another Secret contradiction

[Lioness]

In The Secret video, Lisa Nichols says to put out your intention to the universe, be confident that it will manifest, and don't keep asking, ask only once.

Later in the vignette with the boy and the bicycle, we are told you must focus, focus, focus on your goal. And when it doesn't manifest and you feel like giving up, focus even harder. This seems like continuing to ask the universe for what you want, or at the very least, digging at your seed.

And what about work, or "inspired action"? Wouldn't the kid have gotten his bike even sooner if he had earned some money toward it?

[wachusettgirl]

All great questions. I've seen the Secret many times, and every time have been inspired, but can also see where you might notice some contradictions. Yes, Lisa Nichols does say ask only once, and then believe and know that it's on it's way...

With the boy and the bicycle I think that the message is essentially the same, and the same as what Abraham Hicks teaches, and that is to put your focus on exactly what you want, and then believe that it is coming to you.

Jack Canfield says to ask for what you want, then release it the the universe and trust that it is going to come. I think that they are all actually versions of the same thing, and that is allowing what it is that we really want (or what we think we really want) to come to us by believing that it is going to happen, no matter what, without anxiety.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Lioness

In The Secret video, Lisa Nichols says to put out your intention to the universe, be confident that it will manifest, and don't keep asking, ask only once.

This approach works for people who have a very high level of confidence that their intention will be fulfilled.

If your confidence is not that high, the approach doesn't work for you. More likely you'll have to work on yourself again and again, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. That very process is the same process that brings you to the required level of confidence.

Later in the vignette with the boy and the bicycle, we are told you must focus, focus, focus on your goal. And when it doesn't manifest and you feel like giving up, focus even harder. This seems like continuing to ask the universe for what you want, or at the very least, digging at your seed.

The important thing is that as part of that process, make sure you're sowing more positive seeds than negative seeds (eg of doubt, anxiety etc).

And what about work, or "inspired action"? Wouldn't the kid have gotten his bike even sooner if he had earned some money toward it?

Inspired action is merely a kind of thought. It works too. All forms of thought have the ability to create.

[Lioness]

Thanks so much for replying Wachussettgirl!
It's funny but I'm not used to posting and I get nervous that noone will answer me! I am still sceptical of LOA, but if someone as logical and right-brained as Steve P practices it, there must be something to it.

Much of the philosophy to me seems to be wishful/positive thinking that sometimes pays off. And when it doesn't work, an LOAer will say, oh, you didn't hold your intention long enough, or you must have killed it with a negative thought. And who can absolutely never think any negative thoughts? I will do some research on Abraham Hicks.

Don't you believe, though that there is truth in the biblical saying "faith without works is dead"?

[jasonwisdom]

To some degree intentions thoughts emotions actions & PR do need to be aligned.

Approached another way, though, intentions are really the only thing that matters, and everything else will (eventually) come around.

So. Let's say your intention is to run a marathon. But you're horribly out of shape. It may not happen next week. However, like a plant that bends itself around to receive sunlight, your thoughts emotions & actions will change themselves around - if you keep your intention consistent!!

If you "do" things or "be" ways that run counter to your original stated intention, then of course the manifestation of that intention will be pushed back.

If you "don't get in the way", then it will happen much more passively & in the background.

It can be a brutal round of arm wrestling...or it can be as simple as dropping a letter in a mailbox & knowing it will arrive at its destination in a few days.

[jasonwisdom]

Also a big part of it is "how foreign is your intention to your status quo?"

So...if you have already started and sold 5 multi-million dollar businesses, then "I want to make a million dollars" is little more than a flick of the mental wrist.

On the other hand, if you've fought dire poverty all your life and have never heard of Think and Grow Rich...............

Also how adept are you at pushing your own boundaries to accomplish new things? Some people have developed (or inherited / grown up around) the ability to quickly learn new things. Others are like the old dog learning new tricks - even if they are not old!!

[Lioness]

Thanks, ALG, what you say makes sense. I am going to bombard my negative thoughts with twice as many positive thoughts, because one cannot simply stop having negative thoughts. I will have to start small and build with baby steps.

Maybe people like you and Steve have had success with LOA because you had already created high achievement and confidence in your lives through the traditional hard work and self-discipline. Aren't you still an advocate of hard work and discipline?

[Keena]

Originally Posted by Lioness

Thanks, ALG, what you say makes sense. I am going to bombard my negative thoughts with twice as many positive thoughts, because one cannot simply stop having negative thoughts. I will have to start small and build with baby steps.

