Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Applying spirituality in a practical, common sense manner to daily life for success and happiness. To help you to discover that personal kernel of spiritual wisdom that exists within.

Manifestation

How do you get what you want? It's so easy to think and dream, but how do you translate those dreams to reality? Why do some people get what they want easily, and others have such a hard time?

Basics of Manifestation

Manifesting anything depends upon knowing what you want. Knowing what you want is the very first thing to resolve for yourself, in the creative process.

This may seem too obvious, but ask yourself, do you have a clear idea of exactly what and how you want your life to be? If so, you are probably already living it, and you can skip this essay! If not, you are not even at the starting gate. Manifestation is about the ability to create. By create, we mean being, doing, and/or having something different from your current reality. If you know what you want, without hesitation or doubt, and your contemplation of it makes you feel good, then manifestation is just around the corner.

Discomfort of any kind when thinking about your desire is a signal that you have opposing beliefs. In other words, the feeling of discomfort indicates a contradiction within you. So what? you say. Ill just get going and resolve things as I go along. There are plenty of people who go about their creative process in this fashion, but these are usually blokes who have already experienced success. A few phone calls here or there, and theyre in business. If youve never experienced success and go into action regardless, youre setting yourself up for a mixed bag of things that are a match to the contradictory thoughts and feelings you have regarding it.

In life, you receive according to what your focus is on, not according to what you want. This may seem unfair at first, but not after you think about it a little. When you tune your TV set to channel 8, you get the signal from channel 8, and not from channel 2. If this were not so, total chaos would result, and in such a chaotic universe life could not even get organized enough to exist at all.

In order to manifest, one's thoughts and beliefs must be precisely aligned to that which is wanted. Therefore, it is not enough to simply visualize what you want: it is very important to actually line yourself up with the goal (See "Aligning Energy" for a more in-depth discussion). Without this step, youre just going on hope. A clear vision and a properly aligned vibration will get you excited, eager, and ready to get into action!

Obsessing too much about the goal can also get you into trouble.

The tendency is to have a desire, then to realize how far away it is from your current reality. This causes frustration, naturally, because you want it but don't have it yet! I experienced this acutely in my pathetic attempts to paint. After two efforts which could only be described as mudmaking, I gave it up for good. I was so obsessed with getting it right the first time that I did not allow myself the leeway to make any mistakes. Mistakes, of course, are actually learning opportunities, if you have the smarts to recognize them as such. Combining two colors that make a dirty brown when orange is intended is not a failure, but a positive piece of data to add to your painting database. My obsession with perfection, however, made it impossible for me to experience any enjoyment at all. I felt like a failure before I could even get started.

Beginning action cycles before lining up with the goal leads to a lot of hard work, because the actions taken are not directed clearly enough. Many times, these actions center around getting enough money. But this energy stream is very limited, because the supply of money is limited. Tapping into this limited energy stream naturally focuses the creative process into avenues of scarcity and lack. If you have a big goal, you may also have to involve others in helping you to obtain it. This can be a lot of fun, but a lot of times you look at all of the work involved and just say "to hell with it. It's going to take too much time, money and effort."

Tapping into Creative Energy

But there is another way, a more effective way, and a way that will be joyful throughout.

What you want to do is tap into the powerful energy of creation itself. This is the same energy that keeps the planet orbiting and rotating, keeps the atmosphere in a perfect balance of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, that keeps everything in the universe in balance. These forces are practically infinite, and compared to them, the pitiful amount of energy needed to manifest anything in the earth plane is not even worth mentioning! When you embark on the creative process, be certain that the energy of creation is there in abundance to allow any manifestation you can possibly desire. The only limitations are your own your own limiting thoughts and beliefs.

Who do you think you are anyway - God? Only God has the power to create! Well, thats just not true.

Consciousness IS Godforce. Consciousness is the creative principle. Because humans are hidden in bubbles of biology, this very important fact is often overlooked. Knowing that consciousness is a nonphysical creative principle is that it places you at sourcepoint! And it just happens to be the truth. When you understand yourself in this way, you experience the joy and the wonder of knowing who you really are. Tapping into the creative energy of the universe makes you feel fantastic!

