Teacher Ophelius:
The message for today is about investment and recognizing the greatest value there is--the time-value investment in the growth of the self. There are many experts on your world who know nearly everything there is about making money--how and when to buy stocks and securities, when to sell, "when to hold them and when to fold them." It has become a well known science that is studied much and a great deal of resources are allocated to knowing how to generate wealth, yet so few of these financial experts, and amateurs alike, spend any time on personal growth--knowing the self, growing the soul, or investing in things of eternal value that accrues and grows exponentially here and hereafter.
"What profits a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul." This statement by the Master over 2,000 years ago says much about the state of humanity in the world today, and much of the trouble on your world comes about by the lack of strategic planning for the future estate of the soul.
How many actual minutes in your busy day do you spend working on self improvement (self-mastery), communicating with spirit, praying, healing, or uplifting your fellows? For the average person on Urantia, it amounts to as much as the interest on a savings account--very little! For you students on the path who are learning to "save your treasures in heaven," you are adding to your wealth by investing more time into the growth of the soul, and this my friends, is the highest earning interest there is.
Spirit finance is quite different from monetary finance--one is eternal, one is finite and short lived. If I were to show you a presentation on the ascension path of two souls--one who spent most of his terrestrial life immersed in the illusion of accumulating material wealth and one dedicated to the growth of the soul, both would easily recognize the value in the investment of the soul as the greater value.
Both would see, given the opportunity to see into the future, the difficulty in the afterlife of how investing poorly in eternal values can produce a weak soul that may not understand the importance, the meanings and values of continuing the ascension and achieving the greatest prize there is--eternal life as co-creators of the universes.
What is the difference between these two souls? Faith--the hope in things unseen. For one demands proof and is unwilling to explore the larger half of his true nature--the soul, and the other accepts by faith the temporary estate of the material world and the eternal estate through the increasing awareness of the growing soul. How do you increase the awareness of your souls? By feeding them with love, mercy, compassion, understanding, kindness, trustworthiness, loyalty, self-forgetfulness, and all virtues that lead to growth and progression.
Spend more time investing in the self today, my friends, and you will enjoy blissful tomorrows here and hereafter.
Peace to you,
The Circle of Seven
