Mental Alchemy: How to Change Your Experience of Reality
Back in the Middle Ages alchemists sought to transform base
metal into gold. They searched for an elusive substance, the
philosopher's stone, which would bring about this conversion,
known as alchemy. But to initiates of the ancient mystery
schools, alchemy was primarily an allegory for the real work of
spiritual and mental alchemy.
Spiritual alchemy is the process of transforming a less evolved
soul personality into a more refined one. The founders of all
major religions have attempted to expedite this transformation
by providing rules to help people achieve this goal and also
lead happier and more productive lives. Enlightenment,
illumination, the perfection of the soul all point to this
ultimate goal. Mystics from all religions have studied the
universal laws to speed up this process, which they believe
occurs over many lifetimes.
Mental alchemy is the process of transmuting your thoughts to
improve your life and expand your mind. The good news is that
this discipline can produce immediate, beneficial results in
your current life, in some cases instantly.
Mental alchemy involves the replacement of beliefs that are
hindering your development with positive ones that will help
you. You might say that sounds straightforward-why would this be
so difficult?
It turns out it's extremely difficult to change beliefs. There
are three reasons for this:
1) Most people mistake their beliefs for the truth. Even
if it's not in their best interest, some people resign
themselves to their fate because they mistakenly accept a belief
as true.
2) Beliefs operate at the subconscious level. Most people
are unaware of their subconscious beliefs, which are often in
conflict with their conscious thoughts. For example, a woman may
consciously be seeking love, but subconsciously she may feel
she's unworthy. Unless her belief is made conscious and
transmuted, it will continue to sabotage her efforts. See our
last newsletter Get Out of Jail Free: How to Identify
Unconscious Beliefs.
3) You see what you believe. Less than 100 years ago
physicists were trying to determine whether light was a wave or
a particle. The answer depended on what you believed you would
find. If you believed light was made of particles, then you
could design an experiment that proved it. Conversely, if you
believed light consisted of waves then you could design another
experiment to prove that.
The placebo effect provides another example. In drug trials
required to gain FDA approval, 40% of patients, on average, will
obtain relief from placebos. They get better simply because they
believe they will get better. Placebos have actually helped
people with Parkinson's disease.
The mystic principle behind these results is called the Law of
Attraction or "like attracts like." In the mystic world, and now
in the world of quantum physics, we know that everything is
energy. Everything has its own vibration, including a belief.
People attract to themselves those experiences that match their
existing belief system. They get to see what they believe.
So how does Mental Alchemy work?
Neurologists tell us the brain doesn't know the difference
between what's actually experienced and what's imagined to be
experienced. The same electrical patterns are fired between the
neurons in the brain. The electrical patterns in the brain
reflect how we store and process information, including beliefs.
The ramification of this is profound: you can change your
beliefs using your imagination. It doesn't matter whether the
belief is true or not.
Let's take an example of a basketball player who misses the
final shot of the state championship game and his team ends up
losing by one point. This experience can be traumatic and will
often reinforce negative beliefs that he's a choker or a loser.
Had he made the shot, he would be a hero and filled with the
confidence of a winner.
Let's say you are the basketball player. What should you do?
First, go to a quiet place where you won't be disturbed for
10-15 minutes. Make sure that none of your objective senses
(sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste) is being stimulated. Take
a few deep breaths. Your goal is to relax and get into an alpha
state. Scientists have shown that you can learn new skills much
more readily while in this state. Meditation is ideal for this.
At this point, you should replay the end of the game in your
mind. Only this time, when you take the final shot, do it with
confidence and watch it go in. Visualize all the fans going wild
as the buzzer sounds and your teammates carry you off the court.
Involve all your senses and imagine how it feels to be the hero!
Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all
time, but he probably missed just as many shots at the end of
the game as he made. But you can be quite certain he didn't
dwell on the missed shots, but simply remembered the
game-winning shots. You can do the same. Use the technique of
Mental Alchemy and change your life.