Manifestation Manifesto #1

You Create Your World

You are what you want to become. Why search anymore? You are a wonderful manifestation. The whole universe has come together to make your existence possible. There is nothing that is not you.

                                                                                                            — Thích Nhất Hạnh

I’m excited to launch a new series for this newsletter today. It is going to be called You Create Your World. I’m going to be focusing on manifestation, magic, and creativity. Each week I plan to add a new essay to this series, they can be read on their own but they will also come together to explore how each one of use creates the world that we live in, and how powerful that knowledge truly is—not just for yourself but the planet.

Many people go through life thinking that life is something that happens to you. However, the truth is that you happen to life. This spiritual truth is powerful and you can use it to achieve your dreams, and find happiness. I also believe that harnessing this power allows us to connect with who we truly are and to bring more love and consciousness into the world. The world is what it is because it is an expression of the inner world of human beings—we can see that in both the ugliness and the beauty of the world around us. It is up to us to create the world that we want to live in. We already do this whether we are aware of it or not, so it is better to become aware of it! Future installments of this newsletter will be about how this truth works.

Think back to the kinds of questions you had about the world when you were a small child. Do you remember that natural curiosity? When you wondered about the most basic concepts: why is the sky blue? Why do bumblebees gather honey? What does it mean to be good? What does it mean to be happy or sad? How does money work? How and why does everything work the way it does?

What I wish to do in future transmissions is take you back to a similar state of beginner’s mind, so that like children we can question everything; our assumptions, and the things we take for granted. A lot of the stuff I want to talk about is tricky to get at, not because you need to be super clever, but almost for the opposite reason—these are ideas that are so simple they can become invisible. Our beliefs create our worldview, which in turn shapes our world. We must make our beliefs visible because then, once we can see what is there appear, like an animal that was camouflaged in the tall grass, we can become friends with it. The funny thing about us humans is that when something is around us all the time, it slowly becomes less visible to us. So, the idea is to teach yourself some tricks that will reveal the invisible, so that you can work on it and shape it to your liking.

This invisible worldview I am talking about is the most important thing in determining the story of your life. And yet most people go through life without ever giving it much of a thought. This is powerful and magical stuff. In fact, another way to look at it is as magic: transforming reality to conform to the will. But we will skip the occult lingo for the sake of directness and simplicity. You could also say what we are talking about is psychology. I will skip that vocabulary too, in order to approach everything with fresh eyes. To put it simply, this ongoing newsletter will be packed with tons of practical ways to find motivation, vision and clarity for real life.

Imagine if someone had a big machine sitting in their living room with a bunch of levers, buttons and knobs. And this machine actually had the power to grant them whatever they wanted out of life—whether that was to be happier or to be braver or to be kinder. Whether that was to make a bunch of money, or fall in love or simply be a little bit calmer and less stressed out all the time. It would be very silly for that person not to learn how to work that machine! But suppose they had no idea how to operate it—it was missing the instruction manual. They might eventually give up and throw a sheet over the thing and forget all about it. Here's the thing: that contraption really does exist! This weekly Manifestation Manifesto is an instruction manual for that magical machine; a guidebook that will show you what these levers and buttons can do, and how to operate what controls your life. The machine is your beliefs, and this newsletter is going to be a guide to operating the beliefs that shape your world.

NEXT WEEK: The Secret to Everything!