There’s an idea in Hermetic traditions known as the Principle of Mentalism, which states that everything in the universe was created by the divine mind, or what the Hermetic texts call “THE ALL.” (In this age of emails and texts, I can’t read the all caps without doing it in a shout-y voice.) In this school of thought, we are all thoughts in the divine mind, and everything in existence is composed of the divine mind.
This might sound super abstract, but where this concept gets really interesting is that if you believe the universe is operating based on this principle, then it follows that everything in the universe responds to thought, because it is composed of thoughts.
As Christopher Penzcak writes in The Inner Temple of Witchcraft: Magick, Meditation and Psychic Development, “If the divine created us and everything else as a thought, and we are capable of creating our own thoughts, then they, too, are divine and filled with power. The universe and everything in it will respond to our thoughts.”
I remember in junior high first learning about the placebo effect, and I was amazed at the idea that our thoughts could affect our bodies in such a profound way. Today, this idea seems almost mundane in its obviousness (in holistic circles, at least), and yet we so often deceive ourselves into thinking that our thoughts are separate from our experience of reality.
I was getting a massage last week from a new therapist with whom I ended up in a deep philosophical and spiritual conversation, and she explained that, in her belief system, everything we are experiencing is something we thought before it happened (consciously or subconsciously). She went on to say that this is one of the main reasons she does not drink, because she does not want to generate her reality from a state of intoxication.
Do you (really) believe in your creative powers?
When I say that we deceive ourselves into thinking our thoughts are separate from our experience, let me provide some “evidence.”
If we truly believed that our thoughts create our reality, we would be more likely to:
- meditate or otherwise seek stillness on a regular basis to truly hear what these thoughts are so we know what we’re creating!
- cultivate awareness of obsessive thinking (like chronic complaining or repetitive and negative self-talk) and make it a priority to re-pattern those thoughts.
Instead, most of us let our minds dwell on all sorts of things that we wouldn’t consciously invite into our experience. For example, let’s say you had a really irritating exchange with your boss last week. How many times did you describe the situation to others in the form of venting, complaining, or “figuring it out”? How many times did you think about it, obsessing over what was said, coming up with the perfect comeback, etc?
All of these activities are generating more thoughts tied to this situation that you really disliked and, presumably, would not want to repeat. And yet, if our thoughts create our reality, by continuing to dwell and rehash, you are working to bring about the very thing you hope to avoid.
Now, does this mean you should fake that all is well and pretend that you weren’t really bothered by the situation? Not at all. I am discovering that if I first give myself space to process my feelings alone, and I allow the feelings time to surface, where I can fully experience them for what they are, I have less need to call up a friend and vent, reliving the situation over and over again. And if I do choose to talk about it later, I can do so from a perspective of “this is what I learned,” thereby generating a future reality based on the wisdom gained, not the problem.
I believe that when we feel almost powerless against our urges to vent and complain, this is a sign that we are disconnected from and fearful of experiencing our emotions first hand. And this is understandable. We don’t exactly live in a culture where healthy emotional expression is encouraged by the mainstream, and most of us have not been taught the skills to do so in a way that isn’t either self-destructive or harmful to others.
Complaining generates more stuff to complain about
By complaining, we feel like we are experiencing our emotions, but really, we are narrating them, casting ourselves and our feelings in a story that we then have some control over and distance from. As Dr. Tsabary says in her book The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children:
“It’s important to note that there’s a difference between reacting emotionally and feeling our feelings. Many of us assume that when we are angry or sad, we are feeling our feelings. On the contrary, we are often merely reacting. Truly feeling an emotion means being able to sit with the incoherence we experience at such a time, neither venting it nor denying it, but simply containing it and being present with it.”
When we do this, when we remain present with our emotions, it is surprising how quickly they dissipate. It is only when we hang onto them in the form of storytelling, complaining, and other ways of avoiding direct experience that they stick around, become lodged in our energy field, and cause damage.
How to change your reality
A very helpful way to gain awareness of the thoughts that are generating your reality is to look at your life, or a particular area of your life, and ask, “What thoughts might someone need to have in order to create this?”
If this feels difficult, get your mental muscles warmed up by choosing a movie character or simply imagining a life scenario, such as someone who is chronically broke, and asking yourself what thoughts they would need to have to create their reality.
For example, our chronically broke protagonist might think that they are unworthy of feeling safe and secure, that money is evil and should be avoided, that they don’t have the skills to manage money, that making money requires more responsibility than they are capable of handling, that having money will result in people only being interested in them for their money, etc.
Once you’re more warmed up, try this exercise with your own circumstances. This is not about assigning blame and wallowing in shame. This is about shining the light of truth on the thoughts that are generating your reality.
Doing so allows you to see that life is not happening to you; you are an active agent of creation and change in your own life. And if you’re unhappy with your circumstances, you now have a powerful tool for altering your reality according to your highest good.
Have fun!