By Mark Andrew Beach

The Law of Perpetual Transmutation teaches that everything is always in motion—either moving into physical form or out of it. It's a powerful reminder that ideas aren’t meant to stay ideas. We're meant to be idea growers, nurturers, and—ultimately—implementers. Or, as James in the Bible puts it:

“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22–23)

In other words: if we’re not taking action, we’re only fooling ourselves.

I learned this lesson firsthand.

Years ago, I set a goal to manifest eight million dollars. I gave myself five years—not because I believed I could do it, but because I needed time to try. Back then, I didn’t fully understand the laws. I only knew from Think and Grow Rich that I needed to write my goal on paper and read it repeatedly. So I did.

I followed the formula:

• I wrote a clear, specific, measurable goal.

• I set a deadline.

• I outlined what I’d do to achieve it.

And though I didn’t believe it was possible, Bob Proctor’s teaching gave me confidence:

“If you write a lie on paper and read it often enough, eventually you’ll believe it.”

So I trusted the process.

What I didn’t realize then was that the moment I wrote that goal and read it, it was already beginning to take shape—not in the physical world, but in the spiritual. Quantum physicists now describe this as the moment something begins to move from the unseen into form.

I stayed consistent for a few weeks… then life got busy. I stopped reading the goal. Eventually, I forgot all about it.

Time flew by, five years in fact, and my goal of obtaining eight million dollars was long forgotten. However, it was exactly five years later and I found myself flying home from Boston. In my briefcase, held securely in my arms were historic savings bonds that were worth a lot of money. I had been sent by a client with a large check to a dealer in New Hampshire to purchase these bonds as collector's items.

From the dealer in New Hampshire, I went to Boston to have a bonded and licensed, expert historic document specialist do two things. First, he authenticated the 20 savings bond certificates I purchased to make sure they were genuine and not forgeries. I watched him go through a long list of tests, including chemically testing them to make sure the paper and ink were even real. My excitement mounted as he signed certification forms that testified that indeed the certificates I held were the genuine articles. Second, he actuarially appraised and calculated what the bonds were worth in his expert opinion. These two things were required to insure and store the savings bonds in a bonded warehouse, as well as negotiate a fair market value for each of them in the event my client intended to monetize them in any way.

Now, I was sitting on a plane with these bonds clutched tightly in my hands. I could hardly wait to deliver them to my client; I was that excited. The bonds were authentic and worth in excess of two million dollars each. But the irony of that moment, which at the time, was completely lost on me, was that my client had awarded me as my "commission" for doing this job, four of the bonds, I now held in my hands. Do the math, four bonds times two million dollars each, equaled eight million dollars. 

Exactly the amount I had written down in my goal statement five years earlier.

The Law of Perpetual Transmutation had delivered—on time.

But the story doesn’t end there.

When I got home, I gave all the bonds—mine and my client’s—back to him for safekeeping. We trusted each other, and storing them together in the same bonded warehouse account seemed practical and cost-effective.

What I didn’t know was that he delayed placing them in the warehouse and kept them in his office instead. Weeks later, legal trouble found him. The bonds were seized as part of the investigation, including mine. Despite my best efforts to recover them, they were never returned.

In a matter of weeks, my manifested eight million dollars were gone. Poof.

So, what went wrong?

Even though the law delivered, I had missed two crucial pieces:

1. I wasn’t specific about the form.
   I could’ve said “cash,” “wire transfer,” “savings bonds,” “real estate,” or even “shipping containers.” I left it open, so the Universe chose for me. (Go figure.)

2. I wasn’t consistent.
   Once I stopped nurturing the vision, it began moving out of form—just as the law promises. Creation doesn’t stand still. It’s either materializing… or dissolving.

This experience taught me something priceless:

Setting a goal starts the creation. **But sustaining that vision—**reading it, feeling it, believing it, acting on it—is what allows it to take root and last.

So dream big. Be bold. Be specific. And most importantly—be consistent.

Because whether you realize it or not, the moment you commit to a worthy goal, it begins making its way into your life. Your job is to keep moving toward it—until the invisible becomes visible… and stays.