EDITORIAL

MAMMON (The God of Riches)

WE WONDER how many realize what a mighty power Mammon has become in the world—in fact that it actually rules the world.

If you do not realize it as yet, consider what follows, and then perhaps you will agree that there are very few indeed who are not under Mammon’s rule, who do not fear him, and who are wholly free from his power.

First look about you among your friends and note how money, or the possession of it, means everything to them. Without it they are “looked down upon” by those who have it. With plenty of it, especially if they spend it freely, they are “good fellows.” Those with a superabundance of it are “looked up to” with more or less awe by those who have less or little, and others bow and cater to them, deem them a great success, and generally consider them as having reached an exalted place in the world.

Can you admit that the possession of money today, in the eyes of the world, does not mean more to the vast majority of people than the possession of any other thing? Which means that practically everyone acknowledges it as his Lord and Master, yields to it obedience, and thereby gives it absolute power over his life and thoughts.

Do you think this is stating it too strongly? Then answer to yourself these questions:

Are you who read truly free from its power? Think! Has it no hold whatever on you? Are you not in the least afraid of losing your job, your social or financial standing, or your investments? Or should you lose all, have you not the slightest fear for yourself and of your power to regain what is lost?

Are you sure in your social relations with others that their possession of wealth or lack of it has no effect or influence whatever on your attitude towards them—that the beggar and the banker are alike your brothers?

Are you sure, in your business dealings with others that the prospect of profit or loss in no way influences your statements or causes you not to listen to a desire to help them, when you want to sell them something?

Can you truly say that money means nothing to you, that the possession or lack of it in the eyes of your friends has no place in your thoughts, and that you could be a tramp or a millionaire with equal disregard of Mammon’s power to cause you to deviate one iota from your loving service to the Lord Christ within?

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then you have truly reached the stage of discipleship, and are ready for or are now really doing the work of the Master, for you have passed a supreme test and are worthy of doing the work you came here to do.

This article is written in the full understanding of the insidious power Mammon has acquired over practically every seeker of the Kingdom, a power that very few are aware of, and which it is our duty to show up clearly, so that each may know for him or herself and deal with it definitely from now on.

This power has so instilled itself into the consciousness of nearly everyone that it is most difficult to free one’s mind from it sufficiently to see the hold it has obtained upon our thoughts and lives. If we will only admit it, it influences unconsciously most of our motives, desires, aims and actions, and it ever drives us onward with the whip of fear so that we cannot reason calmly and see that self is being wholly misled by a false god to the forgetfulness of the Loving One within, who promises if we seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness all things else will be added.

Therefore we say to you, search deeply in your mind and heart and make sure that you have not unconsciously been worshipping Mammon, obeying his mandates and living under his rule, rather than God’s.

This applies as much to those to whom the need of money is perhaps at this moment paramount in their thoughts, as to those who have an abundance of it and who are living in an atmosphere of wealth.

Money of itself, of course, is no more than a medium by which we exchange one commodity for another, and is therefore neither good nor evil. But a selfishness that seeks more than one’s share of money or more than one needs and can use, is undeniably evil, for that deprives others of their just share or needs. Such a selfishness, however, has become so common that it is not considered to be selfishness any more. It is deemed to be a natural process of nature—a “survival of the fittest,” when from the foregoing it is plainly seen as perverted nature.

Therefore many millions of souls are living in a perverted state, entirely under the dominion of a self-created power, existing, maintaining itself and fast gaining a stronghold upon its creators, solely because they do not realize whom and what it is they are serving—their own selfish wills.

Mammon is thus seen to be crystallized selfishness—nay, entitized selfishness, because money has no power unless it is gathered together in the hands of a few who purposely deprive many others of their rightful share in order to maintain their power to further their own evil ends. We will not go further into this phase of the subject at this time, but for fuller light upon it refer to the article on “The Enemy” in the booklet “Brotherhood.”

One thing each seeker of the Kingdom must clearly determine here and now—the influence that Mammon has exercised over him in the past, and that its influence henceforth will be eliminated from heart and mind forever.

This means that from this moment his allegiance is to God alone and that he will look to Him only as his support and for his supply, and will have full and utter faith in His promise of what will result if he makes the seeking of Him and His Righteousness first in his life.

