[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

what will you choose to think about?

If this question begins to interest you, then you have attained a higher level. At the earlier stages of using the LOA, people are normally more engrossed in either one or both of the following types of questions:

(1) "This is so interesting, I must do an experiment. If I think a lot about X, will X really pop into my reality?"

OR

(2) "I really, really want/desire/ need X. If I think a lot about X, will X really pop into my reality?"

The more-advanced LOA user already knows the answer. He already knows, with a quite high degree of confidence that, yes, if he thinks a lot about X, it will really pop into his reality. And his focus may then switch to improving his ability to focus, change and control his thoughts, so that he can achieve results in a more consistent and regular manner.

And after that, this question begins to interest him:

what should I choose to think about?

So for instance, he may reflect: "I want a BMW convertible. Wait, why do I want such a thing? These would be the reasons - P, Q, R. Wait, are these really good reasons? Is there something else more important that I should be focusing on? What is really the most important thing that I can do for myself / my soul / my life / my reality / the world / the people around me?"

That is the story of growth and evolution.

In the terminology of American psychologist Abraham Maslow, it would be the movement upwards through the "hierarchy of needs". Not an infallible model of human behaviour, it has its flaws, but nevertheless useful. And what does it say?

That at the basic level, people are motivated by very simple, basic things such as the need for air and water. If these are satisfied, they grow motivated to seek food and shelter. If these are further satisfied, they advance higher up the hierarchy of needs, and become interested in companionship, social acceptance, and even still higher, social respect etc etc.

Higher, higher and higher ... Until at the top of the triangle, they become motivated to fulfill their self-actualisation needs, to fulfil their highest human potential. And here a few individuals will then have peak experiences:

Peak experience is a term used to describe certain transpersonal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of euphoria, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing an ineffably mystical (or overtly religious) quality or essence ....

Peak experiences are described by Maslow as especially joyous and exciting moments in life, involving sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, wonder and awe, and possibly also involving an awareness of transcendental unity or knowledge of higher truth (as though perceiving the world from an altered, and often vastly profound and awe-inspiring perspective).

.... a taste of a higher spiritual state, if you will.

And very rare individuals like Buddha will find that their peak experience transforms into a particularly intense, permanent and enduring state. Buddhism would call it enlightenment.

But we all have to start right where we are. Maybe with a BMW convertible.