Opinion | Manifestation is a form of effortless action
Katie Reul, News Editor
“Je pense, donc je suis,” or “I think, therefore I am.”
Coined by 17th century French philosopher Rene Descartes in his treatise “Discourse on Method,” this phrase was ultimately translated to Latin for increased accessibility, though its original connotation is heavily misconstrued in present day.
“I supposed that all the objects (presentations) that had ever entered into my mind when awake, had in them no more truth than the illusions of my dreams,” Descartes wrote. “Whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be some-what.”
Essentially, Descartes concedes to his powerlessness within his own thoughts and identifies doubt itself as a facet of existence — for doubt itself is thinking and thinking implies consciousness. Perhaps, then, the statement would have better served to be worded as “I doubt, therefore I am.”
The innate issue with Descartes’ statement in present day, however, is its potential implication of a cause-and-effect relationship between the thoughts of the individual and their existence — that thinking itself is what shapes our qualitative reality, in spite of Descartes’ dualistic stance that the body and mind are not mutually exclusive.
The contemporary idea of “manifestation” embodies this interpretation, as seen in a slew of TikTok wellness trends taking the Internet by a storm. Scrolling through comment sections filled with “I claim this,” and “manifesting this,” the idea is that positive thinking can tangibly result in positive rewards simply by concreting one’s intentions orally or in writing.
In the past year alone, Google searches for “manifestation methods” have increased by 15,492%. Many TikTok users claim they have been successful in their efforts, generally oriented around material gain — for example, an increase in wealth or getting back together with an ex-partner.
One self-identified manifestation coach on the app named Maegan Aleece posted a viral video where she claimed to manifest a rainbow in her home to disprove skeptics. Aleece currently has almost 87,000 followers and preaches that individuals need “to believe” in order for their desires to come to fruition.
The pedaling of this ideology does not come without its benefits, being that it instills a sense of hope in the individual in the same way that an individual may seek comfort in religious practice. But I would argue it is not the writing or reading of these desires themselves, but the reaffirmation of placing it at the forefront of one’s mind that leads to a direct result.
In other words, it is not the thinking that causes the doing; rather, the thinking reinvigorates a mindset driven to reap reward. The thinking is the fabric of our existence as sentient beings that allows us to feel emotions as intrinsic as desire or even jealousy, without which we would be motivated to do nothing.
This practice becomes increasingly difficult to validate as one’s wishes shift from material possession to personal growth, which requires conscious and willing introspection and action on part of the individual, rather than just a yearning to change. Maybe, in a sense, this is why the practice was so widely popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic — a time period that thrust unsolicited self-reflection on many in quarantine.
Is it cynical to look critically at a practice that has, regardless of credibility, brought serenity to so many self-proclaimed believers? Maybe a little.
But Descartes seemed to think that the only thing real about our reality is the notion that it may not even be real at all. If that’s the case, the only thing driving forth our engagement with the world around us is the actions we perform within it, not just the thoughts that compose our individualized perception of it.