Law of Least Effort

Nature 5 intelligence functions with effortless
ease . . . with carefreeness, harmony, and love.
And when we harness the forces of harmony,
joy, and love, we create success and good fortune
with effortless ease.
An integral being knows without going, sees
without looking, and accomplishes without doing.
— Lao TZU

The fourth spiritual law of success is the Law of Least Effort. This law is based on the fact that nature’s intelligence functions with effortless ease and abandoned careful ness. This is the principle of least action, of no resistance. This is, therefore, the principle of harmony and love. When we learn this lesson from nature, we easily fulfill our desires.

If you observe nature at work, you will see that least effort is expended. Grass doesn’t try to row, it just grows. Fish don’t try to swim, they just swim. Flowers don’t try to bloom, they bloom. Birds don’t try to fly, they fly. This is their intrinsic nture. The earth doesn’t try to spin on its own axis; it is the nature of the earth to spin with dizzying speed and to hurtle through space. It is the nature of babies to be in bliss. It is the nature of the sun to shine. It is the nature of the stars to glitter and sparkle. And it is human nature to make our dreams manifest into physical form, easily and effortlessly.

In Vedic Science, the age-old philosophy of India, this principle is known as the principle of economy of effort, or “do less and accomplish more.” Ultimately you come to the state where you do nothing and accomplish everything. This means that there is just a faint idea, and then the manifestation of the idea comes about effortlessly. What is commonly called a “miracle” is actually an expression of the Law of Least Effort.

Nature’s intelligence functions effortlessly, fric-tionlessly, spontaneously. It is non-linear; it is intuitive, holistic, and nourishing. And when you are in harmony with nature, when you are established in the knowledge of your true self, you can make use or the Law of Least Effort.

Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love. When you seek power and control over other people, you waste energy. When you seek money or power for the sake of the ego, you spend energy chasing the illusion of happiness instead of enjoying happiness in the moment. When you seek money for personal gain only, you cut off the flow of energy to yourself, and interfere with the expression of nature’s intelligence. But when your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy. When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiplies and accumulates — and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth.

You can think of your physical body as a device for controlling energy: it can generate, store, and expend energy. If you know how to generate, store, and expend energy in an efficient way, then you can create any amount of wealth. Attention to the ego consumes the greatest amount of energy. When your internal reference point is the ego, when you seek power and control over other people or seek approval from others, you spend energy in a wasteful way. When that energy is freed up, it can be rechanneled and used to create anything that you want. When your internal reference point is your spirit, when you are immune to criticism and unfearful of any challenge, you can harness the power of love, and use energy creatively for the experience of affluence and evolution.

Law of Intension and desire

Inherent in every intention and desire is the

mechanics for its fulfillment. . . intention and desire

in the field of pure potentiality have infinite organizing

power.

And when we introduce an intention in the fertile

ground of pure potentiality, we put this infinite

organiyng power to work for us.

In the beginning there was desire, which was

the first seed of mind; sages, having meditated in

their hearts, have discovered by their wisdom the

connection of the existent with the non-existent.

— The Hymn of Creation, The Rig Veda

The fifth spiritual law of success is the Law of Intention and Desire. This law is based on the fact that energy and information exist everywhere in nature. In fact, at the level of the quantum field, there is nothing other than energy and information. The quantum field is just another label for the field of pure consciousness or pure potentiality. And this quantum field is influenced by intention and desire. Let’s examine this process in detail.

A flower, a rainbow, a tree, a blade of grass, a human body, when broken down to their essential components, are energy and information. The whole universe, in its essential nature, is the movement of energy and information. The only difference between you and a tree is the informational and energy content of your respective bodies.

On the material level, both you and the tree are made up of the same recycled elements: mostly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements in minute amounts. You could buy these elements in a hardware store for a couple of dollars. The difference, therefore, between you and the tree is not the carbon, or the hydrogen, or the oxygen. In fact; you and the tree are constantly exchanging your carbon and oxygen with each other. The real difference between the two of you is in the energy and in the information.

In the scheme of nature, you and I are a privileged species. We have a nervous system that is capable of becoming aware of the energy and informational content of that localized field that gives rise to our physical body. We experience this field subjectively as our own thoughts,

feelings, emotions, desires, memories, instincts, drives, and beliefs. This same field is experienced objectively as the physical body — and through the physical body, we experience this field as the world. But it’s all the same stuff. That is why the ancient seers exclaimed, “I am that, you are that, all this is that, and that’s all there is.”

