Sacred Circulation:

Part 4 of the Lie of Poverty Series

Jul 10, 2025

a red light in the dark — Photo by Yusuf Onuk on Unsplash

In the previous parts of this series, we explored the metaphysical foundation of abundance, the systemic roots of scarcity, and how prosperity is shaped not only by consciousness but also by policy, power, and participation. You can find Part 1 here, Part 2: Origin of Abundance here, and Part 3 Poorly Structured here.

Now, we turn our attention to a key spiritual principle that bridges the personal and the collective and puts principle into action: circulation.

Abundance Flows—It Does Not Accumulate

In New Thought teachings, circulation is defined as the movement of divine substance - spiritual energy made visible. Ernest Holmes put it this way:

“There is a natural law of circulation inherent in the universe. The more we give, the more we receive… If we try to hoard, we stagnate and limit the flow.” - Ernest Homes, Science of Mind text

This isn’t transactional, it’s transformational. True abundance isn’t about hoarding. It’s about flow - dynamic, generous, and reciprocal.

Charles Fillmore similarly warned against spiritual constipation (yes, he really used that word), saying:

“It is a law of mind that we increase whatever we praise. The whole universe is under this law of giving and receiving.”
– Prosperity, Chapter 5: “The Law That Governs the Manifestation of Supply”

Yet most of us have been taught - explicitly and implicitly - that the goal of life is accumulation: more money, more things, more status, more control. From childhood, we are conditioned to believe that success means having more than others, not simply having enough. This is not just individual psychology; it’s cultural programming. It’s the water we swim in under American capitalism, a system built on the illusion of scarcity and competition. We are told that if we do not accumulate, we will be left behind. If we do not get ours, someone else will take it. This is the gospel of hustle culture, survival economics, and consumerist faith.

But hoarding is not safety, it is fear in disguise. It is the spiritual posture of distrust. Hoarding says: There isn’t enough.Hoarding says: I’m on my own. Hoarding says: I can’t afford to care about anyone else.

When we hoard, whether it’s wealth, power, attention, or time, we block the natural circulation of divine substance. We move out of alignment with spiritual truth and into the cramped mindset of limitation. And here’s the painful irony: scarcity consciousness can thrive even in the midst of material wealth. You can have a billion dollars in the bank and still operate in fear. You can be surrounded by blessings and still be spiritually paralyzed by lack.

Capitalism teaches us that security comes from owning and controlling; but the deeper spiritual truth is that security comes from knowing your Source and trusting its flow. The practice of ethical circulation asks us to release the grip of fear and step into a radical trust that giving does not diminish us—it expands us. And that true prosperity isn’t about the size of your bank account, but the openness of your heart and the integrity of your participation in the collective good.

Giving as Liberation, Not Obligation

Let’s be clear: Giving is not a spiritual obligation—it is a spiritual liberation.

Giving aligns us with the truth that we already have. When we give from a consciousness of wholeness, we declare: “I am connected. I am sourced. I am enough.”

Likely you have experienced or know someone who has - the abuse of such principles to raise money from fear. From politicians to preachers to justice causes. But when your consciousness is liberated from the grip of fear, these tactics are not only less effective, but also seen for what they really are: unethical.

That doesn’t mean that practices like tithing is not good. Far from it, tithing is a circulation practice - not as a divine tax, but as a discipline that breaks the grip of fear.

As Catherine Ponder wrote:

“Giving and receiving are two aspects of the same thing. We cannot give without receiving, nor can we receive without giving.”
– The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity, Chapter 8: “The Prosperity Law of Increase”

We must become both givers and receivers of good—not just money, but time, care, compassion, and advocacy. This is where circulation becomes ethics.

Generosity is the vibration of a liberated soul.

Ethics Means Equity

Now let’s widen the lens. What happens when the flow is interrupted by injustice? When systems are set up so that wealth flows upward and pain flows downward?

Here’s where our Liberation Lens becomes vital.

In a just world:

Workers wouldn’t be paid less than a livable wage, but they are.
Individuals and families wouldn’t have to crowdfund for insulin, but they do.
Black and Brown neighborhoods wouldn’t be redlined out of opportunity, but they have been.
Billionaires wouldn’t pay a lower tax rate than teachers, but they do.

When circulation becomes extraction, it’s no longer spiritual—it’s exploitative.

When giving is only encouraged (and manipulated with fear) from the poor via church tithes, but never required of the rich via progressive taxation, we’re not participating in divine flow - we’re just reinforcing economic feudalism with spiritual language.

As Matthew Desmond states in Poverty, by America:

“We have the resources. What we lack is the willingness to share them.”

This lack of will to share our good is deep in the psyche of this nation. Did you know the origin of the concept of tax cuts is racially motivated?

The Racial Origins of the Tax Cut Myth

To truly understand how circulation has been interrupted in American life, we must confront one of its most insidious tools: the myth of the tax cut. While today tax cuts are framed as common-sense economics or patriotic fiscal policy, their origins are far more sinister, and deeply racialized.

