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THE BIG IDEAS Spiritual Economics

Prosperity
The Principles and Process of True Prosperity
Go forward hopefully! BY ERIC BUTTERWORTH · UNITY BOOKS © 2001 · 218 PAGES

Affluence
Create “abundant flow!”

Security
Be “without care.” “The goal should not be to make money or acquire things, but to achieve the
consciousness through which the substance will flow forth when and as you
Why Be Average?
Seriously? Why? need it.”
Entropy vs. Syntropy ~ Eric Butterworth from Spiritual Economics
Rreach dynamic harmony.
Are you committed to discovering who you are and how you can give yourself most fully to
Take Charge
Take charge of your mind. the world? AND how you can consciously circulate wealth in the world as you give your gifts,
support others, and support yourself? (That, btw, is pretty much a pre-requisite to truly living
Magnets
You’re a magnet. your hero’s journey.)

Practice! Practice! If so, this book is pretty much a must read.

Greater = more practice.
Spiritual Economics and The Science of Getting Rich (see Notes) were two of the most
Geniuses and Clods influential “wealth/abundance” books I read during a critical phase in my life in which I was
First clod, then genius.
really starting to bring my life into integrity around money. If you’re like me, I have zero doubt
How’s Your Faith? you’ll also find them transformative.
What do you expect?

To Be Since my initial read, I’ve picked this book up at least half a dozen times and have been
Desires and achievement. blown away by the love Butterworth exudes in his words. As a Unity minister, he eloquently,
Give! compassionately, brilliantly and forcefully establishes his principles of economics.
Give. And receive.
So, without further adieu, let’s jump in with his definition of Prosperity and then dance through
Givers vs. Takers the roots of other words associated with money while we explore the heart of spiritual economics!
Which one are you?

... And more! PROSPERITY

“Prosperity comes from the Latin root which literally translates: ‘according to hope’ or ‘to go
forward hopefully.’ Thus it is not so much a condition in life as it is an attitude toward life. The
truly prosperous person is what psychologist Rollo May calls ‘the fully functioning person.’”
“How far would Moses
have gone if he had taken Prosperity.
a poll in Egypt? What would What a beautiful word. As Butterworth shares, the literal meaning points to an attitude of hope.
Jesus Christ have preached
Think about that. The word we use to describe “abundance,” “wealth,” etc. is grounded in the
if he had taken a poll in
ideals of moving forward in life with hope. That’s incredible.
the land of Israel? What
would have happened to As Butterworth advises, prosperity is not so much about a “condition” we experience, but the
the Reformation if Martin attitude with which we live! Of course, the good news is that as we “go forward hopefully” with a

Luther had taken a poll? “prosperous” attitude in all things, we’ll be rewarded with all the external (and internal!!) fruits
of true prosperity.
It isn’t polls or public
opinion of the moment My vote?
that counts. It’s right and Let’s go forward hopefully!
wrong and leadership.”
~ Harry Truman

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“If one advances confidently AFFLUENCE
in the direction of his “The word affluence is an overworked word in our time, usually implying cars and houses and
dreams, and endeavors to baubles of all kinds. Its literal meaning is ‘an abundant flow,’ and not things at all. When we are
live the life which he has consciously centered in the universal flow, we experience inner direction and the unfoldment of
imagined, he will meet with creative activity. Things come too, but prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness
a success unexpected in that attracts things.”
common hours. He will put Affluence.
some things behind, will
Another beautiful word. Did you know the word literally means “abundant flow”? That rocks.
pass an invisible boundary:
new, universal, and more Get in the FLOW of the universe. Express yourself. And you will experience every sense of the
liberal laws will begin to beautiful word “affluence.”
establish themselves around
and within him; or old SECURITY
laws will be expanded and “The word secure comes from two small Latin words: se meaning ‘without’ and cure meaning
interpreted in his favor in a ‘care’—being without care, freedom from anxiety. Victor Hugo articulates this very special sense
more liberal sense, and he in this lovely couplet:
will live with license of a Be like the bird
higher order of beings.”
That pausing in her flight
~ Henry David Thoreau
While on boughs too slight,

Feels them give way

Beneath her, and yet sings,

“Your most important asset Knowing she hath wings.”

is the conscious control Secure.
of your own life.”
To be without care.
~Eric Butterworth
I’m repeating myself here, but that’s beautiful. How would you feel if you were “without care.”
KNOWING that, should you encounter a challenging situation, you have wings to fly.

