S
Sacredstar
Guest
I am prompted to post this piece written in 1998 in response to PM on the reincarnation thread. It needs updating but could be a good discussion starter. I would be interested in other factual historical information on this and also other esoteric views of the impact on the soul, so that I may improve it for future publication.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL VIRTUE
CHARITY
Charity is the opposite to selfishness and is one of the foremost spiritual virtues. In ancient Egypt and other ancient civilizations the wealthy gave a percentage of their wealth to the priests in the temples. The priests realised that, if they were to fulfil their duty of compassion in the land, they must take from the wealthy some of their substance so that it could be shared amongst those who were poor or worse off. This was called a levy, whereby a certain sum of each man's wealth was given freely for the use of the priests and a certain part of each man's harvest was to be donated for the free use of the priests, so that it could be given in charity to the poor. (This is still carried out by the Muslim faith unto this day, if I remember correctly they bestow a percentage of their wealth to the needy during Ramadan).
You might ask why was a levy considered necessary? Why didn't the wealthy give from the generosity of their own hearts? They did not give for the same reason that we do not give in today's society. Mankind came to love their own treasure and to love the prestige that it portrayed, they were blinded by self-concern and did not see the suffering of those of the poor and sick – and so charity became established in the upper and lower lands of Egypt.
To encourage the giving by the wealthy to the poor, the priests devised a means by which at a certain season of the year, when the harvest was gathered, a great festival of giving would take place, it was called the 'Festival of Rejoicing', the Festival of Giving ( from which originated the Christian Harvest Festival).
What importance did this spiritual virtue have to the growth of our soul? It was not the importance of generosity, it was not the giving of love, but it did have importance because often the giving was painful to the giver and therefore it was savored with the quality of sacrifice.
The Egyptians believed that this symbol of sacrifice illumines the aura of the soul with a bright flame which is a light that can be seen by the angelic realms. The priests would say to the people have you contributed anything unto the flame, the fire which burns within your temple? The temple being the physical housing for our soul.
Many years later this teaching was taken from Egypt by the Israelites, who inherited so much of the ritual and wisdom of Egypt. When they left the wilderness, they remembered some of these teachings. Moses the Law-giver remembered what he had learned in the Lands and realised that he too must teach mosaic law so he introduced a levy. Each year every man contributed something to the wealth of the new-born nation.
This was also developed by the early Christians. But in today's society the original meaning of Charity has been forgotten and the priests do not demand a tenth of each man's wealth. It has simply degenerated into a simple festival of thanksgiving where no sacrifice is made. Charity is not just about sharing our wealth in financial terms, for those that have less, sharing a meal, providing a food package, lending a book, giving our time are all charitable acts that burn the flame within the soul just as brightly.
When you develop your spiritual powers, your gifts of vision, speech and healing are unfolding then your charity can be translated on to the spiritual plane and we can learn to give freely of our gifts of spirit to those worse of then yourself. This is the true spirit of sacrifice. When we are weary, when our labour has been heavy and our body is tired, and we pour forth our healing prayers for those who are sick and who know not of our givingness; this is spiritual charity. When you see the sorrow and the need of those you know and you sacrifice your own sacred space or your own period of peace to bring forth a message that may comfort and help these people, this too brings forth the flame of personal sacrifice in to the soul, and this we call spiritual charity.
The spiritual importance of all of this charity is to bring forth the golden flame which is the light that burns away the dross of selfish self so that when you are freed from the mortal body you may join the spirits of light, because within your own self the light and the flame of unselfishness has been truly and beautifully lighted.
Currently Australian people donate $30 a head to charity, the UK donate £300 compared with $4,000 a head in the USA. So much work needs to be done to ensure that this world becomes a caring compassionate society during the new millennium. Money is just like our thought patterns it is a form of energy we can use it constructively for the betterment of mankind, or we can continue to allow it to be in the hands of the few that retain and maintain it.
So it comes back to what is our intent? Do we have selfish desires for their own sake or do we have honest honorable intent that we want to create abundance for everyone in every culture. Desire for selfish reasons has controlled us and dominated the way that we have thought for most of the 20th century, the I'm alright Jack attitude must be left behind as we approach the new millennium because it is slowly strangling human life, enterprise and decency. Desire is a thought pattern, the desire for material comfort, for the acquisition and accumulation of things, the desire for power which money alone can give. Thoughts of envy of others material success and worrying about money creates a poison to the body. Jealousy and constant anxiety is created by desiring something or someone we cannot have. This can act so potently that it becomes a poison to the immune system and can in its worst extremes spoil our lives.
However, there is large numbers of people, who do not let the love of money and material things dominate their lives, these people have higher values of both themselves and human life on this planet. Just imagine the abundance that we could create for everyone if every individual, company or organisation donated 10% of their profits to those worse off then themselves. Utopia? I don't think so, everything is possible with the right intent. Imagine a world, a workplace where companies started to operate from the heart centre putting people first and profits second. What a world it would be, change during the next millennium is going to be a priority and a necessity because under the current financial infrastructure of the world, it cannot withstand the continuing social debt.
Material abundance can be ours if we have the right intent - the more we give to others and help mankind the more that will be returned to us, it comes back to you 1000 fold. The secret is not to let money dominate our life, learn new ways of how money can work for you so that abundance can be created for the right reasons.
