Silent Musings

Many people these days seem to get very excited over so-called “manifestation” techniques. But the simple fact is, barring a long term change in habitual patterns, they don’t work. Sure, people will tell you all the great things they created using these techniques, but it is a bit like a chronic gambler who will tell you which bets came back as winners, conveniently forgetting the (far more frequent) losers.

This isn’t to say you can’t be at cause in the creation of your destiny. Of course you can, and do, all the time. And the habits that manifestation gurus propose that you adopt are generally beneficial over the long term. But far too often I see people who are looking for the quick fix, and the belief systems that arise around the notion of manifestation are dangerous to one’s overall well being, much in the same way chronic gambling can be.

The reason why manifestation techniques “don’t work” for most people is that habits of the mind don’t change so easily. Let’s say there is a long term pattern that you want to change - for example, you may be tired of having so little money. So you decide to manifest a big pot of gold for yourself. Like most everyone else, you get reactivated by certain queues from the environment, and you automatically respond like a machine. For instance, this may show up as being easily discouraged by setbacks, and then subsequently sabotaging any significant progress toward your goal. Another way of saying it is this - if you are conditioned to be poor, to think that a week’s worth of thinking of wealth is going to make a significant difference is simply foolishness. Similarly, if you were conditioned instead to be wealthy, do you think manifesting wealth for a week would make a significant difference? Of course not. Riches would come either way.

Anyone you know (including yourself) who has manifested anything significant achieved that result by cultivating the seeds of success long before the occurrence of the outcome. Here is another example to consider. Have you ever noticed that some people have much more powerful speaking than others? That what they say tends to come true? Why do you suppose it happens that way? Because they use manifestation techniques? Not by a long shot. It’s simply a matter of personal integrity. People who have cultivated the habits (over the long term) of doing good deeds and/or keeping their promises have more power in what they say, plain and simple.

If you really want to manifest a new way of living your life, you’ll have to cultivate new habits. And generally, there is no “easy” way to do this. It takes (long term) practice. The most effective tool that I know of for accomplishing real, lasting change in habits is meditation.

Meditation is a (long-term) practice that permanently alters the habits of the mind. It is slow, tedious, boring, but it works. One could say that the ultimate “end” or “goal” of meditation is to reach the “natural state”, sahaja, wu wei, nirvana, bodhi, or whatever you want to call it. But basically it means that human functioning happens independently of the habits of the mind. This is what is meant in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 where Krishna says:

The person whose mind is always free from attachment,
Who has subdued the mind and senses,
And who is free from desires, attains
The supreme perfection of freedom
From Karma through renunciation.

It doesn’t mean you look into the mind, and feel a sense of freedom, as a concept. Rather, that functioning is “free” of the constraints normally imposed by the mind.

Here’s an exercise you can try. Sit and meditate, paying attention only to your body sensations. Notice the habitual patterns. They come and go, but invariably the same ones will show up over and over again. Notice the (automatic) thoughts and feelings that you associate to those patterns of sensations. For example, do you feel anxious? Tired? Excited? Do you feel as though you are “holding on” to something? If you don’t notice any of these, keep observing. When you do notice a habitual pattern and response, what happens? Do those sensations and thoughts go away? If so, do they come back?

If you do this exercise for long enough or often enough, what you’ll eventually realize is that the habitual energy patterns are ingrained in you like grooves in a vinyl record, which plays the same songs over and over again. The Sanskrit word for this phenomenon is samskara. You are more comfortable with these patterns than you realize. If and when these “habit energies” do cease, it can cause tremendous fear. As in fear of dying. Thus you hold on unwittingly. Even if you do see them for what they are, it is not easy to let go of them. Any effort will hold them in place, and there’s no telling how long they will stay around if you just observe. It could be years.

And even if you do (temporarily) penetrate the habits of the mind and “see the Tao”, you will realize that this in no way eliminates the karmic tendencies (habit energies) that “belong” to you. This requires many years of cultivation for all but the rarest of individuals. This is why some people who have a big spiritual experience, thinking maybe even that they have been enlightened, later come to find that the old self returns as reliably as on any other ordinary day.

Contrary to what some may believe, the “enlightened state”, sahaja, is not free of habit. It’s just that the habits that do manifest are not a result of habitual ego clinging to thoughts. The heart still beats, the body sleeps, the physiognomy is preserved, and if it has chronic back pain, it will most likely continue. It may even prefer vegetable curry over spaghetti and meatballs. Like it says in the Heart Sutra below, “that which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness (is) form.” I’ll let you contemplate the meaning of that phrase on your own time. While doing so, may you be at peace with all of your habits.

Heart of Perfect Wisdom (Prajna Paramita) Sutra

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva
when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita
perceives that all five skandhas are empty
and is saved from all suffering and distress.

Shariputra,
form does not differ from emptiness,
emptiness does not differ from form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness form.

The same is true of feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.

Shariputra,
all dharmas are marked with emptiness;
they do not appear or disappear,
are not tainted or pure,
do not increase or decrease.

Therefore, in emptiness no form, no feelings,
perceptions, impulses, consciousness.

No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch,
no object of mind;
no realm of eyes
and so forth until no realm of mind consciousness.

No ignorance and also no extinction of it,
and so forth until no old age and death
and also no extinction of them.

No suffering, no origination,
no stopping, no path, no cognition,
also no attainment with nothing to attain.

The Bodhisattva depends on Prajna Paramita
and the mind is no hindrance;
without any hindrance no fears exist.
Far apart from every perverted view one dwells in Nirvana.

In the three worlds
all Buddhas depend on Prajna Paramita
and attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

Therefore know that Prajna Paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
is the great bright mantra,
is the utmost mantra,
is the supreme mantra
which is able to relieve all suffering
and is true, not false.
So proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra which says:

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

Gone Beyond. Gone Beyond the Beyond. Hail!