# Positive State > A positive state is the choice to assign circumstances a meaning that allows them to serve you, made before evidence appears - Canonical: https://sassani.app/topic/positive-state # Positive State For Bashar, a positive state is not a feeling you have to manufacture and cannot reach, and it is not a denial of what is happening. It is the choice to assign a situation a meaning that allows it to serve you, made before the situation proves itself. The teaching rests on a paired claim: circumstances are neutral, and you can only perceive what you are first the vibration of. A positive state, on this view, is the practical precondition for perceiving anything useful in what occurs. ## Why the state comes first The core move is to assume a positive purpose before there is evidence of one. Bashar's argument is that the opposite assumption is self-sealing: if you believe an experience is negative, the only thoughts available to you about it will be negative ones, and you will never find the positive reason it might be happening. The instruction is to act "as you know" the process is serving a positive purpose, because only from that state do doorways, inspirations, and perceptions open up that were not visible before. This is presented as a vibrational law rather than a temperament: "you cannot experience something you are not the vibration of first," and "you cannot have a positive thought from a negative state." The session cites Albert Einstein to the same effect — you cannot solve a problem from the same level on which it was created; you have to go to another level first to see the solution. ## Neutrality is the other half The second source grounds the same practice in the neutrality of circumstances. "No situation has built-in meaning. All physical situations are fundamentally neutral. The meaning you give them determines the effect you get out." A perceived negative situation is treated as a neutral prop; the work is to acknowledge the manifestation you do not prefer, ask what belief you would have to have created it, and use what is there to change it into what you prefer. Trust enters as the same move under another name. Doubt is reframed not as the absence of trust but as "100% trust in a definition of reality you do not prefer." The instruction is to redirect that trust toward the definition you do prefer and to love yourselves unconditionally. ## When a choice turns out to be unwanted A positive state also covers the aftermath of a choice. When a decision later looks wrong, Bashar's instruction is to watch the definition applied to it: labeling it as a failure is what produces the confusion. The reframe is to treat the result as revealing a preference — "thank you for revealing to me that this choice was not my preference. Now I know what my preference is. And so now I will choose the other." A non-preferred outcome, defined this way, clarifies the next preference rather than counting against the chooser. ## Practical implications Adopt the positive definition first, not after proof. The teaching is that evidence of a positive purpose will only become visible once the positive assumption is in place; waiting for proof keeps the negative reading self-sealed. Treat the situation itself as neutral. The practical question moves from "why is this happening" to "what meaning am I assigning, and what belief does that assignment reveal," since the effect follows the meaning. Use a non-preferred result as preference data. Defining an unwanted outcome as the revelation of a preference is presented as a way to keep moving, rather than as a verdict on the chooser. Redirect trust rather than trying to acquire it. Doubt is reframed as trust aimed at an unwanted definition, so the practice is to point existing trust in the direction of the preferred definition and act from there. These are orientations toward meaning and attention. They are not medical, psychological, or financial advice, and a positive definition is not a substitute for professional care in situations of risk. ## Representative passages The only way you're going to find out what it is actually doing for you is to assume that this process that you're going through is serving a positive purpose. Because if you don't assume that, if you don't act like you know it's serving a positive purpose, you will never discover that it's serving a positive purpose. Because you cannot experience something you are not the vibration of.— Bashar, Be In A Positive State So You Can Receive A Positive Reflection (be-in-a-positive-state-so-you-can-receive-a-positive-reflection#qa-3) No situation has built-in meaning. All physical situations are fundamentally neutral. The meaning you give them determines the effect you get out.— Bashar, Keeping A Positive State In A Perceived Negative Situation (keeping-a-positive-state-in-a-perceived-negative-situation#qa-1) Doubt is not a lack of trust; it is a 100% trust in a definition of reality you do not prefer. You only need to direct your trust in the direction you prefer and love yourselves unconditionally.— Bashar, Keeping A Positive State In A Perceived Negative Situation (keeping-a-positive-state-in-a-perceived-negative-situation#qa-2) ## Related - [Definitions & Beliefs](https://sassani.app/topic/definitions-and-beliefs) - [Neutrality of Reality](https://sassani.app/topic/neutrality) - [Choice](https://sassani.app/topic/choice) - [Trust](https://sassani.app/topic/trust) - [Self-Empowerment](https://sassani.app/topic/self-empowerment) Markdown twin of https://sassani.app/topic/positive-state. The HTML page is the source of truth.