You are all probably familiar with the parable of the Prodigal Son which appears in the 15^thchapter of Luke’s gospel. If not, you may want to take a quick peek at it before reading this spiritual, metaphysical interpretation.

From a literal standpoint, it is an interesting parable of separation and reunion, with a bit of human ego thrown in! On the one hand, we have a younger materially-minded  son who asks for his inheritance early, gets it, squanders it, and is then welcomed back into the fold,  forgiven, and rewarded with more material  things. On the other hand, we have a devoted older son who feels left out, taken for granted, and a bit jealous. We also have a father who has the wherewithal to reward both sons, loves them equally, and would do anything for either of them. If this was all there was to this story, it would be a homecoming filled with questions and mixed blessings.

But there’s more to the story. Much more! Let’s take a closer look. A more spiritual, metaphysical look:

The younger son symbolizes our undeveloped awareness of our true spiritual nature, a nature that tends to let our ego get in the way. Like him, we learn Truth principles, use affirmations and denials, experience Truth principles working in our lives, our good manifests, and then we forget about our connection to Spirit. Sound familiar?

 We use our inheritance (our manifested good) from our Father (the I AM Presence within us) and go to a “far country” (which stands for our material consciousness). Enticed by the lure of plasma TV’s, expensive homes and cars, Wall Street promises, lotteries, alcohol and drugs, and coconut rum ice-cream, we squander our good because we are inconsistent  in our Truth walk. Advertisers tell us we are incomplete unless we buy this or go into debt for that. And we believe them! We allow our material appetites to trump our spiritual common sense.

 Then we awaken to the truth of who we really are (the prodigal comes to himself) and realize our connection to Spirit (in the story the younger son says: “I will rise and go back to my Father”). When we go to our I AM Presence, we find the happiness, peace and prosperity we seek.

 In the story, while the prodigal son is yet far off his Father sees him (that means even though we forget our oneness with our Christ Nature by giving power to outer appearances, God knows us  and welcomes us with awesome abundance once we honor our God-Mind connection).

 The older son, who stayed with the father all along, represents our moralistic and judgmental poverty consciousness.  Like him, we lose sight of our abundance because we block our good with our doubts, fears, lack of faith, impatience, jealousy and any other form of lack consciousness that separates us from enjoying the abundance we can have. All we have to do is ask, believe in our worthiness to receive, and enjoy our abundance. But we go to a “far country” instead of Headquarters!

Whether we go searching for our good (like the younger son) or fail to appreciate it when we’re standing in the middle of it (like the older brother), we end up in the same place if we are inconsistent in our meditation, prayer, faith, forgiveness, and tithing.

These are the metaphysical keys to accelerating our prosperity. The sooner we outgrow our prodigal choices and the sooner we make prosperity-affirming choices a habit, the sooner we’ll enjoy the inheritance that is ours, pressed down and running over … and walk the spiritual path on practical feet.

Armand and Angelina have been well-known on the Unity circuit for a long time … but now they are spreading their wings! They appeared on America’s Got Talent, and were voted by the judges to move on to Vegas! And we are fortunate to have them scheduled to appear right here, on our own stage, at USLC with a musical talk entitled “I Now Pronounce Us…Not Guilty!”

So far, we’ve been working on Demolition of Physical and Mental issues that create blocks to achieving the rich and abundant prosperity flow that is ours to have. Now let’s look at the third area we need to demolish: Emotional Error!

Emotional Demolition is tough! It means we really do need to release those grudges … and the begrudges (like when we begrudge someone else financial windfall, or promotion, etc.) We love the quote from Buddy Hackett: I don’t hold grudges against people; while I’m holding the grudge, they’re out dancing!”

Here’s a great way to begin your demolition of the internal emotions that can play havoc with your prosperity consciousness: Give your emotional voices a name. Your cast might include:

• Unforgiving Ursula
• Dramatic Diva
• Critical Crabbie
• Judging JoJo
• Begrudging Bella

You get the idea! It just means listening to those voices you hear from your “not so loving side” and naming them accordingly! Then, empower yourself as Director, and get serious with these characters – write them out of your life script!

