Copyright 1992, Sara C. Schurr

Excerpted from "Spirit Speaks Magazine" Issue #42 Having It All: 
How to manifest your heart's desires.

    Aranya, channeled by Sara Schurr

    This material and more is available on the 90 minute tape:
    Manifestation by Aranya. For more information about this tape or
    other material by Aranya see the Pixie Ponderings file in the
    channeling library of the New Age A Forum on CompuServe, send a
    message to Sara Schurr at 76265,2551 or write to Winterhaven Press,
    21413 High Rock Rd, Monroe, WA 98272.


Manifestation is the process of bringing things -- events, objects,
people, and energies -- into your current reality. The reason why I
say it in that way is for you to realize that it is not that you make
something appear which has never been. You simply draw to you that
which already exists in your reality. You bring realities into
something-somethingness out of what from your perception is nothing-
nothingness.  The process of manifestation is merely drawing
something to you out of the All, the Mind of God, the Universe, out
of the place of nonbeing into being.

That process can be viewed as either exceedingly difficult and
extremely complicated or exceptionally simple. The fact is,
manifestation is as easy as falling off a log. You do it every day,
every moment of your life. Of course, the issue is not "How do I
manifest?" but "How do I manifest what I think I want?"

In truth, you manifest all the time, and your problem is not that you
don't know how to manifest, but that you appear to be not in
control of your manifestation process. Correct? You get the things
you think you don't want. "Why did I manifest someone bumping
into my bumper? I didn't want my bumper bumped." Or, "Why did I
manifest somebody stealing my pocketbook? I didn't want my
pocketbook snatched. What I wanted was a check for three thousand
dollars. Why can't I manifest a check for three thousand dollars
if I can manifest a guy to snatch my purse?"  We have tried to get
you to see that the real heart of manifestation is learning to
embrace what you manifest as what you want, instead of coming from
the point of view that "This is what I want, so now how do I manifest
it?" You spend all your energy trying to figure out what you want and
then trying to manifest it. We suggest that you shift it to embracing
what you do have, honoring the perfection of the choice, and not even
trying to figure it out.

You spend a lot of energy in the figure-it-out department. "Why would
I want to have my bumper bumped?" Because you do, period. "Well,
what's the lesson in it?" To embrace bumped bumpers.

Now, that is not likely the answer most people want. Most of you
say, "But I want more control. I want to be able to manifest what I
want." Then the real question becomes, how do you determine what you
want? You do not seem to be able to embrace the idea of simply coming
to peace with what you do produce. We are not talking about being
satisfied with just what you have, but, indeed, about being,
satisfied with what you produce. You are constantly in judgment of
what you produce: "This isn't it."

You go through all of those wonderful visualization and manifestation
processes, and if it doesn't come out just right, you are pissed
off. "But I wanted it to be cherry apple red, not just red. I wanted
more chrome on the car, and it only has chrome rims." You always find
something lacking. So if you are not going to come to peace with what
you manifest, let's work on it from the other side, which is
choice.
 
The first issue in manifestation is, how do you determine what you
want? And that is probably one of the most difficult questions to
answer in all of metaphysics, because you are a great conglomeration
of multiple personalities with conflicting wants.

There is the child within who just wants new crayons, a hot fudge
sundae on occasion, and to be left alone. There is the inner teenager
who just wants to be accepted and to have the right shoes. There is
the inner adult who wants to be accepted and to have the right car.
There is the inner spiritual being, there is the inner mother, there
is the inner sister, and there is the inner daughter. You are an
internal committee, and every part of you wants something different.
Therefore, determining what you want is actually a moment to moment
process.  You've got this whole list of all the things you want.

What you end up doing in much of your what do-you-want exercises is
making these incredible  lists, am I correct? One of the great
processes of life is to make lists of everything you want until you
are dry. It's really quite a good experience. Every day for a
week sit down and write down everything you want. It doesn't
matter if you repeat. Keep doing it until you either can't stand
it any longer or can't remember anything more.

Now, there are two results of this exercise. One is that you discover
you want a heck of a lot and the other is that probably you will be
embarrassed. But it is an honesty process. Another thing that happens
when you do this is that you discover there are some very conflicting
wants: Wanting to be the center of attention and wanting to be left
alone. Wanting excitement and wanting peace. All of these interesting
things. Wanting to be loved and accepted and wanting to care.   And
then what happens is that you prioritize. "What's more important
here? Well, if I want a new car, do I want it before or after the new
house?" Na, na, na, na, na. You seem to think that prioritizing will
somehow speed the manifestation process. "If I know what my number
one want is, I will be able to manifest it." I will tell you an
enormous secret. That which you care about the least is actually the
easiest to manifest.

