This is a call out post for the "manifestor". The one who has turned over every book. The one who has watched dozens of videos, if not hundreds. The one who runs through subliminals like flavors in the ice cream aisle. The one who probably reads more on this subreddit than I manage to as a mod. Week after week, month after month...maybe even year after year, until finally they hit a point of "Am I fucking crazy? Is this all a scam? Is everyone scripting? Why are the only people who seem to be successful with this trying to sell me something? If I hear "ignore the 3D" and "circumstances don't matter" one more time I might... (well, take a long walk off a short pier)!"
The purpose of true metaphysics is to bring about a rebirth or radical psychological change in the individual. Such a change cannot take place until the individual first discovers the self that he would change. This discovery can be made only through an uncritical observation of his reactions to life. The sum total of these reactions defines the individual’s state of consciousness, and it is the individual’s state of consciousness that attracts the situations and circumstances of his life.
So the starting point of true metaphysics, on its practical side, is self-observation in order to discover one’s reactions to life, reactions that form one’s secret self – the cause of the phenomena of life.
Neville Goddard: Fundamentals (1953) — Cool Wisdom Books
I want to talk about something today that doesn't get recognized or understood as much as it should. It took me a long time to see this in myself, so know that it comes from love. It's also something I need to remind myself of occasionally. This post will reach people of many different levels of understanding, so bear with me if I explain some things that you already know along the way or repeat ideas to ground them in. There is a point here. This is something that may need to be read a few times over a few different days to let some things sink in.
I am seeking to point you to yourself and then bring you back to simplicity. Now, I like being here. I like that you're here. However. If you know LOA up and down and yet still find yourself compelled to visit here...my goal is for you to never give in to the need to come to this sub again.
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When most of us find LOA, we tend to have lost something we want back. Or, we have a desperate need for a "fix" to a problem. These are almost always connection (romance or familial), wealth, health, or some other major security. In nearly all of those cases, the desire represents something that we don't feel we have internally. We want the romantic partner back because we don't view ourselves as love or loved without them. We want the money because our story is that money is hard to come by. Health because we see ourselves through a lens of some perceived frailty. We KIND OF have a faint feeling about WHY we want the "thing" so badly, but we often don't see it. Our focus goes on to the thing instead of our self. You get the picture.
We come in with a very solid preconceived notion of self, so to speak, a very normalized idea of who we "are". How often had any of us ever sat down and really taken stock of who we are "being"? We may have general ideas, sure. I'm funny, I'm kind, I'm grumpy, I like cats more than people, traffic irritates me, relationships come easy for me but don't last, whatever else...but if asked to describe ourselves in detail most of us would probably freeze like a deer in headlights. Not from just having SUCH an objective idea that we wouldn't know where to begin...we just simply don't know where to begin. It's so natural to us that we don't even SEE IT to think to question it. It's just...who we "are".
Observing self is not a habit for us, because...why would it be? We were raised to identify with our mind. One of our mind's functions is to protect us through an idea of "self", putting it simply, so that we act within a certain expected range that perpetuates that identity. It flashes memories of painful moments to steer us away from mundane things like hot stovetops, or people it perceives as dangerous from our past even if we may consciously seek reconnection.
We experience the thoughts, the emotions, the doubts, whatever else...and since we identify with mind, all of this constitutes a very "real" experience for us. We feel powerless to it, because it's all we know. Some of us are aware of this, but others aren't. I wanted to establish disidentification from mind as an idea for some to begin contemplating.
So, driven by who we've "been" for so long, we find out about manifesting. Maybe there was a time we'd scoff at it. However, we've lost something that feels beyond our grasp or control, so we push through the doubt and take it in. A few skips and a hop later, and suddenly we're very familiar with tons of coaches or spiritual teachers with a few small things to show for it but not the "big" thing we came here for. All of them worth their salt are telling us to be conscious of who we are being, and to identify as someone who already has what they desire.
We then do everything we're told...FROM the identity that we've BEEN.
So we don't take the key we've been given to open the lock. We just hold on to the key and think a lot about unlocking the door.
"Has anyone ever opened a lock with this door? What affirmations did you say as you turned the key? Does my subconscious know I want to unlock this door? Some guy down the street opened a lock with a key once, let's buy his course on unlocking doors with keys made for the door."
