Why doesn’t money feel spiritual to me?

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Michael just pointed out to me that we have never directly addressed money in these messages. Ulla says that money seems to be a problem for everybody. It is funny that even though you have largely done away with physical money in your modern economic system, it remains just as big a problem. When we talk about illusion, what better place is there to look than at money? What value does that piece of paper have? You can’t eat it or drink it. You can’t build a house or take a trip with it. All you can do with it is give it away, or stow it away. Money is an absolute illusion; it has no value in and of itself. Even the coins that once were precious are now made mostly of low cost metals. You often replace money with a little worthless plastic card or even digital numbers in cyberspace. The thing to understand about money in all of its manifestations is that its primary purpose, as is true with absolutely everything else in your life, is to support you in realizing your divinity. You are immortal, divine beings. That is what you came here to realize.

Money is a tool to help you do just that. You may believe that the purpose of money is to help you survive, but your survival is guaranteed. Your ego may scream out that you don’t just want to survive, you want to survive and stay in your body. If you think that money is what allows you to stay in the body, and the ego uses the body to stay separate from God and in pain and suffering, then money must be the thing that keeps you trapped in your earthly hell. If we do away with money, can we eliminate pain and suffering? It is not quite that easy. Ask those who have tried to live outside the financial system.

Let us start with looking at the connection of fear with money, the anxiety that there isn’t enough. Money is the best way that you know to attract what you desire into your life. Whether you are looking at the basics of food, water, shelter, and clothing, or the extras that seem to make life worth living, there does not appear to be enough money. You may decide to sell yourself out. You may take a job that you probably wouldn’t do if fear were not raging in your mind. Some of you have mastered this denial process by finding work that provides some enjoyment and/or pays relatively well, but if you won the lottery, would you wish to continue with your job as it is? For many of you, your story is that your job takes too much time and energy, has too many distasteful qualities, and leaves you with too little money. The choice seems to be between either working harder or being poorer. There may be fear around deservedness, and poverty can be seen as the only route to heaven. Jesus warned us about the spiritual dangers of the love of money. When you place financial success as your most important goal in life, you have chosen a goal that has no value. If you believe that money will bring you happiness, you are deceiving yourself. No matter how much you create, it will not be enough. Which billionaires have said that they have enough and have stopped accumulating wealth (the answer may be those who are beginning to look at their own mortality)? But the deception is equal if you believe that poverty will bring you happiness. Remember that money is pure illusion. What do you value? If your priority in life is to experience your divinity, the purpose of money is to support that happening. Perhaps you wish to attend trainings or workshops, go to retreats, or receive sessions for your spiritual and physical healing. You don’t feel that you can afford them, so your spiritual growth feels blocked off. You can’t afford to ascend. That is quite a story.

We begin the healing of your relationship with money by reminding you that the dollar, kronor, or other currency is the illusion of all illusions. It is not real, but exists simply as a temporary convenience. It is a bridge. When you can fly, you don’t need bridges. Money provides an easy way to exchange. It releases you of the need for barter, where you must find the person who has what you want and also wants what you have. Money provides a basis for trust where you give service one place and receive service in another. Eventually there will be no need for it. Fear of lack requires you to keep score. As you realize that the supply is infinite, the need to keep track disappears. You don’t have to wait for the world to get there. You can go there at any time. You can go there now. You cannot experience your divinity while you are carrying fear about money. Is it possible for God to be unable to generate enough? Is there a limit to the creative power of God? If you believe that you cannot generate enough, you have separated yourself from God. You must not be divine. Part of my job is to shake you gently and remind you that you are divine. Listening to your ego is the only thing standing in the way of manifesting whatever you desire in the moment. You choose to pay attention to your ego instead of to Spirit. Your ego says you are undeserving and that there isn’t enough to go around. It tells you that wanting more is selfish and takes away from what others can have. It warns you about what God does to selfish people. The way to ascension, according to the ego, is to do without, to be an ascetic. On the flip side, the ego tells you that those who have abundance have sold their soul to the devil, and they will burn in hell forever. You will be rewarded for your suffering.

What a story! When you decide to stop listening to the ego, your experience will change. It probably won’t transform all at once, because it is difficult to stop listening to that lie instantly in its entirety. Ask Spirit to come in and guide you to the truth about money and manifestation. The function of money is as a medium of exchange so that you are supported in the moment as you are following your path or doing the service you came here to do. Money is not a diversion for you. You can be fully focused on love and supporting others to realize their divinity, as you realize your own. Do the work of listening to Spirit and letting go of the ego. Keep your eye on the prize. Whatever is essential for today will be there. There is no need to worry about tomorrow, because it never comes. You are always in the now. You are always supported by Spirit. When your fear about money surfaces, use the five-step process. Go right into the face of your fear. You will never be able to accumulate enough money to lose the fear. If you are working a job or staying in a relationship because of fear of money, fly into the face of that fear. Staying is a slow death that will not allow you the true happiness of realizing your divinity. If you want to do something that supports your purpose, but worry about not having enough – spend the money. Trust. Do the process. Remember that it is all illusion. It is just a movie. Play the role your heart is set on. God is on your side.

