a built-in ability. You may never have piloted an airplane before, but if you have a desire to do so, it shows you that your Self has the ability and nature to learn to pilot a plane. In truth, your Self knows all there is to know, but a desire shows you that you, at the higher level of your soul, are fully supporting that desire to pilot planes, and the whole universe will be there to assist in that desire manifesting. It is advisable for a person to follow their desires in business as well; in this way, you have proof that you will be able to do what you desire, and you will enjoy it. Desires also indicate to you which parts of your Self are calling out for attention, evolution, and growth, and which are working out to perfection. Desires are signals from the Self.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Let us revisit time. You now know what time is. It is an illusion created by your consciousness seeing only small portions of the whole space-time continuum at once. Remember the example of the football field. You saw that an object on that field sees events taking time as it moves across the field from one event to another, but the field itself sees all events as taking place on it simultaneously. For the field, there is no time, only an ever-present moment of Now whereby all events (all objects on the field) are taking place at the same time.
Your consciousness is an object on that field. So what is the field? It is your spirit or soul. You may have imagined that your spirit is the same size as your consciousness, but in fact, it is much larger than that. It covers all aspects of your life, even those to which you are not awake, those you are not conscious of. It exists right now in your past and future, but you are only awake to the part of it that is in your present. Your spirit is eternal and its presence is timeless, but your consciousness is not. It is multi-dimensional, while your consciousness is usually four-dimensional.
The point here is this: your spirit communicates to you through intuition and feelings. It knows your future, and all possible combinations of it. But it needs your consciousness to experience what it knows. In fact, it knows everything, but it needs consciousness on a physical plane to experience what it knows conceptually. Your Self knows exactly what time each event in your future will take place, and exactly what you need now to make it take place then. But your future is not fixed. It changes with every choice you make. And whatever choice you make, your spirit knows the series of events after that. And if you wish to get to a certain point in your life in the future, it knows how to get there exactly, step by step.
There is an old saying that says, “When spirit commands, the universe obeys.” To the spirit, everything is instantaneous, for it is all over the “field” at the same time. A big reason why you experience non-instantaneous gratification of your wishes is that you may not be listening to the spirit. The main reason that things seem to take time to manifest into experience after you wish them to be is that you may not be listening to the spirit. If you are aware of what the spirit is choosing at every stage and you know this through intuition and feelings, you will choose the same; and as soon as you choose, you will find that what you chose has popped up right in your face, ready to be experienced.
Try to see this. Your spirit has everything instantaneously. There are no delays between choice and having. But your consciousness usually experiences a delay. That delay is caused by differences between what your ego—your personality here on earth—chooses and what your Self chooses. Remember, you are your Self, but you also have an ego and personality and mind. So all choices are yours, but your spirit's choices are the most powerful, so to speak. Yet all choices are acted upon by the universe. If your Self chooses to experience a choice called A1 and your ego chooses A2, you will get to A2, but you will experience a “delay” in “time” due to the “confusion” of both choices being passed on to the universe. But if your ego and your spirit both choose A1, then you will find no delay at all. People now call these occurrences synchronicity. Synchronicity happens when you think of something or someone, and the same thing or person immediately, “coincidentally,” appears or calls you. And you say, “Wow! What a coincidence!” But it is not a coincidence; it is just unison between spirit choices and ego choices, between mind and emotional choices. When all your other parts choose what your spirit chooses, the result of the choice is instantaneous.
You see, your desires arise from the spirit. Spirit chooses just the right sequence of events to arrive at a desired end. Remember, you are your spirit, so these are your choices. But you have many components and levels, some of which you are not conscious of unless you choose to be. Fear is in the world of ego. So are emotions and non-detachment. These things inhibit instantaneous manifestation of your choices, even if you know what spirit is choosing. And fear is false evidence appearing real. Emotions are past conditioning; they are reactions instead of creation, and life is about creation. Non-detachment rises out of fear, out of illusion that loss and failure are actual.
