<Deep thoughts> type o' question about The Law of Attraction

[Jennifer_]

When I did my "addicted to Facebook status-update" for the day, I decided to update it with a quote that means a little something to me as of late:

"Your mind is a powerful magnet that will attract to you the things you identify yourself with. If you have sad thoughts, you will attract tragedies. If you are a good man, you will attract the company of good people." ~ Alfredo Karras

I don't expect much depth from people when they comment on my status, but my Facebook friends list does have some thinkers... A friend commented:

I completely refute this. If this were true people of dark mentalities would never create beauty, and much of the most beautiful work of the 20th and 21st century has been created by people with dark minds.

Which I responded with:

... I see your point however art is subjective and I believe who we are influences our appreciation for it and how we view it. Additionally, the quote is more about the type of life experiences and people we attract; It's not necessarily dealing with one's creative process (IMO).... The Law of Attraction would likely explain one's ability to create a work of beauty as being the result of one's belief and passion for what they are creating. (add one more thing... hehe)... A lot of beautiful art is very dark (or perhaps my mind finds dark art beautiful... I do like dark music... Perhaps that says something about who I am...

and:

... to put it simply - my argument is
--> Like attracts Like... it does not necessarily create Like. A relatively-decent parallel to one's ability to create can be found in one's ability to do... Take the scenario of a negative-thinking individual's ability to be very good to other people yet continually have negative experiences... the cycle continues-on until a shift in mindset or belief in one's own perception of circumstance occurs.

... now I'm not expecting many more responses... my little update will get lost in the shuffle and friends won't likley notice it... But I'm interested to hear other takes on this. I'm kinda in geek-mode... Anything thought-provoking to add?

.

 

[Pencap]

One advantage that this aphorism has going for it is that it is difficult to disprove. Kinda like astrology. The reality is is that all of us have both good and bad personality traits and display both good and bad behaviour, and the people in our life, too, possess good and bad personality traits and display both good and bad behaviour.

Also, all of us have had sad thoughts and happy thoughts, and throughout our lives have experienced both tragedy and joy.

The problem with this aphorism is that it assumes it's causal relationship to be true with no further explanation. When bad people come into our life, is it really because we are 'bad'? Wouldn't bad people come into our life regardless of who we are?

I haven't ruled out that it is true. But I do think that the onus of proof is on the creator of this idea and it's proponents.

P

 

[tboy]

Yeah, the argument against the statement: "If you are a good man, you will attract the company of good people" is women. Just look at how many millions of women not only go after the bad ones, but stay with them through thick and thin. Just look at the number of women who have relationships with prison inmates?

Like an escort once said to me about a guy she was all hot on:

He's a great guy, smart, witty, funny, etc etc etc. So I said: Why don't you go for it then? SHe said: well, he's in jail for selling coke......

Sorry, Coke Dealers are NOT "nice guys" lol......

 

[fnog9]

Always keep in mind with the law of attraction that it is an inner phenomenon, not an outer one. Abundance isn't measured by a number, but by how you perceive yourself. I have come to find great beauty in the smallest of tiny things. Like a line on a wall. That is freaking beautiful!

When you realize that the world is truly self created, then it becomes beautiful. Not just the people in our lives, but every little thing. The walls, the dots on the floor.

 

[Hurricane Hank]

I'm more of the belief that quite often, opposites attract. It seems very unlikely to me, that two "A Type" personalities would get along very well.

Some of the happiest couples I know are people who have at least some different interests, and do not spend all their spare time together. "Familiarity breeds contempt."

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

I found about LOA just a few years ago and I cant believe how well its working. I strongly urge everyone to try it because it will greatly change your life.

You can start by listening to Kevin Trudeau's YWIYC: http://kat.ph/your-wish-is-your-command-new-mp3-version-t6181259.html

 

[mrsCALoki]

At many levels I agree with you. Happiness and sadness seeming to be locked into "like attracts like".

The following comments are stolen from some one, but I believe them.

I think that we all have an imaginary balance beam in our subconscious. Whenever we meet someone we pile all his good traits on one side, and our good traits on the other.


If his value is deemed less, we tend to not want them to close to us, If his value exceeds ours we want him, but deep down inside we are worried he will abandon us.

In a perfect world and relationship both parties believe the other is slightly better than they deserve.

The coins being weighed are not always comparable. For example a client adds money to his side of the balance beam to make it a fair deal

I guess I believe in that. 2 PHDs = 20 years ? We all have our own yardsticks.

Perhaps your comment refers to the direction of the attraction, and mine to the balance that makes it work?

 

[Butler1000]

A long while ago I realized that the some of the best things I ever did in life was to remove the "emotional vampires" from my life. We all know them. The ones whose life seems to be in a permanent crisis. Who spent time allowing too much negative emotion to rule their lives. So much of what was wrong in their life, whether financial/marital/spiritual was due not to happenstance but their own decisions. And more importantly their inability to see and accept the consiquences of their actions.
I certainly not perfect, but since doing this I have found I make better decisions. And am much much happier.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

Once you start understanding Law of Attraction, and how it goes hand in hand with the Law of Cause and Effect, events that happen in your life (whether good or bad) start to make sense.