How do you tap into this creative energy? By creative visualization. By becoming clear on exactly what it is you want, by imagining yourself already having it or living it, by feeling what it would be like to have it. When you feel inspired, the universe will immediately start lining you up with the people and resources you need, and your actions will naturally proceed along the path of least resistance. (See " The Basic Laws of the Universe ")

People resist this concept because it is so simple, and sounds "airy-fairy", but it is the only way anything ever comes to you. Many people think that the only reason anything manifests is through hard work, but nothing could be further from the truth. Your advertising department can spend oodles of money on a new promotion, but if the message is not aligned to the goal, all your work will result in little improvement.

If youre not aligned to the goal, almost all of all of that hard work was wasted effort. That is why it was hard. 'Hard work' is simply the way many align their vibration toward the goal! All of that sweating and struggling is slowly aligning your thoughts, beliefs and feelings toward what is wanted. However, that is doing it the hard way. Better to work smart, instead of working hard. Spend a little more time clarifying your vision and less time in action cycles, and see what happens.

The point is, you can align your energy without working hard at all.

Sun Tzu said: "For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill". ... The Grand Duke said: 'He who excels at resolving difficulties does so before they arise.'" (1)

Although these war analogies may seem inappropriate to some, I use them to point out that the idea of creative manifestation has been known and applied for thousands of years.

Step One is figuring out what you want.

Step Two is aligning yourself to that.

This is vital! An aspiring young actress wrote to me about the Law of Attraction. She says she wants so badly to land a movie role, but when she auditions, she always falls short.

During her auditions, she fails to connect to the powerful creative energy that exists within her. If she did, she might not get the audition, but she would give an inspiring performance! She is too worried about how she will do, about whether they will like her, and a host of other things that are out of her control. Like a blanket over a brightly shining lamp, these concerns -- all self created -- obscure her brilliant creativity and her unique acting persona.

How can you tell when youve accomplished steps one and two? When you feel inspired!

A properly aligned state of being gets you fired up, and eager to get into action. If you think you are clear on what you want but you dont feel an inner joy, then you need to go back to the drawing board. Alignment to the goal begins your creative process, and hooks you up with the creative energy of the universe. Before the engine will start, the carburetor needs to be primed. Creative visualization is the primer that jumpstarts your creative process, and if properly done, is always accompanied by positive emotion.

Well, thats entirely nave, you say. You can dream things up in your head, but thats not how it goes down in the real world. Well, such an attitude already demonstrates a resistance to the goal. With a set of beliefs like that, you are doomed to failure! These beliefs stifle the creativity within you, and lead to doubt, failure, and eventually, cynicism. When you establish a properly oriented state of being, aligned to a clear, creative vision, positive emotion results, and success is possible. That vision -- and the accompanying positive emotion -- sets up a vibrational resonance to success. It paves the road ahead of you, allowing the Law of Attraction to match you up with the people and resources you need to accomplish the goal. Then the actions you take are joyful (no matter how hard youre working) and you proceed along the path of least resistance.

The Belief in Scarcity

The belief that hard work is the only way to attain something usually comes from some old belief system which says "I can only be worthy of having something if I work for it, or, It wouldn't be fair for to become prosperous when so many are lacking." But these sorts of beliefs are just selfdefeating, and selflimiting. Creative energy is in infinite supply, and you may safely and harmlessly become prosperous without depriving anyone else. Whats the alternative? More and more lack. You cannot create abundance for all by staying poor yourself!

Oh thats ridiculous! you say. The earth has limited resources, and theres only so much to go around. Well, that has been the dominant paradigm on our planet for millennia. However, mankind has manifested economies of scarcity because of the consciousness of lack, not the other way around. The consciousness of mankind is a perfect vibrational match to scarcity and our economies, based upon the use of inefficient, scarce and polluting fossil fuels, reflect this vibration.

The universal law of 'like attracts like' is so powerful that our fossil fuel economies could be transformed into economies based on clean energy technologies that are waiting in the wings. But so many people are into bashing oil companies and fighting against pollution that the vibration of clean and abundant energy is not a match to the present consciousness on planet earth. However, it doesn't have to be that way!

As Jesus said, 'Ask and ye shall receive.' The only catch to this is that when you ask, you must do so from a belief in wellbeing, not scarcity.

