The final stretch of our three-part exploration.
Should anyone landing here have missed it, a good starting point - from which a good attention span shall lead back here: Part One.
We began exploring the phenomena of the ever-so-common propagation of fake certainty in the popular ideas of “manifestation” and platitudinal clichés such as “what’s meant for you can’t pass you by or be fucked up,” along with some paradoxes & contradictions between the two outlooks. Yes, I may have typecast myself as a party-pooper in the eyes of some still onboard the toxic-positivity train, but somebody’s gotta call bullshit sometimes. As easy it’s become to parrot popular ideas full of hopium and share memes fuelling confirmation bias of feel-good belief systems, though evolution demands advancement of intellect - which sometimes, can only occur by/through challenging conventions to break through the limits of faulty thinking and the distorted perceptions it creates/perpetuates. It’d be hypocritical to outright judge/condemn much of the phenomena discussed in this writing, as I’ve been guilty of it all in my youth - although having passed through all that experience, there’ve been at least a few nuggets of wisdom extracted/distilled… one of which: as fun as having one’s head in the clouds can be, there eventually comes a point where real “empowerment” can only occur with at least one foot on the ground. In a world full of charlatans, self-proclaimed gurus saying what people want to hear to line their pockets, “life coaches” regurgitating scripts favouring manipulative NLP-based marketing tactics over Truth, etc, we might just do a bit better to refine our skills of discernment & critical thinking - an ends to which hopefully some of these rambles might serve.
Onwards with the activation…
We started with challenging conventional/popular thinking.
No one can “manifest” everything & anything they want. Sorry. The universe is not designed to be a genie fulfilling the ego’s every wish, and there are certain limitations that do exist, no matter how many how many “motivational” memes one tries self-gaslighting (a.k.a. “reprogramming beliefs”) themselves and/or others with. And while many claim otherwise with convincing appearances of certainty, interspersed with assertions of some grand Divine predestined order in which there are things “meant for us” that “we can’t mess up,” you can’t have it both ways (if either are even accurate at all). As for the “meant for us” thing… who truly can know. Maybe. Maybe not. Experts in self-sabotage might have some interesting input on the topic. But either way, many people saying it are typically doing so from a place of belief-based narratives - not direct awareness/consciousness of objective facts.
However, it might be hypocritical to so assertively emphasize the value of challenging one’s beliefs & cognitive biases without doing the same to my own here to ensure a fully-balanced outlook.
For as much bullshit may be scattered amidst the countless sugar-coated YouTube videos, podcasts, and $997 programs on the “secrets” of “manifestation,” there are no doubt also some principles in them - irregardless of the many accompanying distortions - that do have merit. As they say, ”don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
For as much as the “meant for you” paradigm may be founded in blind “faith” and belief - which doesn’t have to (and often doesn’t) accurately reflect reality - there most likely are elements in the finer details layers deeper beneath the simplified surface-level of the concept containing wisdom (whether to be taken ‘literally’ or allegorically). And surely, there are a smaller few who do speak on either matter, or any other, with an actual certainty of certain principles.
The question is not whether these ‘things/beliefs/outlooks’ are “right” or “wrong” (let alone attempting to assert so with fake certainty) - but rather, how do we dig to find the diamonds in the mud of misconceptions & mistranslations they’re commonly misinterpreted & misrepresented through? How do we “separate the wheat from the chaff?”
How do we develop & exercise the discernment of where the time, place, and value of each lie?
(“Lie” an interesting choice of word given it’s appropriate dual meaning, creating two different statements yet both accurate here.)
And all this, not merely for some intellectual exercise in picking apart others’ teachings, but rather to serve as a refinement of our own thinking, perceptions, and consciousness - so to harmonize with the forces of nature that may serve our “manifestation” of what is “meant for our highest good.” (Or some shit.)
