The 10 Commandments for Prosperity

In Oz they call me cheeky. Others categorize me as obnoxious. And in some fundamentalist circles they believe I’m actually sacrilegious. I’d like to believe I’m actually a critical thinker who’s not afraid to question premises, speak uncomfortable truths, and still keep a sense of humor about it all.  You can decide what the closest version to truth is, as I descend from the mountaintop…and deliver The 10 Commandments…for Prosperity.

I) I am Prosperity, Your Birthright. 

I am Prosperity, your birthright, who brought you out of the land of superficial consumption, gratuitous virtue signaling, and the slavery of debt.  Do not put any single element of Prosperity before me.

The meaning of life is to live a prosperous one. I actually do believe you were born to live a prosperous life and settling for anything less is a rejection of your birthright.  For most people, however, manifesting a life of prosperity requires a complete rethinking of the way they view money.  A majority believe money is inherently evil, and most of the minority who mindfully seek money confuse it with prosperity. 

Money is an element of prosperity, but to say that money equals prosperity is akin to saying that flour equals a cake.  As they say down under, it’s chalk and cheese. Harvey Weinstein, Elizabeth Holmes, and Bill Cosby all amassed wheelbarrows full of money, but you certainly wouldn’t say they have prosperous lives.

My premise is that if you are poor, you are violating one of the most important moral principles of enlightenment: that all humans are born to be rich. 

This is not meant to throw shade on poor people.  Nor am I suggesting that if you were born poor, it is somehow your fault.  It isn’t.  My premise is that if you are born poor (as I was) and remain poor (as I did for more than 30 years), that is a crime against humanity.  It is your moral responsibility to walk the path toward living a more prosperous life. 

Yes, you will face challenges along the way, because that’s part of the process, and those challenges provide opportunities for growth and development.  But a life worth living involves you also experiencing the payoff and rewards of that growth and development.  Acorns are meant to grow into oak trees, caterpillars are meant to become butterflies, and humans are meant to live lives of prosperity.  I can’t support the last example with science as easily as the first two, but I believe it with every fiber of my being.  It is the fervent belief that drives me to do this work.

II) Thou Shalt Not Worship Money and Material Things!

The first commandment infers that there is a distinct difference between earning money and building wealth…and an even greater distinction between building wealth and creating a prosperous life.  In the second commandment we learn the dangers of going too far in the other direction, one where you start to worship money and material things.

Make no mistake: money and material things are elements of prosperity and act as lubricants in life.  However, living a prosperous life is a holistic endeavor and requires a mélange of elements to manifest it fully.  Some of the more important ones are:

• Sufficient money
• Empowering relationships
• Material comforts
• Optimal health
• Spiritual sustenance
• Mental harmony

Chasing after money and believing it to be the end game is where the false idolatry comes into play.  Don’t worship money, celebrate prosperity.  

III) Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of Money in Vain!

Our third commandment crystalizes yet more the proper perspective money should be held in.  We’ve learned that money should be celebrated not worshiped, but we must also guard against demonizing it because of the many societal prejudices against it. 

Think how many times you have heard the phrase, “It’s only money.” Yet have you ever stopped to think about what a derogatory, prejudicial connotation is in that statement?  I could give you a bunch more (filthy rich, poor as a church mouse, money doesn’t buy happiness, etc.). 

There are millions of mind viruses circling the globe that can brainwash you into developing this kind of subconscious prejudice against money.  You have to maintain an objective perspective and recognize that while money doesn’t buy happiness, neither does poverty. Money is simply a tool you can use for ignorant pursuits or to make things better.  Let’s not assign negative connotations to it.  Money like all elements in the universe, is made up of energy vibrations.  And we know that energy can be attracted or repelled.  Which one are you doing? 

IV) Remember the Doctrine for Creating Wealth and Keep It Holy!

The doctrine is simple, yet profound: You create lasting wealth when you transform from working for money, to having money work for you.  This is the fastest pathway to creating wealth and the most reliable.  Don’t fall prey to false prophets who suggest it’s all about grinding, hustling and working harder.  Most poor people work a lot harder than wealthier people. Broke people work for money, rich people have money work for them. Don’t be a broke people!

V) Honor the Force That Created You!

In the first commandment I suggested that remaining poor is a crime against humanity.  Allow me to go further and posit that poverty is also a sin against the force that created you.  Charles Fillmore shocked the religious community decades ago when he suggested that poverty is a sin. People are still shocked or even angry when I affirm this today.  I think these reactions happen because people don’t understand the actual meaning of the word sin. 

Most people equate sin as doing some of the evil things listed in those ten commandments that the other guy wrote.  But the Bible was written in Aramaic, and the Aramaic translation of sin means “to miss the mark.”  If you have a more metaphysical approach, you might subscribe to the definition of sin in The Course in Miracles, which defines sin as “a lack of love.”  If we move away from the religious or spiritual realm, one of the dictionary definitions would be “a willful or deliberate violation of moral principle.”  

The reason I still keep Fillmore’s statement alive today is because I believe living in poverty meets all three of these definitions of sin.  When you are poor, you actually are missing the mark, because you’re living a life less than your birthright.  You’re also rejecting the love that the force which created you, meant for you to experience.  And finally, you’re violating the principle that all humans deserve the dignity of living a prosperous life.