God Blesses You,

Sanhia

How can I realize my purpose?

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This is the time of year when many of you take a vacation. The focus is on taking time for yourself, relaxing, and doing what you want to do. This often involves being out in nature. On one level, you are choosing to have a certain type of experience. It is like the sabbatical, which is an extended period for stepping out of your regular life, but it is more a place for playfulness and expression than for introspection. It is a time to enjoy life. Some of you experience less than pure joy on your vacations. A tremendous pressure can be felt to make the most of the time. For some there is the dread of the impending return to the ”real world”. This is particularly true for those of you who are not doing what you came here to do. It is as if the rest of your life is a sacrifice and the vacation has to fill all the empty holes in you. Then, at the end of the vacation you go back to a life that isn’t chosen from your heart.

For those who are fully into your Right Livelihood, the Buddhist term used to describe following your heart in the work you do, there is a seamless flow from work into leisure. Vacation is simply another way of expressing your truth. But, for all it is a time of recharging, particularly in connection with the feminine energy. Let’s look more closely at this term. Right Livelihood is connected to dharma rather than karma. It is not a balancing of energy from past and present life confusions, or karma; it is acting in harmony with your deeper being. There is something that you came here to do. It is yours and yours alone. Nobody else can do this, nor can you do anything else and know true peace. If you are not doing the thing you came here to do, there is a sense of failure and frustration about your life.

For some people, there is a total shut down around their purpose, but for many of you a piece of your purpose is visible to you, though not the whole. The challenge is to surrender fully to purpose. In the same way that you don’t come in remembering your divinity, you also don’t remember what you came to do. The remembrance comes through a conscious choice. If your commitment and habit is to choose love over fear, you will slowly uncover your Right Livelihood. When you are there, you are living in love. You are following your passion and sharing that love with others. What stands in the way is the belief that you don’t deserve to do what you love to do. This may be expressed through a belief that the universe will not support you in following your heart. The ego voice in your head tells you, ”You need to be serious. Buckle down. Keep your nose to the grindstone. You have to work hard to support yourself and your family. That’s how it is.” That is the voice, the belief, of fear and lack.

Part of following your Right Livelihood is to release the fear. But, an equal part is to truly know what your purpose is. These two are intertwined. If you carry a great deal of fear it may block the knowing. You may not be able to see it at all. You may think of yourself as someone with no particular gifts to offer the world. Or, you may see part of the picture but doubt your sanity and not trust what you see and feel. Those of you who live in western civilization are influenced by a mass consciousness that considers Right Livelihood to be a frill that can only be dallied with once you have taken care of the ”meat and potatoes” of life, after you have done the duty that you owe to yourself, your family, and your society to work hard at something. But, the true service happens when you give from your divinity and share it with those who are close to you, your community, and the world. That is the greatest benefit you can offer, much grander than any self-sacrifice could provide.

How do you go about releasing fear and finding true purpose? A wonderful place to begin is with the five-step process. Your “old story” is whatever you believe to be true about Right Livelihood. It may be a statement of fear, one of confusion, or one of hopelessness. Feel where you are holding that energy in your body and focus your full attention upon it until you feel the unconditional love emerge. Then accept your divinity by taking full responsibility for your “old story”, thanking it for its role in guiding you to your Right Livelihood. Finally, choose your new story from your heart. In addition to this process it will help to commit to bring something you love into your life each day. Set some time aside for yourself. Prime the pump with love until it begins to flow out of you constantly.

When we use the term ”Right” this is not a judgment; it is a knowing. This is not to imply that there is a ”Wrong” Livelihood. Right in this case means true to yourself. Only you know your purpose. Only you can feel it. It is like an inner GPS. No matter what direction you take in your life, this inner voice always points ”right” to your purpose. It makes no difference how many painful steps may have been taken. Your inner compass will point you home. All there is for you to do is to wipe it clear of fear and let the love light your way. Let your vacation be a beginning. Choose to bring that special energy into every day of your life. You can do it on purpose.

God Blesses You,

Sanhia

What is meant by Right Livelihood?

