Consciousness and Manifestation

[Tyger]

Great stuff, Constance. Will respond later.

 

[Tyger]

I wrote: "do thoughts arise from experience solely?" I was searching for how you saw thoughts and thinking. You answered -

You mean in life as we live it in our time? No, we also think according to, and within, that which has already been framed in descriptions and explanations of the environing world, which dominate interpretation in the time/space/place we are born into. And we find in written human history and philosophy a competition of interpretations of what is real, what is significant or meaningful, and how human life should be conducted.

Thoughts arise from a relationship. Without a comparative experience, we would be unable to perceive or focus any kind of understanding within ourselves. It is accurate to say that without relationships we could not exist at all. Everything we perceive or notice or know is because of a relationship with something else.

Everything you mention is experience of one kind or another. Thoughts arise from external experience with the physical realm (perceptions via the senses) as we grow from a child into a fully functioning human adult (with all that implies) and internally with our encounter with the 'built world' of humanity via physical culture and story culture (politics, religion, economics). In both these instances we are encountering the immediate past - if only in the last split second. We emerge into a world that is in the process of being created by everyone around us. We emerge as creators ourselves.

But thinking itself, the production of ideas about or labels for the things that have concerned our species in sequential historical situations, and the production within these of 'world pictures'/notions of reality -- i.e., of what can be called 'real' -- have all depended upon, could not have developed in the absence of, lived experience first in the natural world [and always as part of it] and then successions of cultural worlds succeeding one another in the development of what you call the "built-world" we inherit.

I agree, emphasizing this distinction: thinking is a process - thoughts are created by the process of thinking, but ideas are distinct and come from somewhere. The lived-experience you mention in the natural world is relevant to the growing child as well as the culturally driven story material the growing child absorbs. But all of that is the past - the past creations of human beings. It is not relevant to 'the now' of the child/adult and the act of creation the human being is capable of in this physical universe (weakly alluded to under the phrase 'creative process'). It is when the human being is convinced that this immediate past takes precedence that the human being begins to wither-on-the-vine as it were, and lose power.

As a momentary aside, there is thinking that receives ideas not based on the physical or the (cultural) past. It is called sense-free thinking in the esoteric sciences, or intuitive thinking. Mathematicians, scientists, and artists of all persuasions, talk about being inspired. As Nikola Tesla famously hinted: "My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration." What to call this that lies behind the physical, the manifest? The unmanifest perhaps? - source? - the spiritual?

Thinking is always thinking about something, and has been achieved in our species {and perhaps in several others on earth and doubtless others elsewhere} out of the ground, the basis, of pre-reflective 'worldly' experience. Jaak Panksepp and his colleagues in developing Affective Neuroscience trace behavior back as far as possible in evolution and have focused on a core set of emotions that affect behavior and adaptation all the way up to our species. I think you would find his work interesting.

I agree - thinking is always thinking about something - it is a relationship to something (be it past or 'now'). We never find ourselves at a point in time when the subject of relationships is not an active part of our 'now' experience. As stated prior: everything we perceive or notice or know is because of our relationship with something else. Without a comparative experience, we would be unable to perceive or focus any kind of understanding within ourselves. It is accurate to say that without relationships we could not exist at all. Everything we perceive or notice or know is because of a relationship with something else.

From that relationship thoughts arise and ideas come. The "ground, the basis, of pre-reflective 'worldly' experience" you mention I'd need to you to define more, but it sounds to me like it might be akin to what I would call the spiritual world - which is the realm from which all is emerging into physical existence.

 

[Tyger]

It would be helpful if you would give examples, from your own experience and others', of what is meant by 'manifestation.'

Such a vast question, Constance.

I make no pretense at being a 'teacher' of this kind of thing. I play with ideas - always - wherever my interest leads me, and I am very grateful to have someone to play with, Constance. Always keen to share my enthusiasm.

Manifestation is my current passion and as such, I weave it into my whole gestalt - so what I 'understand' may be different from what another understands. So saying, simply put: manifestation means what it implies - we create our lived experiences. We actually do create in this very seemingly 'solid' world of inexorable 'reality'. That is the illusion - the 'Maya'. There is a reason why I resonate to this idea of manifestation: because I have seen it occur in my life. I have manifested relationships, jobs, living conditions - and, yes, money. I have also observed it operating in the lives of others. Full stop. Lived experience.

How?

To understand this one has to entertain ideas that are contrary to a lot of beliefs acquired from the past, a lot of ideas vividly asserted by others, coming out of that past all around us.

- One idea to grasp is that we are vibrational beings in a vibrational environment. We are, even in our physical expressions of flesh, blood and bone, a vibrational being. It is likely easier for us in our current times to accept this via current science than it has been here-to-fore. The idea that everything in our environment is vibrational (having frequency) 'makes sense'. Less obvious and something of a leap is that it is only through our ability to translate vibration (thought) that we are able to understand our physical world at all.

