The Practical Science of Manifestation and How Unhappy People Can Use it to Live Fuller, Longer and Wealthier
Hippies, oh sorry, yogis, have given it a bad name.
Being exposed to it initially by a friend, I was sceptical, like many of you are. But after investing some significant time reading up on the topic (and most importantly trying it), I’ve come out on the other side with answers for why and how.
First we’re cover the why it works, then how to use it.
The science
Genetics aren’t as fixed as we initially thought.
When Watson and Crick discovered the double-helix in 1953, bringing to light the nature of it’s rich biological data, the primary consensus was that genes sat independent from our environment, being primarily determined by the mix of alleles our parents gave to us. Though genes do certainly all come from our progenitors, they have been found to be far more susceptible to external influences than originally thought.
Joe Dispenser uses the term ‘epigenetics’ in his book ‘You Are The Placebo.’
Epi is Latin for ‘over’ or ‘upon’, so means ‘over-gene’, referring to influences outside of our genetic store houses. Though epigenetics includes anything that affects genetic sequencing (like ionising radiation or toxins from our environment), Joe uses the phenomena of the placebo effect to demonstrate the influence of the mind, more specifically belief, on genes.
A famous case study is of Mr White.
Published in a peered reviewed journal by the prominent German psychologist Bruno Klopfer in 1957, the paper relates how a patient referred to as Mr White, suffering from lymphoma (cancer of the lymph glands), was drastically affected by an unintentional placebo. Being treated by Dr Philip West in Long Beach, California, Mr White reportedly ‘had tumours some as big as oranges’ in his neck, armpit and groin. Despite being in immense pain, barely being able to breathe, and not looking like a promising case, Mr White was determined to recover.
When an experimental drug called krebiozen (extracted from horse blood) was made available at his hospital, Mr White pestered Dr West until he eventually administered some.
Within days the tumours ‘dissolved’, and the dying man was up and about cracking jokes like his old self.
When reports came that the drug was discovered to be ineffective, the patient relapsed into his original state. His doctor, seeing how the placebo effect had drastically improved his condition, attempted to keep it going. Telling his patient that a new and improved batch of Krebiozen had arrived, Philip West injected Mr White with distilled water.
Mr White made a rapid recovery, and eventually made it home.
Months later, The American Medical Association announced that in fact the drug was useless. A few days later Mr White was back in hospital, a few days more, he was dead.
Application in the real world
Now, bro science with anecdotes from the 50s is all well and good, but I think the best case you can make for manifestation is from first-hand experience.
I’ve personally seen results, and seen friends get results, and the best explanation I can really give is that it just works and you should try it. And by ‘results’ I don’t mean I woke up and found a G-wagon on my porch, I mean I used it to bring around goals I was working towards anyway.
How’s what I think is going on.
The human mind is so powerful and complex, us, as users of it, don’t (and potentially can’t) comprehend its full implications in terms of how we view the world, and experiences reality. People who have done inner work will understand how events in our past, that we are not even conscious of, can pull the strings of our behaviour, making you act out in certain ways, and ultimately determining the course of your life.
There is deep level programming, deep in your mind.
Why are some people happy? Others sad? When often the depressed person has an objectively better life, than the content person with nothing? What inner processes, that were coded from inherited genetics, and environmental factors, sit at the base of our psyche?
Manifestation is the conscious alteration of unconscious factors.
When you do one of these manifestation meditations, you enter an almost hypnotic state. In this place, you can get at the core of your belief structures, changing them consciously to your desired will. If our beliefs determine our lives, then changing them, will change your life.
That’s the simplest I can put it.
If, like Dr Joe Dispenser claims, you can change your genetic make up with your mind, then you can change your whole body and being. Genes create proteins, proteins are the building blocks of your body.
Change your mind, change your genes, change your life.
How to implement
Firstly here’s what not to do.
If the thoughts you think have that much of a powerful effect, make sure you’re thinking the right ones. I feel like science is only just able to explain what humanities always known: so above, so below. If you don’t look after your body, your mind will suffer, if you don’t look after your mind, your body will suffer.
People are also creatures of habit.
If you’re always looking at the bright side, your brain chemistry will change along with the neural pathways. It will become an ingrained action to be happy, the opposite is also true, and this applies to everything. Look at an old guy who’s spent his life complaining, then look at a man of equal age who’s managed to stay positive throughout, some will say thats genetics, but now we know genetics aren’t final.
Here’s what to do.
- Block off 10–30 minutes to meditate (first thing in the morning works for me)
- Write out 1–3 things you want to change about your life
- Take 5–10 minutes to fully relax and calm the mind
- For each outcome you want, spend a few minutes visualising it, convince yourself it’s happened/happening, and then giving it up to greater power, and most importantly feeling GRATEFUL for it
- Repeat for all your chosen goals
Do this everyday for a month, be sincere with the practice, you have to believe what you’re doing is working.
