CHAPTER THREE
Rule 2: Be Aware You Live in an Expanding Universe
Observe the Impersonal Law of Expansion in Your Life and Learn How to Personalize It

The universe is a multidimensional creative process, constantly forming new facets of possibility for you and all living things. Expanding our awareness of the process, we allow ourselves to experience more of it. Every moment we can remember that ANYTHING is possible in a realm of endless possibility.

—Marianne Williamson

THE PREMISE

In his inspiring book Awareness , the mystic Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist Anthony de Mello, S.J., tells the story of the disciple who said to his master, “Could you give me a word of wisdom? Could you tell me something that would guide me through my days?” It was the master’s day of silence, so he picked up a pad and wrote, “Awareness.” When the disciple saw it, he said, “This is too brief. Can you expand on it a bit?” So the master took back the pad and wrote, “Awareness, awareness, awareness.” The disciple said, “Yes, but what does it mean?” The master took back the pad and wrote, “Awareness, awareness, awareness means—awareness.”

DeMello’s story points out that we tend to overcomplicate things and resist the simplicity of one of the greatest practices ever taught, one that brings us into alignment with not just the principle of abundance, but the deeper wisdom of life itself: awareness . The question is what are we to be aware of, and how do we facilitate that awareness? First, let us clarify that awareness and mindfulness are not the same thing. Mindfulness brings us to the present moment in which we realize our oneness with life, but awareness is the laser light that focuses on what is happening in that moment, and in the context of this chapter, what is happening is an infinite expansion of energy. Awareness in the present moment enables us to focus upon and experience firsthand the universal principle of abundance in action as the law of expansion, energy clothing itself in form—operating within us, through us, and all around us. Being fully aware that you exist in a living Universe expanding at or beyond the speed of light and are therefore a part of its creative process is a vital practice; it puts you in direct contact with the secret to life.

Debunking the Illusion of Scarcity

The present moment is where the principle of abundance lingers, awaiting your attention—or perhaps better said, awaiting your command. The practice of present-moment awareness invites you to mindfully see and feel the Universe expanding, pushing out, creating more of itself through you and all around you. The first step is to learn how to personalize and direct an impersonal principle whose only impulse is to expand—and present-moment awareness is where it begins. Mindfully understanding the equation that links you to the creative process starts here:

Infinite Energy = Matter + Expansion = Creation = A Supply of More Than Enough

It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing—a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind.

—Albert Einstein

Basic physics is defined as the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of energy and matter and the relationships between them. In physics, the law of conservation of energy (not to be confused with the ecology of energy conservation) essentially affirms that energy is all there is; therefore, it cannot be created or destroyed but only converted or transformed from one form to another. What Einstein’s famous theorem, E = mc ² , tells us is that energy and matter are fundamentally the same thing because they are inexorably connected and interchangeable; energy is continually transforming into matter and matter, likewise, is transforming into energy. The “c” in the equation represents the speed of light, which travels at 186,000 miles per second. Under any standard of measure, that means the creative process is happening faster than we can possibly imagine.

What does all this scientific data have to do with us and the principle of abundance? This is where being mindfully present in the moment with “awareness, awareness, awareness” comes in; we are energy converters. This is where the old adage “Thoughts become things” comes into play. In other words, everything is created twice: first within, in our minds, and then without, in our material lives. The intention of this chapter is to increase your awareness that we are conductors of energy—living, breathing conduits through which this creative process, the law of expansion, happens every moment of every day, and this can be either the good news or the “other” news, depending on the level of our awareness in the present moment. The more aware we are of this fact, the more we become conscious cocreators with an expanding Universe, directing the impartial energy behind all creation in beneficent ways that serve not only ourselves but our world as well. Remaining unaware makes us no less cocreators with the impartial energy of an expanding Universe—the only question is, are we creating an abundance of more than enough or an abundance of not enough ? Either way, the Universe is doing its job perfectly because it doesn’t know the difference, nor does it care; it is hardwired to push out, expanding in and through whatever has a life force.

After discovering the secret to life—that we are one with an infinite Universe—becoming conscious participants in the present moment with this creative process is the next step; learning how to harness and consciously direct that energy is quintessential to manifesting a prosperous life, a life of abundance that spills over into all that we are and all that we do. Awareness in the present moment is the practice of a lifetime.

