Jerry Hicks

Esther Hicks writes for a "nonphysical intelligence" known as Abraham in this former New York Times Best Seller, Ask and It is Given. What I found most interesting in Ask were the deviations from Esther and Jerry (her husband) Hicks' 1989 book A New Beginning I, which predicted various "earth changes" that were on the brink of occurring in 1989, including simultaneous volcanic eruptions that would cover the earth's air with ash. In Ask, these revelations of turbulence are not even touched show more upon. There are also various inconsistencies within Ask regarding Jerry and Esther's initial encounters with Abraham, including an altered-or cleverly tailored version-of Abraham's first words.

As for the "biographical sketch" provided in Ask about Jerry and Esther's life pre-Abraham, it is incredibly vague. It tells us that Jerry was very successful before Abraham, but does not mention that Jerry Hicks was a Crown level distributor at Amway, who was giving seminars about positive thinking and motivation. Only instead of using the Abraham works, he was using those of Napoleon Hill. Dateline did a wonderful expose on Amway, revealing a major business within Amway that was not in selling various appliances/supplies, but in selling motivational courses and materials within the company. It is clear that Jerry was involved in this sort of motivational selling with Think and Grow Rich before his Abraham work. While the effect of Think and Grow Rich on Jerry's life is mentioned in Ask, the Amway link is never made, though it is touched on in various interviews with the Hickses. Of course, this seems to be irrelevant to most readers of the Abraham materials. To me, this was an important fact that made Jerry and Esther appear less like sincere messengers of positive thinking and more like pious frauds for Napoleon Hill.

The chapters in Ask offer an emotional guidance scale to let you know where you are and some 22 processes to help you reach a better feeling place to help you align with those things that you are wanting. The 22 processes include an interesting combination of cognitive therapy, visualization, and New Age woo. Though some of them seem very helpful, there does seem to be some undermining as the processes and rhetoric ask you to set aside critical thinking and replace it with emotional guidance. Also, for the entities that have claimed to not wish to alter our beliefs, these processes suggest otherwise, as they are designed to assist us in altering our beliefs. Various emotional appeals, combined with validation for whatever you want to believe in, make this book very appealing to anyone who wants approval or to believe that they can be, do, or have anything they want. This book operates under the claim that it will help you manifest your desires. But buyers beware, the authors take no responsibility for anything you are unable to manifest using their processes and there are no objective means for testing how well you are doing. And based on the logic presented within the book, even if you are unable to manifest something: All is well. I do not recommend this book to someone trying to manifest something, but rather to someone who wants to become a devotee of one of the most popular channels of our time. When you find yourself needing to listen to their CDs and watch their youtube videos more than anything else, that's when you know you've found a friend. show less

This was one of the early books by Esther and Jerry Hicks (1988). The nonphysical intelligence Abraham writes this through Esther (some people use channeling to describe what Esther is doing). New Beginning I includes predictions about disasters that will occur in San Diego, San Fransisco, Mexico, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, around the Great Lakes, and on the east coast in a series of simultaneous "earth changes". It also discusses how the earth will be covered in volcanic ash due to show more simultaneous volcanic eruptions. The book alleges that these great earth changes were in the process of occurring. A shame that it hasn't happened yet, considering the book told us that face masks and goggles would be of tremendous value. Hope you didn't purchase the other items suggested in the book (ie rice, beans for storage).

If you are an avid reader of the Abraham materials, however, you will enjoy the differences between this book and their newer works. For instance, you learn in this book that Abraham's first words have been altered, or tailored, since the creation of this book. If you are lucky, you can get a copy of the original text before the 1994 revision, which basically gives excuses for why these changes were not occurring as they said they would. I recommend listening to the Joyous Survival CD near your reading of this book. They compliment each other very well. Abraham will amuse you as they discuss the voodoo of our "earth shifting upon it's axis." This was a popular topic among channelers during the 80s. They all spoke about a similar axis shift or great earth changes. For those who are actually interested in the Abraham materials, this is not the work they want you to start with. In fact, Jerry and Esther have made it clear that they have moved away from that material, so much so that some of the personal accounts of their initial encounters with Abraham have been altered since this book.

I gave it 5 stars for being incredibly entertaining! show less

One of the great things about the principles expounded by Abraham are in my view that they exist at all. What I mean is, isn't it fantastic that it turns out that the Universe has been constructed in this way, that we ourselves can control everything in our lives, that nothing happens by chance, and that we cannot be victims except by the power of our own negativity? I think it's wonderful, like a fairy tale, or a dream come true. Pity we weren't taught all this in school or on our mother's show more knee.

My favourite Abraham book is "Ask and it is given". I found it slightly difficult to get into this one - for some reason I didn't find it particulary readable at first.

In this book Abraham for the first time, I think, talks about "the Vortex", "Vortex of attraction" or "Vortex of becoming". This apparently contains all the requests you have ever made, and when you finally get into the Vortex by continually reaching for better and better thoughts, all your wishes will be granted - you will become "You", as Abraham puts it.

The book is highly inspiring. I think perhaps no one Abraham book is necessarily better than any other, but the more you read the books and try to practice the precepts, the more you integrate the teachings, i.e. the more you really "get it", and the more you understand and appreciate the next book. So when I got to the end of the book, I felt it was the best of their books, not necessarily because it actually is (and anyway there is no objective truth), but because I've got slightly further in the process.

Abraham says that the fastest way to improve matters in your life is to make peace with your current situation and make lists of all the positive aspects you can find about it i.e. make the best of where you are.

A few years ago I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor because I couldn't afford a bed, although my physical problems were such that I had difficulty getting up from it. But every night I thanked the Universe for my comfortable mattress, and after a few months an acquaintance informed me she wanted to give me a bed + mattress she no longer had use for, and couldn't be bothered to sell. She and her partner drove it out to my flat, installed it and carted away the old mattress to the dump.

Before that I had lived in a tiny one-room flat, but again thanked the Universe every night for it. After a few months, I was offered a bigger and better flat, and a friend's husband and family helped me with the removal, transporting all my stuff to the new place at no cost to me.

In both cases I had got into the Vortex by the act of gratitude.

Back to the book, There are useful chapters about "mating", sexuality, parenting and self-appreciation. And finally, prior to the transcript of the enjoyable and amusing CD, we are offered a few simple processes to help release resistance and find a path into the Vortex. I will be doing these processes when I've bought an exercise book.

I strongly recommend this book to EVERYONE. Five stars. show less

All of the Hicks’s books deliver essentially the same message, to quote their Wikipedia entry, “that people create their own reality through their thoughts, that emotions are constantly guiding people toward where they want to go, and that life is supposed to be fun.” At the core of their message is the Law of Attraction, what many consider a physical law as real as the Law of Gravity. Simplistically, the Law of Attraction states that our thoughts draw certain events to us. Negative show more thoughts attract negative events and positive thoughts attract positive events. The Hicks’s books contain many, many exercises to aid the reader in making positive thinking a habit. Manifest Your Desires: 365 Ways to Make Your Dreams a Reality is a year’s worth of exercises and reminders gleaned from their other books. It’s not only a good summary, but a wonderful way to be reminded that joyful thoughts can be cultivated. To get the most from it, you should read at least one of their other books. My favorites are The Law of Attraction and Ask and It Is Given, but any one of them will give you sufficient basis to benefit from this inspiring little thought-a-day book. Whether or not you believe in the Law of Attraction, a daily reminder to be happy is a nice way to start your day. show less