- We are creators of our life experiences not by way of any action or doing or saying (all that comes much later in the creative process), but by our thoughts. Prior to any act there is thought. Thought is an actual vibration (has a frequency if you will) and the moment it is set in play attraction to that thought-vibration is taking place - ever before there is any overt action, any actual doing, on our part. The thought is an action, is a doing - but of far greater potency than any physical action. Thought precedes everything and begins to draw the necessary components for manifestation. Part of our belief is that there must be action/doing to get what we want. There is a subtle error in that assertion that disempowers our ability to create.

- In the above is the hint as to how ideas come into the world that change the playing field of physical existence.

- Besides the thought/idea the essential (motive) force to manifesting is feeling - desire. Whatever one gives one's attention to - wanted or unwanted - one is creating. Our emotions are our 'guidance system' that let us know, in every moment, exactly what our vibrational (thought) content is (which is being matched by the law of attraction). If your desire is to feel good, and your practice is to choose good-feeling thoughts, only good things will come to you.

 

[Tyger]

I could write more but a bit tired. Its late. Til next time.

 

[Soupie]

One idea to grasp is that we are vibrational beings in a vibrational environment. We are, even in our physical expressions of flesh, blood and bone, a vibrational being. It is likely easier for us in our current times to accept this via current science than it has been here-to-fore. The idea that everything in our environment is vibrational (having frequency) 'makes sense'. Less obvious and something of a leap is that it is only through our ability to translate vibration (thought) that we are able to understand our physical world at all.

As @Constance has noted, there are many paralleles with the idea you are sharing here and ideas discussed in the CAP thread.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I do want to share one idea that I feel is directly relevant to what you share here.

Re: current science

I've done and did "Google research" on the notion of "vibrational beings." While I am not endorsing all the occult ideas related to the notion of humans being vibrational beings (though I look forward to reading your thoughts on this matter) I do want to point out science that supports the basic claim that we —and all physical objects—are constituted of vibrations.

Most of the writings I found on vibrational beings cited QM but a better scientific source would be QFT, quantum field theory. Which is not nearly as publiced as "mysterious" QM.

https://www.quora.com/In-quantum-fi...ement-particles-are-excitations-of-the-fields

In QFT we start with three dimensional fields that fill all of space, rather than particles.
You can imagine the fields as a medium like water or air. In those classical media, water and air molecules vibrate/oscillate and interact. However, in quantum fields, there are no molecules doing the vibrating/oscillating, it's just discrete points (or energy levels) in space oscillating/vibrating/changing.

Imagine waves moving through the water or through the air. Each molecule vibrating and banging into one another would correspond to the 'oscillators' in QFT.

Now imagine a complex wave moving through the air or water, something like a spinning vortex. This, now, would be analogous to what we know as particles: photons, electrons, etc.

However, there are some major differences between classical fields (like water and air) and quantum fields. Whereas a vortex of water or air would dissipate, 'vortices' such as photons and electrons do not dissipate. There are also very discrete energy levels (thus the term quantum) at which quantum oscillators, well, oscillate. This is different than classical oscillators such as air and water molecules, etc.

Btw, while QFT gets very little public recognition, the maths that follow from it provide the best, most rigorous description of reality that we currently have.

(As with all models, it's not without its issues. One of the biggest issues is quantum collapse. According to QFT a particle, such as a photon, is a very defined but nonetheless spread-out packet (or quantum) of excited occilators. When this packet/quantum interacts with something, all its energy becomes localized at one local point. To explain this, QFT says all the excited oscillators in the spread-out packet/quantum collapse at once. This is known as quantum collapse. Because the entire packet distributes all its energy in one point, we get the impression of a particle. This would be another way in which quantum fields differ from classic fields; sound and water waves don't 'collapse' like that.)

Thus, this model of physical reality as consisting of vibrations does support the statement that we are vibrational beings, in the strict sense (not necessarily the occult sense per se).

Re the notion that thought is also constituted of vibrations... Well, I don't want to completely derail this thread, but imo this could relate to the intrinsic nature of quantum fields. That is, we can mathematically describe space as quantum fields, but what is it (in-itself) that we are describing?

 

[Constance]

Clarifying and really interesting, @Soupie. Thanks.

 

[Tyger]

At the beginning of this thread I had initially posted some biographical details regarding manifestation ideas. I thought better of it and deleted the post. But there are many streams of thought regarding manifestation and it's good to have some overview. Manifestation is not as unusual a concept as some current thinking would have it. Its been around a long time.

Specifically there was the New Thought Movement out of the 19th century: "New Thought holds that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is everywhere, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and 'right thinking' has a healing effect." Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science comes out of the New Thought Movement.

