I read a book on Cosmic Ordering last week. The concept of it seems quite simple -- to ask the universe clearly and politely for what you want, give it a time frame for the delivery, and then away it goes. Apparently, you don't even have to necessarily believe the universe will deliver -- the author of the book I read said she placed her first "order" as a sceptic, to settle an argument with a friend who believed it. It also says that being tempted to reconfirm your orders or give them an extra "push" of energy from time to time is counter-productive. I'm not sure if these two ideas contradict one another -- the latter suggests you lack confidence in your order, but what does it matter if you don't even have to believe it?
I started out with a couple of small orders at first. I ordered "some interesting post" to arrive by the end of the week. I thought that was ambiguous enough -- it could be a surprise from a friend or a postcard or a letter or any number of things. I also requested an email from a particular friend within 24 hours.
At first, I thought it hadn't come through -- I went to bed without the email I had ordered. But the next morning, there it was waiting for me -- it had been delivered while I slept, so it still came through within the time period I specified. This left the interesting post. A day or two went past with nothing, but I had said by the end of the week -- and before the week was out, not one but two unexpected postcards from postcrossing arrived (I'll scan them another day for postcard porn).
Now, both of these could be considered a coincidence. I was owed an email by my friend, it wasn't completely out of the blue. I also probably was owed postcards from Postcrossing, too, since one I sent had just arrived -- although I can never work out Postcrossing, sometimes I am about five cards in credit compared to what I have sent, and sometimes it goes the other way. It rarely seems to be exactly equal -- like how with two cards turning up on exactly the same day. The book had an amusing analogy about thinking these things are coincidence -- imagine you order a sweater by mail order. The sweater arrives. You then call the mail order company and tell them that you don't believe the sweater you have received is the one you ordered and is in fact a sweater you already had -- furthermore you also believe that they still owe you the one you ordered. So I could choose to believe I ordered these things and they arrived, or I could believe they would have arrived anyway. One way makes you happy, the other doesn't.
Unfortunately my positive tales of orders received seems to end there. I have tried ordering a parking space I want at work -- but it never comes. I don't understand why. The other day I also wanted a pound coin for the coke machine, since I didn't have one. That didn't come either. I wasn't asking for a large sum of cash to magically appear, it seemed perfectly reasonable to find a pound coin just lying on the floor somewhere, or in a forgotten pocket. Why the hell did these things not work? I didn't put any more or less emphasis on them than my other options -- my consistent lack of the parking space I want doesn't ruin my day. So why one thing and not another?
I have asked the universe for the right job. I don't want to leave my current job quite yet, but it would be good if the universe could at least show me where I should go, so I can know what I am aiming towards. The trouble is, I don't know if the random ideas I get should be entertained or if it just seems like the grass is greener. Work is a blog post for another day right now. I've also thought it can't hurt to ask the universe to deliver the right person into my life. Like with the interesting post request, I trust the universe to know what is best for me -- better than I can. But I am also confident there that if this mystical bag of wonderful doesn't materialise out of thin air -- or better yet be a person already actively in my life in whatever way -- it's because I am not ready for it.
I am unsure about the mechanics of this ordering business. As I've said, I spend long afternoons pondering how it works if you can 'order' something without believing in it -- since this can't be the reason for not getting the things I order. I am almost certain that the power of positive thinking doesn't create some kind of magnet, rather you subconsciously create what you require and notice what is already around you. I like being thankful for the things in my life, but sometimes it feels just a little bit too much like I've gone full circle, and am back to praying and believing the things in my life have been given to me by some invisible, mystical force.
I don't accept that the universe doesn't deliver to me the things I secretly don't think I deserve -- while that might apply to work, girls, even success, it doesn't adequately cover why I don't get the trivial, little things either. I need to read more, I need to read around the subject perhaps -- I need to read it as it appears as Neural-Linguistic Programming, as well as in such contexts as Comsic Ordering, The Secret and Conversations With God -- all of which I believe talk about the same sort of intention-manifestation idea. I also clearly need to get right back to basics and return to my reading of the 20 Greatest Philosophy Books (helpfully contained in one, small, easy-to-read book).
