Wealth & Higher Consciousness

by John-Roger

Overview

A practical and balanced approach to the physical and spiritual wealth as a tangible manifestation, this simple guide offers tools and techniques for a daily life in partnership with God. From building a money magnet to the concept of personal tithing, financial wisdom is combined with spiritual practice to create greater daily abundance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935492849
Publisher:	Mandeville Press
Publication date:	04/01/2011
Pages:	151
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John-Roger, DSS, is an author, educator, and spiritual leader. He isthe founder of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, the University of Santa Monica, the Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy, and the Institute for Individual & World Peace. He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows and been a featured guest on Larry King Live, Politically Incorrect, and The Roseanne Show. He is the author and coauthor of more than 50 books, including Fulfilling Your Spiritual Promise, The Rest of Your Life, and Spiritual Warrior. He lives in Los Angeles."

Read an Excerpt

Wealth & Higher Consciousness

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By John-Roger

Mandeville Press

Copyright © 2011 Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-935492-84-9

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CHAPTER 1

Choosing Your Choice

"If you get anything from this book, perhaps the most valuable thing for you to learn is that you create, promote, or allow everything in your life. Everything."

How do you get what you want?

First, you might figure out what you really do want. Some people want to get married; others, to get rich. Some want a joyous relationship with their mate and their children and an awareness of the Spirit within. Others want a new car, a new wardrobe, and a trip to Europe. And there are even some who want abundance on both the physical and spiritual levels (sort of an "on-earth-as-in-heaven" yearning).

Is it possible to get what you want? Yes, definitely. Although I do remember my mother once cautioning, "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it." I think that's still accurate. We can get what we want if we are willing to do those things that are necessary to get it. Many years ago, there was a story that a person was discovered in a drugstore and made into a Hollywood movie star. I would guess that's more legend than fact. When you check the facts about those "overnight" movie stars, you'll probably find that most of them studied acting for many years and apprenticed in small roles on stage or in television and movies before getting the opportunity to be featured.

In other words, they spent many years struggling, sometimes going through severe financial deprivation, in order to refine their craft. Some worked as waitresses, bartenders, or taxicab drivers, but they never stopped focusing on their goal. Even though they may have gone with only four hours sleep a night, they still managed to study, rehearse, and live life with a single-mindedness of purpose. Those who did that — and stuck to it regardless of time or other conditions — had the greatest opportunity of making it. And many of them did. It's a matter of enduring to the end (the goal). It seems so simple, doesn't it? Figure out what you want, do what it takes to equip yourself to get it, and endure until you do. Are you willing to do that?

There is an expression: "There is no such thing as a free lunch." That simply means that on some level or other, we have to pay for whatever we get. That's a fact of our economic system and, also, a process of the human condition. It could be to your advantage to accept that — not as a negative, limiting condition, but as information. With information, the best thing is to accept it and figure out how best to apply it in your life. In this particular case, it comes down to an important question: Are you willing to "pay the dues" to get what you want?

There are some major companies, whose gross income puts them at the top of American industry, that have personnel policies requiring every new applicant to start in the mail room and work their way up. Those who make it are willing to sacrifice, devoting themselves to learning and doing those things that work for them as they work their way up toward their goal.

Despite some sensational press releases, there are very few instant millionaires (except those who inherit from their families). I know people who work regular nine-to-five jobs, five days a week, and earn a moderate income. I also know some very rich people who work 10 to 14 hours a day, six to seven days a week. It's a matter of choice and willingness to sacrifice immediate desires in order to get to the goal. Most successful people not only had to work very hard but had to make sacrifices along the way. Was it worth it? To some, yes; to others, no.

One of the key questions for you is, what are you willing to sacrifice to get what you want? Time with your family? Play time? Cut down expenditures in your everyday life? Any choice can be all right. I know some people who could have been millionaires, but they chose to spend more time with themselves, their avocations, their cultural interests, their spiritual expressions, rather than sacrifice those for the focus necessary to build their careers. I also know some very rich people who enjoyed the focus and obsession of being successful.

You can, I repeat, most definitely get what you want. The choice is yours. The naive person may "wish upon a star" or hope to be "discovered in a drug store." Mature people investigate, evaluate, and make decisions about what they're willing to do and what they do not want to do, and then they go on from there. Choice, and more choice. Some people bemoan their fate and blame the infamous "them" for their lack. If they get truly objective, if they get high enough and look at their lives with honesty rather than resentment, they might learn that it isn't "them" out there who stop their success. It is the "them" inside each person that is responsible.

If you get anything from this book, perhaps the most valuable thing for you to learn is that you create, promote, or allow everything in your life. Everything. That's both the good news and bad news. It can be the good news if you take responsibility for your creations by behaving in ways that are cooperative and supportive. It can be bad news if you think that the only way of winning is to beat the other person and to be selfish and greedy. It is possible to win, experience great abundance, and assist others in winning. It is more than possible to experience the abundance in your life and the joy of spiritual awareness within you as simultaneous, connected experiences. In fact, if you are to gain those things you wish on this physical level — and enjoy them — I would suggest that part of the success formula is to include a liberal dose of gratitude toward God, from whom all is granted.

