Manifesto: How To Get What You Want Without Trying

Hello, it’s the author here with a short foreword I prepared earlier.

I’ve always entertained this strange fantasy of writing a book with no preamble whatsoever, as I see it as akin to running into the room before you’ve walked into the room and saying, ‘In a second, I’m going to walk into the room and introduce myself and I just wanted to let you know beforehand, in case you got confused or upset in any way when I actually walk into the room.’ I did try to do this this time, as I have done with all the books I’ve written – but as if my fingers had a mind of their own, they tapped away at the keys regardless until this preamble materialized. To be fair, the one that first appeared on screen was far shorter than this but when the Silver Shadow, my esteemed, fearsome and beloved ex-literary agent read it, she rounded on me with fury, declaring, ‘Barefoot, you’re always in such a rush to get started! I think this foreword needs more care and attention as it’s the first thing people will see – you need to make clear from the start, for the sake of readers unfamiliar with your work, that you’ve already explained how to harness your power, how to meditate, become enlightened, spiritually aligned and even immortal in Return of the Urban Warrior, and that you’ve explained how to free yourself from all self-limiting blocks to your perfect happiness in Liberation, and because you’re not one to waste words, you don’t intend to repeat yourself in this book – and that what you’re about is high-speed transformation for people on the run, which is why Manifesto reads so fast it almost makes your eyes spin in their sockets … and that it’s also by far and away the very best self-help book you’ve ever written!’

But I reckon she said it for me, so I won’t bother repeating it.

That all being said, after my customary semi-hypnotic introduction or, more accurately, induction, I launch unexpectedly, with a suddenness that surprised even me at the time of writing, into exactly what you do to manifest everything you always wanted, which takes up a good 58 per cent of the text (for those of you with a penchant for percentages). This comprises the slickest, most succinct and probably most powerful set of manifestation tools yet known to humankind and really should have had a far longer build-up, but I can’t fake it with you – this material just isn’t susceptible to showmanship, coming as it does from so far back in time and space.

You see, strangely, in spite of the fact that personally I am at least semi-certifiable, some ancient Taoist master or other, who evidently achieved spiritual immortality way back when, seems to have chosen me as his messenger. He probably had the wrong address, but that’s fine with me, as I wasn’t doing anything that special before all this started for me 38 years ago at the sweet, though not really innocent, age of eleven. And, after all, it’s a great gig if you can get it. Of course, you could strip that version of events of its questionable romance and simply say it comes to me through the more rarefied channels of the higher mind, albeit filtered through decades of personal training, experience and distortion, direct, as it were, from source; from what you might call the Golden Immortals themselves, or at least from the Universal Dinner Lady (that’ll make sense when you read the book).

The remaining 42 per cent (approximately) concerns itself with issues inevitably arising from the practice of manifesting things, as well as providing encouragement (because you’ll be needing a fair bit of that) along with (hopefully) useful insights from the front line, arranged into short, easily downloadable chunks of data perfect for, say, a session on the Ioo or a couple of stops on the train on the way into or home from work. At first these drops of data may seem oddly repetitive but I’m sure you’ll agree you can never have enough reminding of the basic metaphysical laws (I’m sure you’ll agree).

It’s quite feasible you could use at least 67 per cent or so of the text, if not far more, as an open-at-any-random-page style oracle or daily guidance mechanism with relative impunity and indeed gain quite some benefit. However, just because the actual how-you-do-it bit comes relatively early on in the text without massive fanfare, that doesn’t mean you should skim through it, as this would have you missing the whole point, which after all, is learning how to get what you want the easy Taoist way. However, be warned (as will be repeated in the upcoming warning), that getting it can lead to significant personal disorientation, not to mention sometimes extreme upheaval in your social setting as regards sudden personnel or geographical changes and suchlike, as well as which your faith will be sorely tested many times over, hence why 33 per cent of information or thereabouts, addresses itself to helping you deal with that, or you could find yourself getting in a right old pickle, existentially speaking. That all being said, I hope you enjoy reading it 100 per cent, however you do it and whenever, and moreover I hope you enjoy the results, as without any shadow of a doubt, it’s the best game I’ve ever played and I’m sure it will be for you too. (OK, will that do for you, Silver?)