Ask and ye shall receive. This Biblical phrase has become the new mantra of the 21st century, especially for Gen Z. The concept of ‘manifesting’ — the belief that the power of positive thinking can change the course of events — has its origins in a self-help book, The Secret, which has sold some 50 million copies worldwide since 2006. There are apparently numerous ways of achieving such a course correction if TikTok — the barometer of everything Gen Z does — is to be believed. They range from writing one’s desires in a journal three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon and nine times in the evening to speaking only in the present tense and shunning the use of words such as ‘could’, ‘would’ and ‘might’ owing to their indefinite nature. It does not take much cerebral depth to understand why this method is so popular: it offers a portrait of a world that is extraordinarily alluring, one where every obstacle to achieving a dream can be wished away. So much so that some die-hard Lionel Messi fans in Kestopur are, at this very moment, trying to ‘manifest’ Kylian Mbappé away from the World Cup finals.

Unsurprisingly, Google searches for the term skyrocketed 669% since July 2020, when the pandemic was at its height. Stuck at home, with the economy taking a nosedive and an invisible enemy changing life inside and outside the home forever, Gen Z took to positive thinking like fish to water. However, the flames of manifestation have not been fanned by a public health crisis alone. The sterility and the starkness of the cold, hard data-driven Age of Reason may have a role to play too. Plato described emotion and reason as two horses pulling people in opposite directions. But reason collapses in the face of baffling figures — the global youth unemployment rate stands at 14.9% and the world has crossed at least five of the 16 ‘tipping points’ that will make it unliveable — that most people are powerless to change. This is when relatively inexpensive routes of escape such as manifesting take over.

But keeping the faith, as it were, can have collateral damage. Researchers at Ohio State University found that those who trust their ‘gut’ and practices such as ‘manifesting’ are more likely to fall for fake news and conspiracy theories. Psychologists also argue that there is a thin line between thinking positively and being delusional. Moreover, the corollary of relying solely on positive thinking is a victim blaming of sorts — good things not happening to a person are blamed on his or her inability to be positive enough. The medical fraternity also warns about ‘toxic positivity’ — manifesting does not allow the enunciation of ‘negative’ emotions or incidents. To force a positive outlook on pain is to encourage a person to keep silent about struggles that have serious adverse impacts on mental health.

Manifesting, at best, is a form of benign benevolence. It is telling that Gen Z, witness to cataclysmic social, environmental and cultural shocks, is making a mountain of the molehill called manifesting.