Manifesto: How To Get What You Want Without Trying

if you don’t have faith in yourself, no one else will either.

sex

Almost everyone, including Mother Nature herself, agrees sex is, or at least can be, one of the most exciting, nurturing, life-affirming and of course life-generating activities on offer, but because it ideally involves the willing cooperation of another person (or persons, if you’re greedy that way), it naturally tends to be a tricky thing to negotiate at times. So gird your loins and without indulging in sentimentality or masturbatory fantasy (for now) visualize yourself enjoying a magnificent, multiorgasmic, healthy (disease-free and hangup-free) sex life without shame, guilt or fear. And don’t just see it – smell it, taste it, hear it and feel it – feel it move through you like a vapour of personal sexiness right now, you sexy beast.

empathetic company

(human warmth)

Without this, unless you’ve achieved ultimate mastery of self and are able to meditate for months on end in the unquestionable rarified bliss of solitude, which is pretty unlikely, you soon wither, go insane and die. So see yourself now, surrounded and supported by a network of compassionate people, including lovers, partners, family, friends and associates, with whom you have total empathy, and feel the warmth it generates in your heart and soul. See yourself wandering along the Great Thoroughfare of Life attracting empathetic, kind and loving company wherever you go.

visualize yourself enjoying a magnificent, multiorgasmic, healthy (disease-free and hangup-free) sex life without shame, guilt or fear.

freedom of ideas

No one enjoys having their thoughts restricted by having a limited model of reality. No one wants their imagination to be fettered by negativity. Everyone wants to be creative, in their thoughts at least. Freedom to use your imagination fully to conceive any old idea you like is a great treasure and one you can access immediately now by visualizing yourself as being like Einstein, with full freedom of imagination and full access to all the creativity in the universe. Imagine the top of your head wide open and downloading data even as we speak.

freedom of choice

This is a big one. If you lived in a police state, your freedom of choice would be far more limited, far more underground than it is now. But even in liberal societies, we have a habit of restricting our own range of choices by refusing to use our imaginations properly. This in turn limits the range of experience at our disposal, which is a major cause of the endemic scourge of depression afflicting our society these days – ironic at a time when it would appear the range of experiences on offer has never been so great. Visualize yourself now as someone who knows they have absolute freedom of choice – see how it sits on your features, how it animates your body and gives timbre to your voice. See yourself with the whole world at your feet here and now.

visualize yourself as being like einstein, with full freedom of imagination and full access to all the creativity in the universe.

freedom of expression

Everyone loves a good natter. Everyone loves to get their view across. Again, this is something we take for granted but which is, in fact, a rare treasure. Opposition not only comes potentially from without, but also from within through lack of confidence or communication skills. So see yourself here and now with absolute freedom of expression, conveying your message through all appropriate means (verbally, musically, visually and so forth), with ease, clarity and grace, and see yourself being willingly received and understood.

love

If you were feeling sentimental or in a particularly retro-Beatles frame of mind, you’d stick this at the top of the list even before pure air, because without a doubt, the need to both give and receive love (to and from everyone) is the subtext of all our interactions with others – not that I’d say it’s all you need, because without clean air, something to slake your thirst, a bit of grub in your stomach, a roof over your head, freedom from pain and illness, strength and all the rest of it, you won’t be feeling very loving; and without some nice threads and a bit of a wash every now and then you won’t be very appealing in the loveability stakes anyway. But once the basics are taken care of or transcended, it’s love you want, not just carnal or romantic love but the unconditional, universal variety, as well as general day-to-day bonhomie. So visualize yourself now, chest completely relaxed, heart open, with love not only pouring forth from you, but pouring forth into you from six billion people worldwide including partners, lovers, family, friends, acquaintances and strangers, and don’t just see it, but feel yourself veritably glowing with it now.

