Law of Attraction Revisited

[Manipura]

I wrote the following in a private email to a forum member, and would love to get feedback from anyone who has an interest in the Hicks' Law of Attraction.  I'm generally not drawn to pop-culture spirituality, but a friend gifted me a 5-CD set on the Law of Attraction, and I diligently listened to it.  Much of it was like fingers on a chalkboard, but I tried to stay open minded about it, particularly because I need to bear some serious fruit in my life, and am interested in learning how to 'manifest' my urgent needs.  So I tried my hand at manifesting, and followed the Laws as instructed in the tapes.  I think I did it fairly well for a beginner, and was expecting to get the results that I was expecting (!)  That's the idea, anyway.  Needless to say, it didn't happen, my urgent need didn't Manifest, and I was terribly disappointed, not so much by learning that I was a miserable Manifester, but by the lack of results which I so desperately wanted.  

I'd be interested in any opinions on the subject, and any advice if you think my attitude or opinion is at fault.

"Here's my problem with
the L of A:  We're supposed to go through the steps of figuring out
that which we want, the sky's the limit, and then go through the steps
of mindfully manifesting it, right?  With the one caveat that we must
acknowledge that IF IT'S NOT MEANT TO BE OURS, THEN WE MUST ACCEPT THE
FACT.  In other words, if God knows that it's in our best
interest NOT to have that which we so desire, then we won't get it.
Then I ask you this:

Why waste so much time/energy praying, manifesting, and
visualizing, if at the core of our desire is the understanding that it
may or may not be fulfilled?  Isn't it a whole lot easier to pray, Thy
Will Be Done?  That's how the Bible instructs us to pray, and ever
since I was a little girl, I ended my prayers with that.  I don't want anything that's going to ultimately cause me grief!  Don't we all
intuitively know that we're only going to get the things that are good
for us?  And that we're screwed if we get EVERYTHING we want?  I'm all
in favor of positive thinking, but this Name-It-and-Claim-It School
that's emerging seems to fly in the face of reason."

[emc]

Hi meg,

The way I learned the LoA is this:

KNOW it has already happened, without expecting it to happen. If there's any expectation you will be disappointed, since beneath the expectation is ALWAYS the fear NOT to get it - and then THAT is what manifests! (As you describe in your disappointment above.)

No expectations, just INTENTIONS and a firm knowingness it WILL happen - since it sort of allready has happened, because you intend it to be true.

Then if it doesn't happen, there's absolutely no disappointment - it's just an acceptance that the universe had other plans.

And a positive attitude is also the key. If there's any sense of DEMAND on life it actually stems from negativity - I LACK something therefore I need this/that. The opposite is the key: Be grateful for what you got - focus only on that until you feel content. Then perhaps add a thought "Wouldn't it be nice if..." and dream an even nicer situation than you already have. Not that you really need it... just wouldn't it be nice if...

When gratefulness becomes a habit - the abundance starts flowing... when you don't need anything, relax and drop it, then it is added to you!

But manifesting by visualization and thought processes is becoming less and less interesting, sinceI understood my mind is not real anyway! When I still fall into believing my mind I'm more prone to just send a prayer as you say! I samyama "health, abundance" etc and just reckon things go as they should.

[Manipura]

I don't think a drowning person could summon the strength to think, "Gosh, wouldn't it be nice if I had a raft to cling to!"  But I get your point.  In my understanding, the KNOWING that you're talking about (knowing that such and such is going to happen) comes straight from the Source.  When you Know something, it's unmistakable.  So again I ask, why put so much energy into manifesting that which we don't Know we're going to get?  The Hicks are adamant that you can manifest ANYTHING, and should.  When I Know that something is going to be mine, then the whole activity of manifesting is redundant.  It's already mine; why jump through the pseudo-spiritual hoops of pretending to manifest something that already exists?  Why not utter a prayer of gratitude and merrily wait for it to appear?  It's when the knowing is ambiguous that the Laws of Attraction are supposed to generate a positive outcome, and they've built an industry on it.  But I say, unless you Know, you're effectively trying to coerce an outcome over which you have no control.  God's will will always be done.

[yogani]

Hi Meg:

Gratitude? Yes.
Intention? Certainly.
Letting go/surrender? Absolutely. (from samyama -- see note below)
A willingness to act, often in unfamiliar directions? Essential.

The last one is often missed in the process. The time we spend waiting for something to happen or lamenting our lack is time we could be spending in action fulfilling our destiny.