He probably wasn’t the only person to have ever said it, although this quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald may be the most popular way the concept has been put:
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
While many have heard this, far fewer practice it. And that’s not to make judgements on people’s intelligence, but rather objective observations on the common habits / modus operandi of the majority… with suggestion that it’s not even necessarily one’s inherent intelligence to be tested, but that this approach to thinking - considering opposing ideas rather than resorting to a default habit of believing one has to be “right” and the other “wrong” - is one anyone can consciously exercise… and may actually increase intelligence when/by doing so…
To blindly believe that everything every “manifestation guru” says… stupidity. To cynically deny there may be nuggets of value mixed in with the bullshit… equally stupid. If we want to function as effectively & powerfully as we can in this lifetime, finding balance between those two ends of the spectrum is required - closing ourselves off to neither the wisdom existing in some of the teachings nor the reality that much has been distorted out of context and can easily mislead without being checked.
To put too much weight in the thought-terminating clichés that “what’s meant for us can’t pass us by or be fucked up”… some combo of stupidity + laziness (i.e.the parable of the drowning man as an extreme example). To resort to the opposite, living as though there is nothing “meant for us” nor some “higher order” which does serve our evolution… perhaps equally stupid & lazy, albeit more likely to masquerade behind a facade of self-righteous intellectualism placing left-brained logic on a pedestal. Once again, if the aim is to function powerfully & effectively in our lives, there is much more wisdom to access and operate from / in alignment with by not restricting ourselves to one view or another, but acknowledging the limits of what we can even know for certain and embracing aspects of either perspective when & where they may well-serve a specific time & place, and discarding when not.
Or another way this principle has been brilliantly taught - equally applicable to any topic or idea, rather than just our focus on the two here - the ”Formula For Truth…”
Sadly, the F4T can no longer be found in its original transmissions anywhere online. Taught by perhaps the most influential mentor/activator I ever had, the scope & implications of its wisdom was by far some of the most impactful I’ve ever come across - popping up & disappearing within a brief window of time for a rather small audience, with a quality akin to a secret society initiation/teaching. Though this barely does the original collections of lectures on it justice, to summarize:
- You have one perspective
- You are presented a contrasting/opposing perspective
- You have a choice…
A) You butt heads, stubbornly stick to your perspective and dismiss the other
B) You embrace the other view with curiosity, seeking to learn the value in it and when & where it is true
Should you have chosen A, you make yourself stupider by severing connections to new neural networks and closing doors to expansion of understanding & possibilities.
If B: you open up to the entire spectrum of possibilities between the two ends and increase your intelligence by vastly expanding connections into new neural networks.
Similar to Fitzgerald’s take, yet with a critical distinction:
It is not necessarily that “first-rate intelligence” is required to pass the test of holding to two opposing ideas in mind… but the choice to open to ideas opposing ‘our own’ that leads to “first-rate intelligence.”*
I dunno why there’s been something in me feeling so compelled to get this writing out, and it’s been a piece that hasn’t come as quick & easy as most. Perhaps exploring a new fusion of ideas, it’s taken time to conceptualize, let alone articulate clearly. And while I still don’t fully know how to express it, there’s this idea percolating: like, while we may be able to apply this Formula For Truth individually to the concepts/topics of “manifestation” and “meant for you,” what happens when we create a matrix of its application to them both at the same time and the paradox/contradiction between them?
(My intuitive sense: an access point to a quantum spectrum of possibilities and increased capacity for navigating them powerfully & effectively… as vague & ‘word-salad-ish’ that may sound, lol. Or at the least, activations of increasing discernment & awareness.)
The aim: wisdom.
To know the limits, so as to effectively work within them. To embrace the possibilities, while aware of the limits that there may be some which are and are not meant for us, so as to exercise maturity in conscienticiously choosing when/where we can… and gracefully accept when/where we can not.
To not only acknowledge the “paradox of choice,” but implement it with clarity of what is & isn’t actually worth ‘going after’ - setting healthy, smart boundaries on what we can & do ‘manifest* that serve our interest better than rhetoric of “anything & everything” “limitlessness.”
To embrace that perhaps there are certain things “meant for us” - some of which maybe can’t be messed up or passed by; others that can indeed be sabotaged, should we veer out of “our lane” as attempting to foolishly “manifest” ego desires and/or misguided intentions that don’t/wouldn’t serve our highest good.
