CHAPTER VI

The Rich Mentality

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

The good man out of his good treasure bringeth

forth good things.

They shall prosper that love thee.

Then shalt thou prosper, if thou observe to do the

statutes and ordinances.

Why transgress ye the commandments of Jehovah,

so that ye cannot prosper?

because ye have forsaken Jehovah,

he hath also forsaken you.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:

Thereby good shall come unto thee.

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth,

And lay up his words in thy heart.

If thou return to the Almighty,

thou shalt be built up...

Lay thou thy treasure in the dust,

And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;

And the Almighty will be thy treasure,

And precious silver unto thee.

RICHES are primarily a state of mind and not a matter of accumulation of money

or things. A rich mind will necessarily be represented of plenty of the world's

goods, either in a person's possession or at his command; but to have millions

and to lack the fertility of mind to utilize them is to be like the mule that bears

rich ore on his back out of the mine—he knows the burden of it and not the joy of

practical use.

MENTAL PAUPERS

Men and women of assured income who have not known the inner wealth have

led miserable lives of fear lest thieves should rob them of everything, and some

have gone insane with the dread of poverty and spent the last days of their

earthly existence in hourly expectation of being sent to the poorhouse because of

indigence. Paupers in consciousness, these people cannot recognize riches when

they stare them in the face.

Therefore the wisdom of the Master: Seek first to be rich toward God and let the

earthly riches follow. For then is the problem taken hold of at the right end, at its

source, and one escapes the folly of so many poor who have put the cart before

the horse, seeking riches first and the spiritual life last.

EVERYONE’S RICH AURA

Everyone who comes into the world has a rich “aura,” the gift of his heavenly

Father. It is his “living” from the source of all wealth. Most of us seem to have

been prodigal sons, letting our rich consciousness be frittered away by the

delusions of sense,

until we find ourselves bound to mortality and far from happiness, heaven, our

home. But we know that even then, if we only remember and “come to ourselves,” we can return to the rich consciousness by keeping our face steadily

toward our Father’s

that is, by “seeking first his kingdom, and his righteousness.”

The rich aura that surrounds and fills each of us is the reflection of Divine Mind,

and it contains all the elements of every expression of richness upon the face of

the whole earth. Its thoughts of goodness are the reality back of gold; its

consciousness of freedom lies back of silver; its purity is the substance of

diamonds, and all its virtues are portrayed in the gems of the earth. Its life

fructifies the very soil; its beauty and grace determine the forms of fruits and

flowers.

SPIRITUALITY AND GOOD CROPS

As long as man looks outside himself for all the causes of his fortune or

misfortune, he does not find the law of thought and feeling by which he may be

prospered. In man’s attitude toward this rich mentality, which is in truth his

Divine Mind, lies the clue to many an unusual experience in his life.

Certain habitual thoughts and feelings toward God and the spiritual life have,

made one man’s fields

yield more richly than his neighbor's although in every other respect the soil and

the seed were the same. Crops have been delivered from pests, and also

protected so that blight or frost or some other enemy could not harm them. A

story illustrating this truth was told the writer by a student about his father, who

had some remarkable proof that a “praying man”

comes under divine protection even in his fields.

This man said that his father, Mr. N—, was a successful farmer in England, who to raise potatoes had united with a number of his neighbors in leasing a long strip

of land, which was divided so that every farmer had two rows of potato hills. The men bought seed together and ploughed and planted at the same time. Mr. N— had a most practical belief in the presence and power of God in a man’s affairs, and so while planting his seed he invoked the blessing of the Almighty upon it, for he believed that all his prosperity came through remembering God in all his

ways.

When the time came to gather the potatoes, the farmers found that a potato

disease called “dry rot” had attacked every tuber, causing almost a total loss to

each farmer but Mr. N—. For when he turned over the soil in the two long rows of

hillocks, he found that not one potato had been touched. This made a very deep

impression upon all the country round, especially as Mr. N— ascribed his protection to the goodness of God in answering his direct and believing prayers

for the yield of his field.

CULTIVATING THE RICH MENTALITY

All that one puts one’s hand to comes into this divine aura, and if a man consciously or unconsciously co-operates with it and fulfills its laws, that

will take place which is written: “Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

This rich mentality may be compared to a field of rich soil that each one owns. If

it seems unyielding as regards prosperity, it is because prosperity is not recognized and cultivated. The field may be like a wilderness, full of weeds, yet

may yield a certain increase. Such is the field of the spendthrift, the sordid, and

the care-ridden. Perhaps it is unwatered, like a desert, which proves to be

wonderfully fertile when well irrigated. If this rich mentality is neglected,

ignorance of the great law of prosperity is the cause, or forgetfulness of the truth

about oneself, one’s source, and one’s powers.

