The following post is reprinted from the Sounds True Founder’s Blog, an insider’s look into the world of Sounds True and its visionary teachers and authors, through the eyes of its publisher and founder, Tami Simon.
Over the past few years, I have heard more and more people talk about “manifesting.” From what I can tell, the going definition of manifestation is “learning how to use spiritual principles to get what you want out of life.” Of course, it is usually stated in more palatable language like “how to realize your dreams” or “how to create the life you want.” Often, when I hear people describe this view of manifestation, I find myself feeling irritated. So, I decided it was time to write my own “Manifestation Manifesto.” (As you can see, I’m using this Publisher’s Blog as a chance to constructively express – at least I hope I’m being constructive – many of the pent-up frustrations I have been feeling as a publisher in the field of personal and spiritual transformation for the past 24 years.)
So in response to all of the manifestation talk I‘ve heard over the past few years, here is my “Manifestation Manifesto”:
Step 1. Listen to your inner voice.
Step 2. Do what your inner voice says.
Step 3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2.
That’s my manifesto (very short!). And although it sounds quite simple – and it is from a conceptual viewpoint – that doesn’t mean it is easy.
Step 1: Listen to your inner voice.
I believe we all have a trustworthy inner voice. You might experience it in the form of words spoken internally or as a gut feeling, an intuitive vision, a flash of insight, or a spontaneous sense of knowing. In traditional religious language, this inner voice might be called “the voice of our conscience,” which may not be too far off the mark. I do believe we each have an internal guidance system that is always available, if we are willing to stop and listen.
You might ask, “Where does this inner voice come from?” That’s a good question – and I don’t have a good answer. What I do know is that for me this inner voice is a compass. It feels to me like a reliable, benevolent, evolutionary messenger service, something that is guiding me to express more, to love more, and to extend more for the benefit of others.
It’s my experience that there is no shortage of available inner guidance. What is in short supply, however, is our willingness to tune in and listen. Most of us are too busy, busy, busy (ironically, trying to manifest our dreams, right?). Imagine how much power and impact we could have if we paused and listened to make sure we were actually scurrying in the right direction.
If we are interested in manifesting more in our lives – more abundance, more happiness, more contribution to others – one interesting question to ask ourselves is why we don’t spend more time listening to our inner guidance. Caroline Myss, the medical intuitive and author of Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can, has investigated this question in some detail. She posits that the reason many people don’t listen to their inner guidance is that they don’t actually want to change – certainly not in dramatic ways. We may say we want change in our lives (we want to “manifest” something that doesn’t currently exist, right?), but we usually want it on our terms, not on unconditional terms, not if it costs us something like our current sense of security, our current network of relationships, or our current identity structure.
And this brings me to why I often feel irritated when I hear people talk about “manifesting their dreams.” It is as if this all-powerful ego-based person wants to orchestrate a new world order according to their likes and dislikes, as if this whole universe exists to line up around our personal wishes. I really see things in quite the opposite way. The way I see it, we are servants, not masters. What are we serving? That is for each person to answer in their own being. In my case, I am serving a higher field or finer dimension of vibration that has qualities to it like truth, beauty and justice. I am also serving and partnering with all of the beings, seen and unseen, who have worked and are working to bring these qualities into form. To put it another way, for me the central question around manifesting is not “What do I want?” but instead “What is wanted from me?”
Step 2: Do What Your Inner Voice Says
Once we hear our inner guidance, we need courage – or to use Caroline Myss’ language, “a backbone, not a wishbone” – if we are to manifest in the world. This is complex territory, because there are all kinds of unconscious reasons we don’t want to act on the messages we hear. I will give you an example from my personal and professional life:
For about 5 years, I knew I needed to hire a President at Sounds True. The company needed day-to-day operational leadership, and I needed the time to explore other avenues of self-expression and contribution. I was, however, terrified about making this change. What if I hired someone who ruined the 20 years of work I’d put into the company, eroding the value of the business? What if I hired someone who was better than me at running the company, and I ended up feeling like a horse put out to pasture? What if and if and if?
Finally, my inner voice stopped talking to me in clear sentences and started creating difficult circumstances in my life – including a schedule that was totally unmanageable and a love partner who could not tolerate how little time and attention I had for our relationship. It was as if my guidance system could no longer get my attention by whispering so it started shouting through the circumstances of my life.
A year and a half ago, the shouting got so loud I couldn’t help but listen. So I finally made the decision to hire a President. (Happily, April 1st 2009 will be the one year anniversary of a fellow spiritual traveler and business professional named Grant Couch filling this role.) Why did it take me 5 years to take this step? Because, as Caroline Myss says, I was afraid of how much and how quickly my life would change. In a certain sense, I was “hiding” behind all of the tasks that I had to do. I knew this just below the surface of my consciousness, but I didn’t really want to acknowledge this knowing because I was hiding for some very good unconscious reasons. Suffice it to say I was protecting my heart; it can be quite scary to change in ways that radically – and publicly – increase our level of vulnerability.
