Does The Law of Attraction Work?

[psychoslice]

No I don't think there's a law, if we concentrate on anything, there is more chance of it happening, but I don't think there's a law out there like gravity or something like that.

[IsleWalker]

Originally Posted by amy green

I have not explored this since I don't cultivate desires.

Amy--

Yes, your appraisal is about right. I wasn't necessarily saying Juanita was speaking of something outside of LOA. My only point is that positive thoughts are only part of the picture.

One of the foundations of LOA is that humans, by definition, are creators of desire. In their beliefs, we come here in order to create desires as springboards to creativity (for us and all our spiritual helpers). When we express a sincere desire, spirit goes about fulfilling the desire, through whatever creative means they can. There is no distinction between "good" desires and "bad".

In this way, this belief is similar to Kabbalah, which says that the Creator created creatures of desire and the Creator wants only to give boundless joy to the Creature. So by this belief, all we can do is desire.

After going to the extremes of desires--even to those that are destructive, at some point, mankind gets to a point where he wishes to give boundless joy like the Creator and realizes that only by being like the Creator can be get that (a selfless desire).

I tend to agree that humans cannot help but desire. We get what we want and pretty soon, we want more. It is the path of infinite growth. Desiring "bad" things is a path of growth as well. Each of us must experience whatever we desire to experience, since there is no hurry, no timeline, as we are infinite. There is only the need to continue to grow and to create--and desires are the means by which we all do this.

Makes sense to me. It is a pretty neat trick to be a Creator who also experiences all that our Creations experience. As humans we are that Creation of ourselves (of the greater part of us that exists outside ourselves). Our Creator (our greater self) knows/experiences what we do. Our Creature has the job of desiring and sensing it's Creator.

Now I'm confused

Lora

Originally Posted by IsleWalker

Juanita-- You do know that LOA is not about positive thinking, right? I mean, that can be what you are thinking, or you can be thinking other things. It's just stating that whatever you are putting out there, you are attracting more of same.

I thought it sounded all loosey-goosey kumba-ya myself, but there are some practicalities to it.

If you want some 10-minute introductions, pick a random you-tube video of Abraham-Hicks. It doesn't matter which one. It's more of the practical, "How in the heck do I do this when I'm in such a bad mood?" stuff. I understand you are not just "in a bad mood". What you've had happen seems almost inconceivable, so I understand completely. But then what? This offers a next step. It doesn't have to be a "I feel wonderful and life is good step"--just slightly better than you are now. The videos give real-life examples of how one goes about it.

But, if you feel it's not for you, you'll find another way.

Lora

Thank you.....believe me, I have come a long, long way.......If I believed in any way in the LOA. I would believe that what I attract is death and I know that isn't true..........I have learned to live in the Now and take each day, each hour as it plays out ......I spend a lot of my time trying to help others who have lost loved ones, and in turn this helps me and I share my wondrous experiences with spirit to encourage them as well......A whole new world of spirit has opened up for me and for this I am very grateful.......

Originally Posted by amy green

I am so sorry to learn of how much you have and are suffering. That is certainly an extraordinary amount of loss and hardship to absorb and contend with. I understand more now why positive thinking seems somewhat alien to your present situation.

Having said that - allow me to tell you a little about how positive thinking was instrumental in saving me during a past, desperately grim/serious situation. Some 30 odd years ago I said goodbye to someone I was deeply in love with because he was not good for me (he excelled in deception and was amoral). The result of this was that it threw me into clinical depression, e.g. I found it difficult to walk....literally so hard to put one foot in front of the other (it was no longer an automatic response). I was finding it very hard to just look after myself - doing the basic stuff that is required daily e.g. getting dressed, eating, organising my day.

At the time I had moved away from friends and was doing a degree course in psychology. I got myself out of that very deep pit without any support whatsoever (of friends or medication). This was partly because I knew I could do it and also because I knew I had to rely on myself to do this; however, primarily it was due to the power of positive thinking...notably discovering and applying freewill to change my mindset.

I have written about the process of this transformation in a short story submitted on this forum - called A Leap Of Faith (in the Quotes & Short Stories section), currently page 4 in the index. I posted the story mostly to help those who might be depressed.

Apologies to mrmagick for this thread going slightly off track by discussing positive thinking. It is often the nature of threads to veer off course from time to time. I hope the info provided is of use though.

