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Does the law of attraction cause more harm?

HomeForumsSpiritualityDoes the law of attraction cause more harm?

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  • #53819
    Lisa
    Participant

    Ok the law of attraction states you manifest was you think of, ok a person with OCD intrusive thought, if they believed this it could turn them into a nervous wreck, thoughts can just pop into your head it how you react to them, like it can cause a lot of guilt, if you think something it happens you didn’t want to happen, its dangerous, like you are thinking what I think will happen, a lot of responsibility, end up feeling overwhelmed.

    #53857
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    i dunno, i think the law of attraction doesnt consider other horrors in life. no one implicitly “attracted” murder, malice, genocide etc etc atleast not the public who gets affected by it! When i gave my college-entrance exams, i felt doomed and thought i would fail miserably. I applied in every college possible because i was so terrified. Now despite all my negative signals to the universe about “how i would fail” etc etc, i did qualify for all top 3 colleges.

    secondly, its just another way of restating the “as as you think, your actions reflect” ideology, not the “what you think will come true”. I could believe with all my might that i will become the next Miss Universe pageant winner but jeez, unless i sign up, prepare and do what is needed, that stuff is no where remotely close to happening. However, if i have a day when someone howls at me and i start thinking no one wants me around, then ignore people in turn to avoid feeling worse, i will invariably isolate myself further. Your thoughts affect your actions very much in some cases, which spill over into your reality.

    The law of attraction is CBT made to sound mystical, mumbo-jumboey with sound effects -_- (PS : I have watched “The Secret”) I get the idea of having a positive network of belief to attract “good-will” from the universe, but its not the universe, its your actions that will be constructive!

    #53891
    Fuzzy
    Participant

    If you dwell on something or focus your energy towards an out come it will be more likely to present its self. You still have choice in your life though.

    #54477
    doubledragon
    Participant

    Really, the law of attraction per se, has been around for ages. As far back as the Buddha, who said that with our thoughts we create our world. The French pschologist Emile Coué has different quotations in the same line, perhaps the most explicit being “Every one of your thoughts, good or bad, becomes concrete, materializes and becomes in short a reality.”
    I believe that a positive framework of mind will help you create a positive reality for yourself and help you cope with the bad moments that are also part of life.
    The problem with recent versions of the law of attraction is that they take the law, in my opinion, too far. They make it sound as if just by visualizing yourself materializing a million dollars, your visualization will come true in no time or that only wonderful things will happen to you.
    Thinking positively, focusing on the things you would like to see happening in your life, and working on their attainment is one thing, and I totally agree with this idea. Believing that anything you think is possible without doing all the legwork is, in my opinion, preparing yourself for a frustrating result.

    • This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by doubledragon.
    #54746
    Will
    Participant

    I didn’t know how hard to click on this topic. In my head, I’m going “Yes! Yes it does!”

    I don’t like the law of attraction teaching in its modern, popular form. Yes, you can say it goes back to the Buddha, but I think that actually, if you looked closely, you’d see that the Buddha was saying something quite different.

    You can’t control thoughts. Even people who don’t suffer from OCD (Hi! I don’t suffer from OCD! Yay!) can have persistent, horrible, unwanted thoughts (Hi! On bad days, I can’t stop thinking about what it would feel like to have fish-hooks stuck in my flesh. It’s not very nice!). If you have this trait, and you truly believe in the Law of Attraction, you’ll be pouring a heap of misery out over yourself, because the more you fight thoughts like these, the more tenacious they become. (Hi! I’ve tried this. And I’m damn glad I knew the law of attraction for the tripe it was when I first saw it! Yay me!)

    Another problem with the Law of Attraction is that it blames people for their misery. I once read a blog comment thread where a “brave, anonymous individual” talked about the horrible guilt and dread she feels about her brushes with cancer. What had she done to bring this on herself? How could she stay positive, knowing the cancer might come back? What if the terrible thought habits she had when she was younger had left her ruined for life?

    She was a healthy woman, all that had happened was that some suspicious tissue had to be removed from inside her mouth. But she was killing herself over it. And the worst thing was that no one in the avalanche of encouragement that followed in that thread dared to say: Honey, you did nothing to bring cancer on yourself. Shit sometimes happens, rain falls on the just and unjust. And it’s not your thoughts that made you sick, it was a natural disease process. You are healthy now. Please live well while you are well, and know that disease and death are a natural part of life.

