Youtube: The Adventure Begins

“Do not be deceived by dimples and curls. I tell you that babe is a thousand years old.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We began our life on earth with an innate curiosity toward the world around us. As our senses developed, we found we had a natural attraction to colorful objects and fuzzy things that squeaked when squeezed. Later, we would gaze into the night sky and wonder where, amidst that vast expanse, we fit in. It may have been sometime later that we began to wonder how and why we came to be in this place.

In my own quest for understanding, Emilie Cady’s illustration comparing the soul to a pail of water drawn from the ocean made a lasting impression. She focused on the composition of water, using it to suggest that the soul shares the same elements as the cosmic ocean from which it is drawn. The illustration takes on an even more profound meaning when we consider the age of water. According to science, regardless of when a pail is drawn from the ocean, the age of the water remains 4.6 billion years. The water in the pail does not evolve to become as old and as wise as the water in the ocean. It has never been and will never be anything less.

The implications of this illustration present us with a spiritual model that raises significant new questions. If our soul is as complete as our spiritual source, then what is the objective of our quest? The short answer? Spiritual recovery – conscious recollection of who and what we are at the spiritual level. We are seeking a clearer understanding of how a spiritual being, equipped with a material interface in the form of a body, can best travel through this earthly experience with the deepest sense of meaning.

The best way to start this inquiry is not with an answer, but with a couple of questions. How and why did I come to be in this place? Am I here as the result of forces beyond my control, or am I here by choice? Am I here to simply collect more colorful objects and things that squeak, or did I choose to come, having a specific purpose in mind?

Search the world’s literature and you find affirmative support for both perspectives. However, it is your answer, your understanding that determines the way you approach your journey home.

Youtube: The Rule of Order

Part 5 of 5 Steps of the Manifestation Process

“Do calmly, without excitement, whatever the circumstance seems to require. This will lead to the further unfolding of other circumstances in the same direction. By addressing each one as it appears, you are moving step by step toward the accomplishment of your desire.”

Life is all about transformation. A seed is dropped in the ground in one form, and it emerges as another. And, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

So it is with the manifestation process. In a very real sense, this process is about dying to one state of being so that another may come forth. As you move from where you are to where you want to be, you must release the old and take on the new.

Watching the new emerge is an exciting process. When you see evidence of your desire beginning to manifest, it is easy to become overzealous in your attempt to hurry things along. External action can be addictive. Things begin to happen, and you want them to continue so you may start trying to “push the river” as someone put it. The writer of Psalms also warned against overzealousness when he wrote, “zeal for thy house has consumed me” (Psalms 69:9).

Every step toward your desired good offers something of value, even in those times when nothing seems to be happening. Hold your vision in an attitude of expectation, enthusiasm and in the knowledge that everything is working together for your good in right and perfect order.

Youtube: Doing the Work

Part 4 of 5 Steps of The Manifestation Process

Wait until some circumstance pointing in the desired direction begins to show itself. It may be small, but it is the type and not the magnitude of the circumstance that is important. This is the first sprouting of the seed.

Chalk it up to my rural Missouri upbringing, but I really appreciate the earthy simplicity of Thomas Troward’s approach. So many writers inject the element of magic into the subject of manifestation, over-looking the fact that we have all been engaged in the manifestation process from the day we were born.

When you set a goal, you are really telling yourself to start paying attention to opportunities, even small ones, that will enable you to move closer to that goal. Creating a vision is really the practice of creating awareness in the direction you want your life to unfold. Without this awareness, opportunities can and do pass by unnoticed.

Troward is pointing to a relaxed awareness, which is very different from a frantic search for opportunities to further the manifestation of your vision. There are, of course, times when you make things happen. You are inspired with an idea which you act upon until you bring it to a successful conclusion. There are other times when you are presented with ideas that are beyond your comfort zone. You may be tempted to rationalize your hesitancy to pursue it means it is not right for you.

This could be the very portion of the manifestation process that has been standing at your door knocking. When you take action, one of two things will happen. Either your initial discomfort will begin to dissolve, and you’ll find new strength and inspiration, or it will become crystal clear to you that the path represented by the idea is indeed one to be abandoned.

There really are no hard and fast rules concerning the choices you make in the manifestation process. It is a fact that this process is occurring right now, and you are steering it with choices you are making. Develop a keen awareness of your choices, and you will find your life unfolding in a way that is much more to your liking.

Youtube: Embrace Your Desire

Enter your daily routine with the calm assurance that conditions are either present already or will soon present themselves. If you do not see evidence at once, know that the spiritual prototype (your desire) is already in existence.

For many, this may be one of the most challenging steps in the manifestation process. The principle is illustrated in a gospel story when the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom would come. Jesus pointed out that the kingdom was already present, as the spiritual potential within each person. The implication is that the kingdom will manifest in accordance with the individual’s level of expectation.

Every time you think of your desire, get the feeling that it is complete even if you see no evidence to support it. Your vision and your accompanying feeling serve as the blueprint—or as Troward called it, the spiritual prototype—from which the manifestation evolves. By holding your vision, you become attentive to unfolding possibilities.

Jesus again expressed this principle of knowing in his story of the woman who had ten silver coins and lost one. She swept her house clean looking for it. She knew she had that coin. If she couldn’t remember whether she had ten, she would not have put the same kind of energy into her search.   

You are to think of your desire as the equivalent to your having the manifested version. Do not be frantic about looking for evidence of it. Just go about your life doing what you need to do while holding your desire in the back of your mind as a completed fact.

There is, of course, a certain excitement that accompanies your vision and the feeling that it is now present. You do not want to deny this, but you do not want to let it drain your energy either. Follow Troward’s suggestion of calm assurance. In due time, the evidence that it is coming forth will show itself.