• We are moving and with that comes disruption!

  • The ideas in The Certain Way have been developed through observation, which is the basic tool of science. We look and observe and ask questions. Then we form a hypothesis, test it and observe again. Refining all the time until we come up with an answer that holds and predicts certain outcomes.

    Science is a recent invention. Before Aristotle wrote his book Physics in 350BCE, science was called philosophy  – (Physics means Nature in Greek.)

    In the 16th and 17th centuries, Galileo, Kepler, Newton and others called themselves Natural Philosophers – then in 1834, the term scientist was coined by William Whewell, and natural philosophy gradually gave way to modern scientific disciplines – physics, chemistry, biology, etc.

    Throughout all these ages, wisdom has also come about through observation, hypothesis and testing. If it works keep it and let everyone know – or keep it as secret knowledge to gain power over others!

    Things that work continue to be taught and get passed down, they don’t fade away.

    Religions have books and tablets of stone that force an unchangeable hypothesis on their followers – often with the threat of death for non-believers. Religions are intractable and get stuck in power loops of hidden and secret knowledge, like businesses that hide their trade secrets.

    Laws are only laws until they are broken, proved to be wrong or shown to be questionable.

    But laws are useful while they last, they give us a structure to work with at a moment in time. New ideas and revised laws allow change and progress.

    Laws carved in stone allow for power to some over the misery of others.

    Some ideas have remained strong and have been passed down, successfully and repeatedly, through the millennia. They provide structures that allow us to live together and progress, adding to the world as co-creators with Nature. For instance:

    The Golden Rule – do unto others as they would do unto you – is probably the simplest and most long lasting of all these philosophical ideas.

    Working with the grain of Nature – going with the flow, is another.

    Setting sail on the tide of opportunity.

    Doing a good job and giving value.

    The ten commandments are a pretty good basic law for getting along with one another and surviving in a pre-modern world.

    And then, from somewhere, comes Gratitude.

    Gratitude has most likely grown out of reciprocal behaviour – “thanks for helping out with my harvest, I’ll help you with yours.” That becomes, “thanks for the harvest because it’s a good one this year… after that awful famine last year.”

    That becomes thanks to Nature for the harvest, and then thanks to a father-like god – a humanisation of Nature – an old guy in a flowing white beard, sitting on a cloud.

    Gratitude proves to be an effective force, so it gets taught and passed down.

    In the UK, where I was brought up, gratitude was taught as a habit of manners – “Say, please and thank you.”  It was ingrained into us as ritual.

    Gratitude can brim over as a felt emotion, when something wonderful happens.

    Here in the UK, we were not taught about Gratitude as a constant force in a constant field – a force that binds thoughts and ideas and brings them into reality.

    At school, we said grace before and after meals. “For what we are about to receive/have just received, may the Lord make us truly thankful.”

    Waiting for the Lord to make us truly thankful, is like waiting outside the head teacher’s study. It feels like we’ve done something wrong. The Lord is going to MAKE us truly thankful whether we like it or not!

    It is the first part of the grace that says: “For what we are about to receive,” that is the key.

    Gratitude that comes before receiving is Deep Gratitude. It is the faith or certainty that the meal will come, that tomorrow will be a good day, the new car is being built, the architect is right now drawing up the plans of the house you will one day live in.

    Deep gratitude works in a scientific way as a field, like a kind of magnetic glue that mixes up the elements that come together to realise imagined thoughts. Sustained gratitude allows the glue to set, and so to turn thought into reality.

    So gratitude, with a small g, is about giving thanks for what you have, it keeps you feeling positive and happy with what you have already received.

    Gratitude, with a capital G, is about receiving. It’s an emotional commitment to the future, to the realisation of thought. It is about doing things that allow the thought to move towards you as a realisation. It’s about creating ways to receive what you have imagined or asked for when it comes. Opening channels along which things may come to you.

    In a way, it could be described as a sort of work ethic.

    Gratitude can be seen in the wisdom that has been passed down – wisdom that has proved its worth through observation, wisdom that has found a place in the pantheon of knowledge, that you can choose to make a part of your daily life.