Kim©1998
THE MOST IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL VIRTUE
CHARITY
Charity is the opposite to selfishness and is one of the foremost spiritual virtues. In ancient Egypt and other ancient civilizations the wealthy gave a percentage of their wealth to the priests in the temples. The priests realised that, if they were to fulfil their duty of compassion in the land, they must take from the wealthy some of their substance so that it could be shared amongst those who were poor or worse off. This was called a levy, whereby a certain sum of each man's wealth was given freely for the use of the priests and a certain part of each man's harvest was to be donated for the free use of the priests, so that it could be given in charity to the poor. (This is still carried out by the Muslim faith unto this day, if I remember correctly they bestow a percentage of their wealth to the needy during Ramadan).
You might ask why was a levy considered necessary? Why didn't the wealthy give from the generosity of their own hearts? They did not give for the same reason that we do not give in today's society. Mankind came to love their own treasure and to love the prestige that it portrayed, they were blinded by self-concern and did not see the suffering of those of the poor and sick – and so charity became established in the upper and lower lands of Egypt.
To encourage the giving by the wealthy to the poor, the priests devised a means by which at a certain season of the year, when the harvest was gathered, a great festival of giving would take place, it was called the 'Festival of Rejoicing', the Festival of Giving ( from which originated the Christian Harvest Festival).
What importance did this spiritual virtue have to the growth of our soul? It was not the importance of generosity, it was not the giving of love, but it did have importance because often the giving was painful to the giver and therefore it was savored with the quality of sacrifice.
The Egyptians believed that this symbol of sacrifice illumines the aura of the soul with a bright flame which is a light that can be seen by the angelic realms. The priests would say to the people have you contributed anything unto the flame, the fire which burns within your temple? The temple being the physical housing for our soul.
Many years later this teaching was taken from Egypt by the Israelites, who inherited so much of the ritual and wisdom of Egypt. When they left the wilderness, they remembered some of these teachings. Moses the Law-giver remembered what he had learned in the Lands and realised that he too must teach mosaic law so he introduced a levy. Each year every man contributed something to the wealth of the new-born nation.
This was also developed by the early Christians. But in today's society the original meaning of Charity has been forgotten and the priests do not demand a tenth of each man's wealth. It has simply degenerated into a simple festival of thanksgiving where no sacrifice is made. Charity is not just about sharing our wealth in financial terms, for those that have less, sharing a meal, providing a food package, lending a book, giving our time are all charitable acts that burn the flame within the soul just as brightly.
When you develop your spiritual powers, your gifts of vision, speech and healing are unfolding then your charity can be translated on to the spiritual plane and we can learn to give freely of our gifts of spirit to those worse of then yourself. This is the true spirit of sacrifice. When we are weary, when our labour has been heavy and our body is tired, and we pour forth our healing prayers for those who are sick and who know not of our givingness; this is spiritual charity. When you see the sorrow and the need of those you know and you sacrifice your own sacred space or your own period of peace to bring forth a message that may comfort and help these people, this too brings forth the flame of personal sacrifice in to the soul, and this we call spiritual charity.
The spiritual importance of all of this charity is to bring forth the golden flame which is the light that burns away the dross of selfish self so that when you are freed from the mortal body you may join the spirits of light, because within your own self the light and the flame of unselfishness has been truly and beautifully lighted.
Currently Australian people donate $30 a head to charity, the UK donate £300 compared with $4,000 a head in the USA. So much work needs to be done to ensure that this world becomes a caring compassionate society during the new millennium. Money is just like our thought patterns it is a form of energy we can use it constructively for the betterment of mankind, or we can continue to allow it to be in the hands of the few that retain and maintain it.
So it comes back to what is our intent? Do we have selfish desires for their own sake or do we have honest honorable intent that we want to create abundance for everyone in every culture. Desire for selfish reasons has controlled us and dominated the way that we have thought for most of the 20th century, the I'm alright Jack attitude must be left behind as we approach the new millennium because it is slowly strangling human life, enterprise and decency. Desire is a thought pattern, the desire for material comfort, for the acquisition and accumulation of things, the desire for power which money alone can give. Thoughts of envy of others material success and worrying about money creates a poison to the body. Jealousy and constant anxiety is created by desiring something or someone we cannot have. This can act so potently that it becomes a poison to the immune system and can in its worst extremes spoil our lives.
However, there is large numbers of people, who do not let the love of money and material things dominate their lives, these people have higher values of both themselves and human life on this planet. Just imagine the abundance that we could create for everyone if every individual, company or organisation donated 10% of their profits to those worse off then themselves. Utopia? I don't think so, everything is possible with the right intent. Imagine a world, a workplace where companies started to operate from the heart centre putting people first and profits second. What a world it would be, change during the next millennium is going to be a priority and a necessity because under the current financial infrastructure of the world, it cannot withstand the continuing social debt.
Material abundance can be ours if we have the right intent - the more we give to others and help mankind the more that will be returned to us, it comes back to you 1000 fold. The secret is not to let money dominate our life, learn new ways of how money can work for you so that abundance can be created for the right reasons.
Kim©1998
