The other day I was talking with a friend who is at an interesting point in her life, with all the cards up in the air, wanting to know where they might fall. Holding her back are some financial considerations, and us both being of a somewhat spiritual inclination, we got talking about how to manifest abundance in our lives.

E Squared, by Pam Grout

I mentioned E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality, a book by Pamela Grout presently climbing the charts in the Mind, Body, Spirit category (and you can also find it on Scribd). Being hailed as the new The Secret, it sets out to prove, yes prove, that we draw from the field of infinite possibilities according to our beliefs and expectations. In other words, ask, and ye shall receive, as the Bible so succinctly put it.

“I tried it,” my friend said. “And it didn’t work. So now I feel like a failure.”

There are several possible explanations for her disappointment. In ascending order of cynicism:

- My friend had a blockage. On some level, even subconsciously, she didn’t truly believe that she would receive abundance, and the universe could sense her ambivalence so it didn’t deliver.

- The universe will deliver. It’s just waiting for the time to be right, which it knows better than she does. She should keep the faith and be patient.

- The universe has delivered. She just didn’t recognize it. Look at all the wonderful privileges of the Western lifestyle that she enjoys. If she wants more, maybe her expectations are too high.

- The universe has something better in mind for her. What she thinks she wants is not actually what is best for her right now.

- She needs to hone her mindfulness practice, and will access the abundance that is waiting for her only once she has reached the requisite standard.

- She needs to get off the sofa and do her part. While everything comes to she who waits, it comes a lot faster to she who gets off her backside and does something about it.

- Books like this create lots of abundance – for the people who write them (I did warn you it would get cynical). They prosper by offering a lifeline to a struggling and vulnerable reader. In an era when fame can be conferred overnight by Big Brother, or a fortune by the Lottery, we are especially susceptible to the offer of a minimum-effort, maximum-results, instant-gratification option that takes, as E-Squared says, “absolutely no money and very little time expenditure”.

Creating our world?

Okay, so maybe that last explanation was a little too cynical, and I am certainly not accusing Pam Grout of any such devious manipulations.

I certainly do believe that there are things that exist in this universe that are beyond the paltry five senses of humankind, and that strange and seemingly magical serendipities can arise when we have absolute clarity of purpose. I have witnessed this myself. Sometimes I have had an incredible run of good luck, and felt like I was surfing a wave of good fortune.

But sometimes we fall off the wave, and have to swim hard to get back to the surface, even while the full force of the wave is pounding us back down under the water. Even those who seem to live blessed lives, and everything they touch turns to gold, have mostly had to put in the hard graft too.

Magic and manifestation only get you so far. At some point – before, after, or during your ride on the wave – you will need to draw on those invaluable human strengths, of determination, discipline, and dedication, to succeed.

So go easy on yourself – just because you can’t manifest, doesn’t make you a loser.