Philanthropy is an essential yet sometimes misunderstood spiritual principle. The word comes from the Greek philos which means “loving” and anthros which loosely means “humankind.” Philanthropy, in essence, means loving humankind. It is the practice and effort to increase the well-being of humanity – a spiritual quality that is more important than ever as our world gets smaller.
Philanthropy brings into play an indispensible spiritual principle of prosperity – stewardship. Stewardship is the recognition that you are the channel, and not the owner, of God’s abundance and supply. In the same way you are meant to express the power of prosperity to manifest abundance for your own needs, you are also meant to let that power of prosperity flow through you to others, as many times that is how God can reach those people.
In the aura, prosperity is seen as a brilliant turquoise light. It indicates the person is in the awareness of abundance. Yet when we are generous and philanthropic, we also generate a beautiful pure white light that radiates from our heart chakra. This white light brings in a tremendous redeeming and uplifting quality to our soul and aura. As the heart chakra, or Hermetic Center, is the nucleus of our human earth affairs and the seat of the soul, this divine white light uplifts the parts of our life and soul that need to be brought more into the light.
Most of us recognize the importance of caring for our loved ones. We lavish our attention and generosity on those we care about and are close to. Yet spiritually speaking, each of us has a karmic duty to help humanity itself for we are not only part of the family we were born into, we are part of the family of humanity. We are not only a citizen of the town and country we live in, we are a citizen of the world. The divine spark dwells in each of us. We talk about bringing the world together, yet there is a spiritual bond that already exists which unites all people of the world even if all of us are not presently all at peace with each other.
Be generous with your time, resources and services, not only to loved ones but to those who inspire compassion in you. Philanthropy should be as active a part of your life as any other activity you are engaged in. Seek out opportunities to help others as well when opportunities present themselves. When in the throes of our own struggles, we sometimes feel we have little or nothing to give, but of course this is not true. As a child of God, we all have something to give to the world, a service to perform that is for something greater than ourselves. As you express the spiritual practice of philanthropy, you are making your contribution to the family of humanity and you are blessing your own aura and life in wonderful and miraculous ways.
In Divine Light and love,
Barbara Y. Martin
Spiritual Director
