The Secret Of Affluence

Eric Butterworth Speaks: Essays on Abundant Living #135

Delivered by Eric Butterworth on January 10, 1976

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Of all the doors In the treasured house of life, perhaps none is more constantly sought than that which leads to wealth and affluence. Most persons believe that when they open it, they will find not only wealth, but health and happiness and self-expression and love. Especially, I think they feel they will find happiness.

What does wealth mean to you? Is it measured in gold, silver, stocks, bonds, real estate? These are generally considered to be affluence. Yet, we all know that gold and silver are nothing of value in themselves; they can’t be eaten or used for shelter or worn except as ornaments. Their value lies in their exchange for goods and services and their convenience in storage. Many a person feels he is wealthy when he has good health and ten dollars. Others who are called wealthy and affluent do not possess their fortune but are possessed and harrassed by it.

Maybe it is fortune we want rather than mere affluence. Webster defines fortune as “a condition in life especially as determined by wealth.” But then that really is not what we are seeking for, is it? We know that to have good health, happiness, friends, opportunity for perfect expression is to be fortunate even though we may not have a penny and may be in debt. We know that gold will buy many things, but it won’t buy happiness. Thousands of persons have tried to exchange gold for happiness, but they have found that gold will not pay the price for happiness, love, health or real fulfillment.

When people sigh for a fortune, they generally have three thoughts in mind:

1) a fortune will give them financial security, which means all the goods and services they may want or need for life; 2) they will be unhurried and unworried because they will not have to constantly labor for what they want or need; and 3) they usually add that they will be able to give and to help others. Sometimes, they put the last item first. But did you ever know an ardent wisher for a fortune to leave out this idea entirely that he would like to have a lot so that he could give to people? And did you ever know one of these people who at the moment were neglecting to give what is already in his power to give?

Well, outside of a few purely selfish motives that denote an undeveloped soul, all of these desires are founded on fear. It isn’t the wealth or the money stored in a bank that the person really wants, but the feeling of security that such a store is supposed to give them. It isn’t fifty meals in one day that they desire; just positive assurance that there will never be a day without three meals. If he doesn’t know it, then he hasn’t learned a lesson that having all the money in the world will do nothing to offset the feeling of inadequacy and insecurity.

What we all want in reality is not money or gold or silver or an enormous bank account, but a constant and abundant supply of all good, just the feeling of affluence which means in the flow. Why should we want to open the door to a stored fortune? We haven’t been promised a hoarded fortune, but we have been promised the free flow, supply for every need before we ask. Remember, we are told, “And prove me now herewith if I will not open unto ye the windows of heaven and pour ye out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” The free flow just like a water faucet that has the ability to pour out a blessing if we just bring the cup and turn on the tap. Man was never intended to be limited in any way, and nature is lavish. Man has done his best to curb and destroy through his false concepts and fears; not nature, not the creative man, but man himself limits himself with his own thoughts, his self-limiting attitudes, his greed born of fear, his mismanagement of the marvelous estate entrusted to his care.

If someone was to say to you, “Here are seeds of gold, plant them in a certain way, and they will grow into a harvest of wealth,” would you try it, especially if you had seen others plant them and reap a harvest of wealth? We have such a treasure with the seed and the soil at our command—the seeds of gold are our thoughts, our own untried ability, the Christ power within us whose worth we do not even remotely suspect, and the soil is the whole surrounding ether of thought substance. The seeds are planted with the spoken word, and faith and works are the cultivators.

The key that unlocks the door to affluence, the free flow of substance, constant and abundant supply, is faith, faith beyond any doubt or wavering that there is and always will be constant and abundant supply. It may seem like a mixing of metaphors to speak of planting seeds and opening doors to rooms filled with treasures, but they are really one and the same thing. Constant and abundant supply will never result from a feeling of poverty and failure. We reap only that which we sow; this is fundamental. Anyone may possess thought seeds of plenty, and we sow them by casting them into the ether or the thought substance around us. Only by sowing are we sure to reap mentally, spiritually, and physically. And we don’t have to hoard our substance or supply. The old thought of piling up a fortune for children less they someday face want is thinking in terms of an economy of scarcity. It is true that it gained favor in older times—the concept of the fat and lean years still prevails with many, but experts prove to us today that there is no scientific reason for this, that every year can produce more than enough for everyone.

A very beautiful person was approached one time with the thought, “Let’s pray that our money will hold out,” to which this person replied, “No, let’s pray that our faith will hold out.” We say nothing succeeds like success, and we are told, “Whosoever hath, he shall be given and shall have abundantly; and whosoever hath not fron him shall be taken away, even that which he has.” Many persons feel that this is harsh, unfair, but viewed from the simple dollar standpoint, it is quite fair. Whoever has faith, has a rich consciousness; whosoever has an all-believing conviction, supply is his, and he shall have it in abundance because he is in the flow, the free flow of substance. Whosoever does not have such faith is out of the flow, and thus very quickly uses what he already has because his fear is causing him to lose it; he loses contact. How much better it is to have wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver. Once we straighten out our thoughts, our fortunes will take care of themselves provided we add works to our faith.

It has been said that the secret of obtaining wealth, the secret of affluence can be put into three words—Believe, give, and receive. First, we must believe that we are entitled to substance, that it is rightfully ours, possible for us to have; then, we must set our hearts and minds to giving the very best that is within us in the way of work, and thought, and service. In this way we will be open channels, and we will open channels by way of ideas through which we may receive good in its many forms and expressions... the receiving is natural.

So, believe, and give, and receive...this is the secret of affluence.