Law of Attraction + Opposites Attract?!

I've been wondering how both these can be true - i.e. that those who don't resonate with our vibe aren't attracted to us plus opposites attract. Take, for example, how Gandhi died. Why did this man of peace have a violent death - opposites attract? Could his death be karma since, in his early life he used to beat his wife? (If so this 'cause' doesn't exactly warrant the sledgehammer 'effect'!)

Opposites do attract e.g. we're attracted to those with qualities we don't have (the timid admire the feisty etc,) so doesn't this contradict the law of attraction? If they both are true and co-exist (which I believe to be the case), then 'opposites attract' must also be a law/fundamental truth but maybe not a spiritual one. If this is so, just to be told one half of the truth on attraction (the spiritual law of attraction) is distorting. Discuss!!

Hi Amy,

First off, a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not much, I think there are way to many "Laws". I ten to think things simply happen in most cases. If we all were teamed up with people exactly like we are, life would be boring. And with so many personality traits available, it would be near impossible to find a match that was 100% perfect. It's those differences that make life interesting.

As for Gandhi's violent death, I feel it was needed to serve as a backdrop to allow his Peaceful life to shine forth. Many spiritual leaders have met violent and tradgic ends, such as Christ and Martin Luther King.

John

Hey Amy,

great questions, I have been wondering the same things. Its seems to me that attraction may be better understood as projection. Like the thoughts and feeling you have are projected onto the screen in front of you and manifest as your dream/experience. It seems that when I feel a certain way within my body, I attract thoughts of the same frequency from above my head, these combine and a little while later lots of synchronistic events happen that are of a similar frequency to my feelings and thoughts.

Maybe Ghandi had a fear that if he died all his hard work would have been in vain, maybe this fear attracted the thought which projected into manifestation as his shooting?

Also it seems that where opposites attract there is a desire to attract that particular opposite because it feels comfortable/exciting from both parties. If you meet someone and they make you feel good, you start thinking about them more and the thoughts become manifest.

I suppose it all comes down to what you desire and fear the most, what you expect and what you believe you are capable and worthy of.

Hi,

Attraction is attraction - whether it's the same as, opposite to, kind of connected, fragmented, or oblique. There is no contradiction between the law of attraction and opposites attracting. However, I think what you're getting at is why we attract things that might be against our best welfare, or cause us conflict. This is because we often focus on what we don't want.

My favourite example is how we remember to take things. How many times have you thought to yourself 'I mustn't forget to take that with me/to work tomorrow?' (whatever 'that' is). And of course, you're at work/wherever and you think to yourself 'doh' I forgot 'that', as you have inevitably walked out of the door without it. This is because with the law of attraction the universe doesn't distinguish between the intention. All the universe hears is 'forget that' - and there you are, you forget it. Instead, consider reframing your thought by thinking 'I must remember to take 'that' tomorrow'. This means you are focussing on what you want rather than what you don't want.

Take care.

GoldChord - yes "attraction is attraction" but you haven't understood the spiritual law of attraction which does contradict opposites attract, i.e. that if others don't have our vibe (i.e. like-minded), they won't be attracted to us....get it? I feel this is a half-truth, hence this thread.

Dreamer - hi! I feel opposites attract not because it's comfortable (that's "safe", i.e. not exciting) but yes, because it's exciting and maybe we want to attain/bring out a quality in us that they have.

Originally Posted by amy green

GoldChord - yes "attraction is attraction" but you haven't understood the spiritual law of attraction which does contradict opposites attract, i.e. that if others don't have our vibe (i.e. like-minded), they won't be attracted to us....get it? I feel this is a half-truth, hence this thread.

Dreamer - hi! I feel opposites attract not because it's comfortable (that's "safe", i.e. not exciting) but yes, because it's exciting and maybe we want to attain/bring out a quality in us that they have.

This is the idea of duality here. The though that outside the physical realm there exsits such a thing. I don't see there really is. But in my frame of reference here as I would explain to someone who asked, I agree (the term) opposites attract (at first), not becasue it's real or comfortable but this is how we learn to approach life. We are brought up this way. It is normal to us and therefore comforatble. It is how we experience. In this regards, we have a hunger for opposites because it is how we learn. It is how we learn to experience and it can be mistaken for something it is not.

In other words, there is no attraction factor. It's learning to choose in a way (The Garden thing can be an anology). We are simply learning to live life.

It's my opinion in the end boring compatibility is the most important thing we can ever hope to (learn) see. But this is counter to how we start our lives. Searching opposites is a quest, but in the end at the stage of realization, unlike the pervebal magnet image it is one that ends up repelling. Attaction and opposite are extrem ends we place in or mind. What I believe most real about opposites (initially) is it allows exploration aspects of personality. It's something we have to do because we have the strength of mind to choose.

