The truth behind the Law of Attraction

[Nikolai1]

The more the law of attraction becomes a feature of our lives the more we realise that it has always been in operation.

 

We normally imagine that we develop the power of attraction through spiritual cultivation. But the truth is that the law has always been in action, and that spiritual cultivation merely raises it to conscious awareness and understanding.

 

What we call the common everyday ‘will power’ of the ego is actually the power of attraction. We our conscious that we need to go to the shops…and then later on we find that we are actually in the shop. This seemingly mundane sequence is the power of attraction. We have a strong motivation to visit the shop, we believe that it is in our power to achieve it…and behold, we find ourselves actually at the shops. If we had neither the motivation or the belief in its possibility then the manifestation of the shop would not occur.

 

As long as we are egos we are constrained by our belief that the natural laws of time and space constrain us. We subject ourselves to the belief that this mysterious power of will (although, like gravitational attraction, we no longer view it as mysterious) – we believe that this will power is capable of some things and not others. But we limit ourselves by this belief.

 

With spiritual cultivation comes a certain scepticism about our identity as individual egos. We realise through our practice that we are rather more than what we previously thought. It is this transcending of the ego that allows us to be sceptical also about the laws of nature that supposedly constrain us. We see that it is perfectly realistic that our thoughts might manifest in ways that seem, from the egoic perspective – and to other people – are completely wacky and supernatural. Perhaps ironically, it is by transcending the ego we clearly see that, whatever the law of attraction is, it has been in operation all along – we just didn’t believe it.

 

So whether we are ego bound or not, every time we ‘decide’ to do something it is our conviction that we have the power to decide that makes it happen. The law of attraction is just normal everyday stuff – why does it take so much spiritual effort to see this?

Edited October 26, 2012 by Nikolai1

[GrandmasterP]

You may decide to open a can of beans using only a banana.

It won't ever work, but the decision is quite valid.

[XieJia]

why does it take so much spiritual effort to see this?

 

nice article Niko;

 

base upon the concepts in this thread, the answer to your question is quite clear.

 

we 'decide to see' this.

[三江源]

Maybe the law of attraction works the same kind of way that dreams work.. with dream logic, with the kind of multi layered consciousness that means we are in a gestalt of perceptual ability, now you see it, now you dont. I think one can understand dreams and the results of law of attraction when one puts ones consciousness in the right place(s) to do so. If consciousness is like water, it runs around : one can place ones consciousness in the place from which all is perceivable, or appears to be, but then consciousness dribbles into other ways of perceiving, due to well worn grooves and interacting in same same old.

 

If taming the wild horse is battling with the ego, then I think working with the water of consciousness itself a whole bigger game, in which landscape must be shifted to allow fluid containmnent.

 

Especially if the law of attraction brings you something you find it hard to chew. This is why people say 'be careful what you wish for', isnt it.

[Nikolai1]

Hi Grandmaster

 

You may decide to open a can of beans using only a banana.

It won't ever work, but the decision is quite valid.

 

To believe that such a thing could happen you would have to have transcended the ego and the laws of the ego's world to quite a high degree. But if you have reached this state then you are not likely to have strong motivation to perfom something so unnatural. But if needs must, there is no reason why you couldn't open the can with the banana. After all, its no different from using a can opener. "But a can opener is hard and sharp!!" Indeed, but a banana is soft and blunt!

[Nikolai1]

Hi Cat

 

If taming the wild horse is battling with the ego, then I think working with the water of consciousness itself a whole bigger game, in which landscape must be shifted to allow fluid containmnent.

 

Especially if the law of attraction brings you something you find it hard to chew. This is why people say 'be careful what you wish for', isnt it.

 

The ego could be a viewed as a kind of landscape where the power of attraction, which we call the ego's agency or will, flows readily in some areas and not others. Some egos are like high plateaus where water seems to flow readily in all sorts of directions. We would call these people powerful, like politicians and tycoons. It is spiritual power they possess but limited by virtue of being ego-bound.

 

Interestingly, people who have poorly developed egos are often more aware of their power of attraction then those with well developed egos. These narrow anxious people never really developed their strong sense of wlll power which is the everyday masquerade for power of attraction. They are therefore very frightened of what they wish for because they have noticed how thoughts can become manifested. Such people would be diagnosed with OCD. (Psychological science has found that people with OCD have weak self-concept and struggle to make decisions).

