I know some shifters out there struggle with finding good research materials, or feel demotivated by the limited information there is about shifting, so here I am in all my glory, to aid and abet you in your journey. I try my best to be as accurate as possible, though feel free to correct me if any of my sources are incorrect and I will update accordingly!
“Shifting didn’t exist until it blew up on tiktok in 2020”
“If shifting is real, why are the only people who believe in it teenage girls online?”
“There’s no history to shifting”
So close!
The father of The Law of Assumption, Neville Goddard:
Said that our imagination, or our assumptions, create our reality. So long as you persist in your assumptions (the 4D, a state beyond the world of the senses), then those same assumptions will reflect in the 3D (the world of the senses, the ‘physical’ world). I.e, if you believe something to be true, it’s true because your mind makes it so. So, shifting.
“An assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact” (Awakened Imagination, 1954 — preeeetty sure that’s before 2020 tiktok era.)
“The whole of creation exists within you, and it is your destiny to become increasingly aware of its infinite wonders and to experience even greater and grander portions of it” (The Power of Awareness, 1952 — even further before 2020!)
Ernest Holmes
A ‘New Thought’ writer, pre dating Goddard by about thirty years— his research was in 1926, exactly 100 years ago! He is considered the founder of The Science of The Mind, which is the belief that “God” is actually force which reflects the dominant ideology of the world
His work posits that, so long as we are able to redirect our thoughts positively, then we are able to create our reality to be whatever we want, as our minds are infinite
“Never look at that which you do not wish to experience” (Science of The Mind, 1926)
“Mind can as easily make an acorn as a planet” (Science of The Mind, 1926)
James Allen
A philosophical writer from the Victorian period (again, for the antis out there, pre shifting 2020 era! Last time I’ll make this point, just figured I’d emphasise)
Published a book called ‘As a Man Thinketh’, based on the premise of the biblical quote “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. He compared our minds to a garden and said that if he want a bountiful harvest (our desires fulfilled), then we must only plant the best seeds (think only thoughts that align with our desires). So long as we think in accordance of our wishes, our reality will reflect it as such
“A man’s mind… whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth” (As a Man Thinketh, 1903)
“Man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny” (As a Man Thinketh, 1903)
Frederick Bailes
This one is one of my favourites— Frederick was training to be a medical missionary, but just before he could finish his training, he was diagnosed with diabetes, which was believed to be absolutely incurable
However, Frederick began reading the word of Thomas Troward, another New Thought writer who posited that the mind is all powerful and can shape our reality, and Frederick was able to completely recover from his diabetes using this concept
He spent his life promoting the power of the mind and positive thinking in relation to health and wellness
“Whatever [man] chooses, mind will create and manifest” (couldn’t find a published work associated with this. If anyone has one, please let me know!)
What do all of these people have in common? They aren’t teenage girls born in the early 2000’s who found out about shifting through the hellhole that was Shifttok. They were grown men from years before shifting was a bastardised online concept who all taught one thing:
That the mind is capable of shaping our reality so long as we believe it to be so. Our reality as we know it is not an external, unchangeable thing, but the result of our own thinking. Therefore, all it takes to change the world is to change your thoughts.
Isn’t that all shifting is?
This is my first time making a post like this so I hope it was cohesive and helpful :’) I am a college student and loooove research so if you liked this please lmk,,, I’d love to post some more to keep disproving the idea that shifting is a bunch of white girls online making stuff up.
Go look up the names mentioned and look into their works!! It’s super motivating.
Okay, have a great day + go shift 🫶