    It’s your choice – “The Lord” is not going to make you choose.

    This old wisdom lives in phrases like, “Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door will be opened unto you.”

    And if you find this whole process a bit unclear, a bit nebulous, then the ancients had an answer to that too, in statements such as, “God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.” (If the word, God, makes you nervous – just change it to Nature.)

    Modern science confirms what ancient humans intuited:

    • Practising gratitude rewires the brain for optimism, resilience, and trust.
    • It reduces cortisol, boosts dopamine, and strengthens social bonds.
    • It’s not just about being nice –  it’s a creative force.

    Like everything that changes your daily practice or rituals, it’s not easy to be Grateful all the time or even to remember to be Grateful all the time. It needs to become a habit and habits are created through repetition.

    Deep Gratitude needs to be a lived thing, a daily being in the world – in Nature – grateful for the opportunity that has been given to us, to be co-creators with Nature.

    It is the daily practicing of Gratitude as a force in the field of creativity that makes our thoughts become things. And it is the daily work of making ways to receive that brings things into our lives.

  • What is The Certain Way?

    The Certain Way is a way of looking at and understanding the world we live in that you may not have considered before but might find helpful in this crazy time we are living through with all the noise  and burnout of internet platforms, algorithm fed gloop and pings and notifications that drown our attention – It’s leading a lot of people to burn-out. I know. I’ve been there and I’m on a mission to find another way.

    The Certain Way is inspired by a powerful book I came across about 20 years ago. It was written over a hundred years ago and it’s called The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles. He was looking for answers in a time of massive change that was not unlike today. The Science of getting rich was a clever clickbait title, but it’s not actually about chasing money, it’s about clarity, creating value, taking action, and working with the grain of Nature.

    Wattles taught that the way you think and act has real consequences — that thought, sustained with clarity and certainty, sets reality in motion.

    Because when you act with purpose, Nature responds.

    Not instantly. Not magically. But reliably — like a tiny seed becomes a tree.

    The Certain Way is not about belief systems, positive thinking, or waiting for the universe to deliver from a catalogue of goodies.

    It’s a practical method for living and creating that feels grounded and real. The science in Wattles book is about the certainty of following a scientific formula. Wattles was fascinated by science, which was in a creative turmoil in his time. He grasped the basic ideas of quantum physics that was then in its infancy. It’s all about the way that form – that is things you can touch – are all made from one creative substance that responds to thought to create the thing that is imagined.

    Think about it… everything that is man-made began as a simple idea. Even the things you can’t touch, like love and truth and justice and the sound of music that moves you. They all started with an idea.

    The Universe is nature’s idea. We humans have been gifted the power of thought by Nature that wants to work with us to create something spectacular as co-creators with Nature. When you grasp that idea, anything becomes possible.

    The Certain Way is not about greed or a flamboyant lifestyle, it’s about becoming rich in all the things you need to fulfil your potential – to live your life to the full so you can learn and play and create and look after your family and make something of yourself and leave a lasting legacy to nature, humanity and the world.

    We’ve been trained to compete, to scramble, to chase attention.

    But that’s the fast road to burnout.

    The Certain Way is about coming back to the roots — reclaiming your time, your attention, and your voice.

    It’s about making things that matter, on your own terms, in collaboration with Nature — not working against it.

    It’s not a rulebook. It’s more of a toolkit.

    A way of thinking and acting in the world that helps you move forward with clarity and certainty — one real step at a time.

    I’m not teaching from a pulpit or a mountaintop. I’m building this idea in public — with a book, with videos, and with real-world action.

    If it resonates, you’re not alone.

    You don’t have to play the algorithmic game.

    You can choose a different way.

    The Certain Way.

    Subscribe, stay connected, watch more videos

    You can get the pdf ebook here, right away: The Certain Way.

    You can also get the book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com 

  • Fallow Ground began as a place to pause — a quiet corner to reflect after decades of creative work. I thought it would be the foundation for something new. But the deeper truth is, I’d already done the hard thinking. I wasn’t resting. I was germinating.

    What emerged was The Certain Way.