 

The power of attraction can only be contained with equanimity if one realises that we are not an ego, and in a sense not in control anyway. Then we can trust in whatever power is behind all things in the universe.

 

There is this notion that the power of attraction can be used to make us rich, get us laid etc. If you believe in it strongly enough then it will work for you. Unfortunately if the power of attraction is being used to serve such egoic needs then it means that you are silll ego-bound and you will suffer hugely from the responsibilty that it brings. It is probably best that 99.9% of people don't believe in the power of attraction, but believe in the much safer and more limited version: personal will power.

[GrandmasterP]

Hi Grandmaster

 

 

 

To believe that such a thing could happen you would have to have transcended the ego and the laws of the ego's world to quite a high degree. But if you have reached this state then you are not likely to have strong motivation to perfom something so unnatural. But if needs must, there is no reason why you couldn't open the can with the banana. After all, its no different from using a can opener. "But a can opener is hard and sharp!!" Indeed, but a banana is soft and blunt!

..................

Not that I have ever tried but I really really don't think a banana could open a can of beans.

Not even a ninth duan banana.

A Buddhist banana could write a sutra on how to go about opening a can of beans but unless the text contained the sentence...

first choose a can opener...

then it still wouldn't work.

[Isimsiz Biri]

Thought becomes matter in the astral realms. If you think you are driving an expensive car, this image becomes a matter in astral realms. If you keep this astral matter enough time by thinking the same thing, then, this astral matter reflects itself to physical world and becomes a physical reality.

 

This is the mechanism of so called "The Secret".

 

However, if you chase materialist desires such as money, car, house etc and forget God Almighty, God Almighty will also forget you. So basically, this Secret thing serves evil because it focuses only materialist desires.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Recep Ivedik

[GrandmasterP]

Buddy if that worked I would not be sitting here posting this. I'd be on my yacht in the Bahamas, having won the lottery yet again; watching one of the servants peel my next grape.

;-)

[GrandmasterP]

OIC

It's just me can't get it to work then.

That pretty much sums up a whole lot.

Will just have to keep on trying. If nothing happens soon though I am definitely going to buy my very first lottery ticket.

:-)

[Seth Ananda]

Law of attraction is based on the foundation Idea that the Universe is Mental. in other words, it is a big consciousness or divine mind, and it 'Imagines' everything into being, including us.

But in the case of us, we {and other sentient beings} are a microcosm of the Divine mind, and we have the same spark of Divine mind within us.

So what we dream of, desire, fear, imagine, think about, believe and so on, is all constantly 'creating' the reality around it.

 

Some points to consider about this ancient worldview:

 

1.)

Life will never be 'perfect' { as in no problems ever } forever despite our manifesting skill} as the Big Minds dream is primarily one of Duality. The play of consciousness is one of forgetting and remembering...

 

2.)

One will not win the Lotto, just becase one 'wants' to, because everyone else who buys lotto tickets are also 'wanting' to win.

But if your signal to the universe is far stronger than anyone elses, then that may be a different story... Cynthia Stanford won 112 million by spending 4 months constanty visualising untill she was absolutely certain she would win. which she did.

 

3.)

The Divine mind may have its own plans for you at times, regardles of what you want or try to manifest...

 

4.)

You may actively work against yourself. Like trying to will for money, yet hating rich people or having some personal belief that you will never 'make it' in the world...

[Nikolai1]

You may actively work against yourself. Like trying to will for money, yet hating rich people or having some personal belief that you will never 'make it' in the world...

 

Yes, and I would say that conflicting desires in the reason why the law of attraction is discerned by those still trapped in ego.

 

Most people have many many desires and most of them thwart each other. Furthermore we have desires that aren't authentic themselves but serve other desires. For example, we find ourselves chasing money because we think that through money we can get what we want the most: sex and love for example.

 

Or we find ourselves desiring what other people desire because we want people to admire us, and then we won't be lonely anymore.

 

Most egos are in thrall to such a bewildering storm of various desires authentic and inauthentic that they can't possibly give the consciousness and motivation that would be required to attract them. But through this storm they do manage to attract the things they need and want most. A spouse, a house, a car and holidays in the sun. This is done according to the law of attraction but normal people call it will power and hard work.

 

The spiritually developed person sees the vanity of all these desires. Desires wither away in their droves - first what were inauthentic and peripheral to the ego and later the deeper rooted stuff.

