In the biggest
bestseller on "magical" reality creation, The Secret, the
method of attracting a desired reality is summarized in three steps:
- Ask (for something)
- Believe (that it will come)
- Receive (be ready for it)
If only it were that
simple, right? Even though the book goes into more detail: This simplified process
only works if we
- know deep down what we really want,
- have no more or less conscious conflicts overlaying it,
- are open to unexpected possibilities.
In this ideal case,
the steps can even be reduced to a single one: an egoless allowing of the
satisfaction of needs. Fulfillment is simply the next step; it comes naturally,
it is simply there – to our moderate amazement, because we have long since
realized it inwardly.
But usually we are not
in the best of moods, and then at best it works with minor desires. We may have
deep inner conflicts to deal with, which may take many years to resolve – if we
seek them at all. During this time, we can easily lose faith in the magic of
life and even resort to skepticism and sarcasm, which we pass off as realism in
order to come to terms with our perceived failures.
When we do succeed in
spite of this, it only reinforces our tunnel vision. However, we either don't
find fulfillment in this way, or we find it only in some areas of life that are
not so conflict-ridden. The lack of fulfillment in the other areas becomes
apparent over the years and can eventually lead to a conscious search for a
solution or a crisis with an uncertain outcome.
The magic sellers who
want us to believe that we have only used their method incorrectly do not
address this. Nor are they convincing role models when they themselves have
achieved their claimed happiness by selling this idealized wisdom. Or when they
cite their own successes whose magic does not stand up to scrutiny. This
creates a tunnel vision in the opposite direction, which is just as unpromising
and exposes the whole thing as a show.
I would go one step
further and say that happiness is not the primary goal for most people. After
all, feelings of happiness can easily be induced by drugs. But why do we reject
such feelings? Would we accept them if the chemicals were so cleverly designed
that they left nothing to be desired? Would something be missing?
Authenticity, inner
certainty, is obviously based on more than feelings. It involves a subtle sense
that underlies all emotions – even infatuation. It is something we rarely
explore, the next level of reality. Yet it makes itself felt in every area of
life, whenever we choose not the pleasurable but the painful expansion of
consciousness – the subtle fulfillment of a need that degrades the happiness of
the brain's neurotransmitters to an illusion.
Of course, this
fulfillment and the path to it are also somehow pleasant. They satisfy a deeper
impulse, a deeper value, the desire for a more comprehensive existence. They
lead to an enrichment of almost indescribable quality. Everyone knows this. But
hardly anyone knows how to grasp it.
Those who delve into
this idea can ultimately recognize it as love and perceive the feelings
associated with it in a more nuanced and novel way. We can also understand that
life is above all a meaningful movement, regardless of how much happiness it
brings us. We can be honest.
This text is an excerpt from the book
Truthfulness. The Consciousness that Creates Reality