You all want mail. Since you were children you have wanted mail. This
is true. It's not "I'm going to die if I don't get any
mail," but every day when faced with a mailbox, you hope there is
something in it. You want mail. Now, you don't care a lot about
it, right? You get mail every day.   You have generated a whole
societal system to make sure everybody gets mail. Or junk mail --
which of course is better than no mail. An empty mailbox is a form of
rejection. You want mail, and you get it. Every day, guaranteed. You
are not very specific about it, and you get it. It doesn't even
have to have a stamp on it.   Now, when you are making this grand and
glorious list of what you want, don't prioritize it. I dare you.
Just make the list. Don't judge what's on the list, don't
ask, "Why in the world do I want that?" Let it come out of the pen.
When you get to the end of your week and have made all your lists, do
not analyze this, do not go through and count the number of times you
have wanted thus and such on each list, thereby determining what is
most important.

The second issue in manifestation is recognition.
Not "This is really, really important," but "Yes, I want it." You all
know at some level that you want mail. When you don't get it you
say, "Oh, I wanted mail." You look forward to the mailman coming. You
sulk a little bit on holidays. You know you want mail. Now, can you
accept that same level of laughter at yourself and admit "It's
true" about all the other things that you want which you are either
getting or not getting?

Another important thing about this manifestation list is that you may
already be getting things that are on it. One of the greatest ways to
clarify manifestation is to realize that you want all of these things
that you've already got. "Hot damn, I'm a good manifester. I
want mail; I get it every day. I want food; I buy it every week at
the grocery. I want money; they hand it to me every week at the bank.
Allow yourself, when you are making this list, to say "I want,"
not "I don't have what I want." Go through the process of
admitting, "Yes, I want it, stupid as it may seem -- I want it." This
is not a like list, this is a want list. This is not "I like getting
mail." It's "I want to get mail." There is a difference between
that and "I like chocolate." Some of you like chocolate but, really,
you know, it's not on your want list. It's just that when
it's around you'll eat it. Then there are those of you who
want chocolate. "I want chocolate." There is a difference.

In the process of doing this little exercise, you can get clear on
the wants -- on how much you actually do want. And you can look at
the differences in the "I wants" that you have listed. Some of the "I
wants" that you didn't realize you want are easy to provide, such
as your inner kid wanting new crayons.  Because crayons are cheap.
(Buy the 64-crayon box with the built-in sharpener-the Cadillac;
it's worth it.) And then there are the "I wants" that you think
you can't easily provide. That's the group that you are really
asking about. "How do I manifest the things that I don't have
which I think I want?" First thing I recommend you do is to go to a
toy store and buy crayons, go home and get a piece of paper, and play
for a while. I highly recommend it.

Now, let's go back to the list. Look at what is on the list. It
is a window to your view of worth, your view of desire, your view of
lack, and your view of enoughness. Most of the things in that I-want-
but-I-don't-have list really are in the I-want-and-I-can't-have 
category. If there are things you want that you either don't
currently provide or you don't think you can provide right now,
they are in the I-want and-I-can't-have class. If you want a
new car and you don't go out and buy it, that means you just
can't have it, that you don't know how to make it happen.  

And then I ask the question, "Who is saying, I can't?" Some of
the can'ts come from the judger, from that wonderful old superego,
the internalized parent who says, "You haven't been good enough to
have that. You can't have any dessert because you didn't eat
all of your dinner. You're not good enough." That's the old
business of deserving. It doesn't cover the whole list. It may be
a new outfit, but you don't have any place to wear it, so you
don't warrant it. It may be a new car. "But, well, after all, the
old one isn't clunky enough yet." It may be a new house. "But
what's wrong with the one you have now?" It may be a CD player.
"What an incredible indulgence." That's the not-good-enough
category. Then there is the but-I-don't-know-how category. You
can't have it because you don't know how to do it. You
don't have the money. You don't have the know-how. You
don't know how to meet someone.

You don't know how to make someone fall in love with you. You
don't know how to fly to the moon. You don't know how to walk
through a wall. You don't know how to get enlightened.

That's the real "wimp" category. "But I'm not powerful
enough." If you were bigger and stronger you could have it. If you
were to do the same sort of exercise with a little kid, they'd
have a whole bunch of stuff in that category. They have to be bigger
and grown-up. "When I'm grown- up, then I will have my own car.
I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that." There is a part
of you (with some of you this part is quite large and vocal) that is
still waiting to grow up.

