By Right of Consciousness:
the Metaphysical 8th Commandment and
the 8th Law of Prosperity

As we studied previously the 1st Four Commandments of Moses and the 1st Four Laws of Prosperity give us the rules for right relationships with God, or Spirit. To refresh your memory they are:

Metaphysical Commandments:

1. God and I are One
2. Worship no false idols or graven images, instead put God first
3. Thou shalt not take the “I am” name of Spirit, Thy God, in vain
4. It is always the Sabbath Day. We honor it by consciously spending time with Spirit in thought and in deed.

Laws of Prosperity:

1. Thou shalt look to no other source but God for thy Supply.
2. Thou shalt make no mental images of lack.
3. Thou shalt not speak the word of Lack or Limitation; thus taking the “I am” name of Spirit in vain
4. Let Go and Let God Do It

The Last 6 Metaphysical Commandments give us practical instructions in living a happy, healthy life, and staying in right relationship with each other and with life in general.

The next 3 Metaphysical Commandments are:

5. Recognize Spirit as the Only Cause, 1st Principle, One Power in two Polarities, thinking and feeling. When we have this recognition, our days will be long and blessed.
6. No one can seem to hurt you but yourself; but even you cannot do that for energy, which you are, cannot be created nor destroyed.”
7. Thou Shalt not Commit Adultery by turning away in any way from God. As well, Thou shalt not Covet anything that is not Yours for there is an Inexhaustible Source that will come to You and fit you much better.”

The next 3 Laws of Prosperity are:

5. Thou shalt deal honorably with God, or Spirit, and with all human instruments through which Spirit is manifested in you.”
6. Thou shalt not Take thy Wealth out of Circulation
7. Thou Shalt not debase Thy Wealth to vile or evil uses, learning to use it wisely is a challenge.

Today we move on to the 8th Commandment which reads: “Thou shalt not Steal” Exodus 20:15

Many people will say, “I always knew that I must not steal. If I do I shall have trouble and probably wind up in prison.” However, like the other Commandments, the Metaphysical meaning of this little sentence goes much deeper. This most fundamental Law of Life, just as “Thou canst not Kill”, we actually can not steal either. Yes, you may know someone, who broke into a home and took some silver. The burglar who broke into a home and took some silver and actually transported it from one place to another did so, but did he get away with it? If the silver belonged to the man in the first house by right of the true owners' consciousness, all the burglars in the world could not take it away from him. In fact, if you have this understanding strongly that something truly belongs to you by right of your consciousness, all the burglars in the world could not take something that is yours away from you. Spirit is your Source of protection. You could, in fact, put a $10 bill on the sidewalk in Times Square, only to return the next day to Times Square only to find it exactly, where you had placed it. Your consciousness of the presence of Spirit in other people would have been so strong that no one could have taken from you what belonged to you by right of your belief. (Story about daughter Amy's 4 year old son's teddy bear that was left behind at the airport, after a very long trip from Walla Walla to Urbana, Illinois... “Amy held the consciousness to have that teddy bear exactly where she had intended, that it would be in the airport parking lot. No one could have stolen that bear from her her child.”)

In fact, these 10 Laws are things that simply cannot be done, so say the great Prophets; thus, do not waste time in your day trying to do them. They cannot be done. “It is in conflict with the Fundamental Law of Being” says Emmet Fox. He goes on to say, “When we give up trying to steal, then we shall begin to have our own. We shall come into our own rights; and when we get that, liberation will not be very far away.”

Continues Emmet Fox, “Scientific Prayer is one of the most important things in the world”; and no thing gives us a greater clue to that truth than this 8th Commandment, “Thou shalt not Steal.” All through the ages it has only been the smallest percentage of human beings who have ever stolen anything anyway. Respect for another person's property is actually a primitive instinct. Moses knew this; but he wrote it down anyway to teach his people to go far beyond the outer, right into the very heart of human conduct; because “Thou shalt not Steal really means “Thou canst not Steal.”