WHY BE AVERAGE?
“Why be an average person? All the great achievements of history have been made by strong
individuals who refused to consult statistics or to listen to those who could prove convincingly
that what they wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.”

Love that. I’m smiling as I remember the times in my own life when the “experts” I consulted
told me I couldn’t do something.

The most vivid memory: I was a 24 year-old law school drop out in 1998. The only thing I knew
I wanted to do (besides burn my resume :) was coach a Little League Baseball team. I did that.
In the process, I had a vision that within 5 years every team and league in the US would be using
the web for everything—schedules, standings, directions to the field, pictures Grandma and
“Oh, while I live, to be the Grandpa could check out if they missed the game, etc.
ruler of life, not a slave, to I wanted to get 1 million (!!!) teams using a web site I would build. I thought I could do that
meet life as a powerful within 5 years. I talked to some smart, successful mentors who told me it was impossible.
conqueror, and nothing How would I, a 24 year-old law school dropout with no business experience, no money and no
exterior to me shall ever connections do that?
take command of me.”
Just the feedback I needed to get to work. (In a way, they were right, though. It took us 4 years,
~ Walt Whitman not 5 to get our first million teams using our site, eteamz.com. :)

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So, what are YOU currently being told is impossible?
“When you believe you can
do it, the ‘how-to-do-it’ Don’t consult experts and stats. Make a strong note of this important lesson in Spiritual
Economics. Follow your heart. Dream. Do what you’re here to do.
develops.”
~Eric Butterworth
ENTROPY VS. SYNTROPY
“It is interesting to note that there is mounting evidence for the existence of … ‘syntropy,’
through the influence of which forms tend to reach higher and higher levels of organization,
order, and dynamic harmony. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel Prize winning biologist, refers to it
as an ‘innate drive in living matter to perfect itself.’ And today many are calling attention to a
psychological drive toward synthesis, toward wholeness and self-perfection.”

Abraham Maslow (see Notes on Motivation and Personality) says: “What one can be, one must
be.” That’s a powerful statement.

You feel that drive deep within us that’s begging us to be our highest self? That impulse is (much
“I’m a great believer in much much) bigger than you or me. It’s a Universal impulse toward wholeness. We are DRIVEN
luck, and I find the harder to self-perfection. Ignore it at your own risk.
I work, the more luck
I  have.” TAKE CHARGE
~Thomas Jefferson “There is only one way by which you can achieve prosperity. It is to take charge of your mind.”

We’ve heard that one before, eh? ALL the great teachers tell us we must master our minds to
master our lives.

From the Buddha (see Notes on The Dhammapada): “More than those who hate you, more
than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.”

To Marcus Aurelius (see Notes on Meditations): “If you are distressed by anything external, the
pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to
revoke at any moment.”