In the meantime, I'd like to place a cosmic order for more money -- best of all in the form of a steady flow of people wanting to buy my artwork for a small profit.
Then, later on, monkeys might fly out of my butt.
With regards to placing a cosmic order for money - it might be helpful to be specific. Such as when you'd like this money and how much.
ReplyDeleteYou may not have as much money as you like but you're not doing it tough, either.
I think it depends on your frame of mind and your expectations. I remember having a budget conversation with you and, up until that point, I always assumed you had quite a large amount of debt. Just through the things you said, the way you said them and your attitude about money. It was to my completely surprise, though, that you owed almost nothing.
You're frame of mind was that you didn't have enough money - you couldn't do this or couldn't do that because you didn't have the funds. I think that budget conversation proved that that was entirely untrue (your income outweighs your bills by a healthy proportion). You did and *do* have the funds and the ability to do the things I know you want to do. I think the only thing that's stopping you, is you.
I'm not sure reading more will help Jay because all the books I know you've read and all the books I know you'll read will essentially say the same thing but you'll keep butting your head against this until you stop theorising and start doing.
I feel that might have been unduly harsh but I would really like to see some proper action from you Jay! And I'm worried that all the advice in the world won't help unless you're ready to hear it and act on it.
ReplyDeleteTry and keep faith.
I'm skeptical. I don't think I'd ever be able to put the doubt that it's just coincidence, or borne out of something I actively did, out of my head.
ReplyDeleteI think for little things, it's just as likely that it would happen as it wouldn't. Things like postcrossing, you've said yourself it seems completely random, and I don't think I'd be able to say that just because I asked for it this time, it was the asking that made it happen, not coincidence.
For bigger things, like finding the right work, or the right person, I think that the act of asking for it just makes you more open to it. You trigger something in your brain that makes you more observant to the signs, and so if something does come along, an ad in the paper for the type of work you should go into, or some mystical person seemingly materialising out of thin air*, you're more likely to notice it than if you weren't actively thinking about it. Besides, I think on both these fronts you were already actively pursuing it, or at the very least open to it- I don't think if it was to happen in the next however long you want to put on it, you could put it down to asking for it. You're on a contract at work which will finish up in a few months, so you're actively thinking about what comes next; and even mentioning it would be nice if the right person played an active part in your life in whatever capacity now suggests you're already considering whether it might be a possibility.
Plus, having an escape clause seems like a cop out to me. To say that if the universe doesn't deliver, it's because you're not ready is to my mind no different to religion saying "God works in mysterious ways, he knows what's best". I don't think it's a matter of being "ready"- there's plenty of people around who find the right job, the right person, when they didn't think they were ready for it, just as there's plenty of people who desperately want something, and have done everything they can to prepare for it, but don't get it. Then there's the people who aren't ready, but don't get it, and those that are but do. I think it's a matter of the more open you are to it, the more likely you are to find it, just by virtue of being more observant. But then I read back on what your third to last paragraph, and realise that's what you've said.
I think I agree with Dune- less reading, more doing. The books are all going to tell you what you already know- you have the capacity to achieve the things you want, particularly around work and money. You just need to work out what may need to be done differently to achieve them- or what you need to do to think differently about them.
*I can't get the idea of someone literally appearing in thin air, like a genie would do *poof!* in a puff of smoke out of my head :)
We've all come across people who seem to have things fall into their lap with seemingly little effort, and they have that sense of entitlement about them. That's what you need to cultivate.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you don't have that faith yet, 'act as if'... it'll come naturally soon enough. I've reached the point now where I just don't think there's anything I DON'T deserve.
Dune: I tried starting small with a simple order for a single pound, before lunch, and I don't understand why it didn't work. I have tried again for different amounts and longer timescales, but are unsure what to think. I know what you are saying about a frame of mind is right, but it's something I struggle with. People with a lot more debt than me care a lot less about what they're spending, whereas I'm just frivolous then feel anxious and guilty. But I wasn't intending the post to be about money specifically, especially not the parts about reading more -- I want to understand this whole intention-manifestation thing better, to work out where I am going wrong, or if it's just a superstition. As for advice, isn't that how it always goes?