    This book – and the philosophy behind it – grew slowly over several years. It’s a modern rewrite of Wallace Wattles’ 1910 classic The Science of Getting Rich, stripped of its mysticism and reframed through the lens of science, experience, and practice. I’m not here to sell courses or preach a system. I’m simply sharing something that has worked for me – and might work for you.

    You can get the book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or get an ebook or signed copy in the uk from my store

  • Oh, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these last few years.

    That thinking became more focused when I finally accepted that I’d burned myself out – and started trying to understand why.

    I wasn’t partying or drifting. I was burning the candle at both ends – and in the middle too – chasing ideas, jumping on trends, trying this and that in a breathless, scattergun way. Always working. Always reacting.

    As you’ll discover, The Certain Way is rooted in a book that’s helped me again and again: Wallace Wattles’ The Science of Getting Rich, first published in 1910.

    That book has pulled me back on course more times than I care to admit. I’d get fired up, start doing the work, feel things improving… and then I’d slip back, thinking I’d outgrown it. But every time, it returned – and every time, it set me straight.

    Eventually, I stopped treating it like a first-aid kit and started seeing it for what it really is – a philosophy.

    That’s when things deepened. I began to look into the science behind Wattles’ thinking and realised how prescient he was. In his day, physics was on the cusp of reimagining reality. And in some ways, Wattles was already there.

    Today, quantum physics is turning to philosophy for its next breakthroughs – not for answers, but for better questions. As the equations get stranger, it’s no longer just about data. It’s about meaning, interpretation, and how we define reality itself.

    That’s when I knew I had to rewrite Wattles’ book for our time – and start talking about it.

    At first, I thought the project would grow out of a period of creative rest. I created Fallow Ground – a website and a concept – to explore burnout and recovery. The idea was to offer The Certain Way as something quietly emerging from that space.

    But at some point, I realised I was already moving. The fallow period had done its job. The ground wasn’t resting anymore – it was growing.

    Fallow Ground was a great idea. But I didn’t want to get stuck in it. I’d already moved on.

    So here we are with the The Certain Way website, to compliment The Certain Way book and the Certain Way Today YouTube channel.

    You’ll find some of the earliest blog posts here came from Fallow Ground. They still matter – and if you want to dig deeper, they’re here. I may return to the fallow metaphor again in the future.

    But for now, I want everything focused.

    I have a vision for where this is going. It’s big. It’s daunting. But there’s only one direction that makes sense now.

    Forward.


  • Hi, it’s Shoo here. The Certain Way is a book and philosophy born from a lifetime of making, thinking, and starting over. There are no promises – just the quiet discipline of focused thought and steady direction. It’s worked for me. It might work for you. Start here…

    (more…)

  • Hi — I’m Shoo Rayner. If you’ve found your way to this site, you may well be like me, a creative person trying to make sense of things. Maybe you’re burnt out, maybe you’re questioning what “success” even means anymore. Maybe you just want a clearer way forward.

    This site is a practical reimagining of The Science of Getting Rich — a 1910 book, written by Wallace Wattles. I’ve stripped out the archaic language and rewritten the core ideas for today: grounded in nature, creativity, and action.

    Wallace Wattles

    I don’t promise quick fixes or magical thinking. I’m here to share what I’ve learned about how ideas become form – and how certainty (not hustle) is the real engine of change.

    Where to begin

    What’s this really about?

    The Certain Way is a mindset. A method. A shift in how you relate to your work, your time, and your future.

    It’s not about manifesting stuff or choosing things from the catalogue of the universe.

    It’s about learning how to think with direction – and how to keep going when things get real.

    Start where you are now. Pick one thing. Read, watch, or just stop and think. You’re already on the path.

  • You may like to watch the video above:

    I came across this video and was so relieved to see someone else saying out loud what is going on in my head at the moment. Tom Bilyeu explains so much of what is going on in my head at the moment and the reason I started my new YouTube channel and this website, and why have taken a move in a new direction in my life.

    If you are a creative person, I really understand that you might see AI as the enemy. At the moment AI is just a phenomenal tool that is there for you to use and work out how you are going to navigate the next few years.

