Everyday Abundance

We noticed the appearance of The Findhorn Book of Everyday Abundance about two weeks after the appearance of The Grimoire of Lady Sheba as we were walking past the post box to the shops. It's presence gave us our first indication that we could expect books to appear regularly. At first glance Everyday Abundance looks like a standard self-help book, and therefore quite a different kind of book to The Gimoire, but once I started reading it became clear that Everyday Abundance is more than it appears to be, and was almost certainly left by the same person who gifted us the first book.

The book

A small paperback book, only slightly dog-eared. The Gift Aid sticker and pencilled price of £1.99 on the inside cover indicate that it is a charity shop find. The charity shop has classed the book as 'esoteric', which I think is a fair observation.

Everyday Abundance is only 127 pages in length, but given the contents this is far too long. Essentially an extended metaphor on the 'The Garden of Abundance' it's chapters are all entitled along the lines of 'Preparing Your Inner Soil', 'Choosing Your Soul Seeds' and 'Money as Fertiliser'. It's a tenuous metaphor at the best of times, but by the end of the book it becomes an obstacle to meaning and common sense.

Karen Hood-Caddy's premise is that we if we decide what we want in life, prepare for success and wish for it in the right way then we will 'manifest' the abundance we desire. She explains the mechanism of 'manifesting' using a cocktail of new-age and religious language that she seems only to have half understood. From the outset Karen Hood-Caddy seems to place enormous importance on what is essentially an exercise in positive thinking, with some troubling implications:

"Although we haven't yet been able to create perpetual youth or cure schizophrenia, one day we will. It's just that some 'manifestations' are going to take longer than others. [...] We are on our way to becoming Gods in our own right"

KHC doesn't delve any further into the far-reaching applications of manifestation that she hints at here, but leaves it up to the reader to conclude that 'Abundance' is a form of powerful magic that we can tap into. She even throws in a little 'be careful what you wish for' warning into the book with the story of a woman who wanted to create money and so pictured handling coins and notes. The manifestation backfired when the woman was given a job in a bank and had to handle money every day. A dire warning indeed.

To begin with KHC warns against wishing specifically for money, because money is only an enabling factor in achieving our true desires. Instead we should 'tune in' to our deepest desires, open up the 'Sacred Heart' within and wish for what we find inside (or, in other words, decide what we would spend the money on and wish for that instead). Various meditations are described to help the reader decide what they want, and to determine whether achieving such an aim would make them truly happy. Next we should 'prepare the soil' or, in other words get yourself ready for the thing you want. KHC illustrates the importance of this step with an immensely creepy story about a woman called Carol who wanted a life partner. In order to prepare her inner soil Carol pretended she already had a boyfriend:

"She began imagining him everywhere - she pictured him having breakfast with her, she felt his arms around her, she had imaginary conversations with him - she even bought him a special towel for the bathroom"

It's the towel that really clinches it for me, I didn't think she was fully engaged with the program, but then she bought her imaginary boyfriend a special towel. Of course the story has a happy ending "he soon showed up in full physicality and he and Carol are now together".

None of this preparation is ever phrased in such a way as to suggest that you should work towards your goals, instead we are encouraged to act as if we already have what we seek and then wait for it to arrive. "God, the Universe, Spirit, whatever you want to call it, is willing to give us whatever we want all the time", we just have to ask for it in the right way.

The next stage in achieving our goals is to remove the insecurities, phobias or emotional problems that might be standing in our way. In the already tortuously extended metaphor this equates to 'weeding the inner garden'. KHC doesn't offer any of her own solutions to these problems, however, but instead refers to a variety of other self-help techniques and books. These borrowed techniques are called 'Tools' and the worst of these tools is The God Box:

"What you do is find a box or jar and put a slit in the top. Label the container in whatever way you want: God Box, Higher Self Jar - whatever feels right to you. Then, whenever you have a situation that is more than you can handle or know what to do with, write it out on a piece of paper and put it in the container. Allow yourself to let go of all further thoughts or worries about this item. Let God handle it."

In all seriousness this is the worst advice I have ever heard. Bad enough that we should be encouraged not to work towards out goals, just to wish for them, but then to be told we should ignore our serious problems is downright irresponsible. I shudder to think what the consequences would be if everyone just ignored the things that most required our hard work and attention. What about the schizophrenia she suggested we could cure through abundance? Putting the words 'My debilitating schizophrenia' in a box certainly isn't going to cure it. Other 'tools' include tapping acupuncture points, tapping acupuncture points while humming and tapping around your thymus gland in a circle.

A short chapter follows this about 'composting' or learning from past negative experiences, which seems a fairly straightforward point. Then follows a 'Tools and resources' chapter which summarises the basic points so far and gives a list of websites to try for help. Strangely this is not the end of the book, because in stark contrast to the points made less than 100 pages before KHC explains how we can use abundance to make ourselves rich in a chapter called 'Money as Fertiliser'.

Money, KHC teaches us, is like a stored energy and it behaves in much the same way as karma, in other words 'you reap what you sow'. In order to attract money we should therefore spend freely. Spending "gives a huge note of confidence both to yourself and the universe". More than this the reader should consider tithing in order to attract more money, and should also try carrying "a $100 bill in your pocket or purse [because] Seeing a large sum of money in your wallet or purse will help you to feel abundant". Did I say the God Box was the worst advice I'd ever heard? I think we have a strong contender. KHC is carrying her philosophy to it's extreme illogical conclusion. In order to manifest our desires we should behave as if we already have them, and in the case of material wealth this means spending money we don't have. If money is our aim we shouldn't be frugal, logical as that might be, we should expose ourselves to being mugged by carrying around large sums of money.

I can't bring myself to condemn this book 100% because I find little to object to in the first 80 pages or so. In fact I think the 'decide what you want and focus on it' message, clothed as it is in ludicrous metaphor, could be of genuine use to some people in need of direction, My concern remains, however, in the terrible advice that follows. I think it verges on dangerous to suggest people shouldn't try to overcome their problems, that they should wait around feeling entitled to success, or that they should drop everything for their heart's desire without considering the consequences. Behind the success stories KHC tells I wonder how many are still waiting for the lover they desire, special towels in hand, or spending freely and burying themselves in debt.

The best bits

Part of what helps transform this short metaphor on achieving your goals into a book is that the author is constantly padding out her techniques by giving examples from her own life. Some of these are painfully revealing of the sad situation she finds herself in.

"I wished for a movie contract for one of my novels. I've been wishing for this for a few years [...] I felt more hopeful that my dream might come true."

"ask yourself 'What if...' and add something wonderful. Here are some examples that I came up with when I was out walking my dog yesterday. "What if I get home and there's a message that someone wants to buy my screenplay? What if S. calls me up and says he's ready to heal our relationship?"

A quick look at Karen's website reveals she never managed to manifest a desire to sell her screenplay. I don't know if she ever mended her relationship with her ex-husband.

On a slightly unrelated note we found this video while looking into Findhorn, the community that published Everyday Abundance:



I love this guy's voice so much it hurts.

The owner

Unlike the Grimoire of Lady Sheba Everyday Abundance doesn't contain any hand-written notes, but I think the subject matter is reason enough to suspect that it was left on the post-box by the same person. The choice of this book, more than the Grimoire, suggests to me that whoever is leaving the books is hoping to change lives, to inspire others to a more magical way of thinking.