Our last article talked about tithing – and I had a wonderful response from a reader, which I’ll include below. Today I’d like to review the entire book that mentioned the law of tithing. It’s by Edwene Gaines, and it’s called The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity. BTW I found this in my (albeit superlative Boulder) public library. See if yours offers these or can procure them for you. It’s from the series, www.yourcoachinabox.com. Another one I’ve seen in this series is Bob Proctor’s “It’s Not About the Money”. Also cool, but Bob is not as good of a storyteller as Edwene, though he raves passionately and gives you lots of information and ideas.
Edwene’s book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, is from 2005. Notice, I feel comfy calling her Edwene, versus Ms. Gaines or ‘the author’. This is telling. After hearing the half a dozen or so cds in this series, I certainly felt familiar and friendly with this author. It’s all about the stories she shares.
Aren’t stories wonderful? Oh, yes, they are getting bad press these days, as in the down side of believing “my story” about reality – that ends up being a drag and limiting reality in the end. Such as, “My story about marketing is that in order to do it well, I have to become a soul-sucking vampire” or the like. Even with these negative effects, I can’t entirely join the “bad story” bandwagon. Good stories showcase our tender humanness.
Sure, they can bore us to tears and be way overdue for retelling/reframing, on the other hand. (Edwene tells a great story about someone calling her on her victim story – I think this was in the forgiveness section. She was a sexual abuse survivor, so that took some guts on the part of her teacher. Really incredible, that one.)
Edwene’s stories rock. She has numerous great stories in each chapter, and covers many different facets of each of the four laws in her content. She has great humor, and isn’t afraid of exposing her (let’s assume prior) full warty weirdness. Not only do the stories provide great teaching and illustrations, they really are inspiring and hope-generating. If this hugely successful Unity minister could get to where she is, after being such a dork in prior years, hey – we can all breathe easier.
The book is a great gift she gives, and it’s well done with much love. Plus, she reads the book herself – and you catch all her wit, her generous but kind sarcasm, and her ability to laugh at herself, with each vocal inflection – flavored with her full on, savory southern accent.
Stories are great illustrators and teaching aids, as you know. And when done well, and with the high humor and courage to show prior lessons that Edwene shares, it’s a true joy. The audio book is read by the author and I doubt the hard copy alternative, if there is one, would come anywhere close to having the same energy and instructiveness that makes the audio book so captivating. Edwene also gives you plenty of possible ways to practice the laws and – yes, plenty of stories of how her and her students practiced their way to prosperity.
I’ll let you check it out for the full story, and the fun stories, but let me name her four laws of prosperity for you. I am not sure exactly of her source – she has excellent quotes from many thinkers at each cd’s start, and does quote John Randolph Price throughout the text. Edwene has been doing this since the late 70s I believe, so she’s has some time to study and practice this wisdom zone.
The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity per Edwene Gaines
(Look out! The Prosperity Law Cops are gaining on you!)
1) Tithing and giving
See last article for more detail on this. The “law” of tithing is pull over, and donate 10% of all income to those who feed you spiritually. I’m having fun applying this loosely ; ) in true MoneyMonk style – let’s say unconventionally. For example, I have two friends getting married this weekend, and both are spiritual giants whose light I’ve benefited from. Those gifts will become a tithe. Perhaps when I’m a millionaire I may not take advantage of this deductive reasoning; for now it’s handy, and it seems to bless the giving to know, that I honor them as such spiritually nurturing and sustaining lovebirds.
See what you think. It might make sense to just start a separate savings or checking account at the bank for whatever percent you dedicate to tithing, which you can then distribute as inspiration and need arises. (Yep, I’m not feeling that the 10% is mandatory – you decide.)
I have a lot of gratitude for the following subscriber comment to the last article – can you feel the wisdom here? I love hearing from you all, especially when it helps me adjust my perspective ; )
“Though I didn’t know the word ‘tithe’, your comment reminds me of Buddhist Offering (Fuse). I’ve been practicing Shinnyo-en esoteric Buddhism for almost 10 years. Shakamuni Buddha gave us the 6 most important practices as 6 paramitas. 六波羅蜜ーrokuharamitsu-in Japanese.
