Is there a problem with the Law of Attraction?
Published December 21, 2017 | By John Ashley
Reposted from my Blog: https://www.getesoteric.com/1241/
Is there a problem with the Law of Attraction?
Lets talk about the law:
In this article, we’ll discuss the ideas behind “the law of attraction”, and its popularity, and some potential issues with how it is currently being presented by the majority in the Esoteric world.
For arguments sake, let’s say that the idea of quantum theory does prove that the law of attraction – at least at its fundamental basis likely makes sense; that humans have an effect on their own reality! Where most people have a problem (or get hung up on the law of attraction), is with the idea that everything that happens to you is something you’ve manifested into your reality through your thoughts and the vibrational frequencies. While this idea at its basis seems like a probability, there are questions that are very difficult for many people to accept when taken literally.
For example: how can one say that when an infant or small child dies accidentally or of natural causes, that this was somehow manifested by themselves to happen this way? After all they never had a chance to really learn anything in this life, especially if they died as an infant. I don’t think most people would argue this point much, that this is hard to explain and line up with the concept of manifesting everything into our lives. And certainly, you cannot blame a child who’s been abused in any way, and say that they are the ones who attracted the violence into their lives in the first place. This seems to truthfully not make any real logical sense.
Another example might be during a natural disaster, or freak accidents where innocent lives are lost as a result of the aftermath of that event. If we are to believe the law of attraction as it has been touted by some in the Esoteric arena, then all of those people also manifested their own destinies because of the negative thoughts they were carrying. The same ideology is placed on the idea that innocent lives lost during wartime, or other political uprisings, with thousands to millions of men women and children have also been lost due to their manifestations individually, and proximity and chance are to be ignored.
I’m not saying I personally think that the Law of attraction and quantum theory is wrong, I’m saying there must be other forces at work here as well as a sort of “cause and effect relationship” between these individual manifestations on those individuals in proximity around them, and simultaneously on our collective reality as well. Call it collective reality or collective consciousness, as I will use them both to mean the same thing for the sake of this discussion. Let’s say that even the most sought after channeled information may not also have all the knowledge there is to know about this topic. Just because someone claims to have their information from either their higher self, or from an “other-dimensional being”, does not mean we should take everything as absolute fact (or the only single truth or law), nor should we consider the so called entities knowledge to be complete and not still be in need of some further understanding or investigation.
One of the experiments in quantum theory is the popular double slit experiment. This is when the experiment is observed… light acts more like a particle, and when not observed, it acts both like a particle and a wave at the same time.
Understanding the experiment:
In the video you just watched, the narrator claims that because of this experiment, and the change in behavior from observation, that this explains the entire theory of the law of attraction, and furthermore claims that you then as a result of this experiment have an unregulated and unlimited effect on matter. This may or may not be true, but to call out a fact here that is incorrect from what is currently known about light photons. A light photon would seem to be considered matter, but this is simply not the case. A photon has no mass, and therefore it is not considered matter at all. So, in this case, we cannot say directly that this experiment explains anything but the process of observing something has some kind of change effect happening from a baseline. Now if the person or device decides to observe this experiment with an intention such as to produce two 2 in diameter circles, or two triangles on the back board, and this then does happen in the experiment, then we know it is our thoughts actually manifesting something. Otherwise this is just some kind of law that gets applied to an observation case dealing with photons, and the experiment cannot be modified from the intended outcome just through visualization and thought alone.
So, as you may see, there is likely a problem to make the leap from observer to manifestation with this experiment. Yes, the observer had an effect on the outcome of the experiment, and things may just be different in the universe if no one is observing it, but there are still laws in effect that keep the observer from manifesting any possible number of infinite possibilities in this single experiment. The outcome unfortunately is always the same, the same as expected each and every time the experiment is conducted. Does this still qualify as manifestation in the true sense of being able to manifest any possible outcome? Personally I really don’t think so… and it at least deserves us to ask some truly difficult questions here.