Then comes the forgiveness work. As you realize you are bringing up the same person again and again, it’s a signal that you need to let that person go! Here is a great blanket affirmation to help us with this one. As individuals come to your mind who may be creating blocks for you, simply picture them in your mind and say:

I fully and freely forgive you. I release all judgments, resentments, criticisms, and unforgiveness, and transform that energy into good. I hold you to your highest good, and affirm only the best for you.

Also, emotionally, be kind to yourself! We are spiritual beings having a human experience! The humanness means we get to grow! It’s a process! This week, become very aware of the emotional bondage you have created within yourself, and begin to untie those bonds and let that baggage go.

Ernest Hemingway tells the story about a young man who wrongs his father and then runs away from home to Madrid. Out of great love for his son, the father posts ads in a half dozen or so Madrid newspapers.

“Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana, 12 noon Tuesday. All is forgiven. Papa.”

When the father gets to the hotel, he finds 650 young men named Paco waiting for their fathers.

Forgiveness, it seems, is a universal human need. At its core it is the need to be pardoned, to be released from the emotional strain of having wronged someone or having been wronged by someone. At its essence it means going from bitter to better.

Forgiveness requires an emotional correction. It is an empathic response to a wrong doing. It constitutes an act of extraordinary consideration which oftentimes seems much too lenient, if not down right foolish. But forgiveness is not a doormat philosophy. Forgiveness doesn’t mean consent. Forgiveness is an act of release. Essentially it is emotional amnesty. It is truly going from bitter to better… from adversary to ambassador.

That’s what Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York did when he relieved a judge for the evening and took the bench himself in one of the poorest wards of the city. A case came up where a grandmother had been arrested for stealing bread to feed her grandchildren.

La Guardia told her, “Unfortunately, you are guilty, and I’ve got to sentence you. I’m fining you $10 or 10 days in jail.”

And then LaGuardia pulled a $10 dollar bill out of his own pocket and gave it to the astonished grandmother.

“I’m going to forgive you this time,” said the Mayor, “but I don’t want to see you here again.”

Then he fined everybody in the courtroom for helping to create a city where grandmothers have to steal bread to feed their grandchildren.

The bailiff passed the hat and the woman left the courthouse that evening both reprimanded and thankful. Not only had her fine been paid, but she left with $47.50 in her purse.

“We must forgive as we would be forgiven,” says Emile Cady in her classic Unity book, Lessons in Truth. “To forgive does not mean to arrive at a place of indifference… To forgive is to give some definite good in return for a wrong experienced.”

“Emotional wounds cannot heal until we forgive, “says Rosemary Ellen Guiley, in her book Prayer Works. “When we forgive, we experience a tremendous healing of body, mind, and spirit. It doesn’t matter whether we forgive a fresh wound or an old hurt; the liberating effect of forgiveness is the same.”

Jesus was asked by Peter in Matt. 18:21-22: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.”

The Christ’s answer in verse 22 is somewhat startling. If taken literally it appears we are being asked to forgive as much as 490 times. But we’re missing the point if we think Jesus is talking about a literal number.

Forgiving someone – or asking someone for forgiveness is an extraordinary human act of compassion and surrender. And yet it is something we must do for our own good…for our own sanity… for our own peace of mind. Forgiveness frees us from the past and keeps feelings of revenge, resentment, and anger from eating at us, from cannibalizing us.

There is another, more profound, meaning for forgiveness. Metaphysically, forgiveness means giving up the false for the true. Another way of saying that is it means giving up our fixation with fiction. The kind of fiction we’re referring to is our attachment to anything which blocks our spiritual growth.

And if it takes 7 times, or 700 times, or 7,000,000 times – to give up a false belief, to give up a false conclusion, to give up a self-defeating course of action or long-standing resentment, then that’s the amount of time Spirit gives us to get it right.

And getting it right means forgiving it right… right from the get go. That means going from bitter into better.