Why Being Delusional is the Key to Manifesting Your Desires
Image of Monica Bellucci
It dawned on me not long ago that my greatest achievements were all rooted in delusion, and now I realize that this is the key to manifesting your wildest dreams.
Years ago, while working in finance, I decided I wanted to leave and get a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). I also determined that I wanted to attend one of the top four business schools and wanted it to be paid for by scholarship, like my undergraduate education was.
If you know anything about the top business schools in the states, you know they are (a) hard to get into and (b) expensive. For those lucky enough to get accepted into a top institution, MBA scholarships are even rarer to come by. Most students pay for this quarter-of-a-million-dollar education through loans or out of pocket.
I ultimately attended Stanford on a merit-based scholarship from a corporate sponsor, that included a pre-MBA fellowship with a six-figure salary. At the time, I believe the Stanford MBA program acceptance rate for my class was under 5%. I was also accepted into Harvard, as well as the two other top business schools, all with scholarships.
How did I accomplish this? Though I ultimately chose Standard, at the time I considered Harvard my top choice. At night, I would fall sleep imagining myself walking the halls of Harvard and attending classes. I had never been on Harvard’s campus before so just made up a scene based on what I believed it looked like.
Yes, I’m smart and put a lot of effort into my applications. But most of the individuals applying to these schools are exceptionally intelligent and/or incredibly well-connected. That was not the case for me, but I still believed I could go to any school I wanted, despite the odds and my disadvantages. And so I maintained that delusion in my dreams, and my dreams became reality.
I’ve had an active imagination since I was a child. However, only recently have I begun to understand the connection between imagination and reality. I wasn’t aware of the correlation, I only knew that visualizing circumstances as I wanted them to be was a pleasant experience. Because in my mind, I can be whatever I want to be. I may be restricted in real life, but in my mind there are no limitations.
I’ve started keeping track of all the times my imagination shaped reality, and it is shocking to see how I’ve inadvertently created experiences, both positive and negative, that originated in my mind. I’m fortunate that I’m a fairly optimistic person and most of the time I only imagine good things, but there have been times where I’ve dwelled on adverse situations for too long only for them to perpetuate. When I stopped dwelling on them, they somehow ceased.
A little trick for dealing with hardship, that I’ve used for as long as I can remember, is to have your future self tell your current self: “one day, very soon, you are going to look back on this situation and laugh, wondering why you ever worried.” And then imagine yourself in that near future, after everything has worked out in your favor. Once again, only now am I realizing how powerful this is.
However, one aspect of manifesting that has been quite difficult for me, and I assume others, is the act of faith or believing in your desire. As a confident person, disbelief can feel debilitating. There have been many times when I’ve become overwhelmed during the pursuit of some aspiration, because I thought I didn’t have enough faith. When doubts set in or my dreams were delayed, I’d assume it was because I didn’t believe in it enough. I’ve been so unnecessarily hard on myself because of this minor misinterpretation of what it means to believe.
Here’s a little secret I only recently discovered: faith is an action not an emotion. Despite how you feel, all you need to do is consistently hold the realization of your desire in your mind and reflect on it over and over again. And if it’s something you truly desire, you will automatically start to feel good during these visualization sessions. Just because you don’t yet believe it, doesn’t stop you from imagining it. And as what you imagine begins to come true, it will strengthen your faith.
Beware that the same holds true in reverse. Often, disbelief is rooted in not knowing how we can accomplish something. So we focus on the negative (not knowing how) instead of the positive (the desire itself). Our beliefs are shaped by what we continually think about, and most importantly, how we think of ourselves. In order to strengthen your self-concept, you have to direct your thoughts, no matter how you feel about your worthiness or the likelihood of it happening. Your thoughts are your most potent and powerful creative tool. It’s impossible to be happy in life if you can’t cultivate the ability to control how you think.
Of course, this is easier said than done, but humans are quite agile beings. When you start to feel bad about some situation, and begin to think low-grade thoughts about yourself, you can easily and gently shift your attention to something else and forget what you were thinking about just a minute before. Don’t fight against the negative thoughts, just replace them with a more pleasant vision. And if visualization is too difficult, use simple pleasures to distract yourself. If I’m so deep in despair that I can’t even imagine good things, then I get up and do something pleasant like take a walk, drink a cup of tea, or read a good book.
I’m not a religious person, but I love philosophy which has led me to study and draw insights from many different belief systems. If there is one common thread that runs through them all, it is the power of thought. For that reason, I believe the spiritual (our thoughts) directly shapes the physical (our reality). My experience has taught me that it is through delusion that we manifest our desires. Is there anything that a human being has created that didn’t first exist as an idea? Many great thinkers across various disciplines — be it psychology, philosophy, or spirituality — acknowledge the power of thought.
René Descartes, a 17th-century French philosopher, introduced the famous statement "I think, therefore I am." This concept was the cornerstone of his philosophy. Descartes saw delusion — doubting and questioning everything about reality — as a means of building individual consciousness and the basis for establishing inner knowledge:
“Some years ago I was struck by how many false things I had believed, and by how doubtful was the structure of beliefs that I had based on them. I realized that if I wanted to establish anything in the sciences that was stable and likely to last, I needed—just once in my life—to demolish everything completely and start again from the foundations. It looked like an enormous task, and I decided to wait until I was old enough to be sure that there was nothing to be gained from putting it off any longer. I have now delayed it for so long that I have no excuse for going on planning to do it rather than getting to work. So today I have set all my worries aside and arranged for myself a clear stretch of free time. I am here quite alone, and at last I will devote myself, sincerely and without holding back, to demolishing my opinions.”
Delusion is the act of denying old beliefs and replacing them with new beliefs that support who you want to be and what you want to obtain in life. If your current reality doesn’t align with your aspirations, understand that it’s ok to question that reality instead of questioning your desires. Most people see their desires as problems to figure out within the confines of their current state of existence. If they can’t force fit their wants into the existing construct, then they abandon them all together. How many times have you given up on something you deeply desired because you assumed it wasn’t possible?
That’s because your efforts were misguided. You were accepting current circumstances as truth, then trying to find a way to work within those constraints. But truth is subjective, and some ideas and inclinations are too big for boundaries. There will be times when want you want is so lofty, it will necessitate completely reimagining who you are in order to obtain it. At that point you must recreate, not conform, to reality. And the easiest place to start is with your own imagination, as it is unencumbered by dogmas.
If all we ever did was accept the status quo, we’d never progress as a species. But clearly humans have an innate power to evolve. I’m convinced that our shadow self, or subconscious mind, latches onto what we continually imagine and is able to develop a means of materializing it. And I bet that many of those who we think are living a dream life, are those that spend a lot of time dreaming big. Instead of pining over someone else’s seemingly perfect life, put that energy into creating your own.
I am highly experimental when it comes to spirituality, so don't take my word on any of this. Try it for yourself. If you are interested in exploring the concept further I suggest starting with books by Neville Goddard and Joseph Murphy. I caution you that if you aren’t a particularly spiritual person, these ideas can be a lot to digest. Nevertheless, they will expose you to an alternative way of thinking about your own beliefs, and how they may either help or hinder your ability to manifest your desires.