Your body is not separate from the body of the universe, because at quantum mechanical levels there are no well-defined edges. You are like a wiggle, a wave, a fluctuation, a convolution, a whirlpool, a localized disturbance in the larger quantum field. The larger quantum field — the universe — is your extended body.

Not only is the human nervous system capable of becoming aware of the information and energy of its own quantum field, but because human consciousness is infinitely flexible through this wonderful nervous system, you are able to consciously change the informational content that gives rise to your physical body. You can consciously change the energy and informational content or your own quantum mechanical body, and therefore influence the energy and informational content of your extended body — your environment, your world — and cause things to manifest in it.

This conscious change is brought about by the two qualities inherent in consciousness: attention and intention. Attention energizes, and intention transforms. Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate, and disappear. Intention, on the other hand, triggers transformation of energy and information. Intention organizes its own fulfillment.

The quality of intention on the object of attention will orchestrate an infinity of space-time events to bring about the outcome intended, provided one follows the other spiritual laws of success. This is because intention in the fertile ground of attention has infinite organizing power. Infinite organizing power means the power to organize an infinity of space-time events, all at the same time. We see the expression of this infinite organizing power in every blade of grass, in every apple blossom, in every cell of our body. We see it in everything that is alive.

In the scheme of nature, everything correlates and connects with everything else. The groundhog comes out of the earth and you know it is going to be spring. Birds begin to migrate in a certain direction at a certain time of the year. Nature is a symphony. And that symphony is being silently orchestrated at the ultimate ground of creation.

The human body is another good example of this symphony. A single cell in the human body is doing about six trillion things per second, and it has to know what every other cell is doing at the same time. The human body can play music, kill germs, make a baby, recite poetry, and monitor the movement of stars all at the same time, because the field of infinite correlation is part of its information field.

What is remarkable about the nervous system of the human species is that it can command this infinite organizing power through conscious intent. Intent in the human species is not fixed or locked into a rigid network of energy and information. It has infinite flexibility. In other words, as long as you do not violate the other laws of nature, through your intent you can

literally command the laws of nature to fulfill your dreams and desires.

You can put the cosmic computer with its infinite organizing power to work for you. You can go to that ultimate ground of creation and introduce an intention, and just by introducing the intention, you activate the field of infinite correlation.

Intention lays the groundwork for the effortless, spontaneous, frictionless flow of pure potentiality seeking expression from the unmanifest to the manifest. The only caution is that you use your intent for the benefit of mankind. This happens spontaneously when you are in alignment with The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

Intention is the real power behind desire. Intent alone is very powerful, because intent is desire without attachment to the outcome. Desire alone is weak, because desire in most people is attention with attachment. Intent is desire with strict adherence to all the other laws, but particularly the Law of Detachment, which is the Sixth Spiritual Law of Success.

Intention combined with detachment leads to life-centered, present-moment awareness. And when action is performed in present-moment awareness, it is most effective. Your intent is for the future, but your attention is in the present. As long as your attention is in the present, then your intent for the future will manifest, because the future is created in the present. You must accept the present as is. Accept the present and intend the future. The future is something you can always create through detached intention, but you should never struggle against the present.

The past, present, and future are all properties of consciousness. The past is recollection, memory; the future is anticipation; the present is awareness. Therefore time is the movement of thought. Both past and future are born in the imagination; only the present, which is awareness, is real and eternal. It is. It is the potentiality for space-time, matter, and energy. It is an eternal field of possibilities experiencing itself as abstract forces, whether they be light, heat, electricity, magnetism, or gravity. These forces are neither in the past nor in the future. They just are.

Our interpretation of these abstract forces gives us the experience of concrete phenomena and form. Remembered interpretations of abstract forces create the experience of the past, anticipatory interpretations of the same abstract forces create the future. They are the qualities of attention in consciousness. When these qualities are freed from the burden of the past, then action in the present becomes the fertile ground for the creation of the future.

Intention, grounded in this detached freedom of the present, serves as the catalyst for the right mix of matter, energy, and space-time events to create whatever it is that you desire.

If you have life-centered, present-moment awareness, then the imaginary obstacles —which are more than ninety percent of perceived obstacles — disintegrate and disappear. The remaining five to ten percent of perceived obstacles can be transmuted into opportunities through one-pointed intention.

