You cannot know how your part fits best into a larger plan
for the healing of the world, but God does. Your job is merely to open your
mind and open your heart so that a higher consciousness can then flow
through you. 5. Before you go to a job interview , audition, or meeting, you blast
every person you’re going to be with—and the situation itself—
with light and love. Your goal becom es simply giving and receiving love—which is another
way of saying, “May God’ s will be done.” You see every interaction as a
holy encounter . You intend for this and every situation to be one in which
you express your truest, most brilliant, most loving self—and what happens
beyond that, you leave to the intelligence of the universe. You’re not going
to the interview to try to get a job; you’re going there to do your job! Those five steps might seem as if they are just little things—hardly the
operating princi ples that move the universe. Yet that is exactly what they
are. ON THE SPIRITUAL  plane, you have  no competitors. There is no competition
for your position, as you are a unique expression of the Mind of God. You
not only have a place in the universe; you have an essential function  in the
universe. Only you can do the job of being you, and the universe itself is
left incomplete without you. It is not arrogant but humble to realize this, as
you place yourse lf in service to the greatest drama there is: the actualization
of your own potential. Your highest function is simply to be the person you are capabl e of being,
and from that effort—the development of your kindness and positivity , your
vulnerability and availability to life—your calling will emer ge. As you become who you are meant to be, what you are meant to do will
fall like a path of rose petals before you. You may be thinki ng, “I don’t
know  what my callin g is,” but God does. He knows how your talen ts and
abilities can best fit into His plan for the enlightenment and healing of all
things. What talents you have, He will glorify as you use them  to glorify
Him. And talents you don’t even know that you have, that lie latent within
you, will emer ge as you surrender more deeply to love. Your calling is what you would  do whether you were paid to do it or not. Your calling is what you have  to do in order to be happy . Your calling is
what connects you to your deepest self, and to the rest of life around you. If
you have no idea what that would be, simply pray, “Dear God, please use
me,” and awareness of your calling will appear miraculously . From the time she was a little girl, my daughter was entranced by stories
of historical kings and queens. Constantly she would say to me, “Mommy ,
tell me a queen story .” Even when very young, she would read books about
King Henry VIII and his wives,  following me around the hous e telling me
about this or that historical incident. Now she’s a graduate  student in
history . While some have sugg ested to me that finding a job as a history
professor might  not be easy once she graduates, I never worry that she
won’ t be able to make a living as a historian, because history isn’t just a job
to her. History is her calling. She is genuinely excited  about it. Whether she
pursues her love of history as a professor or writer , or shares her knowledge
via some other means, her passion will undoubtedly make her of use to the
world. I have no doubt that in the miraculous universe, she will be
compensated appropriately for the work she does.I’m always sad to hear parents  saying to their child, “But how will you
make a living doing that?” when their child is obviously passionate about
something. Reading the biography of Steve Jobs, anyone can see that this
kid with a love of computers, working away in his parents’  garage, wasn’ t
thinking just about how he would get a job. He was responding to a higher
calling—a calling for the ages, as it turned out—and no one doubts the
abundance that he created. Not all of us have the talent of a computer
genius, but all of us have a call to greatness nonetheless. The true you, your holy self, is beyond any limits of the mortal  world. So
are the talents and brilliance within you. When you dwell in that
knowledge, simply recognizing and appreciating the divine spirit residing in
all of us, you receive the charisma of a self-confident person. Someone who has confidence in God comes across as confident to the
world; someone who thinks of him- or herself as a follower of God comes
across as a leader to the world. You’ll develop a kind of invisible light, a
sense of humble certitude, a greatness that comes from beyond yourself. Your abilities, your intelligence, your talents, your personality , your
circumstances, your dreams will all come together in a beautiful pattern. And you will see all this as your calling—a calling back and forth, in
continuous song, from your heart to the universe and the universe back to
you. In the words of Confucius, “Choose a job you love, and you will never
have to work a day in your life.”
OceanofPDF .comChapter 12
Embracing Abundance
As a child of God, you are inwardly abundant. External abundance is
simply a reflection of who and what you are. A spiritual economy is one in which abundance is a natural result of
people actualizing their God-given gifts. True prosperity is the prospering
of our spirits in service to love. You are an idea in the Mind of God, and an idea does not leave its source. God is infinite and God is love; therefore you share in that infinitude and
you share in that love. This is simply the truth of who you are. The universe of which you are part is an all-loving field of miraculous
possibility , not only in every instant but also moving through time. In
physics terms, you’re not a particle but a wave. You’re not a static thing, but
rather an ever-evolving emanation of the Mind of God. Spirit has great
plans for you, because God’ s Mind is an eternal wellspring of infinite love. This wellspring literally never runs out of ideas. We feel it would be arr ogant to think of ourselves as
“God’ s gift to the world,” yet in fact that’ s exactly who
each of us is. Your awareness of these things helps right the universe on your behalf,
lifting you above the effects of the fear-based thought system that
dominates this planet. Your greatest source of power in this world is the
knowledge that you’re not of this world. None of us are truly at home in thisdimension, and—counterintuitive though it is—we dwell most comfortably
within the world when we know that. Our true home lies beyond the veil of
illusion, and we are here to shed the light of our true home into all darkened
corners of the world. With that understanding we unleash the unlimited
potential that lies within each of us to create the good, the true, and the
beautiful. Such are the gifts of the spirit that we carry within. We’re programmed for
abundance because we are abunda nt. Financial prosperity  is one of the
many ways we receive the gifts of the world, as we deliver to the world the
gifts we bring from beyond it. Think what a different self-perception that is than the ego’s derogatory
estimation of who you are. To the fear-based ego mind, you’re a clump of
clay that has to compete in whatever way you can for the materi al resources
by whic h to survive. To the loving heart, however , you’re a nonmaterial
wave of energy, on earth with a spiritual mission. This mission acts like a
magnet, making  the forces of the world arrange themselves in a way that
supports its achievement. No matter what you do, your abund ance lies in
dedicating your work to the purpose of healing the world. This is our
common spiritual function , and it’s only in performing our function that we
can be happy . We’re not depressed because the economy is depressed; the economy is
depressed because we’re depressed. And we’re depressed because we’ve
lost conscious contact with the realization of why we’re here. We feel it
would be arroga nt to think of ourselves as “God’ s gift to the world,” yet in
fact that’s exactly who each of us is. It’s humble, not arrogant, to realize this
truth; we’re not taking personal credit for the divine power that lies within
us. Remembering that that divine power is there—in us, but not of us—is
essential to the proper functioning of our mind and heart. Any thought or
action that separ ates us from love separates us from our sense of meaning,
our creativity and our joy . You were created to live a life of abundance, with the supp ort of the
universe in carrying out your material endeavors. Nature itself displays
economy , but not austerity . Yet many of us were taught—and  by certain
religions, no less!—to distrust abundance, leading us to subconsciously
avoid or, at the very least, fail to develop the mental and emotion al habits  of
an abundant life. We need to do more than eradicate our thoughts ofpoverty; we need to allow ourselves to proactively embrace, to the point of
embodying, the energies of abundance. To the universe, it’s as easy to
manifest six zeroes as it is to manifest two. As a child of God, all the
abundance of the universe belongs to you, because it is you. The idea that you must struggle in order to experience abundance—
whether in the form of love relationships, money , or anything else—
interferes with the natural magnetism that otherwise brings abundance
forth. There is a difference between having to work  and having to struggle . Work is creative  effort, a righteous extension of positive energy that attracts
abundance; struggle is a perversion of creative energy based on a
misunderstanding of one’s basic relationship to the universe. Anxiety and
struggle do not attract your good. If you think you have to struggle, you’re forgetting your relationship to
the universe; and the universe will then seem to forget its relationship to
you! Your job is simply to be, joyfully expressing your own inner worth —
and the universe will find a way to take care of you. But if you think, “I
have to struggle, because otherwise I’m not taken care of,” then your core
belief is that you won’ t be taken care of—and you won’ t be! The universe is programmed to support your happiness, and one of the
ways it does this is by arrangin g events so that you won’ t have to worry
about money . Why? Because you have more important things to do! That is
the correct motivation for makin g money: so you simply don’t have to think
about it except as a tool for the betterment of all things. It’s difficult to open yourself to such thinking if you’re not open to the
idea of your own internal magnificence. Recognition of your internal
magnificence is not ego; it’s the acknowledgment of the spirit within you,
which makes you no more or less valuable than anyone else. All of us are
infinitely valuable to God. Many of us were taught as children that we shouldn’ t express  ourselves
too much. We should pipe down in some way. Such children often become
adults who are in the habit of cowering, as though we’re afraid of taking up
too much space. Our mind then comes into conflict with our soul’ s
knowing. Becau se each of us is the center of the universe, we are here to
express ourselves,  and on some level we know this. There is no need to feel you shouldn’ t take up too much room in a
universe that is in fact all yours. You are here to fly at full wingspan, for theglory of the One who sent you. You give your greatest gifts when you are
flying fully and freely . You’re actually withholding from the universe when
you don’ t.