Learn to be aware, intuitive, detached, and creative instead of reactive. Start seeing fear as false evidence appearing real, and you will start to experience more and more of your choices the instant you make them or very soon after you make them. Learn to trust your intuition. Realize that you are a soul, and that your true nature is indestructible and all knowing, literally located everywhere—and you have it all. Your body and ego are just illusions made to enable you to experience your Self. You, at the level of spirit, are in your future even right now as you read this. Why then would you fear the next moment? It is already taken care of by you—and you cannot possibly hurt yourself. Even death, the thing that people fear most, is senseless to fear.
Think about it. If the spirit is done with its body, what can the body possibly do to prevent the spirit from leaving and taking away life? Nothing! If your spirit chooses to move on, that is it. It cannot be “trapped.” And what can the body do to leave the spirit if the spirit still needs the body? Nothing! Your spirit is in past, present, and future and can see things that your body cannot. Your body cannot conspire against your spirit. Do you see how ego fights a fruitless war of fear against death and everything else? Do you see how fear itself is the destroyer? Spirit loses nothing. It cannot possibly lose. Spirit knows that, even after the body dies (changes form), it is still intact and as it was before, and it is all good. It is ego that fears death, and only because death is unknown. People who know death cease to fear it, as you may have heard.
Now, think about your birth. Just as you may not be aware of all the choices you are making as spirit, you most likely are unaware of the choices you made with regard to your birth. That does not mean there were no choices made, however. You chose a purpose, as we saw in the chapter on purpose. You had many purposes, desires, and wishes for further growth in various aspects. You chose exactly the right circumstances, body, configuration, and location to be born in to fulfill your desires, purposes, and choices for growth, and to stop believing in certain illusions. At every moment, you sent yourself the right people and things in your life to take you to the next step. Sometimes your ego refused to take them, but nevertheless you sent them. Do you start to see how it all works?
If you are still not convinced, think about this. Why do people say, when they are thinking of suicide: “I can't live with myself any more”? Look at that statement. There are two people in it. It is like a person saying: “I cannot live with this other guy anymore.” Yet it is two “individuals” in one. One of them feels immortal and desires to end association with the other, which it knows is mortal and the source of suffering. Deep within everybody, there is knowledge that we are immortal souls with mortal, illusionary bodies and egos. All suffering comes from believing that our illusionary part is the real part. It is when we live in the illusion, instead of using it as we are here to do, that we cause pain and lack. The illusions are very necessary; they are beautiful gifts. But start using them instead of living in them.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Vipassana (insight or mindfulness) meditation takes your awareness to a level where you can watch your subconscious mind create thought. You can observe your sponsoring thoughts. It gives you a chance to “fix” your subconscious and ego through a process called mindfulness. It also takes you to levels beyond the subconscious. It is a wonderful tool.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
You are your spirit, not your body, personality, conditions, or anything else. Your spirit is eternal and All That Is. Your spirit is real, you are spirit. You are real. The real creates the illusion, not the other way around.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
The spirit or soul chooses a purpose or purposes when it chooses to manifest itself as a human being on earth. This purpose is co-chosen with all other spirits, with the One. It chooses what it wishes to experience on this physical plane. It causes a body and mind to experience these things. Now, it communicates to the body and mind through desires and feelings. But it never enforces its choices. Body and mind are free to choose whether or not to experience those desires. Often, out of fear or past conditioning, they choose not to. Yet the desire does not go away; it remains until it is fulfilled. When the body and mind are in disagreement or opposition to the soul, a person experiences dissatisfaction. When body, mind, and soul agree, the creative force is phenomenal—“waiting” ends, and joyous experience occurs without resistance. The soul then knows itself experientially! At all times, you are free to choose what you wish to experience. And at all times, your soul communicates to you, but you can choose not to listen, as many people have often done in the past.
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
Nothing real can be threatened.
—A Course in Miracles
—I am wealth. I am abundance. I am joy.—
All other things held constant, to the extent that an individual or society lives as a soul with a body, mind, and ego, instead of the other way around, so will it have wealth and happiness.
The greatest advice that can be given to you now is this: Meditate daily. If you do not go within, you go without. Meditation takes you in to meet your Self and infinity—One. It cannot be explained, only experienced.
Now let's take a brief look at the One.