An interesting example of the consciousness of scarcity (and absurdity) occurred in the article "What Fills the Emptiness," in the August 2008 edition of Discovery magazine, which purports to be a science publication. In discussing the possibility of extracting energy from the vacuumn, the author states,"If some clever engineer were ever to extract energy from the vacuum, it could set off a chain reaction that would spread at the speed of light and destroy the universe. Free energy, yes, but not what the invenbtors had in mind." This statement is, prima facie, absurd, and is more primitive superstition than rational thought. But that is what happens when you become mired in self-limiting beliefs.

The Belief in Hard Work

The most inefficient workers are always those who are working the hardest. The best workers are the ones who get their tasks done effortlessly. Those who work effortlessly are those who have completely aligned themselves to the task at hand. They know exactly what to do and when to do it and there is no question about it. They are 'in the zone', and their effort is joyful. The ones who are sweating, on the contrary, are in a state of disconnect from their tasks. They are disconnected from themselves as well. That is why they struggle so much. All of their effort LOOKS good, but is inefficient. Their energies are not aligned to the task they are attempting.

It's like using a gigantic fire hose to move a rock off your driveway. The neighbors are fascinated with the big fire truck and the flashing lights and the water gushing about. It makes really good entertainment, but all that was necessary was to pick up the rock and give it a toss.

The Law of Attraction

Nothing can manifest for you unless you are ALREADY a vibrational match to it. That's just the way the universe works. The universe, through the powerful and infallible Law of Vibration and the Law of 'like attracts like', matches you up with congruent people, resources, and situations. So any manifestation is just a by-product of the alignment of energy within yourself to your goal. I inadvertently became involved, some time ago, in a dispute between Stan Tenen and Dan Winter. Stan is a genius and is head of the Meru Foundation. Dan is a brilliant (and some might say, eccentric) genius. Both of these guys have diametrically opposite personalities, but share one common and very strong interest in geometry. Both of them have wasted (in my opinion) years of their lives and financial resources fighting each other. Its really sad to me, because both these guys have so much to offer to the world. But thats the way the Law of Attraction works. Your vibrational orientation will match you up, infallibly, with those who are the most closely aligned to you.

Why do people work so hard to get what they want? Well, its the manifestation thats most important, obviously. Or is it?

It's the alignment of energy within you that is the true reward, not the manifestation. This may seem like an absurd statement, because it feels so great to have the manifestation. I'm not saying it wouldn't be better to actually be driving that new Ferrari instead of imagining it. Our young actress would certainly prefer to be acting the part instead of dreaming about it! However, you can't get the Ferrari, or land the part, unless you are completely aligned to it. You get what you get by being a vibrational match to it, for better or for worse.

If you honestly look over your life to find out how you manifested something you wanted (or didn't want), you will inevitably find, if you look closely enough, that you were already aligned, vibrationally, before it manifested. You can look at all of the Ferraris in the showroom. You can even test drive one. But you cant drive one home unless there is a precise vibrational alignment to Ferraris. That is why the aligning of your energy is so important!

Moreover, once you have consciously applied the law of 'like attracts like' to get something you want, you know you can do it over and over. Now you can manifest at will, and stop depending upon "luck" and hard work.

As much as 95% of the work in manifestation is aligning your vibration to the goal. The other 5% can be action cycles. Ever wonder how some people can seemingly just step in to a good situation? Im reminded of one of my favorite actresses, Kate Winslet. The Internet Movie Database tells us that her first big break came at age 17, when she was cast as an obsessive adolescent in Heavenly Creatures (1994). The film didnt do that well but received critical acclaim. Still a relative unknown, Winslet attended a cattle call audition the next year for Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995). She made an immediate impression on the film's star, Emma Thompson, and beat out more than a hundred other hopefuls for the part of Marianne Dashwood. That movie was the springboard to an amazingly successful career. Of course Kate worked at her craft for many years prior to the audition (she did her first professional gig at age 11, a cereal commercial, and over the next few years she appeared on stage regularly and landed a few bit parts in sitcoms), but there are a lot of struggling actors out there waiting tables. Why was Kate so successful? Oh, shes just so talented. Well, yeah, of course she is. But WHY is she so talented? More than likely its because she loves what she does. Because she throws herself into every role. Because shes not afraid to let her light shine. Because shes BEING the person she wants to be. When youre lined up like that, doors open for you and the work youre doing is sheer joy! This is the origin of 'synchronicity.' Its magical, but it is also precise and logical. The universe matches vibration. And it never misses.

