Last post I talked about the power to manifest, IE. the sacred cash cow of New Age spirituality. I talked about how physicists’ interpretations of the double-slit experiment have been grotesquely exaggerated … thus making the power to manifest aka “personal manifestation” seem like a worthy pursuit for anyone desiring more control over their lives.
The foundational belief behind personal manifestation is “thought creates reality.” And yes—as one generally thinks and believes, so one acts. How else? In that respect the saying is correct. But this is not what the spiritual community is pursuing and certainly not what many teachers are teaching. They’re focused on “mind over matter” and getting all the things they think they want in life—more money, winning lotto tickets, new houses etc.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. If “thought creates reality” really is the simple, iron-clad truth it’s made out to be, who wouldn’t buy the book or the workshop or the retreat explaining how to successfully make all these things happen?
And buy them several times over just to make sure?
Seeing behind the curtain
Yes, I was once at the forefront of this industry, busily promoting the power of the mind for other peoples’ workshops and books. But eventually I began to see how unbalanced the teaching is. I saw how hit or miss personal manifestation is, and saw the damage FMS (Failure to Manifest Syndrome) creates in people’s lives.
Because when eager students don’t swiftly and easily manifest their dreams, they’re the ones at fault. Either they’re too unaware of the negative thoughts and emotions knee-capping their efforts, or they are too unfocused, or too inconsistent, or not working at it hard enough, or not passionate enough. Or perhaps their karma isn’t aligned with their desires.
Whatever. Something is always wrong with the student and their efforts. Because, hey, check out the confident, abundant teacher running the show. Obviously, they got the process right.
People blame and get down on themselves for not “getting it.” Worse, in many spiritual circles, the ability to manifest is even seen as the hallmark of spiritual advancement and even enlightenment.
Watching the soul-shriveling effects of this kind of thinking, eventually I had to admit to myself that in my own enthusiasm and hunger to manifest and control my life, I, too, had overexaggerated the actual science, going along with the herd of experts around me.
Until I didn’t.
Tyranny of the mind
Considering religion’s long-standing grudge against anything to do with feelings, intuition, the body and the physical world, it’s not surprising we’ve ended up elevating the mind above all things.
I mean, what else was left?
But this obsession with the mind is proving to have dangerous consequences. AI not withstanding, we’ve become a frighteningly robotic population, less and less in touch with feelings and emotions, less empathic, less compassionate, less in tune with the body, less healthy, and totally out of sync with nature.
Bottomline, our obsession with the mind—putting all our eggs in one basket, as it were—has turned out to be a long, sad detour away from balance, full self-expression, genuine self-empowerment and evolution.
Weird imagery
I had to look long and hard for an image to match this week’s topic, which is basically about animism, the unified, holographic nature of the universe, and humanity’s place in all this.
Animism, of course, is the ancient belief that all living beings, from plankton to dinosaurs to humans to planets; all objects, from rocks to the magma boiling through Earth’s veins; all elements—air, earth, fire, water, aether—even geographic places, possess consciousness and a distinct spirit.
I wanted to find an image that depicted human connection with the elements and the intelligences of nature, which are omnipresent. But all the online pictures were hackneyed tropes. Adorable fairies fluttering around nubile girls in diaphanous gowns prancing through the forest on a moonlit night; horrific images of fire demons and bizarre beings with glowing red eyes and clawed hands wafting through the air; or the archetypal magician waving his wand commanding the elementals and everything else within wand-waving distance to do his bidding.
Oh, yes, and a few images of craggy-faced Native shamans with drums and feathers sitting on various hills.\
Aside from the time-worn images of shamans, none of these pictures came even close to portraying a healthy relationship between humans and the rest of life.
Which is the point I want to make about the power to manifest.
Power over
Mind over matter. The power to manifest. The need to control one’s environment. None of these things reflects connection, trust, equality, harmony or balance.
Instead, they reflect a total lack of awareness regarding the actual autonomy, intelligence, and “aliveness” of life, as well as a total lack of concern for making any authentic connection with life.
After all, what’s to connect with? We’re the Masters. The minds connected to the hands that make the computers and atomic bombs, sitting at the top of the heap. Everything else is below us and basically chopped liver—here to be used to satisfy our every whim.
The consequences of this kind of blind arrogance and disconnection are hard to properly gauge. But think about this: Mental isolation and disconnection from life/nature naturally induce a kind of unconscious terror in a human being—a terror that drives humanity’s need to manipulate and control life … resulting in the dysfunctional, unhappy world we live in today.