So for me, when it comes to manifesting, a useful line of inquiry is “Why am I not doing what I know I need to do right now”? That is a totally different approach than “visualizing what I want” or expecting hoped-for external events to happen. It’s about deeply inquiring into our own resistance and what lies underneath it. My experience is that when I can archaeologically dig up that unconscious material, feel it and release it, it’s like untying a knot. Once that knot is untied, the energy to manifest flows swiftly and generally, unimpeded. Doors fly open. Surprising allies arrive. Magic happens.
Step 3
Repeat steps 1 and 2
There is no end to manifesting and expressing who we are. I recently spent some time with Eckhart Tolle. We were filming a trailer for Eckhart Tolle TV, a new online television service that Sounds True is launching in partnership with Eckhart Teachings. I asked Eckhart why he was bothering to create this new service at all. I wanted to understand his motivations. Obviously, Eckhart can be spending his time in whatever way he wishes; why get involved in a multi-year commitment requiring so much energy and creativity? When I asked Eckhart the question “Why are you bothering to create Eckhart Tolle TV?” he paused for about a minute. Then he looked directly at me and said, “I am responding to the evolutionary impulse.”
I love that answer. When we are responding to an evolutionary impulse, we manifest in a way that is pure and selfless. We tune in. We are given instructions. We respond boldly, wildly and unconditionally. And as a result, we manifest in ways that serve evolution itself.
–Tami Simon
Publisher, Sounds True
Thanks for this "manifesto," Tami. I also think it important to note that in order to be most effective, manifestation principles as outlined and popularized by Abraham-Hicks and others rely on a strong meditation/contemplative practice to be the most effective. Not only do such practices raise the level of subtle energy resources needed to effectively manifest, they also raise awareness of the multiple and oftentimes conflicting impulses within the psyche that you
This is actually the best version of "The Secret"-esque advice that I've ever heard. I especially love the part about being servants as opposed to being masters. Just because you can keenly visualize yourself driving a fancy car and having longer vacation hours 24/7 doesn't mean the universe is going to deliver that to you.
Becoming more intentional, and focused we are limitless in our ability to manifest.
Affirming our worth through conscious choice making affords us the many opportunities
to expand our potential. I agree, being in bliss is easy once we recognize how
readily available it is to us; just for the asking. The spirit is our wave, knows no ego,
it is our guide, listen to your spirit and experience "bliss".
http://www.deborahshemesh.com – connected to dharma! Thank you for your lovely post Manny Otto!
Hi Tami,
'Listening to your inner voice' seems a bit too global an injunction to me. Which inner voice should I listen to. As I write this, one inner voice is thinking about how to convey my meaning, another is fantasising about telling my boss where to poke his job; and that is just two of the 'choir'.
I would suggest that the ability to trust an inner voice worth trusting is a skill that comes with training, rather than something most people can do automatically. Much of what passes through consciousness, be it voice, vision or feeling, is conditioned habitual response that if followed will take us towards suffering.
Cultivating or learning to hear an inner voice that takes us towards wisdom and joy seems a very worthwhile undertaking, although more work!
best wishes,
Richard Ingate
http://www.lifechoicemeditation.com
Hi Richard,
I think you bring up a very important point which is that we need to develop the skill of inward listening in order to learn how to distinguish our "true inner voice" from all of the other voices that rattle inside of us. I agree with you that this takes training (it could be meditation training which helps us distingush discursive thinking from the arising of insight or other forms of training in inner development that allow us to develop a real sensitivity to the nuances our inner life).
Again, thanks for your comment. I do agree with you completely that the process of inner listening with sensitivity and accuracy takes real work!
With appreciation, Tami
Inner listening is a skill worth developing. So often, in meditation; a thought
will appear and my habitual and conditioned self will want to get up and
take care of what ever business popped up during my meditations. There are
mantra's that we can use to take us into that quiet stillness, that nothingness, where there
is no more voice. It's amazing, and possible. It is pure bliss, it requires consistent practice, and you will find that the more you develop your skills your "inner voice" becomes that
quiet stillness where there is no more thought. Just allow yourself to be guided by the
compass of your soul. There is no right or wrong – the natural state of duality will be
experienced at first. Then, the stillness will appear.
