Over the last year or so, I’ve been learning a lot about conscious reality creation using the Law of Assumption.
The Law of Assumption is a spiritual principle popularised by the New Thought author Neville Goddard’s books and lectures. This law states that what you assume and expect, is what you will see in your life.
(If you’d like to read my series of ‘how to’ articles on the Law of Assumption right from the beginning so that you can learn to create the life you desire, go here to read the first article and then follow the links at the end of each one.)
In this article, I’m going to cover a step – or perhaps more accurately described, a way of seeing the world – that really helps with your manifesting process.
This is something I have found personally to be extremely helpful, and it is:
Ignoring the 3D
In his books and lectures, Neville talks a lot about ignoring your 3D reality when you are manifesting.
Neville recommends essentially turning your back on the world of your senses (i.e. what is in front of you) when setting your intentions, and when using manifesting techniques such as affirmations or SATS.
This means that external circumstances do not matter when it comes to your manifestations.
You may be in debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It does not matter. You can be prosperous again.
You may have been told you have an incurable disease. It does not matter. You can be healthy again.
You may be estranged from someone or have a really bad relationship. It does not matter. You can recreate that relationship and have it be harmonious.
Circumstances simply do not matter – 3D reality is always malleable.
Here’s why:
According to the Law of Assumption, everything is you pushed out. All that you see around you is a reflection of your consciousness and the contents of your subconscious mind.
Your life is a result of your imaginings and the states of being that you have embodied in the past. Your past attitudes, thoughts, emotions, imaginings, words, and beliefs have all contributed to create the life you have now.
Remember that your world is made up of 2 layers — the “real” 3D layer, and the metaphysical layer which is made up of energy. The 3D layer is your reflection in the mirror, and the metaphysical layer is what is behind the mirror.
The states of being that you embody the majority of the time within yourself (so, are you smiling or frowning into the mirror?) will be reflected back to you in your 3D reality, albeit with a time lapse.
The law doesn’t care if you hate or love what it reflects back to you. The law doesn’t judge, or bless you in any way. It is a simple reflection, that’s all.
All of this means that your 3D reality is just information. It does not hold any deeper meaning that you may have given it. It is in fact a transient shadow based on your consciousness, which is the source of the shadow.
This is why Neville recommends not assigning too much importance or meaning to your current 3D reality, and turning your back on the senses while you manifest.
This is often termed in manifesting teachings ‘ignoring the 3D’. However, it is obviously impossible to ignore the 3D 100%. What Neville was really getting at with this teaching was, stop reacting to your 3D reality, like it has some kind of independent power or authority over you.
An example:
Let’s say that you have had adult acne for a while, and it’s bad. You would like to manifest clear skin.
Anyone who has had severe acne knows how devastating it can be. You wake up in the morning and go take a look in the mirror to see what new pimples have shown up today. You examine your lifestyle and diet and wonder if or which part of it might have caused this new pimple. You feel hopeless and sad that your face looks like this. You reflect on what the doctor has told you about it (there’s nothing that can be done, except perhaps using some very strong medications with serious side effects.)
Adult acne does a real number on your self-esteem and mood for the day, and many people who have a severe case feel depressed about it.
If you have acne and you are manifesting clear skin, you need to stop assigning meaning to any of the above, including what you see in the mirror, and your thoughts and feelings about that.
A good place to start would be to stop looking in the mirror unnecessarily. If you do look in the mirror, you become indifferent to anything you don’t want to see. You could tell yourself ‘you’re beautiful’. You stop seeing your pimples as a reality that cannot be changed – instead, you start telling yourself: ‘this can change’. You stop feeling hopeless or like a victim of your reality. Instead, throughout the day you see yourself examining your flawless face in the mirror, and you feel satisfied that it is looking great.
No longer reacting to what is happening is perhaps the hardest thing of all to do, when manifesting your way out of a bad situation.
It’s a total and complete shift in perception, which is already hard to do when you’re not feeling good about your reality.
You need to learn to make the shift from seeing your 3D reality as “real”, to beginning to see the world behind your eyes as real. What happens in your mind is what is real, because that is what projects outwards onto your 3D world.
This meditation can help anchor within you the truth that your consciousness is what creates reality. If you are new to the concept presented in this article, it will enable you to begin to see your imagination as the true reality and your 3D world as a transient shadow.
As much as possible, let go of your anxiety, fear or intimidation as a response to your current circumstances. Unhook yourself from the idea that your 3D reality has any power over you. In fact, the reverse is true. The relationship goes the other way. You are the one who has the authority over your 3D reality. So take that authority back, and stop reacting.
Yes, this takes a certain degree of self-delusion and brazenness. It sounds totally deluded and I admit that. Neville Goddard was a Broadway actor. The methods that we use for impressing the subconscious mind and manifesting a new reality (such as SATS) are actually very similar to method acting.
All of this means you are transforming the self. You are leaving an element of the old self behind, and embracing a new self within, and your 3D reality will reflect that at some point.
Ignoring your reality and embodying the state of the wish fulfilled are skills that can be developed, the more you practise them. Don’t expect perfection at first, just persist in imperfectly ignoring your 3D reality.
While you’re doing all of this, remember to keep your focus on what you do want, in your imagination. Use techniques such as affirmations and SATS to help you in this.