Maybe people like you and Steve have had success with LOA because you had already created high achievement and confidence in your lives through the traditional hard work and self-discipline. Aren't you still an advocate of hard work and discipline?

Remember that for every doubt or worry you have - you have contradicted your original intention. You are vacillating - and that is the energy you will keep attracting.

Hard work and discipline. Hard work is the mind set of the fearful and those in lack. You can work smarter! Could be a question of semantics, too. I see hard work as unfortunate. If your "work" is play then you never work hard! But you may play hard - or play long hours. But it is still play and comes from a place of joy and love - not fear and lack.

Discipline is strictly control of focus. And this focus is on the desired outcome, but not with attachment. This is key. As it is said, the Lord helps those who help themselves. Start on the path - the direction you want to go - with actions, small or large. And as Chopra says, let the Universe handle the details.

Joy and light,
Keena

[Dreamline]

As a beginner, you are basically not training in manifestation, you are training in focusing and changing mindset.

Yes, The Secret forgets to tell you that. But it should be intuitive that there is more than meets the eye to this LOA stuff.

So as a newb, you should practise focusing, visualizing and meditating. Often.

When you get good at it, then you can ask, believe, receive. It can take a long time to get to that point. Even more than one lifetime. But if you are true to your quest, that shouldn't matter. If it matters, you haven't learned the art of detachment. They didn't mention that in The Secret either. Because it was just a brochure for LOA.

Jennifer

[torilink]

Originally Posted by Lioness

Don't you believe, though that there is truth in the biblical saying "faith without works is dead"?

if your faith is genuine then it’s going to manifest itself - James was saying that "By their fruits you shall know them" or you will see your faith reflected back to you in manifest form.

Faith without manifestation is dead - it isn't true faith, its egoic and brings forth no fruit.

“If any man be in Christ (this is a state of being) he is a new creation (manifestation), old things (past) are passed away and behold all things become new (manifest now).”

There is going to be a manifestation, if your faith/belief/state-of-being is real & true. And so James says, what kind of faith have you got dude? Because I don’t see any evidence (manifestation)!

[wachusettgirl]

Originally Posted by Dreamline

Yes, The Secret forgets to tell you that. But it should be intuitive that there is more than meets the eye to this LOA stuff.

When you get good at it, then you can ask, believe, receive. It can take a long time to get to that point. Even more than one lifetime. But if you are true to your quest, that shouldn't matter. If it matters, you haven't learned the art of detachment. They didn't mention that in The Secret either. Because it was just a brochure for LOA.

Jennifer

Not sure that I agree with any of the above. First of all, nothing is intuative or magical about the LOA, it is working in our lives all the time, continuously. It doesn't take lifetimes to "learn" how to ask, believe and recieve, it is happening now, and always.

I don't like The Secret being called just a brochure for LOA in such a dismissive manner either. This movie introduced me to the Law of Attraction, for which I will be forever grateful. I still watch it from time to time to be reminded of the most basic and solid principles of LOA (gratitude, visualization, belief), and to be reminded of the initial buzz of excitement that I felt the first time I watched it. I have introduced my family and friends to it, most of whom have benefitted enormously.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by wachusettgirl

It doesn't take lifetimes to "learn" how to ask, believe and recieve, it is happening now, and always.

Oh, it is both very simple and very difficult, depending on how you look at it.

[Lioness]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies!! I have a lot to think about.

Keena said -
Discipline is strictly control of focus. And this focus is on the desired outcome, but not with attachment.

My question then is, how can I focus, for example, on having a beautiful
wedding, but not be attached to that idea? In the movie, the bicycle boy
was very attached to the object of his desire.

Dreamlilne said -
As a beginner, you are basically not training in manifestation, you are training in focusing and changing mindset. So as a newb, you should practise focusing, visualizing and meditating. Often.

-So it is a skill that must be developed. I will try this.

wachussettgirl said ;
It doesn't take lifetimes to "learn" how to ask, believe and recieve, it is happening now, and always.

- well I hope it doesn't take more than one lifetime! But I can see that I have to take more inspired action in the form of studying more sources beyond The Secret for optimum results.

I am trying to be more open-minded, but I suppose I come from a background that preached a hardcore work ethic, so it does involve a total change of mindset. I still come back to the fact that this website still devotes a lot of articles to industry, discipline, willpower etc.