 

The spiritually cultivated person starts to notice that what they want seems to come to them even while they have many egoic desires. It is a hazardous time, a kind of limbo. They have few desires, but those they have are strong and receive all the conscious attention that was previously scattered over various conflicting desires. People at this stage truly find that money and sex is theirs for the taking if that is what they crave.

 

What are these strong desires? They vary from person to person, but if you enjoy something for it's own sake then that is the kind of desire that will come to you. If something seems like a good thing in itself, and you can't imagine anything better - that is what your ego shall find it easy to attract.

 

But you must be attracted yourself in this stage. If you are attracted to a woman you will find it very easy to attract her to you. Almost effortless. It will seem like the universe is working on your behalf.. But you can't have any woman you want because you can't choose who you fancy.

 

It follows that the law of attraction is only seen and recognised by people who have done a great deal of spiritual work - the genuine stuff which might mean prayer, meditation, mortifications.

 

Those who haven't followed this path will be sceptical. And there will be right to be so. They quite literally have never simplified their desires to the extent that what they really want comes to them easily. They have so many desires that they will notice all the ones that are unfulfilled. They will therefore have no reason not to think that the granting of desires is just chance or everyday will power.

 

When you start to notice the law of attraction is when it has become a reality with you. If you haven't noticed it then you are unlikely to believe it. if you haven't noticed it it is because you have not cultivated yourself spiritually. This is the truth.

 

If people are sceptical of the law of attraction it is absolutely pointless trying to persuade them. It is a deep and sophisticated teaching that can't be trivialised.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Nikolai1

[GrandmasterP]

Anything can be trivialised, some things are just asking for it.

[Nikolai1]

People who don't believe in the LoA don't believe that the human will can't transcend limitations of time and space and the normal province of the human will.

 

Not being philosophical they don't wonder at all about how thought can influence the body - even if it is a simple decision to raise one's arm. This is a deeply mysterious phenomenon but people accept it as normal and commonplace. It takes intelligence to even see the mystery of it.

 

If they could see the mystery of the everyday will, they will be more open-minded to the notion of the law of attraction. Wisdom starts with wonder and doubt about the everyday.

 

To understand the unreality of time and space is to transcend the limitations of time and space. To understand the unreality of the individual ego is to transcend the individual ego. If you still believe in the notion of an individual ego in an individual body then all the LoA stuff is going to seem very magical...and wrong.

[Isimsiz Biri]

This is a little bit of an oversimplification of the process. Will has the potential to alter the astral, and lead to manifestation on the physical plane, but there are a couple of catches to this. The first catch is that will is a complicated thing. Qabalists spend a great deal of time training their minds to purify the expression of their will to this end. This is the foundation of occult and western hermetic work. It is far more complicated than just thinking that you want a million dollars and it manifesting. The second catch is that the books have to balance at the end of the day. If you did manage to formulate the will to manifest a million dollars, and the whole of your conscious and subconscious mind was in accord with this will, the manifestation would balance out somewhere else and a person might lose a million dollars. It is not just materializing gold out of thin air. The process is frankly more practical for less material goals. "The Secret" just puts a new age misinterpretation/oversimplification on a very old concept.

 

The reason I explained in response to is why you are not sitting on your yacht in the Bahamas, not because the Law of Attraction does not work.

 

I completely agree that I oversimplified the process, but in this froum, I see that from every level of education and cultural level people exist so I preferred to keep it in primary school level.

 

And I am sure that all over the world millions have read "The Secret" but the "secretly" self made millionaires are a few. In your explanation, there is no affect of God and Divine Realm just like the Secret book. I think that the affect of God and the Divine Realm that operates by the permission of God should be incorporated into equation.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Recep Ivedik

[GrandmasterP]

The big bucks from The Secret are vested in the author and publisher thereof.

[hydrogen]

 

To understand the unreality of time and space is to transcend the limitations of time and space. To understand the unreality of the individual ego is to transcend the individual ego. If you still believe in the notion of an individual ego in an individual body then all the LoA stuff is going to seem very magical...and wrong.

 

Does the LoA defy law of karma?

[Seth Ananda]

Does the LoA defy law of karma?

Why would it? If someone believes in Karma, they would usually say that all our actions and creations are constantly producing new positive or negative Karma... Also some would say its good Karma to even have the opportunity to learn about LoA... let alone to have the capasity {or right mindset} to be able to really use it for much benefit...

