Wealth and Goodness

The very same inquiry that concerns you also captured the interest of the ancients, including the writers of the Psalms.

They asked, "Why do the wicked prosper and the good so often suffer in poverty?" And why do "the good" often "die young"? Unfortunately, they had no answer, and their god Jehovah also had none.

With spiritual discernment, however, we can see the outworking of karma in every life: Many lives alternate between terrible poverty and great riches. So, if you are "too rich" in one life due to greed, grasping, and craving, you will be born in utter poverty the next time around. And many, especially those who embrace "voluntary holy poverty," are born into a society such as we have in the U.S., where almost everyone possesses the necessities of life.

But a person's material possessions are the least desirable among life's blessings. The very poor, or those who have never had enough, assume that a life of riches solves all major problems, and even brings bliss.

But sudden lottery-winners deny this, as do the wealthy of all history and all cultures: Money cannot buy happiness. The possession of money might not always be any kind of "blessing" from the cosmos, as we so often assume; it might also be a major karmic test or exam.

God is Love, not money. So, the cosmic Mind does not use money as a "reward" for goodness. No, It is much more sophisticated than that shallow illusion. It rewards people with much more profound and lasting "treasures," such as kindness, Love, compassion, goodness, high selfesteem, intelligence, artistic sense of beauty, the gifts of words, and similar interior blessings.

Often, but not always, the spiritual person is, in fact, contrasted, by mysticsages, with the wealthy. For the rich have already found their "god," and have named it "money."

Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a sewing-needle than for a rich person to inherit the Kingdom." He referred to the interior "Kingdom" of Light and Love. Riches are not in themselves bad, but they become bad when they take timenergy away from concern (Love) for other people. To the rich, a dollar is often more important than a life. It is this horrible distortion that the masters of every culture warned against.

But it is undeniably true that the crooked and evil benefit from the world's economic systems. Indeed, their greed is part of their overall evil. Good people, by contrast, often use time to serve others.

The rich like to say, "Time is money." But they are wrong; time is much more valuable than money. It is the "gold" and "platinum" of the universe.

You can say anything that you want about yourself, but it is how you actually spend your time that proves or disproves the quality of your character.

Brother Francis, the famous mysticsaint, went so far as to glorify and recommend "Lady Poverty," for he knew that the rich (including his own bio-father) had not enough time to serve others. So, their loss was great, and terrible.
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Love Ministries and Donations

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Love Ministries, as its name indicates, has one guiding motive and incentive, and that is Love or compassion. We exist for no other reason than to teach and to make known the Way of Love.

That is why we insist that the Ministries are not a "business." We never want to, refuse to, reduce the work to a mere "business." It is not commercial, and Love is not a commercial "commodity." We hate to collect money, and do not like even or ever mentioning it.

But a reasonable perspective tells us that money is a part of this illusion-world. It is necessary to get things done, and especially, to help the poorest people in the world.

So, please do not mistake the fact that we almost never ask for money to be disinterest, apathy, or complacency. We are interested, compellingly so, in anything that can help our sisters and brothers. Our work with the most poverty-stricken people, in the most desolated countries, demands that we send them donations from time to time to do their fine work with orphans. Love Ministries does not usually ask for funds, and we do not like to do this. But, from time to time, we will be reminding our friends, students, clients, and neighbors of needs that include donations, which we vow to use to educate and to aid the poor. No one at Love Ministries has any kind of remuneration; we pay no salaries, and all our work is purely voluntary; both our time and our work are given freely, out of Love for people and other creatures.

We remain open, dear friends, to any ideas or suggestions that you might have about fund-raising, as we have virtually no experience in this area. Please never confuse us with so-called "ministries" which are nothing but money-making businesses, with salaried workers, building-rental, and paid telephone-solicitors. We are a small ministry, and have none of this overhead. And we plan to keep things supersmall and supersimple, while at the same time, reaching out the hand of Love and cooperation with our sisters and brothers all over the world.

So far, the Love Ministries Federation is sending donations to (in alphabetical order):

Love Ministries of India
Love Ministries of Kenya
Love Ministries of Pakistan
Love Ministries of Rwanda
Love Ministries of Tanzania
and
Love Ministries of Uganda.

Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest in, and support of, our ministries to the poorest people in the world.

Love and Gratitude,

a franciscan taoist and the staff of Love Ministries USA

Spirituality and Money

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Should a spiritual teacher "charge" for her service? This is a profound inquiry. And BEWARE: Often, people will give specious arguments to defend this idea because they are charging for "spiritual" work; they are feeling guilty. We have encountered this, and their many arguments, a thousand times in the past.

Our only contention is that spirituality is not beans or tomatoes. That is, it is not a "marketplace commodity," and should never be regarded as a Way to make money-- and loads of it! We must exercise supreme caution never to take advantage of people, especially of the poor.