Have you ever just KNOWN something good was coming? That is the alignment of energy I'm talking about. It can be done deliberately.

The Prize

The prize is always a state of beingness, and the accompanying positive emotion. It is never the thing manifested. Why is this? Because the only reason you want anything in the first place is because you think it will make you feel good. Feeling good is the prize! It's the reason for doing anything. A car is fun to drive, but an object does not have the inherent ability to make you feel good. That is why a rich person can still be miserable. Its really exciting to get something new, but the excitement always wears off after a while. When I was a kid, Id play with my Christmas toys for a couple of days and then theyd gather dust in a box. The new desire is always more important than the stuff you already have!

A state of beingness is an attitude that generates an emotion and a point of perception. It is something within you. It is what you are at any moment of Now. It is the nature of consciousness. It brings inspiration, excitement and eagerness for life and it motivates joyful action. A state of being is intrinsic to your very essence, and it can be consciously created.

The manifestation, when it occurs, just helps to hold you in a state of beingness, an attitude of joy.

If you attempt to go into action before your energy is properly aligned to your goal, you will struggle. So if you are struggling, unfixate and take another look at the situation. Don't keep trying new actions in a desperate attempt to pull it off! All creation is done from a state of beingness, not action. Action comes after a state of beingness is attained, if you are smart! A beingness of confusion about what you want will lead to struggle and hard work. A beingness of complete clarity about what you want will inevitably lead to effortless and effective action towards your goal.

Some might object to a reliance on beingness as opposed to action, because the difficulties aren't apparent to you when you are just imagining it. Everything just goes hunk-dory when you dream it up, but that's not often how it goes down in the 'real world.'

However, if you work with this process for a while, you will discover that a beingness aligned energetically to your goal will, when action is taken, always lead to effective action. 'Work smart, not hard", as one of my teachers used to say. If you arent getting results, stop what you are doing, go back and find more clarity in your vision. If there is complete clarity and alignment of energy to your goal, you will be led inexorably to the most efficient actions necessary for manifestation. It is inevitable! And need I say that when your energy is fully aligned to your desire or goal, that you feel great? If you arent having fun, you're not yet completely aligned, and youre probably working too hard!

The Value of Action

The third step in manifestation is, of course, action. If you want to act, you have to audition. You have to work at your craft. Nevertheless, action is only effective when accompanied by an alignment of your personal energies to the goal. How can you tell when youre aligned? By how you feel! If you feel fearful, or anxious, or frustrated, you begin to pave the future with failure. That is why thinking positively is so important! There are very good reasons for this, most of them beyond the scope of this article, but the main reason is that it makes you feel good about what youre doing. And when you feel good about what youre doing, you are brighter, more intelligent, and the actions you perform are more effective.

What actions should you take? Well, your actions will be different depending upon the goal in mind. However, you should always follow this rule whenever possible: Act only when you feel inspired. If you act only when you feel inspired to do so, your success is guaranteed. Why? Because when youre inspired and passionate, you are powerfully connected to the creative energy of the universe. Have you ever been in the presence of an inspired and passionate person? Were you not able to feel his or her intent? Didnt that person make you want to hop on that bandwagon?

Inspirational speakers are so effective because their vibration is so powerful it entrains the thoughts and emotions of those around them. Such people find it a lot easier to recruit the people and resources needed to accomplish their goals.

Yes, but those kinds of people are special, you say. Ordinary people arent capable of that kind of passion. Wrong! Inspirational people are just like you and me! The only difference is that they have a clearly defined goal and have lined up with that goal. Its a goal that gets them out of bed in the morning and fires them up throughout the day. Anyone can do that! All you have to do is figure out what you really want in life, and start somewhere, however small, along that path.

Our aspiring young actress may start by going to a local play; just soaking up the atmosphere. Perhaps shell go backstage after the performance and talk to the cast members, asking questions about where to audition. She might go to the library and read one of her favorite plays, take it home and pretend shes on stage, saying her lines. Even if she can only spend 15 minutes a day at her passion, it will be the funnest 15 minutes of the day. Shell begin to look forward to doing something connected with it each day, and shell begin to find more and more time to do things related to it. Like a snowball rolling downhill, shell start very small, but quickly pick up momentum. The more you are aligned with your goal, the stronger will be your intent and your joy. Its contagious, in a good way.

