Can the Law of Attraction fix everything?
Here are some resources on The Law of Attraction:
When I think about The Law of Attraction, I think about Driving. When I had my permit I took a crash course that allowed me to experiment with hydroplaning and dodging obstacles safely. The instructor said to look where you want to go instead of where you don’t. This stuck with me through my high school and college years when I noticed the quantity of time and energy I used to think about what I wanted to avoid. We often keep our eyes on the space we don’t want to go in hopes of dodging it. I find that, whatever “category” it is- career, personality, relationship, ETC., a large portion of my thought life is occupied with where I don’t want to go. There is a fear that, if we aren’t aware of where we don’t want to go, we may accidentally end up there. In an attempt to avoid things we don’t want, we focus our attention and, therefore, energy on them. This act actually maintains our relationship to the object we wish to avoid and creates energy which moves us toward that thing. Maybe you aren’t actually doing what you don’t want to do but that focus is detracting from the energy and focus needed to accomplish things you do want to do. I truly see the benefit of using our limited energy and focus to pursue what we want instead of focusing on what we don’t. However, The law of attraction goes a bit further than “think good thoughts” and while I am no expert I thought it was a topic worth visiting.
The law of attraction says, “thoughts turn into things”, that our thoughts are the origin and rudder of our focus and where focus goes, energy flows. Through the root, our mind, there is greater control of the outcomes in our life. Focusing energy and intent on the realm of our mind gives us the key to our external outcomes. Although this insight secures control, it doesn’t ensure we use that control perfectly. We can attest to our own lacking. We have witnessed our own inability to know the reactions of our choices. Therefore, we may find that we utilize the law of attraction to achieve things that are (A) different than we thought or (B) carry reactions different than we intended. Both results Lack what we truly desire.
Many approach the law of attraction in an attempt to set right all that’s wrong in their life, or simply, to align their life with their deepest needs and desires. If we ask enough questions of ourselves we find there is an underlying intangible desire to most tangible goals and desires. When you set out to achieve those goals, what are you really looking to achieve? When you set out to connect and create beauty what are you ultimately looking to create?. After digging a little into the psyche and heart, we ask what is meant to fill those longings that seem to remain through all the milestones of accomplishment? What is the source of that small voice asking for more? We feel hunger we fill with food. We feel lonely we fill with one's company. We feel curious we fill with answers. When we feel an infinite need in our essence, we cant fill it with our finite abilities or world. We have desires for perfect, immeasurable love, and lasting, uninhibited joy, but how can the terms of this desire be met in this ever-changing, impermanent, and commonly destructive world?
While the law of attraction is an intriguing concept that may unlock a lot of awareness, change, and capability in your life, I can't help but wonder, how far can we take this “law”? Does it apply to everything in life, spirituality, and eternity?
Rachel’s thoughts:
In-and-of ourselves do we hold all we need? Our culture certainly thinks so. I certainly have thought so. But then I experience a disconnect which can only be summed up in Jerimiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”. In my experience, you will inevitably reach a point when you aren’t enough. That’s right, I’m in the business of throwing out controversial statements. But, I don’t want to be misunderstood. It’s crucial that we clarify the context where “enough” lies. Enough is a relative word, only given meaning through context and specific measurement. Enough for what and to do what? We are not capable of satisfying the deepest need and longing of our own soul. We possess an infinite longing but operate in a finite reality. We fall short, make missteps, and are not who we fully want to be. We look to techniques, insight, science, and regimes to make us into the person we think we want. Along the way we dodge the idea that we may possess less than what is needed to execute the vision and longing we have. The Law of attraction says we actually do possess ALL we need. That, I believe, is where the yellow tape appears, the danger zone, CUIDADO! My attention goes straight to the word ALL. Our mind is capable of extreme things: both creative and destructive. But, to say we possess ALL we need is to say (A) you dictate 100% of the outcomes in your life, which leads to (B) you know all and (C) you are your own god. This is entirely different than “Be what you want to attract”. This ventures into God territory. This is actually a popular thought in today's society. “Inner god(dess)” is a popular term thrown around quite a bit, in all sorts of settings. Sometimes it’s a naive term used to describe the essence each of us holds as “beings” but, sometimes, it is alluding to The Law of Attraction on an eternal scale—that your life and eternal state are solely designed by you. Through the attention, investment, and worship of yourself you can attain spiritual and eternal freedom. Frankly, I see how this idea could be accepted, our mind body and soul are incredible, but the reality is we find ourselves in desperate need all the time. Need for change, transformation, clarity, newness, etc. Whatever it may look like, we always have some type of need. Many see these intricacies in creatures and look for a creator. some see the incredible design of the human mind or the capabilities of the human will, and seek an incredible designer. Some arrive to the notion that God made a way for freedom, healing, and restoration in light of our inability to achieve all we were designed to. amazing.
I have been interested in the Law of attraction/ manifestation because these concepts declare that you are in control. That, through self-literacy and thought control, you can do and be anything you want. I may be wrong, but I think this is what draws many to these practices. Control. Outcomes. Getting where you want to go. Shifting your identity. Happiness. I am not going to say these things are wrong. I think the word wrong is a misleading piece of the English language anyway. What I am saying is, you will be disappointed if you put all your eggs in this basket. Speaking from my own experience: I have seen that a relationship with the savior of the Bible gives you the soul settling, lasting joy, and transformation you are so desperately longing for. Without the peace that relationship offers nothing is enough. From that relationship, you are freed to hold your thoughts captive, learn about your nature, and navigate where you really want to go. Accomplishments and becoming a whole person is a by-product and addition to the remedy Jesus Christ provides. Without dependency on Christ, I would be overcome with grief when I fail, miss the mark, or find myself far from who I want to be. The Gospel redefines your identity. It says, you aren’t what you do or don’t do. You aren’t the sum of your experiences or accomplishments. Your identity lies in whose you are. Everything about you flows from a relationship with the source of joy, wellbeing, and wholeness.
Matthew 6:31-33 says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Psalm 34:10 says, “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
So then, for someone who believes in the Gospel, where do you go from here (In terms of the Law of attraction)? 2 Corinthians 10:5 says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. Paying close attention to our thought-life is a biblical concept, utilized long before Tony Robbins. Seek means for change but do so with (A) Your root motive and heart posture in mind (B) the humility that you don’t know all but you belong to the one who does.
If you are reading this and don’t think the Gospel has what you need or are simply unsure and believe the law of attraction, and similar ideas of manifestation, have what you do need. Let me share this quote. It may bring clarity or just food for thought.
“The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”
-C.S Lewis
This quote translates the elemental and then applies it to a spiritual reality we are often numb to. Desires tell of design. Ask intentionally about your own desires and search out the design they demonstrate.
Please share your thoughts, I would love more perspective and insight!
XO
Rachel