Personally I first bumped into manifestation philosophy (decades ago) when I came across a small book published anonymously in the early 1920's by the Rosicrucians, titled something simple like 'Manifestation'. It was a blending of meditation practice with practical business practice that one can see evident in later incarnations of this philosophy. The author had knowledge of what he spoke and there was a strong strain of caution underlying the instructions. One got the sense that this manifestation stuff was powerful and could backfire (or so the author believed).

The Dale Carnegie books and courses (1930's) are famous for their training in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. WIKI: "One of the core ideas in Carnegie's books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's behavior toward them." This is a key element in manifestation.

In the early 1980's 'The Laws of Manifestation' by David Spangler was published. Can still be bought on Amazon as a Consciousness Classic. Spangler came out of the Findhorn Community in Scotland in the 1970's. (My memory of this book is fuzzy - I found it a cumbersome read and never finished it, in fact. Says more about me than the book, I think).

In the mid 1990's I was handed a small book written by J Donald Walters titled 'Money Magnetism: How To Attract What You Need When You Need It'. J Donald Walters was a student of Paramahansa Yogananda ('Autobiography of a Yogi'). J Donald Walters took the name of Swami Kriyananda and founded the Nevada City CA Ananda Community. (Wiki: "Kriyananda was a direct disciple of the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda and the founder of Ananda, a worldwide movement of spiritual intentional communities based on Yogananda's World Brotherhood Colonies ideal." I have no (spiritual) connection with this stream except that I have had friends in Ananda - and it was one of those friends who gave me Walters' 'Money Magnetism' book. It's a breezy fast read.

Over the years I have read various bouncy memoir-type books that either alluded to manifestation to outright made claims about the discipline. It has only been in the last couple of decades that I became aware of the New Thought Movement, mainly via Neville Goddard (see the first post on this thread) for the strange reason that he had no connection with the New Thought Movement as it turns out. The motivational speaker Wayne Dyer in his last couple of decades started mentioning Neville Goddard.

Neville Goddard's talks - his stamping ground was the Los Angeles area - can be listened to on YouTube. ("Neville Lancelot Goddard (1905-1972) was [to some a prophet] a profoundly influential teacher, and author. He did not associate himself as a metaphysician, with any ‘ism’ or ‘New Thought’ teaching as commonly advertised by these collective groups. Goddard was sent to illustrate the teachings of psychological truth intended in the Biblical teachings, and restore awareness of meaning to what the ancients intended to tell the world."). Neville was a fire-brand kind of speaker - immensely charismatic, and as stated in the blurb, he pulled in a lot of biblical references. If you can get past the biblical stuff (if that's a hang up) he's fascinating to listen to. Neville wrote books and they can be had on Amazon. One of the first books of his I read was 'The Power of Awareness' - and I believe this is the book Wayne Dyer identifies as the first book he read of Neville's that blew him away. (It profoundly impacted me, too). Dyer identifies his book 'Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting' as a 'modern rendering' of Neville's 'The Power of Awareness'.

Neville Goddard's book 'Feeling is the Secret' gives in the title the essence of manifestation work: feelings are key to successful manifestation. Feeling is the key element in all manifestation texts/teaching. Neville's instructions are particularly clear and well reasoned (though they lack an 'epistemological coherence' imo). Still he is inspiring and quite clear - likely what drew Wayne Dyer to his work.

Across of the whole of the 20th century there were adherents of the New Thought Movement - countless speakers and motivational texts. Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science wound mind over the body to great effect - if not 100% successful, still impressive. While the actual mechanics of manifestation might be the substrate for speakers like the Catholic television speaker in the 1950's - the Rev Fulton Sheen - and others - it was a 'hard sell' in a society engulfed with materialism and a 'religious adherence' to materialistic science. Science (and hence the general culture) had yet to catch up with this philosophy. However, it continues to have a 'tainted' patina - suggesting a glib carnival hawker attempting to separate one's money from one's pocketbook.

Some time in the past couple of decades something called 'The Secret' became popular. I have never seen the film nor read the book but it was about manifestation. Abraham Hicks was in the 'Secret' film but has not been associated with 'The Secret' since the first film. Wayne Dyer somehow never became connected to it. It is only recently that I have 'bumped into' Abraham Hicks on YouTube. The 'meeting' was fortuitous imo.

Abraham Hicks is in quite another league from other proponents of manifestation. Esther Hicks is (for lack of a word) 'channeling' a consortium of entities that go by the single name of 'Abraham'. Esther's delivery as 'Abraham' is seamless and exceptional. The content of the material is what I find remarkable - it is on a level of detail and philosophical coherence that surpasses anything I have here-to-fore read or heard in manifestation texts. (Neville remains 'the Master' in many ways for me, but Abraham is adjusting and explaining in real time to a contemporary audience so it's impressive to watch).

In sum, what Abraham is saying - what any manifestation text is saying - I 'recognize' as true from out of my own life. I know I have consciously manifested in my life. I recognize the rules/guidelines laid out. I have something of an esoteric background and I have discovered (as I have listened) that Abraham et al are not contravening occult science's grasp of the human being. It's all moving in concert. It's interesting and freeing.