Amy Green, thank you for sharing that story and maybe if this all had happened 30 years ago, I would have done better.......I recently almost died, see my thread "Back from the doors of death" but was not even permitted to do that....so I still have work to do to spread the word of survival after death.... I feel that this is my mission and I focus on it very strongly.....I also do have interests such as politics and currant events, reading and music, so I don't just sit around feeling sorry for myself--but of course I often do---which is normal under the circumstances..........thank you again.......

Originally Posted by IsleWalker

Amy--

One of the foundations of LOA is that humans, by definition, are creators of desire. In their beliefs, we come here in order to create desires as springboards to creativity (for us and all our spiritual helpers). When we express a sincere desire, spirit goes about fulfilling the desire, through whatever creative means they can. There is no distinction between "good" desires and "bad".

In this way, this belief is similar to Kabbalah, which says that the Creator created creatures of desire and the Creator wants only to give boundless joy to the Creature. So by this belief, all we can do is desire.

After going to the extremes of desires--even to those that are destructive, at some point, mankind gets to a point where he wishes to give boundless joy like the Creator and realizes that only by being like the Creator can be get that (a selfless desire).

I tend to agree that humans cannot help but desire. We get what we want and pretty soon, we want more. It is the path of infinite growth. Desiring "bad" things is a path of growth as well. Each of us must experience whatever we desire to experience, since there is no hurry, no timeline, as we are infinite. There is only the need to continue to grow and to create--and desires are the means by which we all do this.

Makes sense to me. It is a pretty neat trick to be a Creator who also experiences all that our Creations experience. As humans we are that Creation of ourselves (of the greater part of us that exists outside ourselves). Our Creator (our greater self) knows/experiences what we do. Our Creature has the job of desiring and sensing it's Creator.
Now I'm confused
Lora

Hi Lora - to explain, I didn't say that I don't have desires but that "I don't cultivate desires". There's a distinct difference.

I have been influenced by Mahayana Buddhism and so my past focus had been to minimise desires since they are mostly to do with ego. (I feel I have now mastered this). Focusing on the ego tends to take us away from spirit; indeed this is mentioned in so many spiritual teachings.

I am truly glad and relieved to say that I don't have a list of desires. I am content to let life unfold as it does and to make the best of what transpires.

[IsleWalker]

Originally Posted by Juanita

Thank you.....believe me, I have come a long, long way.......If I believed in any way in the LOA. I would believe that what I attract is death and I know that isn't true..........I have learned to live in the Now and take each day, each hour as it plays out ......I spend a lot of my time trying to help others who have lost loved ones, and in turn this helps me and I share my wondrous experiences with spirit to encourage them as well......A whole new world of spirit has opened up for me and for this I am very grateful.......

Juanita--

Even LOA wouldn't attribute the death of others to you. How you have managed to pull yourself out in those circumstances--is you and it's admirable, and you're already doing great things for other people. Whatever you believe--is right, as it is for all of us.

It does sort of feel like a trap to post a question about LOA when you have already decided it doesn't work. What was your reason if your mind had already been made up?

Lora

[IsleWalker]

Originally Posted by amy green

Hi Lora - to explain, I didn't say that I don't have desires but that "I don't cultivate desires". There's a distinct difference.

I have been influenced by Mahayana Buddhism and so my past focus had been to minimise desires since they are mostly to do with ego. (I feel I have now mastered this). Focusing on the ego tends to take us away from spirit; indeed this is mentioned in so many spiritual teachings.

I am truly glad and relieved to say that I don't have a list of desires. I am content to let life unfold as it does and to make the best of what transpires.

Amy--And I was trying to point out whether you cultivate them or not, you have them. It is not ego, it is the nature of mankind IMO. It is the engine of our creation--of our own lives.

I could say that one of your desires is not to have desires, not to have ego. I personally don't like fighting battles I can't win! JK.

Lora

Originally Posted by IsleWalker

Amy--And I was trying to point out whether you cultivate them or not, you have them. It is not ego, it is the nature of mankind IMO. It is the engine of our creation--of our own lives.

I could say that one of your desires is not to have desires, not to have ego. I personally don't like fighting battles I can't win! JK.

Lora

And there it is - the common misconception of negating the ego....it is about diminishing the ego so that it doesn't eclipse the spirit. Too much ego hampers spirituality - that is pretty much a given in most teachings. Humility is a wonderful trait to cultivate.

When it comes to desires, those addressed with LOA and creative manifestation are not the usual creative desires like "I think I'd like to bake a cake" or "I want to paint" but more developed/ambitious desires e.g. "I want to have xyz". This is what I mean by not cultivating desires. I am creative so of course I have the normal, small daily desires of wanting to do things that can be done that day, i.e. that do not require this particular LOA/manifestation process.

