One diminutive volume could not possibly cover all the teachings on abundance that have flowed through the channels of Ageless Wisdom -- and which have been adapted by western culture and reinterpreted as spiritual metaphysics. The concept of all-sufficiency was a building block of essentially all philosophical and religious systems (in their original form) until the second century A.D. when the war against self-knowledge and self-reliance began.

The Ancients taught that to understand one's self was to understand God, and through the process of meditation, one could release the divine energy from within and transmute discord into harmony, ignorance into wisdom, fear into love, and lack into abundance. The initiate was trained to conceive the highest and noblest ideas as the vision for manifestation, and then to identify the symbols of the vision with the Master Spirit within - the Source of all.

Students of the Mysteries were also instructed in the use of the innate radiatory and magnetic powers in exercising dominion. By working with the rhythmic Energy of Self, whatever from that was needed for exchange (the legal tender of that time) was brought forth as an instrument of goodwill. As such, "money" was simply a token of appreciation of one's service, a symbol of love and integrity.

Regardless of the level of instruction, one particular teaching remained constant throughout the initiation process: Mind and emotions embodying love, gentleness, and peace eliminated limitation -- that such a consciousness of harmlessness freed an individual from the bonds and restrictions of the race thought.

The Mystery Schools of Asia, Egypt, Persia and Greece provided an invaluable service to human-kind by reawakening the spiritual powers in a core group dedicated men and women. And this knowledge of harmony and fulfillment continued in sacred books and secret teachings... in the Hebrew Qabbalah, by Hindu and Buddhist Mystics, in the Gnostic writings of early Christianity, and in certain passages not removed from the Bible.

Through the inspiration and teachings of Jesus, the Gnostics (from the Greek word gnosis meaning "knowledge") continued the esoteric tradition. Their writings emphasized the Oneness of God and man, the divinity of the individual, and the creative power of each soul to rise above limitation. In the Nag Hammadi texts discovered in Egypt in 1945 -- considered older than the New Testament gospels -- we have a literal library of gnostic writings. In the Gospel of Thomas, one of 52 books found, Jesus makes it clear that when you know your true identity, you will realize that you are one with the Living Father. And then to emphasize the Truth that man's consciousness of the Presence within constitutes his supply, Jesus says: "But if you will not know yourselves, then you dwell in poverty, and it is you who are that poverty."

From the Gospel of Philip, we are reminded of the esoteric practice of transforming vision into manifest from: "...what you see you shall become." The Gnostics worshipped the pure spiritual Light of the indwelling Christ, and through their knowledge of thought-form energy and the principles of manifestation, they were able to cooperate with Spirit in the releasing of the creative powers -- at least for nearly 300 years following Jesus' time on Earth.

In A.D. 180, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, attacked independent thinking and all teachings relating to the Oneness of God and man. Believing that a spiritual consciousness and a personal union with God would undermine the authority of the priests, he directed his wrath upon Gnosticism. First he issued his Five Books Against Heresies, followed by a list of acceptable writings -- choosing only those words which supported his demand for a fixed dogma. The shift in mind- direction from within to without had begun, and the innate power of the individual was gradually given to an outer structure and a lower authority.

When emperor Theodosius made Christianity the sole and official religion of the state in 395, the Institution assumed complete control over individual minds and humanity entered the thousand year period referred to as the Dark Ages. In fact, the first 400 years of this period is considered the Barren Age in Europe, as few advances in literature, science, and education were contributed for the future of the race.

What is known today as a "prosperity consciousness" -- the realization of God as the Source of all good -- was almost non-existent. The feudal system controlled secular life and the keys to spiritual enlightenment were held by the church leaders. Too free subjective interpretation of the doctrine or lack of faith in the state religion resulted in extreme penalties. And with the constant struggle between the church and the individual, the mastery techniques dealing with freedom from need and the science of forces and forms were temporarily lost. The western mind was kept "in the dark" until the institutional structure began to crack in the 1500's and the eternal principles of Oneness and Unity began to resurface.

The Rosicrucians -- "The Fraternity of the Red Cross" -- began to exert influence to counteract religious intolerance, remaining essentially underground until the publication of the Order's manifesto in 1614. Following the traditions of the ancient Egyptians and the Christian Gnostics, members of the secret society were known to transcend the limitations of the physical world through their spiritual awakening -- an overcoming of lack through Knowledge (realization) of the Presence and Will of God.

Freemasonry -- "more ancient than any of the world's living religions" according to Albert Pike -- continued the chain of the sacred Mysteries. Through an understanding of spiritual Reality and a dedication to Wisdom, Love and Service, the Master Masons attained "supernatural" powers, with the ability to bring an all-sufficiency of visible supply out of the invisible substance. The race mind was beginning to feel the effect of this new Light of Understanding.