One-pointed intention is that quality of attention that is unbending in its fixity of purpose. One-pointed intention means holding your attention to the intended outcome with such unbending purpose that you absolutely refuse to allow obstacles to consume and dissipate the focused quality of your attention. There is a total and complete exclusion of all obstacles from your consciousness. You are able to maintain an unshakable serenity while being committed to your goal with intense passion. This is the power of detached awareness and one-pointed, focused intention simultaneously.

Learn to harness the power of intention, and you can create anything you desire. You can still get results through effort and through trying, but at a cost. The cost is stress, heart attacks, and the compromised function of your immune system. It is much better to execute the following five steps in the Law of Intention and Desire. When you follow these five steps for fulfilling your desires, intention generates its own power:

(1) Slip into the gap. This means to center yourself in that silent space between thoughts, to go into the silence — that level of Being which is your essential state.

(2) Established in that state of Being, release your intentions and desires. When you are actually in the gap, there’s no thought, there’s no intention, but as you come out of the gap — at that junction between the gap and a thought — you introduce the intention. If you have a series of goals, you can write them down, and have your intention focused on them before you go into the gap. If you want a successful career, for example, you go into the gap with that intention, and the intention will already be there as a faint flicker in your awareness. Releasing your intentions and desires in the gap means planting them in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, and expecting them to bloom when the season is right. You do not want to dig up the seeds of your desires to see if they are growing, or get rigidly attached to the way in which they will unfold. You simply want to release them.
(3) Remain in the state of self-referral. This means remain established in the awareness of your true Self — your spirit, your connection to the field of pure potentiality. It also

Law of Karma

Every action generates a force of energy that

returns to us in like kind . . . what we sow is what we

reap.

And when we choose actions that bring happiness

and success to others, the fruit of our karma is

happiness and success.

Karma is the eternal assertion of human freedom.

. . . Our thoughts, our words, and deeds are

the threads of the net which we throw around ourselves.

—Swami Vivekananda

The third spiritual law of success is the Law of Karma. “Karma” is both action and the consequence of that action; it is cause and effect simultaneously, because every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. There is nothing unfamiliar about the Law of Karma. Everyone has heard the expression, “What you sow is what you reap.” Obviously, if we want to create happiness in our lives, we must learn to sow the seeds of happiness. Therefore, karma implies the action of conscious choice-making.

You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices. Some of these choices are made consciously, while others are made unconsciously. But the best way to understand and maximize the use of karmic law is to become consciously aware of the choices we make in every moment.

Whether you like it or not, everything that is happening at this moment is a result of the choices you’ve made in the past. Unfortunately, a lot of us make choices unconsciously, and therefore we don’t think they are choices — and yet, they are.

If I were to insult you, you would most likely make the choice of being offended. If I were to pay you a compliment, you would most likely make the choice of being pleased or flattered. But think about it: it’s still a choice.

I could offend you and I could insult you, and you could make the choice of not being offended. I could pay you a compliment and you could make the choice of not letting that flatter you either.

In other words, most of us — even though we are infinite choice-makers — have become bundles of conditioned reflexes that are constantly being triggered by people and circumstances into predictable outcomes of behaviour. These conditioned reflexes are like Pavlovian conditioning. Pavlov is famous for demonstrating that if you give a dog something to eat every time you ring a bell, soon the dog starts to salivate when you just ring the bell, because it has associated one stimulus with the other.

Concious choice making

Most of us, as a result of conditioning, have repetitions and predictable responses to the stimuli in our environment. Our reactions seem to be automatically triggered by people and circumstances, and we forget that these are still choices that we are making in every moment of our existence. We are simply making these choices unconsciously.

If you step back for a moment and witness the choices you are making as you make those choices, then in just this act of witnessing, you take the whole process from the unconscious realm into the conscious realm. This procedure of conscious choice-making and witnessing is very empowering.

When you make any choice — any choice at all — you can ask yourself two things: First of all, “What are the consequences of this choice that I’m making?” In your heart you will immediately know what these are. Secondly, “Will this choice that I’m making now bring happiness to me and to those around me?” If the answer is yes, then go ahead with that choice. If the answer is no, if that choice brings distress either to you or to those around you, then don’t make that choice. It’s as simple as that.