If Mommy or Daddy or a teacher or a mate or anyone else you might have
met along the way taught you for whatever reason that your job is to keep
your head down, then bless them but know that they were misinformed. A
Course in Miracles  claims that those who have achieved the most in the
world have achieved only a fraction of what each of us is capable of. And
that means that you have as much achievement potential as any great artist,
scientist, or anyone else who ever lived. Unlimited potential lies within you,
just waiting to be activated by your own af firmative response to the idea. Once you know this, you become a magnet for worldly success. You work
from joy and the universe respo nds. You open your heart to love, and the
way is made clear for you. Love, in whatev er form would serve us, is always coming towa rd us. Our
job is not to go out and find it, but to allow it to find us. Money isn’t just
something we “go out and make”; it’s also something we have to be able to
“sit still and receive.” The ego doesn’ t want you to believe this, but all you
have to do is open your heart, and all the abundance you need will find its
way to your door . ONE MORNING, I was picked up by a car service for a drive to the airport. I
asked the young man who was driving whether he was new to the company ,
as I hadn’ t seen him before. “Yes,” he said. “I just moved to Los Angeles from New York.”
“Let me guess,” I said, smiling. “Actor?”
“Well,” he said. “W riter, painter—but I don’ t know . I do a lot of things.”
I asked him what kind of painter he was and what kind of writer . “I write dramas. But I don’t know  . . . I think I need to write something
else in order to get something sold.” He appeared to be struggling with his
predicament. “What does that mean?” I asked. “Like horror films or something?”
He nodded knowingly and rolled his eyes. I wondered how he was going
to attract a sale by writing something he didn’ t even like to write.“What I need to do is network,” he told me. “I lived here before, and I
knew a lot of people.” He then rattled off some names of successful
producers and directors, as though if only he had impressed them before,
then he’d be living in Bel Air by now. “So I had the relationships, I just
didn’ t know how to  . . .” He moved his arms around as though to say he
didn’ t know how to schmooze, to do the dance. He seemed to see this as the
gist of his failure. “But my real problem,” he conti nued, “is that I don’t know how to write a
dramatic moment.” How we’d gotten there, I wasn’ t sure. “I do have
confidence in my craft, but I’m not confident in the art of it. I know how to
write things technically , but I don’t know how to write that big dramatic
moment. I have to figure out how to do that.”
“Well,” I said, “I’m not sure you can ‘figure out’ how to write a big
dramatic moment, because a big dramatic moment by definition doesn’ t
come from the part of the mind  that can figure things out. That’ s why it’s
called ‘drama.’  It has less to do with a rational formula and more to do with
a spontaneous burst of emotional truth.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess  . . .”
“So for that,” I continued, “you’ll need to learn to access your own
authenticity and feeling. Otherwise, how can you convey it to others? I
don’t know how you can access  your authenticity when you seem to think
you should be someone other than who you are, wanting something other
than what you really want, and doing something other than what you want
to be doing.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, sighing. “I just gotta figure out how to do all
that.”
Oy. “Well, you’re sort of doing  it again. Maybe there’ s nothing  to figure
out here at all. Maybe there’ s just some insight you might want to let in. Your subconscio us mind will do the rest. The subconscious is a better
organizer than your conscious mind will ever be.”
He is probably wondering, at this point, who the crazy lady in the backseat
is. My cappuccino is kicking in now . “The universe can organize itself. The embryo doesn’ t need to figure out
how to become a baby . Buds don’t have to figure out how to become
blossoms. Nature has its plan figured out. “Or you can look at it this way ,” I continued. Poor guy . I’m on a roll now .“Think of a pile of iron shavings. Now , what’ s the best way to form the
shavings into a pattern, using your fingers or introducing a magnet? “Your internal self is like a magnet. Call it the Christ, or your Inner Light,
or whatever; there’ s a spirit within you that naturally attracts all the patterns
and details that would form your most beautiful life. Look what it arranged
for you this morning!”
I laughed, as we pulled up to the Los Angeles airport and I searched the
signs for Southwest Airlines. “Yeah, I was thinking that  . . .,” he said. “Now what did you say you do?”
“Oh, I just talk about this stuf f a lot,” I smiled, as I got out of the car . The universe had indeed self-o rganized that morning. The young man
received inform ation that might help him in his work if he was open to it;
and I got a demonstration of how people hold themselves back by not
remembering who they are, suggesting to me that I should include the issue
in this book, thus adding to my work! Yet neither of us would have been so served had we not been open-hearted
and open -minded enough to engage in friendly dialogue with the person in
front of us. He had introduce d himself to me; I had asked him about
himself. Those two things—se emingly meaningless moments of human
connection—opened the door through which the universe could provide its
gifts to both of us. Neither one of us could get the gift, however , unless we made ourselves
available to receive it. He could have been preoccupied and not at all
interested in interacting with the client in the backseat, and I could have
been preoccupied and not at all interested in interacting with him. These are
the kinds of ways we turn down  miracles all the time. We fail to realize that
what we need is available to us at every moment. Most of the time, we
block our reception of a miracle  by believing it couldn’ t be that easy. But do
flowers not grow easily? We think we know what we need, and what we
need to do to make things happen. But do we, really? Just try strategizing a
miracle. People have no idea what they miss in life by discounting other people
and the gifts they bring. In a universe where all is designed to provide us
with perfect lessons in every moment, there are lessons awaiting us in the
most unexpecte d places. Perhaps you’ve made the mistake of thinking
someone “wasn ’t important,” discounting that person in some way, onlylater to learn that he or she was exactly the person who might have helped
you. Sometimes we’re so consumed with “becoming successf ul” that we
forget the importance of being successful human beings, of deeply listening
to other people, of showing up spontaneously for whatever life has to offer. Those of us who have made that mistake have found that it wasn’ t
ultimately good for business. My father used to say frequently , “Proud days
soon pass.”
There’ s no way to rationally formulate or predict where our next miracle
will come from. In almost every moment, we’re at the right place at the
right time if we step fully into the moment at hand. It’s amazing how much our ego would separate work from love. We seem
to think that success depends on what we do, but not necessarily on who we
are. And nothin g could be furth er from the truth. Anything that deters the
flow of love deters the emer gence of our success. One common way that people deny the flow of miracles is by rejecting
relationships on the basis that “I’m too busy with my career .” There is no
greater career than being a fully  alive, fully present, and fully loving human
being. Someone  you’re turning away from because the relati onship will
“take too much time” might be the one with whom you could have the
experiences that pave the way to the very miracles you wish for. The
universe doesn’ t categorize between “love” and “work,” becau se in reality
everything is love and everything is work! Never think that turning away from love is a smart thing to do, or any sort
of good career move. When you stop the flow of love pouring forth from
your heart, you stop the flow of love pouring forth to your door. That
applies as much to the flow of money as to the flow of anything else. Let it
flow from you, and it will flow to you. Always. OceanofPDF .comChapter 13
Meditation
Enlightenment begins as an abstract concept and then makes a journey
without distance  from the head to the heart. As most of us are aware, mere
intellectual understanding is not of itself enough to change our lives. Albert Einstein claimed that the problems of the world would not be
solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we create d them. The
different level of thinking requir es a different worldview , and different brain
waves. During our normal working consciousness, the human brain emits what
are calle d beta waves. As we settle into meditation, the brain shifts and
begins to emit alpha waves and sometimes even the deeper delta waves. Delta waves help us access the unconscious, reduce levels of a hormone
called cortisol (known to cause stress and aging), and produce a restfulness
akin to deep sleep. Just as we look to food to fuel our  physical selves, we
should look to meditation and prayer  to fuel our  spiritual
selves. True meditation practice is more than staring into a candle and breathing
deeply , sitting still, slowing down our mind, and so forth. It is more than
deep relaxation. Deep relaxation is important, but it is not meditation. All
meditation is relaxation, but not all relaxation is meditation.An actual meditation practice—such as going through the Workbook of A
Course in Miracles  or doing Transcendental Meditation, Buddhist
meditation, or other spiritual, religious, or even secular forms of meditation
—includes a technique through which words or sounds instruct the mind to
move into deeper regions. These regions hold the key not only to stress
reduction but to much, much more. Greater insight, deeper understanding,
expanded persp ective, more whole-system knowing, and deeper peace,
forgiveness, and love—all of these arise more easily from the meditative
mind. The rational mind alone cannot cause these things to occur . In order to not only conceptualize breakthroughs but to actually
experience them, we need to embody the spiritual principles we embrace. We want not only our rational minds but also our spirits to be reignited. We
want our psyches to be rewired. We want to experience miraculous shifts. Such shifts are growth into our truer selves. Just as we look to food to fuel
our physical selves, we should look to meditation and prayer  to fuel our
spiritual selves. Meditation is like spiritual exercise, developing attitudinal muscles and
making them strong. Consider it your daily workout. After a certain point in
our lives, whether in relation to physical or attitudi nal muscles, gravity
pulls down what  we don’t work at keeping  up! Flabby spiritual muscles are
things like cynicism, negativity , victim consciousness, anger ,
judgmentalism, and fear. Just as we do well to exercise our bodies on a
regular basis, we also do well to exercise our minds. As A Course in
Miracles  says, we are “much too tolerant of mind-wandering.”