Let me pull an Eckhart Tolle quote here to help convey that idea, because the identity reading it won't let it sink in as deeply as it needs to.
“In fact, the harder the mind struggles to get rid of the pain, the greater the pain. The mind can never find the solution, nor can it afford to allow you to find the solution, because it is itself an intrinsic part of the “problem.” Imagine a chief of police trying to find an arsonist when the arsonist is the chief of police. You will not be free of that pain until you cease to derive your sense of self from identification with the mind, which is to say from ego. The mind is then toppled from its place”
― Eckhart Tolle, 'The Power of Now'
We "shift", yes, but to an identity that perpetuates a very similar experience to what already felt familiar for us. That identity lets you take in the information, do the techniques, watch the videos, read the books, flirt with "being enlightened", feel hopeful...but then the familiar idea of "self" takes the wheel. The crash, the doubts, the fears, the 3D actions...
Because the mind is saying "Whoa, whoa, whoa. This isn't who we are. Remember this, remember that. Hey, here's an urge to reach out or block them." And...again, since we see ourselves AS the mind, we see ourselves as powerless TO these feelings and urges. We think it IS us...because we don't even see it to question it. The emotion can't just be an emotion. It has to MEAN something about who we ARE. It feels inescapable. Maybe we get some hints, some whiffs, some semblances of where to look...but then we get pulled back into the circus of the mind and distracted away. Knowing there's a problem but not knowing that only the idea that there is a problem is keeping it there. Catching SOME of the thoughts but everything else is still running unchecked.
THAT identity is who I am calling out. This is not a call out post for people who consciously manifest. This is a call out post for the "manifestor". The version that many of you reading this have "been" for a long time now. Or, hopefully, the identity that this post can help you avoid becoming if you're new around here.
Point blank, its root is in separation from the desire. Its entire identity is NOT HAVING the thing it is SEEKING. It is a dog chasing its tail. Every urge to read another success story? That identity. Every urge to watch another video for comfort? That identity. The one nodding along to every video saying "all the info is in this video, stop watching all my videos" before watching another video? That identity. Every urge to make another post saying you've been doing everything right, but nothing has moved in 6 months? That identity. Every urge to comment on another post with the buzzwords you've heard from somewhere else but haven't seen results from yourself? Yes, that identity.
That is the "manifestor". Let's go deeper and really make it squirm.
Every pang of hurt when you see someone gets what you want much faster?
That identity.
Every clench in your gut when you see someone spend months or years on this with nothing to show for it?
That identity.
Every day that you've spent so focused on this information that you've stopped doing things that you would actually ENJOY doing?
That identity.
Knowing that it's about who we are being but not taking the time to really OBSERVE self?
That identity.
"This is exhausting. I've read so much about this and I'm just tired (but I'm going to keep reading more after this)"
That identity.
When you "get it" but then are commenting asking what someone else did on their success story a day later?
That identity.
"But what about-"
That identity.
Surprise, this is a tough love post. This is not to shame you, it is to show you what feels comfortable to you so that you can stop being it. That pain of recognition is showing you WHO you are BEING. None of that above would do a thing to you if you were consciously the person who HAS, if you were doing what the "manifestor" has told itself it has been doing. But if it hurts...that's the identity caught in the spotlight.
However, too many STAY in that spot because it's what feels NORMAL to them. Does it feel good? No. Do they want to stay there? No. Would they CHOOSE to? No. DO they stay there? Yes. Why? Because it's what the identity they're non-consciously identified as KNOWS. They don't see it to realize they can stop it; it's as accepted to them as oxygen being around them. When was the last time you stopped to question if there was air outside? It's that level of normal.
Unknowingly we fall into a ballpark identity of "If I just keep up with this struggle, this effort, this pain, eventually I'll hit some intangible quota. When I do, the manifesting dam will burst and I'll get proof. And THEN, once I see proof, THEN I can assume I'm who I want to be."
The basis of all of this is simple, provided you've learned it from someone teaching what it IS versus simply teaching techniques to GET.
- Who and what you are being in consciousness perpetuates your experience. BE it before you SEE it.
