I really liked your response newdad. A very gracious 'agree to disagree' that wasn't laced with a secret hint of 'but I am really right'.
I see where you are coming from, but that comes from most people's misconception and misuse of LOA.
They see it as a tool for material gain, when really it is
just the way things are.
Most people spend their lives worrying about material things because most people are a hairs breath away from economic disaster, or involved in it. Or they live a life surrounded by pain and suffering. So they are desperate for anything that will alleviate that fear. Be it LOA, religion, drugs etc.
True LOA teaching is that by being grateful for what you have, and directing your thoughts towards the things you enjoy in your life, then you do not need to worry about the material things. LOA will provide you with them.
The problem is that most people confuse the -how- with the -why-. As an example, in my classes most of my clients have said they wanted more money.
When I asked why do you want this money? They all said because they wanted to spend time with their family, or wanted to feel safe, or wanted to contribute to their community. None of them wanted the money to just sit on.
What they really wanted was these other things, but money was the path they saw to it. I then asked if they could have these things without having the money would they take them? They always unanimously answer yes.
People are confusing the path, with the goal. People want a nice car to travel comfortably, they want a nice spouse to feel happy and loved, they want money to quit the job they hate. Of course peopel look like they are using LOA for the wrong reasons, because they
-are- using it for the wrong reasons.
It's when they focus on their
real goal of 'spending time with my family' as opposed to 'making '$50,000 a month' that the miracles start to happen.
My personal goal is spiritual advancement, I have dozens of opportunites to improve it pop up all the time. Business opportunites to free up my time, income opportunities to give me the resources to persue my goals while taking care of my commitments etc. These are the things that I cannot see God begruding us.
To use your daughter as an example, she doesn't really want to hang out with the boy. What she really wants will be to feel cool and accepted, or loved, or popular or something along those lines. She sees hanging out with the boy as the way to get that goal.
If you want to be more effective in looking after your daughter I suggest finding out what it is she is seeking from this boy and helping her find safer methods of fulfilling that need. Then you don't have to spend your time watching her to make sure she is safe.
I also apologise for the shift in my posts, it did drift towards an attack on the church. It that was unintentional, but I recognise that I did it. I had a strongly religious (Christian) upbringing, and to be honest it left a lot of scars on me and a lot of trauma, and negative beliefs that I have spent much of my adult life removing.
Though I have tried to remove it I obvsiously still bear some resentment. Thanks for highlighting this for me. I have some work left.
You say that it is not something the Catholic church supports and that is almost certainly going to be the case, if for no reason other than it's something they don't have control over.
But the only question you need to ask is if you believe it is real. Because if it is real, then it does not need the Chruch's approval to work. It is always active. If it is not real, then this discussion is moot anyway.
That is all you need to decide. If you believe in it or not. If not, good luck to you.
If so, then you don't need your priest to tell you whether you are allowed to let your thoughts affect the universe or not, because they will no matter what he says.
As an aside, LOA or not, scientists are already showing us that thoughts
affect matter. If they didn't then we
couldn't record brainwaves, which we can. The recording device requires physical changes to occur to register a signal.
So we know
for a fact that every thought emits waves of energy, which affect matter.
We also know for a fact that pretty much every wave of energy affects what it passes through. To test this one, turn on your TV (radio waves) microwave (microwaves
) or stare at the sun (light waves). All of these actions will show you that energy waves affect matter.
The only thing that is up in the air now, is
how much do thought waves affect matter. So technically, LOA has already been proven, but
only the extent to which it can actually be utilized has still not been determined.
Your priest can tell you LOA is the tool of Satan all he likes. But it won't stop your, or his, thoughts from affecting the universe. As I said, the only thing we aren't certain of, is just how much they affect it.
Thanks for this. A nice clean discussion. I hope you sort things out with your daughter, and get a resolution to this issue that you are happy with.