Some of you may think, "Does God grant a new car?" Reasonable question. I am not suggesting that you dismiss your doubts. In fact, I think that you can use your doubt as a prover. At the same time, I'm not suggesting that you give in to the limitations of doubting, but that you let your doubt ask the question and you then seek the answer. It is not likely that God responds directly to your order for that new car, although Spirit may provide the opportunity for you to earn and save money for the car. Many people may pray for a new car, a winning lottery ticket, or a new washing machine. I suggest that you do not try to make God the "great bellhop in the sky."

I suggest that you use God for spiritual intention and that you permit Spirit to use you for loving success. I think that a valuable prayer might be asking Spirit to assist you in becoming more aware of Spirit. And then let Spirit do the rest. Of course, this prayer for awareness may be answered once, and then, in time, the awareness may dull and disappear. Why does that happen if God is omnipotent and omnipresent? Because we are living on a physical planet with distractions and temptations that lead us away from awareness of the Divine. So the prayer to become aware of Spirit, constantly, must also be supported with actions that permit Spirit to bring you loving and support. That's why so many people participate in spiritual exercises and meditation. They want to keep the channels open to awareness of the Divine.

There are some who have doubts about God. Does God really exist, or, if so, what does God do? How can someone really know, in a pragmatic, practical way, that there is a God, on a personal, individual level? After all, it seems that the age of miracles was in biblical days. Nowadays, it sometimes seems that it's a miracle just to get out of bed in the morning, I have heard people say things like, "If there is a God, the traffic light will turn green in ten seconds." Or when someone was lost, they prayed, "If there really is a God, I'll find my way."

Instead of giving in to these areas of superstition to try to prove the existence of the Divine, you can just go to your next breath. Who do you think breathes you? If you think it's you who is doing the breathing, use your doubt now and see if you can stop breathing. The Spirit in you takes your next breath, and Spirit also wakes you up in the morning. If you open to Spirit, you can access that divine energy to assist you in functioning on many levels, including going to work, saving your money, and even putting money down on a new car. You can use divine energy to improve your existence, and in that way, Spirit is definitely involved.

Then again, the cynic in you may say, "Well, is Spirit involved when I can't afford to buy that new car?" Sure, Spirit is involved in everything in your life, but it does not determine your income. You do. Spirit will support whatever you choose to do or choose not to do. "Whatever you choose to do" is a key to getting what you want.

Make your choice. Choose what you want in reality — not fantasy. By that I mean that you can say you choose to win the Olympic decathlon, and here you are in your mid-thirties, overweight and living a sedentary, non-exercising life. That choice could be a fantasy. If, however, you choose to lose 15 pounds in the next three months, that's a choice with real possibilities because it can be accomplished on this physical level. If you choose to be a millionaire by the end of the week and you're currently unemployed, unskilled, and not doing anything about it, that choice is fantasy. If, however, you choose to double your income within the next five years, the chances are that you can make that a reality. How?

Choose your choice and focus on what you want. You decide where to put your consciousness. Some people make choices and then wait for them to happen, wait for "manna to fall from the heavens." Well, there have been great spiritual beings who could precipitate things from the heavens. Jesus, through divine forces, may have fed the multitudes with loaves of bread and fish, and Moses may have tapped into the divine forces by manifesting things on the physical level. For "ordinary" mortals, however, it is important to consciously choose our choices by doing supportive, practical things that work. Yes, you actually do have divine energy within you. Even so, there are things to be done on this physical level, using your mind, body, and Soul. I once heard a saying: "Pray to God, but continue to row to shore."

Focus the mental energy in the mind and loving energy in the heart on your choice. Make it foremost. Be aware, though, that there are positive and negative aspects to this approach. The positive elements are that as you do this, your mind has the opportunity to reveal possibilities as stepping stones toward achievement; the heart can participate in support as you go for your choices with loving, wisdom, enthusiasm, and joy. The negative traps of this approach are that you might become so obsessed with your wants that you interpret everything as an obstacle and ride roughshod over it. If you express your greed by hurting others, the heart can close down. When you do not express consideration (to yourself and others) and you shut off the wisdom of the heart, your success is limited. You might get all the money you want, and you can also end up a miserable miser, best portrayed in A Christmas Carol by Dickens. Fear of his own death caused Scrooge to look into his heart. Scrooge finally did open his heart by sharing and giving, and so are these acts necessary to open the loving heart in real life.

