Poverty

"Projection occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of Truth... you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 2, Section I, 1:7, 10

Poverty is defined as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support.  It implies scantiness and insufficiency in worldly terms.  And there has long been a notion that taking a vow of poverty in the world helps one more easily attain heavenly riches or enlightenment, oneness with God.  Since it doesn't seem to work (religious orders are not known for their enlightened teachers or members), we might do well to question the whole premise, don't you think?

As the above quote from A Course in Miracles reminds us, the appearance of lack in all its disguises is the projection of a belief about ourselves... that we are apart from God, our True Self, and all of creation, and that we have and do lack wholeness because of it.  We deeply cling to the belief that we can and do regularly make wrong choices and screw things up.  And so this is projected over and over in the world as apparent poverty of mind, body, and spirit... in ourselves, and in the world around us.  There simply isn't any difference.  There's only one Son of God dreaming of separation and lack and crucifixion over and over and over again, in millions of seemingly different forms and personas.

There is One Mind, One Self, and so the way we see ourselves is how we out-picture the apparent world.  And how we see the world and those who populate our phenomenal world is clearly a mirror of the beliefs we hold dear.  Since those beliefs are untruths, it's a hell of a mirror.  

"Salvation is for the mind, and it is attained through peace.  This is the only thing that can be saved and the only way to save it.  Never lose sight of this, and never allow yourself to believe, even for an instant, that there is another answer.  For you will surely place yourself among the poor, who do not understand that they dwell in abundance and that salvation is come.  To identify with the ego is to attack yourself and make yourself poor.  That is why everyone who identifies with the ego feels deprived.  He does not realize that he makes this world, for there is no world outside of him." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 12, Section III, 5:1-2, 4-5, 6:1, 7

The Truth is we are One with everything we think we lack. And what could be missing from Oneness, which is Whole and Complete in every way? 

"Perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 56; 1:5