Manifestation is all over the internet, part of the whole law of attraction vibrational package. Because I have a bit (or a lot) of a fixation on purple people eaters, they’ll help us see what we might or might not be able to manifest. The purple monster critter in the image above is someone I’ve previously dubbed the Should Monster; I feel like an actual purple people eater would be too classy for the butt-scratching, but it’s hard to know for sure.
The law of attraction
TheLawofAttraction.com says “manifestation is where your thoughts and your energy can create your reality” and you can “manifest anything you want in 24 hours.” Oh, but not necessarily; it has to be something that’s actually doable in 24 hours. Um, okay then. “Manifestation doesn’t just work with your thoughts, there has to be a form of action on your part. This could be actually applying for the jobs that suit what you are looking for and going to the interviews.”
They sort of backpedal on that, though, saying that your intentions are what will determine your success. But if there’s something your intuition tells you to do, then go right ahead and do it.
I don’t know who Gabby Bernstein is, but she ranks high in Google search results, and here’s what she has to say: “Manifesting is the process of vibrating at a high frequency so that you become a vibrational match with the Universe and can co-create your world.” Keep in mind that this vibrational frequency business is by no means a literal thing, and unless this has meaning for you on a spiritual level, in a literal sense, it’s basically made up.
Ask and ye shan’t receive
As far as I can gather, manifestation is a blend of “want it properly and the universe will deliver”, with a bit of “we don’t want to admit the universe doesn’t really work that way, so we need an excuse,” and an undercurrent of “but if it doesn’t work, it’s because you’re not doing it properly.” I’m not a fan of the blame-y side of the LOA, in part because it says that if you’re crazy, it’s because that’s what you attracted.
If the whole LOA thing works for you, that’s fantastic, but where I think the whole faddishness runs into problems is that if I’m trying to manifest a purple people eater and it’s not working, it’s supposedly because I’m not setting the intention properly. All of a sudden, I suck because I’m not good enough at manifesting for the universe to give me the purple people eater that it has waiting for me.
On the other hand, maybe I realize that the reason a purple people eater isn’t coming my way is that they don’t exist (gasp!). Maybe I’m better off looking for a pot-bellied pig instead. If I’m sufficiently excited about this, I will scour the internet to find out ways to put my pot-bellied self next to one of the porcine variety. Being enthusiastic, I’ll chat up breeders (because presumably, such a thing exists). They will sense my enthusiasm, and they will want to help me make a pot-bellied pig part of my piggy environment at home. My keenness and follow-through will bring on the pot belly, no manifestation required.
What you’re putting out into the world
What you put out there into the world affects what you get back, not because you’re supposedly vibrating at 5 gazillion Hz, but because human interaction is a two-way street, and you’re half of it. Your behaviour can influence how other people react to you, but can’t control their reactions. Anyone you’re interacting with has all of their own shit going on, and there’s diddly squat you can do about that part of the whole equation.
It doesn’t matter how well set your manifestation intention is if the person you’ve got a job interview with just found out that morning that her partner of 30 years has been cheating on her with their daughter’s best friend. She would rather be anywhere other than interviewing you, and you look disturbingly like said daughter’s best friend, so no matter how much you’re trying to manifest the hell out of it, you’re not getting that job.
The world isn’t fair, period
I saw this on Pinterest: “Your life is your garden, your thoughts are the seeds, if your life isn’t awesome, you’ve been watering the weeds.” This is the same sort of nonsense idea that if you just plant the right seeds, everything will be hunky dory. If things turn out otherwise, it’s your own damn fault and you screwed up. Thanks, but no thanks.
The world is full of good things and bad things. No amount of LOA manifestation or toxic positivity is going to make the bad things go away. But maybe if we’re realistic, and accept that purple people eaters aren’t waiting at our beck and call, we’ll be able to enjoy the glory of pot-bellied pigs. Or something like that.
Have you ever manifested (or tried to) a purple people eater or some other such unrealistic being?
Related posts
- Do Thoughts Vibrate as the Law of Attraction Claims?
- Happiness Is Not a Choice
- Is the Law of Attraction Real?
Writing about science and debunking pseudoscience makes my heart sing! Visit the How to Spot Pseudoscience to explore other Science Corner posts on Mental Health @ Home.