Most intriguing, however, is the shift taking place with the cutting edge of science - particularly consciousness studies, insights into the mind, and the physical universe itself vis-a-vis 'vibration', the 'emptiness' of the physical universe, and the 'lived experience' of the scientist, the human being, science is now talking about.

 

[Tyger]

For some reason I always forget The Seth Material by Jane Roberts from the 1970's and 80's. I was definitely reading her books like everyone else but for some reason the manifestation element never impressed me back then, or if it did I have completely forgotten it.

BTW we manifest all the time. Every aspect of the world around us has been manifested. It's how it got manifested that we have lost sight of - we knew once.

“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.” ~ J.K. Rowling

The easiest area where we all can somewhat resonate or gather on common ground is around great loves - like that first crush, that first kiss, that first child laid in our arms. The way we surround the beloved with our thoughts - the image we carve into our very being of the beloved and saturate with our loving desires. That's manifestation.

But we do it in countless other ways, too, with a job we want (or don't want). Many people know instinctively that they manifest what they want and will even verbalize that they dare not want something for fear it will happen. This kind of knowledge is peppered through our language. Some people are better at manifesting than others - that's an observable fact. It's not really that far fetched an idea. It's because we have allowed a lot of beliefs (our own and often other people's beliefs) to impair our power, and hence our experience of our power, and so we then give our power away and argue for our own impotence.

I am attaching to this post a video of an Abraham-Hicks delivery because in this video a great deal of ground is covered in Esther/Abraham's inimitable (and humorous) way. The terminology may be unfamiliar but a person should be able to get the drift even if not familiar - this is an accessible teaching of manifestation - done with a lot of humor (and speed!).

Following the video I give the words Abraham has used to describe what Abraham is. Most teachers of manifestation I have come across are not 'channelers' - they are usually motivational speakers in one guise or another (like Wayne Dyer, or Neville Goddard). This aspect of Abraham is unique among manifestation speakers that I have come across. The delivery is extremely fast and often goes into rhythmic cadences and repetitions to make points - in that aspect it can be a learned appreciation.

What follows is Abraham's description of the phenomenon. As an aside, I will insert here that most all esoteric teachers I have studied have made mention of what is or is not present in the spiritual realm. One common indication is that the thoughts we have in this physical life we do not bring with us into the after-life, the spiritual world. (Spiritual researchers comment on this - communication is of another order). Most of our thoughts are sense-bound thinking and cease once there is no body. Let that be absorbed - a koan for many a meditation. I mention this given what Abraham asserts regarding words.

Abraham-Hicks: "We are called Abraham, and we are speaking to you from the non-physical dimension. In this non-physical realm, we do not use words, for we do not require language. We also do not have tongues with which to speak or ears with which to hear, although we do communicate perfectly with one another. Our non-physical language is one of vibration; and our non-physical communities, or families, are those of intention.

"We (Abraham) are a family of Non-Physical Beings naturally assembled by our powerful intention to remind you, our physical extensions, of the Laws of the Universe that govern all things. It is our intention to help you remember that you are extensions of Source Energy; that you are blessed, loved Beings; and that you have come forth into this physical time-space reality to joyously create.

"Words really do not teach. Your true knowledge comes from your own life experience. And while you will be a constant gatherer of experience and knowledge, your life is not only about that - it is about fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy. Your life is about the continuing expression of who you truly are.

"We are communicating with you at many levels of your awareness, all at the same time, but you will only receive whatever you are now ready to receive. Everyone will not get the same thing from this material, but every reading will net you something more."​

 

[Tyger]

It makes little sense (to me) to actually describe how manifestation takes place - the step-by-step process. There are so many sources (that I have listed - and others) that it seems if anyone is genuinely interested in scoping this out they can find what serves them best. However I will supply some of Abraham's statements below.

I would emphasize only this: that, at no time will you ever be required to pay money for spiritual knowledge. The teacher comes when needed. You will never have to pay money for a 'training'. All you need is present and is always freely given - we need only allow it to come into our lives. (An aspect that Abraham stresses - allowing the universe to work in us, through us).

In this work there is no 'authority,' except yourself. There is absolute freedom.

What Abraham stresses is the joy in this work of manifestation. Abraham's message contravenes many beliefs people have about struggle and suffering - not that 'contrast and variety' (as Abraham references those things) does not exist, and will not always exist one way or another - but that as one does this work of manifesting one enters realms of unbounded joy and satisfaction as one's life bursts with creativity, with self-creation.

So saying: "Where ever I give attention to - wanted or unwanted [that is key] - I am creating." And consonant with that attention: "We were each born with a magnificent (emotional) guidance system that lets us know, in every moment, exactly what our vibrational content is, which is being matched by the Law of Attraction." As stated: "As it is your desire to feel good, and your practice to choose good-feeling thoughts, only good things will come to you."