You belong to the universe in which you live, you are one with the Creative Genius back of this vast array of ceaseless motion, this original flow of life. You are as much a part of it as the sun, the earth and the air. There is something in you telling you this—like a voice echoing from some mountain top of inward vision, like a light whose origin no man has seen, like an impulse welling up from an invisible source.

—Ernest Holmes

With enough belief in our oneness with what Ernest Holmes refers to as the “Creative Genius” (a.k.a. Life, Source, Universe, etc.), one does not need to be a physicist to grasp the fact that unformed energy is all there is, eternally transforming itself into solid matter and, at some point, back into its unformed essence in an endless cycle. Ralph Waldo Emerson echoed the same truth when he wrote, “There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile. Permanence is but a word of degrees.” There is a message here for us all that we may want to be aware of: scarcity is an illusion.

We begin by understanding that because we exist as spirit, mind, and body, we are a microcosm within the great macrocosm called the Universe; thus the creative process that operates through the whole (the macrocosm) operates in the same manner though its parts (the microcosm). This means that with awareness we can become conscious cocreators with the unlimited potential of an infinite Universe. Understanding that the same intelligence operating universally at a nonlocal level also functions at a very local level—at the center and circumference of our being—is a life-changing insight. It is also the beginning of a beautiful relationship (and partnership) with an abundant Universe. So, take a deep breath, bring yourself into the present moment, smile, and embrace the fact that you really are one with the Creative Genius, this vast array of ceaseless motion, this original flow of life that is hardwired to help us populate our lives with more than enough of whatever we can conceive of within. “As within, so without” is more than a mere platitude; it’s a universal truth.

Everywhere we look we can see evidence that we live in an abundant Universe. We need not cast our eyes any further than the midnight sky or the vast resources of nature to see tangible proof that we live in a prolific Universe of more than enough. This is the law of expansion at work. To further elaborate, consider the following words written by Arthur Thomas in his book, Abundance Is Your Right :

The Sun could contain one million planets the size of our earth... Expansion of the known gives contact with stars that are large enough to hold five hundred million Suns... the average galaxy contains one hundred billion stars, while known space holds at least one hundred million galaxies. The galaxy to which our earth belongs comprises one hundred thousand million stars, with new stars forming... It is an expanding galaxy in an expanding universe which knows nothing about limitation or shortage.

With present-moment awareness we can easily see that we live in an exquisite galaxy floating in an expanding Universe, which is eternally pushing out—creating new “star stuff” from within itself—and which has no boundaries or limitations and shows no evidence of slowing down. The obvious question we must ask ourselves is, why, then, we experience not enough. Why are so many people struggling just to “get by” when there is an eternal plethora of more than enough throughout the Universe? In other words, if we are truly one with this principle of universal abundance, why haven’t more of us realized this and accessed our full potential? Perhaps when Albert Einstein declared that mass and energy are both different manifestations of the same thing, many of us just couldn’t comprehend the full effect of what he was saying. Why? Could it be that we are not aware because we are preoccupied with appearances—the illusion of scarcity—and the apparent problems that seduce our minds into lingering in either the past or the future? When we are not present in the moment, it is impossible to access the pure potential—the unlimited principle of abundance—that lies within us. This is the intent of our second Abundance Rule; it is calling us to transcend “average mind” thinking by being so fully present and aware in the moment that we can embrace the known fact that the Universe is perpetually expanding and that we are part of that expansion. Remembering that what is true of the macrocosm must also be true of the microcosm is a daily practice that will pave the way to a prosperous life.

Potential Is Nothing Until It Is Realized, Actualized, and Utilized

The truth is that we were born to have it all. And part of our handicap as adults is that we no longer understand our potential.

—Yehuda Berg

As pure energy, our potential is the one element to be found in all possibilities, omnipresent, and it awaits our command. In other words, our potential is unformed substance until we convert it into one form or another by shaping it with our deepest beliefs. Infinite potential has been referred to by some teachers as the cosmic glue—the connective tissue—that unifies the whole Universe. The entire landscape of our reality changes dramatically when we realize that we are immersed in pure potential; we were born into it, as a fish is born into water. In some eastern philosophies it is said that we are each born with seeds of infinite potential lying dormant within, waiting to be activated. Because the law of expansion has no bias, the seeds contained within hold all possibilities, good or otherwise; we nurture the seeds we wish to come to fruition. This, again, is why present-moment awareness plays such a vital role in what we grow in our garden of life; it gives us the ability to discern what the harvest will be.