    Instead, one after another, the commenters shared they, too, felt guilty about the negative thoughts they had. They, too, found fear to be inescapable, and heaped fear on top of fear because they believed their fears would come true if they didn’t stop directing their focus there. These people were all making themselves miserable because they believed in the law of attraction.

    The law of attraction is bad teaching. It makes you miserable and then blames you for it. I will have nothing to do with it and would invite all of you who like it as a teaching to consider that perhaps, it isn’t really the key to how the universe works and perhaps, taken to its logical conclusions, it’s a cruel teaching incompatible with compassion.

    #55066
    EB
    Participant

    I think you are absolutely right! If you think bad thoughts, you will manifest them. Fearing being a nervous wreck will draw that kind of energy into your life. But that it why it is so important to meditate and dwell on positive thoughts! If you think good thoughts and consequently manifest good things, you will have no room for negativity in your life. Acknowledgement of the law (in a spiritual sense) is not meant to make one nervous or afraid, but capable of controlling their lives.

    I recommend the book E-Squared by Pam Grout. She explains the law of attraction in a hilarious, very positive way that helped prove to me that I was capable of creating a positive environment for myself!

    #55166
    The Ruminant
    Participant

    The problem is though, EB, that one can not control the thoughts that come to your mind. So to say that there are “bad thoughts” and “good thoughts” can set someone up for downward spiral in guilt and shame. People can start to obsess over certain thoughts because they fear them, as they are “bad”, and so they think that they are “bad”. Yes, it is possible to learn how to let go of thoughts, though I’m guessing that it might be more difficult to some people. Guilt tripping them isn’t going to be very helpful, but might actually do more harm. Trying to control something that isn’t really under your control and then feeling bad about it is torturous.

    #55169
    Will
    Participant

    “Acknowledgement of the law (in a spiritual sense) is not meant to make one nervous or afraid, but capable of controlling their lives.”

    Yes, I know that’s what it meant to do. We’re talking about what it actually does.

    #55209
    Joshua
    Participant

    It’s not the law that is making one nervous or afraid, it is how the person is applying the law that is causing the fear.

    A thought is just a thought. It is neutral by nature and is neither “bad” or “good”. It is what value and perception that we place on the thought that causes us to believe (regardless of how accurate) that it’s “bad” or “good”. This belief leads to us feeling of either happiness, excitement, fear, anxiety, etc.

    Properly applied, the law of attraction teaches us to focus on what we want out of life–the solution. By focusing on the solution allows us to become more creative and in essence find a way to achieve what we want, rather than just focusing on the problem itself (which doesn’t do anyone any good).

    #55359
    Bill
    Participant

    Harm does not exist. It is one’s perception that defines harm or good… And perception can change. Why to think about harm in the first place? Law is law, you attract what you carry as a core beliefs, and you do not even know (consciously) all of your beliefs. So it is not that simple 🙂 it is miraculous. Whatever happens is for your highest good, because you do not know the purpose of your soul. But be positive, be trusting, be loving – help your soul and you will celebrate life.

    #59506
    Natasha
    Participant

    Yes – our neighbor sexually molested my 4 yr old daughter. Someone told me it was just the law of attraction – so I’m like “WHAT?” You mean my 4 yr old caused this by her thoughts? That has been a knife in my back for almost a year now. Thank you – some or most of you here for giving me the courage to remove the knife and chuck it into the Universe. That SUCKED!

    #60762
    uliner john
    Participant

    About the LoA . Once you started to want something and make a mantra out of it … you will start to develop OCD . And that is the truth . Because at the other end of the spectrum … the unwanted stuff starts to get bad energy . You put the positive energy on to what you want … but that energy comes from somewhere , right ?? So people think that with the Law of Attraction lives will become simpler and simpler … but it won’t . It won’t become simpler … it will be just as complicated as when you were trying to fight what you don’t want to make things happen . Now you don’t feel depressed anymore because you started thinking positively but … back when you did feel depressed … even then you had happy moments . So you guys want maybe something that will clear all this stuff and be happy for always .

    Well there is a solution . Stop wanting !! 🙂

    Buddha said this . And also hindus said this . Desire is something that creates some sort of pain.

    They propose living in the present moment … ditching your ego … and really be aware of what you are thinking all the time.

    There is a vicious circle and a virtous circle inside your mind . And this is present to all of humans . So when you are believing in the law of attraction and you start the vicious circle … you don’t feel that good . And you imidiately try to compensate that through a ritual of some sort … to get back on track to the virtous circle . But if you think that your thoughts are just impulses that have no connection to you personally … things change . But this means really that you must detach yourself even from the positive as well . You can’t enjoy the positive and when it comes to the negative to detach yourself . Of course … you have some control of your thinking and it is preferable to divert your thinking to the positive stuff .