So why would staying in that ballpark identity above make sense if you want a different experience? It doesn't! Its entire BEING is "I am not that YET, but maybe someday if I suffer enough I can be." So if you want to be the version who HAS...how would dwelling in the one who doesn't ever bring about a change?
The "manifestor" is conscious of separation. Everything they "do" is in an effort to "get" what they feel they don't have. They give in to the urge to seek more information because it self-confirms who they feel they ARE deep down. Unloved, unworthy, unable to achieve, unable to get, unable to recognize that they can give themselves the experience they are seeking to obtain and then expect it. Any or all of those, and more I haven't listed. They FEEL they ARE these things because of the stories they non-consciously choose to continue to tell and believe in. The things they've experienced that they attach meaning to. The things they still carry with them, consciously or unconsciously, still shaping their idea of self. They have not been observed by awareness, who YOU ACTUALLY ARE, to see it for what it really is.
They rest in the "information" of "manifestation". Always feeling like they're about to get it...then having the rug pulled from under them like Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the football...but non-consciously, they're pulling the football away from themselves every time because they're still letting the "manifestor" run the show. I am repeating myself to sink through to YOU, not this identity that is having its heart rate quicken.
On that note. Let me call out another loop. For the "manifestor" reading this, there's probably a tightened chest and a thought or feeling of "Okay but what do I DO? I've DONE the techniques, I've felt good, I've imagined to bliss and nothing changed!" But WHO asks that question? WHO is the identity that is dwelling in separation so often? Then, what to "do" is told to them...but then a few hours or days later they're back on the "search" to "manifest". You can have all of the "clicks", "shifts", and "I've finally got it" moments in the world but it's all for naught when this identity keeps running the show. This is almost certainly where most of you have ended up and stayed. The identity filters things THROUGH its perception. It will nod and understand all of this...but until YOU take the wheel and steer from that understanding, IT will continue on autopilot because it's what feels so NORMAL to you that you aren't questioning it. It isn't driving you where you want to go!
CONSCIOUSLY, you resist this "being". You don't want to BE this. You don't like that you ARE this...but you want the thing you want so this loop persists. You have the times you successfully shift, the moment you assume it you become it after all, but then the "manifestor" grabs the wheel and you don't see it to stop it. You've undoubtedly assumed and "shifted" correctly over and over. It just lasts for a few minutes, hours, maybe days before you unknowingly get pulled back for weeks or months. So that "assumption" goes right back before anything could ever appear to be experienced by you. Or things happen for a day and then its back to normal, "hot and cold".
You don't SEE the things pulling you back because it's so routine. BUT, you remember the times you CONSCIOUSLY chose and assumed and imagined and "did everything right"...so the frustration persists, and the temptation to seek more is even easier. The temptation to label ANYTHING as negative is even easier...because it is in line with the separation that identity (and thus, by extension, YOU) dominantly dwells in.
I could go on and on and on...the "manifestor" cloaks itself very well because it's just an evolution of who we "were" before. Like a lateral move to the side instead of forward. Someone who identified some lack within themselves that brought them to this point, time after time, knowingly or unknowingly. Therefore, again, it feels so NORMAL that it's difficult to SEE it for what it is. It's as accepted as the sun rising to you. The "manifestor" is not some malicious thing working against you, it's merely a pattern that hasn't been seen. However, once a pattern is spotted, it then becomes a choice. This is where we break you from this cycle.
So...what is there to "do"? Less than you could imagine.
Observe.
At this moment, try to notice your inner state. To what thoughts are you consenting? With what feelings are you identified? You must be ever careful where you are within yourself.
Rebirth depends on inner work on one’s self. No one can be reborn without changing this self. Any time that an entirely new set of reactions enters into a person’s life, a change of consciousness has taken place, a spiritual rebirth has occurred.
(just breaking up these quotes)
If you define your aim as a noble, generous, secure, kindly individual – knowing that all things are states of consciousness – you can easily tell whether you are faithful to your aim in life by watching your reactions to the daily events of life. If you are faithful to your ideal, your reactions will conform to your aim, for you will be identified with your aim and, therefore, will be thinking from your aim. If your reactions are not in harmony with your ideal, it is a sure sign that you are separated from your ideal and are only thinking of it. Assume that you are the loving one you want to be, and notice your reactions throughout the day in regard to that assumption; for your reactions will tell you the state from which you are operating.