From this stance, I can say to you, “Martie, Thou shalt not swim in the Atlantic Ocean”, and I know perfectly well that as long as you live, even if you live to be as old as Methusalah, you will never swim the Atlantic Ocean. I know that. But, I am not saying that you must not, simply that you won't, no matter how long you live on this earth plane, you won't do it. You won't swim the Atlantic Ocean. You may, if you reach a sufficiently high degree of finances, take yourself across the Atlantic Ocean, but you will not swim it. Thus, when I say “Thou Shalt not swim the Atlantic Ocean”, I am really saying that you won't swim the Atlantic Ocean. I'm not forbidding you to do it. I'm simply saying that you won't do it because you can not. In these “10 Laws of Life” Moses says over and over “Thou shalt not...” yet he means “Thou canst not”, plain and simple.

Some people speak as though you could do anything that you wanted to do, while others seem to think that you are a puppet of destiny with no choice at all. They are both wrong. The truth is that you can do anything, have anything, be anything; but you must have the consciousness for it first. To be prosperous, you must have a prosperity consciousness. To be healthy, you must have a healthy consciousness and so on. To be successful in any field of endeavor, you must first have the consciousness that corresponds with that success. That is what is meant by “Scientific Prayer”. There is a slang expression that says to accomplish anything difficult, “You must have what it takes”. Well, “What it takes” is a consciousness to correspond with your want.

Moses was a very practical man. Anyone who really understands his subject matter, can explain it simply in simple words and “this” Moses did. Jesus did the same thing in his parables to the people back then for the parables were quite simple for them, for they were about common everyday things. Now Moses had an amazing task to accomplish, and that was to get these highly diverse people out of Egypt, the land of limitation and bondage; metaphysically, a low level of consciousness. You see some of the people were simple with very little education, while others were highly educated, as Moses was himself, by the Priests. Therefore, Moses needed to write these Commandments to speak to them all and he did. Yes, they were written to be understood on every level of education. When people were so simple, that they might steal, Moses needed to tell them not to. Yet for those people who understood the “Fundamental Laws of Being”; that is, “whatever comes to you, whatever happens to you, whatever surrounds you, will be in accordance with your consciousness”. Yes, whatever is strongly in your consciousness must happen, no matter who tries to stop it; and whatever is not in your consciousness cannot happen. In other words, “Thou canst not steal”

Now what is stealing? What is theft, or as the Law likes to label it, larceny? “Stealing is trying to get something for which we do not have the consciousness and are therefore Spiritually not entitled to have, “Thou canst not Steal.” This is close to the Metaphysical meaning of the 8th Commandment.

You can be the kindest, brightest, most respectable person in the church, so much so that you would never dream of stealing, but you may try to steal credit for something that does not belong to you, for something that you personally did not do. You may be pretending to be highly educated and fully accredited in a certain field, such as a college professor, a lawyer, a psychologist etc. Yet you may not have had either the classes or the accreditation to have such a degree, you may call yourself a Professor but you are not one. This is still a form of stealing, in this case a “title”. There are others, who do not care about taking something that does not belong to them, or pretending to be someone that they are not, but they may pretend that they have done something quite grand. Bragging and boasting are still forms of stealing. You may know someone who claims to have run the New York Marathon, when they have never been near New York. He or she wants you to think of him as a successful athlete when he is not. There are many other examples. Whenever we are trying to get credit for something to which we are not entitled, we are stealing.

What is gambling? It is trying to get something for which you are not entitled, something for which you do not have the right consciousness. Why do you think the odds are in favor of the House?

Moses knew all about this great “Law of Life” regarding the power of consciousness. He had been in the Priesthood in Egypt and was a highly educated man. He saw people do then , just as they do today, try to change things in the outer world rather than in the inner self. Thus, he wrote these “10 Laws of Life”. You can never do anything that is not in accordance with you consciousness; but, you can change your awareness and thus your consciousness. This you do through “Scientific Prayer”. You do this by using a denial followed by an affirmation. For example, you declare that you are not ill, you are not sick and alone. Then you declare that you are fully in the presence of Spirit and with Spirit's help healing more and more each day, and so it is.

Thus the total version of the 8th Metaphysical Commandment is “Without the Correct Consciousness, Thou canst not Steal”.

