Question:

I received an e-mail from my friend Frank telling me that the new pictures I had sent him had been posted on my website. He pointed out how slowly the pictures downloaded on the screen with his dial-up service and asked me to let him know how quickly the pictures downloaded on my computer. I reported that, to my pleasant surprise, the pictures came up instantly. (He knew that I had recently switched to DSL.) I suggested that he consider switching. His reply was that he chose not to so that he could be sensitive to those viewers who still accessed the internet via dial-up service.

Answer:

I felt Frank's deep desire to be as supportive as possible to all who visit the website. I thought for a moment and then shared this analogy: consider a farmer who had discovered a way to increase the yield at his farm four-fold. Would it be supportive of the other farmers he knew to share his discovery with them and support them in raising their yields? Or, would it be more beneficial for him to encourage them to continue farming as they had been?

I suggested that the purpose of our website was to encourage viewers to expand their awareness and their consciousness rather than remain with the status quo.

This led to the next issue -- DSL costs twice as much as dial-up. And, so here we are back to the issue of money, and more specifically, the true purpose of money.

Money has only one purpose: to express appreciation. There is no limit to how much appreciation we can feel and express, and there is no limit to how much money flows in support of that expression.

What we have done to make our visit to the human possible is hide the infinite supply of appreciation (and the abundance that flows with it) in the disguise of money as currency and as a commodity. Thus we created our whole complex monetary system: buying and selling goods and services, payrolls, credit cards and lines of credit, interest rates, stocks and bonds and hedge funds; employers and employees, rich and poor, economic conditions and economic theories.

What a brilliant scheme to hide one of our most joyful experiences -- the expression of appreciation. There is no limit to how much appreciation we can express and there is no circumstance in our lives that is not there to appreciate -- for everything we see is our Self and our wonderful creation.

You ask, "What about violence, disease, pain and death? Do we appreciate that also?" The answer is a resounding yes. Everything we experience is a perfect creation: a choice we have made to give ourselves that precise experience. We have made no mistakes and have done nothing wrong. We are always the Power and Presence of God on a journey of ever-expanding creativity, inspiration, abundance and joyfulness. The disguises we have created are for our fun and entertainment. We can never not be who we really are no matter what disguises we create and how fully committed we are to making them seem real.

So do you choose to give your Self the gift of DSL? If you look at DSL as a cost, as an obligation to pay for something you would like to have, you are playing the money game. That game was created by you to give you the experience of limitation. When you play that game you have to come up short because that is the purpose of the game.

Your alternative is to appreciate what it took you to hide the enormous power of appreciation that is the essence of your very Being. In that deep feeling of appreciation for the brilliance of your creativity, you begin to feel deep appreciation for all of your creations and for your Self as the masterful creator. You enjoy the expression of appreciation and the infinite flow of money expressing its true purpose. Money as an expression of appreciation is the really fun game. Enjoy!