    AI is not coming, it is already here. Pretending otherwise is pointless. Please don’t be scared of it. Don’t hide from it. Don’t think it’s too complicated or that t’sonly here to make your life pointless. It’s not.

    Be brave and engage.

    I’ll be developing this theme over the next few weeks, especially with creative people in mind – I won’t call you creatives – that’s how the content machine sees and defines you.

    This is a golden moment when you can interact with AI cheaply and honestly.

    Very soon it will be monetised and enshitified to do nothing more than hold and sell your attention to the highest bidders, and you will be so dazzled, you won’t know what is going on – you won’t even know it’s happening.

    Now is the time to be a human being and understand what is happening so you are prepared.

    This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s a practical approach to navigating the next few years as a creative person. Hold on – it’s going to be an interesting ride!

  • Have you ever stopped to ask yourself where your attention goes — and who decided it should go there?
    We hear it said all the time, “Pay attention!” But few people ever question what that actually means. In school, it meant handing over your focus in exchange for knowledge — a kind of transaction. Attention was treated like currency, but nobody told us it could be stolen. Or squandered. Or invested with intention.
    Now, in the age of infinite scroll and algorithmic addiction, that same attention is being extracted — mined like a natural resource from the rich soil of your mind.
    And creative people are feeling it worst of all.

    Creative People Are Burned Out — But It’s Not Your Fault

    If you’re a maker, a writer, a musician, or an artist, chances are you’re running on fumes. Not because you’re lazy or uninspired — but because your attention has been hijacked. The platforms that once felt like playgrounds now feel more like trapdoors. The dopamine hits keep coming, but the joy is gone.
    You’re expected to constantly produce, share, perform — and somehow stay sane. That’s not sustainable.

    Let the Ground Rest

    In farming, there’s a practice called letting the field lie fallow. Every few years, a field is left untouched — no crops, no chemicals — just time. During that pause, the worms come up, the fungi spread, and the nutrients rebuild. What looks like “nothing happening” is actually quiet restoration.
    You are the field.
    If you want to grow new creative ideas, you have to rest the ground. That means reclaiming your attention from the systems that drain it, and giving it back to yourself — slowly, deliberately.

    Attention Is the First Creative Act

    Before you make anything, you attend to something. You notice. You observe. You turn toward. That first spark of noticing is sacred — it’s how form begins to take shape.
    But in a culture of distraction, your attention gets pulled in every direction until there’s nothing left to give.
    It’s time to change that.

    Before you make anything, you attend to something. You notice. You observe. You turn toward. That first spark of noticing is sacred — it’s how form begins to take shape.
    But in a culture of distraction, your attention gets pulled in every direction until there’s nothing left to give.
    It’s time to change that.

    What You Can Do (Right Now)

    • Delete the apps (even temporarily). Take social media off your phone and see what shifts.
    • Notice what you notice. Begin to track what holds your attention and what drains it.
    • Feed the soil. Read books. Walk in nature. Let real, grounded experiences refill you.
    • Trust the pause. Just because nothing’s visible doesn’t mean nothing’s happening.

    Join Me in the Fallow Ground

    This is why I created Fallow Ground. It’s not just a name — it’s a model. A resting place for creatives in a burnout culture. A space to reset, reflect, and rebuild your creative life from the soil up.
    If you’ve made it this far, maybe you’re ready too.
    Not to give up — but to pause with purpose.
    Let’s walk this path together.

    The video has been re-uploaded to the intended edited version.

  • Today, I had the pleasure of performing at the Cheltenham Science Festival alongside TV vet and author Jess French. We were speaking to an audience of children and their parents about animals – specifically, which room you’d choose to house different species in your home. We’d preselected ten animals, then let the children vote, which led to some good-natured haggling (ably handled by our chair, Becci Smith). 

    Jess talked about the animals and how they might cause problems in your house – we were talking about giraffes, hippos, beavers, meerkats and other unlikely house pets. Meanwhile, I demonstrated how to draw each animal and offered a few tips for young illustrators in the audience.