There is only one choice, out of the infinity of choices available in every second, that will create happiness for you as well as for those around you. And when you make that one choice, it will result in a form of behaviour that is called spontaneous right action. Spontaneous right action is the right action at the right moment. It’s the right response to every situation as it happens. It’s the action that nourishes you and everyone else who is influenced by that action.

There is a very interesting mechanism that the universe has to help you make spontaneously correct choices. The mechanism has to do with sensations in your body. Your body experiences two kinds of sensations: one is a sensation of comfort, the other is a sensation of discomfort. At the moment you consciously make a choice, pay attention to your body and ask your body, “If I make this choice, what happens?” If your body sends a message of comfort, that’s the right choice. If your body sends a message of discomfort, then it’s not the appropriate choice.

For some people the message of comfort and discomfort is in the area of the solar plexus, but for most people it’s in the area of the heart. Consciously put your attention in the heart and ask your heart what to do. Then wait for the response — a physical response in the form of a sensation. It may be the .faintest level of feeling — but it’s there, in your body.

Only the heart knows the correct answer. Most people think the heart is mushy and sentimental. But it’s not. The heart is intuitive; it’s holistic, it’s contextual, it’s relational. It doesn’t have a win-lose orientation. It taps into the cosmic computer — the field of pure potentiality, pure knowledge, and infinite organizing power — and takes everything into account. At times it may not even seem rational, but the heart has a computing ability that is far more accurate and far more precise than anything within the limits of rational thought.

Application of Karmic Law

You can use the Law of Karma to create money and affluence, and the flow of all good things to you, any time you want. But first, you must become consciously aware that your future is generated by the choices you are making in every moment of your life. If you do this on a regular basis, then you are making full use of the Law of Karma. The more you bring your choices into the level of your conscious awareness, the more you will make those choices which are spontaneously correct — both for you and those around you.

What about past karma and how it is influencing you now? There are three things you can do about past karma. One is to pay your karmic debts. Most people choose to do that — unconsciously, of course. This may be a choice you make, also. Sometimes there’s a lot of suffering involved in the payment of those debts, but the Law of Karma says no debt in the universe ever goes unpaid. There is a perfect accounting system in this universe, and everything is a constant “to and fro” exchange of energy.

The second thing you can do is to transmute or transform your karma to a more desirable experience. This is a very interesting process in which you ask yourself, as you’re paying your karmic debt, “What can I learn from this experience? Why is this happening and what is the message that the universe is giving to me? How can I make this experience useful to my fellow human beings?”

The Law of Giving

The universe operates through dynamic exchange...

giving and receiving are different aspects

of the flow of energy in the universe.

And in our willingness to give that which we

seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating

in our lives.

This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again,

and fillest it ever with fresh life. This little flute of a

reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast

breathed through it melodies eternally new. . . . Thy

infinite gifts come to me only on those very small

hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest,

and still there is room to fill.

—Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

The second spiritual law of success is the Law of Giving. This law could also be called the Law of Giving and Receiving, because the universe operates through dynamic exchange. Nothing is static. Your body is in dynamic and constant exchange with the body of the universe; your mind is dynamically interacting with the mind of the cosmos; your energy is an expression of cosmic energy.

The flow of life is nothing other than the harmonious interaction of all the elements and forces that structure the field of existence. This harmonious interaction of elements and forces in your life operates as the Law of Giving. Because your body and your mind and the universe are in constant and dynamic exchange, stopping the circulation of energy is like stopping the flow of blood. Whenever blood stops flowing, it begins to clot, to coagulate, to stagnate. That is why you must give and receive in order to keep wealth and affluence — or anything you want in life — circulating in your life.

The word affluence comes from the root word “affluere,” which means “to flow to.” The word affluence means “to flow in abundance.” Money is really a symbol of the life energy we exchange and the life energy we use as a result of the service we provide to the universe. Another word for money is “currency,” which also reflects the flowing nature of energy. The word currency comes from the Latin word “currere” which means “to run” or to flow.

Therefore, if we stop the circulation of money — if our only intention is to hold on to our money and hoard it — since it is life energy, we will stop its circulation back into our lives as well. In order to keep that energy coming to us, we have to keep the energy circulating. Like a river, money must keep flowing, otherwise it begins to stagnate, to clog, to suffocate and strangle its very own life force. Circulation keeps it alive and vital.