Meditation, again like physical exercise, isn’t something we can afford to
stop doing. We never get to look in the mirror and say, “I like my body now,
so I can stop exercising.” Neither can we say, “I feel at peace now, so I can
stop meditating.” Gravity , both physical and emotional, is at work every
day. So should we be, in order to counter it. Just as we wash to remove yesterday’ s dirt from our bodies, we meditate
to remove yesterday’ s stress from  our minds. A meditation pract ice is one of
the most powerful boosts to our physical well-being, as well as to our
mental and emotional health. It even helps us financially! Acco rding to an
article published by the American Public Health Association, people who
practice Transcendental Meditation spend 11 percent less annual ly on health
care than does the general population.Let’s look more closely at how meditation affects our work and earning
capacities. Today’ s work environment is routinely stressful. Between the
twenty-four -hour blitz of often depressing world news and the economic
anxiety rampant everywhere, many people feel like they’re barely holding
on. Dysfunctional responses such as overeating, drinking and drugging to
excess, and self-medicating through recreational or pharmaceutical drug use
have become common responses to stress. Things are moving too quickly , and we simply weren’ t created for that. For millions of years our ancestors toiled with their bodies, worked the
earth, and sat around campfires in the evening telling stories. They didn’ t
fool around on the computer all day. Our challenge is to compen sate for the
wear and tear of modernity’ s assault on our nervous systems. With greater
speed comes a greater chanc e that we’ll make mistakes. We don’t
adequately think an issue through; we let fear rule a decision, digging
ourselves an even deeper hole than the one we’re already in; we fail to
connect deeply with people and situations around us, leading to all manner
of negative results. But there is a revolution in consciousness among us, and meditation is at
the forefront. More and more people are looking to nutrition, yoga,
exercise, spirituality , and so forth to counter the dysfunction and stress of
the times in which we live. Years ago I had made a pot of chili. When I tasted it, it was too hot;
clearly I had added too much cayenne pepper . When I called my mother and
asked for help, she told me to put a raw potato in the chili in order to absorb
the pepper . She was right: it worked! I never forgot that image , because it
reminds me of how it feels when I meditate. Meditation absorbs my crazy
thinking the way that raw potato absorbed the cayenne. As a student of A Course in Miracles,  I read one Workbook lesson every
day—“I give my life to God to guide today ,” “Into His presence would I
enter now,” “I am at home. Fear is the stranger here,” or whate ver it might
be—and while I can’t say that the practice guarantees I’ll be the best
version of myself all day, it absolutely keeps me from being the worst
version of myself. I might have  negative thoughts or feelings, but the
chances of my acting on them  are drastically reduced. And all of us, if
we’re honest with ourselves, know how important that distinction can be.It can take just one instant for a lack of impulse control to overwhelm our
better knowing. We say something we later wish we hadn’ t said; we write
an e-mail we later wish we hadn’t sent; we respond to a text message we
later wish we’d simply ignored. Or we simply weren’ t our best selves,
diminishing the trust that others have in us. Those are the moments, not just
in our personal relationships but in our professional ones as well, that can
mess up even the greatest business plans and avenues to success. The benefits of meditation go beyond de-stressing the mind; meditation
actually expands  the mind. It gives us insight and illumination. It builds
wisdom and compassion. It goes a long way toward making us the people
we wish to be. Below is a prayer , followed by multiple statements that provide a
meditative approach to money and career . Read each statement slowly ,
picturing the images it evokes, exploring the idea or scene, and inwardly
asking for further illuminatio n. You may make it through only one
paragraph, whic h is fine. What matte rs is that we daily do whatever we can
to realign our thoughts with the Mind of God. Do the following meditation gently and without stress. Sit quietly in a
comfortable position, close your eyes, and feel yourself in the presence of
the holy . Open with a prayer , such as the following:
 
Dear God,
I give this time of quiet to Y ou. Please dissolve my thoughts of str ess and fear
And deliver me to the inner place
Wher e all is peace and love. Amen. Then, keeping your eyes closed , allow your mind to gently switch gears. When you feel you’re ready , look honestly over the landscape of your
material life. With the power of your imagination, pour a holy light over
everything you see. Ask to be shown all you need to see and know , and your
spirit will guide you. When looking at the subject of your work and finances, view them from
the perspective of your spirit. Recognize your work as your ministry , andsee ways that you could make it more so. See what or whom you’ve allowed to go unnoticed, untended to,
unappreciated, or undervalued. Salute spiritually those you work with now, have worked with before, or
might work with in the future. Dedicate your work to holy purposes. See how the images change when
you do. Humbly confess  and atone for any errors or financial irrespons ibilities in
your past. Ask forgiveness for any wrong-minded thinking, and pray for a
miracle. Notice any places where you are defended against wealth—where you feel
it wrong or judge those who have it—and allow this wall of mistaken
thought to crumble. Now envision yourself as a person of wealth, expanding into the energy of
abundance. See yourself gladly assuming the responsibilities that come with
it. Commit within your heart that you will use whatever wealth comes into
your life as spirit directs, as a means of blessing and never of harm. See yourself in control of vast amounts of money , if vast amounts of
money are what  you truly desire. See this money as an exchange of energy
through which you bless the world. For being, and having, are ultimately the same thing. Know that whatever
you can be, you can have . See yourself transforming into someone whose internal abundance aligns
with a magnificent external abundance. Allow yourself to inhabit this space
energetically , and hold the vision for a minimum of five minutes a day. Allow yourself to feel the subtle changes in thought, energy, feeling,
behavior , and desire that naturally result from this. Give thanks and praise God. Amen. OceanofPDF .comChapter 14
Prayer
In the words of A Cours e in Miracles,  “Prayer  is the medium of miracles. It
is a means of communication of the created with the Creator .”
Prayer is a conscious request that our thoughts be shifted by a power
greater than our own. This shift from ego thinking to spirit thinking is the
miracle. A serious prayer life is a mental orientation—an attunement to God
throughout the day. Prayer directs the mind to hear the voice for God over
the voice of the ego, to notice the illumined thoughts and ideas that emer ge
naturally from the deeper regions of our consciousness. With prayer , we’re asking what we can learn, what insight God would
have us receive, what wisdom He would place within us. The universe is
like a house wired for electricity , but too often we’re like unplu gged lamps. Prayer is the way we plug in to the divine, aligning our thinki ng with the
love that infuses all things. The universe is like a house wir ed for  electricity , but too
often we’r e like unplugged lamps. Prayer  is the way we
plug in to the divine, aligning our  thinking with the love
that infuses all things. Prayer expands our consciousne ss, thus expanding the set of possibilities
that we experience. As we saw in an earlier chapter , when our attitude is
negative, few opportunities arise. This is not because opportu nities don’texist, but because our negative attitude and energy blind us to them. You
might be sitting at lunch one day next to a woman who could provide you
with a wonderfu l work opportunity , but because you’re going on and on
about how rough things are and how tough it’s been for you, it doesn’ t
occur to her to engage you in a conversation about profession ally moving
forward with her. For one thing, you’ve showed her how effective you are
—or aren’ t—at  handling problems in your life. Your energy deflected
whatever miracle might have occurred. If you had awakened that day affirming, “This is the day that the Lord has
made”—a day of infinite possibilities because God is a God of infinite
possibility , a day when the universe is reaching out its arms to provide you
with every opportunity for joy—you would have been wired differently at
lunch. That woman would have been blown away . Your energy, your attitude, your positivity , your words, your ability to
listen to others and truly dwell in the present—all those things make you a
person others want to be with, want to work with, want to share ideas with. That ener gy is the spiritual basis of wealth creation. I once knew an actress who was looking for work. She was constantly
invited to parties, yet consistentl y turned down the invitations, saying, “You
don’t get work by going to parties.” Boy, how wrong she was! You never
know whom you’re going to meet where, or what form an opportunity is
going to take. The miracle-worker doesn’ t just show up for auditions; the
miracle-worker shows up for life. And life reciprocates. PRAYER RIGHTS THE universe around you because it rights your mind:
 
Dear God,
I surr ender to Y ou my work and my desir e for work. I surr ender to Y ou my fear , I surr ender to Y ou my money , and I surr ender
to You my debts. I surr ender to Y ou my sense of failur e and I surr ender to Y ou my shame. I surr ender to Y ou my dr eams and my visions and my hopes. Amen. That which we place in the hands of God is turned into right-minded
thinking. The altar to God is within our mind, and that which is placed on
the altar is then altered. There is no magic formula for how to pray; no one is monitorin g whether
or not you “get it right.” Simply pray from your heart, with sentiments such
as “Dear God, lift all these things into Your hands.” Asking that something
be “lifted up to divine right order” means asking that it be lifted to the
highest thought forms possible. A lower thought form is something like,
“I’m a failure; I’m no good; I’ll never succeed.” A higher thought form is
more like, “I’m a child of God. I know that I have made mistakes, but I
atone for my errors. I’m willin g in all ways to be the person God would
have me be. I’m willing to be shown where I need to improve,  and I know
that God has a plan for me. I place myself in service to humanity , and I ask
God to use me to help heal the world.”