[wachusettgirl]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Oh, it is both very simple and very difficult, depending on how you look at it.

Yes, I agree, but why not allow it to be simple rather than difficult? Isn't that our choice?

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by wachusettgirl

Yes, I agree, but why not allow it to be simple rather than difficult? Isn't that our choice?

It depends.

If you had a very big goal, and you also have anxieties and doubts about it, could you dispel those doubts instantly, just by choosing to do this?

Sometimes, sometimes not.

[wachusettgirl]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

It depends.

If you had a very big goal, and you also have anxieties and doubts about it, could you dispel those doubts instantly, just by choosing to do this?

Sometimes, sometimes not.

Um, no, or rather yes... according to the LOA. Aren't you one of the ones who has impressed this upon us? It is a very simple law, and one that I chose to go with. I have huge goals, and I promise you that I will achieve them. I don't believe that the bigness of the goal really matters.
I can't answer for anyone else, but for me this works, and I'm so happy that it does!

[Acting Like Godot]

If it works well for you, then that's great.

But I think that for the vast majority of people, there is a gap between intellectual understanding and experiential ability.

That is, one may intellectually understand that the LOA works like this; you are supposed to do it like that, etc ... yet the person may not actually be able to execute it (or execute it well), as a practical matter.

By analogy, many people have irrational fears which they already know are irrational (eg phobias of the dark; or of being in a crowded place, or of heights). But that knowledge doesn't necessarily make the fear go away.

[wachusettgirl]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

If it works well for you, then that's great.

But I think that for the vast majority of people, there is a gap between intellectual understanding and experiential ability.

That is, one may intellectually understand that the LOA works like this; you are supposed to do it like that, etc ... yet the person may not actually be able to execute it (or execute it well), as a practical matter.

By analogy, many people have irrational fears which they already know are irrational (eg phobias of the dark; or of being in a crowded place, or of heights). But that knowledge doesn't necessarily make the fear go away.

Yes. You are so right, with what you believe. But it's not what I believe... You have all of your rules about LOA, but I have my own rules, and they work for me. I'm not fearful about a dark or crowded place, and i'm not that fearful of heights. Maybe I'm a little fearful of bugs, spiders and such, but I think I'm coming to terms with that. (It's like," ok spiders, come and get me... I'm still so much bigger than you are"). I don't really want to kill anything at all, ever, but getting back to the intellectual understanding of the LOA, there aren't alot of conditions. I believe in it, and that's all that is.
Please don't try to kill that for me, I thought that you of all people, would encourage this. You really don't have to encourage it though, because I am certain of how it works in my life. You have already helped me more than you know.

[Acting Like Godot]

I'm not killing anything for you. As I said, if it works well for you, that's good for you.

I do think that there's lots and lots to learn about the LOA and the mind. I mean that in both the "intellectual understanding" and the "experiential ability" sense.

Here are a few examples, in the "experiential ability" sense:

1. Abraham talks about how you can create, if you simply hold the relevant thought for 68 seconds. Actually, it can be difficult to hold the relevant thought for even 20 seconds. Concentration is one of those abilities that can be developed with practice, but ... practice is needed.

2. Going to alpha is another skill that needs to be learned. Some people won't really be able to do this consistently, that is, maybe they succeed 2, 3 or 4 times out of 10 tries. Other people will have difficulty staying awake and alert in alpha - they may doze off or daydream randomly.

3. Doubt naturally arises, when you mentally try to do something which strikes you (to a lesser or greater degree, and due to your past conditioning) as unlikely, improbable or inherently impossible. Eg visualising yourself as slim, when you're actually very fat; or trying to mentally contact a long-lost friend, or holding a conversation with Jesus etc etc. Again it's a skill to be able to suspend that doubt.

4. Identifying your own limiting beliefs is another skill that needs to be learned. Many LOA beginners aren't actually very able to identify their own limiting beliefs; because they keep mistaking their own limiting beliefs for parts of an "objective" reality.

5. Managing your emotions is yet another skill. Many people are really just captives to their own emotions. If X happens, they feel happy; if Y happens, they feel sad; if Z happens, they feel angry. And so on.

6. Even visualisation is a skill that needs practice and cultivation.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by wachusettgirl

First of all, nothing is intuative or magical about the LOA, it is working in our lives all the time, continuously.

The thing is that a lot of that "continuous working" is just creation by default ... What we're interested in is expanding our ability to consciously create ....

