What is the law of attraction and how does it differ to other spiritual teachings.
Hello fellow Protagonists,
"Think positive things and positive things will happen"
Expressed in different forms, this statement is the basic essence of the law of attraction. That if we simply focus on positively obtaining something (money, better relationships, better health) the frequency of our energy will bring these wants into being.
That your thoughts become your reality.
For sake of argument and personal interest of many of the posts on TheDailyBuff let's focus this concept on creating financial wealth. That if we think ourselves rich and believe that money will inevitable come our way, this will be so.
This is also referred to as a form of spiritual guidance and finding books around the law of attraction will have you veering towards the spiritual/self-help tabs and sections of bookshops and sites.
Trust our western culture to find a way of twisting spirituality into a way of promoting the gain closer to materialism and hedonism.
The more I delve into the world of spirituality it becomes clear about how views like the law of attraction are completely flipping traditional concepts of what it means to be spiritual.
Thousands of years of teachings are available around being part of something a lot bigger than us, that living is the simple purpose of life, that more is not found in acquiring more, and that things we perceive as both good and bad will happen to us regardless of what we do because they are things completely out of our control.
Also, freedom is found in the removal of things rather than the gaining of things.
The problem with these views...
They do not fit into certain cultural systems around materialism and personal growth through status and achievement. In other words, they would not sell.
What the law of attraction seems to lack for me is the deeper element of the reason behind wanting to make more money. It is almost assumed that this is what people are after and this is the mindset we need in order to gain it. Nothing about the value or purpose of money and if it will actually lead to something deeper like meaning, happiness or in the betterment of our own purpose.
It didn't always feel this way but something is starting to seem a little superficial.
Don't get me wrong, our mindset is a seriously important part of our lives and helps us towards achieving a general level of wellbeing.
I also agree that if you do focus on something you become more aware of what is around that could help you towards that focus. For example, if we were looking to make a real estate investment, then naturally we would be more focussed on spotting properties and opportunities than somebody who is not focussed on real estate.
The itch on my brain is in the labelling of this as something spiritual.
I may be completely wrong and I am open to this but isn't a spiritual focus one that takes gratitude for what we already have rather than manipulating the "essence of the universe" for our own personal gain. Is this not seeing ourselves as a "Godlike" figure that can shift reality rather than the collective God or soul of all being.
For those who have achieved great things and claim this to be a result of the law of attraction. How can you be so sure that this is the defining reason for that success? Following any action can lead to some of us being successful. Why else would we have a national lottery.
Or maybe the winning numbers came in a vision when we manipulated the powers of the universe to foresee the future.
Can we create a Culturality section in bookshops to avoid this confusion please?
GLHF (Good Luck Have Fun)
Warrick
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