Personal Affluence

Member Responsibilities

It may seem strange to you that a Church which includes a "Vow of Poverty" within its upper Levels would still emphasize the need for "personal affluence" among its Members.

In fact our moral code places on you a "duty," a "moral duty" to "be prosperous."

This seems unusual enough that it is necessary to spell out just what we mean by "personal affluence" and a "vow of poverty."

Seeking "money" just to have "money" is a worthless pursuit and is the usual goal of those who have no vision of a higher purpose in life than crude survival.

An accumulation of "money" does provide for assurance of simple survival, but once your view has risen above "mere survival" and turns to changes in the conditions affecting society, or at least your groups, you realize that "money" is just a tool that is helpful in buying and using OTHER tools that help you accomplish the larger purpose.

Thus, you do NOT have to "own" money in order to "use" the tools that assist you in accomplishment of your life's mission.  If you are pessimistic enough to worry about "mere survival" you don't have much attention left to put on loftier activities.  But, when you feel comfortable in putting your attention on the uplifting goals of life, you then can use tools that you do not own to pursue those goals.

Example:  A Senior Minister of this Church takes a "Vow of Poverty" and does not "own" money or "tools" which might be useful in either crude survival or pursuit of lofty goals.

But, the Senior Ministers of this Church have tools to use, tools owned by the Church. These tools are the means by which a Senior Minister can accomplish much more in the way of good deeds and acts of compassion than he could with assets which he "owns" and which are subject to reduction by a money-hungry society.

Society demands free goods and services, without realizing that such demands tarnish the soul and lock you up in a prison of dependency.  Ultimately you get beggars, all!

Society demands transfer of affluence from those who own large hunks of money to those who own very small hunks of money. While not every person who "owns" large hunks of money may do many good deeds, they at least seem to have the tools to help them do good deeds. The guy who owns only a small hunk of money may still do good deeds, but he doesn't have the tools to multiply his personal activities.

When the tools that you need to accomplish good deeds and acts of compassion are held secure, by the Church, even if completely decentralized from a central authority, those tools will serve you longer and better than any tools you might "own" personally.

Until you have proven yourself in the Lower Levels of this Church -- proven yourself to have, personally, and to "own" the money and tools needed for you to do good deeds, you will not be entrusted with tools owned by the Church.

So, in order to become a formal Member of the Church of Compassionate Service you must establish that you are successful and personally affluent enough that you can easily rise above the worry about crude survival, and that you already can put some of your attention on the job of doing good deeds and performing acts of compassionate service.

This is NOT a church made up of sick people trying to heal sick people, but a Church of very successful people expecting to help those who are most in a position to help themselves.  This Church does NOT have the mission of feeding the starving or clothing the naked unless it is clear that any such help will lead to a long-term improvement in survival for that person or group.  We are out to improve conditions so that those with enterprise and energy can then improve their own survival more easily.

THEN, when you have already established that affluence, personally, and managed to keep your honesty and morality intact, you should be ready for moving on, within this Church, to those Levels of Membership where you can learn how to further increase your personal prosperity while not "owning" money or assets.

We do not define "prosperity" as owning money, and we do not define "affluence" as amassing money.  We define "affluence" as having the use of the tools by which you can increase your value to society, and make larger and larger improvements in the conditions around you.

"Personal Affluence" may be measured, initially, by money and "owning" money, but when and as you move along in your Membership you will come to realize how much more freedom you have when you do not "own" money, but have the "use" it!