Manifestation works… I’ve done it myself. I manifested money (when I really needed to make a sale), a husband (yes, manifested him too), and a bunch of other things. But none of these came without taking action. Action is the thing that a lot of people seem to miss. Sitting and meditating on a couch while singing “Kumbaya” won’t lead to manifestation, but taking steps that will likely lead to the results you want will.
I guess what I’m curious about, then, is how manifestation is different from just generally taking actions to try to make things happen?
I think what LoA emphasizes is focusing on goals each and everyday so we don’t lose sight of what we want. Yes, I agree that taking action is essentially the same thing – but doesn’t LoA have a fancier ring to it? It’s a hyped-up concept that appeals to society imo. People like to dream without taking action, which is what I think LoA and manifestations books/teachers/gurus miss .
But one of the fundamentals of LoA, at least as portrayed in The Secret, is that action isn’t required; thoughts and emotions vibrate, and if you get them vibrating at exactly the right frequency, the universe will give you what you want.
I get the sense that a fair number of people who are into the LoA actually don’t agree with what The Secret is saying and take more of a positive psychology approach that you can create positive change in your world.
WP refuses to allow me to like this post. Honestly, what is wrong with them? Ommmm, I put my wish for a glitch-free WP out there along with all the other users, ommmm… let’s see what happens! 😂
Obviously, I think this is bullshit. Successes are celebrated, while failures are dismissed, kinda like all praying. If I “manifest” my desire and the thing happens, then woohoo the process works. If the thing doesn’t happen, I must have asked wrong, right?
The only thing I agree with is this. If you act kind, friendly, generous, and helpful, you are more likely to end up with a set of nice friends than if you act like a crabby bitch. You also may end up dating a pile of conmen, lol. If you put in a huge effort to land a new job or start your own biz, you’ll probably be more successful than someone who sits at home moaning that no one gives him a chance. If you eat healthfully, um… nothing. Got nothing there… 😂
I agree, you put in the effort, you take the action, and then you might have something. I could manifest until the cows come home to try to get WP to stop messing up, but it’s not going to change anything; all I can do in that case is just stop caring by distracting myself with copious amounts of peanut butter cups.
No purple people eaters, nor fairies (which would be my own magical preference to invoke) or any other fantastical creature that simply is not possible in our form of reality.
I do believe in the law of attraction though, I’ve had it work for me personally. It takes tons of heavy lifting too on the part of the ‘wisher’. It’s indeed a combination of planning, luck and psychic resonance, and for me? It cost me physically more than it was probably worth though too.
As to my mental illness? I would seriously doubt (which would kill the intention and thus the attraction) that anyone could ‘wish’ that away. I don’t think whatever the force or power is works that way.
The whole “think happy, you’ll BE happy’ fad is crap in my opinion. Affirmations are all well and good (like the one you shared about weeds), but to me they just help those like myself put our minds on a better track, they don’t DO anything concrete.
The movie “What The Bleep Do We Know?” tells the scientific workings behind the law of attraction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Bleep_Do_We_Know!
It’s more believable than “The Secret” or any of that type of thinking in my opinion.
Having a little mystery in our lives, things we can’t explain like how the law of attraction works, makes things far more interesting for me. Just my opinion.
My favourite line in that Wikipedia entry was this, from physicists commenting on the film’s presentation fo quantum physics: “… the movie illustrates the uncertainty principle with a bouncing basketball being in several places at once. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s recognized as pedagogical exaggeration. But the movie gradually moves to quantum ‘insights’ that lead a woman to toss away her antidepressant medication, to the quantum channeling of Ramtha, the 35,000-year-old Lemurian warrior, and on to even greater nonsense.” Bring on the purple people eater! Lol
Not only was the post delightful (you know I love your humorous, snarky self) but the comments were equally entertaining.
Yeah, it’s been fun!
I think loa as a combination of luck and hard work not a thought and poof it happens. And some things truly aren’t possible and not your “fate” as is love to manifest being anxiety free yet its part of my mental illness. I can work towards improving it but i also need to be ok with some days it’ll happen and that’s ok doesn’t make me a failure.
That makes a lot of sense. It’s actually really interesting how many different ways that people interpret the LoA. I’m anti-LOA as presented in The Secret, but it seems like a lot of people’s interpretation is quite different from The Secret.