But realize that much will come to test this faith, and outer circumstances may grow very dark and friends and loved ones may condemn and consider you gone daft. But know that when everything is the darkest, and it would seem that God and all else have deserted you, the time of deliverance draws very near. For there is no truer saying than “it is always darkest just before dawn.”

THE ABOVE article is reprinted from the seventh Impersonal Lesson Paper, and prepares the reader to consider with us another phase of the meaning and purpose of money in man’s life that very few have noted and analyzed.

We have seen how money in the past has been the agency misused by Mammon to bring the whole world under its dominion; how the desire for it created a monstrous selfishness that almost destroyed civilization time and time again, and finally has brought man face up against the definite decision—whether he will serve God or Mammon, will go on with and be a part of the New Age of Co-operation and Brotherhood, or be wiped out with the Old Order of Competition and Greed.

There are many true thinkers who clearly see that the latter alternative is an inevitable outcome of the misuse of the power that money gave to a selfish race. These same thinkers are also beginning to see the glorious possibilities of the right use of money in the hands of those who would use it for the good of the whole, instead of for the selfish few.

Leaving with you this thought, we now wish to present a picture of what the possession of money or of what it represents will mean in the New Age, or of what it means now to those who belong in the New Age—the spiritually minded ones.

Did it ever occur to you that those of us who would be a part of the New Age are now being compelled to free ourselves from the domination of Mammon forever; that we are being forced to prove that we are superior to money and its power, and that money is our servant and comes obediently at our call or need?

In other words, in the New Age the possession of money or of what it represents will be the evidence of one’s spiritual power and ability to serve others, even as in the Old Order it was the evidence of material power and ability to serve self. The possession of money will be the proof of one’s having attained the Kingdom and of using it in righteousness, and the lack of it will naturally also prove that one has not yet attained these blessings.

Remember Jesus’ command, “Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else will be added.” Well, if all things else are not added, it is because God and His righteousness are not yet first—that one is still serving Mammon or self. If one is poor in this world’s goods, it is only because he is poor spiritually—self’s concerns are still too much ruling his thoughts.

Not until we can say and KNOW, “All that the Father hath is mine,” are we rich in spirit, and are therefore rich in earthly possessions as well. Yea, even now is this so of the spiritually minded ones. The true evidence of one’s spirituality, and of how surely one knows that “All that the Father hath is mine,” is the manifest state of one’s material life—whether all of one’s needs are being abundantly and continuously supplied.

We cannot get away from this self-evident fact. No matter how much we know, how much we love God or think we love Him, how much we seemingly are serving Him, until we have brought our minds to that perfect love and trust where like a little child we know that our Father is providing for us and taking care of everything, and we give it no concern whatever,—we are not established in the Kingdom and in His righteousness.

Putting it in another way, when we see any disciple or follower of Christ doing the Father’s work and always provided with abundance means for his needs or the needs of the Work, you may know that that one is obeying the law of the Kingdom and is more or less established in its consciousness.

You may ask, what about those who possess wealth and who are unquestionably serving Mammon, from the selfish misuse of the power they manifest?

We say, never mind about them; they are undoubtedly Mammon’s agents and are giving him full allegiance, and Mammon always takes care of his faithful ones. It is for you to see that you are equally faithful in your serving of God, and are no longer under Mammon’s sway in any way. When you are able to prove this in all your thoughts, speech and actions, then you are a beloved Son, and the Father will bless you with His Spiritual Power and with it the free use of all the riches of His Kingdom, which includes their manifestation in all of the lower kingdoms.

THE SUMMER CLASSES

WE ARE pleased to learn of the number of earnest students who are planning to be with us in July.

We feel this will be a most important gathering and will be productive of far-reaching results, in that many will unfold into a higher consciousness and become equipped to serve and do practical inner work in their respective communities. That is our earnest hope and our efforts will be devoted to that special end.

At this session will be available more personal help when needed than in the past, and certain hours will be set aside for private interviews and instruction. Each student will have the privilege of such instruction.

BY OURSELVES is evil done, By ourselves we pain endure, By ourselves we cease from wrong, By ourselves become we pure. None can save us but ourselves; No one can, and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path— Teachers merely point the way.

—Dhammapada.

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