[Anagogy]

Originally Posted by pokilty

I've admittedly been on-and-off with practicing LoA, but I feel like whenever I think or read about it, my intuition nags at me. Lately following my intuition has given me greater results than LoA, so I can't dismiss it any more.

Perhaps it has to do with your belief that the information field we call "reality" can be known but not manipulated?

Originally Posted by pokilty

In order to successfully use the Law of Attraction, you must first believe that it will work. This is an impasse if you're a skeptic, because skeptics want to try it to believe it. This is what the physical world teaches us - that if I see it then I'll believe it, rather than if I believe it then I'll see it (I understand that some of you will want to say, "no! that's just what you've been taught to think", but bear with me...).

I think what bothers me is that there's only one place I see this "believe then see" ideology appear in the world -- and that's religion. Almost every religion operates by letting you know that God doesn't work for you unless you believe in him first. Now, I'm a strong atheist and I've seen many ways in which following organized religion can be disempowering.

Yes, this is true. I think the problem arose because of where the power was placed. If you place your power in something external to yourself, like a god, or a preacher, or guru it is certainly disempowering to you, unless you believe you are on good terms with said god, preacher, or guru. But even then, you are still moving your locus of control away from your essential Self. The wonderful thing now is that we are consciously realizing the power of belief itself. Rather than worship the objects of belief, we can simply acknowledge faith as a power unto itself. Now, this doesn't mean the things we see and experience don't exist. Beliefs may, in fact, create the reality we live in, but its still here. It just means what we perceive as external reality is more like an information field which can be augmented to various degrees based on how artfully we are able to augment our own consciousness. Many people can't control what they think, let alone what they believe. And when you "know" something, whoa boy, stand back, that is one mental rock that ain't gonna move.

Originally Posted by pokilty

To pull this together, I understand that you must have an open mind and not dismiss anything that could be a possibility. But, if I were to live my life by "believing then seeing", I feel like I would be a totally disconnected fanatic just to try anything. What sets LoA apart that means I should give it a shot any more than believing something else? Maybe I should try believing animals can talk and see where that goes. Or believing that I can see the fourth dimension. If I came to this forum with, "Guess what guys, I tried believing that wiggling my toes can affect the world, and now I can fly!", would everybody start wiggling their toes?

Good question. I think a great deal of strange and wondrous things are possible once we master our own psychology. If your perception of reality becomes too divergent from the cultural norm you'll be labeled "crazy". If everyone talked to animals it wouldn't be considered insane. But when a few people do it, here and there (and further claim that said animals are talking back), they are usually labeled crazy, or mentally ill. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are. If you talked with some of them, you might be surprised how lucid and logical they really are. If you are experiencing things out of the norm for this particular reality, but are still grounded enough to know its "different" you are not insane. So go for it, start talking to animals and wiggling your toes while you do it.

Originally Posted by pokilty

I hope this didn't seem like an attack of any sort, but I can't rid this uneasiness and I'd like to understand why. I feel like in the end it might come down to, "We never guaranteed it's the best belief, it just worked for us", but I'm looking for more insight if it's available

You are looking for concrete truth in a vacuum of abstraction, it is perfectly natural to feel uneasy. Our modern culture teaches us to seek with measure and pen, but some things are not physically measurable. Can you measure the purity of my belief? Or the depth of my emotion? Or how aware I am of any given thought? We could say, well if I am experiencing it, I must have in some sense believed in it enough for it to occur. But the only way we can develop that essential faith in belief itself, is to notice the little stuff -- the little synchronicities that occur in response to thought, and gradually work our way up to the essential connection between beliefs and experience. I recommend keeping a journal.