There seems to be a battle going on in the spiritual/self-help/self-development communities. On one side you have the manifestation camp that focuses on what they want to create, and on the other side the acceptance camp that choose to be with what is. The manifestation group is said to be “spiritual bypassing”, as in not dealing with their wounds, with the result that healing is absent, resulting in fragmentation of self. I believe the two poles are lot more alike than they think, and that conscious creation contains both acceptance and manifestation. Here’s how.
As, I’ve touched upon earlier, life is self-organizing. Natural systems function by maintaining a dynamic equilibrium. There is no inherent need for nature to end up a certain way, other than vital and resilient. It does so by moving through different states of being, deeply committed to each one.
Apply that to humans, an overarching goal of life being resilient vitality and sub-goals being expressing the different qualities in time. One season asks for connection, which could look like marriage or friendship, another for solitude at home or in a forest. The question is, should we just allow the unfolding or actively direct it? And how specific should we get?
If nature has an optimal progression, it makes sense to let it take the lead and stay as the observer. But if everything exist her and now, and we can jump in timespace, then deliberate focus and creation takes the win. Is life a movie or a game? I believe it’s somewhere in between.
To expand on this, I believe we’ve set ourself up for some major events, some themes to experience, some people to meet. Watch a video of a person having gone through an NDE (having been clinically dead for a little while, then come back to life) and they talk about remembering choosing their life. Not all the details, not everything set in stone, but enough to know they would grow in a certain direction. How they go about exploring is still up to them. This leaves me thinking there is room for deliberate creation, and there is a need for acceptance.
So, how do we both accept and create? It is a trick question, because it is impossible not to create. Acceptance, resting as awareness, with openness to what is, is not neutral. It is non-judgemental, but it has qualities to itself. When I just sit, relax, when I am, I am not empty. Rather, I am instantly filled with something I would describe as love. A calm contentment. It’s hard to put into words, but these are the closest ones I know. Those are qualities that affect things. If I stay in this state while focusing on something with dis-ease, that thing will be affected by me. If my state is stronger than it, the dis-ease will start to change into something else. This is effortless creation.
How about deliberate creation then? Although love and calm contentment are enjoyable states, even consciousness seek expansion. An idea, a preference, will be born. When we feel that impulse, I think we should follow it. It is life pulling us forward into new experiences. Now, we get to the crux; how do we turn our preference into matter? The impulse itself is organic, it has a root and it has a direction, it has energy and lives inside you. Feel it – what are the qualities of it? Let’s do an example of abundance. Give space to that, feel the richness. Can you allow it to blossom? Resistance might come up. “No, I could never be that abundant.” Old patterns. You don’t have to change it. Stay in the feeling. Stay as close to your resistance as possible, without doing anything about it. The resistance will get curious. Who are you? What are you? Can I be like you? When your resistance fade from your attention, allow it. Don’t seek it out. It will knock on the door for further interaction, when needed. Then you open it, still rich, and it learns from you. Because the impulse was organic, it is in alignment with the purpose of life – vitality through change.
Sometimes you will be focusing solely on what you are growing, other times you will be accompanied by the old. Both are needed. Both move you forward. Specificity works (stories to come), but the quality of your state decides what it turns into. Focus purely on state instead, and you’ll likely be surprised by the shape it takes. There is no battle. There is only commitment to your state of being, which is chosen organically by you.
