Eric Butterworth Speaks: Essays on Abundant Living #46
Delivered by Eric Butterworth on August 14, 1975
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If you are concerned about the national economy today, or about your personal finances, or both, then we may have something worth your consideration today.
We read in the first Psalm, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
This passage indicates, without equivocation, that if you do certain things, there is prosperity for you. If you refuse to follow the race attitudes and beliefs of limited thinking, and instead keep your mind stayed on God and live within the framework of this insight of God-consciousness, then you will be prospered in everything you do.
For ages people have believed that if they did wrong they would be punished for it, but they find it hard to believe that they can be rewarded for doing something right. They think that life’s evidence shows that penalty is consistent yet recompense is uncertain. Fear is a far greater influence on man than faith. Many feel that a life of wealth and success is evidence of “good luck”. But, as Charles Fillmore says, “There are no accidents in the law of being. ‘Whatsoever a man sow-eth, that shall he also reap’ is another way of saying that for every cause there is an adequate effect. This law of sequence is the balance wheel of the universe.”
I don’t know a great deal about business cycles (apparently I’m in good company for neither do most of our leading economists), but I do know that by the law of sequence and consequence, someone set forth a limited belief and it spread like fire and swept the country. There’s no point in denying that we are in the midst of recession and high unemployment. The fact is, things aren’t so rosy. But we must know that business conditions reflect the stability and confidence of the thoughts of people. The question is what is the nature of your thought? What are your attitudes toward business, money, and work?
Financial crises, as far as you are concerned, begin with you. You’re not personally causing them, but if you are fearful of them, then you are responding to the “counsel of the ungodly” and they will become an influence on your life.
This is simply a matter of addition and subtraction. By your thinking you are adding to your good or you are taking away from it. Failure and lack in your experience are simply the result of continuously “minus-ing” yourself. Conversely, prosperity and success involve constantly “plus-ing” yourself. Your negative, fearful and worried thoughts are actually taking away from you the substance of your good. Your positive, optimistic thoughts are in a very real way adding to your good. “To them that hath shall be given; and from them that hath not shall be taken away, even that which they hath.”
A physician has said that all disease is congestion and all other ailments are but an intensifying of congestion. This is true of the mind. When it is congested with negative, pessimistic thoughts, it is no longer a clear and open channel. How do we correct this congestion? The Psalmist says, “Delight thyself in the law of the Lord.”
In Ancient Hebrew, God had many names to indicate His various attributes. One of them was “Jehovah-Jireh”, which means, “Jehovah will provide.” We have shown in previous essays that Jehovah means, “I Am”. Therefore, this is more than a promise of future provision. It indicates that the power and provision of God is within the soul of man...right now! The word delight, in its root meaning, means to “incline”. The Psalmist’s promise results in delighting in, or inclining to, the belief that the true object of your conscious experience should be in thinking the positive thought of infinite supply, “...in this law doth he meditate all night.” If you keep your mind stayed on the idea of perfect, inexhaustible supply then, “whatsoever he doeth will prosper.” It is a wonderful promise, isn’t it? And it works.
One man had the rude jolt of being unexpectedly told that he was being retired. After many years with his corporation, his department was being eliminated, and his job along with it. He sat at his desk in utter despair and defeat, with the cold sweat of fear creeping over him. The spectre of lack, poverty, and destitution hovered on his horizon. As he sat in his office on his last night, he noticed a spider on the desk and unconsciously he brushed it off. Then he noticed with amazement as the tiny spider automatically spun a strand to bear its weight and swung gracefully to the floor. He thought to himself that if this tiny creature could draw forth from within itself a reserve of substance to meet its emergency, why could he not do as much?
The man sat at his desk for many hours in quiet and deep meditation. He came to know, for the first time in his life, that the source of his supply was not in jobs and money, but in the source of ideas within himself. He had done a little writing in his spare time, and had secretly longed to try it as a full-time profession. So, he blessed his retirement, thanked God for the new opportunity, and began to write short stories, poems, and essays. He hasn’t obtained great wealth or fame, but he has acquired something of more lasting value—satisfaction and happiness. Incidentally, he gets a few nice checks each month which more than double his halfpay retirement income.
It is important to know that life is consciousness. God is supply, substance, infinite, and inexhaustible. But obviously you must be aware of this. This is one of the most important factors in demonstrating prosperity in times of seeming lack: the faith to perceive all-sufficiency when none appears. That is why Jesus said, “Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.”
In the realm of absolute Truth, there is no such thing as lack. What appears to be lack is simply incompletion. For instance, take a saucer and a pencil and draw a very small segment of the edge of the saucer. It appears to be a straight line, but actually it is curved. If you draw the whole circle, you can see that the little arc becomes whole and round. Even as the segment is part of the circle, so every seeming condition of lack is part of a complete idea of prosperity. Browning had this in mind when he wrote: “On earth the broken arc/ In the heavens the perfect round.” Jesus said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these things shall be added...” In other words, seek to perceive the perfect circle, the complete fulfillment, and no matter what the present appearances may be, your job, your income and your needs will manifest for you.
Remember that your thought determines whether you are adding to or substracting from the prosperity in the world. “Delight yourself in the law of the Lord.” Let your inclination be to dwell in the consciousness of Infinite substance. Say to yourself, “God in His constant, instant, and abundant supply is now mine. I am one with it.” Remember that when you see lack in any form it is a delusion. A line is a segment of a circle of fulfillment. Draw the circle of abundance. By blessing it, confer prosperity on your job, your home, your community and the nation as a whole.
Truly, there is prosperity for you.
© 1975, by Eric Butterworth
