The Secret triggered new interest in Law of Attraction teachings and perspectives. “Think the right thoughts and become a star,” is the way it goes. The trouble is that this misses several important steps. Which is one reason why I turned to Buddhism – years ago – when my father explained positive thinking to me as a way to get good grades at school. Somehow I had the idea that study was important too. Silly me!
Well, silly everybody if we think we can get a Lamborghini just by wishing, wanting, praying, or chanting for it. Well, actually the truth is, we can! AND we have to pay for it, learn to drive it, take care ot it. Like you have to study to get good grades, AND having a positive attitude will help. More than help, it’s essential!
So, law of attraction, and positive thinking is “essential but not sufficient” as they say in the language of statistics. You get what you expect, AND what you expect is very much based on what you do, how you prepare,how you act.
This is actually very much aligned with Buddhist teaching. Thought leads to action. And by the way, the Buddha never said that there was anything wrong with Lamborghinis either. But he did mention that is was worth checking the consequences of your actions. He never said that there was anything wrong with desire either. But he did suggest that it was worth choosing where you put your attention, and that if you don’t desire leads to distraction, confusion, regret, and a whole series of altogether useless internal activities.
.. “would you like to test-drive it?” asked the monk, handing me the keys with a smile..
This looks great to me, Caitriona! I’ve gotten a lot of benefit from your help in my examining what I expect, and how that relates to what I get. By expecting bigger and better things, and knowing that I deserve them, bigger and better things come my way and then I’m ready to receive them. It works!
Caitriona
How true it is that it not sufficient for us to just think about something in order to manifest it?
I like the quote by Meister Ekhart ‘When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image’. However, it would seem essential for us to be totally congruent in our beliefs, values, direction and intention for something to manifest in this way. We have to totally embody what we are and want to have in order for the outer reality to mirror the inner experience.
When you spoke of it the other day I had an inner chuckle since i’ve been working on ‘the power of no’ for a while now, this book. Fundamentally, the two titles open into the same dialog, while on the surface both play off of main stream successes… one on ‘the law of attraction’, the other on ‘the power of now’ obviously.
I can see now… that presenting thought and inquiry on distraction is, in part, very much akin to delineating facets in “the power of no”. While i’ve been anxious to flesh it all out, a little each day, i now look forward to your continuation. maybe we can share ways to express what lay in common.
Yes = it came up in the teleseminar last night
I think that any apparent conflict between what is represented by the “Power of Now” and the “Law of Attraction” is based on a misunderstanding. I am looking forward to exploring this further.
Caitriona
Amen Sister Catriona! What a great article.
.-= Morgana´s last blog ..The Tyranny of Positive Thinking =-.
За статью большое спасибо, все по делу, достаточно много кто это уже использует
Thanks for your comment – my Russian friend translates it as “Thanks a lot for the article. It is to the point, quite a few people are already using this.”
For Russian readers who want to improve their English skills go to http://www.powerenglishclass.com/