Stillness cannot be stillness in action unless we are in action. And that often will mean outside our normal pattern of so-called comfort. After all, it is the status quo that is holding us back. Moving in new directions will bring us into levels of fulfillment we have not considered.

That does not mean chucking everything. It means moving from where we are in the direction that is presented to us by the divine flow. As long as we are saying "no" to that, hoping for wished for things to fall in our lap, we will likely stay stuck. The miracle is what happens while we are busy pursuing the life before us with gratitude, intention, and surrender. It can also be called, "active surrender."

There can be no disappointments if we are fully engaged in this process, for each step leads to the next, and every step is an adventure filled with divine purpose and surprise. We need not judge the outcome. The lilies of the field do not, and see how beautiful they are?

The guru is in you.

Note: Our samyama practice itself is not for manifesting specific things. It is for increasing our ability to engage in all of life as "stillness in action," which results in many automatic manifestations of the divine flow that are appropriate to the circumstances we find ourselves in.

[AYPforum]

Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement

[Black Rebel Radio]

Hi, I just got back from a motorcycle ride in the countryside. I completely understand the concept of stillness in action (although it has taken many years)  as I am speeding down a country road, my mind and body are in complete stillness and I feel at home. That is my church and my temple. The bike was a guru in itself that led to a further awakening and eventual arrival at Yogani's teachings.


Meg, I started out not long ago reading Think and Grow Rich which has the LoA as one of it's primary components. The more I read of it, the more it seemed really familiar to me as I have always been interested in the East and its spiritual nature. I got around to the end and I always end up reading way to much and started looking at the Master-key system by Charles Hannel which Napolean Hill said he had been motivated by (his guru I suppose)and began his life's work. I have been running my own business for a few years and although the business is doing well I have gotten myself into a financial mess which at times feels like it is going to crush me. I started reading these books looking for a light to liberate myself from the mental oppression. In the Master-Key book it kept on talking about meditation but in a roundabout way. It was more along the line of "sit in the same chair everyday and stop your mind from producing thoughts." I had tried meditation before and often used the mantra Om Mani Padme Um from the book that I had studied. The mantra always brought me calm but I could never give into it or stick with it and my life was flying by with family, going to school and working full time (geez, if I had known then what I know now I would have stuck with it, heheh). Well, something about the Master_key method just didn't feel right and I logged on to my Napster account and looked up meditation and that is when I discovered Yogani. I downloaded the Deep Meditation book and started listening and after practicing for a couple of days, it was like day and night. I have been at it about a month now (which it is hardly anytime at all) but I am still dealing with massive financial problems and although Yoga has become integral to my life (and I can't see anything but further growth through it, bhakti, bhakti, bhakti) I am still having a hard time not pulling into the harbor of negativity and the oppressive weight that it brings is unbelievable sometimes (like this morning) and I had to just get out on my bike and get away from it. I am using Yogani's suggested 9 sutras but I also have one for a specific goal which is financial (uh oh, i see Yogani added a note on how this isn't the best thing to do) and I approach it the same way as the others (I started doing much the same way using the Think and Grow Rich method). Sometimes I think the negativity is a method for us to manifest the motivation to get out the mental mess we are in. At least for me, I become so passionate that I break through using the anger and frustration as fuel. That has not always worked out so good for me and those around me but it did create change. Yoga has been very helpful in keeping me "mindful of the force." I don't have any real pearls of wisdom and I know I am all over the place but I wanted to share my thoughts and experience on the LoA. In my heart I think that if you truly desire something and that it is for good and it does not harm others that you will be delivered to it or something just as good or even better.

I think that Yogani hit it all on the head and actually made me feel a hell of a lot better than I did when I opened up the site just now. I'm sure you are all tired of reading this epic but I just thought of something that relates.

My Dad was a career military guy but he has always struck me as a Buddha. He was never ego driven and has always been a guiding example (although I rarely followed it and had to learn everything the hard way). My Dad was never as flashy and as wealthy as my friends parents but they were also one of the only couples that I knew that hadn't been divorced. My Dad never bragged about his job or what he did but he took a lot of pride in his work and was a guru within each position he held over the years.

Not long ago when I was at one my lowest points, I got a call out of the blue from this older guy who I didn't recognize and he asked me if I was this guys son. I live about 1500 miles from where I am originally from and I thought it was the strangest thing. He said my Dad's full name and a couple of places where he had been stationed and I told him, yes that he was my Dad. He then said, "Your Dad is the finest man I have ever known."

