Integrating The Kybalion, Part I: Expectations, Assumptions, and The All
Disappointingly closing Tinder, I caved to the screams of the avoided dishes piled in my kitchen sink from the past week. As the water got warm, I sighed and stared at the hot sauce-crusted plates and cinnamon-coated coffee mugs alongside used pots and pans. Swirling around the recesses of my mind, a curiosity began to form. I started to embody the meme of the thinking woman. You know, the one that went viral years ago? Where the woman looks increasingly confused as equations form around her.
Meme of confused woman with equations | Image Creator Unknown, Pictures originally from the Telenovela 'Senhora do Destino' according to KnowYourMeme.com.
I thought of the increasing popularity of the law of assumption and manifestation. Attempting to balance my understanding of these concepts with my own human experiences, I pondered, 'How can I simultaneously avoid expecting something while assuming that the very thing will manifest in my life?' Try as I might to focus on the present moment, I couldn't help but delve into the machinations of reality. My ego and higher self couldn't shake off the energy of that question, like the lingering current of a wave pool after you depart. Wasting water as my neurodivergent brain hyperfocused deeper into these thoughts, I finished up the dishes and began with the basics.
Firstly, thanks to the help of Merriam-Webster, let's explore the definitive difference between expectations and assumptions. Expectations, the site states, are linked to anticipation, to "[looking] forward to the coming or occurrence of." Meanwhile, they define an assumption as the act of "taking to or upon oneself." Combined with the site's explanation of how an assumption is an "act of laying claim to or taking possession of something," the distinction between the mindsets became clear. If one is always in a state of anticipation, placing wants and needs in the future, it involves waiting. That future placement of being in the space to receive involves waiting to see that thing come to life. Under the act of assumption you not only acknowledge its existence, you stake your claim. You "assume that something is true." (Merriam-Webster). "That something" being the very same expectation you had been looking for all this time. (Merriam-Webster)
This clarity raised several questions: What was the source of my struggle when defining the life which, according to the law of assumption and the intricate physics of time, already belongs to me? According to the best physicists (2014), time is merely an illusion occurring all at once—why do I consistently envision my desired reality as something 'to look forward to' rather than being in the present? Why do I continuously place my desired reality ahead of me? Is there a part of me hesitant to claim that reality as my own? Am I not allowing myself to be open to seeing and experiencing the beauty of the ever-changing present moment? If, under the law of assumption, what I believe to be true takes form within my reality, what assumptions have shaped my present? Egoic fear began to arise.
In Neville Goddard's lecture titled Mental Diets (1955), he states: "When man discovers the creative power of inner talking, he will realize his function and his mission in life. Then he can act to a purpose. Without such knowledge, he acts unconsciously. Everything is a manifestation of the mental conversations which go on in us without our being aware of them."
Overthinking this is incredibly easy to do. Neville Goddard (1955) refers to it as inner dialogue. As a result, it might seem as if you're accountable for constantly maintaining that internal dialogue to be in a positive space. However, that's not how things necessarily work, let alone the human mind. What goes up will inevitably come down; it is a cycle of nature that plays out in ways big and small. As a neurodivergent trauma survivor, I know this all too well. I understand that one cannot always be happy. Moreover, like yin and yang, light cannot exist without the dark. To experience the grandeur of the biggest and brightest stars, constellations, and galaxies beyond this world, one must journey to the darkest possible location attainable. A flow of thoughts solely composed of positivity isn't realistic. Such a task can feel overwhelming.
Stargazing | Photo Curtesy of iStock
This understanding reminds me of Netflix & Headspace's series Guide to Meditation (2021). The narrator discusses how many people mistakenly believe that meditation is about silencing the mind, which is inaccurate. They continue with a powerful analogy: if your thoughts are cars, meditation is about sitting on a bench and watching them go by. Teaching that there is no need to chase the cars, echoing Eckhart Tolle's (1997) concept of "the thinker and the observer." In his conversational book The Power of Now, he delves into this practice of listening to your thoughts as an impartial witness, sharing, "You'll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind." Pause for a moment and ask: which of the two is more commonly your grounding guide - the peaceful stillness of that observational bench, or the dizzying chaos of speeding cars?
The danger and subsequent rush of adrenaline that came from circling and chasing cars on that busy road used to dominate much of my life. Every chase was an attempt to avert the worst possible outcomes. And yet, those fears still materialized before my eyes. Metaphorical car crashes eventually led me to a crawl towards the preceding bench due to extreme exhaustion. Only from this point did I cultivate the ability to discern the energetic current of the wave pool, which I spoke of at the beginning, and the pause necessary amidst the dizziness
Practicing the law of assumption is not about trying to control your inner dialogue only ever to be positive; it's about comprehending what has, as Joseph Murphy (1963) phrases it, "[sunk] into your subconscious mind…Whatever you claim mentally and feel as true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring forth into your experience." From this perspective, once you learn to solely attach to what serves your highest good and observe, learn from, and release the rest- streetlights and traffic directors present themselves to assist you. They direct and channel all that energy, allowing your inner workings and power to manifest externally. While easier said than done - clichés exist for a reason. Paths are paved; roads are built. This process of learning and unfolding is a continuous journey. Recall that there is no necessity to chase after the cars. From the bench, you are in control of the streetlights and traffic directors; they operate to facilitate the smooth flow of your mental and emotional traffic. Paths are paved; roads are built.
