with that phrase ‘cosmic ordering’. It is a clumsy, inelegant name for a deeply graceful process, and has the unfortunate effect of implying that our entire, amazing universe is just some kind of giant department store that does home deliveries.
I also had a problem with the way in which it was being thrust into the limelight. ‘Hey, folks. Here’s a great new way to get what you want. Just tell the cosmos what you are after! Place your order, following these simple steps…and all you have ever wanted can be yours.’
I felt in honour bound to point out that, while it is that simple in principle, it really isn’t so simple in practice. Driving a car is pretty simple, too…but there’s a very good reason why we train and test people before we let them loose on the road alone.
Technically, to make cosmic ordering work, all you need do is desire something. But if you apply this without also employing some serious discrimination, you’ve got a recipe for big trouble.
I happen to know that some deeply spiritual people on this planet have similar concerns. A few years back, the head of one of the oldest, most respected religions in the world banned a traditional practice involving a ‘wish-fulfilling jewel’.
We live in a world where many people are so shortsighted and materialistic that they cannot see beyond their own immediate needs and wants. Under such circumstances - and until things change - techniques and methods for getting the universe to give you what you want are like sharp knives in the hands of toddlers.
It is deeply irresponsible to put such things in the hands of people without also telling them something about the potential consequences of their powers.
Fearing that such information was about to make its way into mainstream society, without the appropriate checks and balances to accompany it, I felt obliged to write something.
Yet when I sat down to tackle the topic, I found I could not say a word. Something inside me was resisting.
I tried the obvious. I asked the universe for help. I placed my cosmic order with great sincerity. But no reply was forthcoming. I just kept becoming ever more keenly aware of the many reasons why the real power of cosmic ordering may be better ‘self-discovered’ than taught. I kept thinking, too, about the ‘unrealistic expectations’ that a book on cosmic ordering might raise.
If you’re dying of cancer, you can’t expect a miracle cure just because you have placed a cosmic order. If you’re in a part of the world that’s ravaged by famine, you can’t stop yourself from starving just by imploring the universe to bring you food. And if you think you can ‘cosmicically order’ your way to a lottery win…forget it!
So, if cosmic ordering works, which it does, and if it produces miracles, which it can, why can’t it help in all those ways?
Well, of course, it can sometimes. Some cancers do go into spontaneous remission for no obvious reason. Some starving people do end up getting fed just when it seems all hope is lost. Some pains do suddenly stop. Some people win big money on the lottery. Usually the beneficiaries of these rare blessings will have ‘asked the universe’ in some way. So in their eyes, at least, there’s no end to what cosmic ordering can do.
But for the rest of us…well, it’s tricky. Not everyone can win the lottery. On the one hand, to place a cosmic order, we must have faith in the boundless munificence of the universe. On the other…we must not get our hopes up too high.
Religious authorities, of course, face exactly the same problem when it comes to explaining the erratic results of prayer. Sometimes, it seems, whichever god you pray to, he (or she) gives you exactly what you ask for. Sometimes, you get something different. And sometimes, it just seems as if your pleas have been rudely ignored. We’re told that a fulfilled request is proof positive of the Deity - and the religion. Non-delivery is simply ‘God’s will’. This must be accepted in the trust that the Higher Power has a bigger plan that we mere mortals cannot even begin to imagine. ‘The Lord moves in mysterious ways’, or ‘Everything that happens is the will of Allah’, or ‘God has his reasons’. Such statements are, generally, rather lacking in intellectual complexity. If they came from any other authority, they’d soon be questioned and rejected. They certainly don’t come close to answering the questions:
Why do some people win the lottery while others don’t?
Why do some people seemingly get all the luck while others, apparently, enjoy none?
In the supposedly more conscious, New Age fraternity, however, similar philosophies of passive acceptance hold sway. ‘It’s just not meant to be,’ people say when they have tried their best and failed to get something they feel they badly need. Or, ‘It wasn’t in my destiny’, or ‘It must be my Karma.’
This may be fine or it may not be. All I know is that I’ve never heard an explanation that makes total sense to me - and I don’t have one that I can pass on to you. Frankly, if I did, I’d be telling you what you ought, or ought not, to believe about the universe, under the pretext of telling you how to do cosmic ordering. Likewise, if I told you how you should or shouldn’t place a cosmic order, effectively I’d be telling you how to speak to the universe. How to address it. What language it likes to hear. What gestures it prefers you to make. To all intents and purposes, I’d be telling you how to pray!
Now that’s very tempting. I haven’t been an astrologer for nearly thirty years without developing some pretty strong theories about how the universe works. And I’ve had a lifelong interest in all kinds of esoteric spiritual practices. I’ve read lots of book with very long words and complicated ideas in them. I’ve attended all sorts of lectures from all kinds of teachers, gurus and alleged experts. I’ve…well, you get the idea. So I could easily have filled this book with a mixture of what I think, what I have been taught to think, what has ‘worked for me’, and what I think will probably work for you.
If this book was about car maintenance, for example, or cookery, that might be fine. But cosmic ordering is about each person’s individual relationship with the universe. And the moment I start interfering with your own relationship to the cosmos, the higher power, the universe, or God, I’m behaving just as arrogantly and presumptively as every priest, preacher, cult leader or self-appointed religious megalomaniac who has ever walked the earth.
Our planet is full to bursting point with ecclesiastical estate agents. Theological middlemen. Spiritual power brokers. People who purport to stand between you and the Supreme Being. ‘Worship this way,’ they say. ‘It’s the only way that works.’ ‘This is the true way.’ ‘This is what you’re supposed to be doing.’ ‘This is what you should believe.’ ‘This is what God wants from you.’ I don’t want to add my voice to a debate that’s already full of a billion voices, shouting as loud as they can.
After a week or so of this kind of struggle, I realised that for the sake of my sanity I had to let it go. I rang the publishers and told them we had to call off the whole plan. The very next morning, I woke up thinking, ‘I did the right thing. I absolutely can’t write a book about cosmic ordering.’
But then, I realised, I can’t write it - but I know someone who can!
Allow me to introduce myself. I am your spirit guide, your psychic servant, your invisible valet. I am your connection to the cosmos, your personal intermediary in all transactions that involve the universe.