The records of both Jesus and the Buddha show clearly that they never set up "toll booths," and never charged anything for even their most famous sermons. Instead, they trusted in the great Mind to care for them and their needs.

This is the challenging Way of faith. As one example, Love Ministries has been in existence since 1983-- twenty-five years. We have never, a single time, charged any fees for our spiritual work. And even though publishing is very expensive, we give away even our books. We started out with an actual mimeograph machine-- the kind that replicated in purple! And now, we are distributing twenty-plus books, and have affiliates in six countries, as well as an infosheet (the "uld," or "Universal Love Digest") and our monthly magazine Lovelight.

We did not seek anyone's "permission" to do this work free of charge. All our lectures, seminars, personal advising, etc., are done free of charge. Other ministries, and teachers, often feel threatened by this, or even "accused." But that is not our problem; we must follow the Spirit as we see and know It.

The bottom line is, No matter what anybody else says or does, no matter how "fine" the arguments, we must look to Jesus and to the Buddha as serious examples. Has the world changed since their times? Of course it has, and radically! Extremely! But they still needed money, and they still refused to push spirituality upon others by trying to "sell" it, as if the jewels of God were garage-sale items.

Jesus said it more clearly than I ever could: "You cannot serve both God and money." You can serve "only one master," he said.

People do not want to hear this. Some "spiritual educators" have even become upset at Love Ministries, because we make them feel selfconscious.
They are not just charging, but over charging, for their work. A cassette tape, for example, if you buy it in bulk, can be purchased for fifty cents, even on the modern market, which overcharges for almost everything. And ministries will regularly charge $12.50, fifteen, or even seventeen dollars for a taped message from the "guru."

Seminars are also terribly expensive. They can range from fifty dollars up to several hundred. I have a special identity with the poor, for I am also poor, and I know the pain of being rejected from spiritual teachings because of dollar-prohibitions. It is unfair that the poor, already abused by life, should be further abused by people who claim to care for and about them-- the so-called "teachers" of the metaphysical community!
This is immoral, and verges on the obscene!

So, even if we must go against everyone on this one, we do not want to "give in," and charge for our seminars, lectures, tapes, and other educational materials. We would rather serve the poor and keep our inner eyes fixed on the Buddha and Jesus as our models. This is especially challenging in a world in which gas is four dollars a gallon! And we do quite happily accept Love-donations to support our work. At the Pneumarium, we even have a donationbox, not that anyone ever uses it!
(Actually, one very sweet and good supporter does make regular donations to our Ministries; without her Love, we would not have survived!:)

But frankly, we are not interested in the rationalizations and justifications that people so often give for "getting rich" by "selling" that which they have received freely from the universal Mind. We do not "sell" the Word of Love, and have no intentions of ever doing so! And no, being a spiritual teacher is not directly comparable to being a social worker; for while a social worker can do very spiritual work, and a teacher can aid socially, they are two different callings. A teacher is called upon to share the invaluable (priceless) contents of her heart, with the hope of "planting seeds of Light" in another. A teacher is more like a caring relative or friend; what would you think of a close, intimate relative who helped you through a crisis, and then sent you a bill for her services?
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Happiness and Money

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The text quoting Jesus as asking, "what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" is a warning. It is telling us that life with only material riches ("the whole world") is a dead-end life. For riches cannot bring happiness, joy,fulfillment, contentment, or real satisfaction.

Very poor people often fantasize that, if only they had enough money, all their problems would be solved, and they would be completely happy. This perspective reflects only the desperation of their poverty. It does not reflect truth. As evidence, most winners of the lottery selfdescribe their lives as "unhappy" all the way to "utterly miserable."

If money cannot "profit" one, create real happiness, what can? The very question betrays our spiritual lack. For we all already know, deep down, that happiness arises from friends, Love, companionship, interaction, work, and play. A person who is truly happy does even work, not simply to earn money, but to better herself and the world.

Finding the "Soul," the deepest personal Mind, creates true peace and happiness, for it is this that we are designed to do. For the same reason that water satisfies thirst ("we were made to drink water"), only wisdom and spiritual understanding (gnosis) can make human beings content.
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Bread and the Bread of God

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The text, "Man shall live, not by bread alone, but by every utterance of God," was used by Jesus, in the Wilderness Temptation, to refute a temptation to profit personally from the Powers of the universe (miracles). It is implied that Power is never to be used selfishly or personally. And it is never to be used to show off.

It means also that "bread"-- all material things-- are not enough to sustain human beings emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually. People of our society are always trying to live by "bread" alone. Most will do anything to earn more "bread" or money.

Yet depression is the most common malaise of our time and culture. It is depressing to the Soul (deeper interior Mind) to try to live without the words of God (Love). Not only is it true, as the ancient song says, that "money can't buy you Love," but the attempt to live without Love is a hell of utter depression and pain-- no matter how much money you have.