When we medit ate and pray, we align our mind with God’ s power . Our
nervous system  takes on a mantle of peace; our anxious thoughts are
replaced by peaceful ones. Our dull thinking becomes radiant and brilliant. And this corrective does not apply just to money or employment; it applies
to everything. Every single moment, every single holy instant, the universe is ready to
begin again. The only time that God’ s time intersects with linear time is in
the present mom ent; miracles happen not in the past or future, but now. Every single moment, God is pouring forth His love for you, with endless
opportunities for renewal and rebirth. Every single moment, God is saying,
“Here is the glory of the univers e. Do you want it? Show up for it, because
it’s yours.”
So we say unto all eternity , moment after moment after moment:
 
Our Father , Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. God, who dwells in the realm of Truth, may your Word be all-powerful in
my mind. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. May the world I live in here on earth reflect the reality of love. May I
think Your thoughts, and make manifest Your thoughts. Give us this day our daily br ead; and for give us our tr espasses, as we
forgive those who tr espass against us. Today , may I receive what I need. May my way be unblocked, as I
unblock my heart to others. And leave us not in temptation, but deliver us fr om evil; for Thine is the
kingdom, and the power , and the glory , forever and ever . Amen. And when I’m tempted into fear, may I be guided back to lovin g thought:
that love might be my experien ce, and love might be my power , and love
might be my happiness and peace, in every single moment of my day . Amen. And so it is. OceanofPDF .comChapter 15
Creating Wealth Through Purity of Heart
I once heard a story about an Indian spiritual teacher who told his disciples
that their ashram needed a certain amount of money . When the disciples
asked where the money would come from, he responded, “From wherever it
is now!”
Wealth does not come from “somewhere else.” It doesn’ t come from
outside us, but rather manifests according to our thoughts. Money created
righteously doesn’ t come from other people; it comes through  them. Looking to other people as the source of our money is an idolatrous
notion, because it sees those people as the source of our good. It can also
lead us to explo itative or manipulative  thoughts or behavior . When we
realize that the universe itself is the source of our good, we simply allow it
to fill our needs in whatever way it chooses. And the universe would never
exploit anyone. We do whatever it is we feel we’re supposed to do, and the
universe pays us in whatever way it deems right. Purity of heart, then, is the miracle-worker ’s greatest
engine of wealth cr eation. Some things we’ll do for free, because that feels like the right thing to do. Some things we’ll charge money for, because—in different circumstances
—asking for a righteous exchange of money feels like the right thing to do. But money itself should not be the reason we do anything. The universeknows what we need and is inherently programmed to bring  it forth. It
knows how to transform anything at all into everything that’ s necessary . While reading Cinder ella to my daughter when she was growing up, I was
always struck by the deep wisdo m that’s in the story . The Fairy Godmother
didn’ t order a new dress out of a catalog; she transformed Cinderella’ s rags
into a ball gown. The Fairy Godmother didn’ t order a limo; she turned a
pumpkin into a coach and mice into horsemen. Whatever Cinderella
needed, the universe took care of it. Cinderella’ s purity of heart called forth
the Fairy  Godmother—that is, the spirit within—and the Fairy Godmother
called forth everything she needed. The Fairy Godmother ’s wand? True, loving thought. The light her wand
casts onto things? True understanding. The magic she works? The miracles
that result. The Fairy Godmother didn’ t have to order a dress or call out for a car
because the universe miraculously transformed existing material. That’ s
how the universe operates: whatever already is, is the platfor m for what
could be. Cinde rella, despite her circumstances as a servant, had the mind-
set of the miraculous. And so miracles came to her . In one video of the story , Cinde rella becomes upset after her stepmother
and stepsisters have gone to the ball. She’s on the driveway crying, when
the Fairy Godmother finally appears. Cinderella exclaims, “Oh, Fairy
Godmother , I thought you’d never get here!” to which the Fairy Godmother
responds, “Oh, that’s not true, or I couldn’ t have come.” How metaphysical
is that! Our souls are Cinderella, the ego is the wicked stepmother , and the Holy
Spirit is our Fairy Godmother . Each of us has a “wicked stepm other ,” i.e.,
ego mind, seeking to obstruct our good. And each of us has a “Fairy
Godmother ,” i.e., Holy Spirit, working miracles to fulfill out heart’ s desire
whenever our attitudes are pure. According to A Cours e in Miracles,  “Mirac les are everyone’ s right, but
purification is necessary first.” There is only one category of impurity that
keeps miracles at bay, and that is lovelessness. The Fairy Godmother didn’ t
appear to the stepmother or the ugly stepsisters, because their thoughts were
mean. They had plenty of mater ial resources, but they did not have love in
their hearts. Thus all their plans came to naught. PURITY  OF HEAR T, then, is the miracle-worker ’s greatest engine of wealth
creation. There are three spiritual steps involved in the metaphysical
transformation of lack into abun dance: (1) be grateful for what you already
have, (2) clean up whatever you need to clean up, and (3) allow  yourself to
want what you want. The three together are a powerful brew . 1. Be grateful for what you already have. It might  be a platitude to say, “Be grateful for what you have ,” but it’s
wisdom nonetheless. It’s one of those sayings we give credence to, but only
casually . Most of us are grateful  for many things, but in a shallo w way. And
shallow thoughts have only shallow power . Given that one billion people on this planet live on less than $1.25 a day,
most of us live a fabulously abundant life in comparison. Yet when was the
last time we stopped to give thanks for the fact that we have a home at all? When was the last time we focused on something in our lives and really ,
truly gave thanks for it? When was the last time we made a mental list of
our blessings rather than our grievances? Giving thanks is not just a “nice  thing to do”: it’s a metaphysical power , or
“magic wand.” By throwing the light of gratitude on what you have now,
you literally increase its value in your mind. The universe then reflects that,
turning your rags into a gown and taking you to the ball. If your thought is, “All I have  is junk,” then you will feel that way. If
you’re grateful for what you have, thinking, “I have so much,” then you
will feel the plenty that surrounds you. And those around you will respond
accordingly . Lack attracts lack and abundance attracts abundance. If your core belief is,
“I don’t have enough,” then you will never seem to. If your core belief is, “I
have so much,” then more will be given. Could it be so simple? Yes. For such is the power of every thought we
think. 2. Clean up whatever you need to clean up.Most of us have had at least one unpleasant or even painful experience
tied up with money . Someone may have stolen  from you, or exploited you
financially . Perhaps you blew a financial opportunity that came your way in
the past. You may have bills you can’t pay. You may not have a job, perhaps
not even a prospect of one. So what have we learned so far? We’ve learned that money doesn’t come
from the material world; it’s a material thing with a nonmaterial source. When we have a money problem, therefore, it’s a material problem with a
nonmaterial solution, and the nonmaterial solution is in the mind. I sugges t that you make a list of all places where money is a problem for
you. Write the problem(s) on the left side of the page, leaving several lines
blank beneath each one. Now do some serious introspection. For each money problem you
recorded, write an honest appraisal of the situation in the space you left
blank. Approach this task with an attitude of brutal honesty and
commitment to truth. Taking responsibility for our own part in our disasters
is critical to transforming them. What was my part in creating the problem? Whom do I need to for give? What remains to be cleaned up? I’ve found this process revealing in my own life. While others have
wronged me in the area of money over the years, a deeper look at the
situations made me aware of how easy I made it for them to do so. Yes, they
were perpetrato rs, but I wasn’ t a victim so much as a subconscious
participant in some ugly dramas. An agen t stole my royalties; but, on the other hand, I hadn’ t read my own
royalty statemen ts for eight years. A lawyer failed to protect me; but, on the
other hand, I didn’ t listen to my own gut, take responsibility for my own
business, and speak my own truth. I learned how my own irresponsibility
and unconsciousness helped create my financial disasters. All of it was a lesson in becom ing a mature and responsible adult, and I
came to realize this. A Course in Miracles  says that we pay a high price for
not taking 100 percent respon sibility for our experience: the price isthinking that we can’t change it. Yet it was difficult to forgive those who
transgressed against me without being willing to for give myself. To help with the process of taking responsibility and forgiving yourself,
consider writing a letter to God about each of the problems you wrote
down. Come clean about where you yourself made a mistake, didn’ t act in
integrity , called forth fear-based  responses by your own fear-based actions,
and so forth. Allow your hand to keep writing, as He responds. Be willing to hear Him, and make things right according to your internal
guidance wherever you can.If you owe a bill, get on a payment plan. Even
if each monthly installment is only five dollars, remember that the universe
responds fully to that old-fashioned concept called “doing the right thing.”