The universal mantra used is OM – but, as taught through the Chopra Center, as we
begin our meditations (twice daily in the a.m. and p.m. 20-30 minutes) you can
use mantras or if you have been given a primordial sound you can repeat those
sounds until you freely fall into that "gap" of nothingness. The three questions
that the Chopra Center suggests we repeatedly ask ourselves beginning our
meditations are: Who Am I? What Do I Want? How Can I Serve?
I found these questions to help guide me into the gap directly easily and directly. At first
I had difficulty in knowing what the answers would or could be. (conditioning) The secret appears, as we soften our resistance, and allow ourselves to hear the duality, the yin and the
yang, the male and female essence of who we are in this body. Try it, and let
your inner voice ring true to you. Don't be discouraged, listen to your spirit speaking,
it is clearer that the winter's night sky and the answers to your questions, Who Am I,
What Do I Want, How Can I Serve; will be more luminous than the bright stars in the
nights sky.
Enjoy, listen and be in bliss.
No drugs necessary – trust your spirit.
It's my testimony that this practice
will heal not only your body, but will
quiet your mind. Om Anandham Namah!
http://www.deborahshemesh.com
There is nothing wrong with being a "Master" when it's a master of a skill, or a mindset. In old times, this was simply used as an adjective to describe someone who had mastered a craft or a skill, not just a slave owner etc. Even the gods in some cultures were those who had mastered completely a certain skill or mindset. And you know, some mirroring, I'm finding, occurs naturally when we awaken spiritually, and even when we don't we're drawn most often, to those who are more like us, so Law of Attraction works this way too.
But you share well about what's working for you right now and that's good. I used to be like you and in relation to Love and It-ness I still am, but in all other respects I do seek, in the sense I described above, to seek Mastery with a capital M in the sense I have described above–mastery of certain skills, in my case, and in a way of beingness. There is nothing wrong with what you believe, but maybe part of your irritation is actually your way of judging people. I've actually found that many of the New Age people you criticize are some of the most giving and gentle people I've met–they know that to give is to receive and vice versa. I live in a largely non-dual universe myself. I welcome all kind mystics into my reality but I am now attracting mostly happy people and those who are metaphysically awakened. This has occurred naturally–our Cosmos is one where outer reality mirrors inner reality: As within, so without. As above, so below. These are ancient principles taught by the Hermetic way and many metaphysical traditions and quantum science is slowly but surely opening the doorways even further that the old world in some parts of it at least pretty much always had open, though sometimes in ways that manifested hostile realities.
The universe is not just an objective one but a subjective one. Your reality is drawing to you everything you wish to experience at some level. You don't need to judge other people just because something in what they're experiencing doesn't work for you at this time.
Just my thoughts.
Love,
Brigit
Inner listening is a skill worth developing. So often, in meditation; a thought
will appear and my habitual and conditioned self will want to get up and
take care of what ever business popped up during my meditations. There are
mantra's that we can use to take us into that quiet stillness, that nothingness, where there
is no more voice. It's amazing, and possible. It is pure bliss, it requires consistent practice, and you will find that the more you develop your skills your "inner voice" becomes that
quiet stillness where there is no more thought. Just allow yourself to be guided by the
compass of your soul. There is no right or wrong – the natural state of duality will be
experienced at first. Then, the stillness will appear.
The universal mantra used is OM – but, as taught through the Chopra Center, as we
begin our meditations (twice daily in the a.m. and p.m. 20-30 minutes) you can
use mantras or if you have been given a primordial sound you can repeat those
sounds until you freely fall into that "gap" of nothingness. The three questions
that the Chopra Center suggests we repeatedly ask ourselves beginning our
meditations are: Who Am I? What Do I Want? How Can I Serve?
I found these questions to help guide me into the gap directly easily and directly. At first
I had difficulty in knowing what the answers would or could be. (conditioning) The secret appears, as we soften our resistance, and allow ourselves to hear the duality, the yin and the
yang, the male and female essence of who we are in this body. Try it, and let
your inner voice ring true to you. Don't be discouraged, listen to your spirit speaking,
it is clearer that the winter's night sky and the answers to your questions, Who Am I,
What Do I Want, How Can I Serve; will be more luminous than the bright stars in the
nights sky.
Enjoy, listen and be in bliss.
No drugs necessary – trust your spirit.
It's my testimony that this practice
will heal not only your body, but will
quiet your mind. Om Anandham Namah!
http://www.deborahshemesh.com
Thanks, Tami,
I, too, feel that people seem to have unrealistic expectations about manifestation.
To add to the idea of listening to the inner voice, I have found that sometimes it leads us in directions that we didn't "think" we wanted, but after awhile, we realize that we got what we needed to get to the next step of manifestation. I am ever amazed at where my inner voice takes me!
I would also like to give kudos for this: To put it another way, for me the central question around manifesting is not