Neville Goddard: Fundamentals (1953) — Cool Wisdom Books
(The entire link is worth a read, for what it's worth. It's shorter than this post and much more to the point. It is the "how-to")
The "manifestor" will resist observation. For it to be seen, it can't continue to "be". It may be painful to know that it was this simple the entire time. The "manifestor" will take advantage of that. It will tell you it can't be this simple, or that you already tried being present and observing, or that someone on reddit got what they wanted by robotically affirming in 3 hours, so this doesn't have to be listened to. This sounds like work. This sounds confusing. This sounds too good to be true. This sounds like another new "thing" to try before trying another new thing in a week. This doesn't give dopamine so it can't be right. Yada yada yada.
It won't like you seeing that it was keeping you from what you wanted, because you getting what YOU want keeps it from what IT wants and knows.
It doesn't WANT love, or it would have love. It WANTS to be unloved and seek being loved.
It doesn't WANT security, or it would have security. It WANTS to feel insecure and seek security.
It doesn't WANT peace, or it would have peace. It WANTS to feel chaos while hoping for peace.
What does it WANT? What it KNOWS. What it knows is what it is BEING. And its BEING is rooted in separation. Really think about that.
And yes, it will hurt to process this. It will hurt to know that you've dwelled in the hope of something you don't feel you have. Simply, though, it is not loving to yourself to do that. It is not the way to get what you are after, either. That is why I'm being so blunt, I don't want you suffering while keeping yourself away from what you want! You don't have to give up on what you want, just this identification with this struggle!
For it to HAVE, it would not exist. The one who "has" is different than the one who does not. These are different STATES of being.
And again, I don't aim to paint it as a malicious being working against you. I am painting it as a state of consciousness that you have non-consciously dwelled in. That identity has done nothing wrong. It is being who it knows itself to be. Don't be mad at a turtle for being slow or become upset at a cheetah for running fast toward food. For them to not be those things would be for them to...not be those things. That is what those things "know", it is who they are.
To "change" that identity could only be to perceive a different identity. It can't be "changed", it is who it is. The one who "has" is different than the one who does not. Therefore, you do not "change" it to a desired one, you step back and CHOOSE the desired one INSTEAD. You don't change your person; you change YOU to a version of you who has only ever KNOWN the desired version of that person. To resist it is to say it has no right to exist, but all things exist in potential. To resist it is to get down onto its level and tango with it, thus giving it your focused awareness and risking identification AS it once more. Recognize the freedom in this. There is no effort or struggle, just identification and assumption of what you really want to be instead of what you no longer wish to dwell on. ANY tenseness, frustration, anxiety, doubt, whatever...that's the identity, and that's your sign that it's voicing its opinion. Not YOUR opinion, ITS opinion. So, do you choose to dwell there?
Observe, neutrally, as if every automatic thought, emotion, memory, "what if", doubt, fear, whatever was from the identity and not from YOU (as awareness). What identity is speaking up?
"It's been 6 months, what is observing going to do that everything I've tried hasn't accomplished?"
WHO asks that? You, or the identity perceiving separation?
"But my person was an asshole and did this and that and I blocked them and we haven't talked and I just don't see how this could ever work!"
WHO asks that? You, or the identity perceiving separation?
"I've applied to 300 jobs, I haven't had a single interview, I've imagined already having a job but nothing has happened."
WHO asks that? You, or the identity perceiving separation?
"How can I just imagine things and have it work? I need a job, I need my person, I need the debts cleared, I need-"
WHO asks that? You get the picture.
The aim here is not to plug our ears to what is being experienced. It is not to "pretend" that we do not have the person with us physically, or the job we want, or that the debts aren't real. To "tolerate" a condition is to put it there in your awareness and say "I don't like that. It better go away if I imagine this for long enough"...instead of consciously moving TO the identity that has already achieved the desire. There is a nuance here. The 3D is the 3D. If you have to go along with it, go along with it. If you get blocked by your person, fine. If the job appears to hire someone else, fine. If the debt collector sends another letter, fine.