Once you recognize the Law of Cause and Effect as the basic building
block of the universe, you begin  to act righteously for your own sake. You
realize that integrity is in your own self-interest. You seek to live a more
impeccable life not just because  you feel you should,  but because you want
to. You realize that the darknes s in your life was called forth by fear, and
you wish to be rid of your fear. The moment you enter the light of your
spiritual reality , you rise above your ego and the darkness disappears. 3. Allow yourself to want what you want. Many people have a hard time allowing themselves to really want what
they want. They think, at least subconsciously , that asking for total
happiness is asking for too much. They don’t bother , therefore, to truly
listen to their heart’ s desire. But when your mind is attuned through prayer , meditation, and
forgiveness; when your body is attuned through healthy nutrition and
exercise; and when your behav ior is attuned through a sincere effort at
healthy living, then you’ve earned the right to trust yourself. For when
you’re aligned with truth, your desires are trustworthy . When you’re
praying and meditating, you don’t want  to judge and attack; when you’re
eating well and exercising, you don’t want  to sit in front of the TV and eat
hot-fudge sundaes every night; and when you’re seeking to live a life of
integrity , you don’ t want  to make money at the expense of others. Desire is righteous when it flows through a righteous vessel. The righteous
manifestation of money means manifestation brought forth by the right useof the mind. Righteously earned  money is a reflection of the abundance you
bring forth through the giving of your gifts to the universe. It is not in any
way a bleeding of the resources of the world, or of anyone else’s pockets. It
is an expression of the Infinite introduced into the finite world. In looking at nature, we clearly see its abundance. From the extraordinary
design of a flower to the amazing colors on the feathers of a bird, from the
magnificence of a mountain range to the sparkling light of stars at night, the
universe keeps it simple in function, but not in presentation. That is how we
should live our lives: keeping the function simple—serving the purposes of
love—but expressing ourselves with whatever aesthetic or artistic
sensibility gives us joy. The idea that only simple sackcloth expresses
holiness doesn’ t jive with the natural expressions of a living, loving
universe. Our outer circumstan ces do not determine the holiness of our
thoughts. Many people equate the love of money with greed, but no socio economic
group has a monopoly on love. The love of money isn’t of itself greedy , any
more than love of anything else is greedy . Greed is when you have a desire
that blinds you to the needs or wants of others. My love of art doesn’ t make
me greedy; it doesn’ t make me plot ways to steal art from the walls of
someone else’s house. My love of literature doesn’ t make me greedy; if I
read a book by Thomas Hardy , there isn’t any less Thomas Hardy for you. Similarly , my love of money doesn’ t make me greedy , unless I’m thinking
of my money as something I’m taking from you, rather than creating with
you. If I equate a love of money with greed, I’m subconsciously limiting my
ability to attract it. For if I do attract it, I must be greedy; therefore I’m bad;
therefore I must feel guilty; therefore I must keep money at bay in order to
avoid feeling guilty . And then we wonder why we have no money! Now let’ s imagine another scenario altogether . You generate righteous effort and receive financial reward in exchange. Remembering that all abundanc e comes from God, you realize that you are
only the steward of your money . You realize that there is more than enough
prosperity where that came from, because God is a realm  of infinite
abundance. You receive whatever is meant to come to you with graciousreceptivity and gratitude, as well as a sober sense of responsibility to
manage and use your money well. Like everything else, money is a reflection of love. It is to be used as God
directs, as a way to care for all living things. We are meant to use the money
that comes our way to take care of ourselves and those close to us, as well
as for charity and for nonprofit and righteous profit-making ventures. All
those things, when done with love, further God’ s work in the world. Money is meant to give increase, not only to yourself but also to others. You invest in a way that does good; you work in a way that creates good;
you live in a way that feels good . And because of that, people whom you do
not even know will experience increase in their  lives that they would not
have otherwise experienced. Someone’ s store is more likely to thrive
because you shop there; someone’ s restaurant is more likely to expand
because you and your friends eat there; someone’ s valid request for
financial assistance is more likely to be met because you have money to be
generous with. You are empowered not becaus e you have money , but because with that
money you can help empower others. You’re not coming from a “get”
mentality; you’re simply allow ing the flow of universal energy to move
through you and use you in a way that serves a greater good. Bless every
dollar , and every dollar will then bless you. OceanofPDF .comChapter 16
Working Miracles
One of my favorite examples of the Law of Divine Compensation is the
life of the twentieth-century artist Henri Matisse. As an old man he had
arthritis so severe that he could no longer hold a paintbrush. What a tragedy
this could have been for one of the greatest painters who ever lived. He
found, however , that he could hold a child’ s pair of scissors and use it to cut
the construction paper that his grandchildren played with. This led to what
art historians consider one of the greatest phases of his work: the Matisse
paper cutouts. Once again we see the difference between form and content. The fact that
on the material plane—the realm  of form—Matisse’ s hands could no longe r
work as well as they had did not mean that he had any less talent. In the
realm of content , nothing had been diminished. Spirit created a way within
the realm of form to compensate for diminishment and lack. God will do His part when we do ours. So when  we look at life from a spiritual perspective, we realize that the
loss of our job is not the loss of our calling, and the loss of money is not the
loss of our wealth. Our calling and our wealth, at the deepest level, are not
of the material plane and therefore cannot be taken away . Do not let the
appearance of loss deter you from the realization that what is given of God
is given forever . God has given you your identity , and that cannot be taken away . God has imbued you with infinite potential, and that cannot be taken
away . God has provided you with the opportunity to change your thinking in any
instant, and that cannot be taken away . God has given you the capacity to love, and that cannot be taken away . God has entrusted you with the power to live in the light of His abundance
in any moment, and that cannot be taken away . Even if we have  only fifty cents , we can praise God and be blessed by that
fifty cents. Even when we have a stack of credit card bills and accumulated
debt staring us in the face, we can remember that in God all things are
possible and that there is no order of difficulty in miracles. We can do the
brutally self-hon est work of tracing our own part, if any, in making the
situation what it is. And we can atone, thus invoking the power of the
universe to correct it. It’s a strong person who refuse s to whine, who gets up even when he
doesn’ t feel like it, puts his best foot forward, and goes to yet another job
interview when he’s been rejected by the last five prospective employers. It
takes a person of real grace not to blame a spouse, or give in to “I told you
so,” or sit around and only cast blame on others for difficult circumstances. And it takes a spiritual seeker to realize that whatever is happen ing now can
be a platform for a miracle. God will do His part when we do ours. Even if we have only a frayed hat,
we can still put our hat on and show up for life. We can pray for a miracle
and think miraculously . Abunda nce and prosperity will show up when we
do. Today’ s reality is simply a mirror of yesterday’ s thinking. Now , in this
moment, standing in the field of miraculous possibility , you can disenthrall
yourself from the limits of your past. Nothing binds you except your
thoughts; nothing limits you except your fear; and nothing controls you
except your beliefs. Think God,  think Jesus, think Light, think Love, think
whatever form of divinity calls to you. And all else will fall away . OceanofPDF .comA c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
Published books are a collaborative process, in which the author is
surrounded and supported by a team of literary midwives. There is no way
to overestimate the role of this support team in bringing a book to life. I thank Mickey Maudlin at HarperCollins for his positive response to the
idea of Divine Compensation. His organizing the transcripts of my teleclass
in order to lay a groundwork for the book was a gift without which I
wouldn’ t have been able to write it. I hope our association will continue to
be both productive and fun. I thank Ellis Levine for his wise and excellent counsel. I’m very grateful
to know that you have my back. To the brillian t, adorable, young-but-mature-beyond-her -years Liana
Gergely, who spent many hours  editorially assisting my process as I wrote
this book, I bow in deepest salute and gratitude. As a summer intern who
simply appeared “from out of the blue,” she turned out to be a miracle sent
from “a thought  system beyond our own.” I’ve told her this many times,
and I’m happy now to have a chance to tell the world. She is one of those
young people who give you faith in what the future can be. To all the team at HarperCo llins: executive managing editor Terri
Leonard, production editor Lisa Zuniga, copy editor Kathy Reigstad,
Kathryn Renz, and anyone else who helped make the book into what is
hopefully a gift to its reader , my deepest thanks. Also, to Emilia  Monell for
final help with the manuscript. To my friends Richard Cooper , David Kessler , Frances Fisher , Roger
Wolfson, and Victoria Pearman , my thanks for the emotional support that
only true friends can give. And thanks to Jennifer Ritchkof f for your