The whole “personal manifestation” industry is part of this. The way it’s taught we’re not working with life. We’re ignoring and attempting to supersede life Which is precisely why the practice is iffy at best.
Unity means unity
The unitive, holographic nature of the universe means everything is not just connected. It means everything is one thing.
Native American shamans described this truth by saying things like: “What you do to nature, you do to yourself.” The Sufi mystic poet Rumi explained it this way.
Cosmologists and physicists have discovered a holographic connection between gravity in a three-dimensional universe and, linking it to the quantum nature of the universe’s two-dimensional boundary, have theorized the universe is, indeed, a holographic projection.
So, if everything is one thing, and nothing is separate from anything or anyone else, what does this actually mean? As Jacqueline Hobbs, aka Oracle Girl www.oraclegirl.org puts it, it means “nature decides.”
Nature ultimately decides what manifests and what doesn’t because nature/life IS us.
The human mind is a fart in a high wind compared to the incalculable power and intelligence of ALL CREATION that we embody.
Larking along believing we’re separate, autonomous Masters of All We Survey is a total delusion. We are life. We are both the hologram and individual aspects of the hologram. Which means everything within the hologram called our universe is affected by us and we are affected by the rest of the hologram called the universe.
The totality of who/what we are decides what manifests—not our puny, limited, linear minds programmed into separation and fear.
Let me use an analogy. Let’s say my body is the universe—the holographic universe. And I—Cate Montana—am represented by one cell in this body. (This is undoubtedly overstating the largess of my presence. But hey …)
I, Cate Montana, want to win the lottery so I can buy a ranch on Maui and invite all my friends to join me on the land to live sovereignly ever after. I also want to spend the kind of money I’ve always wanted to be able to spend promoting my books and Substack articles etc. And I’d like to do some traveling. And pay off my car and my Discover card.
This manifestation is obviously going to affect a LOT of other cells in the body/universe. And it is the body that decides if this is the optimum play for the whole body/universe. The choice is not up to the single cell.
If winning the lottery provides the optimum path for the body whole (remember that what one cell experiences, all cells experience at some level), yippee!! I win the lottery.
If it isn’t best for the health and optimum growth of the body/universe, I don’t.
Sure, as an individual cell I decide what I want. But the whole of me—the whole of nature/life—decides if it manifests. Not little ol’ me.
Humbling, eh?
Black magic
Can we override the system? Apparently. But it involves getting a lot of other elements of the universe/body to agree to the limited agenda and get on board, because one cell doesn’t command enough power to override the universal principles of life, which are about benefitting the whole, not the individual few at the expense of the many.
This is, of course, where the Dark Arts, the practice of black magic, and the manipulation of matter come in. Which are practices no sane man or woman would ever engage. Because seeking personal power—seeking to become an Awesome Mighty Cell that has power over other cells in the body/universe—is a dead-end path. Literally.
It’s rather like cancer, actually.
Sure, the graphics of fierce wizards standing on cliffs wielding lightning while fiery elementals swirl around their magic staffs look cool. But aligning with negative forces for personal gain, will ultimately suck the life out of you. It’s just the nature of the beast. And the more powerful the forces called upon, the quicker the cancer spreads.
That said, are their positive, healthy ways to work with life? Of course. Shamans have been doing this for eons. And who doesn’t love Merlin the magician? Or Gandalf (both the Grey and the White) who only works with nature’s elemental intelligences for the good of all.
But here’s a question: When are we going to evolve beyond the lure of magic and images of sparks flying from our fingertips and fiery swords blazing as we fight for truth and justice?
When are we going to stop fighting and simply align with the truth of life and the truth of Who We Really Are—spirit beings of pure love at one with life—and see where that takes us?
A different reality
Life itself—the whole body/universe—is demanding change. And it’s demanding change from the arrogant little cells determined to have their own way despite the havoc they’re wreaking on the rest of the body.
It’s time we woke up out of our delusion of separation and started working with life intelligence(s) rather than against life intelligence(s).
So, what does that look like?
I’m only just now opening myself up to the question, asking for the answers to be given. But I know for sure what it doesn’t look like! It doesn’t look like me avidly focusing on a vision board everyday. Or spending hours imagining living on a ranch on Maui. Or hooking myself up to some sort of brainwave device and then focusing on a ranch on Maui.
I always used to wonder why I had to work so hard at manifesting. I mean, if I’m one with everything, doesn’t everything already know my desires? Automatically? Instantaneously?
I don’t have to send up flares or semaphore signals to the universe. I am the universe. And if I take that as my truth and start thinking and acting that way … what will happen?
I can’t wait to find out!