"We originally thought to call this vast family of sacred Names the family of blessing, but we came to realize that abundance was a more inclusive term for the specific quality these Names all have in common. It then became apparent that more fully understanding divine abundance would give us a key for applying this whole cluster of Names to the specific needs of people suffering with feelings of neediness and isolation.
"All human beings have issues of scarcity. Everyone goes through an experience of scarcity. At that time you may experience the universe as a place where there are no resources available to you, within or without. The different ways human beings come to isolation in their egos are caused by the particular kinds of experiences of scarcity.
"Painful experiences of scarcity coagulate into a defining attitude of self, an attitude that is based on a sense of deficiency. There may have been scarcity in the environment you grew up in, or in your relationship with your mother, for example. This has led you to experience the universe as a place that lacks what you need. You don't know how to really be grateful because you are identified with being needy.
"Contemplation of the whole family of divine abundance offers a great opening for all of us who have become caught up in identifying with neediness. Awakening to these generous qualities will challenge your habitual view of scarcity. By becoming aware of divine abundance, you can begin to bring your own personal experience of scarcity into a healing relationship with real abundance and generosity.
"As written elsewhere, we recommend recitation of Ya Shakur as a starting point. By calling gratitude and thankfulness into your awareness, you start to shake up your habitual view of neediness. This is a good place to begin. However, it should eventually be followed up in more specific ways, as different Names in this family of abundance address scarcity with particular emphases.
"A physician of the heart will know that anyone who feels the universe will not meet all their needs may react to this underlying wound by developing an attitude of feeling entitled to receive more than others. People whose identity is built around passionately believing that doors are not open to them sometimes choose to force entry and batter down these doors. On the other hand, the counselor will also encounter those who are bitter, shut-down, and resigned to do nothing about their state because they feel they deserve to be deprived and are unworthy of anything better.
"Disconnection from the ever-abundant source can manifest in the personality in the form of grandiosity or depression. In both instances, the dysfunction and isolation of the ego are a result of the same thing — internalizing and identifying with your wounded condition caused by your experience of scarcity.
"Calling forth the different Names of abundance allows isolation and alienation to dissolve, because the false self fades away in the light of the reality of the sacred quality. The spiritual counselor can be precise in the process with students by going into what happened in childhood and identifying at what stage of development they got blocked.
"The child's soul, facing the confusing circumstances of incarnation, gets impaired or affected at different stages. The soul is bringing inherent qualities of abundance and blessing into existence, but this process often comes into conflict with the child's parents and home environment. When the soul faces daily conflict, the essential emerging quality that is expressing itself by bringing abundance to life subsides, and this retraction generates a vacuum.
"The vacuum, or hole, that occurs when the soul is thwarted in some way attracts and invites ideas and emotions of scarcity, lack of support, lack of recognition, or lack of abundance to arise. The mind tries to fill up this gaping hole and, in the process, projects meanings — conceptualizations to which it becomes emotionally attached.
"In general, human conflicts having to do with giving are connected with a person's inner relationship with the field of abundance. The answer to all such predicaments will come when one realizes that the divine source is generating and manifesting abundance continually and in a variety of forms. Such a realization allows you to consciously accept and connect with the source."