If you are going to be obsessed with your wants, then make it a magnificent obsession. Within the magnificence is room for sharing, caring, supporting, and enjoying the process leading you to your goal. Permit your focus to inspire you, but do not over-identify with the awaited achievement lest you lose the joy of the process. It's not just a matter of the statement in the Declaration of Independence, "the pursuit of happiness," but also of the happiness of pursuit. There is an ongoing joy in the process. Some even think the process is more enjoyable than the achievement. For example, in sex that is actually lovemaking, the process of expressing tenderness lasts longer than the orgasm. If you go just for the goal without taking the time for the process, you may miss out on knowing that the pursuit of happiness is in the happiness of pursuit.

This is redundant, and it's still worth repeating: Keep your goal in the forefront and, simultaneously, involve your heart in the process; otherwise, you may achieve the goal without the joy of getting there. Ambrose Bierce once cynically defined achievement as "the death of endeavor, the birth of disgust." By keeping the enthusiasm of your heart involved and by recognizing that all things come through Spirit, your achievement can be just another part of the joyous process. Then, when you finally do get your new car, the experience is not over because, as you drive it, you can enjoy that experience as part of your ongoing success. When you do get that trip to Europe, you will know that everything that led up to it is also part of the trip. When you sit down for that expensive gourmet meal, your appetite is part of the enjoyment. When you consciously become aware of the Spirit within you after focusing on the Divine in spiritual exercises or meditation for hours, days, months, and years, awareness of Spirit is not just a payoff, but is an enrichment of the ongoing process you started way back when, and it continues into the future.

Part of choosing your choice and supporting your focus, your goal, is embracing a fundamental realization: Prosperity is for you. Some of you may have come from a cultural or family background that included limitations in the belief system. Within you may be an underlying theme that to be poor is to be loved or to be without is noble, or an unconscious programming of "since my parents were not abundant, abundance is not for me." Such limitations are not written in the heavens. If anything, Divinity wants you to know joy and abundance as a reality.

Accept this as a reality: Prosperity is for you. Then make the decision to go for it. Make the choice to choose it, to focus on it, and decide that not only do you deserve it but you're going to go for it and get it. Is that fantasy? If you indulge your doubts and just wish that prosperity would come knocking at your door, it may very well be fantasy. But if you are envisioning your prosperity and creating opportunities for opportunity to knock and open the door, it can be a positive reality awaiting manifestation.

In making your choice, focusing, and going for it, you will probably realize that this want/desire/ yearning is number one in your mind, body, and heart. You may, by now, be aware that in the examples and techniques offered, there is a balance between the physical and spiritual. I know, by my experience and that of many thousands of others, that balancing Spirit and the physical level is not only possible and productive but necessary for enrichment, enjoyment, and success. When you awaken to, and invoke the power of Divinity within you, you are also awakening to the power of Divinity within others. As you do that, you have access to energy sources that are so vast and powerful that it could boggle your mind trying to understand it all. In fact, part of this process of manifesting your desires is beyond mental comprehension. Use the mind to focus, use the heart to perceive and support the higher actions, put your body on the line, and let the rest take care of itself.

Prosperity is for you — both the abundance of Spirit and the manifestation on this physical level. There is also an implied directive: Do the best you can and encourage others to be the best they can around you. That means colleagues, supervisors, students, those under your supervision, friends, lovers, mates, even clerks and waiters serving you. Many people think encouragement is a verbal expression, such as, "go for it," to be delivered with inspiring enthusiasm. That is a more obvious form of encouragement. A more powerful support is not said with the voice but is stated in the heart and manifested in attitude.

Many forces come into play in order to manifest those things you want. It's like a magnificent jigsaw puzzle with thousands of pieces that you have to put together. Difficult? Sometimes. Simple? Yes. Easy? Sometimes, and often not. If you've ever worked jigsaw puzzles, you may remember that sometimes, after feeling frustrated, you finally found one piece that opened things up for many, many more pieces to fit in easily. This is similar to solving the puzzle of creating what you want. You must find those key pieces that permit the others to fall into place easily. One of the most important "pieces" is attitude. If you create an attitude of supporting yourself and others in doing the best you and they can, many other pieces of your abundance can fall into line.

Many people think that wanting the best from themselves and others can often be demanding and painful. It doesn't have to be. You don't have to demand or expect it. You can go for it with encouragement and enthusiasm. It's a matter of realizing that prosperity and abundance are your rightful heritage. Once you get that, it's a matter of recognizing that "going for it" is a matter of first doing the best you can, which may not always be perfect. You don't have to berate others or "get on their case" just because they made a mistake. The key attitude is one of assisting yourself and others in correcting yourselves on the way to doing the best that can be done.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Wealth & Higher Consciousness by John-Roger. Copyright © 2011 Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy. Excerpted by permission of Mandeville Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

1 Choosing Your Choice,
2 Is Faith Practical?,
3 Eight Steps to Prosperity,
4 The Timing of Abundance, Spirit, and Precipitation,
5 Finding the Hidden Treasures,
6 Tithing to the Source,
7 Creating and Using Your Money Magnet,
8 Success with Integrity,
9 Ten Steps to Personal Success,
10 Using Your Energy Effectively,
11 Awareness and Choice,