Give and Take

Every relationship is one of give and take. Giving engenders receiving, and receiving engenders giving. What goes up must come down; what goes out must come back. In reality, receiving is the same thing as giving, because giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And if you stop the flow of either, you interfere with nature’s intelligence.

In every seed is the promise of thousands of forests. But the seed must not be hoarded; it must give its intelligence to the fertile ground. Through its giving, its unseen energy flows into material manifestation.

The more you give, the more you will receive, because you will keep the abundance of the universe circulating in your life. In fact, anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given. That which doesn’t multiply through giving is neither worth giving nor worth receiving. If, through the act of giving, you feel you have lost something, then the gift is not truly given and will not cause increase. If you give grudgingly, there is no energy behind that giving.

It is the intention behind your giving and receiving that is the most important thing. The intention should always be to create happiness for the giver and receiver, because happiness is life-supporting and life-sustaining and therefore generates increase. The return is directly proportional to the giving when it is unconditional and from the heart. That is why the act of giving has to be joyful — the frame of mind has to be one in which you feel joy in the very act of giving. Then the energy behind the giving increases many times over.

Practicing of Law of Giving

Practicing the Law of Giving is actually very simple: if you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent. In fact, the easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. This principle works equally well for individuals, corporations, societies, and nations. If you want to be blessed with all the good things in life, learn to silently bless everyone with all the good things in life.

Even the thought of giving, the thought of blessing, or a simple prayer has the power to affect others. This is because our body, reduced to its essential state, is a localized bundle of energy and information in a universe of energy and information. We are localized bundles of consciousness in a conscious universe. The word “consciousness” implies more than just energy and information — it implies energy and information which is alive as thought. Therefore we are bundles of thought in a thinking universe. And thought has the power to transform.

Life is the eternal dance of consciousness that expresses itself as the dynamic exchange of impulses of intelligence between microcosm and macrocosm, between the human body and the universal body, between the human mind and the cosmic mind.

When you learn to give that which you seek, you activate and choreograph the dance with an exquisite, energetic, and vital movement that constitutes the eternal throb of life.

The best way to put the Law of Giving into operation — to start the whole process of circulation — is to make a decision that any time you come into contact with anyone, you will give them something. It doesn’t have to be in the form of material things; it could be a flower, a compliment, or a prayer. In fact, the most powerful forms of giving are non-material. The gifts

of caring, attention, affection, appreciation, and love are some of the most precious gifts you can give, and they don’t cost you anything.

When you meet someone, you can silently send them a blessing, wishing them happiness, joy, and laughter. This kind of silent giving is very powerful.

One of the things I was taught as a child, and which I taught my children also, is never to go to anyone’s house without bringing something — never visit anyone without bringing them a gift. You may say, “How can I give to others when at the moment I don’t have enough myself?” You can bring a flower. One flower. You can bring a note or a card which says something about your feelings for the person you’re visiting. You can bring a compliment. You can bring a prayer.

Make a decision to give wherever you go, to whomever you see. As long as you’re giving, you will be receiving. The more you give, the more confidence you will gain in the miraculous effects of this law. And as you receive more, your ability to give more will also increase.

Our true nature is one of affluence and abundance; we are naturally affluent because nature supports every need and desire. We lack nothing, because our essential nature is one of pure potentiality and infinite possibilities. Therefore, you must know that you are already inherently affluent, no matter how much or how little money you have, because the source of all wealth is the field of pure potentiality — it is the consciousness that knows how to fulfill every need, including joy, love, laughter, peace, harmony, and knowledge. If you seek these things first —

not only for yourself, but for others — all else will come to you spontaneously.

The law of pure potentiality

The source of all creation is pure consciousness, pure potentiality seeking expression from

the unmanifest to the manifest. And when we realise that our true Self is one of pure potentiality, we align with the power that manifests everything in the universe.

In the beginning there was neither existence

nor non-existence,

All this world was unmanifest energy . . .

The One breathed, without breath, by Its own

power Nothing else was there . . .

—Hymn of Creation, The Rig Veda

The first spiritual law of success is the Law of Pure Potentiality. This law is based on the fact that we are, in our essential state, pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity. When you discover your essential nature and know who you really are, in that knowing itself is the ability to fulfill any dream you have. The Law of Pure Potentiality could also be called the Law of Unity, because underlying the infinite diversity of life is the unity of one allpervasive spirit. The more you experience your true nature, the closer you are to the field of pure potentiality.