respect

Pretty much all the trouble and strife, the rage, the violence and the war comes about because someone feels someone else doesn’t respect them in some way or other. Everyone wants respect – it’s almost crucial to psychological survival – and to get it, as you know, you have to give it, not just to others, but most importantly to yourself. But what does it look like? I don’t know – you’ll have to make up your own picture – but do it now. Visualize yourself fully worthy of respect, respected and respectful, like an oriental master (or mistress) of some ancient, arcane art, with that air of respect hanging lightly but unquestionably around your person – and feel how it subtly alters your demeanour now.

visualize yourself now, chest completely relaxed, heart open, with love not only pouring forth from you, but pouring forth into you from six billion people worldwide.

everyone wants respect – it’s almost crucial to psychological survival – and to get it you have to give it, not just to others, but most importantly to yourself.

gainful, fulfilling employment

Though you may well think it would be nice to lay around in bed all day (especially if you wake up tired in the morning), you’d probably find it a tad tedious after a few days, as anyone unfortunate enough to be bedridden will tell you. No, it’s a fact, people like to be employed, and need to be – not just for obvious reasons of survival, for even those blessed or cursed with large inheritances crave a purpose in life, and purpose generally tends to be intimately tied up with gainful, fulfilling employment. Indeed, from my own perspective, I’d say it’s one of the best drugs around, and seeing as you generally have to spend such a large slice of your available time doing it, it would be just as well to enjoy what you’re doing. So visualize yourself now, doing exactly (or even approximately) the kind of work you imagine bringing you both the money you need and the fulfilment you crave, and if you already have that, visualize yourself refining it, so you earn even more and enjoy it even more profoundly. And don’t just see it, but smell it, hear it and feel it too as a vapour of utter satisfaction pervading your person from head to toe.

social status

There’s no need to point out how important social status is to everyone, even if they don’t admit it. Our entire social structure, whether we like it or not, is organized around hierarchies of social importance, based on criteria of merit, wealth, power and influence (including the ability to provide connections through marriage or association). Were it not so, everyone would drive around in identical cars and wear identical clothes and have identical exteriors to their houses, and we wouldn’t have such a sick fascination with celebrity culture, with all its shallow tawdriness. The energy we put into outward displays of status, however discreetly splurged, is truly phenomenal – hence the pointless expenditure on so-called premium logo branded clothing, for example, or being seen at the ‘right’ overpriced restaurants and clubs. And while it’s obviously utterly silly, it’s an utterly silly life in many respects, and nothing is gained by avoiding the status game altogether, so you might as well visualize yourself now enjoying good social standing and having the power to influence events in a positive direction. I’m not sure how that looks to you. But however it looks to you, let yourself see it, feel it, smell it, taste it and hear it now.

a good reputation

Having a reputation as a mostly (no one’s perfect) honest, just and fair-minded person, as opposed to a dishonourable, no-good lying cheat, is not only desirable but fairly indispensable (unless you live in a bubble), for your very survival depends on people being willing to engage in commerce with you in one form or another and commerce depends on trust. So visualize yourself now enjoying a solid reputation as an all-round honourable character with whom others are keen to be involved on whatever level. Perhaps see yourself walking through the great marketplace of life and being greeted left, right and centre as a queen among women or a king among men – or even a queen among men and a king among women (or it could all turn out to be a bit of a dry experience for everyone).

popularity

(maybe involving fame)

Everyone except the most miserable spoilsport wants to be popular. Popularity is almost akin to respect, status and having a good reputation but is subtly different, in that when you walk into a crowded room, people don’t just treat you with respect, admiration or at least deference, but come up and hug you instead, which is always a lot more fun for everyone involved. Indeed it’s great to be popular, as long as you remember people are fickle and resist the temptation to take it seriously. So visualize yourself with a scintillating social life, the most popular belle or beau of the ball, your card marked for the duration, but visualize it so because you’re exuding so much love and bonhomie. More importantly, visualize yourself with at least a few real friends, sisters and brothers who make your heart sing whenever you meet, talk, email or text, because as far as I can tell, all the clever-clever stuff aside, there’s hardly anything more important.

