Tithing

The concept of tithing has come to mean giving ten percent of one's income to the church of their choice.

Tithing does not now, nor has it ever meant anything like the above statement.

The word "tithe" does mean 'ten percent,' but ten percent of what?

In purely spiritual terms 'to tithe' is to give 'ten percent' of oneself to the greater good. Ten per cent of our wealth, or our energy, or our time, or our abilities, or our concern, or our patience.

Of course, ten percent in these cases is purely subjective, and it should be.

The idea of tithing shouldn't be taken literally, but symbolically.

Each individual heart knows what 'ten percent' of their time or concern or abilities or experience are worth. And it is not for anyone else to judge. It is enough that the inner 'calculation' is made and then made manifest in the larger world.

The inverse of the spiritual economics of tithing is that one should only expect a 'ten percent' profit from their worldly efforts.

As a marker, much more than this amount begins to unbalance the system (as we can plainly see from the material world around us). Ten percent in profits is more than enough to feed, clothe and house oneself, with enough left over for personal pleasure.

Receiving ten percent and tithing ten percent keeps the economic and planetary system in balance. People don't have too little, they don't have too much.

By now someone will have made the calculation that by getting and giving ten percent, they are left with nothing. But the Law Of Compensation states that what one gives to the greater good unselfishly comes back to them multiplied geometrically. 

The true meaning of abundance  is not how much we have, but how little we need.

And the Law of Attraction (spoiler alert for "The Secret") was never meant to bring us more 'stuff,' but to bring balance and harmony into our lives.

Perhaps now -- as we look out on the destruction caused by a world economy that supports the few at the expense of the many, as callus corporations run amok on the environment, as rampant cruel and unnecessary poverty and homelessness rise -- we might consider applying the ancient concept of true tithing to our modern world.