Creating the Prosperity Mindset: By Randy Gage

The note was scrawled across the back of a flyer for the chaplain program. It was written by a parishioner, right after a Sunday service I had given at my own church.

"I hadn't realized until you pointed it out that it's the rich people who are the spiritual ones," he wrote. "I guess those slave holders were on the right track. The only thing wrong was the prosperity consciousness of those slaves!"

No doubt the writer was being quite sarcastic, and thought his comments would expose the absurdity of my teaching, and support his beliefs. (Which it's safe to assume, are that it is somehow spiritual to be poor, and that rich people are exploiting the poor.)

It's fascinating that he would pick such an analogy, because I DO believe that in many cases, rich people are operating at a higher consciousness than poor people. That's why they are rich!

I also believe people who allow others to steal their freedom have serious issues of prosperity consciousness. Since he didn't sign his note, he won't discover that instead of seeing irony in his comments-I see an element of truth. Imagine the amazement and shock he might feel. Perhaps you are feeling the same way now.

The fact that rich people have amassed wealth indicates that they are living by at least some of the spiritual laws that govern prosperity. Of course, this does not mean that all rich people are spiritual and all poor people are not. Prosperity is a synergy of a number of factors, including a strong spiritual connection, optimum health, great relationships, rewarding vocation, and, yes, the material aspects.

So, rich people who are sick, bitter and lonely are certainly not prosperous. By the same token, however, if you are healthy, spiritually grounded, have a great marriage, but struggle to pay your credit cards each month-you are certainly not prosperous either. And most certainly not experiencing the spiritual harmony your Creator is offering you.

In the book "As a Man Thinketh," James Allen relates how usual it is for people to say, "Many men are slaves because one is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor." He then goes on to note the increasing tendency of people to say, "One man is an oppressor because they are slaves; let us despise the slaves."

The real truth is that both the slaves and the oppressor are co-creators in ignorance, lack, and limitation. While it seems that they are victimizing each other-in reality, they are each victimizing themselves.

Prosperity and human dignity are both based upon value received. An oppressor cannot sustain prosperity because he is exacting more than he returns, and will ultimately bankrupt his own consciousness. A slave gives not enough value to himself, and likewise ends up in a state of spiritual bankruptcy. As the Course in Miracles teaches, they are no victims, only volunteers.

A person will remain weak, dependent and miserable by refusing to raise his or her consciousness. A person can reject servitude, conquer limitations, and achieve greatness by raising his or her consciousness. To quote again from Allen's book:

A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must be strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.

It's tough to develop the strength to be prosperous, if you're being continually programmed that it's spiritual to be poor. Especially if you're not even aware you're being programmed and it's on a subconscious level.

To experience true spiritual prosperity, you have to be manifesting prosperity in ALL areas of your life. Yet if you're doing ok in most areas, but you don't have much money-it's easy to fall into the trap our note writer did.

You want to believe that somehow your reward is coming later, heaven perhaps, and that you will in some way be compensated for living your current life of limitation. After all, who among us wants to believe that we are suffering needlessly, or have riches at our fingertips, but refuse to partake in them?

Of course you also have the data-sphere (TV, radio, newspapers, Internet, magazines, governments, religious institutions, etc.) programming you on a subconscious level that money is bad, rich people are evil, and it's spiritual to be poor. It's somehow comforting to think that Bill Gates, Ross Perot, Ted Turner, and all those other billionaires have sold their souls, and will one day get their just desserts.

Now to be fair to our letter writer-he certainly isn't alone. This kind of thinking is quite pervasive today.

So why would I write a book with a message, sure to threaten so many people? Because I fear what will happen to them when they are not threatened.

I take the privilege and the responsibility of my platform seriously. In fact, I consider it sacred. I speak the messages I perceive people need to hear, not necessarily the ones they want to hear. It pains me to see anyone anywhere experiencing poverty and lack in their life.

When you think about it, the idea of me giving a Sunday church service is kind of funny. I was raised atheist, and entered a church only twice in my first 30 years on the planet. (Once by accident, and once for a wedding.)

When I found my way to the church I would eventually call home, I was unemployed, had no car, was $55,000 in debt, and selling my furniture to eat. My health was shot; my relationships were an absolute mess; and I couldn't have been more unhappy. By the time the furniture was gone, and I was eating macaroni and cheese three times a day, I discovered a very fascinating thing...

I came to understand that success and prosperity had almost nothing to do with opportunities, chance, luck-or even training, education, or skill. It had everything to do with consciousness, beliefs, and even subconscious programming that you aren't aware of.

For the last few weeks, I've been having a dialogue via e-mail with my friend Stuart Goldsmith in London. Stuart attended one of my programs and used to publish an insightful newsletter in the U.K. on success.

He originally wrote me about his desire to create a work-at-home type of plan to help people get off government assistance and become independent. (He thought perhaps an envelope stuffing, assembly, or similar type of plan might work. One done honestly, not the many rip-off schemes that currently prey on these people.)

I want to share some of what I wrote him back on the subject of prosperity consciousness-because I think it's very relevant to what we are discussing here.

Some of what I write may strike you as uncaring, jaded, cynical, or heartless. However, once you understand the principles involved, you'll understand that my comments only come from wanting the highest good for others.

Try as I might to embrace Stuart's idea for a home work program for welfare recipients, it still reeks to me as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Creating home work jobs for most of these people is like casting pearls before swine or whatever appropriate cliché you'd like to substitute. (See how cynical and uncaring I sound already!)

I still believe that it is true though, based on my own experience, and that of the "circle of losers," I associated with for the first 30 years of my life. You could have given any of us a homework program designed to make us a millionaire and we would have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Why?