Among them, the first, most important one is Fuse, which is offering. Shinnyo-en founder Shinjo Ito put 6 paramitas into 3 practices and he named the first one Kangi, which means offering. The offering must be done with joy.
Kangi is written as 歓喜 – both 歓 & 喜 mean Joy. Joyful offering brings us happiness through enabling letting go and getting rid of greediness.
When we’ve held on to what we have now, and get stuck, the energy flow also gets stuck, and there is no room for new things coming in. So letting go is very very important and powerful for change and growth.
The more we give with joy by selfless offering, the more the energy flows into us – we get more energy. The key is selfless, joyful offering for the sake of happiness of the people around you and the universe. This is the simple truth of the universal law, whatever we call it.”
Let’s all practice and see what we find, eh? I know I have more work to do here. Please report back, money healers in the field.
Should you care to tithe this eZine at any time, there has been a pay pal link set up – I may have forgotten to announce it… Yep, lots more work to do ; ) Good thing there is a work party Monday.
2) Set Clear Cut Goals
This one makes me smile. As a coach I’ve been a goal enabler for a while. I also appreciated anew the power of setting intention in the Raise the Money Ceiling Webinar we just completed earlier this month. Clear cut goals can really help the universe help you – often more than the tune you originally requested, as several of us found. And then of course, the universe might decide you need a gift of an entirely different persuasion … Crafty coyote.
Rising to this level of creativity / creation claiming is kind of like the amphibian starting to walk. It can feel like you are rising from the muckety muck when you at first try to clarify and name these things you want. Good stories there in the book – especially the story of Mildred. And she has a great one about expecting God to read her mind… Love it! God and our Mothers just wish this worked, eh?
3) Forgiveness and worthiness
This one may signify the end of road rage. There is no excuse for blaming or judging anyone. You hear this, know this etc., but carrying that open heart of forgiveness toward each moment, never mind our past, is major magic. Of course, forgiving yourself can be the biggest challenge. Right now. Yesterday. Ten years ago. This moment of deciding to embrace forgiveness, leads to your option to forgive yourself for any and all of those times.
Edwene has another great story about forgiving an ex in this section. I didn’t quite realize the connection to abundance, but let Edwene illustrate that beautifully for you with that story.
4) Finding your divine purpose
You know, it must have been hard to limit the spiritual laws to only four. On the other hand, what potential power may lurk in this field of gold so simply defined. I’m guessing this wasn’t only Edwene’s sense of things. And hello divine purpose – not a new idea to this column or the http://www.soulsavvy.net website.
Continually getting next to your divine purpose – clarifying it, expressing it, contributing it – well heck – it could be a panacea for all the challenges of the world. That and six am workouts release a lot of tension. It’s so much easier to be flexible, forgiving, and tolerant of any challenges in our imperfect world, when we are doing the work we love, or using our true genius in any way at all.
Even if you’re not yet paid as much as you hope for it YET (and reading this ezine supports further development of your money genius connection, yes yes) – even 20 minutes a day or some essential minimal time, keeps you juicy, and rubbing shoulders with your divinely bestowed gift. And while you’re there, why not make a note to the Lord Goddess (or as Rob Brezny terms it, the Divine Wow, or the Big Wild Friend) –
Dearest Dude/Dakini; I do love this activity – let’s have more of this – and I’m fine with getting paid for it, oh yeah. Handsomely.
Thanks dear readers for helping me continue to practice one of my divine purposes. Your presence is a big gift to me, a tithe in itself.
Love and blessings,
Denise Barnes, Money Genius Guide
Nice review. Teachings come from Christ. They are found in the Bible. Thithe,forgive, faith/belief and purpose.
Thanks Kate, good to know. Powerful suggestions. I like the way the author updates and interprets these.