willingness to share your story .To Tammy Vogsland, Wendy Zahler , Drea Dauer , and Jill Angelo, my
thanks for assisting me in holding the earth together while my writer ’s head
was in the clouds. To my daughter , India, there are no words for the love and gratitude I feel
for who you are and what you are to me. As I’ve said to you from the time
you were a little girl, it is truly an honor to be your mom. To my readers and audience, particularly those at my lectures in Los
Angeles, I thank you for keep ing me on my toes. The depth of your
searching, and the kindness that you show to me, are the inspirations behind
this book. There are others who have brought great light to my life, and you know
who you are. My love and thanks to all  . . . OceanofPDF .comAbout the Author
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON is an internationally acclaimed author and
lecturer . Six of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, including
A Return  to Love, The Age of Miracles, A Course in Weight Loss, and The
Gift of Change . She has been a popular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show ,
Larry King Live, Good Morning America , and Charlie Rose . A Newsweek
poll named her one of the fifty most influential baby boomers. Visit her
website at www .marianne.com. Discover great authors, exclusive of fers, and more at hc.com . OceanofPDF .comBooks by Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love
The Gift of Change
The Law of Divine Compensation
A Year of Miracles
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THE LAW OF DIVINE COMPENSA TION:  On Work, Money , and Mirac les. Copyright © 2012 by Marianne Williamson. All rights reserved under
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Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        You cannot know how your part fits best into a larger plan
for the healing of the world, but God does. Your job is merely to open your
mind and open your heart so that a higher consciousness can then flow
through you. 5. Before you go to a job interview, audition, or meeting, you blast
every person you’re going to be with—and the situation itself—
with light and love. Your goal becom es simply giving and receiving love—which is another
way of saying, “May God’ s will be done. ” You see every interaction as a
holy encounter. You intend for this and every situation to be one in which
you express your truest, most brilliant, most loving self—and what happens
beyond that, you leave to the intelligence of the universe. You’re not going
to the interview to try to get a job; you’re going there to do your job. Those five steps might seem as if they are just little things—hardly the
operating princi ples that move the universe. Yet that is exactly what they
are. ON THE SPIRITUAL  plane, you have  no competitors. There is no competition
for your position, as you are a unique expression of the Mind of God. You
not only have a place in the universe; you have an essential function  in the
universe. Only you can do the job of being you, and the universe itself is
left incomplete without you. It is not arrogant but humble to realize this, as
you place yourse lf in service to the greatest drama there is: the actualization
of your own potential. Your highest function is simply to be the person you are capabl e of being,
and from that effort—the development of your kindness and positivity, your
vulnerability and availability to life—your calling will emer ge. As you become who you are meant to be, what you are meant to do will
fall like a path of rose petals before you. You may be thinki ng, “I don’t
know  what my callin g is,” but God does. He knows how your talen ts and
abilities can best fit into His plan for the enlightenment and healing of all
things. What talents you have, He will glorify as you use them  to glorify
Him. And talents you don’t even know that you have, that lie latent within
you, will emer ge as you surrender more deeply to love. Your calling is what you would  do whether you were paid to do it or not. Your calling is what you have  to do in order to be happy. Your calling is
what connects you to your deepest self, and to the rest of life around you. If
you have no idea what that would be, simply pray, “Dear God, please use
me,” and awareness of your calling will appear miraculously. From the time she was a little girl, my daughter was entranced by stories
of historical kings and queens. Constantly she would say to me, “Mommy,
tell me a queen story. ” Even when very young, she would read books about
King Henry VIII and his wives,  following me around the hous e telling me
about this or that historical incident. Now she’s a graduate  student in
history. While some have sugg ested to me that finding a job as a history
professor might  not be easy once she graduates, I never worry that she
won’ t be able to make a living as a historian, because history isn’t just a job
to her. History is her calling. She is genuinely excited  about it. Whether she
pursues her love of history as a professor or writer, or shares her knowledge
via some other means, her passion will undoubtedly make her of use to the
world. I have no doubt that in the miraculous universe, she will be
compensated appropriately for the work she does. I’m always sad to hear parents  saying to their child, “But how will you
make a living doing that. ” when their child is obviously passionate about
something. Reading the biography of Steve Jobs, anyone can see that this
kid with a love of computers, working away in his parents’  garage, wasn’ t
thinking just about how he would get a job. He was responding to a higher
calling—a calling for the ages, as it turned out—and no one doubts the
abundance that he created. Not all of us have the talent of a computer
genius, but all of us have a call to greatness nonetheless. The true you, your holy self, is beyond any limits of the mortal  world. So
are the talents and brilliance within you. When you dwell in that
knowledge, simply recognizing and appreciating the divine spirit residing in
all of us, you receive the charisma of a self-confident person. Someone who has confidence in God comes across as confident to the
world; someone who thinks of him- or herself as a follower of God comes
across as a leader to the world. You’ll develop a kind of invisible light, a
sense of humble certitude, a greatness that comes from beyond yourself. Your abilities, your intelligence, your talents, your personality, your
circumstances, your dreams will all come together in a beautiful pattern. And you will see all this as your calling—a calling back and forth, in
continuous song, from your heart to the universe and the universe back to
you. In the words of Confucius, “Choose a job you love, and you will never
have to work a day in your life. ”
OceanofPDF. comChapter 12
Embracing Abundance
As a child of God, you are inwardly abundant. External abundance is
simply a reflection of who and what you are. A spiritual economy is one in which abundance is a natural result of
people actualizing their God-given gifts. True prosperity is the prospering
of our spirits in service to love. You are an idea in the Mind of God, and an idea does not leave its source. God is infinite and God is love; therefore you share in that infinitude and
you share in that love. This is simply the truth of who you are. The universe of which you are part is an all-loving field of miraculous
possibility, not only in every instant but also moving through time. In
physics terms, you’re not a particle but a wave. You’re not a static thing, but
rather an ever-evolving emanation of the Mind of God. Spirit has great
plans for you, because God’ s Mind is an eternal wellspring of infinite love. This wellspring literally never runs out of ideas. We feel it would be arr ogant to think of ourselves as
“God’ s gift to the world,” yet in fact that’ s exactly who
each of us is. Your awareness of these things helps right the universe on your behalf,
lifting you above the effects of the fear-based thought system that
dominates this planet. Your greatest source of power in this world is the
knowledge that you’re not of this world. None of us are truly at home in thisdimension, and—counterintuitive though it is—we dwell most comfortably
within the world when we know that. Our true home lies beyond the veil of
illusion, and we are here to shed the light of our true home into all darkened
corners of the world. With that understanding we unleash the unlimited
potential that lies within each of us to create the good, the true, and the
beautiful. Such are the gifts of the spirit that we carry within. We’re programmed for
abundance because we are abunda nt. Financial prosperity  is one of the
many ways we receive the gifts of the world, as we deliver to the world the
gifts we bring from beyond it. Think what a different self-perception that is than the ego’s derogatory
estimation of who you are. To the fear-based ego mind, you’re a clump of
clay that has to compete in whatever way you can for the materi al resources
by whic h to survive. To the loving heart, however, you’re a nonmaterial
wave of energy, on earth with a spiritual mission. This mission acts like a
magnet, making  the forces of the world arrange themselves in a way that
supports its achievement. No matter what you do, your abund ance lies in
dedicating your work to the purpose of healing the world. This is our
common spiritual function, and it’s only in performing our function that we
can be happy. We’re not depressed because the economy is depressed; the economy is
depressed because we’re depressed. And we’re depressed because we’ve
lost conscious contact with the realization of why we’re here. We feel it
would be arroga nt to think of ourselves as “God’ s gift to the world,” yet in
fact that’s exactly who each of us is. It’s humble, not arrogant, to realize this
truth; we’re not taking personal credit for the divine power that lies within
us. Remembering that that divine power is there—in us, but not of us—is
essential to the proper functioning of our mind and heart. Any thought or
action that separ ates us from love separates us from our sense of meaning,
our creativity and our joy. You were created to live a life of abundance, with the supp ort of the
universe in carrying out your material endeavors. Nature itself displays
economy, but not austerity. Yet many of us were taught—and  by certain
religions, no less. —to distrust abundance, leading us to subconsciously
avoid or, at the very least, fail to develop the mental and emotion al habits  of