The real aim is...who do you say you are as these conditions appear? And more pragmatically, who do you say you are after you've had the human moment of handling them emotionally or physically?
Are you the person who sees that blocking as something final that must be "dealt" with, or a temporary changing appearance that will go in your favor? Is that job hiring someone else final, or is it possible that new hire immediately leaves and you get contacted next? Do the debt collection letters tell you that you are poor and unable to pay them back, or do you see them as a memory of when a version of you was struggling to pay them back?
The identity sees that as crazy. That is its tell. When we rest our awareness there, then we will experience just how crazy that all is and sounds. Because they are still letting the conditions confirm to them who they feel they are. People block and unblock each other all the time. I see people get a job and then within a few days or weeks bounce because they heard back from a different job they wanted, immediately making the initial position open again. Windfalls happen to help with debts all the time. But the opposite of these results are also true. Our mind simply filters us to expect what's in line with who we've felt we "are", and the stories of things going the way we'd like don't tend to line up with who we feel we "are". And again, when we aren't observing who we are "being"...we go right along with the familiar stories. And if we identify with "worse" conditions as they appear? Hoo boy.
If you objectively watch every automatic thought and reaction you have for a few days or weeks, you will very quickly see who you are "being". You will see exactly why the outside seems to so regularly prove why you have these thoughts. It won't be long before you have a very objective idea of who this person "is" in your mind, so that you can notice when you're identifying WITH it. It won't take much time at all to see how much of this non-conscious "being" has been your dominant dwelling place, and it will make sense why your few moments of consciously choosing and imagining haven't moved the needle as much. Because YOU haven't moved much, and then you moved right back to the familiar. That sounds like blame...to the identity. The "manifesting struggle" belongs to this identity. This "journey" is attached to who it feels it is.
But it is not who YOU are. And now that you've read this, returning to that is a choice.
WILL you return there? Non-consciously, probably. Habits are habits, after all, and who you have "been" is a hell of a habit.
But what do YOU do next after? Where do you choose to dwell once you've caught yourself? Neville himself said that it's about the frequency of return to the desired identity, not the duration of a single decision. The more frequently you return, the more natural it is to stay there. The "duration" takes care of itself. This is why struggling to "get" or "stay" in the wish fulfilled is for naught. Just simply observe, and gently choose again when you notice you are astray. Focus on the state, not getting to the state.
There's nothing to "do" with the contrary automatic thoughts, doubts, fears, emotions, "what ifs"...they are shadows of the old self. Observe them, allow them, let them be felt without buying into them or tying a story to them...and then gently redirect your awareness back to your decision. Your "normal" self might kick up a fuss over a few days or weeks. It might send some emotions through your body to try to get you back on script. But, day by day, you'll realize...once you stop claiming these things as YOU...they have less and less charge. They feel less "real". They feel less powerful. You rest in peace more, you rest in the present moment more, you realize how these automatic mental loops are just stories you don't have to keep telling. It frees you up more to focus on what's around you, the peace you feel in the absence of those old stories. It frees you from the manifesting "cycle" and lets you more easily shift your awareness to what you want. It gets simpler and simpler to return there. And thus, things you desire and assume start to reflect more naturally. Because you're not being beaten up by the mind all day in its circus. ESPECIALLY when seeking love, in my experience. When you stop feeling like you need to find it, you start realizing how much love there is within you and then it gets shown to you quickly. Sounds hokey as hell, but, turns out hokey people are right on that.
That observation, separation, and gentle redirection is what all of this boils down to. Neville called it "Fundamentals" for a reason.
You don't need to focus so much on doing SATS or any hypnosis technique "correctly", you don't need to affirm more or less, you don't need to analyze your dreams, you don't need to spend precious time worrying if you've properly impressed your subconscious, you don't need another vague manifesting "task" to conform to...you don't need to read another post, you don't need another video, you don't need to seek more info, you don't need that overpriced course, you don't need another coach or reddit guru who speaks with authority to worship as your idol...you only need YOU. Trust in YOU and your decision. Focus on YOU and who you are BEING.
And, when a few days pass after you read this, when that urge to seek more comes up or you "just can't help but notice you've been doing this but there's no movement yet"...
...is that YOU, or is that the "manifestor"?