Note from Anna: this is an article by A.C. Winklier, a writer who has some interesting & well-written insights on the Law of Assumption, after practising conscious creation for many years.

When we were talking about writing a guest article, I suggested to him that he could write something about LOA & solipsism, because this is an element of the Law of Assumption that is quite hard to wrap one’s head around.

I remember many years ago when I was first exposed to what I now understand was the Law of Assumption on the blog of a personal development blogger, I was turned off by the apparently narcissistic and solipsistic way that this person was practising the Law. The implication of their writings was that they were the only person in the world and we were just “props” in the background. This isn’t the only time I’ve come across a Law of Assumption content creator assume a solipsistic stance. And this idea can make conscious creators uncomfortable or confused. So, the article below addresses this topic. Over to A.C…

At first brush, many of the teachings circulating in law of assumption and manifestation circles raise an important question: If I am capable of creating my own reality (or, at least, of attracting desired objects/experiences into my reality), what role do other people play in my life?

Am I engaged in some kind of metaphysical battle with those around me, each of us vying endlessly to have our desired reality find its manifestation in the world? Are others powerless and at the mercy of the world I choose to create, since I’m the one with the power to create it? Do “others” even exist? Am I the King/Queen of my own little universe while you’re King/Queen of yours, someone else is King/Queen of theirs, and none of our realities ever interact?

The metaphysical bases of manifestation can be confusing. And, in truth, you don’t really have to understand them to reap the rewards of cultivating a manifestation practice. But, there is an intellectual roadblock standing in the way of many spiritual seekers’ progress, and it’s one we’d benefit from investigating so that we might overcome it gracefully and without having our progress slowed.

The Solipsistic Trap

In a philosophical context, “solipsism” is “the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.” In simpler English, solipsism is the belief that you, as an individual self or person, are the only thing in the universe to truly exist; everything else that you experience is simply an out-projection of your mind with no existential basis of its own.

Very often, when people are first exposed to the law of attraction or other theories of manifestation, their first instinct is to turn to solipsism. They hear catchphrases like “You create your own reality,” and “Everything you experience is your mind pushed outward,” and assume that they must be the central figure in the story of life.

And I mean, what else are you supposed to take from a statement as explicit as “you create your own reality?” That phrase directly implies that I have my own personal reality. It implies solipsism.

But, there’s a problem. Much of the New Age curriculum (law of attraction/assumption and manifestation included) was constructed piecemeal out of different philosophies, ideologies, and schools of spiritual thought – some of them quite ancient. Ideas were lost in that construction, though. Things were mistranslated. And it’s only in those mistranslations that solipsism seems so inevitable.

So let’s go back for a moment and clear up the confusion.

A great portion of modern spirituality (again, with an emphasis on the law of assumption and manifestation) was founded on philosophies of non-duality. There are many different iterations of these philosophies spanning centuries and continents, but they all have the following belief in common:

Though reality appears to be fractional – though it appears to be composed of many different objects interacting with each other in a single shared world – it is not. Underlying reality is a unified force or substrate from which all objects arise and to which they eventually return. This “substrate” has been variously referred to as consciousness, awareness, beingness, God, “the universe,” and about a thousand other things.

An easy way to conceptualize this is by picturing sand castles on the beach. Though there might appear to be an entire city of castles rising out of the sand, none of those castles “exist” in their own right. Their existence is borrowed from the sand. Without sand, there are no castles; without castles, there continues to be sand. Sand is the fundamental reality of the beach and, thus, any castles that arise must arise out of, and be made of sand. There’s nothing else but sand, no matter how things might appear.

Now take that metaphor and replace “beach” with “world” and “sand” with “consciousness/awareness/beingness.” Though there appears to be a world – there appear to be towns and cities and people and lots of things going on – all of these apparencies are simply “borrowing” their existence from consciousness/awareness/beingness. Consciousness exists (the only fact we can actually be sure of) and, thus, anything that exists in consciousness (anything that we experience) must be made out of consciousness too, just like sand castles are made out of sand.

Here’s the point of this whole non-dual diversion:

When people use the phrase “you create your own reality,” they aren’t talking about “you” the individual mind – they’re talking about You, consciousness/awareness/beingness. They’re making the point that in essence, you aren’t your body or your mind or your personality/ego – those things are just castles in the sand. What you really are is this fundamental beingness that exists as the foundation of all reality.

Can you see now how solipsism becomes a trap? Solipsism assumes that the individual person is all that exists. That one singular castle is the foundational reality of the entire beach.

It’s an error in identifying one’s self as something more limited than it really is.

You, consciousness, create all reality – that includes the body/mind with which you identify and refer to as “me,” as well as everything else in the world. True spirituality is an expansion of self – “You” expand to include everything and everyone in the entire universe. That’s the opposite of solipsism, which isolates you from everything and everyone else.

I know this can be tricky to wrap your head around. But still, trying to understand this distinction can aid in our law of assumption practice.

As you work to manifest anything, try not to act as an individual – meaning, try not to feel as if your mind is at the controls. Step out of yourself and your ego and step into consciousness. Be a passive observer and “watch” the person you call “me” effortlessly attract the objects and experiences they desire. Let all manifestations arise not out of the mind of the person, but out of you, the beingness underlying that mind.

This will solve the solipsism issue. Instead of denying others their existence, you’ll be sharing in the existence of everything. Imagine yourself as a giant TV screen, on which whatever you’d like to watch will appear. You, the person, might appear as the main character, but will be no less part of the show than any other person or object. If the main character is having a hard time in life, don’t put the onus on them to “do” something and change their circumstances – just change the channel and choose to watch a show where the main character and everyone around them is flourishing.

This is a subtle shift but one that will make a world of difference in your manifestation practice.

As always, good luck – and many thanks to Anna for granting me the honor of guest posting on her blog.

A.C. Winklier is a teacher of various spiritual disciplines and the author of the Amazon bestseller, The Conscious Creator’s Guidebook. He has a blog (acwinklier.substack.com) where he posts regular essays and articles on manifestation, the law of attraction/assumption, and other spiritual topics.