Be Rich AND Happy, and one LoA Misconception
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
One of the blogs I like to read is the Get Rich Slowly blog. They offer practical wealth-building advice, and the information is usually top-notch. However, 2 recent posts have sort-of "irked" me.
Very quickly, the first one is titled "Which is More Important: Money or Job Satisfaction?". It's my belief that we shouldn't be prioritizing these things, because once we do, we'll always view the 2nd choice as inferior, and consequently attract less of it. Money and Job Satisfaction are of equal importance, and both should be given the highest priority. The comment I posted on the site says it's not a "zero-sum game". There's enough of both to go around, so why settle for less?
Second, and sort of related, is the post "There is No Secret: The Myth of the Law of Attraction". I've actually been struggling with a post I'm working on about the misconceptions behind the LoA. I'm struggling because the entire subject is focused on the negative perceptions, and therefore becomes antithetical to the practice of positive attraction. I really don't want to shift focus to the negativity... but there's still a part of me that wants to "set the record straight", if you will. Consequently, that particular post has been sitting in my "drafts" folder for 3 weeks.
About this particular post, though, he actually sums up his own misconception fairly well:
Wealth requires more than just thought — it requires action.Exactly. So many people have the misconception that the Law of Attraction stops at "thinking", but that's only the first step. If you're familiar with any NLP theories, you'll know that there is a common thread in that most of them involve a three-step process. In The Secret it's "Ask, Believe, Receive"... but the same idea can be presented as "Think, Feel, Act". All you have to do is look at Rhonda Byrne as the prototype: She didn't just stop at thinking about making The Secret, she opened herself up to receive help and backing, and then went out and made it.
at 10:41 AM
Tags: Law of Attraction, rhonda byrne, rhonda byrnes, the secret
Just started reading the secret book, and it generated alot of interest at home specially with discussions with my fiance.
Coming from a religious background/upbringing, the first thing I did was to determine whether it was in line with my religious beliefs.
Interestingly enough I am beginning to read the bible and am slowly beginning to identify the "secret formula" or "principle" in the teachings of Christ and in some of the stories in the old testament.
Could it be that alot of these prosperity speakers (religious speakers, I mean) here in America are actually utilising the secret.
Perhaps this is one aspect of the Gospel of JC.
I totally understand where you are coming from about how to respond to negative comments about The Secret or the Law of Attraction.
True LOA believers know that focusing on the negative will just create more of the negative!
On the rare occasions that I have "debated" an LOA issue, it has been low on the "debate" part, and high on the "these are the facts" part. :)
p.s. - Nice job of pointing out the Rhonda Byrne example. That is right on time!
- Aaron
Vision + action = result - absolutely, as demonstrated by Rhonda Byrne.
There's some stuff they left out of the film which is discussed in a recent interview with Bob Proctor. Worth reading.
www.createspersonalgrowth.com/aa/1quest
I like your Think, Feel and Act.
Really make sense to me.
Will give it a go.
Thanks
Ken
www.lawofattractioncd.com/attractionreport.pdf
In one of the Conversations with God books, Walsch talks about how all the "threes" that are taught are related. Thinks like "Mind, Body, Spirit" are analogous to "Thoughts, Actions, Feelings". Even "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" corresponds to the Father being the Thought, the Son being the Thought made man and put into action, and the Holy Spirit being the feelings. How those three things interplay is quite fascinating.
I've been listening to Abraham tapes for over twelve years. When I started, none of the information was new to me- I had known it for years before that. I am 50 and have known this stuff since my 20's.
The most important thing I have learned to date is this:
In regards to the post you linked to on The Secret: There is NO commenting, no argument, no discussing with people who see LOA this way. If they don't get it, they don't get it. They don't want to get it, don't need to get it, will only hear the surface message being said, approach it with their linear minds and never understand the deep of it.
It does NOT help that the principles have been a bit skewed by both The Secret movie and all the hype that has built up around it. But none of that matters.
We who see it in our lives, who have first knowledge of the way it works both in ways we WANT it to and have blocks around (so manifest unconsiously) don't need anyone outside of us to understand us or it. It isn't a belief that can be argued...it's an experience that cannot be denied.
Those who want to hear it, who are called by their souls to hear it will hear it. They will find you and your blog because it will speak to them.
Blessings! And...be well....
I think the problem is that The Secret tries to sensationalize things by minimizing the need for action. Many of Byrne's anecdotes (and those of her experts) are specifically of the, "I'll just sit here and wish for things" variety. No wonder then that people get cranky at them. The book even explicitly states that getting whay you want is "as simple as asking for it", or "as simple as picking it from a catalog". This is dumb. And if Byrne & Co. really believe action is necessary, then they do themselves a tremendous disservice by pretending it isn't.
In The Secret, I'm continually drawn to a mini-movie in my mind of James Ray saying "Take Action!"
I have noticed for the past couple of years or so that when it comes to manifesting, even the little action steps make a huge difference - as much as telling someone else what you want - And perhaps you'll be drawn to telling the right person at the right time who will willingly give you some version of what you've asked for.
