Ask And It Is Given: Learning To Manifest Your Desires

The preface and introduction of Ask and It Is Given serve both as a personal narrative and a framing device for the content that follows. They are the only sections of the book written explicitly by the Hicks, as the authors claim that the following chapters are the direct words of Abraham. Thus, these initial passages are designed to establish the authors’ metaphysical bona fides and provide a linear explanation of how they came to hold such an interest in this arcane field.

In the preface, Jerry Hicks’s firsthand account of his spiritual curiosity reflects his enthusiasm for the subject of channeling, and he remains adamant that his wife is a channel for Abraham and an important vector for the transmission of non-physical wisdom. He deliberately presents the teachings of Abraham as both a profound personal revelation and a consistent, practical system for understanding life’s deeper mechanics. Jerry’s conversational writing style aims to create an implicit sense of authenticity that dodges any direct attempts to justify his experiences or to address the potential objections of a skeptical audience. Instead, he relates the details of his narrative in a framework that suggests they are a simple statement of fact.

This technique is furthered when Esther Hicks’s voice enters the couple’s blended narrative, for her tone is more reserved and sincere. Although her earnestness matches her husband’s, she strategically positions herself as a hesitant skeptic at heart in order to create a rapport with readers who may be less convinced of the book’s premise. She recounts her early doubts about the channeling process and emphasizes the idea that both Sheila’s experience and the arrival of Abraham were unexpected and foreign to her. Although Esther’s narrative presents her younger self as initially reluctant to embrace the spiritual philosophy that she now perpetuates, her narrative makes it clear that she quickly became accepting of her role as a conduit for Abraham and of the corresponding wisdom that she has received.

Notably, Esther frames her early experiences as the result of prayer and meditation: practices that are commonly associated with her Christian upbringing. This background contributes to her initial caution about embracing nontraditional spiritual practices, but it also provides a framework for accessing divine communication, which later informs her experience of channeling information from Abraham. Her account implies that her early discipline of prayer—the concept of communion with a higher power—may have smoothed her transition into the newfound abilities of receiving and transmitting messages from the entity that she identifies as Abraham.

Esther points out that the voice of the initial channeled being with whom she communicated, Theo, was very distinct from that of its vessel, Sheila. This dynamic is deliberately reproduced in the varying writing styles featured throughout the book, for just as Esther and Jerry’s narratives are distinct from one another, the tone and diction of Abraham’s voice is also unique and distinct. For example, Abraham uses many repetitive affirmations and rhetorical questions, speaking in an abstract, universalist tone. This style helps to position Abraham as a higher intelligence offering timeless truths.

When viewed alongside the main bulk of the text, the preface and introduction establish the three main figures as three different facets of the spiritualist presentation. Jerry is the seeker, deeply obsessed with learning the truth of the universe and willing to accept knowledge that most may overlook. Esther is the reluctant channel; her thoughts are initially confined by her sheltered upbringing, but the intensity of the Abraham experience convinces her that her gifts are real. Abraham is the teacher, offering wisdom too deep to be accurately expressed through human speech, and using any method possible to share their wisdom with the world.