You're not going to like this.

You're really not going to like this.

- Abraham Hicks "Into the Vortex" CD

I am an explorer by nature. Having a voracious appetite for information, I love to do personal "experiments" to see how many ways I can create a better life. Reading, testing, reading, researching, reading, seminars and reading are my M.O. for finding this information.

Over the past couple of years, I have devoured the information regarding Abraham Hicks. In case you do not know, Esther Hicks is said to channel an entity named Abraham (actually Abraham is said to be a collection of entities). Mind you, I am pretty open about this but I also want proof. To say "this stuff works" or "THIS is the way to go" means nothing, as does "it worked for me. . . ." All that means is that one individual found his or her means to access their innate, internal skills or abilities. It does not constitute proof by any means.

For me, the bottom line is this -- If I do XYZ, is my life better for it?

As mentioned, I have read and listened to virtually all of the Abraham-Hicks materials. It is beautiful. The messages are inspiring, upbeat and spoken (or written) with a kind heart. In the same breathe, I diligently applied this and over the course of the past 15 months or so, my life sank to new lows.

In others words, despite the inspiring messages, I found it worthless. . . for me. Others claim to have healed themselves or increased this wealth. I applied their "approach" so to speak diligently and though I felt great, the end results were utterly horrible. The worst part, I really, really, really believed.

Humans have a tendency to collect information to support their beliefs. Not surprisingly, I recently have found more and more people who have followed the Abraham Hicks way and have had no results or poor results. (Not sure if this actually means anything. I just a little frustrated about the whole thing.) It would be interesting to see how many people considered themselves help by this material or others like The Secret and how many were not. I STRONGLY suspect this will never happen.

On the plus side, when a person feels good or "reaches for the best vibration," using the Abraham Hick verbiage, life is brighter and more colorful. There are seemingly endless philosophers, spiritual leaders, psychologists and "regular" people who have espoused this notion. It is common sense. It is a great idea. Who wants to go around feeling blue, being an energy vampire or a downer. Not exactly new News here.

Here is the problem. When you DO nothing, nothing happens. You can feel great. You can be in "vibrational alignment" all you like but unless you take action, nothing will change. People will not come to you in this fashion. Money will not come to you by "aligning with it." You work for it. You get creative about it. Unless action is taken, the only thing you will create is debt.

The older. . . I mean. . .more experienced I get, the more I realize that the only people making money from these approaches are the people who are selling these approaches. In fact, they are making a killing! Books, CDs, DVDs, cruises, seminars. The numbers are staggering. To make money is a great thing. To make a lot of it is a better thing. To prey on others' fears. . . . not such a good thing. Sometimes, I think that is what is happening here. You have people who are down, desperate, hopeless and for X number of dollars, you sell them "the answer." In their sense of desperation, they pay for the next DVD or book, thinking THIS one will finally provide the answer I want.

I do believe that some who promote these types of materials do so with good intention. In fact, in the absence of hard proof, I still believe this statement to be true.

At the end of the day, we are unique individuals. We must find our unique ways of dealing with life. Even more so, we must take action to achieve what we want.

My wife and I have been logging some 60 hours a week for a while now. I do not know if we are in "alignment with Source energy" or not. I do know that these long hours will eventually pay off, as they have in the past. Hard work or massive action always does.

Every time.

Author's Bio: 

David Orman is the creator of TheOrdinaryBuddha.wordpresscom blog.