For the human mind (nature) was not created to be satisfied by money. The truth is that, in the history of the whole world, not a single human being has ever been "made happy" by the possession of money and things that money can buy!

The wealthy, who are often consistently miserable, are proof of this premise. This applies to those who, being very rich, seek escape in sexual promiscuity and carelessness, or in alcohol or other drugs. Money and its offspring, business, make a very shoddy and tawdry "religion." For it does not create warmth, friendship, Love,family, fulfillment, or satisfaction.

Buying sports-cars, indulging in trips and travel, or engaging in various sports, are simply ways that miserable people can use to try to "lose themselves" in kinetic outer activity. These expensive pursuits never bring peace or tranquility.

We are designed to "lose ourselves" in the vast interior Mind of Love. What people truly need-- the "bread of God"-- is Love. It can be available to the poorest person, if she is willing to give Love. To trade Love for cash-- by using our time to earn money instead of developing spiritually-- is like trading goldust for dust.
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Jehovah, Jehovah's Witnesses, Faith and Works, and Money

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When speaking generically, I almost always use the feminine rather than the masculine. This is because women have traditionally been ignored, neglected, or abused by traditional religions, and this is my tiny symbolic act of "protest." It is also a tribute to women. Thus, when referring in the previous email to "teachers," I used feminine rather than masculine generic words. We are so accustomed to always saying "he," "him" or "his" that this was actually confusing!

This life has been one of immense and intense spiritual growth. This spirituality is an interest, a compelling fascination, which accompanied personal birth. Very earliest memories concern such "profound" questions as the existence and nature of the world, and a thirsty grasping to discover the nature of God. (In order really to learn anything, the childish idea of God as a "big daddy in the sky" had to be outgrown. And it needed to be learned that God was Love. That was the beginning of
wisdom.)

After over a half-century of exploration, no career that is more important or fulfilling could be found than spiritual teacher. Spiritual material is shared with you, a stranger, because your happiness is important to our world. And this contentment arises from only a more lucid understanding of God.

It is "obvious," as you say, that Judaism and Christianity are different faiths. Yet many fundies, including Jehovah's Witnesses, do act and behave, and believe, as if the revolution of Christianity never occurred. They continuously mistake the Hebrew Bible for the "word of God," and almost always mistake the Jehovah of the Hebrew Scriptures for the God of pure and utter Love.

But the two god-images are oil and water; they will never mix. So, it is very far from "obvious" that Judaism and Christianity are really different religions, as fundies are always trying like mad to merge, meld, fuse, and force together their various doctrines, especially their astonishingly contrasting God-images.

(Btw, technically, the Bible is not the "word of God. For, in the Scriptures themselves, the Greek word logos does never refer to any written text, but to the Spirit, the living Presence of God. Hebrews 4:12, often oddly cited by cults, says plainly that "the Word of God is alive and exerts power." No book is "alive," so this is the same logos of John 1:1, which was God. The phrase "word of God" is never used,
anywhere in the Scriptures, to refer to the Scriptures!

The concept of "Jehovah" evolved during the centuries. It was by no means static. At first, Jehovah was simply another wargod, along the lines of Chemosh and Molech. Later, he was given some better human qualities, and ceased to be only a severely hard soldier. (In ancient times, each tribe or nation tried to make its god as ferocious and intimidating to the enemy as possible; thus, the notorious brutality and heartlessness of Jehovah.)

Fundies are accustomed to seeing Jehovah as immutable and unchanging; this was the source of your confusion. For Jehovah was merely an idea, and was interpreted differently by soldiers, merchants, prophets, and others. There is no completely homogeneous presentation of Jehovah in the Scriptures.

Your question about "faith without works" is a great and thoughtful one.

Jehovah's Witnesses emphasize this because they espouse a "works" doctrine, in complete contradiction to the Christian view of grace. Here is how that operates: Faith comes first, and faith creates the works. Works do not create the faith, or salvation, as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. As is true of many truths, if you mix up the sequences, you miss the truth.

To say, "I love everybody," is ridiculously easy. It requires no action at all beyond the mere saying. But a person who truly has faith in the interior and invisible Power must manifest that faith by how she lives.

Jesus and the early Christians were fine examples. Although famous for their Love, for even Romans and Jews, they did not sell books. The early Christian church was not a sales-organization; early Christians sold nothing. By stark contrast, the Jehovah's Witnesses rake in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. No one knows where all this money is going, as they carefully hide it. But the point is that early
Christianity was never a "sales-org."

So, the "works" of Love do, and must, exist as an intrinsic, interwoven aspect of the real Christian life. They are, in fact, produced by the "indwelling Spirit" in the heart of the Christian or other good person.