No one had ever said those words to me although I felt the same way. He told me the story of how my Dad took him under his wing and helped him keep squared away and out of trouble (he even taught him how to drive a car over in England). One of the craziest things is that this man was African-American and my Dad is an anglo and this was before the civil rights movement and just after integration of the miltary. I started to imagine what kind of crap that they both had to deal with but neither one of them made any mention of it. What was even crazier was that he had found me after his brother had talked to him about working with me. His brother  had been a client for years and neither one of us had any idea of the connection. I guess the moral of the story is that results may not show up instantly, or you may be totally unaware of it but your good work and good intentions have a profound effect on other people's lives. It took 50 years for my Dad's good work to come back to me to show me the value and the validity of living a good and honest life. I was at a point where I was getting tired of being dealt  crappy cards (I was in lawsuit with my old employer just after starting my business)and was fed up with evil people doing evil deeds. I broke down and sobbed after I got off the phone with him. You are taught all your life the right way to do things and the best way to live but you rarely see folks doing that way. You look around and see people and organizations who don't follow the basic tenants of the major religions thriving and profiting while you are in financial slavery and it hurts really bad, enough to want to say to hell with the right way of doing things. My Dad never got rich (although he plays the lottery once a week still) but the good he has done and the lives that he has effected and helped to guide seems so much more valuable.

This doesn't help your urgent need or my financial woes but, damn, I feel much better for recalling it. Hopefully y'all feel the same.

Ok, enough of the War and Peace post.

Peace
Mac

[emc]

Oh, when I mentioned samyama, I was sloppy. I see now that it could easily be misinterpreted. I don't use samyama for manifesting things, because I would not know what it will bring anyway. When I "reckon things go as they should" I meant what Yogani points to as: "which results in many automatic manifestations of the divine flow that are appropriate to the circumstances we find ourselves in."

Who knows, perhaps less money and some sickness or loss in the family is appropriate for me in order to realize certain things? I trust life like a fool...

[Manipura]

Thanks so much for your posts.  My point isn't to talk about my disappointment.  Not getting what I wanted turned out to be fantastic for me, and it didn't take long to realize it.  My question is more about the point of trying to manifest our desires, and for that matter, the point of prayer.  If we surrender to a Higher Power and say in earnest "Thy will be done", it seems redundant to continually remind Daddy of our needs.  As if God doesn't know, and better than we, that which is needed for our spiritual growth.  I think my time is better spent in knee-bent gratitude  for that which I receive or don't receive from God than in honing my list of things that I expect.  And maybe a prayer from time to time that we remain on the path of divine flow, as Yogani mentioned.  But maybe even that's redundant, as God knows our hearts.  If I was a realized person, I'd say since there is no separation, to whom or what do I pray?  

Mac, you are blessed with a great dad.    I am too.

[Jim and His Karma]

quote:Originally posted by yogani

Stillness cannot be stillness in action unless we are in action.

I've never really understood the bit about "God helps those who help themselves". I'd always taken it as a stern Puritan slap-you-on-the-ass kind of hollow sentiment among people who have to wake up at 5am to milk cows and such.

Thanks for explaining the deeper meaning, Yogani. It's exactly what I need right now. Increasingly fearful of change, of going beyond my comfort zone.

[Jim and His Karma]

quote:Originally posted by meg

.  If we surrender to a Higher Power and say in earnest "Thy will be done", it seems redundant to continually remind Daddy of our needs.

Meg, that's a really important insight. I'm not sure you realize (nor do you need to!) how far this is from where you were just a few months ago.

As for me, i've been big on the "thy will be done" thing for some time now. But Yogani's post in this thread has opened my eyes to the fact that we are what plays out that will. It's going to take me a while to really inhabit that understanding, as I've been pulling the other way, toward stasis and introversion. Maybe there simply must be a period of passive hollowing-out.... "letting the spirit in" before you "let the spirit move you" to put it in gospel terms. After you recognize the toy steering wheel for what it is, a hiccup-like period of non-doing seems inevitable.

I don't want anything from big daddy. I see quite clearly how richly beautiful it all is, just as-is. Even if I'm not gratefully aware of it 24/7, I at least recognize 24/7 that any perceived shortfall is in my clouded viewpoint rather than in the universe itself. I grimace at the notion of playing out the frightful shadows of my subconscious and samskaras as I move through the world, but I am increasingly aware that that's what happens anyway. So refusing to take up the divine gauntlet - because I realize any such noble intention will be coopted by egoic subconscious - isn't the answer. We slime the universe with our every action and thought (paradoxically enough, we only notice the extent of this pollution as we purify!)...our karma does not stay within our perceived boundaries of self. So it's not like it can get much worse! At least intending to allow ourselves to be divinely guided as we pick up groceries and chat with the neighbors is as good as anything. Just as I fool myself into thinking I'm allowing myself to be purified in meditation (even though I'm aware of how much I'm still guiding and holding on, with the exception of a few truly selfless moments here and there), I may as well fool myself when I stand up from my meditation cushion, as well.

