[Antarananda]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I believe that what's being said is true. In particular, I agree with Antarananda. (I normally find myself agreeing with almost everything Antarananda says, but that's another story).

Thanks, ALG. It's a mutual feeling. I'm following your I-M experimentation progress on your blog with interest

Problem for me is that I'm not ready to pursue the path of spiritual development wholeheartedly. I think that there are different paths, but I think truly, there are very few people who can, or even try to, live every day in line with their innermost spiritual self. I'm not one of them, not yet anyway.

I'm actually in the same boat. But even the intellectual clarity and perspective helps a lot, as I'm sure you know.

Consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs. What's happening is that you can use LOA to fulfill each level of need, and when it's done, you move to the next higher level, and you use LOA there, and then you move to the next higher level, and the next higher level. Finally you are at the level of self-actualisation, when things like money, or a nice home, or respect from others etc are no longer the point.

Then you become motivated by the deeper aspects of your self. The ever-deeper aspects of your self. What that leads you to do, depends on what your deeper aspects are. Once in a while, as you operate at the level of self-actualisation, you may have what Maslow calls a peak experience.

You can think of it as briefly touching the face of God. Or a mini-enlightenment.

This is a great point! Actually, recently I've been thinking along the same lines, inspired by a teacher who is a psychiatrist who is striving to integrate the East-West schools of thought. Peak experiences are extremely valuable as a springboard to enlightenment, and complete integration of the personality leading to self-actualization is a very desirable state, of course. Maslow, in his later years, also recognized the Self-Realized state (as distinct from actualization), but did not explicitly detail how one may achieve it.

On a separate point, I believe that LOA can be a (more) direct tool in spiritual development. In fact I believe that some applications of LOA are simply meditations in themselves.


For example, in some forms of Buddhist meditation, the meditator meditates until he experiences feelings of love, compassion, kindness etc and then sustains his meditative concentration on those feelings. I feel that you could see this as a form of IM. What he is manifesting is love, compassion & kindness. He is making these attributes manifest into his reality.

(Meditation is indeed often said to have the ability to make you a kinder, more compassionate person.)

I Couldn't have said it better!