Then there is the
I-can't-because-I'm-dependent-on-somebody-
else-to-give-it-to-me category. This department also includes "I want
someone else to love me, I want someone else to accept me, I want
someone else to forgive me, I want someone else to teach me." I call
those the "victim" list. "I can't have it unless someone else
provides it." Some of you will end up discovering that some items you
want are in both the wimp and the victim departments. "I can't do
it myself and so-and-so won't give it to me, and so I'm
doomed." You know how that old one goes. "I cannot buy the car myself
and my parents will not give it to me." That's the
sixteen-year-old's version of why he doesn't have a car.
"They won't let me have a job to earn the money to get it." There
are some of you who haven't grown out of that whiny
teenager/victimhood energy. You've just transferred it from your
parents to "My husband won't let me." And then there's the
category that's my favorite: "Well, I thought I wanted it."

You can't figure out any reason why you really can't do it --
you just can't get up the energy to do it. It's sort of the
shadow land between the want and the "but." "Well, I could have it if
I wanted to, but I don't want to put out the energy." "I've
got the money, but I don't want to spend it on it." "I really want
it, but...." You know the "buts" that are really sort of
immaterial "buts"? You may discover you've got some things on the
list like "I want a new pair of shoes, but ...." It's not "I
don't deserve them" or "I can't afford them" or "My husband
won't let me have them." It's just "I can't get up the
energy to go shopping for them." This means  you don't really
want them. You probably want them because you think you should want
them.  Think about the number of things that you want that you have
decided you want because everybody does. The American dream. A lot of
people want to own houses because they think they should. They never
do. You know why? Because they don't want one. They might be
smart. Houses are incredible money-sinks. They always need repair.

Now that you have made your list, what do you do now? Well, first of
all stop and honor yourself for what you do provide, what you do
manifest. Then go out and take care of whichever I-want list you know
you can handle. This will make you feel powerful. Think of all the
stuff that you can manifest just like that if you go through the
list. "Yes, I can buy that, I can handle this, I can handle that."
This is not a shopping binge, this is a priority. Then move to one of
the other lists and decide what you want to work on. Do you want to
work on your wimpdom, or do you want to work on your victimhood? You
get to choose.

You can decide not to work on anything, but just to be happy with
what you manifest and leave it at that. But for those of you who do
want to work on other issues, let's focus. Focus on becoming more
powerful so you can provide for your wants. Focus on being power-
centered or on being worthy.

You see, the lists are really the reasons for your not having what
you want. So pick the list that's the longest or the least scary,
whichever you prefer, and move from there.

Things to be aware of in the process of doing battle with this
issue:  Don't do battle. Don't try to make the issue go away.
Don't make yourself wrong for not being worthy. Don't make
yourself wrong for being a wimp. Don't make yourself wrong for
being a victim. Simply recognize, "Well, this is my position, this is
my excuse for not having what I want."

It's not that you are a bad person. It's not that you are
weak. It's not that you shouldn't be this way. It's just
that this is your safety place. "If I didn't have these three
excuses, I'd have everything I want. And then where would I be?"
Where would you be emotionally if you had and knew you could have
everything that you want?

For many of you there is the fear of boredom. After all, think of all
the energy you put into creating what you want. You'd be full, so
you'd be empty. You are all scared to death of having everything
you want, because then you might not do anything ever again. It
sounds like something close to death. One of the things that is
between you and manifesting everything you want is this fear of being
bored, of being purposeless, of being goalless. You know, folks, what
does it feel like to be goalless? For some people, it's
contentment. 

Blocks to Manifestation

There are blocks to manifestation. One of these blocks, one of the
reasons why you don't have everything you want, is that you don't
know what you'd do if you did. You can't imagine being that person.
It would mean you would be a little more powerful. It could mean you
might be motivation-less. And that is real scary to all of you. It
also could mean that you are complete. And to some people that sounds
wonderful, and to some people that sounds dead. You know, it sounds
like the end. When something is complete, it is over, not whole and
complete. They are just words, but those words give you a feeling. We
are just trying to plant all the bombs we can. Now, I'm going to
answer some of the questions: "Well, why don't I manifest what I
want, now that I know what I want? I made the list and the whole
thing." What you may be experiencing here is this phenomenon of
wondering, "Why do I keep myself from things? Why do I keep things
from me?" Safety. There is safety, because if you had it, you might
be too big, too important, too complete, too whole, too powerful, too
influential, or too good. It might mean you'd have to take more
responsibility. People might have expectations of you. You might have
expectations of you.

