# A New Vision Of Money - 15: What kind of wealth should we accumulate? We mentioned earlier that we were storing up the riches of this world in our treasure chests, but that they were actually empty. With what do we fill our chests? Surely no one truly wants to feel poor and have empty chests. Let us look at this paragraph from Chapter 28 to get an idea of what kind of wealth we should focus our efforts on: > Count, then, the silver miracles and golden dreams of happiness as all the > treasures you would keep within the storehouse of the world. The door is open, > not to thieves, but to your starving brothers, who mistook for gold a shining > pebble and who stored away a heap of snow that shone like silver. They have > nothing left behind the open door. ([CE T-28.III.6:1-3](https://acimce.app/:T-28.III.6:1-3)) Once again we see the metaphor of empty treasure chests; this time it refers to our brothers who have confused snow for silver and pebbles for gold. Inside your treasure chest, however, lies what is truly valuable: the miracles you have given and your experiences of making others happy. The doors of your chests are open—not so that anything can be stolen, but so that others may find, together with you, the true wealth.  Miracles, which are expressions of love, are the experiences we must accumulate. Here we find one of the Course’s typical reversals. In order to fill the treasure chests, we must give what we want them to contain. If we want peace and happiness, we must offer them to our brothers. Think, for example, of someone in your life who currently feels sick or in need of help. Imagine now that you could give them something—even a single thought—that had the power to heal them. Wouldn’t that experience be truly worthy of being treasured? If those were the treasures you devoted yourself to accumulating, you would be rich in the true sense of the word. You would have so much wealth that you would share it with “your hungry brothers.” They are not hungry in the sense of lacking food, but—as we studied earlier—they feel an insatiable emptiness produced by their belief in separation. Your brothers have confused the treasures the world offers with something valuable, only to discover again and again that their wealth disappears. Yet they can turn to you. With you, they can share in your feast, where they are treated as honored guests at your table. Your table is not filled with food, but with miracles—filled with love. There, they finally feel nourished and satisfied as never before, as you fill their emptiness and lift a weight from their shoulders. Would you not like to be the host of such a feast? All that is required is to value those miracles above all other things. If that were the wealth you treasured, what loss could you possibly experience? There is nothing in the world that can take from you the experience of giving and receiving love. Treasures that cannot be lost must be more desirable to anyone. Who truly wants to be responsible for defending riches that can be stolen or eroded with time? The love you give and receive is forever. And as the Course says, “The Love of God is my sustenance.” It is well established in the field of psychology that generous behavior—giving to others—makes us happier than accumulating things for ourselves. It is a fact that goes completely against what we believe happiness to be, yet it is a fact on which both modern science and the Course agree. We can recall once again the example from the film Into the Wild. Although the protagonist achieved the dream of independence and living in nature, he realized that happiness is only real when shared. We cannot keep anything for ourselves without feeling the sense of separation. Miracles, on the other hand, are the antidote. Expressions of love are meant to heal the separation we feel. In my personal example with travel, I remember that out of the many visits I made to New York, the one I enjoyed most was a trip during which, halfway through the day, I decided to change the purpose of the trip. Instead of simply being a tourist, I asked God to allow me to be of service to others. As I walked through the city streets, opportunities to interact and help began to appear. I bought lunch for a couple who had recently lost their jobs and ate with them. Later in the afternoon I had been invited to a museum, but before entering I ended up offering therapy to the person who was my guide in the art gallery. I treasure that trip as one of the richest journeys I have ever taken. ## A full treasury The idea of the treasury—or the storehouse of treasures—is an image used repeatedly in the Course. Earlier we said that when we try to accumulate the things of this world, we end up with a completely empty treasury. As we saw, the treasury the Course speaks of is a place where all the miracles we have given and received are stored, waiting to be claimed by us. The way to fill our treasury is through the vision of Christ. Expressions of love, or miracles, recognize the other person for what they are. That is, by expressing love toward another person, what you are really doing is sharing your vision of them. The vision of Christ, the Course says in Lesson 159, is the source of all miracles, because the content of every expression of love is the vision that Christ offers of the other person: > This [the vision of Christ] is the Holy Spirit’s single gift, the treasure > house to which you can appeal with perfect certainty for everything that can > contribute to your happiness. All are laid here already. All can be received > but for the asking. Here the door is never locked, and no one is denied his > least request or his most urgent need. There is no sickness not already > healed, no lack unsatisfied, no need unmet within this golden treasury of > Christ. ([CE W-159.6](https://acimce.app/:W-159.6)) Imagine if this were true. There is a storehouse of treasures where everything you need is already there for you to take. There, “there is no sickness that has not already been cured” and “no lack that has not been supplied.” But to access it, you must accumulate true treasures. In other words, you must give miracles. Usually there are a couple of common reactions to this idea. On one hand are those who think it is selfish to give in order to receive: “If I want to heal myself and have my needs met, then I have to give miracles. How selfish!” The other reaction is from those who think they can use the system to their advantage: “If I give, then I’ll get whatever I want.” Both ideas—though seemingly opposite—are expressions of separation. The first position tries to keep you separate from the law of giving and receiving: it is okay to give, but not to receive in equal measure. The second, by showing a purely self-interested motive, also tries to keep you separate from the whole. The key to moving beyond this dilemma is accepting that giving and receiving are the same. This means seeing yourself as part of others and celebrating the love you receive, because it is also for you. This will inevitably bring benefits on the physical level, but we can receive them without placing any emphasis on them. They are simply ways in which the Holy Spirit is saving us time so we can keep dedicating ourselves to what truly matters. ## Practice ### In the morning We will use the morning meditation to ask for guidance about the miracles we are to give. These will be the only treasures we accumulate today. 1. Close your eyes and quiet your mind using one of the techniques we have learned in this workshop—for example, using “God is the only thought I have.” 2. When you notice your mind is silent, ask: “What miracles am I to give today, and to whom?” 3. Remain in silence and wait for a response. It is perfectly fine if you hear nothing specific. Simply keep your mind open to the possibility of receiving an image, a feeling, or even words. 4. Say with determination: “Today I only want to accumulate miracles as treasures.” 5. Spend a few more minutes in silence in the presence of God. ### During the day Use your phone’s timer to ask the Holy Spirit frequently throughout the day: > "What miracles do You want me to perform in the next hour?" If anything disturbs your peace during the day, remind yourself: > "Today I only want to give miracles, because that is all I want to return to > me."