an abundant life. We need to do more than eradicate our thoughts ofpoverty; we need to allow ourselves to proactively embrace, to the point of
embodying, the energies of abundance. To the universe, it’s as easy to
manifest six zeroes as it is to manifest two. As a child of God, all the
abundance of the universe belongs to you, because it is you. The idea that you must struggle in order to experience abundance—
whether in the form of love relationships, money, or anything else—
interferes with the natural magnetism that otherwise brings abundance
forth. There is a difference between having to work  and having to struggle. Work is creative  effort, a righteous extension of positive energy that attracts
abundance; struggle is a perversion of creative energy based on a
misunderstanding of one’s basic relationship to the universe. Anxiety and
struggle do not attract your good. If you think you have to struggle, you’re forgetting your relationship to
the universe; and the universe will then seem to forget its relationship to
you. Your job is simply to be, joyfully expressing your own inner worth —
and the universe will find a way to take care of you. But if you think, “I
have to struggle, because otherwise I’m not taken care of,” then your core
belief is that you won’ t be taken care of—and you won’ t be. The universe is programmed to support your happiness, and one of the
ways it does this is by arrangin g events so that you won’ t have to worry
about money. Why. Because you have more important things to do. That is
the correct motivation for makin g money: so you simply don’t have to think
about it except as a tool for the betterment of all things. It’s difficult to open yourself to such thinking if you’re not open to the
idea of your own internal magnificence. Recognition of your internal
magnificence is not ego; it’s the acknowledgment of the spirit within you,
which makes you no more or less valuable than anyone else. All of us are
infinitely valuable to God. Many of us were taught as children that we shouldn’ t express  ourselves
too much. We should pipe down in some way. Such children often become
adults who are in the habit of cowering, as though we’re afraid of taking up
too much space. Our mind then comes into conflict with our soul’ s
knowing. Becau se each of us is the center of the universe, we are here to
express ourselves,  and on some level we know this. There is no need to feel you shouldn’ t take up too much room in a
universe that is in fact all yours. You are here to fly at full wingspan, for theglory of the One who sent you. You give your greatest gifts when you are
flying fully and freely. You’re actually withholding from the universe when
you don’ t. If Mommy or Daddy or a teacher or a mate or anyone else you might have
met along the way taught you for whatever reason that your job is to keep
your head down, then bless them but know that they were misinformed. A
Course in Miracles  claims that those who have achieved the most in the
world have achieved only a fraction of what each of us is capable of. And
that means that you have as much achievement potential as any great artist,
scientist, or anyone else who ever lived. Unlimited potential lies within you,
just waiting to be activated by your own af firmative response to the idea. Once you know this, you become a magnet for worldly success. You work
from joy and the universe respo nds. You open your heart to love, and the
way is made clear for you. Love, in whatev er form would serve us, is always coming towa rd us. Our
job is not to go out and find it, but to allow it to find us. Money isn’t just
something we “go out and make”; it’s also something we have to be able to
“sit still and receive. ” The ego doesn’ t want you to believe this, but all you
have to do is open your heart, and all the abundance you need will find its
way to your door. ONE MORNING, I was picked up by a car service for a drive to the airport. I
asked the young man who was driving whether he was new to the company,
as I hadn’ t seen him before. “Yes,” he said. “I just moved to Los Angeles from New York. ”
“Let me guess,” I said, smiling. “Actor. ”
“Well,” he said. “W riter, painter—but I don’ t know. I do a lot of things. ”
I asked him what kind of painter he was and what kind of writer. “I write dramas. But I don’t know. I think I need to write something
else in order to get something sold. ” He appeared to be struggling with his
predicament. “What does that mean. ” I asked. “Like horror films or something. ”
He nodded knowingly and rolled his eyes. I wondered how he was going
to attract a sale by writing something he didn’ t even like to write. “What I need to do is network,” he told me. “I lived here before, and I
knew a lot of people. ” He then rattled off some names of successful
producers and directors, as though if only he had impressed them before,
then he’d be living in Bel Air by now. “So I had the relationships, I just
didn’ t know how to. ” He moved his arms around as though to say he
didn’ t know how to schmooze, to do the dance. He seemed to see this as the
gist of his failure. “But my real problem,” he conti nued, “is that I don’t know how to write a
dramatic moment. ” How we’d gotten there, I wasn’ t sure. “I do have
confidence in my craft, but I’m not confident in the art of it. I know how to
write things technically, but I don’t know how to write that big dramatic
moment. I have to figure out how to do that. ”
“Well,” I said, “I’m not sure you can ‘figure out’ how to write a big
dramatic moment, because a big dramatic moment by definition doesn’ t
come from the part of the mind  that can figure things out. That’ s why it’s
called ‘drama. ’  It has less to do with a rational formula and more to do with
a spontaneous burst of emotional truth. ”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess. ”
“So for that,” I continued, “you’ll need to learn to access your own
authenticity and feeling. Otherwise, how can you convey it to others. I
don’t know how you can access  your authenticity when you seem to think
you should be someone other than who you are, wanting something other
than what you really want, and doing something other than what you want
to be doing. ”
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, sighing. “I just gotta figure out how to do all
that. ”
Oy. “Well, you’re sort of doing  it again. Maybe there’ s nothing  to figure
out here at all. Maybe there’ s just some insight you might want to let in. Your subconscio us mind will do the rest. The subconscious is a better
organizer than your conscious mind will ever be. ”
He is probably wondering, at this point, who the crazy lady in the backseat
is. My cappuccino is kicking in now. “The universe can organize itself. The embryo doesn’ t need to figure out
how to become a baby. Buds don’t have to figure out how to become
blossoms. Nature has its plan figured out. “Or you can look at it this way,” I continued. Poor guy. I’m on a roll now. “Think of a pile of iron shavings. Now, what’ s the best way to form the
shavings into a pattern, using your fingers or introducing a magnet. “Your internal self is like a magnet. Call it the Christ, or your Inner Light,
or whatever; there’ s a spirit within you that naturally attracts all the patterns
and details that would form your most beautiful life. Look what it arranged
for you this morning. ”
I laughed, as we pulled up to the Los Angeles airport and I searched the
signs for Southwest Airlines. “Yeah, I was thinking that. ,” he said. “Now what did you say you do. ”
“Oh, I just talk about this stuf f a lot,” I smiled, as I got out of the car. The universe had indeed self-o rganized that morning. The young man
received inform ation that might help him in his work if he was open to it;
and I got a demonstration of how people hold themselves back by not
remembering who they are, suggesting to me that I should include the issue
in this book, thus adding to my work. Yet neither of us would have been so served had we not been open-hearted
and open -minded enough to engage in friendly dialogue with the person in
front of us. He had introduce d himself to me; I had asked him about
himself. Those two things—se emingly meaningless moments of human
connection—opened the door through which the universe could provide its
gifts to both of us. Neither one of us could get the gift, however, unless we made ourselves
available to receive it. He could have been preoccupied and not at all
interested in interacting with the client in the backseat, and I could have
been preoccupied and not at all interested in interacting with him. These are
the kinds of ways we turn down  miracles all the time. We fail to realize that
what we need is available to us at every moment. Most of the time, we
block our reception of a miracle  by believing it couldn’ t be that easy. But do
flowers not grow easily. We think we know what we need, and what we
need to do to make things happen. But do we, really. Just try strategizing a
miracle. People have no idea what they miss in life by discounting other people
and the gifts they bring. In a universe where all is designed to provide us
with perfect lessons in every moment, there are lessons awaiting us in the
most unexpecte d places. Perhaps you’ve made the mistake of thinking
someone “wasn ’t important,” discounting that person in some way, onlylater to learn that he or she was exactly the person who might have helped
you. Sometimes we’re so consumed with “becoming successf ul” that we
forget the importance of being successful human beings, of deeply listening
to other people, of showing up spontaneously for whatever life has to offer. Those of us who have made that mistake have found that it wasn’ t
ultimately good for business. My father used to say frequently, “Proud days
soon pass. ”
There’ s no way to rationally formulate or predict where our next miracle
will come from. In almost every moment, we’re at the right place at the
right time if we step fully into the moment at hand. It’s amazing how much our ego would separate work from love. We seem
to think that success depends on what we do, but not necessarily on who we
are. And nothin g could be furth er from the truth. Anything that deters the
flow of love deters the emer gence of our success. One common way that people deny the flow of miracles is by rejecting
relationships on the basis that “I’m too busy with my career. ” There is no
greater career than being a fully  alive, fully present, and fully loving human