And once you know how to use LOA to your advantage the sky becomes the limit as to what you can accomplish

 

[asterwald]

Well our dominant neural patterns influence our perception and how we behave. Its really just behavioural training. A professional athlete has mentally trained himself to work out every day of his life. And push beyond the breaking point in workouts. similarly this would be retraining the mind to be positive, and as a result one would feel more positive emotions.

 

[Vermeer27]

Jennifer, I'm a fan. The only issue I have with these kinds of statements is that they are based on a very narrow conventional notion of a normal person. A baby born opiate-addicted to a Heroin junkie mother didn't attract a tragedy so much as inherit one. Bad things (and good things) happen to people in life before they even have a chance to choose between good and bad. what I will acknowledge, based solely on my own anecdotal evidence, is that individuals who have had difficult early lives and have had to transcend it somehow, end up being truly exceptional. I'm not, however, convinced that their acheivements were based on actualizing a positive world-view. Maybe it was hard-work, innate talent or luck. Sartre said that genius was not a matter of talent but rather the will to overcome an unacceptable set of circumstances.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

A baby born opiate-addicted to a Heroin junkie mother didn't attract a tragedy so much as inherit one.

Bad things (and good things) happen to people in life before they even have a chance to choose between good and bad

Thats the one thing I still struggle with. How does it make sense when bad things happen to an innocent child.

The only explanation I can come up with is humans have freedom of will. I could (hypothetically speaking) get drunk tonight and either choose to stay home, or get behind the wheel and kill an innocent person

 

[staggerspool]

I'm recently back at work at a university campus. I've been feeling really good, and I find I'm getting a lot of double-takes from lovely young people. I also know when I'm in a crappy mood, I don't want anyone to look at me, and they don't. I can radiate bad vibes or good, and I prefer the later - both as an internal experience, and for the result it brings. It is the fall cleavage season as well, which helps keep the mood elevated.

 

[Mikehorn]

He's a great guy, smart, witty, funny, etc etc etc. So I said: Why don't you go for it then? SHe said: well, he's in jail for selling coke......

Sorry, Coke Dealers are NOT "nice guys" lol......

I guess that's why God invented conjugal visits...

 

[Penzor]

The only real-life Law of Attraction is this one: F= G*(m1*m2)/r-squared

What Karras is describing is a variation on confirmation bias. It works like this: Our emotions influence what we pay attention to. So when you are gloomy, you are more likely to notice negative things. So you *believe* that you are encountering more negative things, or even attracting them. Conversely, when you are happy, you are more likely to notice happy things, and consequently think that you are encountering more happy things. But an unbiased observer would conclude that, happy or sad, the things that happen to you are just random.

 

[Protoss]

Question: When you talk about The Law of Attraction are you talking about the idea that our physical reality is created by our consciousness? So then our physical reality is manifest from a consensus of everyone on the planet basically voting with their thoughts and feelings every moment. It's a biocentric view of reality if you will where life creates the universe instead of the other way around. You might enjoy reading this http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3139308...trism-how-life-creates-universe/#.UFKmfEKUpm8

 

[Intrigued]

I found about LOA just a few years ago and I cant believe how well its working. I strongly urge everyone to try it because it will greatly change your life.

You can start by listening to Kevin Trudeau's YWIYC: http://kat.ph/your-wish-is-your-command-new-mp3-version-t6181259.html

If you liked the book "The Secret" it was based on this book "The Master Key" which was banned long time ago to keep it's "secrets" http://www.psitek.net/pages/PsiTekTMKSContents.html

 

[Intrigued]

Question: When you talk about The Law of Attraction are you talking about the idea that our physical reality is created by our consciousness? So then our physical reality is manifest from a consensus of everyone on the planet basically voting with their thoughts and feelings every moment. It's a biocentric view of reality if you will where life creates the universe instead of the other way around. You might enjoy reading this http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3139308...trism-how-life-creates-universe/#.UFKmfEKUpm8

If you like radio talk show hosts listen to Art Bell when he interviewed one of the writers from biocentrism.

 

[Garrett]

The only real-life Law of Attraction is this one: F= G*(m1*m2)/r-squared

What Karras is describing is a variation on confirmation bias. It works like this: Our emotions influence what we pay attention to. So when you are gloomy, you are more likely to notice negative things. So you *believe* that you are encountering more negative things, or even attracting them. Conversely, when you are happy, you are more likely to notice happy things, and consequently think that you are encountering more happy things. But an unbiased observer would conclude that, happy or sad, the things that happen to you are just random.

Now now... don't start bringing reason into the discussion. ;-)

 

[milehigh]

Bad things happen to everyone, but in varying degrees. You can choose to make the best or the worst of it. I strongly believe bad energy spreads, but so does good energy. If you surround yourself with positive people the positive energy multiplies.