Because we did not have the consciousness to be wealthy-or healthy-or happy. We were professional "victims."

When I started a business, the county started construction on the highway. The next time I had a crooked partner, and another time the economy went bad. Finally the last time, the IRS seized my restaurant for non-payment of taxes, and auctioned it off on the courthouse steps. Which left me in the situation I mentioned earlier.

Which ultimately was the best thing that happened to me. By losing everything, I finally stopped looking at all the outside factors (crooked partner, IRS, economy, etc.), and started looking at the inside ones. Or, more specifically, asking the question, "Was there ONE person who was always at the scene of the crime?"

Of course I didn't like the answer I came up with, but it was the true one. All those outside factors were being manifested by me because I:

Had a subconscious fear of success;  q 
Lacked self-esteem;  q  and,
Didn't believe I was worthy of success.  q 

It's very easy to cry victim and get your share of love, sympathy, etc. I was certainly the poster boy. And of course I surrounded myself with other victim friends who would commiserate with me. We would gather at every opportunity and share our tragedies with each other.

I would explain how those merciless, cold-blooded animals at the power company had shut off my lights, because I was one lousy day late. My friend Mike would top that with how he was getting evicted by his rich, heartless landlord. I would come back with how my license plate was impounded for unpaid parking tickets, and the battle would wage on.

And of course there is nothing worse than when your friends have a worse tragedy than you do! You have to immediately manifest a tumor, a meteorite landing on your car, or some other calamitous event to ensure that you get your proper share of sympathy.

Which is what I did for 30 years . . .

And before you disregard this as mystical fluff, I am talking about rational, scientific events here. Examples. You are attracted to another dysfunctional alcoholic spouse, choose another dishonest partner, open a business without doing the due diligence, spend your money on cigarettes and beer, but have none left to pay the rent, or a million other possibilities.

Yes it's true other people aren't getting thrown out on the street-but that's because they pay their mortgages. Yes, it's true that other people don't have their tire blow out on their way to the interview for that good job-but that's because they deferred getting cable TV and bought new tires when they needed them.

Poverty is not an absence of money and things-it is a mindset. Prosperity is not an abundance of money and things-it's also a mindset.

When I began studying the laws that govern prosperity, I embraced the principles out of desperation . . .

I applied those principles, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who has had a greater degree of turnaround. I am truly blessed, manifesting abundance in all areas of my life, in ever increasing ways.

This only happened because I was willing to confront my weaknesses, discover and eliminate the insidious "lack" programming I had, and replace it with positive programming. To this day, I am ever vigilant, mindful of what I allow myself to watch and listen to, and the people I associate with.

I had to get out of my comfort zone, brave fears, and face up to my beliefs. Once you have done this, you feel called to help others challenge the self-limiting beliefs that are holding them back from their greatness. That was the motivation I felt that morning, as I spoke at church, and the motivation that has me writing this book for you now.

Money is part of the magic in life. It is an enabling force that allows you to be the real you. It allows you to go where you wish to go, do what you wish to do, and become whom you desire to become. Money is God in action!

Poverty causes people to lie, cheat, steal, and even kill. There is NOTHING spiritual about poverty. Yes, poverty really does suck.

Some of the people in my audiences are shocked when I make the statement that it is a sin to be poor. Of course, Charles Fillmore shocked the religious community of his day, when he made that proclamation almost 100 years ago. It still has the power to stun people today.

Yet if you learn the actual translation of sin, it means to "miss the mark." The Course in Miracles defines sin as a lack of love. I believe both characterizations are accurate.

If you are poor, you're missing the mark your Creator has set for you. And you're most certainly cheating yourself out of the love that is your birthright.

When you are providing true value to the universe-you are rewarded with riches.

That's the way the universe works. All the time, with no exception.

I recently read a newspaper Op-Ed piece by Ralph Nader-chastising Bill Gates and other billionaires for not redistributing their money to the poor people of the world.

Obviously, simple, underdog, fight-for-the-little-guy Nader (who is a multi-millionaire, by the way) doesn't understand even the most basic tenets of prosperity. If the top two percent of the richest people in the world were to redistribute their wealth to the bottom two percentile-within six months, the money would be right back where it started.

Why?

Because of the consciousness of the people involved. To become a billionaire, you have to first become the kind of person who can manage billions of dollars responsibly. You must be providing a great value to a great number of people, who are willing to trade some of their hard-earned money for that value.

Ayn Rand was one of the most brilliant thinkers in human history, a true genius, and someone who understood the concept of value for value. She wouldn't call it prosperity consciousness (she was a committed atheist), but she possessed it in spades. Her novel, "Atlas Shrugged," should be required reading, every year, for people concerned with prosperity. Another work of hers, and the one relevant here, is her book, "The Virtue of Selfishness."

When I speak to an audience, or write a book like this, I want people to understand a very simple, but very important thing. They can't help anyone unless they have first helped themselves. Or as Reverend Ike would say, the best thing you can do for poor people is not be one of them!

It doesn't serve God or you, if you are broke, sick, unhappy, or in dysfunctional relationships. You have to believe you are worthy of prosperity in ALL of its forms. Then as you walk the path of spiritual consciousness, you will find that you begin to manifest it more every day.

And that is what drives me to do what I do. So if I shock you, offend you, or threaten you with what I write-please evaluate why that might be. And know that I am coming from a place of love, and wanting the highest good for you.

I want you to be healthy, happy and rich!

* Excerpted from Prosperity Mind! How to Harness the Power of Thoughtby Randy Gage.  Get the book today!