Ah, all the sound and fury.
Maybe it's time I take two steps back and write something which hopefully is of some value to all readers here, regardless of what their individual current beliefs may be.
The basic proposition is that "thought affects reality". This very wide proposition can be considered at many different levels.
At one extreme end, we may say for instance, that the sum total of reality is completely dependent on one person's consciousness (Steve Pavlina). Or we may conclude that reality is mostly illusion (Buddha). Or we may say that the subatomic particles that comprise the universe are constantly blinking in and out of existence depending on how consciousness is observing them (quantum physicist Fred Alan Wolf).
Somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, we may say, for instance, that the greatest influence on a person's life is his own thinking. Or that positive thinking is key to great success. Or that by identifying our own limiting beliefs and overcoming them, we will be able to grow, develop and lead much more meaningful lives. "As a man thinketh, so he becomes" etc.
At a rather mundane level, we say that "thought affects reality", in the sense we can, for example, cause our hands or feet to move, just by thinking about it or deciding to do it. At this level, the proposition is uncontroversial and I discuss it no further.
Considering the nature of this site (Personal Development for Smart People), there is little doubt that most, if not all, readers here have experimented with deliberately altering their thoughts, emotions, attitudes, beliefs etc, in an attempt to grow, improve themselves, achieve happiness or success, fulfill their potential etc.
This is not limited to forummers in the "Intention Manifestation" section of the forum, but includes forummers in other sections as well - for example "Emotional Mastery"; "Character and Contribution"; "Spirituality, Consciousness and Awareness" .... even "Health & Fitness" etc.
So the question is ... where do we go from here?
Where IM often runs into controversy is the proposition that it can (or will) "magically" generate events and circumstances, in response to a person's thoughts. This leads to a lot of discussion of how exactly one should try to think, in order to generate the desired kinds of events and circumstances. It also leads to a lot of discussion along the lines of "Oh, you are such a foolish bunch of superstitious villagers to believe this crap."
Personally, up till about two years ago, I was probably as skeptical as Mrs Cogan. Around then, I decided to suspend some of my skepticism and permit myself a little curiosity (this is sometimes known as "keep an open mind"). And then around fifteen months ago, I decided to do a full-fledged experiment, using my life as the guinea pig.
Well, the
results are in:
.... and it is not possible for me to ignore them. My experience with the law of Attraction has been such that it would be
illogical for me to dismiss it. The very, very least I can do for myself is to
carry on the experiment and see what else is going to happen.
I am quite well aware that there are some people who have experimented with LOA but failed to achieve the desired results (see Dave Angeles, OP). Well I think that experience is the best teacher. Whatever "magical" may mean to you, if you can't do it, then go back to a more mundane, basic, everyday level and start working on your thoughts and beliefs from there.
For example, suppose you are overweight; too lazy to exercise; your social life is pathetic; and you don't have any personal time for your hobbies. You've manifested for a genie to change your life overnight (or by next week, latest, and oh yeah, you asked for world peace too, just by the way), and it didn't work.
What you need to do is try adjusting your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes step by step. It could begin with a small step like telling yourself, "Today, I will consume smaller portions for each of my meals", and doing so. Or something like, "Instead of moping about my pathetic social life, today I will call X and Y and ask them if they want to go out with me." Or "since I never seem to have time to do the things I want, I'd better organise myself and learn to manage my time better." Small, believable, positive thoughts about things you can actually do.
I trust it's quite easy to see how thinking such thoughts can lead to an improvement in your life circumstances. Nothing particularly "magical". However - and this is the point I really want to make - all this is nevertheless good, general practice for
cultivating the ability to choose your own thoughts at will. Every negative thought you successfully banish, and every positive thought you successfully choose, increases your future ability to banish negative thoughts and choose positive thoughts.
Most people have very limited ability to choose their own thoughts. They are stuck in the same thinking patterns and attitudes, whether about their work, or their family, or their community, or themselves, or the country, or the world etc - and they can't even see it. What we should seek to do, in the terminology of Stephen Covey (a strictly non-LOA PD writer, by the way) is to increase that space between stimulus and response; in other words, increase our ability to deliberately think and choose our response to a given event (rather than instinctively react, like a single-celled brainless organism).
And when you have really cultivated some serious, conscious, general ability to change your own thoughts at will .......... you are ready to bring some serious, conscious "magic" with your life.
And by then you won't even need to "do" much .... apart from think.
