The lady on the phone had a question. Ive been giving money away for years and I havent seen my own prosperity grow at all. What am I doing wrong? Where are you giving money? To my local church. Why are you giving them money? I asked. They need it. How do you feel when you give it to them? Like I am helping them out of a hole. But how do you really feel when you give them money? There was a moment of silence. Well, its a pain, she admitted. I cringe when I write them a check. Not good. If you feel lousy when you give money, then you are associating money with bad feelings, I explained. You probably dont want to attract more bad feelings, so you probably wont attract much more money, either. Wow. I never thought of it that way. And if you give because someone asked for it or even pleaded for it, then you are reinforcing need, I explained. In order for you to experience increased wealth, you want to give money wherever it makes you feel good to do so. In other words, giving to someone who needs it is a noble thing to do. Do it. But thats not the principle Im talking about here. I get it! she said. I couldnt help but think some other part of the universe was helping her understand what I couldnt explain. What did you get? I asked. Ive been keeping the church in a begging mode, she said. My heart wants to give money to wherever I feel spiritual nourishment. Sometimes thats my church. Sometimes its not. You got it! I said. And there you have it. You can give money to any causes you like. Ive helped The Red Cross, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, cancer funds, and more. But I didnt expect my finances to increase from that giving. That generosity was helping, yes, but not necessarily activating spiritual law. The spiritual law of financial income seems to happen when you give money freely to wherever you get your spiritual nourishment, with a small expectation that somehow, some way, some day, your finances will increase as a result.
Giving to worthy causes might activate the law if you feel you received spiritual nourishment from those causes. But if you didnt, and you give anyway, you are probably just helping people in need. That, of course, is noble. I say do it. Again, the subject of this book is the greatest money-making secret in history. And you activate that secret when you give freely, joyously, to wherever you currently get spiritual nourishment and nurturing.
Money is an outer form of spiritual substance. -- Georgiana Tree West, Prosperitys Ten Commandments