Green pedestrian light | Photo curtesy of iStock
Neville Goddard references The Hermetica in the previously mentioned lecture, Mental Diets (1955). He shares how "Life is the union of mind and word." Returning to the writings of Hermes Trismegistus:"'This is what you must know: that in you which sees and hears is the word of the lord, but your mind is God the father; they are not divided from one another for their union is life"' (Trismegistus and Copenhaver, 1992) "The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental" (Atkinson). This ancient wisdom and all the knowledge discussed thus far connect to the law of mentalism.
I first read of the law of mentalism in The Kybalion, penned by William Walker Atkinson under the pseudonym The Three Initiates (Chapel, Nicolas E.). Hearing of the little book vaguely mentioned in The Mile Higher Podcast in mid-2020, it piqued my curiosity. Atkinson's modern breakdown of Hermes Trismegistus' writings comforted me in a hurricane of confusion and fear. From the first read, I felt the warm, unexplainable presence of spirituality that my soul had been craving for years. It became a doorway into the magical wonders of alchemy and hermetic philosophy—an entry to understanding and connecting to the universe around you from within you. My mind opened to just how our interconnected human experience is. The law of mentalism, Atkinson goes on to share,
"explains that THE ALL (which is the Substantial Reality underlying all the outward manifestations and appearances which we know under the terms of 'The Material Universe'; the 'Phenomena of Life'; 'Matter'; 'Energy'; and, in short, all that is apparent to our material senses) is SPIRIT, which in itself is UNKNOWABLE and UNDEFINABLE, but which may be considered and thought of as AN UNIVERSAL, INFINITE, LIVING MIND. It also explains that all the phenomenal world or universe is simply a mental creation of THE ALL, subject to the Laws of Created things, and that the universe as a whole, and in its parts or units, has its existence in the Mind of THE ALL, in which we 'live and move and have our being.'"
"THE ALL is in the earthworm, and yet the earth-worm is far from being THE ALL" (Atkinson). There are boundless dimensions to consciousness, echoing the unfathomable physics that explains the multiple dimensions of our reality. Our ego originates from our experiences as we develop our personalities, the complete polarity of which becomes embedded within our subconscious. There is the thinker, the observer, one's spiritual higher self, the inner child, and much more. There are dimensions beyond our comprehension! As one becomes more familiar with the vast array of colors within their being, their proficiency as a painter increases. The canvas of life eagerly awaits your artistic touch. "I am, that I am" (Trismegistus).
Reflecting on the swirling cars symbolizing the prevailing mood of expectation, realization rooted in wisdom brought forth a new hue. After all the aforementioned metaphorical car crashes and the subsequent necessary road repairs, I remained subconsciously unacquainted with a smooth, functional road. A road that I could navigate with confidence as I yield to its unfolding. The epiphany that I not only have the ability to create my reality, but have already done that- Off the back of operating from the mindset of lack and survival mode, integrating and moving with this newfound wisdom is a completely different way of existence. An entirely novel mode of being. However, this fresh state of being is sinking deeper into my subconscious. My grounding guide grows serene as it embraces this understanding. The once tumultuous current of the wave pool now smoothes into an effortlessly flowing lazy river. This expansion of consciousness has started to manifest externally. And on that note, I slowly yet surely lie back in these waters, inviting you to acquaint yourself with your own.
Sources
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"Assumption." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assumption. Accessed February 15, 2024.
Chapel, N. E. (n.d.). The Kybalion’s New Clothes: An Early 20th Century Text’s Dubious Association with Hermeticism. The Kybalion’s New Clothes - Nicholas E. Chapel. http://www.jwmt.org/v3n24/chapel.html
Copenhaver, B. P., & Trismegistus, H. (1992). (Discourse) of Hermes Trismegistus: Poimandres. In Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a new English translation, with notes and introduction. Essay, Cambridge University Press.
"Expect." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expect. Accessed February 15, 2024.
Davies, Paul. "Time's Passage Is Probably an Illusion." Scientific American, Scientific American, October 24, 2014, www.scientificamerican.com/article/time-s-passage-is-probably-an-illusion/.
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Initiates, Three, Atkinson, W. W. (2021). The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece. The Kybalion Resource Page.
Küçükaksu, T. (2021, January 1). Guide to Meditation. episode, Headspace, Netflix.
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