Many of us have heard the expression “cogito, ergo sum”… "I think,
therefore I am". This statement is widely attributed to René Descartes,
which became a fundamental part of Western thinking. This idea has been
primarily used in a philosophical manner to prove to ourselves that we
exist, because of our ability to be cognitive of the fact that we exist.
Sure everyone could be a figment of each other’s imagination but for the
sake of actually conceptualizing something useful, let’s assume we are
not all living in the Matrix. Even though Descartes made this phrase
popular, he certainly borrowed the idea from St. Augustine. At the time,
liberal independent secular thinking separate from the church was
becoming prevalent and being pushed hard, thus the accreditation was
directed at Descartes instead of St. Augustine. Regardless, the message
is clear, but I believe it is and has been WIDELY misinterpreted for
centuries and is even more so now especially.
It appears that these philosophers, Descartes and St. Augustine are
trying to tell us that since we think, therefore we exist. But I ask you
to reconsider what they were trying to illustrate. I think they had a
different message and if you bear with me on this one, I promise it will
be worth it. These were very spiritual men, who would never doubt their
existence. Men of faith seldom question things like their existence,
because of their firm belief in God and the creation of man and the
universe. I think their message was different and the true message
behind cogito ergo sum is a coveted secret that very few people keep in
hiding, because of it’s power. A message that if all clearly understood
would benefit each of us as individuals and collectively immensely. I
think the message was actually depicting “whatever I think, is what I
am”. Are you still with me? In other words, “with my thoughts, I create
my existence”. I am whatever I think I am. They are trying to clearly
portray that we, as cognitive self-aware humans, have full control of
only one thing… our own thoughts. Everything else is seemingly out of
our control.
Albert Einstein said “imagination is a thousand times more powerful than
intelligence” and he is arguably one of the most intelligent men to ever
exist. Our
imagination is so powerful, we could say it is powerful beyond belief,
but that all depends on what you believe. If you believe in limits you
will live in limits. Beliefs are merely a product of a collection of
thoughts that are deemed conclusive in your mind, a prejudice actually.
If you see yourself happy and successful, that’s what you’ll be or
that’s what you’ll become in time. You know the expression “if you fake
it long enough, you’ll become it”? Well that expression is prevalent
here. If you think you are happy and you think happy thoughts, you’ll
consequently feel happy. What you think and feel is the bulk of what
makes up your living reality. Additionally it has been scientifically
proven that your thoughts and mindset effect your physiology. The
problem is that most of us assume that feelings come first, then we
think about justifications as to why we feel that way. However, the most
successful people, first think up their realities using things like
goals, their imagination, visualization, affirmations, prayers,
meditation and other forms of cognitive expression (such as art and
science) and create feelings from that. It’s true, think about it.
Why do we always say things like “it’s my dream to…”; “I have a vision
that one day…” or “I can (or can’t) see that happening.”?? We say these
things because we are literally visualizing our future or our past
experiences. That’s why athletes “visualize” performances before and
after they occurred. That’s why performers run though their entire
routine over and over in their head before they hit the stage. Strong
minded and spirited individuals use things like meditation or use
hypnosis to achieve various states of cognitive awareness. These are
just methods of refining thoughts, specifically subconscious ones, which
in turn bypass limited conscious beliefs. Limited conscious beliefs
control our reality in the materialistic physical world. Limited beliefs
= Limited thoughts = limited imagination (or the belief that imagination
is just silly and childish) = limited reality.
Thoughts are not limited by the confines of space and time, as are our
physical bodies, however our social habits and physical enslavement have
shackled us to the confines of limitation. In terms of thoughts, there
is no past or future... no limits. Nobody can control your thoughts.
Thoughts are simply energy fields. This has already been proven
scientifically. Children have the wildest imaginations and think of some
of the most amazing things in the world. They have so much fun doing it,
until their parents and our pathetically limiting social system
(including education) takes it away from them by imposing restrictive
belief systems on them**. I wonder if the developers Google or
PlayStation or Windows were shunned away from using their imagination?
Doubt it! As a matter of fact every great invention, great piece of art
or great technology began as a thought in someone’s imagination. These
types of successful companies encourage the uses of creative imaginative
thinking. It’s the basis of their intellectual property.
Thoughts are energies that burn into the universe and manifest
themselves in physical ways. And whatever they are is what you choose to
focus on. This may sound far-fetch and hard to believe, but you can
create your own reality by virtue of what you choose to think and
ultimately what you choose to focus on. The more importance you give to
a thought, the more prevalent and real it becomes. I will provide
examples of this in a moment. It never really occurred to me just how
important the distinction between thoughts and focus are until someone
made me aware of it. We can think of a number of things, thereby carving
out many channels of possibilities for ourselves. Then it is our choice
as to what we focus on. That’s what freewill is the essential ingredient
of our spiritual existence. These philosophers and almost all great
spiritual teachers preached about the decisions and choices we have and
their importance. Apparently, random events do happen, but we still
choose how to react to them. We have all heard the saying “if you
believe it for long enough, it will come to be”, this statement is not
about ignorance, but about the power of thoughts and their
manifestation.
