An essential concept in New Thought is that we create our lives through the thoughts upon which we dwell. Like a gardener who plants seeds in fertile earth and trusts the law of growth, so can each of us think thoughts and trust the spiritual laws of manifestation. Our thoughts take root and flower, just like seeds in the garden.

Early New Thought contributor Thomas Troward spoke of the creative process in gardening terms in his Edinburgh Lectures. With each idea that we plant in our lives, ...we must sow it, and we may also, so to speak, water it by quiet, concentrated contemplation of our desires as an actually accomplished fact.

Popular proponent of New Thought principles Wayne Dyer introduced the same principles of the creative process in his book You'll See It When You Believe It. This book and others, such as Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, popularized the importance of visualization as a tool for creating the life you desire. New Thought writers Catherine Ponder and Louise Hay helped readers use these principles in creating wealth and health.

Visioning is sometimes confused with visualization. These are quite distinct. In visualization we use our imagination to conceive a desired outcome. We consciously direct our thought to a particular idea that we would like to see manifest in our lives. For example, we may visualize health, see ourselves with full bank accounts, living with peace of mind, surrounded by beauty. We visualize the life we want to create, and believe it will come to pass.

Visioning is different. Instead of imagination, we utilize the faculty of intuition. We begin by freeing ourselves from any preconceived ideas and letting ourselves be filled by divine ideas, God's ideas, of our lives. This becomes a process of revealing our authentic selves, the spiritual essential self that is one with God. Yet the principle of manifestation is the same for both.

We know that our seeds of thought will manifest according to the spiritual laws of cause and effect, but at what level of the self do we want to conceive the ideas that we will bring to fruition? Is it wise to create from the surface self or from a deeper level of the self and its mystical union with the infinite intelligence of God?

The above is an excerpt from the book Wisdom Walk: Nine Practices for Creating Peace and Balance from the World's Spiritual Traditions, copyright 2007 by Sage Bennet, Ph.D. It is printed here with the permission of the publisher, New World Library, Novato, CA, 1-800-972-6657 ext. 52. For more information on Dr. Bennet's work, please visit her website, www.sagebennet.com.