safety

Interesting one, safety. Even though we know that living in a human body on a planet in deepest, darkest space, which is hurtling around the nearest star at 66,000 mph, while simultaneously rotating on its own axis at no less than 1000 mph, and is subject to the vagaries of stray asteroids and comets, unpredictable weather and climate, tidal waves, flooding, drought, famine, pestilence, economic turbulence, social unrest and human violence, is probably the most dangerous game a spirit can play in life, still we delude ourselves into expecting safety in our everyday lives and are strangely surprised when events turn dangerous. Nonetheless, start immediately visualizing a protective sheath of energy around you and anyone whose safety you may be concerned about. See yourself so surrounded, walking through the jungle of life without a single lion, tiger, mugger, rapist or murdering gangster pouncing on you now.

entertainment

Well it would be pretty damn boring without it, wouldn’t it? No matter how spiritually developed you are, nor how fully engaged you are in your gainful, fulfilling employment, you still need to be entertained by life, whether formally at the theatre, movies, lapdancing club, comedy store or wherever, or informally by the living theatre, movie, lapdance and humour of everyday life. Essentially, most entertainment boils down to watching other people do things that make you laugh, gasp or simply engage your attention so you can forget your own story for a while. See yourself being fully entertained and amused by the ordinary details of workaday life, as well as by troupes of the best performers of every showbiz discipline from every corner of the globe – why not? – and bring on those dancing girls (or, of course, boys).

visualize yourself with at least a few real friends, sisters and brothers who make your heart sing whenever you meet, talk, email or text, because as far as I can tell, there’s hardly anything more important.

a feeling of belonging

(wherever you are)

While it is evident on close inspection that even the most permanent object, such as the oldest mountain, was once nothing more permanent, hence belonging only in situ, than molten lava, we still delude ourselves into craving a sense of belonging on the planet, and specifically to a particular place or group of places and, even more specifically, with a particular person or grouping of persons. Of course when you see through the illusion, it’s quite clear that if we belong anywhere at all, it’s in our bodies and in the universe. Anything more defined than that is asking for trouble. Yet ask for trouble we always do – hence xenophobia, nationalism and all the painful nonsense that comes with them.

So visualize yourself now feeling a deep sense of belonging in your body in the universe, so that no matter where you find yourself, nor with whom, whether in Taunton or Timbuktu, whether with friends or complete strangers, you feel completely at home. Feel it as a relaxing awareness in the belly now.

peace of mind

(including being at peace with the idea of dying one day, as well as having a workable, reliable philosophy or existential model that may or may not have spiritual underpinnings)

This is really the big one, because if you have unshakable peace of mind, no matter your external condition or situation, no matter your state of health, wealth or status, then you’ll always feel comfortable, which is after all what everyone wants to feel all the time – comfortable. Peace of mind isn’t something come by easily yet it is incredibly simple to attain. And it usually only takes thirty years or so of diligently following any valid psychophysical, spiritually based, philosophically sound system that grabs your fancy. Meantime, start visualizing yourself immediately with a mind so calm and peaceful that even if a stray asteroid were to crash into the ground before you now and destroy everyone and everything you hold dear or are familiar with, you would still retain your inner and outer composure – imagine that.

purity of heart

(hence authenticity and intensity of experience)

It’s a rare person who’d enjoy an insipid life and who’d prefer things to be dull. Rarer still someone who’d truly prefer simulated life to the real thing. Even the most commited couch potato, if you could get them up off their arse, would rather be out in the world having a good time than watching other people doing it on TV. But the intensity of experience we crave and look for mistakenly in drink, sex, drugs or spending money to excess, to name but a few examples, can only truly be accessed with a pure heart. This implies a sufficient level of inner self-awareness to be honest with yourself and hence honest with others wherever and whenever possible, something usually facilitated by a few years of therapy with a competent therapist, meditation under instruction from an experienced teacher, or both. Meanwhile, immediately start visualizing yourself with absolute self-honesty, purity of heart in other words, living each and every moment with optimum authenticity and hence intensity now (however that may look to you).