“Faith is really your To Shakespeare: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
consent to let your own
How about you? Are you in charge of your mind? What steps are you taking to get even more in
uniqueness unfold and to charge? Meditation perhaps? (Maybe try a 10-day Vipassana course to get your mind in shape!
let that which is attracted Did wonders for me!! :) How about being truly present with your children? Catching your
by your uniqueness negative self-talk? Practicing mantras? … ? … ? … ?
manifest in your life. Thus
Witness how you show up in the world. How your mind can bounce from thought to thought to
when Jesus said, ‘All things
(hopefully not negative) thought. Get in charge.
are possible to those who
believe,’ he did not say that
MAGNETS
a swan can become a duck
or that a nonmusical person “There is a great idea that you will encounter again and again on your quest: you are a living
magnet, constantly drawing to you the things, the people, and the circumstances which are in
can become a concert
accord with your thoughts. In other words, you are where you are in experience, in relationships,
pianist. You cannot become
even in financial conditions, because of what you are (which is where you are in consciousness).”
something that is not the
outforming of your own I love this.
inner potential. You can Whether we explain it through the Law of Attraction, your Reticular Activating System or some
only be you. However you other way, you know you’re a magnet, right? You will pull into your life whatever is in your
can unfold more of the consciousness.
you that may have been
I like to take the Reticular Activating System (RAS) approach to it. You know, your RAS—that
long  frustrated.” little bundle of cells at your brain stem that filters the TRILLIONS of stimuli we’re constantly
~Eric Butterworth being bombarded by. It filters out the “unimportant” and gives us the important. For example:

PhilosophersNotes | Spiritual Economics 3

Let’s say you’re going to buy a new car. Ever had the experience where all the sudden you see
“When you pray,
that car everywhere?!? You told your unconscious mind that getting that car was a priority, so,
move your feet.” all the sudden you noticed it. Make sense?
~Proverb
What if you tell your unconscious mind that the world is a frightening/dangerous/vicious place.
Guess what? You’ll get ALL KINDS of evidence to support that belief—from the rude waiter
to the guy who cut you off on the freeway, you’ll be sure to notice every single little thing that
supports your perspective. You’re a magnet.

On the other hand, let’s assume you believe the world is a beautiful, abundant, loving, expanding
experience. What do you think you’ll “magnetize” toward yourself? Of course, the people and
experiences consistent with that level of consciousness.

For more on your this, I think you’ll dig my Notes on Abraham-Hicks’ Ask and It Is Given +
Money, and the Law of Attraction as well as my Notes on Wayne Dyer’s Power of Intention.

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

“Ask the great athlete or the concert pianist or the successful actor if they arrived at the place
where they need no further practice. They will tell you that the higher you climb in proficiency
and public acceptance, the greater the need for practice.”

Think about that for a moment longer: The higher the greats climb, the GREATER the need for
practice.

And, how about this:

GENIUSES & CLODS

“The great piano virtuoso Paderewski was once playing before an audience of the rich and the
royal. After a brilliant performance, an elegant lady waxed ecstatic over the great artist. She said,
“There’s nothing capricious ‘Ah Maestro, you are a genius!’ Paderewski tartly replied, ‘Ah yes, madam, but before I was a
in nature, and the implanting genius I was a clod!’ What he was saying was that his present acclaim was not handed to him on a

of a desire indicates that silver platter. He, too, was once a little boy laboriously practicing his scales. And even at his peak,
behind every brilliant performance there were countless hours of practice and preparation.”
its gratification is in
the constitution of the That’s absolutely brilliant. It’s WAY too easy to look at someone we admire and just assume he
creature that feels it.” or she was simply born a genius or “got lucky.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson Behind every (yes EVERY!!) genius in any field is a clod who turned into that genius we admire.
Tiger Woods? Check. Oprah? Check. Steve Jobs?  Check.

These men and women have worked harder than most can ever imagine to get to a point where
they can so effortlessly perform.

How about you? What are you putting countless (yes, countless!!!) hours of practice and
preparation into?!?

(Can’t wait to see you perform! :)

HOW’S YOUR FAITH?

“Faith is expectancy. You do not receive what you want; you do not receive what you pray for,
not even what you say you have faith in. You will always receive what you actually expect.”

So, that begs the obvious question: What do you expect? Look a little deeper and see if what
you’re getting is what you expect.

You can’t (!) receive what you “want” or what you pray for. You’re going to get what you
EXPECT.

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So, let’s optimize our expectations!!!

And, let’s start by taking a moment to write down a few things we expect:
1. I expect_________________________________________________________.
2. I expect_________________________________________________________.
3. I expect_________________________________________________________.
4. I expect_________________________________________________________.
5. I expect_________________________________________________________.

