February/March 2008

Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Ted Glick

A Better World is Possible
John Cavanaugh & Jerry Manders

Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World
Kim Corbin interviews Bill Plotkin

Relearning What We've Forgotten
Chris Maser

The Welcome Home Project
Jody Woodruff

Diabetes: Inherently Treatable and In Many Cases Preventable
Daniel Smith, MD

Riding the Age Wave
Gaea Yudron

Radient Mind: Intervuew wuth author Peter Fenner
Carrie Grossman

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

BACK TO TOP

The Greatest Secret of All

Moving Beyond Abundance to a Life of True Fulfillment

By Marc Allen

Throughout my twenties and early thirties, I had the opposite of the Midas touch. Everything I touched fell apart. Worse yet, I was on an intense emotional roller coaster much of the time, with a variety of anxieties and periods of immobilizing depression.

The day I turned thirty, I woke up in a state of shock, finally realizing I wasn’t a kid anymore. I had no job and no savings or any other assets except an old torn-up electric piano. I was scrounging (a word we used often) to come up with $65 every month for rent for my little studio apartment in a funky part of Oakland, California.

That day changed my life, because I began to apply some ideas in some new ways, ideas that before had just been occasional floating thoughts, ephemeral and remote possibilities in my mind. I sat down and wrote on paper what became—for me, in my words—the first secret of manifestation:

The first step to discovering the secret of
manifestation is to write your ideal scene on paper,
your dream life five years in the future.
Begin with the end in mind,
and keep it in mind.

I sat down and took a sheet of paper and wrote Ideal Scene at the top. I imagined everything had gone as well as I could possibly imagine, and somehow, over the next five years, I was able to create the ideal life for me. What would it look like? What would I do and have, and who would I be?

I was surprised, even shocked in a strange way, at what came spilling out on paper. I imagined I had a publishing company, successfully publishing books and music, including my own books and music. Before I sat down and wrote out my ideal scene, I had absolutely no interest in business. I had never taken a business course. I had never written a book or recorded my music. The words that spilled out when I wrote my ideal scene surprised me as much as they were to surprise just about everyone else I knew.

I imagined I wrote successful books and recorded beautiful music as well. I imagined I had a lovely white home on a hill in northern California, one of my favorite places on earth. I imagined I had a wonderfully loving relationship. I dared to imagine my ideal, so I imagined I had plenty of time for it all: creativity, a successful business, friends and family, and plenty of free time alone for myself as well.

• • • • •

And I added something else that changed my life dramatically: When I dared to think of my ideal, the kind of life I would have if I could have anything at all, I realized what I really wanted was a life of ease. I didn’t want to work too hard. The few forty-hour-a-week jobs I had tried hadn’t worked out, and working that many hours felt inhumane to me. Ideally, I wanted plenty of time for ease and relaxation, plenty of time for my creative life, spiritual life, and personal life with friends and family.

That was my ideal: success with ease, and success without compromising the other things that were important to me in life. I wanted to do what I loved, and not have to do anything I didn’t really enjoy.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was beginning to learn secrets that were far greater than the secret of manifestation.

The simple step of writing down my ideal scene
led me to discover the unfailing natural laws
of manifestation.

I stared at that sheet of paper awhile and realized that within it was a list of goals. I took a second sheet of paper and listed all the goals I could think of. There were twelve of them, at first. (Now I’m down to six.)

It was thirty years ago now, but I remember it clearly: As I was writing my goals, I was assaulted with doubts and fears. I wrote, “Start and build a successful company,” and my thoughts were churning—You? Who are you trying to kid! You have no money, and you need money to make money! You know nothing of business! You don’t even like business! And it’ll wreck your creativity! It’ll destroy your soul! Money is the root of all evil! On and on it went—an endless stream of doubts, fears, and darkly negative thoughts.

But then I remembered something I had read in a book by Catherine Ponder, a Unity Church minister. She wrote about the power of affirmations—simple statements or declarations that your dream or goal is now coming into being. They’re best when they’re in the present tense, worded in a way that your subconscious mind can accept and begin to work and play with.

