Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Andersen's Meditation-Manifestation
To settle into a calm, receptive state Andersen calls ‘contact with the Universal Mind,’ then speak a prepared meditation aloud — understanding it, feeling it, projecting it — so the desired conviction impresses the subconscious.
Andersen’s meditation in 5 lines: Sit alone, quiet, undisturbed. Set the mind at rest — let go of every care and person, keeping only the sense of self, until you feel calm and peaceful. In that calm, speak a prepared first-person meditation aloud — understand it, feel it, project it as already true. (Optional: copy it slowly in a notebook as you speak.) About ten minutes, every day; results come with patience, not in a day.
What it is
U.S. Andersen, a former pro-football player turned New Thought writer, built Three Magic Words (1954) around a single daily practice: a short, structured meditation done at the end of each chapter.
The practice has two distinct phases. First, you quiet down and “let go of everything you know except self” until you feel calm and peaceful — the state Andersen says is “contact with the Universal Mind.” Only then, in that settled state, you speak a prepared meditation aloud — not as rote words but as something you understand, feel, and project.
The first meditation is a sweeping first-person declaration of being “pure spirit,” at peace, and provided for (“I needn’t struggle. I needn’t worry or strive”). Later chapters supply meditations aimed at specific aims (success, health, love). It is, in effect, a relaxation-then-spoken-affirmation contemplative practice.
The Method
Andersen’s instructions, from Chapter 1’s “Meditation—Manifestation” section:
- Be alone and undisturbed. “During your meditation periods, you must be alone. You must be in a place of quiet and solitude, undisturbed by other voices or the movements of other people.” 2. Set the mind at rest — let go. “You must set your mind at rest, forgetting for the moment all cares and problems and people. You must let go — let go of everything you know except self.” Drop the day’s concerns; rest attention on the bare sense of being yourself.
- Wait for the calm. “When you feel calm and peaceful, you will know that you are in contact with the Universal Mind.” Andersen treats the felt shift into calm, peace, and security as the signal you are ready — not the clock.
- Then, and only then, speak the meditation aloud. “Then, and only then, speak the meditation aloud. But don’t simply speak it. Understand it, feel it, project it. It will manifest for you in actuality.” The three verbs are the heart of it: comprehend the meaning, generate the feeling, and project it as already true.
- Use a prepared meditation. Andersen supplies one per chapter. The First Meditation runs: “I know that I am pure spirit, that I always have been, and that I always will be. There is inside me a place of confidence and quietness and security where all things are known and understood. I give my problems to the great mind of God; I let go of them, confident that the correct answers will return to me when they are needed. It is not necessary that I strain about this, only believe.” 6. Aid: copy it out as you speak. In the foreword Andersen adds that it helps to read the meditations aloud and to copy them slowly in a notebook while speaking them at the same time — engaging hand, eye, and voice together.
- Ten minutes, daily, in sequence. The meditations are designed for ~10 minutes a day; Andersen works through them chapter by chapter (the first to establish peace and security, later ones for specific aims), telling readers results come not “in a day or a week or even a month” but with sustained daily practice. (Sourcing note: bracketed-quote sentences are Andersen’s verbatim wording from the 1954 text; the surrounding framing is faithful paraphrase. Wayne Dyer popularized doing such a meditation ~5 minutes before sleep for 21 days; that is Dyer’s gloss, not Andersen’s original instruction, and is flagged as such.)
Source & Lineage
U.S. Andersen (Uell Stanley Andersen, 1917–1986) was an American novelist and New Thought author; Three Magic Words / The Key to Power (1954) is his best-known work, followed by The Secret of Secrets and The Magic in Your Mind.
His system descends directly from earlier Universal/Subconscious Mind teaching — he explicitly recommends Thomson Jay Hudson (The Law of Psychic Phenomena) and Ralph Waldo Trine as reading, placing him in the lineage of Troward, Holmes, and New Thought generally.
Eckhart Tolle and Wayne Dyer later cited the book, keeping it in print.
The Traditions' versions
Guided affirmation / New Thought treatment — speaking a prepared first-person declaration in a receptive state; Andersen’s practice is a textbook example.
- Relaxation response then suggestion — settle the body and mind first, then introduce the suggestion; shared with self-hypnosis and Coué (who used the drowsy threshold).
- Contemplative / lectio-style recitation — slowly speaking and copying a sacred text to internalize it parallels devotional reading practices.
- SATS / pre-sleep impression (Neville) — a receptive state used to impress a desired conviction.
- Centering / quieting prayer — “let go of everything except self” until a felt peace arrives is structurally close to centering practices.
Common refinements
Skipping the settle. Reciting the meditation while still agitated misses the point — Andersen is explicit that the spoken word comes only once you feel calm and peaceful.
- Mere recitation. “Don’t simply speak it.” Words without understanding and feeling are inert; generate the meaning and the felt sense.
- Straining for results. The text repeatedly warns against strain (“I needn’t struggle. only believe”). Effortful wanting undercuts the calm the practice depends on.
- Impatience. Andersen promises change over months of daily practice, not days. Treat it as conditioning.
- Using only his fixed wording. The prepared meditations are templates; the active ingredients are calm + understood, felt, present-tense first-person declaration. You can adapt the words to your own aim while keeping that structure.