Self Referral Life

The experience of the Self, or “self-referral,” means that our internal reference point is our own spirit, and not the objects of our experience. The opposite of self-referral is object-referral. In object-referral we are always influenced by objects outside the Self, which include situations, circumstances, people, and things. In object-referral we are constantly seeking the approval of others. Our thinking and our behaviour are always in anticipation of a response. It is therefore fear-based.

In object-referral we also feel an intense need to control things. We feel an intense need for external power. The need for approval, the need to control things, and the need for external power are needs that are based on fear. This kind of power is not the power of pure potentiality, or the power of the Self, or real power. When we experience the power of the Self, there is an absence of fear, there is no compulsion to control, and no struggle for approval or external power.

In object-referral, your internal reference point is your ego. The ego, however, is not who you really are. The ego is your self-image; it is your social mask; it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants to control, and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear.

Your true Self, which is your spirit, your soul, is completely free of those things. It is immune to criticism, it is unfearful of any challenge, and it feels beneath no one. And yet, it is also humble and feels superior to no one, because it recognizes that everyone else is the same Self, the same spirit in different disguises.

That’s the essential difference between object-referral and self-referral. In self-referral, you experience your true being, which is unfearful of any challenge, has respect for all people, and feels beneath no one. Self-power is therefore true power.

Power based on object-referral, however, is false power. Being ego-based power, it lasts only as long as the object of reference is there. If you have a certain title — if you’re the president of the country or the chairman of a corporation — or if you have a lot of money, the power you enjoy goes with the title, with the job, with the money. Ego-based power will only last as long as those things last. As soon as the title, the job, the money go away, so does the power.

Self-power, on the other hand, is permanent, because it is based on the knowledge of the Self. And there are certain characteristics of self-power.

It draws people to you, and it also draws things that you want to you. It magnetizes people, situations, and circumstances to support your desires. This is also called support from the laws of nature. It is the support of divinity; it is the support that comes from being in the state of grace.

Practice of Law of Pure Potentiality

How can we apply the Law of Pure Potentiality, the field of all possibilities, to our lives? If you want to enjoy the benefits of the field of pure potentiality, if you want to make full use of the creativity which is inherent in pure consciousness, then you have to have access to it. One way to access the field is through the daily practice of silence, meditation, and non-judgment. Spending time in nature will also give you access to the qualities inherent in the field: infinite creativity, freedom, and bliss.

Practicing silence means making a commitment to take a certain amount of time to simply Be. Experiencing silence means periodically withdrawing from the activity of speech. It also means periodically withdrawing from such activities as watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a book. If you never give yourself the opportunity to experience silence, this creates turbulence in your internal dialogue.

Set aside a little time every once in a while to experience silence. Or simply make a commitment to maintain silence for a certain period each day. You could do it for two hours, or if that seems a lot, do it for a one-hour period. And every once in a while experience silence for an extended period of time, such as a full day, or two days, or even a whole week.

What happens when you go into this experience of silence? Initially your internal dialogue becomes even more turbulent. You feel an intense need to say things. I’ve known people who go absolutely crazy the first day or two when they commit themselves to an extended period of silence. A sense of urgency and anxiety suddenly comes over them. But as they stay with the experience, their internal dialogue begins to quieten. And soon the silence becomes profound.

This is because after a while the mind gives up; it realizes there is no point in going around and around if you — the Self, the spirit, the choice-maker — are not going to speak, period. Then, as the internal dialogue quietens, you begin to experience the stillness of the field of pure potentiality.

Practicing silence periodically as it is convenient to you is one way to experience the Law of Pure Potentiality. Spending time each day in meditation is another. Ideally, you should meditate at least thirty minutes in the morning, and thirty minutes in the evening. Through meditation you will learn to experience the field of pure silence and pure awareness. In that field of pure silence is the field of infinite correlation, the field of infinite organizing power, the ultimate ground of creation where everything is inseparably connected with everything else.

Stillness is the first requirement for manifesting your desires, because in stillness lies your connection to the field of pure potentiality that can orchestrate an infinity of details for you.