So, to think a bit deeper, doesn’t it then become about working within the laws of the universe that are already assembled for us, and that there may be other things to consider when considering the idea of being able to manifest our entire reality the way we want it to be? Consider the following: We may actually not be able to fully explain the law of attraction, or even any scientific law, but we can see patterns in life that seem to come up again and again, and we can still use those patterns to our benefit. I think we can safely say that most of us feel there is some kind of universal law that says the energy of one person in proximity to another has an effect on each other. And even in quantum theory that Einstein proposed, called “Spooky Action at a Distance”, has to be considered as well in our reality for ideas like the need to cut cords or disconnect form the negativity of others even at a distance.
More technical:
Less technical:
Quantum Entanglement:
So even particles at a distance “any distance”, that were originally in proximity to each other, can have an effect on each other at a distance; a sort of magical entanglement. What happens to the one particle happens to the other, or at least they are aware of each other through this entanglement. Are we to then say that all particles are knowledgeable in some way about the other just because they were in proximity of each other, or created at the same time? Surely, we cannot answer that question with 100% certainty, but it surely is possible for those who believe that the world is more complex than what any definitive explanation we can give it… like with the Law of Attraction. With the Law of attraction though comes the notion of taking responsibility for some of the negativity that comes as a result of your actions, inactions or attitudes and intentions. My personal belief Is that it’s a combination of other people’s manifestations, and our own, and learning how to navigate the effects of both, through our decisions, consciously controlling our environments, and the effects endured relative to all of the choices we make in this life.
Let’s for a moment remember that no matter how advanced we are scientifically, or the advancement of the supposed entities being channeled, or this idea of tapping into your own higher consciousness, that we cannot rely on something like that to be the sole answer to how we can make things happen in our lives. I personally believe that we come into this life not knowing all the answers for a reason, and that some of what we experience here is left to chance, and some of it was intentionally planned as experiences we came here to learn from. The idea of multiple lives, and having an agenda of experiences to go through while we are here, seems to be a more logical explanation of how things actually work. Looking back at our earlier examples, of child abuse, children dying young, freak accidents, natural disasters, war etc., we can better explain these events with the idea of a life contract or agreement, set forth in single or even over multiple lifetimes.
Can we just manifest negativity away?
If we don’t consider the idea that along with the ability to manifest, we have to also work within the boundaries of what we came here to learn, then this may really have an impact on our lives with thinking we can just simply manifest away the negativity in our world (without having to deal with our contract). Expecting that we should simply avoid all negative people and situations at all costs, without any real responsibility to first logically and spiritually address them, is also I feel a disservice to our agreed contract. There’s not always a way to avoid negativity or the randomness of the events in our lives; especially if it’s in our original contract to experience them for the sake of learning and spiritual growth. Do I believe that going out in life with a negative attitude is going to attract more of the same level of vibrational experiences, and do I believe the opposite is also true for positive experiences? Yes, I do; I’ve personally experienced this many hundreds of times. But that doesn’t negate your contract and the elements of free will and choice, and the manifestations of others affecting our lives directly or indirectly. I personally believe that we have to go through some tough things in this life on purpose, in order to learn from those things, and no matter the level of manifestation we aim for, that we’ll still go through those lessons for our own experiences, and for our own personal growth, and for the growth of the collective.
The lesson stage – followed by the choice point:
I call each of those major points in life where we either learn or fail to learn, the “lesson stages”, but that along with those “lesson stages” are choice points. For example, if you keep choosing the same kinds of relationships to stay in, without consciously and logically making a move, then there is likely something you need to learn about your own self-worth and confidence, or you simply do not feel safe in the moment to make a change. So sometimes it takes a logical plan of how to get out of the situation we find ourselves in, and learning the lessons in the negative patterns, before we come to a “choice point” that will allow us to manifest our new reality through whatever choices we make. Then at that point we can attract a more desirable outcome through the law of attraction. This sometimes comes at a great price when we keep following the same patterns though. Patterns like addiction, allowing abuse to continue, or just being unmotivated to produce change, and choosing to be a victim instead of making a better choice when it is possible. There is no shortcut however through those “lesson stages”, as the fastest way to get where you are going is to use all of the life principles of success and positive motivation learned in philosophy and religion, not only to address our external problems, but also “if not more importantly” the internal ones.