    The key thing I like to share with kids is that illustration starts with observation. It’s always best to get in the room or environment with the animal – to really see how it moves and works. Photos can be misleading. Of course, we can’t always be in the room, so illustrators have long relied on reference books, and now, tools like Wikicommons or Google Images.

    Personally, when I’m asked to illustrate a new animal – especially if it’s a main character – the first thing I search for are images of its skeleton and close ups of the feet and paws. That tells me everything about its underlying structure. And that’s one of my things: I’m a bit obsessed with structure. Once you understand what’s going on underneath, it becomes much easier to throw a surface ‘robe’ over it – even if the skeleton’s never seen, it’s there, holding everything up – even in simple cartoon drawings. Jess told me she could tell when an illustrator didn’t really know how an animal worked.

    That’s how I draw for a book illustration: a light lattice sketch in pencil to place the pose and composition, then I build from there, always considering how it will sit beside the text. That’s traditional illustration. But now? You can ask AI to do the same thing in seconds.

    Prompting as Art Direction

    I’ve been experimenting with image generation on ChatGPT and realise that prompting is just like being an art director. Having been on the receiving end of art direction for decades, I finally understand how frustrating that job must be. You want results, and fast. So naturally, art directors return to illustrators they know and trust. People who “get it” and deliver.

    Now, AI delivers.

    And it’s starting to flood not just the internet, but books too. So where does that leave illustrators? Where does it leave any creative?

    Because it’s not just illustration. It’s music, writing, voice, every creative discipline. They are all being reshaped by generative AI.

    Copying Photographs Is Dead

    I don’t think illustration is over. But copying photos? That’s done. That’s what many illustrators and art students were trained to do. You will often hear people say of a painting – “That’s amazing – it looks just like a photograph!” well.. that’s because, essentially, it is a photograph. 

    When I show kids or grownups how to draw something, I take them through the drawing step by step and… suddenly they can do it! They’ve followed my instructions. It sort of looks like my original.

    But ask them to take that drawing and turn it into an expressive character – something that can leap, twist, do handstands – and they freeze. Because that takes a different level of skill, of internalised form, of imagination grounded in understanding. There’s no shortcut for that. You have to learn to draw.

    If I’m sketching, I go straight to ink as I don’t need to fit a pre-determined shape. The structure is there in my head from years of practice and observation. That structure is like the muscle memory of a musician’s fingers. If you’ve done the practice so you don’t have to think about the notes – you are free to add the expression. So it is with drawing.

    That’s what will matter more and more: Your inner vision translated into a new but recognisable view of the world — something human. Something lived.

    I’ve always said that illustration is storytelling. That’s what we’ll need in the years ahead. AI will do decorative illustration brilliantly, instantly, and cheaply. But human illustration? From now on, that’s about expression – the storytelling “voice” saying: “This is how I see the world.”

    Human Creativity as a Generative Transformer

    AI might one day start generating its own styles – truly original ones. It might say: “This is what I, AI, notice about Flying Foxes,” and produce unique visual takes. But until it reaches true AGI, it’s still remixing – pre-trained on human work.

    It’s fair to say humans are pre-trained generative transformers, too. We study those who came before – the Quentin Blakes, the Maurice Sendaks – and we absorb bits of their technique. We see how they draw noses or feet or eyes. But we don’t just mash them together like a collage, or force them together like bits of jigsaws from different puzzles. We transform them into something new. That’s the difference.

    And that transformation? That’s the human layer.

    It’s like a lattice underneath, built from what you’ve studied, but overlaid with your own way of seeing. That takes time. It takes drawing, analysis, effort. And when it comes through, people recognise it. They say, “Ah — that’s your style.”

    AI can’t replicate that yet. It can imitate. But it can’t yet mean anything.

    Do Your Thing

    So, if you want to be an illustrator – learn to draw and learn to tell YOUR stories. If you want to be a musician – play the music that’s in your head, not what’s trending on Spotify or generated by a loop pack. If you’re a writer – write what matters to you, don’t let the AI flood push you off your course.

    Just do your thing.

    That’s what makes your work irreplaceable. Not its polish. Not its speed. But its point of view — the story only you can tell.

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