Edited November 11, 2012 by Seth Ananda

[GrandmasterP]

Not at all.

If it is your Karma that LoA is to work for you this time around then it'll work.

If it aint, then it won't.

[Nikolai1]

So far I've talked about the notion of attracting things we desire. Actually desiring isn't the true cause of the attraction, it is the consciousness devoted to the object that is the cause. When we devote consciousness to something that we believe will happen, there is the potential for it to manifest. As I said yesterday, this process of manifestation becomes stronger as we develop spiritually, that is, as our ego simplifies and the objects in our conscious become fewer and more quintessential of who we were.

 

Now I'm going to talk about the darker side of the law of attraction.

 

It is not only desires that occupy our consciousness, it also fears. As we develop spiritually many of our fears are seen as being peripheral inauthentic and they wither away. But there are some fears that remain deep-rooted. Such fears have the capacity to pre-occupy us even when you have achieved levels of peace and calm that far exceed the normal person.

 

Just as a normals person's desires are too scattered to swiftly manifest, so too are their fears.

 

Yes, the unregenerate life isn't all suffering and frustrating. It is also one massive attempt to protect ourselves.

 

So much of the normal egoic life is an attempt to shield ourselves from outcomes that therefore never get the chance to manifest. We believe we are safe, we don't believe that the worst can happen. But as we develop spiritually we start to withdraw the effort required to maintain this protective bulwark. The job that we suffered we find that we have the courage to just quit. It was bad for us and bad for the world so we quit. But the salary kept us safe. The poverty we feared is now, alas, our reality

 

The relationship that we reasoned was better for us than the life of loneliness is terminated. We realise that we are worth more than this, and that we are making our partner worse by tolerating them. But they kept us warm at night, and now the bed is cold.

 

Yes we are developing the strength to confront our demons, and there is good stuff coming our way. But the iron necessity of the law of attraction has it that our demons shall and must be confronted.

 

Our developing courage and strength means that we are no longer assailed by everyday fears, but living courageously and with grace means that we dismantle the bulwark that protected us from our deepest fears.

 

Hydrogen asked about whether all this defies the law of karma. All this IS the law of karma. A lifetime desiring that special thing will mean that sooner or later you will be presented with your heart's desires. We will be presented with a Last Temptation, and nothing has ever been more tempting. Our Final Fear will present a horror that we never thought could happen.

 

The Law of Attraction takes on a mixed meaning, and requires a different response - a reverse of our former life.

 

We find that we must resist the temptation and yield to the fear. Our urge is to transcend even the law of attraction.

[hydrogen]

 

Hydrogen asked about whether all this defies the law of karma. All this IS the law of karma. A lifetime desiring that special thing will mean that sooner or later you will be presented with your heart's desires. We will be presented with a Last Temptation, and nothing has ever been more tempting. Our Final Fear will present a horror that we never thought could happen.

 

 

I think I've been through this twice.

 

Both time I was offered power of God. I took it. Big mistake.

 

I had to go under the trial of "crucifixion" and something similar to "bardo" in Tibetan book of death. I can't be certain because I wasn't religious. I just started reading bible and different religion information after fact. And time and space was funny at that time. Every now and then I had to ask myself "who am I? where am I? which year is it?" I honestly thought I was dropped into "my body" from another planet.

 

The first time I deconstructed myself into a single cell. The second time I deconstructed myself into water. I have a hintch that this time it'll be wind. I have no idea who planted this into my head. I just know I have to figure out how to turn into wind.

 

The first time after trial of "crucifixion", I was put into "hell". I think Jesus Christ helped me get out. The second time, I was in a hospital. I saw a few angels, who treated me.

 

The trial of "crucifixion" was extermely painful. However it's not TOO bad comparing to what Jesus went through. I wondered if my daughters had to pass the trial. I was told "yes". I asked if I could take the test on their behave. I was told "no". But the test would be easier and less painful each time after a person had passed it. The best way I could help my daughters was to help as many peaple as possible to pass the test.

 

Each person's journey would be different like our DNA. My map would be useless to another person. Just remeber love conquers all. So long one has genuine love, one will be fine.

 

what happend to you if you don't mind sharing?