I find that for smaller insignificant items it tends to work easier than for larger things like career shifts or mega-abundance, but at the same time I know those things happen also, perhaps taking more time (so far in my experience). It's all about taking baby action steps, opening the doors one at a time, and amazingly you'll find yourself manifesting just about everything you've asked for!
Visualisation is the act of imagining something happening or imagining something as you want it to be. Visualisation isn’t always just visual, despite its name. In fact using most or all of your senses increases the overall effectiveness of visualisation. Visualisation is the most potent way to program your mind.
This all is a Law of Attraction
The basis of LOA boils down to ACTION, even small ones. Nothing is going to happen with just visualisation alone. Great Blog. Enjoyed reading the comments and yr posts.
Interesting what you talk about... I do agree it's quite similar. Have more info about LOA you might want to check it out, http://www.studyofgettingwealthy.com/interview.html they talk about how to accelerate your wealth by using The Law of Attraction, something worth checking out...
Again cool concept...
Jason Tan
Life is really what you believe it is.... if the law of attraction doesn't seem to be a fit for you it's understandable based upon your impression of the movie the secret. However you have to consider that it was a mass media production. That it left alot of information out and really didnt illustrate a definable process.
Hey!
Thanks for this lovely blog.
I agree with you we should not prioritize money or job satisfaction.
Many of these things are interesting and even the opposing views would have merit if they understood more about the energetic processes occuring and didn't just follow the popular knowledge on the subject of the Law of Attraction.
I'd like to respond to the quote, "Wealth requires more than just thought — it requires action."
First, it is necessary to understand what they are defining action as. Though it sounds peculiar described this way, they are talking about *physical motion*. Even speaking to another on the telephone, or making a call all implies physical motion. So action = physical motion in the common definition.
Now the following of what I am saying is going to sound at first like debating on syntax and technicalities, but it's not. Action is still thought. Physical motion and speaking are manifestations of thoughts. As humans we have focused powerful thoughts into the manifestation of speaking and utilizing physical motion. Many people often forget that their physical motions, speaking, even the believed to be laws of physics are somehow base givens.
Coming into the sphere of human life, we have focused and created an extremely complex sort of engine which runs a lot of our reality. The human consciousness engine which civilization on earth also helps maintain our current logic of how physics and motion between physical objects is determined. This makes certain manifestations occur very fast (like an object falling) and others impossible using the default system (walking on water, levitating, materialization of objects, etc). This also aids in what some metaphysical teachings call the "Buffer of Time".
What does this mean? This means that each human more or less is born with a set amount of logic already encoded in them so that the world more or less behaves a certain way. This has drawbacks but is very useful as well. This means most (and by most, I mean probably every one you will ever know) infants won't accidently float away or telekinetically crash vehicles and such. This means there are limitations with this logic set or "engine". Although immediately this complex engine or system is being modified and adjusted. And it's never completely identical in any two individuals.
So, this enables the seemingly instant or near very fast manifestation of being able to physically move and speak. Althought it also causes things like instant materializations (such as appearing as if from nothing) of enormous amounts of wealth very rare.
Knowing this, would you say action is more powerful than thought? Well, it's only through thought we even have what is called "action" so absolutely not. It just means with default programming you probably are not going to instantly create things. Although you can speed this up and work on your programming to be able to do things like flying and walking on water. Also, just thinking on things, visualizing (which is simply doing something, but in a different vibration field) does help change this system as well to not only create a manifestation, but also to reprogram your particular system of logic, which determines how fast many types of manifestations occur to begin with.
So thought is still and always be more powerful than action. It just can appear otherwise because certain thoughts of ours overpower other thoughts. The real question is, knowing your particular programming, you can choose which balance of "action" and visualizing ration would suit you best. No matter what, everything will turn out well, it's just up to you to bump around a bit and find how to achieve it the fastest, after which then it will change again and you can adjust accordingly.
Another interesting thing to know is that perception is highly dependent up our vibrational makeup as well. This is amazing news for various reasons, which at first do not seem to be that relevant. It means that each human sees the world differently, from subtle differences to great differences. Why would this difference in perception be so good? Well it means that things that are too far out of your vibration you simply can't even know about (at the time).
This means over half the population of the planet could already be walking on water and flying around the world, and you wouldn't even know it. You wouldn't be watching the same TV as they are watching, you wouldn't be seeing the same sky they are seeing. Some people decide not to shoot for something they think is "impossible" because they think no one else can do that. What they don't realize is, in this infinitely unfolding reality, someone already has. Sometimes can be disappointing because you will realize you'll never be the first to do something. But someone is already a trillionaire. Someone has already healed all the people in hospitals. There is some earth where death is no longer part of the default program and people phase in and out of their physical bodies. There is an earth where we have cities in the sky and deep beneath the oceans. Our possibilites are endless and we can focus and shift into them in our present lives. Have fun and Goodnight.