You’ve likely heard the terms manifestation and the Law of Attraction. Both of these have become popular topics in recent years.
But what do they really mean?
At its root, the word “manifestation” comes from the Latin “manifestare,” which means to show or make known.
In modern times, the term manifestation refers to the process of making your thoughts into reality, and purposefully bringing what you want into your life.
If you consider this a moment, you’ll see that you already manifest things every day.
When you want some food, you can usually go to the fridge and get it. Or if you want to hear a song, you pull it up on your playlist.
You’ve no doubt manifested bigger things in your life as well, like a job or perhaps the birth of a child.
All these things started out as thoughts, which you were able to bring into reality.
But is manifestation a real thing, or is it just an abstract concept?
Let’s take a closer look at what manifestation is really talking about.
Is Manifestation Different than the Law of Attraction?
Manifestation and the Law of Attraction are related, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.
The Law of Attraction refers to the concept that similar energies will attract each other.
For example, if you tend to have a positive attitude, there’s a good chance you’ll attract other positive people into your life.
You could also say that you manifest positive people in your life.
So, you can use the Law of Attraction to help manifest what you want into your life.
These concepts are closely related, and we’ll discuss how both of them work together throughout this article.
When Did the Term “Manifestation” Start Being Used?
The theories behind manifestation and the Law of Attraction actually have a surprisingly long history.
Many ancient teachers were familiar with these concepts, even if they didn’t use the same words we do today.
For example, Empedocles was an early Greek philosopher born around the year 490 BC who had his own theories on the Law of Attraction.
He introduced the idea of the four elements to ancient Greece – earth, air, fire and water.
But he also wrote about something he called Love (philia in ancient Greek), which was a divine power that caused the attraction of different forms of matter. Without Love, he insisted, any types of matter could not come, or stay, together.
Guatama Buddha, the founder of modern Buddhism, had this to say about manifestation:
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind.”
~ Guatama Buddha
If we move forward in time, the term “Law of Attraction” was first used in Helena Blavatsky’s book Isis Unveiled, published in 1877. Blavatsky was a Russian philosopher who co-founded the Theosophy movement in the late 1800s.
In Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky discussed how individual atoms are clearly held together by some attracting force in order to create matter, such as rocks or water. She proposed that the same attracting force is also needed to create spirit and less tangible aspects of life.
She referred to this universal force as a law of attraction that governs how matter and spirit are both held together.
In 1906, William Walker Atkinson expanded on the concept in his book Thought Vibration: The Law of Attraction in the Thought World.
This was the first book to delve into the concept that thought is a form of energy, and Walker Atkinson gave instructions on how to tap into the energy of thought.
As he states in the book’s introduction:
“I believe that the mind of Man contains the greatest of all forces—that Thought is one of the greatest manifestations of energy.
I believe that the man who understands the use of Thought-force can make of himself practically what he will.”
~ William Walker Atkinson
You can get a free, downloadable copy of Thought Vibration from YOGeBooks.com here.
Soon after the release of Thought Vibration, Wallace D. Wattles wrote The Science of Getting Rich in 1910. The manifestation techniques taught in this classic book have been shown to be so effective that the book is still in print today.
If you’re interested in reading about his work in more detail, you can get a free, downloadable copy of The Science of Getting Rich from thesecret.tv here.
In the past hundred years, many philosophers and authors have expanded on these early theories on manifestation and the Law of Attraction.
Modern books, such as The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks, or The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, have also brought these concepts into the mainstream and made them common household words today.
Do Your Thoughts Really Hold Power?
The concept that our thoughts create reality is no longer a “fringe” idea.
Science is quickly discovering that this is, in fact, how reality appears to work.
Many studies have shown that our thoughts, or our consciousness, have an influence on the subatomic particles that make up matter, such as electrons and photons.
What’s known as the double-slit experiment clearly shows this phenomenon. In the experiment, light waves are shot through two parallel slits in a piece of metal. And the experiment consistently shows that the light waves behave differently when someone is observing the experiment, compared to when no one is watching.
The first double-slit experiment was conducted in 1909, and it has been refined in the decades since. But the results never change. The presence of a person (and their consciousness) will influence the behavior of the light particles.
The implications of this experiment are profound. They have also fueled the study of quantum theory, which attempts to explain the nature and behavior of matter and energy on an atomic level.
In his book Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza takes the findings that our consciousness can influence matter even further.
Lanza proposed that consciousness and life are what create the universe, instead of the other way around.
Based on cutting-edge scientific findings, Lanza argues that life did not start as a random occurrence in a dead universe. Rather, the physical reality each of us perceives and experiences is created from our own minds and consciousness.
