The Spiritual Origin of Abundance

Part 2 in the Lie of Poverty Series

Photo by Graham Holtshausen on Unsplash

In The Lie of Poverty Series, I asked a simple but piercing question: Are you participating at a level that is generative and life giving?

To address that question we began with the bold assertion that poverty is not a spiritual condition but a social construct. Now, let’s explore the spiritual truth that undergirds this claim, the metaphysical foundation upon which New Thought teachings on abundance were built.

The Lie of Poverty Series

Substance over Stuff

Before we talk about money or material wealth, we must talk about substance—not in the economic sense, but in the spiritual one. In New Thought, substance is the invisible essence that underlies all visible form. It is the spiritual stuff from which everything flows. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, described it as “an invisible, inexhaustible, and omnipresent spiritual reality.” It is not currency, but current, as in energy current, a flow of divine energy that manifests according to the consciousness that receives it.

Ernest Holmes, founder of Religious Science (known as Centers for Spiritual Living), echoed this idea when he wrote:

“There is a spiritual law of supply. It is as definite as any law in nature. We do not create the supply; we provide the channel through which it flows.”

Let that sink in: We do not create abundance—we align with it.

Abundance is not a reward for moral behavior or a prize for those who hustle the hardest, these are in fact ideas born of supremacy culture. Rather, we must liberate our mind from these toxic ideas and remember that Abundance is the natural state of the universe Itself!

Let that sink in: You don’t create abundance, you align with it. You don’t need to become worthy of It. You already are worthy and you already are One with IT!

Abundance is not something reserved for the lucky or the exceptional. It is the natural order of the universe. Our task is not to hustle for it but to remember it—to reawaken our consciousness to it.

“Your thoughts and beliefs dictate your financial reality. Period. End of story.”

– You Are a Badass at Making Money

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Prosperity Begins in Consciousness

Catherine Ponder taught, “Prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness that attracts things.” She was right. Our Liberation Lens framework reminds us that Consciousness Is Everything!

A scarcity mindset contracts our perception and our possibilities. It makes us hoard instead of share. It isolates us in fear instead of uniting us in creative collaboration.

A consciousness of abundance, on the other hand, expands us. It reminds us that life is not a zero-sum game, and that the good we seek is not only possible but already present in spiritual form.

That’s why so many classic prosperity programs—from The Abundance Book to The Science of Getting Rich—begin with the mindset shift. And it’s why the 40 Days of Abundance program we’re doing New Thought Mindset, starts not with budgeting apps or job searches, but with affirmations and meditations. Because if we don’t change our inner agreement with scarcity, no outer strategy will sustain us.

“Money is currency and currency is energy. You are a power source and the Universe is ready to plug you in.”

You Are a Badass at Making Money

But here’s where we must go further.

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Beyond the Mindset: Abundance and Justice

Mindset alone isn’t the full story.

For all its brilliance, prosperity teaching, both within the New Thought tradition and beyond it, has at times veered toward magical thinking or spiritual bypass.The metaphysical idea of abundance is powerful, but we must resist turning it into a “Get rich quick” scheme, which Ernest Holmes warns us about in the Science of Mind. If we are honest with our history, as John S. Haller Jr. is in his work “The History of New Thought” - we’ll learn that the pendulum of religious sensibility swung from a modest religious character ethic (focused on service and social responsibility) to a personality ethic (focused on individual achievements and manifesting) As inspirational and necessary as perhaps that literature was given its origins and context, it clearly lacked a social awareness or concern for our contributions to collective causation. In other words, our oneness with all was forgotten in favor for our power with the One.

This led to unintentionally (or sometimes deliberately) ignored the real-world structures that obstruct abundance for so many. We’ve told people to “just change their thinking,” without acknowledging the structural racism, generational poverty, underfunded schools, or exploitative labor systems they’re up against. All of which are structures and systems born of lack consciousness, supremacy and superiority thinking. They are the systemic expressions of lack consciousness and the toxic underbelly of Hustle Culture (“if you work hard enough, you’ll succeed”)

Changing your consciousness is essential. But so is changing your context.

Spiritual Evolution through a Liberation Lens

This is where spiritual teaching must evolve. This is where a Liberation Lens framework comes into play. Our work is not only to help individuals align with Divine Source, but also to dismantle the systems that interrupt that divine flow in our society. As spiritual people, we’re not just here to manifest for ourselves, we’re here to co-create a just world. You see, in a just world, all your needs, as well as all the needs of your neighbor are met!

Remember that any prosperity principle teaching that lacks grounding in a greater global ethic of Oneness is just toxic capitalism dressed up in spiritual clothing.

You see, there is a beauty about knowing the truth about your relationship to abundance and it’s something far greater than merely manifesting more stuff. Jen Sincero states it beautify if the book You are a Badass at Making Money: “The more you have, the more you can give. The more you grow, the more you can serve.”

So yes, manifest that money. Align with the Infinite. But don’t stop there! Use your abundance as a tool for liberation and justice. Let is flow not just to you, but through you. Let your prosperity lift others. Let it contribute to the building of a new and better world for all.

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The Truth Behind Abundance

So what is the spiritual origin of abundance?

It is not in the stock market.

It is not in your paycheck.

It is not even in your bank account.

It is in the Creative Intelligence of the Universe, always seeking expression, always moving toward expansion, always ready to take shape according to our consciousness and cooperation.

To live in this truth is not to deny hardship, but to refuse to believe that hardship is all there is. It is to ground ourselves in a deeper knowing: that we are never separate from the Source of all good, and that our liberation lies not just in personal affirmation, but in collective transformation.

Therefore we honestly and critically acknowledge the places where systems of inequity, lack and limitation are obstructing the greater good and rather than deny them, we call them out as part and parcel of our process of affirming the abundant nature of the universe.

Because it’s not selfish to claim abundance, it is liberating! And if it’s liberating for you, then by nature of the principle itself, it must be liberating for all!

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Reflection Questions

• What messages about money and worth did you inherit growing up? How do they shape your thinking now?

• Where do you notice the mindset of scarcity showing up in your life? What’s one area where you could shift to a mindset of abundance?

• How might aligning with spiritual substance change the way you think about generosity, creativity, or collaboration?

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  Join us for our 40 Days of Abundance

  

  https://slc-atlanta.org/ministries-and-programs/40-days-of-prosperity--13

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  Resources for deeper study:

• Dare to Prosper - Catherine Ponder

• Spiritual Economics - Eric Butterworth

• You are a Badass at Making Money - Jen Sincero

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  As always, your support makes this work possible - and as always I am committed to equity and liberation, so my work is always free. Nonetheless acts of economic solidarity that help break the trance of scarcity are greatly appreciated. Together, we can demonstrate that abundance is the nature of reality. Thank you for your support.

  Rev. David Alexander D.D. is the spiritual director of the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta, author of Freedom from Discord: The Promise of New Thought Liberation Theology and Recovery from the Lie of Whiteness. David writes a monthly column, Philosophy In Action in Science of Mind Magazine.