To grow through the potential discomfort of contemplation of the possibility that we may often have far less control over reality than we might like and cannot “manifest everything & anything” we want; yet may still need to exercise a great deal of responsibility, given none of us may be automatically entitled to profound blessings “meant for us.” That life is serious; we can fuck important things up; and without proper discrimination & prudence, ‘following our path of least resistance’ may “manifest” shit experiences.
To be more saavy than buying into sugar-coated, oversimplified concepts pitched by trend-following marketers; to embody higher degrees of sophistication than joining in on collective beliefs appeasing lazy desires for quick & easy results and/or fake certainty over continuous exertion to build character, strength & clarity of mind, spirit & soul.
To uplevel in mastery; acknowledging that what is “meant for us” may not be static & predetermined, but dynamic, flexible, malleable. That karma is not a fated stamp of gifts or curses, but forever engaged with moment-to-moment. That we may indeed be ‘manifesting’ whether consciously or unconsciously; the refinement of our frequency - it’s clearing of distortion and alchemical transmutation - updating the quantum code of “what’s meant for us.” (While still honoring the fact that maybe not everything has “meaning,” some things just being a product of randomness & chaos.)
To level up in self-awareness. To rely less upon ideas of what may be externally-dictated as “meant for us” as though we have no say in the matter, and more on the attunement to our own “inner truth” of what is & isn’t correct for us. To be conscientious of what is actually worth “manifesting” as it aligns with our core values - setting & honoring our own boundaries & limitations so as to harness the power of focus into “manifesting” not the “anything & everything” appealing to conditioned-mind & ego, but a carefully-cultivated selection serving the highest good of our sustainable expansion, evolution, and service to others through a heart, spirit & soul satisfied in the victory of having brought ourselves into harmony with it. (Fully-well knowing we could have fucked it up.)
And, to know when to reel ourselves back in from the sea of quantum possibilities and ground ourselves in the particle-state here & now. To appreciate the moment for what it is & contains; rolling with the ride as it unfolds; seeking neither escape through it by trying to “manifest” a “better” future nor rationalize events based on beliefs of “meant to be (or not),” but dancing in the unknown and savouring the small glimpses of joy in simplicity… flowing back & forth between all the above-articulated expressions/embodiments of wisdom as steps in the dance, each their perfect part of the whole.
In conclusion…?
Normally, I might be tempted to resort to the “draw your own” answer… as surely, these writings are written packed-full of codes, from which each reader shall take what is needed for their own unique journey, whether as stimulus for “ah ha” insight or seeds to sprout at a later time.
Though here, I feel an inclination to challenge the premise that this may even need a “conclusion…” as in some ways, the intent is perhaps moreso for that of this entire exploration to serve as a portal to new beginnings. Not to “conclude” in a neatly-wrapped package and you all go back to your usual lives, but some sort of Uranian pattern-interrupt fundamentally transforming the way you think & perceive - so as to both upgrade your innate bullshit detector and see more clearly into a broader spectrum than most of us have grown up programmed to.
Though as per Step 3 of the Formula For Truth: the choice is yours to make whether that is the result.
And it is not a choice to make just once, but continually put into practice.
That choice whether to lean into our cognitive biases, logical fallacies, and heuristics that make things simple & easy as staying put in our (and others’) existing ideas, beliefs, and outlooks… or expand our intelligence as connecting neural networks through the contemplation of their opposites/contrasts and seeking to understand the value, time & place of each - and consequentially opening to the full spectrum in between.
Life is short. Yeah, let’s “manifest” (if that’s the language / way of framing it that floats your boat) some dope shit that makes the ride worthwhile… discerningly. As in, for all the options we could choose from that full-spectrum buffet life has to offer, acknowledging that some will nourish us well while others will make us sick - and perhaps even kill us, should there not be limitations to protect from the consequences of gluttonous temptations; that some * may be* “meant for us,” others not; that sometimes the universe might support us well enough to deny “manifestations” for our own good, and we still have enough power to “fuck up” good things by valuing & chasing the wrong ones.
But lest I become yet another source of outer authority telling you what to do.
Thus, go forth, and “do what thou wilt…” 🙏