One of my “Emerging Insights” newsletter articles was entitled: “Ferrari ride into the light” the basic message was that in the pursuit of your desires, you could become more aware of your powers of creation and manifestation, and in the process grow into more self-awareness, which is the same as spiritual development.
On the surface this may seem like it is promoting materialism. And a few subscribers wasted no time in letting me know!
However the experience of buying something or owning something is not materialism per se. Materialism is only when one becomes attached to or preoccupied with material things. The dictionary defines materialism as “a preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, and comforts, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values.” So it would be helpful for us to differentiate between materialism and –let’s call it – material engagement.
You and I grew up in a world in which religion and old cultural and spiritual ideas suggested (and some times dictated) that material engagement was not compatible with spiritual development. We fashioned our world according to this idea, and this resulted in monks, swamis and most of the spiritual fraternity living in simplicity and often in poverty. This type of thinking is still pretty much alive – wouldn’t you raise your eyebrow if you saw a man in his maroon buddhist robes get into his Mercedes Benz?!
True spirituality, though, has nothing to do with what car you drive or how much you have or do not have. It indicates a certain focus. Similarly with materialism. It indicates a certain focus, and you can have this focus irrespective of how much you have or do not have.
Right now a homeless person in Africa with almost no belongings could be content and living in faith and love. A New York millionaire could be harboring a sense of lack, insufficiency and disconnection from the flow of life. On the other hand the homeless person could be so overly focused on getting his next handout, that he loses awareness of his inner connection to all of life and of the grace of god. If he becomes preoccupied with this focus, we could call him a materialist. Yet the millionaire who’s now sitting in his penthouse, moving on from his visualization exercise into his affirmation sequence in his effort to manifest a new jet (or that red Ferrari!) could be doing so in full remembrance of his ‘perfect, whole and complete’ nature. If he sustains his efforts to remember and affirm this truth, this would make him spiritual.
You may ask though, why would the millionaire want more if he sees that he is already whole? (And in the same vane – is not all seeking of material engagement anti-spiritual, as it were?) The answer brings forth a very important insight. The movement towards more is a natural quality of all of life. Yet this does not spring from incompleteness or insufficiency. The Divine Creative Essence is all. It is content in and of itself. Yet it does not sit still! It follows a continual impulse to become more – more beautiful, more complex, more conscious, etc. And this motivation is planted firmly within you and I, manifesting as our desires and our motivation to become more – more knowledgeable, more powerful, more balanced, more evolved, more aware…
God does not manifest universes because she feels incomplete, but to be more. The forest doesn’t grow more leaves and trees because it perceives lack, but to be more. You too are not separate from God or Divine Essence. And even as you seek to be more or have more, remember to affirm your wholeness. In this wholeness, in your oneness with all that is, all is you and all is already yours. (This is the basis of affirmation as a manifestation technique.) And you would be wise to focus on being more, rather than on having more. And whatever it is you seek to attract in your life, it would serve you best to focus first on being the one who is powerful enough or abundant enough to have it. Its manifestation then becomes a natural result of this state of being.
Being is primary. Doing or having is secondary. Therefore, BE IT FIRST, always. And when you find yourself wanting more, remember always to BE MORE…and more and more…