If you believe there is a supernatural force that created you, honor that force by living a prosperous life.

VI) Thou Shalt Not Kill Your Dreams!

For every person seeking greatness, (and by default, every person seeking to create a prosperous life), there are hundreds more charged with safeguarding mediocrity.  And hundreds more actively invested in remaining a victim. Those people are threatened by you and your dreams and they will often do everything in their power to try and get you to kill your dreams.

Some people you must limit your exposure to.  Some you may have to eliminate from your life completely.  (Such as when you give up an addiction and have people you used to drug with.)  Certainly, love everybody and bring everyone on the upward journey that wants to come with you.  But know there are some that aren’t ready to come just now, others who will never be ready to come, and yet others who will try to drag you back.  Don’t allow other people sell you their limiting beliefs. 

To manifest a prosperous life, you have to keep your dreams alive.  Protect them at all costs. And if you ever get accused of being a dreamer – make sure there’s enough evidence to convict you.  

VII) Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

I'm hoping the guy who did the original commandments didn’t trademark them, because I’d like to keep this one just as it was. Hopefully you have a strong, healthy, empowering relationship with prosperity.  You recognize all relationships take work.  And in all relationships, there may be others who will try to tempt you to forsake your vows in a moment of weakness.  The mistress to be aware of here is easy credit.  Debt imprisons you or empowers you. The people who create prosperous lives learn how to employ debt only for leverage, not gratification.

VIII) Thou Shalt Not Steal from the Universe!

You can create prosperity by following the universal laws that govern it.  Or you can attempt to steal it through methods of entitlement, hacks, or taking advantage of others.  Only the former produces true and permanent prosperity. 

There are three ways in which true wealth and prosperity are created:

• Adding value
• Solving problems
• Envisioning superior possibilities 

If you can show someone how to achieve a desired outcome faster, cheaper, or better, you’ve added value and created prosperity.  If you show someone how to solve a problem like losing weight, fixing their toothache, or protect their crops against parasites, they will gladly shower you with the appropriate level of prosperity.  And if you envision a better possibility like Steve Jobs did with the iPad, prosperity is created.  As you work to manifest your own prosperity, make sure what you’re attempting meets at least one of these criteria. 

IX) Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Prosperity!

For the first time in human history, we evolve more from the selection of adaptive ideas than biological hereditary traits.   Memes (mind viruses) are winning out over genes. Which is to say that our daily actions are driven more from mind viruses than DNA.  In the war between a prosperous future vision for humankind versus a self-destructive one, we are losing the war.  (For a deep dive into this, read my last book Radical Rebirth.)

Here are the most widespread memes being disseminated in the world today:

• You are not worthy.
• Money is bad.
• Rich people are evil.
• You have to sell your soul for money.
• You don’t deserve to be healthy, happy, and rich.
• If you sacrifice now, you’ll be rewarded in an afterlife.
• It’s noble or spiritual to be poor.
• Companies have to be exploitative to be successful.
• You are not meant to be happy in this lifetime.
• To become successful requires being a bad parent.

You are being force fed mostly negative memes – in a conscious, subconscious, or unconscious way – literally hundreds of times every day of your life.  You probably work furiously to become prosperous on your conscious level but undercut your own efforts because of your subconscious self-sabotage programming. 

You have to fight back and speak truth to power…

You can eviscerate the limiting beliefs you’ve been programmed with and replace them with empowering ones.  You get to let go of the old you and create the new, improved version you want. (Here's a video about doing that here.)

But if you’re serious about doing that, you better get pissed off.  You should be furious about all of the people, companies, and institutions that are emotionally manipulating you to do what they want you to do and buy what they want you to buy.  And after you’re done being furious, you better get focused, determined, and resourceful.  You’re going to have to get smarter, become a critical thinker, recognize the programming you’re receiving and counterprogram against it.

X) Thou Shalt Not Covet Free Cheese

Don’t lust after your neighbor’s Instagram posts, the happy façade they put on Facebook, or the number of likes their Tik-Tok videos get.  That shit’s not real.  The real prosperity encompasses the things we discussed above.  And each element of true prosperity is available to you, but only if you’re open to receive it, and willing to live by the universal laws that govern it. 

The only free cheese is in the mousetrap... 

That may seem flippant, but it’s actually a very concise, and very profound summary of how the laws of prosperity operate.

You don’t become prosperous by winning the lottery, getting an inheritance, or trading in sketchy cryptocurrencies built on vaporware and hype.  Although situations like those can create temporary wealth, true prosperity is only maintained when you live by the laws that govern it.

Nothing comes for free. If you let the checkout clerk give you the extra five dollars by mistake, you find a way to wire your house for cable without paying for it, or you’re bingeing Netflix on someone else’s password, you’re trying to cheat the universe. You’re incurring a definite karma debt, and those debts always come due.

Prosperous people never look for anything for free. (See Commandment VIII.) They understand that true prosperity is always a value-for-value exchange and are happy to do their part.  To turn these commandments into an actual life of prosperity will require humility, dedication, and determination on your part.  I could argue that you will never pay a higher price for anything than you’ll pay for living a prosperous life.  Except for the price you’ll pay if you give up. 

Peace,

- RG

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