As we shall soon discover, when we become aware of the pure potential that lies within, as a universal principle, we can begin to access that potential, bringing it into manifest form. A disciplined awareness coupled with conscious, creative, constructive, and life-affirming present-moment thinking will bring an abundant harvest of whatever is required to shape the life one desires. These thought seeds are worth nurturing in our mind. Consider the deep insight and implications found in this simple awareness: because the law of expansion is an impulse moving through all living things, we know the universe is conspiring for the infinitude of good that already exists within us , patiently waiting to be externalized, to be germinated, or perhaps more succinctly put, to be realized, actualized, and utilized. Now that we understand that we are swimming in an ocean of infinite potential, the obvious question is: What type of seeds shall we be energizing from this day forward because the Universe is listening?

THE PROBLEM

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.

—Sarah Ban Breathnach

From the moment we rise in the morning until the time our head hits the pillow at night, most of us conduct our lives on autopilot. The problem with autopilot living is that habit energy kicks in and we tend to go a bit unconscious, focusing on the struggle, on just getting by, on making it through another day. In the process, our volitional thinking mind pops into overdrive, obsessing over what we believe is missing rather than living with a keen eye and focusing on the law of expansion, which is manifesting within and all around us as abundance. As a result, we become cause to our own effect, ending up a victim of an undisciplined mind, and all the while, a lack of “awareness, awareness, awareness” is the culprit. In the words of Leonardo da Vinci, “Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!” While the power of one’s perspective will be more fully examined in the seventh Abundance Rule, Sarah Ban Breathnach and Leonardo da Vinci both lead us to the same conclusion: it is always a choice which secret garden we will tend, abundance or lack. Thus, the call to awareness, awareness, awareness must be heard.

Out of our own ignorance and a lack of present-moment awareness, we misuse the impartial law of expansion and end up creating an abundance of not enough. This is pointed out not to depress or distress you, but to bring you into full awareness of the second Rule of Abundance, which hopefully will de-stress and inspire you to refocus your attention on the possibilities available to you. The practice is to remember that energy must create form, and you are a conduit through which that happens. The law of expansion will have its way with you—of that you have no choice—but it is completely yours to determine in what manner that energy will serve you, what form it will take. An awareness of the fact that the law of expansion is always working in you and through you is vital, but so too is an understanding of how it operates.

THE PRINCIPLE

The nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things that are and to make new things like them. For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.

—Marcus Aurelius

There is no more exquisite example of the law of expansion in action and how it works than Mother Nature herself. As an experiment (in theory) to demonstrate this principle, consider the following:

Let us say that a large ear of corn has about eight hundred kernels and each cornstalk grows two ears. We can assume that one kernel of corn equals one seed, which will grow one cornstalk with two ears of corn, and that all seeds will be replanted for three generations, grow, and reproduce in kind. Most important, we shall begin by planting only one kernel in the soil, which is the receptive creative medium that is able to grow any kind of seed planted.

• 1st Generation: Plant 1 kernel = 1 cornstalk with 1,600 new kernels of corn.

• 2nd Generation: Plant 1,600 kernels = 1,600 cornstalks with 1,600 new kernels each = 2,560,000 kernels of corn.

• 3rd Generation: Raise 2,560,000 cornstalks with 1,600 new kernels each = 4,096,000,000 kernels.

In summary, in only three generations, well over four billion new kernels (seeds) can be generated from a single kernel planted if it is established in the proper growing medium, meaning the impartial and receptive soil of Mother Earth, which will receive any seed planted and bring it to full fruition. This is the principle of abundance in action manifesting through the energetic impulse of the law of expansion. There is an intelligence at work within the seed (and the soil) that is greater than the seed, and it knows how to create more of itself from within itself. It is also safe to say that if this intelligence lives in a seed of corn, it must also exist within every living thing—including you. For the corn seed, the proper growing medium is the field of soil; for each of us, the proper growing medium is our mind, where our every thought seed awaits germination. This is why it is vital to remember that just as with the soil—which will impartially grow any seed embedded in it, be it corn or a weed—our mind is receptive and willing to grow any thought seed we nurture with our intention and attention.

