Can Spiritual Laws Make You Rich?
Following the seven, or four, or seven and half laws to prosperity!
I just read three books in succession about "spiritual laws" and obtaining material success.
The first was an abridged version of Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. This book feels vaguely Hindu inspired and wrapped in a New Age framework. He weaves in Hindu concepts like karma and dharma into it and then talks about manifestations, intentions, and desires.
Personally, I found his writing...obtuse and loaded with jargon. Like this example below.
"When you discover your essential nature and know who you really are, in that knowing itself is the ability to fulfill any dream you have, because you are the eternal possibility, the immeasurable potential of all that was, is, and will be. The Law of Pure Potentiality could also be called the Law of Unity, because underlying the infinite diversity of life is the unity of one all-pervasive spirit. There is no separation between you and this field of energy. The field of pure potentiality is your own Self. And the more you experience your true nature, the closer you are to the field of pure potentiality."
I asked Claude AI to give a fast synopsis which I'm sharing below in italics.
The Law of Pure Potentiality - Each morning, you make time for meditation or silence. This allows you to go inward and tap into your pure consciousness and unlimited potential. During this still period, you intentionally let go of any limiting beliefs or negative thoughts that may be holding you back. You emerge feeling centered and aligned, ready to live in integrity with your highest values and grandest visions for your life.
The Law of Giving - You move through your days with an appreciative mindset, feeling grateful for the abundance you already have rather than focusing on what's lacking. This gratitude opens you up to give freely without expectation - whether it's offering your time, energy, money or talents. You listen compassionately to a friend in need, volunteer in your community, or make an anonymous donation. An attitude of generosity permeates your actions.
The Law of Cause and Effect - You are conscious that every action you take carries consequences. You accept full responsibility, wisdom, and non-judgment as you respond to life's situations. Your thoughts, words and deeds are chosen carefully and consciously. When faced with challenges, you avoid reacting impulsively and instead take a measured approach.
The Law of Least Effort - Rather than struggle against the natural flow of life, you practice acceptance and go with it. You conserve your energy by focusing only on what is truly essential, letting go of the superfluous. You stop pushing so hard for what you want and instead align yourself with the universe's rhythms to have your deepest desires ultimately fulfilled.
The Law of Intention and Desire - You take time to get clear about your true intentions and what you want to manifest in your life. Through visualization and affirmations, you nurture and uphold a vivid picture of your goals and desires. However, you don't cling desperately, but instead detach from how it all needs to look, trusting the process.
The Law of Detachment - You embrace the present moment without fixating on how you want the future to unfold. You cultivate an inner peace, letting go of expectations and attachments to specific outcomes. This spirit of letting go creates a sense of freedom and lightness. You act and make choices based on what brings joy rather than force of will.
The Law of Dharma - You live according to your unique purpose and path. You've discovered the gifts, talents and values that are uniquely yours to express in this world. Your actions are an expression of your dharma - your true calling that allows you to integrate fulfillment with service to others. You don't just make a living but create a life that matters according to what feels right in your soul.
The second "spiritual" laws book was The Four Spiritual Laws by Edwene Gaines. Listening to her audiobook, which she narrated, was like joining a Southern grandma on her porch and listening to her tales while drinking iced sweet tea during a sweltering summer afternoon. Gaines was raised Baptist, converted to Catholicism, then converted and became a minister in Unity Church. Unity a loosely Christian inspired organization started by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in the late 1800s.
She weaves all sorts of deus ex machina stories where she was penniless and by following these laws brought miracles—winning a contest for free groceries, winning a jackpot at a casino, obtaining a white Cadillac, paying down $60,000 credit card debt, taking world trips, among others.
Law 1: Tithing to your spiritual guide. To her definition, charities and worthy causes do not count. It must be an organization or a person who you feel spiritually guides you. She gave an example where a couple she was a guru to sold a business and paid her $20,000 as their tithing.
Law 2: Goal setting beyond your comfort zone. This is a common self-help trope. She includes this quote too, which I liked: “Courage is the commitment to begin, without any guarantee of success.”
Law 3: Forgiveness. This means both for yourself and for others and making it a daily practice. Having a husband abandon you when you're pregnant and left you with $60,000 of credit card debt would be very hard to forgive, but she managed it and quickly turned around.