They are a fruit, not of human will, but of the "Spirit," as in Galatians 5:22, 23.

We do not deny, as Christians, the beauty and necessity of good works; we embrace and celebrate them. Without them, our faith would indeed be as unliving as the proverbial doornail.:) What we deny is specifically that works result in, create, salvation. For salvation comes from grace-- from the fact that God loves us. To try to add to this grace is unnecessary, like adding a fifth wheel to a car.

Jehovah is "simple-minded." He is also petty, and has all the emotional maturity of an undisciplined five-year-old.

You ask about the word "psychospiritual." I have a degree in psych, but feel that psychology is greatly, enormously enriched when it includes, or is combined with, spirituality. Specifically, what is needed is agapology, the psychology of Love. I do free advising (counseling) and educational work in an attempt to help people maximize their happiness and productivity. We should not put all our "eggs" in the "basket" of
tomorrow, but need to learn how to live wisely and fruitfully today, right now. For God as Love needs to be recognized as being in the world right now. Only Love has the power to transform individuals, and only better individuals can create an improved society. So, every good person, including yourself, is directly involved in world-transformation.

This can occur only under the guidance of God (Love).
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Love Donations

Out latest project in the Love Jewels collection is the Shining Sapphire video. Read previous posts for a description.

You can use the PayPal button on the sidebar to contribute.

Please contact me re any questions, at: rmfrancis@juno.com, and please make checks payable to: Love Ministries, Inc., and mail to: 5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd. Liberty Township, OH 45011.

Our position on donations: MINISTRIES AND GREED

In current society, it is despicable and tragic how religion has become interwoven with money. It is an utter catastrophe, and has led to the ruination of the most spiritual ideas of faith. Greed has corrupted, most thoroughly, the entire structure of most organized religions, whether they be giant, international religions or minor microcults. The church is thoroughly rotten with greed. Often, the actual measure of a church is its size, and churches have come to resemble shopping-malls.

The life and ministries of Jesus were far different. He did not even think it important enough to build a physical church or even mention the idea. The scriptures say, however, that even in the very nonmaterialistic ministry of Jesus, he and his disciples did carry a donation-box, out of which they lived. The poor followers of Francis did the same. As in the time of Jesus, money is a necessary evil. (1 Tim. 6:10) Not that money itself is evil; it isn't. But the ancient Christians did believe that the "love of money" was a "root of evil." . Sure enough, every war, many acts of torture, stealing, lying, betrayal, and murder are usually connected with this evil "love".

So, we renounce money as a goal of any truly sincere attempt to serve God (Love). For Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and money." Some translations render this verse, "You cannot serve God and riches." Either way, its intent is crystal clear: You cannot, must not, divide your timenergy between God (Love) and money. And we have no intentions of ever doing so!

We renounce all riches as an "alternative god" to the real God, the God Who is Love! At Love Ministries, we have never sought to make any kind of "profit" on spirituality, and vow that we will never attempt to do so. Our seminars, lectures, and personal interviews and work with students and clients have always been offered free of charge, and we vow to keep this policy in place. Also, our email work, client sessions, telephone work, and distribution of other educational materials are free. And we promise to keep it so.

Sadly, we have had to charge clients, students, and the public for some of our educational materials. Books are larger than the free printed materials that we provide, and we have been forced to pay for the printing of these. But we have never made a penny's profit on any book. We sell them for exactly the cost that we must pay for them, for we do not want to profit on spirituality.

To see spirituality as a "market commodity" is to reduce it to the level of material objects. And spirituality is never for sale, at any price! Nor should it be, under any circumstances!

The Master Jesus was no fanatic. He took a moderate position. He did not call his followers to poverty. But, on the other extreme, he actually discouraged the popular quest for unlimited wealth. When a rich man expressed a desire to follow him, Jesus said, "Go, sell all that you own, and give it to the poor; then follow Me." (Mark 10:21)

This was not a literal command, so that we have to follow it. But it was a giant test of the man's sincerity. To "sell everything" is to let go of the heart-entanglement with riches, the obsession with material wealth- as common in ancient times as it is today. For this path makes greed (fear) your master, and fear is Love's opposite.

But this does not mean that money itself is "bad." We all need to live and to do anything in our world. So, at present, Love Ministries is reaching out for your help. Because of our belief in simplicity, some minimalism, and our anti-materialism, Love Ministries does not have any money for even the best causes.

Embracing Material Simplicity

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Thanks so very much for your support, from the heart. That is, in some ways, even more important than the bucks. Many hypocrites and even evil people use money, and claim that this proves that they are "blessed" by God. Does that mean that, as they imply, Jesus, the Buddha, Brother St. Francis, and other saintmystics were disapproved because of their (sometimes voluntary) poverty? We surely both know that this was never the case. (Hitler, at his death, had millions.:)
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