I agree with the good answers already here so there's little point me repeating them.

So I'll just throw in a few extra comments that might be useful to others reading this thread...

To my knowledge - from listening to Abraham since the mid-90s - Abraham have only once directly talked about action before alignment and that is the basic idea that Manifesting Experiment 3 is based upon - though I've made a few additional tweaks here and there to what they suggested to make it more goal-oriented.

I know you're not asking about action-based processes but I think, for the sake of completeness and understanding, it's important to contrast Abraham's approach directly with the alternative otherwise you might be missing out on the bigger picture.

Even though Abraham are not fans of an action-first approach, it does not mean that action-first is not a legitimate approach. Action-based goal-setting would never work if action-first did not work...but the trick to making it work is the intention you have behind doing the action.

Action-first is absolutely legitimate if you are taking action with the intention of bringing about alignment. And the main channeled advocate of this idea is Bashar.

Bashar simply states that you should do the most exciting thing you can right now for as long as you can, then do the next most exciting thing, then the next and the next.

Each most-exciting action brings you closer into alignment with your Vortex (Abraham's term, not Bashar's), which then inspires the next action, and the next, and the next...and so on.

So which approach should you use? ...alignment-first or action-first?

I think it really depends on your belief system regarding the subject you are focused on.

I find that if I don't really feel like doing anything towards a goal I have, or I don't know what to do next, or I just don't know how to do what I want to do then that's a clear indication that alignment-first is required...effectively through the Manifesting Experiment 1 - Manifesting Box idea (you can do this in your head also without requiring a written request) or through any of Abraham's vibrational techniques.

On the other hand, if I am absolutely clear, inspired and excited about what to do next, I don't force myself to sit around and do nothing - I just do it :) ...and when the excitement dissipates, I'll either work on Vortex alignment or I'll just do something else that feels "exciting".

I'll never really plan that far ahead though because I won't know what the next best inspiring thing to do is until I reach the next vibrational place. So I'm constantly asking myself if I feel inspired to do something (if I'm in a good-feeling place) or whether it's time to just find ways to feel better (see Vortex First, Any Way You Can, Then Everything Else)

Remember that it's never about getting things done - because you'll never get your life "done" - it's about catching up with that ever-expanding state of alignment (The Vortex) so if taking an action is what achieves that for you then taking that action is just as valid an approach as deliberate vibrational molding of thought.

Abraham have said that action was always intended to be a way of plucking the fruits of our vibrational alignment rather than as a way of physically forcing manifestations into place.

Abraham always advises to follow inspired action. It wouldn't feel like a burden to you or you would just naturally do it without really thinking about it. Abraham doesn't want you to go out looking for a relationship if you're still not in a good vibrational place from your last relationship. There was an example in the book Law of Attraction, where a woman was getting over a negative relationship but immediately headed out to meet someone new, without trying to work with her vibrations before doing so. She attracted another negative, abusive relationship in doing so.

As long as you work with your vibrations, situations will be presented to you and unfold perfectly for you. Action will be just as easy as sailing down the river. This is why Abraham focuses so much more on talking about your vibrations rather than the action you must take, because as long as you're in the right vibrational place action will not be an issue for you.

I manifested a car this way. I didn't think about the money or how to get it. I didn't even look up cars online or talk to anyone. I just wanted a car, a blue or black car.

A few months later, a friend ended up receving a free car. It was damaged and the original owner didn't want to deal with and just bought a new car. He fixed it and ended up selling it to me; i only had to pay for what it took to repair it, so I ended up with a 3,000 dollar discount, more or less. Also, it was dark blue, which I found a little funny :) And I just have to say, I am so in love with my car... best car I've ever had.

Just stay in vibrational alignment with what you want, and let the universe unfold the ways you'll receive it... This is what I've always interpreted Abraham's teachings in a nutshell to be.

It's funny you brought this question up because I am currently ready Money and the Law of Attraction for the first time and one of my recent notes I jotted down sums up action pretty well I think.

Financial success, or any other kind of success, does not require hard work or action, but it does require alignment of thought. You simply cannot offer negative thought about things that you desire and then make up for it with action or hard work. When you learn to direct your own thoughts, you will discover true energy alignment.

Personally, I don't ever recall Abraham promoting just action without thought first. I'm not saying that it was never said since there is so much material out there but everything that I have been learning is along the lines of inspired action.

I have been down the road many times in the past with just plain ole action before and I have learned that it usually leads to not so great places. Especially when it's reactive action like when someone is trying to push your buttons. Taking the time to pause and think a circumstance or situation out first, lining up with that good feeling place, and then letting your inspiration lead you down the right path is the only thing Abraham has taught me. When you come from a place in your life of instantly reacting to people and situations in your life like I did for a long long time, inspired action seems so much more downstream and peaceful it isn't even funny.

Abraham is a teacher that pounds your thoughts and feelings are the only thing that matters so much into their material that it is truly hard for me to think of a time when just action alone has been mentioned.

Hey Nikulas,

I will try and explain the way I see things, and hopefully you will see the logic in it and understand the idea.

The action itself, unless inspired (which is always mentally effortless), is useless. What matters is what you believe the action will cause.

For example, finding a new job. If one believes he must search in sites that offer jobs in the internet, and set his resume to many employees, and go to job interviews - then he holds the belief "in order to get a job, I have to search for positions, send my resume and go through an interview". After he takes those actions and gets the job, he thinks that his actions caused it - but it is not true. Only after he took action, he ALLOWED himself to align with the idea of getting a new job. Only after taking the action, could his belief system ALLOW the change in belief to happen. So really the action did nothing. It was just his limiting belief that the action was ever required, that cuased him to resist getting a job without taking action.

If he believed he could manifest a new position without any action, then that's what he would exactly get. Reality conforms to our beliefs.

However any physical action that helps you change your beliefs, such as Stingray's Manifesting Experiment 3, is very helpful because you are "tricking" your belief system (if you are very action oriented) to offer less resistance to the idea that "I must take action".

Lester Levenson said once that the highest level of action available is the action of releasing (resistance). Or like Charles Hannel wrote in the "Master Key System" - "To change the effect, you must change the cause". The cause is your thoughts and beliefs. The effect is actions and results.

I'm sorry if I went a bit off-topic with this post but I think this explains a part of the intention of teachers like Abraham.

There was a time that I manifested a new car with no action on my part and I wrote about that someplace here on IQ. I think if the timing is right and you are very adept it is certainly possible. But truthfully I have manifested much more by taking correct action at key times. Much more.