ReplyDeleteAmanda: What you say about the escape clauses and really the excuses makes a lot of sense, and it bugs me just the same as the "God works in mysterious ways" bullshit. It's a cop out to try and explain why something doesn't stand up to experiment. But I want to have faith, and I want to understand these things properly. I don't know. Sometimes I feel paralysed when I think about my life.
China Blue: I'm not sure about the having faith -- I mean, it makes sense, but if someone wants to win the lottery and doesn't, we can just they didn't believe they would win. And when they insist they did, we say deep down, they really didn't. And Barbara Mohr didn't have faith when she stumbled onto Cosmic Ordering herself... On the other hand, I think I am absolutely entitled to get emails when I want them, or get the good parking space (far more than the loftier ideas) but it doesn't come. Why??
I can't stop thinking about this.
ReplyDeleteI think what bugs me is the lack of responsibility it encourages- both for what you achieve, and what you don't. Not so much for the little things, which I still think are put down to chance, but the bigger things. For example, someone wants a new job. They're not happy in their current position. They ask the universe for a new job- and then they consciously start perusing the "Situations Vacant" pages. They put in an application for a job that seems suitable and get the position. To say that the universe gave that to them seems to discredit the work that they put in to actually get the job. Sure, "asking" for it, and feeling positive about it would help- but how is that any different to having confidence in your ability to achieve the things you want?
On the other side of that, asking for it and not getting it, without doing any more than "asking" absolves you of any responsibility for your place in the world... and I don't understand how it's productive to not take responsibility for yourself?
But then again, I understand why people need or want faith. I may have a lot of issues with religion, but it's not the faith side I have issues with, more the way religion is justified and peddled to the masses, and used as justification for pursecution of others with differing beliefs. I don't think there's anything wrong with believing in this stuff, and I think I do to an extent- provided the outcome is the same, what does it really matter whether you think it came from the universe, or the things you did by consciously asking for something?
You say that the author didn't initially believe in it herself... I'm sure there's plenty of pentacostal preachers around who push the "I was once a non-believer, but then God showed me the way" line too. Becoming born-again over any cause is not solid reason for believing it.
I'll stop spamming now.
this is sounding like "the secret". I don't know why the universe doesn't deliver on command. Like you I tend to think that if it doesn't stand up to experimentation then...well, does it exist? All these things can be explained by psychology as you have also outlined.
ReplyDeleteThen again...there are people for whom things happen very effortlessly. I do not for a second believe that hard work always pays off OR that people who have good things have necessarily earned them through hard work. I don't believe these things because I know too many people who have a lot without doing a whole lot to get it. There happen to be a lot of incredibly lucky bastards out there. Whatever there secret is...I want to know.
Anyway the point is that I'm incredibly skeptic about 'asking the universe' but at the same time the old 'work hard reap rewards' thing is an even bigger lie if you ask me. So if both are lies then ...god I don't know what the truth is.
For my two cents - a lot of life is know really just what you want. I mean, an exact thing - and then going for it. Also required is the degree of desire one approaches that with. I don't believe in cosmic ordering myself since it seems a bit fuzzy to me. Of course, for me, none of this has ever worked out, but that's another story. I always blame the fact that I just didn't want something enough to make it happen. The other side of the coin is - if you want something enough (say, a unicorn), if someone comes along and gives you a horse with a broomhandle glued to its forehead, you may be tempted to take it for a unicorn because you want to believe. (I think this is more in relationships than professional dealings.) But you're a clear-headed enough guy who can see things for what they really are.
ReplyDeleteIf we want to be all solipsistically existential about it all, then we can put whatever spin we want to on things which we encounter. "S/he wasn't for me", "A better job is out there", "I just haven't found the right one yet." All of the penny-ante lies we tell ourselves to just get through this life. Well, that's existence for you - nothing but looking glasses and the degree of positive or negative distortion we choose (or can medicate ourselves into.)
Uh, so, yeah, basically, I agree a lot with what Dune, Amanda and China Blue said...