The most vivid phrase I remember from Catherine Ponder’s writing has become part of my daily life. She said that affirmations are even more effective if they start or end with this phrase: In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way …

So I took another sheet of paper and rewrote each goal as an affirmation, beginning with that phrase. I worded my goal of starting and building a successful business like this: In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, I am now building a successful business.

The second step to discovering the secret of
manifestation is to write your goals as affirmations,
beginning with In an easy and relaxed manner,
in a healthy and positive way …

Years later, looking back, I realized how powerful those words were—so powerful, in fact, that by repeating them daily, I overcame many of my doubts and fears. What, after all, are our doubts and fears whispering to us? It isn’t easy; it’s very difficult! It certainly isn’t relaxed; it’s stressful! It’s not healthy for you, not even positive. You’ll fail! You don’t know what you’re doing! You’re a fool!

That powerful little phrase—in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way—repeated thousands of times overcame a lot of those doubts and fears. It took me about five years, but I finally got it through my thick skull that it was possible to create a great deal of success in the world in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way.

Don’t underestimate the power of those words—or the power of any words you repeat to yourself. Our thoughts determine our actions. And our actions lead, inevitably, to success or failure, fulfillment or frustration.

• • • • •

I typed up my list of goals as affirmations and carried it around with me in my back pocket. I often began the day by reading that list. I read it at my desk as I started to work. I read it in the bathroom sometimes.

Some deep part of me knew that if I kept reading and re-reading that list, my subconscious mind would absorb it sooner or later, and I would eventually be able to turn those distant, ephemeral dreams into solid intentions—and once that happened, those intentions would soon become reality.

Reading my list of affirmations led me to the next obvious step:

The next step to discovering the secret of
manifestation is to write a one-page plan
for every major goal.

It’s simple, isn’t it? For me, the process has to be simple, and the words I write have to be words a child of about ten years old can easily understand. That makes it much easier for my subconscious mind to absorb those words.

I took a separate sheet of paper for every major goal on my list and wrote a one-page plan to achieve that goal. This little process took me several months for some of the plans, because I didn’t even know where to start.

The only plan I could think of at first for starting a business involved just a few action steps: Read a used business textbook, and talk to anyone I could who knew more about business than I did. These little steps led me to see and then take the next step of actually writing a simple, one-page plan.

That led to the final step:

The final step to discovering the secret of
manifestation is to take action.
When you have a plan, an intention will form.
When you take action, nothing can stop you.

This step became obvious as soon as I’d taken the other steps. I kept reviewing my plans—and rewriting them, because most of them changed all the time—and then I’d pull out my little weekly calendar and write down an action step to take on a specific day. Without being consciously aware of it at first, I was sending a powerful message to my subconscious mind: Not only am I planning, in writing, to achieve this goal, but I am taking the next steps necessary to get there.

At age thirty I was a poverty case; by about thirty-six, I had become a millionaire. The secret to success that had eluded me for so many years became simple and obvious to me:

Great success is the result of a
great many small steps,
all moving toward a clearly defined goal.
That is the secret of manifestation.

Maybe some of you are thinking it can’t be that simple. Or you’ve heard it all before, and there’s nothing new in it. It’s true—there is nothing new in it, and you’ve probably heard it all before. And it is simple—these simple steps set your course. Then it’s just a matter of ongoing course correction, of getting back on course every time you wander off course into doubts and fears, frustration and anxiety.

How do you get back on course? By focusing, once again, on your goals and affirmations, and remembering your plans and moving ahead on those plans in whatever way you can.

I once heard that an airplane is off course over ninety percent of the time. But the pilot just keeps correcting the course, over and over, and the plane finally reaches its destination. When I heard that, I remember thinking, That’s the story of my life. I set my course, and then kept going off course, over and over. So I had to reset my course, over and over.

That sums up the whole process for me.

The Greatest Secret of All

We have all had intimations and glimpses of the greatest secret throughout our lives. We have all heard the greatest secret many times.

When we discover it, it transforms our lives. We find it when we fall in love. We know it when we gaze into the eyes of our children. We know it whenever we become filled with joy and appreciation for someone or something. But then we forget it, over and over, and fall back into those old habitual fears and frustrations.