"Nothing is more important than I feel good. The purpose in life is joy. The basis of your life is freedom; the purpose of your life is joy. You are free to choose new avenues for joy.....and in your joyous growth, you will add to the experience of All-That-Is."

"To feel better is the root of every desire. (For us to feel better is the only reason any one of us wants anything)." But be aware that this has nothing to do with making others act or do what one wants them to do for one or to one - no one is obligated to do anything to make you feel good. As long as one thinks that one's happiness is dependent on what one can get the world to do for one, one is condemning oneself to lack. "Nothing is more important than that I feel good. Don't do anything that you don't really want to do. Keep yourself in a place of feeling good. Reach for the thought that feels better - and watch what happens."

"Practice the science of deliberate creation. Giving thought to anything is creation; giving deliberate thought to anything is deliberate creation. Nothing that has ever happened has anything to do with now, unless, in the now, one continues to think and speak about it. Fresh new thoughts today will always give a fresh new experience."

"We are vibrational Beings in a vibrational environment. It is only through our ability to translate vibration that we are able to understand our physical world at all. Our emotions are vibrational interpreters. Our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, fingertips, are translating vibrations - but our most sophisticated vibrational interpreters are our emotions. By paying attention to the signals of our emotions, we can understand, with absolute precision, everything we are now living or have ever lived." [Important: it is this that makes the uses of drugs to manage our emotions so catastrophic - our emotional body is an organ of perception, the loss of which, or scrambling of which, means a major initiation is blocked (in the esoteric/occult sense) and we deny ourselves joy, the fruits of deliberate manifestation.]

As we consciously manifest we are entering greater and ever greater realms of joy - we are expanding. This is the expansion of the universe that the scientist 'sees' taking place in the physical macrocosm. "The most powerful law in the universe is the Law of Attraction: Every thought vibrates, every thought radiates a signal, and every thought attracts a matching signal back. We call that process the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction says: That which is like unto itself is drawn."

 

[Tyger]

Some clarification: I am not an advocate of any one particular proponent/teacher of this manifestation paradigm. I find Abraham-Hicks entertaining and in many ways a sophisticated rendering (for the most part) but I don't always agree (maybe a reflection of my inadequate understanding). I remain a great fan of Neville Goddard - he's both great fun and he stays within a certain prescribed context which keeps his presentations very tightly on-track. A motivational speaker like Wayne Dyer is just that - motivational - and not necessarily 'deep' (He's breezy, accessible). I always come back to Neville - the most compelling imo. So did Dyer it seemed to me though he was very much acquainted with Abraham-Hicks. It helps that Neville was not a 'channeler', I think, though part of Abraham-Hicks' genuine power in my view is the ability to 'read' an audience at a 'clairvoyant' level and address that audience from that stance.

However, all manifestation 'gurus' do not use the same terminology and this can get confusing, even counter-productive. However if there is an essential truth/reality to the ideas then they will resonate (in my view). This even happens in science research. Within a certain context the ides are valid. It would be nice (convenient) if the terminology was always consistent - but it isn't - so one is obliged to do one's own homework - and that can only be a good thing. IMO.

An example would be Neville Goddard, who did his speaking in the 1930's/1940's through to the early 1970's. (Hope I got those years right). Inevitably he used ideas rampant in his day - of Freud's conscious and subconscious. Here is Neville regarding the importance of 'assuming feeling of the wish fulfilled' (two commonalities to all manifestation work: feeling and the assumption of fait accompli):

"Ideas are impressed on the subconscious through the medium of feeling. No ideas can be impressed on the subconscious mind until it is felt, but once felt - be it good, bad, or indifferent - it must be expressed. Feeling is the one and only medium through which ideas are conveyed to the subconscious." - Neville Goddard​

Wayne Dyer, being a student primarily of Neville Goddard, writes:

"Your subconscious impressions are reflected in the conditions of your world. The strange and wonderful thing about your subconscious mind is that it always accepts as true what you feel to be true. The key words here are feel to be true. Your feeling allow your subconscious mind to spring into action. [...] Spiritual understanding differs [from intellectual understanding] in that it requires experiencing it. The way to understand something spiritually is through experiencing it. Your feelings are the tools you have for experiencing your subconscious mind and making it your material world reality." - Wayne Dyer​

Note that Dyer takes his lead from Neville - speaking of the conscious and subconscious mind. Dyer also uses the term 'God-realized experiences'. Abraham-Hicks will talk about alignment with the Vortex energy.

Were one to read J Donald Walters' (Swami Kriyananda) book on 'Money Magnetism' one would encounter terms more in keeping with the spiritual discipline being taught - example is he speaks about will power and energy direction.