Then there is the you-are-not-worthy game. Who do you think you are
to want such and such, let alone have it? You'd have to be a better
person to have that.

Then there is the fear that by having it you will be shown up to be
the greedy little critter that you are. If you have done the list,
you have already discovered that you are greedy. You are a greedy
little creature. You can make pages and pages and pages of wants, and
even if it's all woo-woo metaphysical stuff, you're greedy. You are
not satisfied with what you want, you want more, more, more, more! If
you had manifested what you want, if you had all of that "more," my
God, it would be very clear how greedy you are. For a lot of you, it
is much more secure to want but not to have than to be shown for who
you really are by having it.

Also, if you have what you want, then you will be selfish. Greedy is
different from selfish. Greedy is just "I want more, more, more,
more." Selfish means "Well, I got it and somebody else didn't." If
you have it and you didn't give it away to somebody else, then you
are selfish. You have this wonderful religious overlay that it is bad
to be greedy and selfish. And, of course, don't forget most people's
favorite: 'tis better to give than to receive.

The point is to understand that every time you don't manifest what
you want, you are safe from one of the above or from all of the
above. If you say "I want lots of money" and you don't manifest lots
of money, why, then you are safe from all the condemnation that you
might lay on yourself or that you are afraid someone else might lay
on you. And safety is very important to you as ego structures. You
are afraid of condemnation. It's safer to be little and to be a
victim and to have pain than to be big and dangerous. Both have pain,
but one seems to be somehow nobler. You do get condemnation in your
society for not having enough, but you get considerably more
condemnation if you have too much.

Now, here's another little issue to deal with: lack. You live in a
universe based on limited resources. Your belief system says there's
only so much. There's only so much gold in the world; that's why gold
is worth what it is. There are only so many diamonds in the world;
that's why diamonds are worth what they are. There seems to be an
abundance of lint. There is an abundance of lint and there is an
abundance of dust, and neither one of those is very valuable,
correct? Anyone can manifest dust. you are all exceptionally good at
it. You base value upon rarity, which is about lack -- there is only
so much.

Now, if it's really true -- and it is -- that there is enough of
everything, what does that mean about the basis of your reality? It's
wrong. It's incorrect. Now, the truth of the matter is that's your
ego structure's job, folks, is to be right. Now, let's say you have a
choice (and I know this sounds crazy, but you are crazy, so it's all
right) between having everything you want, and thereby making your
ego structure and your whole reality wrong, and not having what you
want. Guess what you pick? You would definitely rather be right
(believing fervently in lack) than be happy. No doubt about it. You
want to be right. (But that's a whole other topic.) The fact of
the matter is, you believe there is not enough, and if there is not
enough, then obviously it must be holier to give than to receive. If
there is not enough, then you wouldn't want to be greedy, you
wouldn't want to selfish, so you'd better give it to somebody else.
You think that self-deprivation is holy. Now, what happens to that
belief system if there is enough? Everybody gets to be holy then. Big
deal.

We have enough, so I take my enoughness and I pass it to you. I'm
holy because I gave it away. And then you give it to me. If there is
enough, I don't need what you just gave me, so I'll give it back. We
can pass it back and forth and we can be holy, holy, holy, and bored,
bored, bored, because all we are doing is passing the same thing
back. That is, in truth, the way the universe works. I give it to
you. You give it to me. We're one. But you don't believe this anymore
than you believe there is enough. You don't believe we are one. And
you don't believe there is enough. So you worry about where that gold
is going to go. And you believe you can be selfish.

Now, I ask you, if we are all one, is it possible not to be selfish?
If we are one and I serve you, I'm being selfish. If we are one, and
I serve me, I am selfish. Which selfish do you want? Sounds to me
like, if we are one, I might as well serve the one that is me rather
than the one that is you. I mean, after all, if I give to me, I'm
giving to you, because we're one. So give to me. There is no
difference, except in your immediate experience. On a metaphysical
level there is no difference whether I give me a chain of gold or I
give you a chain of gold, because everything you have is mine.

Now, you say, "Well fine, that's all fine on a metaphysical level,
but I know that if I give you the chain of gold, then you have it and
I don't." Well fine, if you want it, give it to you. If you want to
have the illusion of possession, give it to you. The whole idea of
giving things to other people as being better than keeping them or
giving them to yourself is predicated on separation and lack. As long
as you want to maintain separation and lack then please continue to
believe it's better to give than to receive. Shore it up, keep it
out, just keep it up, just go for it, give it all away, and store
your treasures in heaven except Saint Peter doesn't need them.