Law 4: Knowing your Divine Purpose. In short, what gives you joy? Make that your compass towards your purpose.
The last "spiritual law" book was God Is My Broker: A Monk-Tycoon Reveals the 7 1/2 Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth. This was biting satire novel of the common self-help books from the 1990s including Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, and especially Deepak Chopra.
A failed Wall Street broker and alcoholic, Brother Ty, leaves to join a broke Catholic monastery in upstate New York known for terrible quality wine making. In desperation, the abbot turns to Deepak Chopra's books for abundance advice. He gives the last remaining funds they have to Ty and sends him on a journey to retrieve abundance. Brother Ty, instead finds inspiration in his prayer book (called a breviary) and starts making financial trades that have miraculous returns. It’s enough to save the monastery.
The abbot gives credit to Chopra, not to God or Brother Ty, and his greed creates an absurdity after absurdity where they get mixed up with slick marketer named Philomena, a Hollywood commercial director Brent, the Mafia, the Vatican, and federal agents. They build a fake empire, and it comes crashing down. In the end, they burn all the self-help books in a heap of flames.
One of the funniest scenes in the book is when the brothers congregate and try to create solutions based on their respective beloved self-help books. It quickly becomes apparent they have no real strategy to get them out of their many predicaments.
In the end, Brother Ty writes this book and starts a spiritual and financial retreat for Wall Street executives at the monastery to keep it operating.
Between these stories are incredibly dumb "laws", absurdly pointless writing exercises, and made-up prayers. The character Brother Ty explains that the publisher brought in writers to add these and he doesn't agree with it. These were some of the funniest parts of the book.
Law 1: IF GOD PHONES, TAKE THE CALL.
Law 2: GOD LOVES THE POOR, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE WANTS YOU TO FLY COACH.
Law 3: AS LONG AS GOD KNOWS THE TRUTH, IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS.
Law 4: MONEY IS GOD’S WAY OF SAYING “THANKS!”
Law 5: MONEY WON’T MAKE YOU HAPPY UNLESS YOU SPEND IT
Law 6: HE WHO CASTS THE FIRST STONE USUALLY WINS.
Law 7: THE ONLY WAY TO GET RICH FROM A GET-RICH BOOK IS TO WRITE ONE.
Law 7 1/2: The most important one ... [No spoilers!]
Some of the dumb exercises involved writing out credit card charges from your bill and putting them into "happy" and "very happy" categories and then finding the average of each category. Or drinking three bottles of wine, writing lists of people and things that miffed you and putting those lists into those bottles, and then chucking a cinder block at the bottles. What?
My take on all of this
My view? I don't think there's a magical checklist that you have to follow. I don't think God/Universe is sitting with a clipboard saying "Well, John missed laws three and seven, so no BMW convertible for him!".
One of the authors of God Is My Broker, Christopher Buckley, said in an interview "there's been a convergence of the spiritual and the financial in self-help books. Of course, this is deeply rooted in the American Calvinist tradition -- the idea that money is an outward sign of grace."
I'm not even sure how to reconcile these "spiritual law" books. Is tithing the same as giving? Is detachment the equivalent of forgiveness? Are you supposed to follow Dharma or Joy? Are you supposed to go with the flow, or do only dead fish go downstream? Are intention and desire the same as goal setting? Do you tap a deeper source through prayer or through meditation?
Gaines, from Four Spiritual Laws, told several stories where she demanded God for a sign at once on some decision or direction. Like she felt unloved during a Mexican trip with her pretty friend who was getting more attention and demanded God give her an immediate sign she is loved too. Or when she was considering moving to a different job in another state and demanding God show her a burning bush. She then saw a literal sign for a restaurant called “Burning Bush”. While that’s a funny anecdote, is it really a good idea to test God?
I'd say it's one thing to demand signs versus discerning events where you need to make a pivot. Gaines told a story how a bad real estate negotiation nudged her to make a prayer and she found a different property that ended up much better to purchase.
Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, the Old Testament, and Hindu scriptures didn't promise riches and abundance because you followed it. They promised salvation and peace with God/the Universe.
I'm not saying these books don’t have any value or contain bad ideas. At the same time, God Is My Broker might be right that the people benefiting the most from these "spiritual laws" are the ones selling them.