If youve never experienced this kind of joy, more than likely its because you have never taken the time to go through steps one and two above. If youre like me, you might have told yourself, Oh whats the use! There are too many people better than me at everything I want to do. Well, thats a recipe for failure! What you have to understand is that when you begin to travel the path of your passion, you begin to find your voice. And when you discover that unique voice within you, others will respond! Theyll respond because were all connected to each other through the universal field of consciousness. In other words, when you find yourself, you are able to communicate effectively to others.

Having said that, sometimes taking action before youre lined up can help jar you into better creating, but this is usually a sign that afterwards you still need to do some more work clarifying your visualization. Sometimes just getting off your butt and into a little action can be a good thing, even if it is ineffective action! It can help to break up old energy patterns. But remember that the universe will always answer your vibration, so if your energy is not lined up with your goal, youll encounter roadblocks. This is the most frustrating part about the creative process, because we THINK were aligned, but what we get is not a match to our intention.

By examining what did manifest, it is possible to identify old beliefs and feelings and further clarify our visualization.

Don't give up! Continue the process of aligning your energy and when it feels better, go into action again and observe the results. When your energy is fully a vibrational match to your desire, you will feel it. You will KNOW it. Youll feel exited and alive and certain of your own wellbeing.

Usually, any action taken out of a sense that "it has to be done" is a sign that you have not aligned your energy clearly enough to your goal. Under these conditions, you will struggle to a slight or great degree. Here's an example: I decided to raise my prices in my contracting work last summer. But I didn't really believe that the market could support it. So every time I bid a job at the new price, I never got it. Funny how that works. Because my energy was not lined up, I continued to attract the clients that were only willing to pay me at the old rates. It was only after I went back and removed some of my old beliefs about my self worth and about money that I was able to bid these jobs comfortably.

The Creative Process and Life Force

Receiving the manifestation is, paradoxically, not the purpose of this process, as we mentioned above. It is the alignment of your energy. The manifestation is a by-product of the alignment of your energy to it. Its the alignment of energy within you that brings about a feeling of joy.

During the manifestation process, your desire is causing life force energy to surge through you. That's the real purpose of any manifestation process. This can be seen easily enough, for soon after you realize the goal you have another desire. And another, and another, and another! If the manifestation were the end result, you would only need to create once. We would simply create something, and be happy with it for ever after.

But that doesn't happen, does it? We always get tired of it after a while, and there is always that next desire to shoot for. I enjoyed my first house for a couple of years before I wanted a new one, even though it felt so good to leave my old apartment building. The tendency for all living beings is to desire more and more. This is not greed, it is the desire for more and more life force energy, more and more of the energy that makes you feel great. People who are greedy are grabbing for more and more, but they don't understand that the prize is a state of being. Theyre reaching for objects to supply happiness, and that is wrongwayforwards.

Desire is life force, so the more desire there is, the more alive you feel. Negative emotion occurs when life force is blocked, or distorted. Sometimes you get yourself crosswise into the stream, and it doesnt feel very good. That's why some teachers promote the extinguishing of desire. Desire, however, isnt the problem! Desire is the fuel that makes the train go down the tracks. You can play it safe and just not start the engine, but then you never go anywhere!

Life force energy, or prana, or chi, is Godforce, the creative energy of the universe. Tapping into this energy is sheer joy. It is in infinite supply, so take all you need!

The Journey is the Reward

If you are undertaking the creative process just for the manifestation, there will be a lot of frustration, for you will look at where you are now and where you want to be, and youll see a big chasm. You will say something like "I don't like this apartment. It sucks. It would feel a whole lot better if I had a lot of money." That energetic chasm makes it impossible for a vibrational match, and so you do not manifest.

When an artist paints a great painting, she is not complaining the whole time because the painting is not yet complete! She is throwing herself into the creative process with verve and gusto, and having a great time with the work. That is how the creative process should feel. If youre complaining a lot, step back and look at why youre doing what youre doing. It may shock you.

The journey is the reward, and the manifestation is just the reason for the journey! Because there will always be another journey, and another manifestation. The process is ongoing, eternal. It never gets done, that's what eternal means continuous creation. So have fun creating, and receive everything you desire!

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(1) From The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Samuel Griffiths translation, Chapter III, (3) & (4)

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