Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
Collier's Give Thanks, Then Release
After asking, give sincere thanks in advance — as though the desire were already granted — and then deliberately let it go, refusing to ‘dig up the seed’ with doubt while it works itself out.
After you ask, give thanks now, sincerely, as if it were already granted — that is “the finest evidence of belief.” See it as already yours, feel the having. Then let it go: don’t fret over the lack, and don’t “dig up the seed” by checking for results. Thank, release, and go on.
What it is
This is the gratitude-and-letting-go move Collier builds into his practice — the third step of his prayer formula (“Don’t forget to be thankful… for the granting of this favor you are now asking”) plus his repeated seed-and-soil instruction to release the desire once asked and not “dig it up” with doubt. Its two halves: (a) advance thanksgiving — thanking sincerely before any visible result, which Collier calls “the finest evidence of belief”; and (b) release — handing the matter to “Mind” and refusing to anxiously re-check it.
This entry isolates the give-thanks-as-already-granted + then-surrender core, kept distinct from his four-step formula, which contains it.
The Method
- Treat the desire as already granted, and thank for it now. “Be able to thank God for it sincerely, in advance of its actual material manifestation” — “be thankful… for the granting of this favor you are now asking!” Also: “See the things that you want as already yours… Think of them as YOURS, as belonging to you, as already in your possession.”
- Feel the having, gratefully. “Believe that you have that abundance now… Get from it all the pleasure and enjoyment you can.” Advance gratitude is the emotional proof that you have accepted it.
- Then let it come — don’t push, don’t fret. “Know that they will come to you at need. Then LET them come. Don’t fret and worry about them. Don’t think about your LACK of them.”
- Don’t dig up the seed. “You would not plant a valuable seed in your garden, and then, a day or a week later, go out and dig it up to see if it were sprouting… Don’t plant the seed of your desire in your subconscious mind and then go out the next morning and tear it up with doubts and fears.”
- Release and move on. “Once convince your subconscious mind that you HAVE the thing you want, and you can forget it and go on to your next problem. Mind will attend to the bringing of it into being.” (Sourcing note: all quoted phrases are verbatim from The Secret of the Ages; the two-part structure is a faithful paraphrase.)
Source & Lineage
Robert Collier, The Secret of the Ages (1926). The “give thanks in advance” idea is shared New Thought currency (Wattles makes gratitude a law; Trine, Behrend, and later The Secret echo it); Collier’s distinctive contribution is pairing it tightly with non-anxious release (“don’t dig up the seed”). Compare.
Common refinements
Thanking with a backdoor doubt. If you thank “in advance” while secretly monitoring for proof, you’ve “dug up the seed.” The thanks must carry real acceptance.
- Mistaking release for passivity. “Let them come” means stop anxiously checking — not stop acting. Collier elsewhere insists “you have got to start things.”
- Forcing gratitude over fresh pain. In acute grief or hardship, demanded thankfulness can feel false; keep it honest and gentle.
- Never releasing. Re-asking daily from lack re-impresses lack. Ask, thank, release.