The power of thought is nearly universally acknowledged as key in all paths of self development. Feeling is intimately connected as the 'engine' that makes it all possible. Read enough of these books and one will see the common threads - with one presentation having more resonance than another for oneself - but all presentations getting one to the same goal: the essential power of human thought in creation . (Neville Goddard is spine tingling fun in this regard because it is at such moments that he points out that the Bible asserts that the human is made in the Creator's 'image' - hence the human is also a creator; 'In the beginning was the Word' - Thought - Mind. (But there is always a danger in this to give one's own spin and I want to pull back from that because one can scramble things easily in this delicate work. Go to the horse's mouth I say, to those drawn to be teachers of manifestation - of which there are many).

Abraham-Hicks's terminology differs in that there is less obvious spiritual and psychoanalytic terms used. Abraham-Hicks talks about the Vortex and Source Energy (rather than the conscious, or Universal Mind, or spirit). Those latter words may get peppered into the dialog but the presentation - being the most cutting-edge presentation at this time (as far as I know) - tends to skirt past such loaded terms. Certainly the Bible a la Neville is not referenced.

Here is some text written by someone who does this manifestation work to great effect and with sophisticated understanding. This is how someone who is a student of Abraham-Hicks will discuss the process (note the different terminology and emphasis, but also recognize the same underlying concepts):

"Focusing on the problem directs source energy to the creation of the problem, not the solution. If one focuses on having a clean, healthy planet, and then accepts that that is what IS, then the solutions are created within the vortex. We don't see them immediately, but the vortex has already created everything that is needed to resolve the problem. Accept that a clean planet is now in the process of being created and all of the necessary processes, attitudes, knowledge, information, momentum, and every other vector necessary to its existence will begin manifesting. Focus on worrying about the problem and you create the problem."​

The same student of Abraham-Hicks continues (emphasis my own):

"I have long been a student of theoretical physics (quantum physics). There is a basic premise in quantum theory that all things exist simultaneously in the form of probability waves. Reality is not created until something is observed. Upon observation, a function occurs called the 'vector state collapse', which is when out of all of the infinite number of probability waves that exist, one collapses and becomes reality. Intention is what creates probability waves. The path of least resistance (your acceptance of the fact that what you want is what is being created) is what leads to the vector state collapse that creates the reality you want."
​

In this last quote intention is mentioned - very important in manifestation. In the end, all the aspects of any spiritual discipline are here covered: focus, intention, motivation, feeling, etc. Pick two disciplines - as seemingly disparate as Buddhism and the Jesuit practice - and the same aspects can be found. Mental training has always been key, and mastery of the feeling life essential - as in the martial arts. Manifestation is a reality that has long been known and practiced by 'those who know' - 'To those who have (know) more will be given; to those who do not have (know) even that will be taken away'. (I love Neville - he is so cool - as well as a mind bender ).

 

[Tyger]

Consider these two quotes from roughly the same time period - early to mid 1800's - one American, one German.

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too." ~ Goethe

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

In both these quotes (emphasis where given my own) the terminology is again different and apropos the time in which it was spoken - in these two instances the references are far more blurred or grand: providence and universe. Covers a lot of ground.

Fast forward to the early to mid 1900's and the terminology is more particular, more detailed: conscious, subconscious, energy, etc.

Forward to early 2000's (I'm being general here with the time frames) and we hear Vortex and momentum, vibration and frequency. I would like to repeat the quote from the student of manifestation who is also well versed in science -

"I have long been a student of theoretical physics (quantum physics). There is a basic premise in quantum theory that all things exist simultaneously in the form of probability waves. Reality is not created until something is observed. Upon observation, a function occurs called the 'vector state collapse', which is when out of all of the infinite number of probability waves that exist, one collapses and becomes reality. Intention is what creates probability waves. The path of least resistance (your acceptance of the fact that what you want is what is being created) is what leads to the vector state collapse that creates the reality you want."​

 

[Tyger]

Science is currently interested in the 'lived experience'.

Please note the truism (in esoteric science) that Dyer happens to voice (tho he was not an esotericist):

"Spiritual understanding differs [from intellectual understanding] in that it requires experiencing it. The way to understand something spiritually is through experiencing it. Your feelings are the tools you have for experiencing your subconscious mind and making it your material world reality."
​

The most important sentence is this: "Spiritual understanding differs [from intellectual understanding] in that it requires experiencing it."

Some years back I recall having conversations on this site trying to 'explain' the fundamentals of the science of the alchemists, and particularly that knowledge of the spirit is achieved through self transformation. The mystery language of the alchemist -

The philosopher's stone is a legendary substance, allegedly capable of turning inexpensive metals into gold. It was sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy.
​

The above explanation of what the alchemist was searching for is a completely materialistic rendering of what was taking place. With manifestation we have a partial 'outing' of some of the work being done by the alchemists.

Occult knowledge is 'hidden' not because the alchemist - or sorcerer - or esoteric scientist - was especially clever at burying their books, but because the knowledge can only be gotten or achieved by a human being that has transformed their subtle bodies (linked to thinking, feeling, willing). This transformed condition can be sensed in the indications given for the manifestation work. To do consciously what Abraham-Hicks is indicating (for example) one must transform one's thinking and feeling - one must master self (it's what all disciplines talk about).

