[pax] Law of Attraction?

[Top cat]

(Generally this is a pax thread. If you have not tested it yourself, please keep posts elsewhere. Merci beacoup.)

I've come across this thing called the Law of Attraction that says that your predominant mental attitude will manifest into your reality. For example, if you have thoughts of prosperity, you will attract a life of prosperity. Likewise if your focus is on an ideal house and expect to have it, eventually you will have that very house.

Has anyone in this forum tried it?

There are a lot of books out there, but I've seen a link to The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes buried somewhere in this forum. There's also Joe Vitale's Spiritual Marketing and Wayne Dyer who talks about it.



I was just thinking, that a lot of what I've learned up till now in my life would become obsolete if I were to go by the Law of Attraction. One idea that there are many kinds of people in the world, and certain kinds to avoid. If going by the Law, this idea would not matter at all for it would (might?) mean to say I would be coming across only the kind of people that would fit in the reality I've chosen. I don't really know if it works that way completely.

Thoughts?

 

[NaeturVindur]

I haven't played with with the Law of Attraction directly, but its about the same idea used in all magic: to make rain, you make rain like energies and send them into the surrounding area.

Also, in response to the last part, it doesn't work that perfectly. As I see it, the universe is a mass of things moving in a generally random manner, and everything that is to happen is really only a probability. So it may be that something has a 40% chance of happening. If you want that thing to happen you spell will bump up that probability to some ratio (so if its incredibly unlikely to happen, one or two spells won't have much of an effect, and no amount of magic can make anything certain). So, while the law of attraction will play a role in your relationships, it doesn't dictate it explicitly.

 

[Satya]

I've seen people who practice this seriously end up in pretty bad situations. I had one friend who was convinced it was fine to max out his credit cards because prosperity would find him. Every time a new credit card would find its way into his mail box, he was sure that was the universe answering. It wasn't long before it all caught up to him.

 

[Blind Bandit]

I've seen people who practice this seriously end up in pretty bad situations. I had one friend who was convinced it was fine to max out his credit cards because prosperity would find him. Every time a new credit card would find its way into his mail box, he was sure that was the universe answering. It wasn't long before it all caught up to him.

I blame the secret for this. The law of attraction if used needs to be used carefully. And frankly I've very skeptical of things working in my favor this way.

The problem is the secret instead of approaching these topics in a slightly weary and safe manner. Dived right in and supported frankly poor logic and bad decision making. But i think this was done to appeal to the masses and make more money. If there is one thing I've learned there is no universally applicable law that acts in every situation. Either one doesn't exist or we haven't uncovered it yet.

 

[BenW]

Attempted to read the book when I was in a particularly masochistic mood, felt physically sick to my stomach after a while.

This is the Scientology of the Starbucks crowd.

And the supposed "science" behind it is laughable.

Because as we all know: similar things attract!
Right?
Like the north and south poles of a magnet... oh, wait.

Burn your copy of this book, forget you ever read it, and read this one instead.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I've seen people who practice this seriously end up in pretty bad situations. I had one friend who was convinced it was fine to max out his credit cards because prosperity would find him. Every time a new credit card would find its way into his mail box, he was sure that was the universe answering. It wasn't long before it all caught up to him.

That's because he wasn't using it correctly. I really don't care to explain though. Some people get it, others just don't. Everyone has this notion that it is this direct in-your-face thing. It is only in very rare circumstances.

I have been using the law of attraction (unknowingly), since I was a small child. Thoughts are extremely powerful things. It is all about manifesting.

 

[J. Cardigan]

I've seen people who practice this seriously end up in pretty bad situations. I had one friend who was convinced it was fine to max out his credit cards because prosperity would find him. Every time a new credit card would find its way into his mail box, he was sure that was the universe answering. It wasn't long before it all caught up to him.

No offense, but your friend doesn't sound like the brightest crayon in the box.

I've been reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and his message is something similar to this. If you want something and you know you can achieve it, it will eventually be achieved if you strive for your goal.

This, however, does not translate well to "max out a bunch of credit cards."

I'm broke and saving every penny I have, with the exception of cookies and some beer. Creature comforts, but I have to keep my spirits up.

 

[Timeless]

Personally,

For the fun of it I put $6,000,000 on a post it note near my mirror just to test it out. I didn't know how that was going to come about, but then a few days later. I had a perfect multi-million dollar business plan and it's underway.

Another time, when I was playing with the thought of making "love in an elevator" (thanks to Aerosmith) just seeing how that would look like; a week later I had met someone and did that very thing. That was sexy as fuck.

In archery class, I was a complete beginner, but all I thought about and all I ever focused on was hitting the yellow (center). Sure enough, when we had a "fun tournament" of intermediates and beginners, guess where I ranked up? #2. (The #1 was an intermediate and the 20+ people below me were intermediates, the 40 rest after that were beginners).