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The Buddhists have a term called Right Livelihood, which is one of the Eightfold Paths. The Eightfold Paths list the ways to overcome suffering and experience enlightenment. Right Livelihood, which is concerned with what you do to make a living, has two parts. The first part is simply to do no harm to others or to the planet. If you desire to find peace, whatever you work with is not to cause damage to any person. Secondly, your work is specialized to you. It is what you are called to do. It is something that nobody else could do in the way that you can. This is the element of Right Livelihood that I would like to look at today.

Some of you know what you came here to do, others have a piece of the puzzle, and the rest of you are just puzzled. For those who know your path, I encourage you to surrender more fully to your purpose, to let go of everything that is unlike it. Trust your own guidance; nobody else can tell you what you are here to do or how to do it.

For those of you who have a piece of the puzzle, it is time to give your life to that piece. Stop doing things that you know are not your purpose. Move through your fear that you will not be supported if you let go of the job that is not fulfilling. If you are worried that leaving your job means that you will lose your health insurance, turn your health over to Spirit instead of selling your soul for your body – a trade that never pays off in the end. Commit to spending more time with your purpose, so that month by month you come closer to realizing just where it is taking you. Where you find there is not enough time, begin cutting out those things (including jobs when it becomes necessary) that can only drag you down, those things which are not a part of your passion. Sometimes this requires surrendering to the reality that doing is more connected to your path than having. Love your path into beingness.

For those of you who are puzzled, there are two directions you can take which are not mutually exclusive. First, move toward anything for which you have passion. Schedule time in your calendar each week to do these things. Don’t think about practicality or how it could support you. Increase the amount of time you give to your passions each month. Second, begin letting go of activities for which you have no passion. Stop doing them or begin to plan how you can let them go. Simplify your life. You can begin by cleaning your physical surroundings of all the things you are no longer using for your passion.  More of what you want. Less of what you don’t want. Gradually your purpose will emerge. Enjoy. Ask Spirit for support.  Persevere. The universe is on your side.

God Blesses You,

Sanhia

Do I deserve to have my desires fulfilled?

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We have spoken about passion. Many questions have come from you on this topic, so we will take another leap into it. Some of you in your spiritual training have learned that suffering is the result of desires. Let’s begin there. I would like to classify desires into two categories which could be called “lower” desires and “higher” desires. The term “lower” is not intended to express judgment, but to merely be descriptive. “Lower” desires are pleasing to the senses and have a more immediate pull on the heart. These might include (but are certainly not limited to) enjoying food and beautiful scenery, listening to music, dancing, drawing, sculpting, walking, having sex, talking, and being with friends. “Higher” desires are often connected with Right Livelihood, the gifts you have to offer to others, your purpose, and ascension.

In those times when you feel blocked off from an awareness of what your “higher” desires are or of the possibility of ever fulfilling them, your “lower” desires exist to help open the doors to trusting the “higher” ones. The bottom line in being able to achieve any aspiration is the belief that you deserve to realize it. Whatever you feel desire for – nurture that feeling and affirm that you deserve to have it fulfilled, that as an innocent, divine child of God, it is your birthright. See it done in your mind.

You may have the fear that if you allow yourself to pursue all of your “lower” desires you will become bogged down in a selfish, hedonistic lifestyle. I wish to remind you that your desires or passions are the way that your God-self speaks to you. Addiction and the self-destructive pursuit of pleasure is the result of self judgment and guilt. Selfishness and greed grow from the belief that there is not enough; that, therefore, what you get must be taken from another. The work that is cut out for you is listening to your passion (both “lower” and “higher”) and following it. Use your masculine side to affirm that there is an abundance of everything for everyone, that you deserve to have whatever comes to you, and that you are an innocent, loving child of God.

The opposite of acting out of passion is doing things because you “should” do them. It is just as important to begin to eliminate the “shoulds” from your life as it is to follow your passion. Each time you eliminate a “should” you create a space which you will want to guard carefully and fill only with a desire. For some of you your biggest “should” is your job. You have a passion to do something else but keep your current position out of fear. Your voices say, “How will I survive without this job”, or “Being a responsible adult means going to a work every day”, or “I need health insurance.” Here we would speak of “lower” and “higher” desires. Sometimes it is easier to focus on the “lower shoulds”, the little places where you say yes, but feel a no. These are perhaps the areas to begin to focus your energies, to remind yourselves that you deserve to do the things you wish to do, and that you are entitled to enjoy your life. You may have to begin by having the courage to change little things before you are ready to confront the larger ones, such as unfulfilling jobs or relationships. Sometimes by transforming the smaller issues the larger ones handle themselves. In other words, as you follow a discipline of obeying your “lower” desires and saying no to the little things, you may begin to experience that your job has improved and that your relationships give you greater satisfaction. You deserve it all.

God Blesses You,
Sanhia