算 盤

Over a year ago I joined an intention group. We met at a fixed time once a week. And at that time we would ask one person what his or her intention was. What needs healing? What needs bolstering? What needs change? What needs normalizing? Say what you want! Put it out into the ethers and we will migrate our inner energy into your wish. We will help transform you.
We did this each week for a month for each person. It was a commitment. I had no idea how long the commitment could be. I mean... LONG. And sometimes, unlike, say, repaying a loan or other such debt, you'd never quite see any change in the balance.
One person asked for his A1C to go down.
David wanted a $100K job waiting for him in Colorado.
Martin wanted a side gig.
And Duncan? Duncan was last on the list. I'd heard it all. Some of the wishes were bourgeois and some were desperate cries for help and hope. Love was in the air and the spirits were definitely rooting for the wisher. Most of us felt the energy. David moved to Colorado (not sure if anything manifested because he dropped the group since he was living rent-free with some Xtian fundamentalists. Martin disappeared, but only showed up now and again on Facebook. Bill got his A1C down, but then other things started happening.
But Duncan? I asked for my memory. I said that when I was younger... MUCH YOUNGER... I was able to learn things that I had wanted to learned. And what I had always wanted most was to learn languages. And I did autodidactic learning.
I learned German. And I learned French. And I learned Spanish. And yes, I also took the subjects in school but I was part of the language and not just some passive observer I was one with the conjugation.
So, what did I need or want to learn that I couldn't learn? I wanted to learn how to work the abacus. I bought one > 30 years ago when I lived in San Francisco. It was the Chinese variety. All I could ever do on it was add.
Adding is useful. If you need to total the checks you are going to deposit into the bank or credit union account. But there's also subtraction (like when checks clear). And there's division (like when you have to calculate the miles per gallon of your car.
So I asked for some autodidactic skill and the memory and facility to make the beads move. I tried to make things happen. There were times when the moves came easily (yeah, like when you subtract 2 from 4), But, when the minuend is 702 and the subtrahend is 79, the beads don't just seem to move themselves at lightening speed.
I think it worked for awhile. I felt some ability to learn. But then it fizzled out. Maybe I wasn't believing IN the energy. Or maybe I chalked it up for b*llsh*t. The person who put it together told us it was part of a study she had done in something called THE SECRET. The Law of Attraction. Manifest your dreams.
Years ago (before I was the young abacus-buying lad in San Francisco) I had read a book on creative visualizations. I was not unfamiliar to the concept. My dreams just got smaller.