This is all an internal story of how we view the world based on our experiences. It’s all about seeing our whole selves, not just the ego stories, but the soul integration of spirit. What I perceive as reality I constantly in Flux of how I view myself and radiate, project outwards. That’s how I manifest what I put out. It’s a mix of mind, body spirit and yes, vibrating at a level to witness more than just the material, physical world. We each hold so much power that we either subconsciously or consciously give to others. Healing happens when we can look honestly at each experience and use it to grow from with a “it is” not a good or bad judgement and loving it all. This is transmitting pain and fear into fuel to grow and again alchemize to love. It’s all the energy we swim in, as I call lovingly refer to as the energy soup of life. There is do much groundbreaking work being done in alternative healing, my specialty and soul’s purpose, it’s very exciting. I love that you wrote about this Ashleyleia so to shine a light on more mental wellness avenues besides conventional western medicine practices. There are many avenues to healing ❤
I’m glad you’ve been able to find such a powerful source of healing.
Thank you for embracing my path my friend. I say that life didn’t make any sense to me until I complete reconnected with my soul and the senses I ignored for fear of stigma and being misunderstood. Now I love myself and life, living freely as the woman I came here to be. I appreciate your kindness always Ashleyleia🥰🙏❤
Yeah, I followed this nonsense for a very short period of time. For me, I was wanting a friend and to find the truth in life (as if truth is most definitely, absolutely objective). I don’t believe truth is objective though. Quite frankly, a lot of things are not objective. We enter our biases into just about everything. Anyway, my biases say the law of attraction is horse shit. But, the people who believe in it don’t believe that, so who am I to rain on anyone’s parade. Lol
I agree, most things are very subjective. While there are certainly people who go to extremes with the law of attraction, from the comments, it seems like there are also people who are taking the parts of it that work for them and leaving the rest.
Definitely. There is something to be said for positivity in that sense.
These ideas have been around since the fifties. There was a man, Bishop Sheen, who had a television show and he would teach on the “Power of Positive Thinking”.
Then another man took the idea and wrote a book “how to win friends and influence people”. His name was Dale Carnegie.
Then there was Reverend Robert Schuller who wrote “Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do”.
It seems every decade someone takes the premise, re-works it, gives it a new fancy packaging, and starts a new wave.
So true.
I’ve been thinking more about this post. So some of the language here is definitely ridiculous and amusing (see my snorting coffee comment above). It echoes the worst of the “vending machine” models of prayer – recite this prayer to this god at this time and boom – you get the candy bar. If you judge Law of Attraction and prayer generally on # of purple people eaters manifested as a direct result, yes, both are a ridiculous strategy. And the salesy pitch of “get this in 24 hours and if you don’t, then you’re obviously on the wrong spiritual frequency” definitely rubs me the wrong way.
But the core concept here strikes me as having some similarities with prayer in general. Some people benefit from Law of Attraction / prayer / similar focus of mental/spiritual energy on a particular goal or want. It might help them devote more focus to the practical tasks towards achieving that goal/want. It might help them feel a connection to a larger purpose outside of that goal/want. It might help them feel gratitude for what they already have. It might help them reach acceptance even if they never get that goal/desire.
So I do think that people who manifest or pray or use some other spiritual energy harnessing tool can still legitimately benefit. I myself pray on a regular basis and even though I don’t get everything I want, I still find it a valuable exercise. But I wish proponents wouldn’t make absurd promises like “get it in 24 hours”.
What bugs me about the law of attraction is that it gets really specific but in ways that don’t actually make sense. With prayer, you’re putting it out there, and whether or not there’s anything in return, the process is still beneficial.
The law of attraction draws in so-called quantum physics, and the mechanism that they’ve come up with to explain their whole deal is just nonsense. And if the foundation is nonsense, then there’s nonsense explanations for why people couldn’t “manifest” something that was unrealistic to begin with.
In general I think that’s something that’s common across multiple New Age ideas – that they come up with these mechanisms that are just plain wrong. Religion, on the other hand, seems to leave the mechanisms to the higher power and operate based on faith instead.
Ahh, I was not aware of the details of Law of Attraction! That is pretty wild!! You’re right, if they said instead that the process gave you some sort of benefit even if it doesn’t work wouldn’t be unreasonable necessarily. But to double-down on the quantum physics mechanism….wow!
I will say that even normal mainstream religion can have its share of magical thinking sometimes. (In Judaism, we have segulas. essentially something specific you might do to get married or get a job or get pregnant or something, and sometimes, this starts to sound a bit magical), but you are right that most religions typically leave the mechanism up to “G-d works in mysterious ways” rather than “the physics of the universe realign”
Mysterious ways sounds a lot more appealing.