A gorgeous cathedral, a footprint on the moon, a powerful electric automobile, a pocket device with tremendous computing power, a best-selling novel that changes the way we see humanity\u2014these achievements did not begin with shovels and wheelbarrows, rockets on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, engineers assembling circuitry or the outline of a book.<\/p>\n No, they began with an idea in the mind of one person.<\/p>\n That idea, it could be said, was a special idea that had the power to create extraordinary things. Ideas with the power to stir interest in others and galvanize those others into action individually and in groups, to forward that idea into a future as yet unformed. In Scientology, we call this special kind of idea a \u201cpostulate.\u201d<\/p>\n A postulate is not just a wish. To wish is, by definition: \u201cTo long for, desire.\u201d We\u2019ve all had those longings and desires; there\u2019s nothing wrong with them, but they have little power. A wish is flimsy, flabby, there\u2019s no\u00a0intention<\/em>\u00a0behind it. \u201cI want to write a book someday,\u201d for example. But the wish dies away or stays there as an idea only and \u201csomeday\u201d never comes. Other ideas and activities shoulder the wish aside. A postulate, by comparison, is defined as: \u201ca self-created truth.\u201d<\/p>\n So what\u2019s the difference between a special thought, a \u201cself-created truth\u201d that makes things happen, and a wish that doesn\u2019t? And more to the point, why all the jokes about the futility of making resolutions?<\/p>\n In this rather cynical and apathetic age, we are instructed that extraordinary ideas of the past were not unique, but traded on the work of others and found fertile ground because of some economic or social phenomena. People who create great things are not special, the cynic says, they were just lucky. Things just happen and that\u2019s all there is to it.<\/p>\n But those special ideas are what create the future. Something as simple as putting an appointment on a calendar helps create the future, as postulates are not just for global phenomena, they are how individuals build a life. A college degree did not begin by standing on stage in cap and gown accepting a diploma, it began with a postulate to obtain a higher education. All the logistics\u2014college visits, applications, interviews, registration, study, tests\u2014occurred because of that postulate in one individual. Perhaps the postulate was a parent\u2019s. But if the student did not agree or take on that postulate then nothing would have happened or perhaps it would have resulted in a disappointing term or semester and then a dropout.<\/p>\n At the beginning of each year, many people make \u201cNew Year\u2019s resolutions.\u201d What could be more useful than a plan, an idea, a set of goals, for the year ahead? A postulate to create a year as yet unwritten? And yet the cynics will rise and trumpet the \u201cfutility of resolutions, the randomness of life and the inability of anyone to create anything.\u201d Don\u2019t listen. Listen instead to the voices of those who would improve their lives and the lives of their friends and families, as they are the ones with a foot in the future.<\/p>\n One note here, make the postulate \u201cin the now.\u201d The postulate is a \u201cnow\u201d type of thing, with a compelling immediacy to it, not some idea for \u201ctomorrow\u201d or \u201cnext year.\u201d For example: \u201cI do not drink alcohol and I help others to quit,\u201d not \u201cI will stop drinking.\u201d Some people enlist the help of a Higher Power to assist them in achieving their goals, and many have had success this way. The 12-step programs to overcome addiction like that of Alcoholics Anonymous has had many successes. Wishes do not create the future, postulates do. But what about prayers?<\/p>\n \u201cI am a Buddhist<\/a> in my daily practice<\/a>,\u201d said the Dalai Lama recently. \u201cI have a daily practice of prayer but I do not believe prayer brings a peaceful world. We can keep praying for a thousand years and nothing will happen. We should be realistic. If you have the opportunity to meet the Buddha or Jesus Christ, ask them to bring peace to this world and they will certainly ask you, who creates violence? If god created violence, then yes, it\u2019s relevant to appeal to god. I am certain that Buddha and Jesus Christ would tell us, you have created the problem, so it\u2019s your responsibility to solve it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n I have to agree. Postulates require personal responsibility and\u00a0intention<\/em>\u2014the root of which means to \u201cstretch toward something.\u201d A postulate stretches out and crosses the gulf between thought and action, a wish does not. While many people wish, hope and think about writing a book, for example, a postulate causes things. The postulate-maker drags himself out of bed at 6 a.m., sits down at the keyboard and begins tapping away\u2014and keeps at it morning after morning until the book is done. He may fall short many times, but considers that part of the process and reboots and gets back at it.<\/p>\n The \u201cwisher and hoper\u201d might get inspired and sit down a few times, but then runs into some little obstacle\u2014he keeps getting distracted checking email, begins making coffee first, then eating breakfast, then it\u2019s time for other work, and so he slips back into life as usual. Or he stays up late watching a movie and decides it\u2019s unrealistic to get up at 6 a.m. That\u2019s not an \u201cI wrote a book\u201d postulate, it\u2019s an \u201cI write as long as it is fun and easy\u201d postulate or a \u201cwish and maybe I will\u201d postulate or a \u201cwatch movies and sleep in\u201d postulate. But a true postulate will carry you through the obstacles. It has INTENTION behind it that is bigger than\u2014and overcomes\u2014all the obstacles. It is a\u00a0decision<\/em>\u00a0you make and then put into action regardless of whatever else pops up to distract, dissuade or discourage you.<\/p>\n Postulates are how you create your future. You can coast along and leave it uncreated, you can \u201cgo with the flow,\u201d or slump into some reality created by others, but that is a sort of apathy. With postulates and intention, the future can be your playground, a blank canvas on which to create.<\/p>\n \u201cThe future isn\u2019t a pattern laid out to abuse and bully you,\u201d said Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in a series of lectures titled\u00a0The Rehabilitation of the Human Spirit<\/em>. \u201cYou talk about virgin territory\u2014the most virgin territory there is, is the future. You can do anything you want with it.\u201d<\/p>\n But taking responsibility for the future means you\u2019re going to encounter obstacles that have stopped many people before you. It takes postulates to punch through those obstacles to a done deal.<\/p>\n So when you hear all the negativity about failure to achieve New Year\u2019s resolutions, realize that those pessimists have failed and given up and now find delight in seeing others also fail\u00ad (it makes it OK that they themselves have failed\u2014see?). \u201cNobody can keep those New Years\u2019 resolutions, so why even try?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/51\/2018\/01\/mars-launch.jpg\")
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\n\u201cI have a promotion,\u201d not \u201cI will get a promotion.\u201d \u201cI have a special person with whom to share my life,\u201d not \u201cI will join a dating site and will find someone I like.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/51\/2018\/01\/dalai-lama-686x1024.jpg\")
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