Our One Mistake While Manifesting | Eckhart Tolle on Manifesting Abundance

But the dilemma or the fallacy is the belief that whatever you manifest is going to make you happy. It's to seek the fullness of life through what you manifest. So to, to go about wanting to manifest material abundance in your life is perhaps not the, the right way to go about it because you're concentrating on the outermost layer of abundance. And even if you manage to manifest abundance on the outer level, it's not going to give you the true feeling of abundance. In other words, it's not going to make you happy. It's not going to fulfill you, except for a few days, the new possession, nice and shiny, whatever it is. And there you look at it, Got it. Now it's mine. And after a few days or a week or two, or give it a month, it wears off. Hmm. It's no longer that fulfilling to be driving the Ferrari or whatever it is. There's nothing wrong with the Ferrari, but if you're looking to the Ferrari for happiness and fulfillment and to give you the feeling of it's not going to work for that long if you're just driving it because you enjoy that experience, that's a different matter. There is a difference here. So don't condemn the world of things. This has been done traditionally by many religious people. They were afraid of it and so don't go there. You must not have any possessions in many religious orders and so on. Not just Christian, but also other religions, monks, nuns. No, you must not have any possessions in some traditions. Buddhist monks are not allowed to touch money. Of course I can see the reason behind it. But it would be even greater, of course, if you could touch money and you are free of attachment to the money that you touch. I'm not attached to it. And then you can touch it. It's fine. Rather than being, oh, and of course they're not allowed to touch a woman. It's dangerous because of course the reasoning behind is it will take you into complete unconsciousness. The sexual urge will rise up in you and will make you totally unconscious. Maybe that's the reason why in some cultures women are covered scared. It could be chaos. And yet if you, if you are connected with the source, then all that is not a problem. So manifesting abundance is not really the right way. Go to the source and allow from the source for abundance if it wishes to manifest in your life. You start with the source, then you go into enjoying all the forms of life. Next level of abundance. Then you enjoy relating with the forms of life, the play. Whatever you do in life, you enjoy that, and then that is how. And out of that enjoyment of what you do. That energy most likely also brings things into your life forms that before you thought you needed desperately to feel abundance. So they come as an icing on the cake and you might give them away again. If they come, you have them for a while. Oh, I've had this for long enough. Now you have it. And so the flow is there beautifully, as you give things away, new things come, and if they're all taken away from you, that's fine too. You're quite happy with that. So manifest abundance from the inside out, not from the outside, as hoping that you go find some inner state through external things. That is the dilemma of many people who practice manifesting, which of course, manifesting is something that you can use, and it works if it's done rightly. But the dilemma or the fallacy is the belief that whatever you manifest is going to make you happy. It's to seek the fullness of life through what you manifest through things. And that doesn't really work. So when people manifest something in that way in their lives, a material thing, initially they're quite elated. I've got it now, I've got the house or whatever it is that I wanted to manifest. And then that manifestation wears off and after a while brings about its own problems and a new level of problems. And the feeling of fullness does not stay, it doesn't stay with them. Nothing can give it to you, can give you the true feeling of abundance. And that's the amazing thing which implies nothing that you achieve in the future can get you there. You have to start with that. And you don't need to ask for things to be different in your life. You start here and now, where you are, and here, now you go within and see if you can find that place within where life is born continuously, but which itself in itself is unborn, timeless consciousness itself. So don't start there and allow abundance to come from there, rather than start with the outermost layer, hoping that it will fulfill you. If you are in touch with the whatever you want to call it, that which cannot be named, the dao which cannot be named. What about manifesting something? Yes, you can if you want. It's part of the play of life. If you wanted to manifest something and you feel the connectedness with source, say, oh, well, I'd like to manifest maybe a bit more space in my life on an external level and some greenery, it's a preference, you don't need it for your happiness and Fulfillment, but a preference, you can do that, you can visualize. It's a play of form. And if you feel the abundance already, visualization is very easy of abundance. If you wanted it, usually it comes even by itself. If you're connected with abundance, it comes by itself. But if you want to add something, just as a play, as a preference, you can. It's playful, nothing more. It's not that important. There are many books that tell you how to manifest, but some forget to tell you that it's not going to make you happy. So you could get the impression that if you've manifested enough pairs of shoes, I don't know how many it would take to make you happy, but maybe 200, maybe a few more, 300. Or ask. The great master of manifestation of shoes, apparently is Mrs. Marcos. They say she has several thousand pairs. Yes, so the just a little thing that some of these books don't mention, but otherwise they may be quite useful. But that little thing is quite vital. It won't make you happy, by the way. That's because happiness is really another word for. I don't often use the word happiness because it sounds a bit superficial. Something good has just happened to me. It's been so great, so great. And then the next day is oh, happiness, happy, unhappy. So I don't. Some teachers use the word happiness, even some great teachers, and I know exactly what they mean. Ramana Maharshi, the great Indian sage used said, happiness is your true nature. I know exactly what he means and he is absolutely right. Except the term happiness as a pointer may not be the best. But if you know what he means, then you can see beyond the limitations of the pointer and say yes, he is absolutely right. Because happiness is the connectedness with the unmanifested with. It is the joy that is not caused by anything out here. Uncaused joy. That is the joy of aliveness itself, the joy of being conscious of consciousness itself, life enjoying itself, life recognizing itself. And in that self recognition there is joy. I am life. That's joy. And it's very subtle. That it's in the. That joyful aliveness in the background of your life is very subtle at first. And as you pay more attention to it, you feel it's a vast power there. Your mind has to become still. By the way, as long as you're interested in every thought that comes, you can't sense that you have to let go of the thoughts. At least don't be drawn into every thought that comes up and follow it with your attention. Like somebody Pulling has got a piece of a carrot on a string or something and pulling, you're running after it. Or yeah, a dog running after a bone on a piece of string. That's the thought that comes into your head. And you follow every thought that comes. And before you know it, half an hour has passed and you followed up a train of thought into all kinds, into weird places of. Of fear and anxiety and feeling not good enough and anger towards others. And finally you have depleted your life energy just by following up one thought which led up to a train of thoughts. And then your mind doesn't leave you alone and another one comes up. Oh, no, go this way now. So you don't follow every thought with your attention. If a thought comes, say okay, let it go. If you don't give it your attention, you're not interested in following it up. Just let it comes. There it comes. Where is your life going? Where are you really going with your life? What are you going to achieve? What have you achieved? You haven't done anything with your life, have you? And you recognize it as just a thought. Don't follow it up. And then your attention becomes free for presence. It reverts back into the formless where it came from its consciousness. Consciousness born into a thought becomes limited. And consciousness, the attention, is taken out of the form, the thought form and remains as pure attention. It.