The Secret is Denial

     "The Secret" is all the rage in Southern California these days with variations from Manifest your Destiny to Stress-Free Manifestation. They all sell formulas, and that is being generous, for manifesting whatever you desire in your life. And if it does not work, well then, you did not do it right. Or worse, there is something very wrong with you, perhaps you are neurotic. How does one judge if one is neurotic or not?

     There is reality and illusions of reality. The more distorted your illusion the more neurotic you are. Human beings (and apparently systems too) use defense mechanisms to distort reality so that ego can continue to believe it rules the roost, even though it never did and never will be the master of the house, so to speak. There are many defense mechanisms and they range from psychotic to neurotic to mature defenses.

     For instance, denial is an example of a psychotic defense mechanism if continued to be used as an adult. As a child it is one of the first defenses to be developed to allay  basic anxieties related to hunger, warmth and safety. After the child begins to have an ego the primary defense mechanism is identification. I am that, and I am not that. At this point in life our judging systems are primitive  and dual. Lastly, there is projection which is considered a mature defense mechanism.

     Most savvy individuals in southern California know about projecting. Hollywood is alive with projectors, projections and screens. Yet most don't realize that projection is a distortion of reality. And quite frankly if the screen never comes alive with a different view of reality, then you might not know that you have been distorting reality.

     But then if you are in denial of the "other," living wildly in your own subjective reality (te he!) i.e. not open to different views, then you will never know that you are distorting reality with your neurotic defenses. My only hope for you is that when "The Secret" does not work for you, and it won't if it involves the world around you that you are distorting, that you seek better guiding systems that lead you towards wholeness for yourself and for the world.

     So if the manifesting formula does not work for you is that your fault or have they sold an illusion? And if it is an illusion, a distortion of reality, then how distorted is this reality? Does it project the illusion? Perhaps. Does it identify the illusion? No. Does it deny the illusion? Most certainly. And if denying that "The Secret" is an illusion, they are in effect, denying reality. If I lost you, well then, there is no hope for you. Click your heels together and chant --  there's no place like home.  Oh, and put on Ruby Slippers and hold your dog close to your heart. If you don't have Ruby Slippers, well then, it's your fault.  You are fated to die in Emerald City. You are not one of the chosen ones. Good Bye! 
 

Seriously, until we have learned  to be present with Reality without the distortions of our defense mechanisms, then perhaps it makes better sense to pray for Divine intervention. The Secret formulas work for the Saints, and even then Divine intervention was governed by the Divine, not humans. Have we denied the Source in all this talk of manifesting? Perhaps reading the Book of Job in the Old Testament of the Bible will remind us of our rightful place in the hierarchy of energy systems.

And if that last paragraph charged you emotionally, then you probably have not relieved yourself from what Eckhart Tolle calls your pain body. And as he says, the pain body unconsciously attracts more pain; it is what are defense mechanisms are trying keep ego from knowing. So your pain body is attracting more pain, and your ego is trying with all its might to manifest your destiny. If it does not work for you, then perhaps you are human.