Meditation can also come in very handy, if your nervous system is reacting to your current situation and you’re feeling anxiety or stress around it. Mindfulness meditation is amazing for calming your nervous system so that you can manifest what you want, and so are guided meditations, of which there are many on YouTube.
Something else to bear in mind
Another aspect of ignoring the 3D means that you don’t constantly check the 3D to see if your manifestation has arrived yet, and you stop talking about it.
Your goal is to enjoy your new reality in your imagination above all. You don’t complain or talk about why hasn’t it manifested yet. You don’t ask how long it is going to take.
You are already living it. You are in that timeline — so feel it.
You are in Barbados!
Let me tell a story from Neville’s life that exemplifies this. (This is a story that Neville told in one of his lectures.)
Neville was originally from Barbados. He was born there in 1905, into a large farming family (he had 10 siblings) and he left the island for the US in 1922.
Neville was living in New York during the early 1930s, around the time of the Great Depression. He was an out of work dancer and actor because at the time of the Depression very few people had money to go see a show.
At this time he was also studying with an Ethiopian Jewish rabbi called Abdullah, who was teaching him about the Law of Assumption. At this point Neville had limited experience in applying the Law to his own life.
For Christmas 1933, he decided that he wanted to escape the hardship and the cold New York winter and return home to Barbados. The only problem was that he had no money for the trip and he barely had money for the essentials of life, because he had no job.
Around October of that year, he mentioned to Abdullah that he had been away from Barbados for 12 years and he had a burning desire to go back and be among his family for Christmas, yet he had no money and felt it was impossible.
Abdullah’s reply was:
“You are in Barbados.”
He instructs Neville to sleep that night as if he is in Barbados, listening to the tropical sounds of the island. He tells him to see the little houses of Barbados as he is walking down the streets of New York City and to smell the tropical scents of Barbados.
Neville thinks this response is stupid because walking down a NYC street, with its 60 floor multi-storey buildings, is nothing like walking down a Barbados street, with its 1 or 2 storey buildings and no sidewalks.
But he imagines that night that he’s sleeping in Barbados, anyway.
November rolls around and it seems like there’s no movement in Neville’s manifestation.
He approaches Abdullah about it, going round to his house to discuss the matter. When he asks about it, Abdullah slams the door in his face. He refuses to discuss it because Neville is already in Barbados. If Neville is faithful to his assumption, it’s impossible to discuss the ‘how’. Neville continues to fall asleep as if he is in Barbados.
By early December, Neville starts to get a bit twitchy because the last boat that will sail from NYC to Barbados leaves on 6th December and it seems his manifestation is still no closer to becoming a reality.
His teacher Abdullah still refuses to talk about the fact that nothing has happened yet.
Then on 4th December there’s a letter under the door from Neville’s brother Victor, saying that he wants to bring the family together for Christmas, for the very first time. Neville had such a big family, with siblings of varying ages, that they’d never actually been together for Christmas since one of the older ones had already left before one of the younger ones was born.
So, Neville’s brother Victor has decided that it’s time for the family to be together for Christmas. He knows Neville has no money or job, so he sends him $50 for clothes and a first class ticket to Barbados. Neville excitedly goes to the Furness Line to collect the ticket. He is told that unfortunately although his brother purchased a first class ticket, there are only third class rooms left, so he would need to sleep in third class and use the facilities of the first. Neville is still delighted by what has happened and he agrees.
When he tells Abdullah what has happened, Abdullah says, “Who told you that you went to Barbados third class? You are in Barbados and you went first class!”
On the morning of 6th December, Neville goes to check in for the trip and he is told that a passenger has cancelled and there is now a place in first class.
Neville spends 3 “heavenly” months in Barbados.
Through this experience, he learns that he has to stop discussing what he is manifesting, and why it hasn’t arrived yet, or how to make it arrive. Such discussions need to be cut off, and instead one’s focus brought back to the wish fulfilled — this is what is meant by the teaching “You are in Barbados”.
So, this is an important part of ignoring the 3D, too. You stop talking about (or thinking about) how you haven’t got your manifestation yet and instead you just live it in your imagination. You travel along the Bridge of Incidents without stressing about it all or talking about where you might be on the bridge.
You trust.
Again, here’s that guided meditation that I love for making the shift towards ignoring the 3D.
Quotes from Neville on ignoring the 3D:
“Denying the evidence of the senses and appropriating the feeling of the wish fulfilled is the way to the realisation of your desire.”
“Never accept anything as true and final unless it conforms to the ideal you desire to embody within your world.”
“Seek only to guide your thoughts and feelings in the direction of your desires and not on the evidence of your senses.”
“When man finally identifies himself with his imagination rather than his senses, he has at long last discovered the core of reality.”
“I did it, I am doing it and I will continue to do it until that which I’ve done is perfectly externalized within my world”
Further Resources:
- You can find the next article in this series here: How to Structure Your Law of Assumption Daily Practice for Manifesting
And you can find Neville Goddard’s books on the Law of Assumption here: Neville Goddard: The Complete Reader
Wonderful articles Anna. Great to have you back 😊 “You are in Barbados” I’m going to put this up above my mirror.
Thank you, Vincent!
I’ve really enjoyed your articles over the years on intuition, in part because of the clarity you bring to the subject. Your articles on the Law of Assumption have that same clarity. Really enjoying them =)
Thank you, Al, for the feedback 🙂 🙂