To My Friend Eric, Who Continues to Await Delivery of His Cheque from The Clouds

I have a friend; let's call him Eric, who has studied The Law of Attraction for many years.

In fact, Eric has studied metaphysics of one kind or another for as long as I have known him and although neither of us can quite pinpoint when that was, it must have been sometime back in the sixties. Since then he's embarked on several self discovery courses, attended many abundance seminars and involved himself in countless money making schemes.

Whenever I see Eric he's always just about making ends meet, hanging out in places he'd prefer to leave and trying to figure out how to realise the latest big dream that's on his mind. He's a very nice guy. Everybody likes him; at least I don't know anyone who doesn't, except maybe Eric himself.

Often over a beer we'll be shooting the breeze, discussing old times and maybe doing our best to put this crazy world to rights, when he'll come out with something that has become his virtual trademark over the years.

"You know Mike," he'll begin "I don't know what I'm doing here. I want to paint but nobody likes what I do so no one's ever going to buy my stuff, which means I'm stuck with these dead end jobs that pay nothing. So I can't ever get enough money up together to......."

Well, I'm sure you get the idea. You've probably heard this kind of rhetoric from someone you know. Most of us know someone like this and we want to help them, but it's like that old saying about leading a horse to water.

Anyway, some years ago when the New Age was young and everyone was starting to get fired up about becoming affluent and entering the millionaire mindset, I signed up for a seminar given by an excellent teacher of New Age Thought called Stuart Wilde. I think the seminar was called The Mastery of Money, or something very close to it. It was no great surprise to find Eric there too.

One of the big messages that Stuart put across that day was the fact that however much metaphysical work you put in, like getting centred, visualizing through a variety of the senses and processing out all the dross, ultimately this all had to lead to some kind of direct practical action you were going to have to carry out in the marketplace if the money you wanted to attract your way was ever going to show up.

A phrase he used that still sticks in my mind to this day was; "The God Force can't mail you a cheque from the clouds."

After the seminar finished Eric and I met up to compare notes. He said it was all fine and good, but could not agree with the idea that you had to put something as down to earth as a business plan together before the money came your way. He argued that if you had a powerful enough metaphysical technique the money would arrive anyway so why not have the God Force mail you a cheque from the clouds?

After all, what's the point of using metaphysics to manifest money if you've still got to work for it?

What Eric had failed to grasp was that if you work at something you 'love' with a 'passion' that takes you beyond the mundane tasks you need to carry out to make it happen, you generate a huge surge of energy that affects not only you, but many of those around you.

So when you reach a point where you need money you have not yet got to take your project forward, some of the people you ask will pick up that vibe and lend or give you the money. That's how manifestation works.

OK, you might win the lottery. You might stumble over a suitcase of used banknotes, or stub your toe on a gold nugget, but the odds aren't that good. However, if you focus on something you can really see and feel is going to happen then that sets up a magnetic force that will ultimately pull everything you need your way if you don't give up on it.

I see Eric a lot these days. I see him walking disillusioned through the streets, scratching around for change in supermarket queues, making do and losing day by day a little more of the sparkle I used to see in his eyes. And sometimes if I let my own energy slip, I even catch a glimpse of him in the mirror.

However dedicated we are there's always a little bit of Eric in us somewhere. He's not a bad guy, just a bit of a dreamer, who could use a shot of earthbound reality from time to time.

Copyright (c) 2008 Michael Messina