Imagine throwing a little stone into a still pond and watching it ripple. Then, after a while, when the ripples settle down, perhaps you throw another little stone. That’s exactly what you do when you go into the field of pure silence and introduce your intention. In this silence, even the faintest intention will ripple across the underlying ground of universal consciousness, which connects everything with everything else. But, if you do not experience stillness in consciousness, if your mind is like a turbulent ocean, you could throw the Empire State Building into it, and you wouldn’t notice a thing. In the Bible is the expression, “Be still, and know that I am God.” This can only be accomplished through meditation.

Non-Judgment

Another way to access the field of pure potentiality is through the practice of non-judgment. Judgment is the constant evaluation of things as right or wrong, good or bad. When you are constantly evaluating, classifying, labeling, analyzing, you create a lot of turbulence in your internal dialogue. This turbulence constricts the flow of energy between you and the field of pure potentiality. You literally squeeze the “gap” between thoughts.

The gap is your connection to the field of pure potentiality. It is that state of pure awareness, that silent space between thoughts, that inner stillness that connects you to true power. And when you squeeze the gap, you squeeze your connection to the field of pure potentiality and infinite creativity.

There is a prayer in A Course in Miracles that states, “Today I shall judge nothing that occurs.” Non-judgment creates silence in your mind. It is a good idea, therefore, to begin your day with that statement. And throughout the day, remind yourself of that statement each time you catch yourself judging. If practicing this procedure for the whole day seems too difficult, then you may simply say to yourself, “For the next two hours, I won’t judge anything,” or “For the next hour, I will experience non-judgment.” Then you can extend it gradually.

Through silence, through meditation, and through non-judgment, you will access the first law, the Law of Pure Potentiality. Once you start doing that, you can add a fourth component to this practice, and that is regularly spending time in direct communion with nature. Spending time in nature enables you to sense the harmonious interaction of all the elements and forces of life, and gives you a sense of unity with all of life. Whether it be a stream, a forest, a mountain, a lake, or the seashore, that connection with nature’s intelligence will also help you access the field of pure potentiality.

You must learn to get in touch with the innermost essence of your being. This true essence is beyond the ego. It is fearless; it is free; it is immune to criticism; it does not fear any challenge. It is beneath no one, superior to no one, and full of magic, mystery, and enchantment.

Access to your true essence will also give you insight into the mirror of relationship, because all relationship is a reflection of your relationship with yourself. For example, if you have guilt, fear, and insecurity over money, or success, or anything else, then these are reflections of guilt, fear, and insecurity as basic aspects of your personality. No amount of money or success will solve these basic problems of existence; only intimacy with the Self will bring about true healing. And when you are grounded in the knowledge of your true Self — when you really understand your true nature — you will never feel guilty, fearful, or insecure about money, or affluence, or fulfilling your desires, because you will realize that the essence of all material wealth is life energy, it is pure potentiality. And pure potentiality is your intrinsic nature.

As you gain more and more access to your true nature, you will also spontaneously receive creative thoughts, because the field of pure potentiality is also the field of infinite creativity and pure knowledge. Franz Kafka, the Austrian philosopher and poet, once said, “You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

The affluence of the universe — the lavish display and abundance of the universe — is an expression of the creative mind of nature. The more tuned in you are to the mind of nature, the more you have access to its infinite, unbounded creativity. But first, you have to go beyond the turbulence of your internal dialogue to connect with that abundant, affluent, infinite, creative mind. And then you create the possibility of dynamic activity while at the same time carrying the stillness of the eternal, unbounded, creative mind. This exquisite combination of silent, unbounded, infinite mind along with dynamic, bounded, individual mind is the perfect balance of stillness and movement simultaneously that can create whatever you want. This coexistence of opposites — stillness and dynamism at the same time — makes you independent of situations, circumstances, people, and things.

When you quietly acknowledge this exquisite coexistence of opposites, you align yourself with the world of energy — the quantum soup, the non-material non-stuff that is the source of the material world. This world of energy is fluid, dynamic, resilient, changing, forever in motion. And yet it is also non-changing, still, quiet, eternal, and silent.

Stillness alone is the potentiality for creativity; movement alone is creativity restricted to a certain aspect of its expression. But the combination of movement and stillness enables you to unleash your creativity in all directions — wherever the power of your attention takes you.

Wherever you go in the midst of movement and activity, carry your stillness within you. Then the chaotic movement around you will never overshadow your access to the reservoir of creativity, the field of pure potentiality.