The American Dream

Posted on April 2, 2007 By

It’s Spring. The weather is warming up, the plants are sprouting, the trees budding, the birds are returning to their more northern homes and making their nests. It’s Spring Break. It’s April. This time of year is all about growth and new life and possibilities opening up and blooming to their full potential. That hope extends to we humans as well in this time of awakening. Whether American, Canadian, Brazilian, any other nationality, we all have dreams we hope to make bloom. So how can we do this?

With the recent popularity of movies and books such as “What the Bleep…” and “The Secret”, manifesting all our hopes and dreams sounds so very easy. But is it? What is it that stops us from manifesting whatever we want? Even Buddha in the Dhammapada says “With our thoughts we make the world”. This insight has been echoed through various traditions and belief systems, and is now being hinted at in the science of Quantum Physics. So if this is true, what holds us back? Is it our own deep-seated, nagging, subconscious belief that it doesn’t really work like that? Are our egos sneaking in with the thought that we don’t really deserve better than what we have? That it can’t be done? Or is our current situation the fruits of karmic actions done in the past? Can we recognize them? Can we alter them? And if so, over what time-frame? This year? This life? Ten-thousand three hundred and six lives in the future?

Perhaps it’s something else. Perhaps it’s a bit more dynamic and complicated than simply believing you are the creator of your own little world down to the most intricate of details. Perhaps it has more to do with humanity as a whole; the collective belief system, our collective state of being. On a local level, suppose a young man is trying to get a girl to go out with him. He tries manifesting it – believing it with all his heart, and seeing it as a “done deal”. But she never says yes. The date never happens. Why? Is it that she never shared this thought? That she has her own things to manifest? That some other young man was better at manifesting a date with the girl than the first?

How does this work on the global level, then? The universal level? How do all our beliefs, perceptions, needs and wants interact with each other? And why do some of them manifest while others don’t? Who -or what- chooses? Is there even a choice being made? Is there some larger “thing” – a “grand scheme”- that sets every thing, that sets all of us, in balance with each other? Perhaps we are meant to work together as a species for the overall good and enlightenment of our world and of our species. If this is true, then it would suggest that by being unselfish in your desires, you actually have a better chance of manifesting your dreams. And aren’t we fortunate that we live in a time that more and more people are being less selfish, more compassionate, and more global in their thoughts? Perhaps we can manifest our desires after all…

“The world is on Fire!
And are you laughing? ”
Buddha, “Old Age”, The Dhammapada

MetaphysicsNudges & Ponderings


  1. WaterFall says:

    I think where some people get caught up in manifesting are those little thoughts about how ‘complicated’ certain old situations are but as we know are very easliy overcome with fortitude.
    Then there may be other people who come into the picture and tell the girl that the young man who is trying to create that wonderful new reality is already married to another.
    Certain confusion and hesitation abviously ensues.
    I believe in clairity and defining to the universe what you want has to be one of the most important thngs.
    namaste
    WaterFall

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