The practice of a lifetime is to live in harmony with the impartial law of expansion, mindfully allowing it to serve us in creating an abundance of whatever makes our lives purposeful, meaningful, and fruitful. Awareness that the law of expansion exists is the only first step. Decisively putting that awareness to work is what follows. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” The lingering question is, are you ready to make a clear-minded decision to align with—and consciously use — the principle of expansion today? The operative word in the preceding sentence is consciously . “Awareness, awareness, awareness” is the call to which we must respond in the present moment because it opens the portal to a state of mind that aligns us with the universal impulse of the law of expansion in a conscious, proactive, productive, and purposeful manner.

THE PRACTICE

The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.

—Norman Vincent Peale

Norman Vincent Peale’s words are sage because, with present-moment awareness, they point you in the direction of unlimited abundance. With clear intention, losing yourself in something “bigger” than you can become a mindfulness practice that unites you with not only the law of expansion but also the limitless energy of life itself. When held clearly in your mind, there is nothing more potent than an idea whose time has come. Why? Because with present-moment awareness, we realize that an idea is a quantified unit of energy; pure potential, preparing to pour itself into a mold or form you are shaping in consciousness. While we shall expand upon this premise in the next chapter, trust in knowing you are an energy conductor, a director of pure potential. By losing yourself in an idea bigger than you are, you gain access to more of the energy that already exists within the closed system (meaning nothing can be added to or taken from the whole) called the Universe. This is the law of conservation of energy mentioned earlier, with which you can intentionally cocreate unlimited abundance. The question is, what do you consider bigger than yourself and what would losing yourself in something bigger than you look like? As a place to begin, consider that other than the Universe itself, there is nothing bigger than Mother Nature.

As a Mindfulness Exercise Consider the Following Practice

Daily, spend time outside and become the silent observer of the law of conservation of energy in action. Find a comfortable place to sit and breathe, mindfully bringing your focus to the present moment. Then, reflect on Einstein’s theorem E = mc ² , and witness pure energy transforming into matter and, at some point, back into pure energy.

• Consider how water, as one form of energy, expands, converting to so many other forms of energy: Rain that falls from the sky converts to snow that converts to a stream that converts to a mighty river that flows through turbines in a dam—converting to electricity for our use—before flowing to the expansive ocean where, in turn, it evaporates and converts again to rain.

• Can you see yourself as an eyewitness to this amazing process? Understanding that it is all part of an eternal, expanding, contracting, and forever changing flow of energy with which you are one will build your confidence in the principle of abundance.

• While continuing to breathe deeply and mindfully, personalize the law of expansion and witness how it works flawlessly in your own life; note how you too are always converting energy from one form to another. One example might be how the food you ate for breakfast converted to the energy that powered your body all morning long, enabling you to go to work and exchange the energy of your labor for a paycheck that then converts to another form of energy called money, which, in turn, converts to yet another form of energy called groceries, the mortgage payment, the electric bill, and so on.

Repeat this mindfulness practice every day for a week and witness yourself beginning to feel at one with a Universe that is expanding exponentially in a manner that is using you as a conduit through which abundance flows.

THE PAYOFF

Your greatest awakening comes, when you are aware about your infinite nature.

—Amit Ray

Logic tells us that if the unseen principle of abundance is available to one person on the planet (just as the unseen principle of gravity is), it must also be available to every person on the planet. As the architect of your own life, you have absolute discretion over how it is shaped. It’s vital to remember that in its primary state, which is pure unformed energy, abundance is not something you can see, touch, taste, smell, possess, gain, lose, own, buy, trade, or sell. Only as it is actualized in, through, and as your beliefs can the principle of abundance be converted—or shaped—into a specific “form” (or effect) that can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, possessed, gained or lost, owned, bought, traded, or sold. That is how much power you wield when you are consciously aware of the role an expanding universe plays in you creating a prosperous life.

As you make it a daily practice to visualize yourself merging with something much larger than yourself, you are anchoring yourself firmly in the second Rule of Abundance. Being established in the awareness that you are wonderfully immersed in an infinite Universe—where the law of expansion is always operating—puts you on a fast track to manifesting abundance in every area of your life; as Walt Whitman wrote, “I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.” As you begin to live consciously in the present moment with “awareness, awareness, awareness,” you’ll discover that the Universe really is conspiring for your good. The question is, how much good can you accept? The next chapter will reveal that answer.