The ideology of tax-cutting as a moral and political virtue began to take shape after the Civil War, during the period of Reconstruction. In the wake of emancipation, the federal government faced both a moral and economic imperative: to fulfill the promise of reparative justice. This promise was symbolized by the call for “40 acres and a mule”—a proposal to redistribute land and resources to formerly enslaved Black Americans, giving them a foundation for self-sufficiency and dignity. It was a practical and moral call for reparations for the sins of the nation.

But white landowners, Southern elites, and wealthy Northern capitalists recoiled at the idea. Funding land grants and infrastructure for freed people would require taxation, on their property, their profits, and their inherited wealth. Rather than support a collective vision of equity and shared freedom, they crafted a counter-narrative: that taxation was theft, that government aid bred laziness, and that individual wealth must be protected above all else.

And yet, during this same era, the U.S. government was aggressively funding the largest publicly subsidized growth initiative in American history: the expansion of the Western frontier. Through the Homestead Acts, railroad subsidies, land giveaways, and military protection, billions in federal support were funneled to white settlers. This, too, was redistribution—just not for those who had been enslaved.

So what was the difference?

It wasn’t about resources.

It was about who was deemed deserving.

One vision, rooted in racial hierarchy, promoted the myth of rugged individualism, offering white Americans land, infrastructure, and military protection, all while cloaking it in the language of “self-made success.” The other vision—calling for reparations, land redistribution, and Black equity - would have fulfilled the nation’s moral promise. That vision was rejected.

In truth, America didn’t reject redistribution, it racialized it. It embraced collective investment when it served whiteness and empire, and opposed it when it threatened to level the playing field.

This wasn’t just economic theory - it was backlash.

The rhetoric of tax resistance became a coded appeal to whiteness, a way to weaponize economic fear against racial justice. As legal scholar Dorothy A. Brown shows in The Whiteness of Wealth, the tax code has long favored white households—through mortgage interest deductions, employer-provided healthcare exclusions, and capital gains loopholes—while penalizing Black Americans through wage-based taxation and limited access to deductions.

As sociologist Matthew Desmond writes in Poverty, by America:

“We subsidize affluence far more generously than we alleviate poverty.”

This economic hoarding was no accident. It was the deliberate outcome of policies designed to preserve white wealth rather than invest in Black futures, and thereby an inclusive future.

So the legacy of Reconstruction is not only one of broken promises—it is a story of spiritual betrayal. The ethic of shared abundance was replaced by the idol of rugged individualism. Generosity gave way to greed. Collective responsibility was walled off by privatized self-interest.

This hypocrisy still haunts us today. It has shaped a kind of sacred “economic theology” held up as holy virtue and sacred American gospel by conservatives, that confuses greed with freedom, and sees justice as a threat instead of a sacred calling.

You can clearly see the powerful effects of this trance in the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by congress this year. It represents the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in this country since chattel slavery. Let that sink in. Read more about the impact of this bill here.

But through the Liberation Lens, we remember: justice is divine circulation in action. And true prosperity never hoards—it builds, it shares, it liberates.

And so we must ask:

How do we ethically circulate wealth, power, and privilege?

How do we create a spiritual economy that is as committed to justice as it is to prosperity?'

Circulation as Collective Action

Here’s a radical thought: What if our abundance isn’t just for our own comfort but for collective liberation? If you believe, as I do, that there is an infinite power and flow of divine good and alignment with this in consciousness can bring abundance into your life - why would you think that the very power that brought it to you could be walled off from the good of all?

What if we treated:

Donating to grassroots justice movements as sacred.
Mutual aid as spiritual discipline.
Paying reparations as part of spiritual evolution.
Voting for equitable budgets as a prosperity practice.

This is how circulation becomes a revolution of love.

To align with abundance is not to manifest more stuff - it is to become a channel through which divine good flows into the world.

You are not meant to be a cul-de-sac. You are meant to be a conduit.

Ask Yourself: Where Is My Overflow Meant to Go?

One of the greatest spiritual questions we can ask is not “How do I get more?” but “What is mine to circulate?” How can my giving show up as economic solidarity?

Because circulation isn’t just about money—it’s about:

Ideas
Compassion
Platform
Power
Justice

As Rev. angel Kyodo williams says:

“Without inner change, there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters.”

Spiritual Practice: Reclaiming Sacred Circulation

Let’s reframe your money and energy habits through this lens. Reflect:

Where do I feel blocked?
Where do I feel abundant?
Who has poured into me that I have not yet thanked or repaid?
What communities are hurting because I have withheld?

Now, take a small but sacred action:

Make a donation.
Write a thank-you note.
Pay a creator or educator whose work has helped you.
Share a meal.
Start a recurring tithe to a cause / community / organization that feeds your spirit and your society.

Affirmations for Sacred Circulation

I am a divine channel of good.
What I give returns to me multiplied and magnified.
I release hoarding and embrace holy flow.
I give and receive with joy, knowing I am always sourced.
My abundance is for the healing of the world.

Reflection Questions

What has been your relationship to giving—joyful, fearful, reluctant, empowered?
Where have you confused hoarding with security?
How can you use your current resources to support circulation with equity and love?

Coming Next: Part 5 – Collective Prosperity

In our final installment, we’ll move beyond personal practice into bold imagination: What does a justice-centered economy rooted in spiritual truth actually look like?