Just to put you in the picture, I turned to Mahayana Buddhism not because I had a problem with desires but to master emotional detachment, which I have. Compared to others, I always seem to lack what most people desire anyway. I don't have wishes/longings thankfully. Materialism is not my thing - check out my signature.

[IsleWalker]

Originally Posted by amy green

And there it is - the common misconception of negating the ego....it is about diminishing the ego so that it doesn't eclipse the spirit. Too much ego hampers spirituality - that is pretty much a given in most teachings. Humility is a wonderful trait to cultivate.

When it comes to desires, those addressed with LOA and creative manifestation are not the usual creative desires like "I think I'd like to bake a cake" or "I want to paint" but more developed/ambitious desires e.g. "I want to have xyz". This is what I mean by not cultivating desires. I am creative so of course I have the normal, small daily desires of wanting to do things that can be done that day, i.e. that do not require this particular LOA/manifestation process.

Just to put you in the picture, I turned to Mahayana Buddhism not because I had a problem with desires but to master emotional detachment, which I have. Compared to others, I always seem to lack what most people desire anyway. I don't have wishes/longings thankfully. Materialism is not my thing - check out my signature.

Amy--From here on it's pretty much a difference of belief and, as I've said often, "Whatever you believe, you're right." ---which is also an offshoot of LOA. You have beliefs, which are thoughts you think a lot. You attract other thoughts like that, you see examples of it in your surroundings, you attract others who believe it. Soon, it becomes your reality, something you have verified. And that's OK.

You are taking the word "creativity" too literally. When I say our desires are the engine of creativity, it applies to everything in your life, not just creating--as in art. It applies to all you want--money, houses, spirituality, etc. You said you want to reduce desires, want to reduce ego--therefore, they are your desires. I was trying to point out that it is impossible not to want. In my book, not worth trying, destructive to try.

If you look at your life as it is--where you live, how you live, what money you have, what friends you have, the quality of your relationships, the material things around you--they are reflections of your true desires. That is, you've attracted what you really care about. Your creation, in my book, also applies to who you "chose" as parents, siblings, life circumstances when you came in.

I look at my life and find that in some things I've done a good job of manifesting. I have a great need for nature, sunlight, home, and those things are good and important. I am doing something wrong in the area of material wealth, creating (as in art and work), and I don't currently have enough close friends. In those areas I have to look at what I am putting out. Usually, it's either a case of projecting my lack instead of the thing I want or that I really don't want the companionship I claim I do.

I'm not trying to make a convert of you. I was just answering the question in the OP, but I do find that those who oppose LOA seem to have an incomplete understanding of what it really says.

Lora

Originally Posted by IsleWalker

Amy--From here on it's pretty much a difference of belief and, as I've said often, "Whatever you believe, you're right." ---which is also an offshoot of LOA. You have beliefs, which are thoughts you think a lot. You attract other thoughts like that, you see examples of it in your surroundings, you attract others who believe it. Soon, it becomes your reality, something you have verified. And that's OK.

You are taking the word "creativity" too literally. When I say our desires are the engine of creativity, it applies to everything in your life, not just creating--as in art. It applies to all you want--money, houses, spirituality, etc. You said you want to reduce desires, want to reduce ego--therefore, they are your desires. I was trying to point out that it is impossible not to want. In my book, not worth trying, destructive to try.

If you look at your life as it is--where you live, how you live, what money you have, what friends you have, the quality of your relationships, the material things around you--they are reflections of your true desires. That is, you've attracted what you really care about. Your creation, in my book, also applies to who you "chose" as parents, siblings, life circumstances when you came in.

I look at my life and find that in some things I've done a good job of manifesting. I have a great need for nature, sunlight, home, and those things are good and important. I am doing something wrong in the area of material wealth, creating (as in art and work), and I don't currently have enough close friends. In those areas I have to look at what I am putting out. Usually, it's either a case of projecting my lack instead of the thing I want or that I really don't want the companionship I claim I do.

I'm not trying to make a convert of you. I was just answering the question in the OP, but I do find that those who oppose LOA seem to have an incomplete understanding of what it really says.

Lora

Thanks for this post. I certainly don't oppose LOA - I believe in it. I carefully choose what I focus on - always.

I guess what you're picking up though is that I'm not interested in the creative manifestation process i.e. of wanting something enough to put this process into action. Of that I am glad. I recognise that most people do find their life lacks certain things that they want to rectify though. Creative manifestation must be a boon for them.

It's all good. We all gravitate to our individual pursuits.