Gazing in the Mirror

April 15 - The Economic Realities

There are more instances of
the abridgment of the freedom
of the people by gradual and
silent encroachments of those
in power than by violent and
sudden usurpations.
~ James Madison

When we learn to trust the
Universe, we shall be happy,
prosperous and well. We must
learn to come under that Divine
Government, and accept the fact
that Nature's table is ever filled.
~ Ernest Holmes

"Take your business as it is, child, and praise Divine Love that there is a strong, wise way out of your dilemma". ~ Emma Curtis Hopkins, Bible Interpretations (1891) "Spirit is Substance and Substance is supply". ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind, page 262 In 2008 the Rev Jesse Jennings used these two quotes for a daily guide in the Science of Mind magazine in order to consider the United States' tax day (April 15th). I received a note from our CPAs that they want to file an extension as they simply aren't finished with our work. That is okay. I'm no stranger to extensions. I would rather not be the one not finished on April 15th but often I am the reason for an extension. I really don't mind waiting to file if extra time is needed for whatever reason. Of course I'd also prefer to just be done with it but that ending will come soon enough. Jennings noted in his own daily guide – "Whatever we feel about the income tax ways and means, it's good to feel strongly that both our income and outgo are blessed".

Every time I receive a check in the mail I give thanks. Every time I put an envelope in the mail to pay some liability we've incurred I express gratitude that I am provided with the funds necessary to pay that bill. And although I am a bit disturbed by the growing inequalities in our United States between the have's (a small minority) and the have not's (the bulk of the rest of us now), I understand Jenning's admonition that we should never withdraw blessing from our government. After all it has been said that people get the government they deserve and the government is "us". My feeling is simply that I fell asleep at the wheel thinking someone else (our elected officials) was taking care of business with our collective best interests at heart. Sadly I have come to understand that is probably not the case. And the situation is so overwhelmingly huge and complex I personally don't know how to fix it myself. But I do know how to do Spiritual Mind Treatments and establish affirmations and create good intentions. I can do that much for all of us.

I also realize that I am supporting a large number of government employees with the tax dollars that I pay and those people spend those dollars very similarly to how I spend mine. We are all part of a collective economy. So I question within myself – how did we go wrong ? How did our economy become so illusory that eventually the house of cards collapsed ? What can we learn from that and how can I address that personally ? For one thing my husband and I try our best not to go into debt for the things we want or need. If we can't buy it outright, we wait. We also try to save what we can and put aside monies for our descendant's support when we are gone. We run our business expecting payment for what we provide. Often we will have potential customers grumble at not being granted "terms". At least we sleep at night. When we buy something we already acknowledge that we have to pay for that. We expect our customers to pay for what they buy from us and usually that means before it is delivered to them. In some cases we may allow a little retainage though our customers don't need that leverage with us in order for us to treat them fairly. We will honor our commitments without being "forced" to do so. So these thoughts may hint at why our economy and our government's finances are in a bit of difficulty. Too many economic entities have been on a spending spree which their means of support has not provided for. The nature of employment is changing rapidly with robotics and automation doing the work once performed by a multitude of unskilled and semi-skilled workers. There have not yet been created channels of financial support to flow into these people alternative means for their own support. In times of transition there is often a degree of suffering that one regrets compassionately even if they aren't the ones suffering. Even knowing that one isn't the only person affected by economic contractions isn't all that soothing when one is having trouble paying for food and clothing or rendering to Caesar the tax money for which one has nothing in reserve to pay it with.

I really like Jesse Jennings' closing thought (he is one of my own personal favorites among Science of Mind thinkers) – even if "we were just throwing our money into the street, but nevertheless blessing it as it went, thanks to the law of mind, we would still prosper". I do believe that blessings and gratitudes do a good work in our collective lives and that all is inter-related. Therefore whatever I do is important to everyone else who is living and breathing upon the planet along with me. Even if we don't have monetary assets to share, we can realize that we have a grateful spirit from which we can circulate supply from its own overflowing bounty. We can be as equally as happy to give as we are easily happy to receive. We can know that we are always taken care of, always provided for and be grateful as we see that belief proven to us, time and again in the context of our very lives.

I don't know whether we will owe taxes this year. I have tried to manage our finances this year to avoid that possibility because we have had the experience of having lots of unpleasant surprises on April 15th. You know, those Big Oops OMGs at the accountant's office even if we managed well to hide our own shock from them. The CPAs and my husband and I don't always see what is or should be deductible from the same perspective. I have come to think of our CPAs as an extension of the IRS, actually working more on behalf of the government than for us even though we are the ones who pay them. Still I am grateful that they do their best to keep us out of trouble and do whatever there is in their personal knowledge and power to do for us, in order to try and help us when we find ourselves up against a wall with only the CPAs between us and the cold, impartial and uncaring nature of tax collection in these modern times – all of it so machine driven now that it is not humanly discerning or caring.

Mostly I do trust Spirit to work things out for me. Even in the darkest and scariest days in my role of being a financial manager for my family and the business I share with my husband, I have found a confident trust in Source which has been acquired over the years by testing it out for myself. What I found was that something does respond to my requests and needs when stated from a perspective of positive expectancy that will make everything come out better than I might have expected and often in ways I would never have considered on my own. Outcomes that prove better than I could have accomplished by my own wits for my own self. It's not that I believe that all I have to do is "pray" and then sit back doing nothing while Spirit does it all for me. I know that I have to "treat and move my feet". If something comes into my awareness to be acted upon, if some action that I could take and which makes sense to my rational, logical mind arises in creative imagination for me, I should do those things – for that may be the very channel through which my good will come. I have to be a partner in the physical world. That is one of the reasons I am "here" in this lifetime, to be the embodiment of Spirit so that It can act through me within the physical world – and at the same time "for me" and for every other being as well.

~ perspective

It does appear that taxation isn't
a fair nor equal practice by
government and yet we must
participate for the common good
and do what we can to bring the
system into a fairer expression.
Coercive taxation is not freedom
but a reality we are forced to
participate in including wars and
other activities which as peaceful,
loving people we would never agree
to have any part in.
The taxation system has been
intentionally made to be overly
complex and politicians don't
know how to manage it and highly
educated persons, accountants and
lawyers, are able to make a
good living attending to it.
No entity can spend their way
into prosperity nor tax its people
into prosperity even though the
public good does need roads, bridges,
hospitals and schools.
The purpose of taxation is for
a redistribution of wealth which
in our time seems to be composed
of excessive tax cuts for those
wealthy persons who don't need
them derived from the labor and
assets of those who work very
hard but only accumulate a little.

#credit #debt #economy #government #gratitude #machine #money #source #spirit #trust