When I told my best friend about this, he "tested" it out and thought about the perfect white Thunderbird car. A few months later, he got it. He then wanted $4,000 a month (from $1,000), a few weeks later he got promoted big time. Also he wanted the perfect relationship and no more crazy people. A few months later he met her. Now they're moving in together later this year.

I had a big fear of swimming and before I read books like Think and Grow Rich, I never "saw" myself conquering my fear. Only after that, I did. Now I'm a kick ass swimmer who loves the dolphin kick. On top of that, I'm going for my Lifeguard Training soon.

The Secret and all of that attraction is basically where the hell is your focus. It is not some scientific imaginary bullshit or abra-cadabra money will fall on your lap and the girl/guy of your dreams will knock on your door magic. The movie kinda over-dramatizes it, but it's just simple: It's just where are you focusing on. Obviously if you're focusing on bad things, you're going to see more of it, but if you see the good things (it's not that the bad things will magically go away) it's that your focus will be somewhere else that you won't have time to think about bad stuff or negativity, or etc.

This is why misery and happiness tends to find company.

I've done it, and used it. I can see how people can become deluded with it though; that's when they are more stuck in their head then reality. You need that balance of what's in front of you and what you want ahead of you.

 

[Satya]

That's because he wasn't using it correctly. I really don't care to explain though. Some people get it, others just don't. Everyone has this notion that it is this direct in-your-face thing. It is only in very rare circumstances.

I have been using the law of attraction (unknowingly), since I was a small child. Thoughts are extremely powerful things. It is all about manifesting.

I don't know. It seems like every time it doesn't work out for someone I hear, "They weren't doing it right," but every time it does work out I hear, "They were doing it right." It seems like it could be one of those self fulfilling illusions like praying to a milk jug.

[YOUTUBE]jk6ILZAaAMI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Soulful]

I've seen people who practice this seriously end up in pretty bad situations. I had one friend who was convinced it was fine to max out his credit cards because prosperity would find him. Every time a new credit card would find its way into his mail box, he was sure that was the universe answering. It wasn't long before it all caught up to him.

That kind of lack of judgment is unfortunate. I bet many people have ended up in similar situations.

I do believe in the law of attraction. Do I practice it? Hmm, maybe. I tend to verbally ask for things. By and large, I receive the little things I ask for. If I feel deep inside that something is right for me, I will ask for it specifically and I often receive it. Otherwise, when it comes to events or situations that hold more significance, I ask for the essence of that given 'thing', lest what I ask for isn't what I really want or isn't what is best for me. However, there are few significant 'things' I ask for that are of the physical world.

I think where the law of attraction (also) comes in for me is that I try to be aware of what I say and think because I have noticed, especially lately, that X really does (and with increasing speed these days) beget X. It could be argued that this is perception, wishful thinking, belief biases, etc., and that could be true I suppose, but I have witnessed enough to believe otherwise.

Also, I believe there are other metaphysical laws operating in the universe other than the law of attraction; it's interesting that this is the only one that is spoken of widely.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I don't know. It seems like every time it doesn't work out for someone I hear, "They weren't doing it right," but every time it does work out I hear, "They were doing it right." It seems like it could be one of those self fulfilling illusions like praying to a milk jug.

You can think of it however you want. Self fufilling or not, it has proven to be exceedingly useful. To be honest, the law of attraction won't intrinsicly work for everyone either. What Timeless said sums up how it works quite nicely.

 

[Satya]

I've been reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and his message is something similar to this. If you want something and you know you can achieve it, it will eventually be achieved if you strive for your goal.

I love Hill. I listened to a 13 hour audio book by him.

I would say the entire secret behind the law of attraction is that you are making a conscious motive and that simply puts you on awareness for opportunities that you would otherwise not notice that would help you accomplish that motive. It's sort of like telling yourself, "Okay I'm going to notice all the red in this room" and then looking around and for the first time noticing how many red things you have in the room that you never really noticed before. Having a clear goal in mind puts you on high alert for ways to accomplish that goal and let's you see opportunities that you may have otherwise missed.

 

[Soulful]

The movie kinda over-dramatizes it, but it's just simple: It's just where are you focusing on.

You need that balance of what's in front of you and what you want ahead of you.

Awesome stories, and yes, precisely.

 

[Satya]

You can think of it however you want. Self fufilling or not, it has proven to be exceedingly useful. To be honest, the law of attraction won't intrinsicly work for everyone either. What Timeless said sums up how it works quite nicely.

Hey, if it works for you then great. I encourage people who believe in prayer, to pray. The power of these kinds of things is that they help people articulate what they desire and give them faith that they will work out. And knowing what you want and believing it is attainable in no way hurts your ability in attaining it.

 

[Quinlan]

People that consider themselves lucky are more likely to notice a dollar sitting on a sidewalk than people that consider themselves unlucky or don't believe in luck. Sometimes you have to be open to good things happening before you'll ever perceive them.

There are near infinite amounts of things and occurrences around us all the time and we only consciously perceive a small fraction of those. The law of attraction as I understand it is opening yourself up to perceive goodness. Like Timeless said, it's about what you're focusing your perception on.