Let me show you some real examples of situations that people encounter
regularly and their thoughts, focus and the energies of manifestation
create reality.
Scenario 1: The jealous man
A guy thinks his girlfriend of cheating on him, but she
isn’t. He has many thoughts about her being unfaithful, he sees her
smile at someone at a social event and perceives it as if she is
sexually flirting. He accuses her of being promiscuous and she begins to
lose respect for him. She withdraws a little bit. Now he mistrusts her
even more claiming ‘she is hiding something’. He is sickened by her
every move. She tried to love him but can’t any longer. She is driven
into the arms of another and… bam. He was right. He created his own
reality by choosing to focus on infidelity. Here’s the crazy part. Even
if she never cheated at all, he would still experience the same
anguishing feelings of betrayal, because that’s what he believes is true
and the feelings associated with this betrayal are prevalent and real to
him. His thoughts made it real to him regardless of whether it did
happen or not.
Scenario 2: Taken for granted or cherished
A woman with a very kind and generous heart is always giving
to others, it brings her great joy to do this and it makes her happy and
most people she is kind towards, are extremely grateful for it. However,
this woman has a cynical friend, who starts to tell her “stop letting
people take advantage of you”. Now the next time she is in situation
where someone is in need of help, she hesitates, remember what her
friend said. She thinks “this person is using me”, she starts to become
bitter and continues to see everyone asking for a favour as an attempt
to use her. All the people that once admired her are now beginning to
change their opinions about her and drift away from her. Inevitably she
feels abandoned and concludes that her friend was right along, because
these people are no longer close to her, ever since she stopped being so
naïve and letting them take her for granted. Low and behold, she created
her reality with her thoughts and her choice of focus. Had she of just
taken it with a grain of salt and continue to do what brought her joy,
she would be happy and admired and people would probably even start
giving more back to her then she could ever anticipate.
This isn’t a case of the glass is half empty or half full. This isn’t a
case of pessimism and optimism. This isn’t a case of cynicism or
blissful ignorance. No. It just is. You think, you create reality and
this reality has no label, it just is what it is… existence.
So now
that you know this, what can you do to use this to your
advantage? It’s three simple steps.
-
Focus. Focus on what you want and give glance to but
don’t focus on obstacles or negative outcomes.
-
Visualize. See it happen and trust with blind faith that
it will come. DO NOT interfere or try to control how it will
come to be.
-
Faith and Grace. Have utmost gratitude for what you do
have and act grateful as if you already have what you are
thinking of. Have faith that it will happen. This allows
your energy and your subconscious mind to become open to
opportunities and be able to more easily see open windows
that may help you lead to your goals.
You
create reality with your thoughts because thoughts do become
things. So choose your thoughts wisely. You are in control, of
only that. Cogito, ergo sum. You think therefore you are… what
you think you are and what you think about.
It's time to
stop living as a slave to your lower forms of intelligence. Hunger,
emotions, feelings, lust and your earthy desires are probably
controlling you right now... when you should be controlling them. You
are a higher form of intelligence, you are not simply an animal that
adheres only to instincts and physical desires. You have a gift that you
should be grateful for. Use this great gift you have, your power of
intent and your power of creation through thought manifestation.
"Faith is believing what you do not see,
the result of faith is seeing what you believe"
St. Augustine
I recommend the following to help you start manifesting your own
reality. Start using subliminal audio CDs to help bypass your limited
conscious beliefs
http://www.secret-software.com/subliminal-audio.html
Try instant self-hypnosis audio programs to help you with
specific life issues.
http://www.instant-hypnosis.com/?afl=13699
And this is a must… An ABSOLUTE must. Order a copy of The Absolute
Secret @
http://www.absolutesecret.com
*NOTE & WARNING: Today's self-help marketing gurus have told us that we
can have whatever it is we like and this not only false, it is the
mechanism that drives consumerism. One that is annihilating the earth's
resources. Using manifestation to only create material things or selfish
things can come with a price. Focusing on what is important comes with a
moral responsibility and that responsibility is up to you.
** I am not saying that moral or religious systems are limiting,
in fact I actually believe that the basis of religions (such as
Christianity) call for us to create and share joy with our thoughts,
words and actions and calls for us to use our free will to make the
right choices when we are faced with temptations or moral dilemmas. In
other words many people view religious/spiritual beliefs as limiting,
but I believe they are liberating. |
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