Conscious creation is the first 'talent' one deals with on the path. This is not fantasy. This is real. When one touches upon what is true, there is a 'quickening' of the feeling life - one experiences joy.

Feelings are key to understanding. One must be able to 'read' one's feelings. Feelings are an organ of perception.

 

[Constance]

Feelings are key to understanding. One must be able to 'read' one's feelings. Feelings are an organ of perception.

I agree that what we sense and feel are foundational for what we come to think. The problem, as we see all around us in the earthworld today, is that the doors of our perception are closed, even locked, by that which is felt and thought around each of us. Thus the tide of malicious memes and distortions attached to the election of Trump -- and the moral outrages his 'base' is willing to accept in continuing to support him.

We might, as a people, be able to overcome all this given the terror and agony that Trump is subjecting children to on our southern border, and which has been publicly recognized in the last two weeks. I say 'might' because almost anything is possible in the mental and emotional chaos that has been produced in this country since Trump has been in office.

In short, there are grave limitations on the experience and expression of normal and redemptive human emotions and feelings for people who, for one reason or another, have had their minds poisoned by indifference and outright malice toward whole groups of humans.

 

[Tyger]

I agree that what we sense and feel are foundational for what we come to think.

Not sure you understood what I was saying there. The senses - of which there are many more than just the 5 lower senses - reveal the world and are through which we gather together our conceptual framework for the sense world, yes. However, I would posit that thoughts are of varying degree - and the thoughts of consequence - the thoughts that bear ideas - are from high realms, not the physical.

The problem, as we see all around us in the earthworld today, is that the doors of our perception are closed, even locked, by that which is felt and thought around each of us.

Could you explain this? Not sure what you mean.

Thus the tide of malicious memes and distortions attached to the election of Trump -- and the moral outrages his 'base' is willing to accept in continuing to support him. We might, as a people, be able to overcome all this given the terror and agony that Trump is subjecting children to on our southern border, and which has been publicly recognized in the last two weeks. I say 'might' because almost anything is possible in the mental and emotional chaos that has been produced in this country since Trump has been in office.

What Trump has done is given 'permission' for something that has always been there to reveal itself. In a way he's done us a favor because with all this coming to light (yet again) we have a chance to reverse it in the full light of day.

In short, there are grave limitations on the experience and expression of normal and redemptive human emotions and feelings for people who, for one reason or another, have had their minds poisoned by indifference and outright malice toward whole groups of humans.

What is happening here is not anything we have not dealt with before - only before it was subvert - now it is overt. There is an insidiousness to what is taking place and will not bode well if the majority do not act.

You might be interested in this book by Milton Meyer. In the early 50's he traveled to post-war Germany and lived for a year, interviewing Germans who had lived through the rise of Naziism and the world war. What he reports has grave bearing on what is taking place in our country right now. It should be noted that Hitler was elected by a minuscule % of the German population.

“But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.”
― Milton Sanford Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45​

Quotes from the book - They Thought They Were Free Quotes by Milton Sanford Mayer

LINK: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, an excerpt, 2017 edition

 

[Tyger]

The Twelve Senses - FYI - The 12 World Perceptions and the 12 Senses by R. Steiner

Lower (Physical/Inner) Senses: 1. Touch 2. Life 3. Movement 4. Balance

Middle Senses: 5. Smell 6. Taste 7. Vision 8. Warmth

Higher (Outer) Senses: 9. Hearing 10. Language 11. Concept 12. Ego

Sense of Touch leads to sense of the Ego
Sense of Life leads to sense of Concept
Sense of Movement leads to sense of Language
Sense of Balance leads to sense of Hearing

 

[Tyger]

"Someone who thinks in a materialistic way easily believes one can only arrive at understanding through abstract concepts. It takes great effort for him to come to the insight that the other soul faculties are just as necessary to understand the world, as is the intellect. It is not just meant metaphorically when it is said that one can understand just as well with the feelings, the heart or with a sense of becoming aware of something – as it were sensing it – as with the intellect. Intellectual understanding is only one means to the things of this world to understand." ~ R. Steiner (Esoteric Teacher)

“I had used all except peach labels. I pasted the peach labels on peach cans, and then came to apricots. Well, aren't apricots peaches? And there are plums that are virtually apricots. I went on, either mischievously, or scientifically, pasting the peach labels on cans of plums, cherries, string beans, and succotash. I can't quite define my motive, because to this day it has not been decided whether I am a humourist or a scientist. I think that it was mischief, but, as we go along, there will come a more respectful recognition that also it was scientific procedure.” ~ Charles Fort in 'Wild Talents'

 

[Tyger]

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” ~ Peace Pilgrim


"Thought is to the mind what light is to the eye." ~ Goethe

 

[Tyger]

@Constance Two Posts pulled over here from the Consciousness and Magic thread.