[Nikolai1]

There is lots of talk on this forum, and in life in generally about the notion of 'giving off a positive vibe'. It is imagined that you emit some kind of unseen 'energy' that transforms another person.

 

While this is a perfectly good explanation for the LoA, it can just as easily be described as a simple sequence of events. Our mental states are succeeded by their corresponding physical manifestation.

 

The first energetic theory posits a causal explanation; the second is a simple sequence of events - night follows day but is not caused by day.

 

If you feel low and lacking in self-confidence then people will behave as if you aren't worth a lot, Both explanations accept this, as well as the oppsoite view: if you are high in self-confidence then the world will reflect that.

 

It follows then that believing in the law of attraction is itself important for making it a law in your life. When we recognise the law we are free to shape our experience as we see fit. If our belief in the law falters then we will start to think that we are powerless to shape our experience.

 

What can also happen is that remnants of low self worth in otherwise confident people can still manifest. Low self worth manifests as people who we imagine as 'our opposite' - the kind of people who are far too vulgar to recognise how wonderful we are. But if it is low self worth that creates them then it follows that we shall want to attract them but can't.

 

What kind of person might we see as simultaneously low and vulgar and yet attractive?

 

It is very likely to be a member of the opposite sex.

 

A gorgeous vivacious woman who is completely oblivious to all our intelligence and spiritual sensitivity. How irritating! How vulgar she must be on the inside!

 

Well if you ever find yourself criticising people, or finding yourself in conflict with them - you can rest assured that the criticism is really about yourself. Work on your own issues and you'll find that all the vulgar people in your life have miraculously...vanished.

[hydrogen]

Well if you ever find yourself criticising people, or finding yourself in conflict with them - you can rest assured that the criticism is really about yourself. Work on your own issues and you'll find that all the vulgar people in your life have miraculously...vanished.

 

You also said "The relationship that we reasoned was better for us than the life of loneliness is terminated. We realise that we are worth more than this, and that we are making our partner worse by tolerating them. But they kept us warm at night, and now the bed is cold."

 

Had you solved your own issue, would your partner become wonderful?

[Nikolai1]

You also said "The relationship that we reasoned was better for us than the life of loneliness is terminated. We realise that we are worth more than this, and that we are making our partner worse by tolerating them. But they kept us warm at night, and now the bed is cold."

 

Had you solved your own issue, would your partner become wonderful?

 

Great question Hydrogen thanks!

 

As I've tried to make clear the law of attraction is a process that has always been at work our whole life. To begin with we normalise it as being commonplace will power and 'decision making'. The scope of our will power is bound by who we are as egos and the so-called natural laws that we, as egos, believe in.

 

As we develop spiritually our ego's become broader and less constricted. We become less bound by narrow and self-restricting beliefs. To begin with it the law of attraction still wouldn't occur to us, this expansion and freedom within the ego is just considered to be maturity and confidence. This is the time when we are likely to walk away from unsatisfying relationships, and thus expose ourselves to our fears. But we walk away because we are still basically improving our lives through active modification of externals.

 

It is only when we have virtually outgrown the ego that we start to notice that the way things come our way is quite uncanny. It is only when our confidence in our laws of attraction is high that we notice that some people are not responding to us. It is these people I suggest are reflecting remnants of our egoic lack of confidence. The people who seem to be immune to us represent our deep-rooted lack of confidence in ourselves. To people at this stage, it is hard to imagine that they would ever walk away from relationships. A, they wouldn't need to because their spouse would reflect their own exalted state and B, they would never solve problems in this way.

 

Phew! All this is very hard to talk about because the law of attraction has these two aspects, even though it is always itself.

 

1) When it is called will power and it is limited in scope. Because it is limited in scope we don't recognise it as it is.

2) When it is called the law of attraction because we are fully conscious of it as a process.

 

Believing in it and experiencing it are the same thing, in which case it is not a belief but a fact. But of course, there are many people who don't recognise it as a fact because it isn't with them and so quite understandably dismiss it as a belief.

 

In this sense the LoA is like so many spiritual concepts: God, enlightenment, salvation...To become enlightened is to see that you have always been enlightened.

 

Thanks again, Nikolai

[MERCELESS ONE]

OIC

It's just me can't get it to work then.

That pretty much sums up a whole lot.

Will just have to keep on trying. If nothing happens soon though I am definitely going to buy my very first lottery ticket.

:-)

 

lol