Well done.

Now let’s align your actions with your expectations.

What are some action steps you will take that support the manifestation of those expectations?!?
1. I will___________________________________________________________.
2. I will___________________________________________________________.
3. I will___________________________________________________________.
4. I will___________________________________________________________.
5. I will___________________________________________________________.

NOW we’re talkin’. (And doin’. :)

TO BE
“A true desire is not to have but to be. We are whole creatures in potential, and the true purpose
of desire is to unfold that wholeness, to become what we can be. As Goethe says, ‘Desire is the
presentiment of our inner abilities, and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments.’”

Wow. Butterworth continues with this wisdom: “The mystic ideal, so often missed, is really
simple: build on the awareness of ever-present substance and expand your faith in the stability
of your own inner wholeness. The things will come too, and in abundance. But they will come
out of expanse of your wholeness, not at its expense.”

Abundance will come out of expanse of your wholeness but not at its expense.

EXPAND (!) your wholeness and watch the abundance flow. In that order.

Another Question: What are you doing today to expand your wholeness? (Besides reading this
Note, of course? :)

GIVE!
“Give!”

Butterworth has an entire chapter on the idea of living from a place of constantly giving yourself
to the world.

Call it karma, reaping what you sow or whatever you’d like to call it. As he says: “The law is exact:
If you give, really work in a giving consciousness, you must receive.”

So… Give!

GIVERS VS. TAKERS

“The takers are the people who believe that their lives will always be the total of what they can
get from the world. They are always thinking get, get, get. They plan and scheme ways to get
what they want in money, in love, in happiness, and in all kinds of good. No matter that they
may be applying metaphysical techniques, they still may very well be takers. But whatever may
be their spiritual ideals or lack of any, no matter what they take, they can never know peace or
security or fulfillment.

PhilosophersNotes | Spiritual Economics 5

The givers, on the other hand, are convinced life is a giving process. Thus their subtle motivation
“The important thing is to
in all their ways is to give themselves away, in love, in service, and in all the many helpful ways
know yourself, have faith they can invest themselves. They are always secure, for they intuitively know that their good
in the cosmic process that flows from within.”
will unfold in you like the
So, which are you? A Taker? Or A Giver?
life force unfolds in the lily
of the field which toils not Let’s give give give and then allow for the receiving.
nor spins, and yet ‘Solomon And, remember:
in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these’ UNIVERSAL ORDER
(Mt. 6:29).”
“In an orderly Universe, there is simply no way you can get something for nothing.”
~Eric Butterworth
I love that. Are you trying to get something for nothing? We all do it at times. Not a good place to
be. The Universe is orderly. And doesn’t like that. :)

Again: Let’s GIVE! And then, of course, allow for the receiving. (Important order.)

BELIEVING IS SEEING
“Seeing is not believing; believing is seeing! You see things, not as they are, but as you are.”

U2 says it another way: “You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been; A place that
has to be believed to be seen.”

What do you need to believe to see?

And… Final Question: What are you waiting for?

In prosperity, affluence, security and giving, giving and giving!

Brian Johnson,
Chief Philosopher

If you liked this Note, About the Author of “Spiritual Economics”

you’ll probably like… ERIC BUTTERWORTH

Creative Mind and Eric Butterworth was the author of hundreds of essays and articles as well as
Success
numerous best-selling books including The Universe is Calling and In the Flow of
The Power of Decision Life. He was a Unity minister in New York City and conducted services at Avery
Take Off from Within Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center for over 35 years.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Power of Intention About the Author of This Note
BRIAN JOHNSON
Ask and It Is Given
Money, and the Law of Brian Johnson is a lover of wisdom (aka a “Philosopher”) and a passionate
Attraction student of life who’s committed to inspiring and empowering millions of people
to live their greatest lives as he studies, embodies and shares the universal truths
of optimal living. He harts his job.

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