Anecdotal evidence of the Law!
This is where the idea of the law of attraction, or the power of positive thinking, prayer and meditation can come into play. Anecdotally, we know that people who focus more positively, have faith in the universe as it was designed (regardless of the scientific proofs – “proofs come and go all the time”), seem to have more positive things happening in their lives, and more people seem to want to help them as a result of their contagious excitement, motivation and dedication to their goals. There also seems to be very strong evidence that the mindset of service to others, and what we put out there into the universe does seem to come back to us. The law of Karma is not all that different from some of the ideas about the law of attraction when you think about it. If we put aside the labels for just a moment and pay attention to what happens when we are positive, motivated, have a well thought out plan, and then follow that plan up with action. We can then see that a positive or negative outcome first starts with a thought, and then our intentions to change our reality in some way. Sometimes our ideas can have an impact on the lives of others, as a sort of ripple effect; negative or positive.
Personality and energy:
How many times have you heard people talk about a positive person like: “Their personality is so addicting” and conversely, “That persons negativity is sucking the life out of me”. This is a very common and simple way to notice how the energy of one person definitely has an effect on the people around them, their moods and motivations. Some would argue the point “only if you let it”, but those are likely the people who weren’t ever stuck in a situation where they had to be around negativity on a regular basis out of not having an alternative choice available for a period of time; or at all. So, as it really seems to be, we need to learn skills on how to cope with our existing environments, and how to protect ourselves, and protect our energy from people who may not be that easy to be around, long enough to forge a plan to make new changes. Through our own intentions and thoughts, we can sometimes even turn others negativity around, and sometimes we cannot. This is where some of the toughest life choices are made, and can truly be permanently life changing, such as quitting a job or getting out of an abusive relationship “on the spot” without having a backup plan. In that case the choice is usually for the best no matter the plan, and I feel that there are lessons in every decision we make at our choice points.
Collective manifestation – something to consider:
This then does essentially throw a bit of a wrench into the idea that no one can manifest anything into your reality, and that there is no cross-over of effects, or no collective manifestation; only that the individual is manifesting their own lives in a silo. For this to be true, we’d all have to be living in our own dimensions… one soul per dimension, and this I feel cannot ever be the case. We all live together; we all have an effect on each other, and we all co-create individually as well as collectively as a whole, through our thoughts, our intentions, and our motivations. This is where the idea, that “we are all one” comes from. You cannot have this idea, and the conversely say that no one else’s manifestations in life will in any way have an effect on the individual or the collective consciousnesses, simply because of the Spooky Action at a distance theory (If you need something scientific to think about that is).
What does water and rice have to do with it?
If you take the experiments of Dr. Masaru Emoto such as the rice and water experiments, then you have to also believe that the thoughts and manifestations of others can have an impact on ourselves.
Water Experiment:
Rice Experiment:
Law of attraction and the energy of others:
We have all felt the negativity or the positivity of others in our lives directly through their energy, and intentions, whether that be in the news, work, school or generally anywhere out there in life. With the power of positive thinking however, and some of the main principles of the Law of attraction, we can begin to change our focus, so that more and more good situations, and people can present themselves to us, with the combination of the lessons learned, and the power of our conscious intentions. I feel there is much merit in knowing when to go with the flow, “Down Stream Instead of Upstream” like with the Law of attraction, and then when you have to take decisive well thought out actions to avoid a continuance of a negative pattern, or to avoid the negative manifestations thoughts and intentions of others. We cannot simply expect that manifestation does not also include “showing up to the game, and doing our part.”
So to answer the question posed with the title of this article, I personally feel that there isn’t really a problem with the Law itself, but rather more of a human interpretation problem, and a generalization, that just might be limiting our true understanding of the Law of attraction, through our own limited thinking, and unwillingness to dig deeper into the subject.
What are your thoughts and life experiences as it relates to potential problems or gaps in the understanding of manifestation?