Now let us look at this Commandment in the context of Prosperity. Many of us have a tendency to confuse wealth with prosperity. Prosperity is defined as the condition of being successful or thriving. Wealth is defined as having an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources. They are not the same thing. We may often in our thinking or our words interchange them, but that is an incorrect use of language.

This series of lessons on the 10 Commandments of Prosperity is not about becoming wealthy, although that may happen as well. It is not the goal. It is about the condition of being successful and thriving.

Wealth is measured by outer possessions but prosperity is measured my inner resources. The 8th Commandment about Stealing is not meant to protect the person who has had something stolen. No, it is intended to protect you from the pain and suffering of a life out of balance.

The belief that you can get something for nothing will lead you down the path of your own personal “consciousness of Hell”. When shopping, I often find that the cheapest price and the most expensive price are similar in outer appearance; but they are quite different under the surface, especially after the 1st washing. In general the person who chooses to buy by price alone is someone who wants to get something for nothing; but what happens is he usually gets nothing for something. I remember my nephew years ago, when he was about 10 years old, trying to find sunglasses with his own money on a trip our two families went on together to San Diego, California. He saw a perfect pair of expensive sunglasses that he truly wanted; but he was reluctant to spend his hard earned money and did not buy them. Instead he bought a pair of less expensive ones that he soon found to be uncomfortable for him. Thus, he looked for another pair on the beach the next day. There he bought a second pair that broke before the day was over. Finally in desperation, he bought a third pair that was still sub par to him. Had he purchased the first pair as he had originally wanted to, he would have spent the same amount of money as he had by buying the other three pairs and he would have been much happier in the long run. The problem was that he had not done thorough research about sunglassses before the trip. He is now in his twenties and has told me that he has never forgotten that lesson. Now he researches all purchases thoroughly on the Internet before buying anything.

Thus the 8th Commandment for Prosperity is:

“Thou Shalt not Seek Something for Nothing”. Now that does not mean that you can never “Bargain Shop” again. Bargain Shopping can be lots of fun for both parties. The “Universal Law for Compensation” demands that we give full measure for everything that we receive and a fair or good bargain full fills that law.

Sometimes we may think that we have gotten away with a “sneaky deal”, but rest assured you haven't and you won't. The Universe must be kept in Balance and you are part of the Universe. If we cheat, we will pay the price sooner or later. If we try to get something for nothing, we'll suffer as my nephew did. If we keep this law of balance consciously, always striving to balance our giving with our receiving, our life will run smoothly. If we don't, the Law of Compensation will do it for us, and we will feel the result as if we have been robbed, cheated, or misused.

One thing that bothers me is the seemingly unfair distribution of wealth in our world. I see honest, hard working people everyday just getting by, while the unscrupulous crooks and cheats sometimes seem to have all the nice toys. I don't have the perfect answer to this dilemma. But I can give you a couple of ideas to think about later. Wealth, like everything else in life, is a manifestation of our conscious thinking. If you put wealth first in your thinking, you will accumulate wealth. You may become obsessive about making money and you most likely will get it, but you may not be very happy. You will be out of balance and other parts of your life will suffer.

Now what about a person who strives to stay in balance, who is honest, tries in all his dealings to be fair and open and still has no wealth? What about him? Perhaps unknowingly, he uses the term “filthy rich” when he refers to the wealthy. Perhaps he holds the belief that the wealthy are all dishonest and he does not wish to be that way, thus he remains poor. Maybe he believes that wealth itself brings problems, insurance difficulties, complicated tax returns, people wanting to borrow money from him, and so on. Any of these beliefs can block his flow of prosperity. Change the beliefs, remove the blocks, and see what happens. Perhaps all he must do is change his consciousness and wealth will be his. Perhaps nothing is wrong with his consciousness. Perhaps it is just this person's karma to be poor. Perhaps if you believe in previous or parallel lives, this person used his wealth incorrectly somewhere else and now he is simply balancing his account.

If we don't like what is happening to us in our life, what we are getting out of life, we must take a good hard look at what we are giving. Are we generous or not? Do we pay our debts? Are we generous with a positive or a negative attitude? We, and only we, can open or block our flow of prosperity by our personal consciousness. Finally the 8th Law of Prosperity is good advice. It is “Thou Shalt not seek something for Nothing.”

Namaste,

Barbara