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Originally Posted by AnandinBhisajKurma
I'm having a crossing of beliefs, I was wondering if anyone had some thoughts on my thoughts.
Buddhist/Taoist teachings tell us that desire is a cause of pain.
LOA tells us that we can have the things we desire through visualization and affirmation.
How can I manifest the life I desire without causing myself the pain of "wanting"?
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AnandinBhisajKurma,
What a stimulating thread title !
My understanding of Tao is that its inaffable, unspeakable essence permeates all of Creation, including ourselves, as indicated in the 1st reference.
My understanding of Buddhism is described in the moment Herman Hesse wrote about in the book Siddhartha (see 2nd reference), when Siddhartha, for the first time, finally arrives at the profound realization that his life-long, arduous search for the answers to existance begins and ends within himself:
“I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha." He looked around as if he were seeing the world for the first time.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
How do these perspectives reconcile with LOA, which
"tells us that we can have the things we desire through visualization and affirmation" ?
I think I've found an answer (see 3rd reference), but you must proceed all the way to the bottom of the article to finally see the answer to your profound question. Are you ready ? Here goes....
Of ourselves we have no being ... no reality. We are individual manifestations of Life ... of that which is God! ‘We’ are not ‘plugged’ into Life ... we are ‘Its’ ‘outlets’ ... and ‘Its’ thoughts are colored by ‘Its’ perception of itself as being John or Jane Doe ... the ‘person’ we see ourselves as being. God is your reality ... your true identity. This is why it appears as though the ‘human’ consciousness is creative.
Accordingly, here's a view of LOA that may surprise you. As Genevieve Behrend says on page 15 of very last reference "Your Invisible Power":
"Endeavor to bear in mind that your mental picture is Universal Mind specifically exercising its inherent powers of initiative and selection. God, or Universal Mind, made man for the special purpose of differentiating Himself through him. Everything there is, came into existence in this same way, by this self-same law of self-differentiation, and for the same purpose. First came the idea, the mental picture, or the prototype of the thing, which is the thing itself in its incipiency. The Great Architect of the Universe contemplated Himself as manifesting through his polar opposite—matter—and the idea expanded and projected itself until we have not only a world, but many worlds."
She goes on to say,
"....your mind is the mirror in which the Infinite Power and Intelligence of the Universe sees itself reproduced."
In other words, your mind, repeat YOUR mind is the Creator's mind seeing Itself through your eyes.
Do you see ? If Tao is the essence of you and all of Creation (including "what you desire"), then it is not desire that causes pain. The pain is caused by mistakenly perceiving that "what you desire" is somehow separate from you and that you are separate from "what you desire"....because you have forgotten that
you are already, always what IT eternally is
AS Itself.
It is Tao, and
only Tao, whose slightest movement...animates our very Being,
as Itself, and as the "object of our "desire". The mystery of Siddhartha (and of each of us) is "seeing the world this way for the first time", each and every moment anew.
Our thought is creative because we are the Creator using it to create with !
That is the missing piece of information that is often glossed over in many treatments of this subject.
Hope this, and the references below, helps you answer your intriguing, thoughtful question....
Reference:
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...0&postcount=23
Reference:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quote...290-siddhartha
Reference:
http://www.thechristmind.org/ye-must.htm
Reference:
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...p;postcount=14