Whether you believe it or not, every second of your life you create your reality with your thoughts and feelings. That bears repeating: you don’t have to actually KNOW you are doing it…to do it. Everyone does. Even “wrong” ideas are manifested (that is how “bad things” happen). It is how the world works. But if you do know, ah…there is where the real magic lies.
So. Be suspicious of new ideas. Be suspicious if it means you think and explore before accepting a new idea as your own Truth. I will encourage all people to NEVER believe what they are told without testing the information first. In our society profit is made easiest at the expense of the ignorant. You may notice that overall, Americans are becoming more and more ignorant as the years pass. Certain groups are more knowledgeable…and information is now more available than ever before, yet the huge majority of Americans live in blissful ignorance. Why? I think it is because ignorance is blissful, but also because new information is so frightening.
Take the resistance to the Idea of Climate Change. This Idea is very frightening. Better to pretend it doesn’t exist. How about Evolution? Extremely frightening. That Idea suggests that the world does not need a caretaker god to make things work. Let’s vigorously oppose that Idea. New Technologies and Ideas generate resistance at first. Any reading of the history of science teaches that. The Idea of Contraception was maniacally opposed in the first part of this century. Imagine being imprisoned for telling someone that they could have sex without the possibility of conception. This happened. Remember the fear that cell phones cause brain cancer? I hope I have made my point here in this paragraph so I can get to the fun part.
So, if you are handed a new Idea what do you do first? You may stare at the Idea in your hand for a while, thinking about this new thing. Hopefully you will then, say, read the instruction manual first (but how many of us do?) I think you will undoubtedly start to experiment with your new toy.
Good. This Idea, like other new things, will be different for each individual. Like a new video game you can program to your own preferences. Do you want to play as the Warrior? The Priestess? The Thief? The game is the same, but experienced from different perspectives. A real game fan will play it all the way through as each of the characters. You can do this, too, with your new Idea.
First, pretend that the idea is True. All of us have the capacity for this kind of imaginary play. Some folks had it stamped out of them as children, others are fortunate enough to retain the ability. Then play with the Idea by imagining a small thing. I will suggest a common beginning from the visionary Richard Bach. Let us use a white feather. This object is common enough not to be shocking but unusual enough to be meaningful. Think hard about white feathers, imagine one in your hand where the Idea was, think hard about how much you want a white feather, and how lovely they are. Now stop and go about your daily business.
Be ecstatic when the white feather shows up! If the feather shows up in an hour or so, you have graduated Kindergarten and are totally ready for the next step. If it takes longer, it doesn’t mean you can’t…it means you have some cross-current beliefs that need to be altered. You didn’t start with the first step: pretend it is possible. Remember we ALL do this every time we watch TV or go to the movies or read a book. We love to pretend something is real.
What you are doing when you pretend is unhinging the belief that insists the New Idea is Not Real. This unhinging is necessary before you can insert a new belief, so make sure you do this with a sense of play and curiosity, not fear.
Many people have started their journey with a white feather, if you are amazed at the avalanche of feathers that appear in your life, you may want to read more from Richard Bach:
An Unfettered Mind 