Video with Greg Braden, which is excellent in my opinion.
Law of Attraction Money Meditation Love Success Story Affirmations Documentary Relationships Quotes
I have to add that I have trouble connecting the insights and significance of what Braden speaks to with the more trivial and self-centered concerns addressed in much of the 'manifestation' literature focused on goals summarized in the heading that accompanies this video: "Law of Attraction Money Meditation Love Success Story Affirmations Documentary Relationships Quotes."

Who knows why that heading was chosen because none of those topics are discussed in the Braden video. It's a case of a misleading title. Though what is likely happening is there is an attempt to pull in the Law of Attraction people.

I don't share your feeling about the Braden video. There is a brief moment mid-way through the video when he does accurately describe manifestation, but all the rest is a lot of stuff cobbled together, with some out and out questionable assertions being made imo. He is particularly misleading (imo) when he begins his descriptions of chakras and thought, feeling and emotion - very strange stuff - completely scrambled ideas. He's close to being incoherent in that part of the video.

The 'science' part at the beginning is also a grab-bag of lots of stuff. Hard to tease through it - but it's recognizable as coming from a variety of writers. I see he started his writing career in 1995 - he has an impressive list of books under his belt. Again, I make my comments based solely on what I heard in this one video - a very narrow sample of his ideas.

In other words, personal wealth, power, material 'success', attempts to fulfill selfish individual desires pale in significance for me compared with the lessons to be learned from the Eastern traditions from which Braden receives his inspiration.

Braden may have been inspired by something in the East but he is not reporting it with any clarity - at least not in this video imo. Maybe he does so elsewhere, but not in this video. In fact, he's misleading. What lessons did Braden learn from the Eastern traditions?

I've never seen anyone talk about wanting to manifest 'power'. I have seen wealth - pretty common. But all of the desires - as spoken of in the Abraham-Hicks (AH) videos - if one listens to them - are about personal development. The desires are the vehicles for personal transformation. It's about altering the very fabric of the world. Interesting stuff to my mind.

There is a difference in this philosophy from many of the general views of religions, as in the prohibition regarding 'selfish desires': namely that the individual is indeed the center and that all things move from that center via thought and feeling - the world is created from all those individual centers. It is not a looking out to an authority for verification but is an alignment with an inner 'source' (in AH's terminology) that is verified by the individual and no one else. Alignment with source, truth, god, creates a resonance - and is done through thought and feeling.

Anyway, it's a process that we all engage in all the time. We are manifesting our lives all the time. It's just a question of becoming conscious creators.

Interesting that a post on the Braden video pretty much gives many of the indications for manifestation (though I would qualify some on the list - it's still a good list) - with lots of direct quotes from Abraham-Hicks in fact - with Neville Goddard sprinkled in (and others).

The law of attraction doesn't hear what you say, it responds to the way you feel.

This law of the universe will deliver on your expectations. What do you expect to happen? Be careful, that is what you will get more of, it's law.

Change your thinking and change your life.

Beliefs are only thoughts we keep thinking.

Change your thoughts and change your life, it's law.

Your feelings are your indicator of your thoughts - if it feels good, revel in it. If it feels bad, stand back for a moment and question what feels bad and make it right with your thinking - turn the attraction closer to where you intend.

Your feelings ARE the indicator of the next step on the path.

Pay attention to the moments and the feeling in the moments - this is where you will find the joy in the moment, when you choose to allow it. This is where you fill find the next step toward your intention - life IS the journey, not the destination; we already have that in life.

Trust your self, believe there is more, have faith in all that is, after all, YOU are ALL THAT IS. Yes, the world, your world, does revolve around you. Give love into all of the spaces and watch it unfold into spender. ​

The following is the same poster doing a riff on Braden's ether comments -

...the ethers. The spaces between the spaces matter. Concentrate on filling the spaces between the spaces with love and all else will fall into place. Do this within you, within your body - just imagine the cell and then the mitochondria and then the dna and see the spaces within the spaces in the helix. The spaces between the particles. It all counts, all this space. There is so much space. Fill this space with love. Inject love into all of the spaces within the spaces. Allow them to fill over and then get bigger and fill over and then get bigger and fill over.... vicious spiral of expansion.

The light just gets brighter and brighter and brighter until you can't handle it any more and you let it go into the ethers. Ah, this is a vicious circle that feels really good and life is just happening more my way. Ah, I think I like this and want more... gee, I'm addicted to me... who knew. I am and I love it.​

 

[SRL+]

While searching for new stuff from Lee Smolin, this popped up ...
Do Our Questions Create the World?

 

[Tyger]

While searching for new stuff from Lee Smolin, this popped up ...
Do Our Questions Create the World?

Great article.

Love this quote from him: “I do take 100 percent seriously the idea that the world is a figment of the imagination.” - John Wheeler