Another day in paradise
Manifestation comes from the word Manifesto. Emptiness, or Śūnyatā, is a profound concept. “You are awakened the day you realize all spirituality is a bypass because life is empty.” one wise man once said. The day we accept that, we understand all spiritual practices. This perspective is often discussed in Buddhist teachings.
Emptiness is about recognizing that things have no inherent form, color, or essence. When we look at something, we often immediately create stories and emotional bonds, appreciating or depreciating based on our perceptions, evaluations, dictionaries, conditionings, and belief systems. In this way, we fill emptiness with stories - and we apprecite or depreciate things according to this.
When we observe the world, we define it through our inner stories, which is a form of manifestation. For example, consider the example of a pen. To a human, it's a pen; to a dog, it's a chew toy. The object itself is neither—it is empty. We create its identity through our perceptions. The witness decides its identity. (thanks to Geshe Michaal Roach for these teachings).
We often react to everything based on stories we've been taught, even if we've never directly interacted with a lot of things. This is how beliefs are formed, influenced by media and education, leading us to hold certain views.
In our current circumstances, it's essential to remember that each day is another day in paradise, despite the chaos around us. Viewing life from the heart can bring acceptance of the situation, and eases things around. Resisting circumstances or feeling victimized drains us, but practicing acceptance can help us align with the power of emptiness, which eliminates resistance.
This ties into the concept of impermanence, anicca— “this too shall pass” everything is going to change. By embracing this, we can fill today's story with the narrative of our choice.
Consider the film La Dolce Vita, which portrays a father in a concentration camp creating a different reality for his son, illustrating how emptiness can be filled with different stories and realities.
When we accept our current circumstances and take responsibility for our perceptions, we align ourselves with the power of manifestation. We focus on what we can change and release resistance to what we cannot.
Manifestation is a subjective relationship with what we see. It's about recognizing the emptiness in all things and understanding that our perceptions shape our reality. So all we can do - is to accept the circumstances completely.
On this day (8.8.8) when 8 is the symbol possibly most aligned with the potentiality of materialising the Creator Within - meditate and manifest towards BE-coming your Godly qualities of might, power and awe.