Lanza recently co-authored a study delving into this topic. The researchers concluded that conscious observers (that means you and me) ultimately create the structures of physical reality, as well as time and space.
In an interview with Big Think, Robert Lanza stated that a “profound shift in our ordinary world view” is necessary, as we collectively need to realize just how much our thoughts and consciousness directly influence and create our reality.
Manifestation Is Also About Frequency
If our thoughts and consciousness really can influence matter, how exactly do they do it?
Once again, modern science is starting to bridge this gap of understanding.
Science now recognizes that all matter in the universe vibrates at various frequencies.
This is what some call the Law of Vibration.
Scientific American states it like this:
All things in our universe are constantly in motion, vibrating. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at various frequencies. Resonance is a type of motion, characterized by oscillation between two states. And ultimately all matter is just vibrations of various underlying fields.
They also describe the phenomenon of what’s known as spontaneous self-organization.
This refers to the finding that when different objects or substances that vibrate at different frequencies physically come close together, they will often synchronize over time and start vibrating at the same frequency.
Steven Strogatz, a leading mathematician, examines this phenomenon in his book Sync. He discusses how the tendency to synchronize appears to be a driving force throughout nature.
He explores different examples of how vast systems will naturally synchronize over time – from thousands of fireflies that congregate and flash in unison along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, to the electrons in a superconductor.
Researchers have documented this spontaneous self-organization, or synchronization, throughout many different natural processes and systems.
Can Our Thoughts Resonate with the Physical World?
What about thoughts and consciousness?
Can they actually resonate with inanimate matter?
In the scientific community, there is still great debate around how our thoughts and consciousness are created and exactly how they work.
Although, it has been established that the human brain produces certain electrical patterns, or waves, that are associated with certain states of consciousness.
Which means that, somehow, these electrical waves (or frequencies) are linked to consciousness.
The brain’s electrical waves are measured in cycles per second (hertz). The higher the number of hertz, the faster the wave is moving.
The main brain waves that have been identified, as well as the types of conscious states associated with them, are as follows:
- Gamma (35-90 Hz) – Concentration and focused work
- Beta (12-35 Hz) – Daily activities and waking life
- Alpha (8-12 Hz) – Relaxed state and passive attention
- Theta (4-8 Hz) – Deeply relaxed state and inward focus
- Delta (0.5-4 Hz) – Sleep
So, can human brain frequencies synchronize with the frequencies of physical matter?
The philosophy of panpsychism would argue that, yes, they can.
First recorded in ancient Greece, panpsychism is the view that the mind (psyche) is found everywhere (pan). In other words, that all matter has some consciousness.
Panpsychism argues that the mind is always associated with matter and vice versa, that they are two equal sides of the same coin. Although, it also points out that the mind, or consciousness, that’s associated with matter is likely very rudimentary.
It also suggests that as matter becomes more complex, consciousness will also become more complex. This means a person will naturally have more complex consciousness than a rock, due to our more complex biology.
A recent paper from the University of California Santa Barbara took this one step further to propose that the consciousness of less complex things, such as atoms, builds when they come into resonance together.
For example, the consciousness of all the atoms in your body coming together helps to form the complex consciousness that you experience today.
In this way, the authors suggested that “shared resonance is key to the nature of consciousness.”
Also, from a panpsychist view, inanimate matter is not excluded from this equation. The frequencies of human consciousness have the potential to resonate with the frequencies of inanimate matter.
This has not been definitively proven by science, but it is likely only a matter of time before this connection is made.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
~ Nikola Tesla
Why Can Manifestation Be So Hard?
At a surface level, it may sound easy to apply the concepts of manifestation and the Law of Attraction.
If manifestation is just a matter of consciously thinking about what you want and resonating with the world to make it happen, why isn’t everyone doing it?
But consider your own thoughts for a moment.
Are they all in complete alignment with what you want in life?
Do you ever think or behave in counterproductive ways?
Are there ever days when you doubt yourself and hesitate to take action you know you need to?
These are all ways that our patterns of thinking and feeling can “sabotage” the thoughts and frequencies we send out into the world.
Trying to turn around these well-worn habits is where the real art of manifestation begins.
And that’s what we’re going to delve into in future articles.
Summary
Manifestation and the Law of Attraction have suggested for many centuries, if not millennia, that each of us holds the power to create what we want in our lives.
Traditionally, many people throughout the world have believed in these principles based on their own observations.
But now researchers are starting to reveal the fundamental science behind what manifestation is and how it works.
We’re starting to see that it truly is possible to manifest what you want in life, using your thoughts and the frequencies they hold.
