Having been blessed with a close personal and business relationship with a very successful man for more than sixteen years, I have learned that the material world reflects internal beliefs. His philosophy "I wasn't put here to make money, but to do good, and God takes care of me" has been demonstrated in phenomenal financial success. Over the years I have seen the consistency of success with "right thinking", and the consistency of failure whenever thinking and doing didn't conform to that standard.

Over the past year I have been made more aware of the fortunes of another prominent businessman. His earlier financial success has been replaced with a steady and dramatic decline over the past few years. Through personal interaction with several of his businesses, I saw the reason for the decline, a departure from "right thinking".

Though I felt compassion for him, I saw nothing "wrong" with his life, as my increased awareness of Oneness has me instead looking for the messages others offer, the "lessons" to be learned by our One Self (see "Bucking The System"). As John Donne put it "No man is an island".

The lesson that first appeared was a greater understanding of life. All things "grow" during life, and when the growth stops, decline begins. We, as human beings, have an indefinite life, for we can continue to grow even beyond the death of the physical body through the growth of our awareness. When the material world reflects increased happiness and prosperity, it is because we are growing in awareness. When the material world reflects financial decline it is because we have stopped growing and started dying.

This lesson, however, didn't feel fully complete at that moment, as if there were more to learn. After a few days, I had the recurring thought to look up the Biblical parable of the "barren fig tree" (Luke 13:6-9). This parable tells of the landowner who came to a fig tree, and voiced how he had been coming for three years expecting fruit, and still found none, and told his servant to chop it down. The dresser of the tree suggested otherwise, that he would dig up around it and "dung" (fertilize) it. If it still didn't bear fruit the next year, he would then chop it down.

The lesson then became clear. We grow through life in awareness, and our material world reflects that growth with material success. There comes a time when we are fully grown, when we have reached a point where we should "bear fruit", by living a life of joy and happiness and Love, and by sharing that Love with all we meet. If we don't, and instead simply revel in our worldly "wealth", trying to "protect" it from others and trying to "get" more, decline begins. Our "dresser" (our higher Self), begins "digging" up around us and "dunging" our lives by throwing in a lot of "fertilizer". If we still don't wake up and start bearing fruit, we don't have too long before being "chopped down".

And as that thought became clear, I saw the same in many lives, including another friend of the same businessman. He, too, had early success, then began a business decline. He managed to "sell out" with a handsome fortune, but then had a tragic accident that almost destroyed his life. Yet there are no "accidents", and I know that he, too, is as perfect as ever, and that he was merely "digging and dunging" for his own continued growth.

Reflecting on that awareness, I could see the times of my own "digging and dunging" in life, which I could then forgive and appreciate as events that guided me to the happiness and peace I enjoy today.