Thing is, all that hesitation and trepidation is for someone with comparatively noble-sounding, selfless-seeming desires...who's been mostly purged of the compulsion to hope the universe fills my perceived emptiness. If my intentions were for money, sex, power, etc, I just can't understand how thinking about any of this stuff would be anything but an amplifier of everything yoga seeks to quell. There's nothing "bad" about craving the things ego craves. But satisfying ego via spiritual practices ("I want a vacation in Bermuda, and will use my toolset of surrender, gratitude, intent, action, and the silence I've cultivated in meditation to get it") is not just unspiritual, but anti-spiritual. Refining the very essence of egoic grabbiness into a pill and wrapping it in a big gooey sandwich of silence and bhakti to get what we want is a twisted thing to do, from my perspective, whether it works or not. And the gooey outer coating, which has the FLAVOR of yoga, can easily fool us into thinking it's yoga. It's not. There's a word for it: occult. The use of spiritual tools to get what we (meaning our ego minds) want in the world of samsara/maya. Occult is not about bubbling spleen of hyena in a cauldron while intoning special words in Latin. This law of attractions crap is exactly it. Feh.

You have it exactly right, Meg. Don't touch it. Just trust and open.

Yogani believes there is an inherent safety catch in the system: that by the time you have cultivated sufficient silence and bhakti to make any of this work, you've been purified sufficiently to use the power selflessly. Unfortunately, Yogani, who is otherwise extraordinarily wise, declines to take into account the evidence of a great many people who've cultivated far more silence than any of us yet whose intentions remained not only impure but absolutely stink-o. We all know the usual names.

[yogani]

Hi All:

While the statement "God helps those who help themselves" might seem incongruent to those attempting to dissolve ego, "Thy will be done" may not resonate with those who have strong desires to get things done in this life.

In fact, both are true. Divine paradox...

Having desire to get things done is not anti-spiritual, and neither is it anti-spiritual to go out and vigorously pursue our desires, including applying the principles for illuminating our desires and actions with divine energy -- samyama and the law of attraction. Whatever works for us.

So, just practice and go out and do! If we do that, the rest will take care of itself.

It is much more difficult to keep second guessing ourselves, our motives, our actions, whether we should have desires, act in the world, etc. It can lead to a kind of paralysis.

The doubt is the downside of self-inquiry when it is overdone. Nowhere in AYP does it say that we ought to be constantly second-guessing our motives and actions, and it will not say that in the AYP Self-Inquiry book either. It is strongly encouraged to go out and live our life freely and fully.

Incidentally, as far as I have been able to determine in this life, after sitting practices, the easiest way to become fulfilled, transcend duality, and make a living too, is to help others feel fulfilled. There are thousands of ways to do this through our intentions, our actions and our art. We don't have to wait or go anywhere to do it. It is right here, right now.

See this lesson: http://www.aypsite.com/plus/120.html

All the best!    

The guru is in you.

[Jim and His Karma]

Just a note, that I've been, as usual, neurotically self-editing my last post. I'm done now (10:05 eastern)

[Shanti]

Not sure how I missed that lesson before Yogani.. or maybe I read it at a point it did not have the same meaning.

Thank you.

Your post and now re-introduction to this lesson have come, as usual, exactly when I need it. I have been going through a phase where I feel like I need to do something.. I have no idea what... but something that feeds my soul. It's like a calling from within.. like there is something I need to do.. something waiting for me.. not sure what.. when its time everything around you sorta points you in the right direction... I just cant see what I am looking at.

[Sparkle]

Agreed Yogani, what a super lesson and one I missed also.

[sadhak]

Hi Meg,
I'm reminded often of the saying, "Be careful what you ask for, for you may get it", ever since I've been on the path of Yoga. Sometimes thoughts, desires, your innate direction push you into something or the other. Sometimes a lot more than you'd be comfortable with. Especially when they arise in those moments of deep silence. But as Yogani says, you can't keep double guessing yourself and doubting every desire and thought that arises. Best we can do is ride the tide, and watch it all like an appreciative audience.

I get a snapshot of this whole thread. But I'll have to re-read the details when I can look at this screen for long enough. Actually, I better do that tomorrow. I don't even know for sure what I am writing. But tend to benignly nod at the snapshot I see here.