Sacred Cosmic Path

We often associate manipulation with control, but the original meaning of the word has nothing to do with control. To truly grasp its essence, we need to explore its origins and understand how we’ve transformed it into a concept of dominance.

It’s essential to remember that everything we say or discuss is influenced by our preconceptions and prejudices.

Let’s break down what these terms mean.

A preconception is an idea conceived beforehand. The word concept comes from conception, meaning to create something. So, a concept is an idea I generate based on my perspective.

For instance, when I say, “the sky is blue,” this is a concept, not an objective truth. The sky isn’t inherently blue, but from my point of view, I perceive it that way—I create the idea that it’s blue. However, if you really look closely, is the sky always blue?

We hold the concept that the sky is blue. What does this mean? I might even build a preconception that anything divine, pure, or calming must be blue because I’ve associated those qualities with the sky’s colour.

A preconception is the belief that, based on one past experience (in this case, seeing a blue sky), all skies must be blue. This generalisation helps us make sense of the world. It’s useful because it allows us to navigate our surroundings without having to rediscover everything each time. My brain says, “things will be like this,” which makes me feel comfortable, knowing that things will more or less meet my expectations. This is the value of preconceptions.

Now let’s talk about prejudice. The word prejudice comes from the Latin iudicium, meaning “judgement” or “verdict.” It involves categorising things, often labelling them as good or bad.

Prejudging means that once I’ve placed something in a category, anything that resembles it will be placed in the same category. Prejudice leads me to use past experiences to quickly decide what something is, without fully exploring it.

Both preconceptions and prejudice are natural processes—evolutionary tools—that help our brains save time. Without them, we would have to analyse everything from scratch, constantly.

Think about how your brain processes colours. The world is full of colours, but we’re not always consciously thinking about each one we see. Instead, our brain uses a sort of “colour box”—anything that seems blue goes into the “blue” box, without much thought about the exact shade. This allows us to function efficiently without getting bogged down in the details.

Now imagine we don’t just have a “blue” box, but many boxes: one for “mother,” another for “emotion,” one for “love,” another for “work,” and so on. These boxes allow us to simplify our world, but they also mean we often don’t see the finer details—we only see the box.

These mental shortcuts are useful for survival, but they can also limit us. Take fire, for example. When someone first encounters fire, they’re amazed—“Wow, fire! How beautiful!”—but if they touch it, they get burned. Instantly, the nervous system places fire in the “pain” box, and another sub-box is created for “burn.”

From then on, anything related to fire is associated with pain. But if I only rely on this preconception, I’ll never discover fire’s other uses. Here is where prejudice stops us from evolving.

To truly grow, I need to overcome my prejudice and realise that fire can also cook food, provide warmth, create tools, and offer light.

We are all, by nature, full of preconceptions and prejudices. As we become more conscious, a part of us says, “I need to stop being prejudiced.” We might even think we shouldn’t judge at all. But let’s rethink this—what does judging mean? Judging helps us categorise and make decisions efficiently. So, is judgement wrong? Not at all. What’s problematic is prejudice, which is an automatic reaction based on past experiences.

Prejudice means I’m filtering everything through past reactions, so I’m not truly engaging with reality—I’m reacting to my prejudices.

When we understand this, we can start recognising whether we’re acting consciously or unconsciously. Unconsciousness means acting based on prejudices, while consciousness means acting with discernment.

Judgement is what organises reality, placing everything in its rightful place. This is why one of life’s greatest tasks is learning how to judge wisely and discern clearly.

Many of us on a conscious path either prejudge too quickly or feel that we shouldn’t judge at all. But by nature and spirituality, it’s necessary to judge. The key is to judge without labelling things as “good” or “bad”—but rather to place them in their appropriate category.

One of the hardest things to do is avoid prejudging. For instance, when we hear the word cult, what happens? Instantly, our brain recalls past associations, placing it in a box labelled “bad”—connected to ideas of prisons, mass suicides, and so on.

Similarly, the word manipulation triggers negative associations. The box might include ideas like “politicians,” “Illuminati,” “the devil,” and so on. But perhaps that box doesn’t hold the true meaning of manipulation.

The word manipulation comes from the Latin manipulare, meaning “to use one’s hands.” Originally, manipulation referred to creating something with your hands. What’s missing from our box is the understanding that manipulation means creation—using our hands to manifest something into reality.

To manifest comes from manus (hands) and festus (celebration)—the celebration of creating something with our hands. Manipulation was once about skill and creativity. As human evolution progressed, we learned to manipulate not only objects but also ideas.

This brings us to energy manipulation.

The energy of the sacral chakra is generated from everything we consume, and we use this energy. But what happens if someone doesn’t have enough energy? It’s because they’ve lost their power. What does this person do? They seek energy externally—from others.

We are all connected to others through emotional bonds, forming emotional networks. So, we start manipulating the emotions of others to gain energy. What happens? Manipulating my own energy becomes manipulating the energy of others. I become, in essence, a parasite, drawing energy from others.

How do I extract energy if energy is emotion? It’s simple—I manipulate their emotions. And we all do this because we’re interconnected. It’s hard to avoid, but we can start becoming aware of it. Once we realise we’re engaging in this exchange, the first step is to identify what emotions we’re sharing and with whom.

The second step is to ask for energy directly. For example, when some people need a hug, they become sad, lower their head, and cross their arms. This generates an emotional response from others. But this is emotional manipulation. How do we change this? If I need a hug, I simply ask, “Can I have a hug?”

The third step is to give myself what I need. If I need a hug, I hug myself. This may seem strange, but the body reacts the same way. The result? Empowerment. It’s called the third step because you need to practice the first two steps many times before reaching this point.

Why is this important? Because when I dare to ask for what I need, I’m reclaiming my power. I’m taking back control of my energy. When I become empowered, I no longer need to manipulate others—I manipulate my own energy and become my own creator.

This is the key to the phrase, “You are the creator of your own reality.” It’s not just about saying it. You must learn to use energy correctly to create your reality.

When we realise we’ve lost our power, we naturally look for external sources of power—government, religion, others. We waste years blaming politicians, secret organisations, or other external forces. But when we’ve lost our inner power, the truth is we don’t know how to manage our own energy—we’re losing it somewhere.

That’s why we often say external systems manipulate us. But the only reason others can manipulate us is because, when we lose our power, we seek energy from them. By emotionally manipulating others, we depend on them—and they, in turn, depend on others. Everyone starts losing power, and this is why society is easily controlled.

This is why it’s so important to reclaim your inner power. What is inner power? It’s the ability to manage your own energy.

While external systems do exist to maintain control, we are the ones who have created them.

References:

• Matías De Stefano: Extract from one of the YOSOY – Connections videos (Fundación Arsayian)