In the beginning they are exciting and we gravitate to the experience and often this is what were talking about. There is a commonality in the end as we wind down and learn to calm our spirit. I think it is a natural occurance.
But then I don't believe in such things as Satan, evil spirits, spiritual negative energy and so on. In the end all things we be seen the same. There are certain things we embrace and certain things we don't, and to us every has to have a duality. Things attract, things repell.

I like the input made about Ghandi because I've wonder about this before as well. There 's an old saying, (paraphrased of course) it takes only one individual mad man to start a world at war, but takes a million sane men to end it. These men of opposites, such as one's that kill another are simply lost and led astray by other men who don't know how to deal with what they most desire...to find oneness.

Now having said this, I don't think the mind follows the rules of physicts unless we choose to allow it to. Truthfully, we don't even know if the mind is contained in the brain. I read this somewhere and I don't know if I will ever accept this. In any case I take a very very practical approach. I could go on for hours...but ..........................(grins)

[chadley]

Amy, you always ask such great questions. Let me take a stab at it.

the law of attraction does not contradict the law that opposites attract. The law that opposites attract is ,as lemmex says, just the nature of duality. In truth opposites attract because they are just both components of the same thing. Take the victim/assailant anology. Though it seems that these are opposites attracting they are both born from the same emotional discord and untruth, fear. The same can be said for the timid attracting the fiesty and so on. It is only the mind that perceives these two as opposite, but the emotional origin is the same. Fear will always attract fear and never love as is the same for all emotion, both in the dual worlds and above.

Therefore, you will never ever experience anything in your world that does not match with your vibe or resonate with the energy contained within your field. It may appear so to the ego or the mind to be opposite, but it is not. Your world is a mirror of who you are on the inside, always. This is a tough truth to swallow for most, because it means that everything negative in your life is a mirror of self, but in contrast, of course, it means that everything positive in your life is also a mirror of self.

Thus, it would be more acurate to say that the law of opposite is the half-truth being that it makes up two counter balancing opposites to make the whole, and that the law of attraction is the whole truth.

Chadley.

Originally Posted by chadley

...Your world is a mirror of who you are on the inside, always. This is a tough truth to swallow for most, because it means that everything negative in your life is a mirror of self, but in contrast, of course, it means that everything positive in your life is also a mirror of self.....

I do like the anology of the mirror of self and wholehartedly agree

Greetings..

"Laws" are not immutable.. they are a set of conditions that produce undesirable consequences.. the conditions are codified by consensus, and the consequences are stipulated by agreement.. The variable is Choice.. we can choose to accept the "law", we can also choose to deny the consequences..

Laws and consequences are convenient guidelines for those that have difficulties navigating existence.. often, it is easier to let others define the path rather than make your own..

Be well...

Maybe its hormones, maybe its because I am tired, but I read it all and still don't get it. Don't bother explaining, its me, not you. ;- ) And no I am not drunk.

I believe, from memory that Freud said something along the lines of individuals finding people who fulfil the element in themselves that is missing. Therefore, a quiet shy librarian might find a mate in someone who is an extrovert and wild child. That is, there is a kind of balancing out where there are extremes in personalities and even physical characteristics. I believe there is some evolutionary psychologist or some scientists like that who believe that the reason that things like this happen is in order to keep the species strong, ie, so tall marries short and they produce children of average height, etc. In that sense opposites attract in order to balance out extremes.

Law of attraction, as I understand it is that if you focus enough on your intention, it will manifest. I think though that what we sometimes think we want is not always what we truly want. A woman who was abused by a drunken father as a child might say that she wants a healthy loving partner and yet end up with an abuser husband. Freud said that such a woman while on the surface wanted a normal partner, could not attract a normal partner because what was underlying or her real need was to find another abusive 'father' whom she could try to make things right with. This is why statistically, there is a sizeable number of rape victims who end up getting revictimised. I had such a girlfriend who was abused as a child, raped as a teenager and then raped a further two times as an adult. While she said she wanted a normal life, didn't want to be raped, she unconsciously would place herself in harms way.

I think the idea, ie, law of attraction, works, but sometimes what we say we want and what we truly want in an unconscious way isn't the same thing. Which is why being aware of the self, a fully conscious being is so important. The reason why Jesus and other great masters are able to manipulate their environment is because their beliefs, thoughts, feelings and actions were perfectly aligned, there was no discrepancy between them, hence, they had the power to direct their intentions and cause miracles to happen.

Did I come anywhere close to answering the question? Maybe I am coming down with something.