The Alchemy Of Faith

The title of this post is taken from Deborah L. Price’s book, Money Magic – Unleashing Your True Potential For Prosperity And Fulfilment.

In the chapter of her book with the same title, she’s talking about what she describes as the most essential ingredient of financial well-being – faith.

She describes faith as essential element in the confidence and trust necessary to manifest a greater reality.

Yet, as she also says, many of us find faith difficult – particularly when things are not moving too well for us, or perhaps in the direction we want.

The irony is, of course, that while it’s easy to have faith when everything is going well, the moments when we need our faith the most are precisely those when we are least likely to have it, and we lose touch with the the higher power or the spirit within us.

She also makes the observation that faith is something which has just become another commodity in our society – it comes and goes, and seldom lasts.

The vicissitudes of life are considerable, and life is indeed unfair, painful, and difficult beyond all expectation and reason. Maintaining vitality and energy takes a lot of time, effort and courage – and no wonder therefore, that to live on the basis of faith, on the basis of what might happen or could happen, is challenging.

Yet Deborah is fundamentally talking about the spiritual aspect to faith, giving the word a deeper meaning which goes beyond the mere ability to maintain your belief in yourself or your aspiration when the going gets tough. (That’s what we call belief – read more here.)

And she reckons that forgiveness is a major element of this process – she says that when you forgive, “the Spirit within you wakes up and allows you to be free and available to the possibilities waiting for you. In working with my clients, I have found that those who are willing to forgive experience a higher degree of abundance and prosperity. Conversely, those who are unwilling to forgive themselves or others seldom move beyond their archetypal pattern.”

Now that’s a sobering thought. How many people in your life have you not yet forgiven for what they did to you? Could this be holding you back from manifestation success?

Well, let’s try and find out. In what way could forgiveness help the process of manifestation?

Spirituality, Forgiveness and Manifestation

Forgiveness, says Deborah, is the one of the most important steps we can take on the path toward fulfilment.

And the reason for this, she says, is that the unhealed wounds, the resentment and blame, which we all feel when we’ve been a victim of something or someone, are obstacles that block the flow of good into our lives.

It’s an important point, yet you need to remember when you’re considering your anger towards those who’ve sinned against you that forgiveness does not mean forgiving the act, it means forgiving the person who trespassed against you.

You can always change the energy that exists between you and another human being, alive or dead. And the point perhaps is this – when you forgive somebody, the energy which you are currently using to hold yourself hostage to the relationship between you and that person, is now available for you to use in manifesting your wants.

If you take spirituality to a deeper level, then of course it means a connection with the divine, or the world around you, or the universal intelligence – or whatever form of words you want to use for the power which exists is greater than ourselves.

And of course if you take God as meaning the Universal Intelligence, then you already know that this power is within you, since you are an integral part of the universe, and your subconscious mind is a direct connection to the universal intelligence.

Prayer, says Deborah, is one of the most powerful spiritual tools available to us. Yet praying is not about making demands of the universal intelligence, nor about pleading with it or begging. It is the best way to establish a relationship to spirit.

And furthermore, prayer is not something that should leave you feeling small and powerless. This is a connection between you and another part of yourself, the cosmic whole. This is actually a connection between you and another part of yourself.

And in this frame of mind, prayer becomes more about gratitude and asking for guidance than about asking for some specific objective.

Reconnecting With Your Spiritual Self

It’s possible that the widespread sense of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in society comes from the lack of connection we have with spirit.

And this isn’t just about being caught up in material wishes and demands – it’s about the loss of connection with spirituality or God or the universal intelligence.

This loss of connection is because we need to go inwards to find our spiritual truth – and life constantly demands our attention goes outwards.

Indeed, it sometimes seems that society and the world at large is becoming more and more demanding of our outwardly directed attention – which naturally leaves us less time and energy to contemplate the internal, spiritual, aspect of our existence.

If you want to manifest successfully, then I suggest that you explore the spiritual side of your existence, and perhaps develop a spiritual practice which can aid you in connecting to the divine, the universal intelligence, or the world around you.

You may be wondering, particularly if you’re new to the concept of a spiritual practice, what constitutes spirituality and what makes for a spiritual way of connection with the force greater than ourselves, outside of ourselves (the universal intelligence or God)?

There are many ways.

Essentially, each and every one of them involves directing your attention internally, rather than externally to the world around you.

A few minutes’ silent contemplation each morning, or deep relaxation and meditation, or a walking meditation barefoot in your garden each day… There are as many different spiritual practices as there are individuals living on the face of this planet, and each and every one of them will serve you in a different way.

But the more you develop the connection between yourself and the spiritual world within and around you, the more successful your manifestation will be.

It can be hard for some people to accept the connection between spirituality and manifestation, but it is there.

And at the same time, even just writing your goals down every morning will help you manifest what you want, so it’s not as though spirituality is an absolute prerequisite for successful manifestation. No, the point, I think, is more that having a spiritual practice brings you more closely back into line with who you truly are, and emphasizes your connection to the divine.

And since manifestation comes from that energetic and mysterious place beyond yourself, and since the Law of Attraction depends entirely on you establishing connection with that greater and wider space, so you can make contact with the energy of the universal intelligence, it follows that any spiritual practice which helps you develop connection in this way will also help you manifest more successfully.