All we need to do is to remember the secret again—and again, and again, and again. It has been said in so many different ways, in so many different words. Here’s my attempt, in my words, to express it:

We have a great purpose in life—
a mission, vocation, and calling.
We are here to grow, to evolve,
to reach our full potential
and contribute to the betterment of the world.

This is what has remained a secret for most of humanity: We are far greater than we think we are. Our potential is vast. Most of us have just barely begun to realize who we are and what we are capable of. We have had just brief glimpses of the far more expansive possibilities that are within our reach.

Our task, then, is to discover our unique contribution to the world and let it shine for all the world to see. And when we do it, we help others do it as well, and the light grows and grows, until it becomes a powerful force for change in our lives and in the world.

We know the secret, deep in our hearts. We’ve always known the secret.

To love one another,
and all of creation,
is the greatest secret of all.
Love overcomes all fear,
and transforms our lives and our world.

It was in my little morning prayer—something I’ve done daily for many years—where I finally realized the secret in words even a child can understand. The words quietly come to me now nearly every morning. I ask for guidance, get quiet, and listen. The words that are almost always the same, and they give me the greatest secret of all:

Love, serve, and remember.

Remember what? I ask.

Remember to love and serve.
Remember love overcomes fear.
Love opens the gates of heaven.

We have a choice between love and fear, always. Love rises above fear and opens us up to far greater possibilities, to a higher awareness and power.

Remember who you are:
a child of God,
an essential part of a miraculous creation.

Einstein famously said, “We can look at it as if nothing is a miracle, or as if everything is a miracle. I choose the latter.”

Remember that love finds the perfect partnership
in all we do.

Partnership is the key, not only to great success in the world, but to a life well lived, the most fulfilling life imaginable.

This is the greatest secret of all:
Loving and serving yourself and others
is the key to fulfillment, happiness,
and peace.

It has been told over and over, of course, in countless traditions throughout the world. Christ put it simply and clearly:

A new law I give unto you:
Love one another, as I have loved you.

The new law of Christ is one of tolerance and compassion for all, based on love for all creation, all life. When we follow this law, we find the peace within us, the peace that passes all understanding, and we find the way to create peace in our lives and in the world.
Buddha realized the greatest secret of all, and lived it and talked about it thousands of times, over fifty years of teaching:

When you wake up,
you are filled with love and compassion.

You might find different words. What, in your words, is the greatest secret of all?
This is a good question to ask, because it can lead you to fulfill your greatest dreams and live the most exquisite life possible.

Once you ask the question, you begin to see answers everywhere. The entire universe is a celebration of the greatest secret of all: the secret of life. It is love, of course. Love is the driving force of all of creation.
The answers are everywhere: In your plant on the window sill, your cat in the sun, a tree, the ocean, a sign by the side of the road, a phrase you hear or see somewhere, anywhere at all.

All worthwhile philosophies, all great religions, all great works of art lead to love.

Life and love are synonymous. Life, love, God, Allah, Jehovah, Creator, the All, Christ Consciousness, the Buddha Mind, the Great Mystery, the Great Goddess, Nature, Spirit, the Tao, the quantum field, the plenum void, Presence, Being—all these words are interchangeable.

All great philosophies, religions, and art lead to the greatest secret of all:

We are created in love,
by love, and for love.
We are sustained in an endless
ocean of love.

Ramana Maharshi, one of the leading lights of India in the last century, put it so simply and sweetly, in one of the most beautiful phrases ever written or said anywhere:

The end of all wisdom is love,
love,
love.

Marc Allen is an internationally renowned seminar leader, entrepreneur, author, and composer. He co-founded New World Library with Shakti Gawain and has guided the company, as president and publisher, from a small start-up to its current position as a major player in the independent publishing world. He leads seminars in northern California and gives monthly free teleseminars that reach people all over the world. He has written several books, including The Type-Z Guide to Success, Visionary Business, and others. He has also recorded several albums of original music, including his most recent, Awakening. Excerpted from The Greatest Secret of All by Marc Allen (New World Library) 2008 Marc Allen. Visit www.NewWorldLibrary.com or www.MarcAllen.com.

Marc Allen