By the 1800's esoteric philosophy and practical mysticism were moving across Europe and America like a tidal wave. The Transcendental Movement led by Ralph Waldo Emerson began in New England; the Metaphysical Movement was ushered in by Phineas Quimby; H. P. Blavatsky and Henry Olcott founded the Theosophical Society; Mary Baker Eddy founded Christian Science; the New Thought Movement blossomed through the work and teachings of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore (Unity), Malinda Cramer and Nona Brooks (Divine Science), and Ernest Holmes (Religious Science); Alice Bailey established the Arcane School; Rudolph Steiner formed the Anthroposophical Society; Paramahansa Yogananda founded the Self-Realization Fellowship; and out of the wealth of material in the Edgar Cayce files grew the Association for Research and Enlightenment -- to name but a few contributors to the New Age of spiritual unfoldment.

It is now estimated that at least 25 percent of the population America is involved in some measure with what is considered Esoteric Philosophy or New Thought Religion. And right in the mainstream of this consciousness is the Truth that God is boundless wealth, and as expressions of the Infinite we have an abundant inheritance.

This Message of Prosperity could not be concealed -- not even in the Bible. With more than 2000 years of censoring, editing and translating, the Golden Light of the Father's Assurance remains.

For example:

- Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper.

- Prove me now herewith, said the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

- The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.

- They shall prosper that love Thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.

- God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.

- ...thou shall remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth the power to get wealth.

- The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

- Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

- All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them and ye shall have them.

And the Message continues...

"Man was born to be rich, or grows rich by the use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature." -- Emerson

"The world, with all its beauty, its happiness and suffering, its joys and pains, is planned with the utmost ingenuity, in order that the powers of the Self may be shown forth in manifestation." -- Annie Besant, who followed H. P. B. as head of the Theosophical Society.

"What we need to realize above all else is that God has provided for the most minute needs of our daily life and that if we lack anything it is because we have not used our mind in making the right contact with the supermind and the cosmic ray that automatically flows from it." -- Charles Fillmore in Prosperity, a Unity Book.

"Worldly riches have been feared, despised, condemned, and even hated by spiritual aspirants, because of ignorance of how to be in them and yet not of them, how to possess them and not be possessed by them. Doubtless this attitude of repudiating and ignoring wealth is less deceiving than the other error; greed and the worship of money and the fear of losing riches. But the really wise avoid both attitudes through knowing worldly wealth to be but a reflection of the real, the spiritual riches that must be sought first, last and always. Having found the riches of heaven, you cannot escape the riches of earth unless you purposely repudiate them." -- Annie Rix Militz in Both Riches and Honor, a Unity Book.

"Prosperity is the out-picturing of substance in our affairs. Everything in the Universe is for us. Nothing is against us. Life is ever giving of Itself. We must receive, utilize and extend the gift. Success and prosperity are spiritual attributes belonging to all people, but not necessarily used by all people." -- Ernest Holmes in The Science of Mind.

"God is the giver and the gift; man is the receiver. God dwells in man, and this means that the treasure house of infinite riches is within you and all around you. By learning the laws of mind, you can extract from that infinite storehouse within you everything you need in order to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly." -- Joseph Murphy in Your Infinite Power To Be Rich.

"Refuse to tolerate anything less than harmony. You can have prosperity no matter what your present circumstances may be. Man has dominion over all things when he knows the Law of Being, and obeys it. The Law gives you power to attain prosperity and position without infringing the rights and opportunities of anyone else in the world." -- Emmet Fox in Alter Your Life.

"Let us learn to think of dollars, as we do of leaves on trees or oranges, as the natural and inevitable result of the law active within. There is truly no need to be concerned even when the trees appear to be bare, as long as we are conscious of the truth that the law is even now operating within to bring forth fruit after its own kind. Regardless of the state of our finances at any given moment, let us not be concerned or worried because we now know that the law acting in, through, and as our consciousness is at work within us, when we are asleep as well as when we are awake, to provide all those added things." -- Joel Goldsmith in The Infinite Way.

"Remember that money is the consolidation of the loving, living energy of divinity, and that the greater the realization and expression of love, the freer will be the inflow of that which is needed to carry forward the work." - The Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, through the writings of Alice Bailey in The Externalization of the Hierarchy.

"... it is the fear of the material conditions that wrecks the material body. It is the fear of this or that, that prevents a channel from making for the greater supply." -- Edgar Cayce.

And the Message continues... and will continue until it is registered in the consciousness of every soul. The thoughts of lack and limitation must be eradicated from the race mind.

The Truth and the Law

1. Your outer world of form and experience is a reflection of your inner world of thoughts and feelings. As above, so below. As within, so without. That is the Law.

2. The greater your awareness of the Presence of God within you, the more that Presence fills your consciousness. That is the Law.

3. The deeper your understanding of Spirit as the Source, Substance and Activity of your supply, the more permanently that Truth will be etched in your consciousness. That is the Law.

4. It is your spiritual consciousness -- your Knowledge of the Presence of God within you as total and complete fulfillment -- that interprets itself as every form or experience in your world. That is the Law.