The desire in the heart of a man to be self-supporting and independent is

implanted by divine intention. The revelation of man’s inner, eternal supply

establishes the consciousness of endless prosperity. “As the Father hath life in

himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself.”

THE BREAD OF LIFE IN OUR AFFAIRS

Richness circulates through the body of one’s affairs, as air in the body of flesh.

And just as through intelligence and power we control the breath, so we should

subject our circumstances to the mind.

A woman in Southern California, Mrs. R—, once realized this power of control, to

the great

advantage of an important crop. Her home was in the midst of a large orange

grove, which was then in full bearing and promising a fine revenue that winter,

out of which the family hoped to recuperate its fortunes and once more be on its

feet.

Mrs. R— had a neighbor whose economic background was almost identical with

her own; both, with their husbands, had invested in adjoining lands and planted

orange trees, which had already yielded several crops. But the neighbor woman

did not believe in the power of mind; she scoffed and criticized so much that Mrs.

R— ceased to refer to Truth and its powers in her presence.

One night a report was carried through the town that they were likely to have a

black frost before morning and that every man had better “smudge” and so save

his grove. “Smudging,” it should be explained, consists in producing a smoke

from specially built fires, which warms the air and keeps it moving so that the

cold air cannot bite the tender fruit. Now it so happened that the husbands were

both away. The neighbor woman came in wringing her hands and crying:

“What shall we do! --no one to help us—we cannot do it alone—our crop will be

ruined!”

Mrs. R— tried to console her, but her own heart was heavy, and she had little success. After the woman had gone home she walked the floor trying

to calm herself with Truth, repeating statements about the ailness of good and the nothingness of evil in every variety of declaration that came to her.

Presently her faithfulness was rewarded. She remembered what her teacher had said as to the power of Mind to go forth and heal the plants, and she spoke aloud:

“God can protect my grove! The presence of God is there, and even now folds it

round about and keeps it from every harmful thing.” She remembered the

passage “There shall no evil befall thee”; she recited the 91st Psalm; she

remembered the words spoken to Job beginning, “He will deliver thee in six

troubles,” including “Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction,” and ending,

“The beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee,” and she was filled with trust

and a mighty consciousness of power. An impression came to her of her grove being covered over as with a great canvas, and she lay down upon her pillow and

slept like a child until morning.

The black frost came, and every orange grove that had not been smudged came woefully under the blight, every grove but that of Mrs. R—, in which not one

orange was touched.

The crop of her scoffing and skeptical neighbor was a total loss.

It was a nine-day wonder, and many were the congratulations. She was young in

Truth and told

no one of her prayers, although her neighbor suspected the source of her victory, for she never again scoffed at her belief.

THROWING OFF GLOOMY THOUGHTS

When discouragement and despondency settle down upon a man, or when

discord, misunderstanding, or bitterness distracts and tears the inner man, his

very cattle and his other creatures show forth his state of mind in their condition.

Lift up your mind, get hold of the Spirit, throw off those mean feelings as you

would shake off the flakes of snow before entering a warm room.

Practice repeating words of cheer and spiritual promise, and meditate upon

thoughts the very op posite of those which drag you down until there comes an

inner change. And the longer it takes you the greater should be your

persistence—the fact of its taking so long shows how sadly you needed the

practice.

Remove the curse from that unrented property by mentally filling it with loving,

attractive thoughts; change the deadening, repelling atmosphere that people feel

even as they approach it making them decide against it before examining it.

Read Isaiah 35, 11:1-9, and 65:16-25 and give your mind and heart to the fairest pictures of concord and harmony that they bring into your mind.

TRUE PROSPERITY PROSPERS OTHERS

You are building up this rich mentality. It is already there in all its fullness and

perfection. It is your part to uncover it, to co-operate with it, to believe in it.

Then, as it does to the lilies of the field, the law that is within you can operate

and draw your own to you.

We perpetually remember that the one who is prospered by a knowledge of Truth

brings prosperity to the whole earth, for he draws heaven into the earth. Love is

the law of his life, causing him ever to lead his fellow beings to the same law

within themselves that he has found in himself.

As vines that are pruned only bear better and fuller fruits, so all the periods of

hardship and wrong and failure through which we pass are but times of pruning.

Because we are alive let us know our life to be prosperity itself, the rich mind,

containing the greatest fortune that earth has ever known. Now is the time and

here is the place to prove ourselves to be the masterful Word of the Almighty,

establishing the kingdom of-heaven in the--earth, until poverty is known no more

and there are no poor, but all come to their thrones, glorified sons and daughters

of the Most High.