being. Someone  you’re turning away from because the relati onship will
“take too much time” might be the one with whom you could have the
experiences that pave the way to the very miracles you wish for. The
universe doesn’ t categorize between “love” and “work,” becau se in reality
everything is love and everything is work. Never think that turning away from love is a smart thing to do, or any sort
of good career move. When you stop the flow of love pouring forth from
your heart, you stop the flow of love pouring forth to your door. That
applies as much to the flow of money as to the flow of anything else. Let it
flow from you, and it will flow to you. Always. OceanofPDF. comChapter 13
Meditation
Enlightenment begins as an abstract concept and then makes a journey
without distance  from the head to the heart. As most of us are aware, mere
intellectual understanding is not of itself enough to change our lives. Albert Einstein claimed that the problems of the world would not be
solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we create d them. The
different level of thinking requir es a different worldview, and different brain
waves. During our normal working consciousness, the human brain emits what
are calle d beta waves. As we settle into meditation, the brain shifts and
begins to emit alpha waves and sometimes even the deeper delta waves. Delta waves help us access the unconscious, reduce levels of a hormone
called cortisol (known to cause stress and aging), and produce a restfulness
akin to deep sleep. Just as we look to food to fuel our  physical selves, we
should look to meditation and prayer  to fuel our  spiritual
selves. True meditation practice is more than staring into a candle and breathing
deeply, sitting still, slowing down our mind, and so forth. It is more than
deep relaxation. Deep relaxation is important, but it is not meditation. All
meditation is relaxation, but not all relaxation is meditation. An actual meditation practice—such as going through the Workbook of A
Course in Miracles  or doing Transcendental Meditation, Buddhist
meditation, or other spiritual, religious, or even secular forms of meditation
—includes a technique through which words or sounds instruct the mind to
move into deeper regions. These regions hold the key not only to stress
reduction but to much, much more. Greater insight, deeper understanding,
expanded persp ective, more whole-system knowing, and deeper peace,
forgiveness, and love—all of these arise more easily from the meditative
mind. The rational mind alone cannot cause these things to occur. In order to not only conceptualize breakthroughs but to actually
experience them, we need to embody the spiritual principles we embrace. We want not only our rational minds but also our spirits to be reignited. We
want our psyches to be rewired. We want to experience miraculous shifts. Such shifts are growth into our truer selves. Just as we look to food to fuel
our physical selves, we should look to meditation and prayer  to fuel our
spiritual selves. Meditation is like spiritual exercise, developing attitudinal muscles and
making them strong. Consider it your daily workout. After a certain point in
our lives, whether in relation to physical or attitudi nal muscles, gravity
pulls down what  we don’t work at keeping  up. Flabby spiritual muscles are
things like cynicism, negativity, victim consciousness, anger,
judgmentalism, and fear. Just as we do well to exercise our bodies on a
regular basis, we also do well to exercise our minds. As A Course in
Miracles  says, we are “much too tolerant of mind-wandering. ”
Meditation, again like physical exercise, isn’t something we can afford to
stop doing. We never get to look in the mirror and say, “I like my body now,
so I can stop exercising. ” Neither can we say, “I feel at peace now, so I can
stop meditating. ” Gravity, both physical and emotional, is at work every
day. So should we be, in order to counter it. Just as we wash to remove yesterday’ s dirt from our bodies, we meditate
to remove yesterday’ s stress from  our minds. A meditation pract ice is one of
the most powerful boosts to our physical well-being, as well as to our
mental and emotional health. It even helps us financially. Acco rding to an
article published by the American Public Health Association, people who
practice Transcendental Meditation spend 11 percent less annual ly on health
care than does the general population. Let’s look more closely at how meditation affects our work and earning
capacities. Today’ s work environment is routinely stressful. Between the
twenty-four -hour blitz of often depressing world news and the economic
anxiety rampant everywhere, many people feel like they’re barely holding
on. Dysfunctional responses such as overeating, drinking and drugging to
excess, and self-medicating through recreational or pharmaceutical drug use
have become common responses to stress. Things are moving too quickly, and we simply weren’ t created for that. For millions of years our ancestors toiled with their bodies, worked the
earth, and sat around campfires in the evening telling stories. They didn’ t
fool around on the computer all day. Our challenge is to compen sate for the
wear and tear of modernity’ s assault on our nervous systems. With greater
speed comes a greater chanc e that we’ll make mistakes. We don’t
adequately think an issue through; we let fear rule a decision, digging
ourselves an even deeper hole than the one we’re already in; we fail to
connect deeply with people and situations around us, leading to all manner
of negative results. But there is a revolution in consciousness among us, and meditation is at
the forefront. More and more people are looking to nutrition, yoga,
exercise, spirituality, and so forth to counter the dysfunction and stress of
the times in which we live. Years ago I had made a pot of chili. When I tasted it, it was too hot;
clearly I had added too much cayenne pepper. When I called my mother and
asked for help, she told me to put a raw potato in the chili in order to absorb
the pepper. She was right: it worked. I never forgot that image, because it
reminds me of how it feels when I meditate. Meditation absorbs my crazy
thinking the way that raw potato absorbed the cayenne. As a student of A Course in Miracles,  I read one Workbook lesson every
day—“I give my life to God to guide today,” “Into His presence would I
enter now,” “I am at home. Fear is the stranger here,” or whate ver it might
be—and while I can’t say that the practice guarantees I’ll be the best
version of myself all day, it absolutely keeps me from being the worst
version of myself. I might have  negative thoughts or feelings, but the
chances of my acting on them  are drastically reduced. And all of us, if
we’re honest with ourselves, know how important that distinction can be. It can take just one instant for a lack of impulse control to overwhelm our
better knowing. We say something we later wish we hadn’ t said; we write
an e-mail we later wish we hadn’t sent; we respond to a text message we
later wish we’d simply ignored. Or we simply weren’ t our best selves,
diminishing the trust that others have in us. Those are the moments, not just
in our personal relationships but in our professional ones as well, that can
mess up even the greatest business plans and avenues to success. The benefits of meditation go beyond de-stressing the mind; meditation
actually expands  the mind. It gives us insight and illumination. It builds
wisdom and compassion. It goes a long way toward making us the people
we wish to be. Below is a prayer, followed by multiple statements that provide a
meditative approach to money and career. Read each statement slowly,
picturing the images it evokes, exploring the idea or scene, and inwardly
asking for further illuminatio n. You may make it through only one
paragraph, whic h is fine. What matte rs is that we daily do whatever we can
to realign our thoughts with the Mind of God. Do the following meditation gently and without stress. Sit quietly in a
comfortable position, close your eyes, and feel yourself in the presence of
the holy. Open with a prayer, such as the following:
 
Dear God,
I give this time of quiet to Y ou. Please dissolve my thoughts of str ess and fear
And deliver me to the inner place
Wher e all is peace and love. Amen. Then, keeping your eyes closed, allow your mind to gently switch gears. When you feel you’re ready, look honestly over the landscape of your
material life. With the power of your imagination, pour a holy light over
everything you see. Ask to be shown all you need to see and know, and your
spirit will guide you. When looking at the subject of your work and finances, view them from
the perspective of your spirit. Recognize your work as your ministry, andsee ways that you could make it more so. See what or whom you’ve allowed to go unnoticed, untended to,
unappreciated, or undervalued. Salute spiritually those you work with now, have worked with before, or
might work with in the future. Dedicate your work to holy purposes. See how the images change when
you do. Humbly confess  and atone for any errors or financial irrespons ibilities in
your past. Ask forgiveness for any wrong-minded thinking, and pray for a
miracle. Notice any places where you are defended against wealth—where you feel
it wrong or judge those who have it—and allow this wall of mistaken
thought to crumble. Now envision yourself as a person of wealth, expanding into the energy of
abundance. See yourself gladly assuming the responsibilities that come with
it. Commit within your heart that you will use whatever wealth comes into
your life as spirit directs, as a means of blessing and never of harm. See yourself in control of vast amounts of money, if vast amounts of
money are what  you truly desire. See this money as an exchange of energy
through which you bless the world. For being, and having, are ultimately the same thing. Know that whatever
you can be, you can have. See yourself transforming into someone whose internal abundance aligns
with a magnificent external abundance. Allow yourself to inhabit this space
energetically, and hold the vision for a minimum of five minutes a day. Allow yourself to feel the subtle changes in thought, energy, feeling,
behavior, and desire that naturally result from this. Give thanks and praise God.
The author emphasizes the importance of embracing our true selves, recognizing our divine nature, and aligning our thoughts and actions with the universe's plan.
What is the author's main message in this book?