    And for example …. some quotations :

    I learn poetry, learn text, and that really keeps you alive.
    Anthony Hopkins

    We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.
    Anthony Hopkins

    You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you. Dan Millman

    Your mind is not your friend. ( another quote from unknown author)

    http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/quotes2.htm
    Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/anthony_hopkins_2.html#4oA9qvJzRwAILJ50.99

    Another thing . There are doctors who think of illness-es 24 hours a day … but they don’t think of that as they have it . They think of pacients who have it . So even if they think of Aids for example … they have a different relationship with that thought than the pacient who has it .

    LoA from my point of view happens only through reasons . If there is a big reason for something not to happen it won’t happen even though you wish it .

    For example : If I wish for some tree to grow in my backyard but the sandy soil won’t permit any tree to grow … then it won’t grow no matter what I do. Maybe some tropical tree instead of a tree from my country but … I wanted an apple tree maybe .
    If someone wants to play basketball like Michael Jordan and he is 1,65 m in height … well ?

    If someone’s arm is missing and he wishes a brand new arm to grow instead … well chances are it won’t happen . Because reasons don’t permit the Loa to make it happen . If you look at these gurus in the LoA … they are pretty rich … but they aren’t the richest . They are not like Bill Gates rich . Do you think they didn’t want to attract more ? Do you think that someone who knew about the LoA didn’t want to become imortal for example ?? How many imortals are there ? Even changing rust to gold wasn’t possible like some Alchemists believed .

    So LoA works … but it has limits – limits defined by science , and limits defined by other people who want the same thing as you want .

    If you start to think stricly in the LoA terms … you will get a bit delusional from my point of view . Because the LoA kind of rules out reasoning like these people put it . And there are people today , that because of this LoA trend wish they would grow 10 cm in height , or change the color of their eyes , the color of their hair or skin . I mean it is getting out of hand . LOL

    That is my view on the LoA .

    #61279
    Warrior of Light
    Participant

    My understanding is the Law of Attraction (LoA) is based on one’s intent: wherever my intent goes, my thought and actions soon follow. For me intent = will (power). Most of know the analogy “if there’s a will, there’s a way”.

    Uliner John makes some very good points. However, I believe if LoA’s in fact has limits they are based on certain universal laws. Like we have physical bodies, so naturally we are limited by certain physical laws (i.e. death, disease, injury). I don’t think LoA works so well in the physical realm, although the “Placebo Effect” does arouse some interest.

    During my studies in psychology I learned (perception) of reality is merely an external projection of internal (subjective) content. If this is true, then if I change my internal content the changes would be reflected in my external “reality”. I believe LoA works better in the metaphysical/energy transference/mental realm more so than in the literal physical realm.

    For example: I had 3 females in my life causing significant stress. There was a lot of conflict, hurt, disengagement, and arguing in my relationships with all three. I asked that which I interpret as “God” to not have this in my life anymore. I really, really didn’t want empty, unfulfilling relationships; and I wanted to stop doing the whole caretaker thing. What occurred after I made this “wish” was each of these 3 women fell out of my life in one way or another each month. After 3 months they were all gone and I felt a whole lot better.

    I can only see LoA causing harm if the individual has a lot on shadow content/(-) energy/trauma and they DON’T DEAL WITH IT IN HEALTHY, HEALING WAYS. I see this all the time working in substance abuse. Almost every client I have seen has some form of overt or covert trauma, doesn’t deal with it, and uses drugs/alcohol to numb out the pain and fear. Naturally this causes a vicious self-destructive cycle.

    @ Natasha: No child whatsoever deserves such a thing. Maybe such an event was written into her soul blueprint so she can heal, triumph, and help others who suffered a similar experience. Maybe not. Either way no human, especially a child, deserves to be abused. I highly doubt a child could manifest such a experience.

    #70662
    Maggie Black
    Participant

    As a man thinks, so is he. (Jesus)

    #70753
    Bill
    Participant

    As I understand, there is no good or bad on higher existence. Just there is. Abuse here is just some experience that the soul set to expand itself, we just do not see that expansion. There is no really suffering… IT is all illusion, we are just in one big game…we change roles, scenarios…but we continue to exist, forever… @Natasha, you can read Conversation with God by D.Walsh…

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