If you think about it, you have a belief that you have only so much
energy, and that's why you get tired, that's why you get drained.
Same thing. The reasons why you eat, the reasons why you drink, the
reasons why you work, the reasons why you tithe, the reasons why you
have Christmas, the reasons why you have birthday presents, the
reasons why you donate money to things, the reasons why you feel
guilty about the homeless -- all of these reasons are based on the
idea of lack. Mustn't skip the reasons why you sleep and the reasons
why you get hungry. You think the reason for all of them is because
there is not enough -- there is not enough of you, there is not
enough energy, there is not enough good in the world. You know that
one? There is not enough love in the world. Bullshit! (I do enjoy
doing that now and then, and not just because it will wake up whoever
is transcribing the tapes!)

There is not only enough love, but there is more than enough of
everything. You know how you all say there is not enough good in the
world? You know why there is not enough good in the world? Because
there is too much bad. Bad is one of the few things you don't have a
lack of. Now, for many of you there is pleasure in the bad. There is
also pleasure in the good, but you feel there is not enough good, so
you've got to get rid of the bad.

Now, I've got a how-to on manifestation. It's very simple: 
# First, figure out what you want.

# Second, figure out why you think that you can't have it.

# And third, think what it would feel like to have it. Imagine what it
would be like emotionally to be the possessor of whatever it is you
wish to manifest.

It is not thoughts and it is not ideas that manifest, it is emotion.
The reason why all those wonderful visualization processes work only
a little at a time is because they neglect the most important part,
which is emotion. The reason why they do work that little bit of the
time is because when you get into the visualization, you start
thinking about the boat you want, and you can feel the wind blowing
your hair, and you can feel the salt, and you can feel the freedom
and the excitement, and you shout, "YES!" You are there. And then the
boat comes, and you think, "Ah, yes, that visualization worked." You
know, you could have been doing the exact same thing, the same
visualization, and you could have received a motorcycle.

What you've been feeling is the freedom. When you are working on this
kind of manifestation, a lot of you get into the emotion. We tell
people to get clear on what they want to feel. What is it that you
really want to feel in this thing which you want? If, for example,
what you think you want is a boat, why do you want the boat, what do
you want to feel with the boat? Do you just want to be hot stuff
because you have a boat to keep in your driveway? Fine, then just
visualize what it's like to be hot stuff. Maybe you'll end up with a
Mercedes instead.

Think about how you're going to feel when you have what it is you
want. Then start your visualization process and practice the feeling.
You may say, "But I don't know how to do that. How do you sit around
and feel important? I'm not important! I don't know how to do it!"
Well, then start generating pictures. What would somebody important
look like? What would somebody important wear? What would somebody
important do? What would somebody important own? Every day go through
and spend five minutes visualizing a different scenario of feeling
important.

Go watch movies. Find your little image: I want to be big and strong
like Jimmy Stewart -- or whoever it is. The important thing, as far
as I'm concerned, is variation. For example, you want a boat and you
stay with the visualization of wind in your hair and end up with a
motorcycle, which makes you feel disappointed because you have been
working on the boat.

You get the experience you want -- going around the curve on the
motorcycle -- but it's not quiet and you aren't near the ocean. You
got exactly what you went after, but you're disappointed because
you've been doing this same visualization for three years now and you
still don't have the boat, but you do have a motorcycle and a set of
water skis and a windsurfing outfit and all of these things that
produce the same effect, and you are still unhappy. You've put five
minutes in every day for three years, you've got a garage full of
toys to produce the exact same experience, and you're not happy. And
you keep doing it and the universe keeps sending you opportunities --
cheap ones -- but what you want is the 35-foot boat.

Ask yourself, what is it that you want from the boat? Go back, redo
your visualization, and get more precise with the experience. Our
favorite story is about Sara and Walter, our channel and her husband.
This is the hot-tub story. They met in a hot tub, and they had always
had a hot tub in all the places that they had lived. Then they moved
to Massachusetts and didn't have a hot tub. They kept saying to
people, "We really need a hot tub, and we have just the place for it
in our basement."

Well, they manifested their hot tub. It was in their basement where
they said it should be, but in pieces and without the plumbing. Their
neighbor bought a used one from one of these hot-tub places that went
belly-up, and he asked if he could store the hot tub in their
basement. Great. They had been very specific. They wanted a hot tub
and they wanted it in their basement. They got exactly what they said
they wanted. They had neglected to say what they wanted to experience
in the hot tub in the basement. For a whole year that hot tub sat
there with its insulation stacked in one place and the pipes in
another -- a grand reminder that it's not the what of the
manifestation, but the feel of it.