[Dreamline]

Originally Posted by wachusettgirl

Not sure that I agree with any of the above. First of all, nothing is intuative or magical about the LOA, it is working in our lives all the time, continuously. It doesn't take lifetimes to "learn" how to ask, believe and recieve, it is happening now, and always.

I don't like The Secret being called just a brochure for LOA in such a dismissive manner either. This movie introduced me to the Law of Attraction, for which I will be forever grateful. I still watch it from time to time to be reminded of the most basic and solid principles of LOA (gratitude, visualization, belief), and to be reminded of the initial buzz of excitement that I felt the first time I watched it. I have introduced my family and friends to it, most of whom have benefitted enormously.

You are right. It's always working. But it's not always automatically working in our lives in an intentional fashion which is what learning about LOA is designed to teach. Random manifesting and intentional manifesting are very different and require very different abilities. So the "always working" aspect can be meaningless without the other learned skills.

The Secret was definitely a brochure. It was designed to teach a very narrow interpretation of LOA to the most people possible. The authors don't even deny that. You mistake my classification of it as "a brochure" for negativity or a put-down. Far from it. I adore The Secret and my life wouldn't be the same without it. It's in my personal LOA Hall of Fame, right when you walk in the door. The first exhibit.

It sounds like The Secret is all you have studied with LOA. If that is true, you should know there are innumerable other sources of similar wisdom that make it even easier to manifest once you allow them into your realm. If The Secret is not the only source of LOA wisdom you have studied, than you should know that it is literally only the tip of a magnificent iceburg of LOA knowledge. Which starts to seem a lot like a purposely simple introduction to what is a great body of knowledge. AKA: a brochure.

Originally Posted by Wachussettgirl

Yes, I agree, but why not allow it to be simple rather than difficult? Isn't that our choice?

Yes! It is!! Totally. And my choice is to see it as a quest. Because every single tiny new source of LOA knowledge I examine reveals an even deeper rabbit hole to me. A whole new exciting path. Massively interesting and seemingly infinite. So, in my world, the only one I can speak definitively about, mind you, LOA is not a tool to get stuff as much as a teaser to something even deeper and greater. I already have stuff. What I desire is gnosis.

But don't fault me for not interpreting LOA as you do, or as Godot does or as the guy in The Secret does. That's the beauty part of LOA: It literally becomes what you believe it will become. You believe it's easy way to manifest. I believe it's a path to sacred knowledge that humanity is destined to learn.

Jennifer

[Thomas]

Do they mention going to alpha in The Secret?

Also, but maybe for another thread: How do you go to alpha?

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Do they mention going to alpha in The Secret?

Nope .... But it's just a brochure.

Also, but maybe for another thread: How do you go to alpha?

Self-hypnosis; meditation; progressive muscular relaxation; deep, slow breathing; listening to one of those BrainSync tracks ....

[Thomas]

And alpha is a requirement for IM to work?

[Bradshaw]

Originally Posted by Thomas

And alpha is a requirement for IM to work?

No. So long as you think, you manifest.

But it helps. A lot.

[Dreamline]

I can vouch that alpha is not required to manifest but I have experimented also with different brain waves for manifesting. Jury is still out. I think it complicates an already fairly natural and intuitive process but I've only touched in it.

Jennifer

[Acting Like Godot]

Alpha, beta and theta are ranges of brainwave frequencies. Roughly beta is the fastest; alpha is slower; and theta is slowest.

In everyday waking consciousness, the average person is in the beta range most of the time, with occasional dips into the alpha range. He goes into alpha when he is very calm & relaxed, or falling asleep, and when he is in deep sleep, he is in the theta range. Agitated states (eg when the person is very stressed, frustrated, angry etc) are associated with high beta frequencies.

Problem is that for the average person, he only gets into extended alpha/theta when he falls asleep, and when he's asleep, he's not able to consciously create, mould or build his reality.

LOA practitioners want to learn to deliberately access the alpha state, yet stay alert, thereby being able to work on their intentions.

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

LOA practitioners want to learn to deliberately access the alpha state, yet stay alert, thereby being able to work on their intentions.

Because the main benefit of alpha waves is calmness?

[Dreamline]

I believe the theory is that since meditation is associated with increased manifestation, that there must be something about the alpha state that is key to manifesting.

I actually much more fascinated with, and likely to follow, the experiments with gamma brain waves. I have CDs from The Monroe Institute that may have isolated some gamma-stimulating effects with binaural sound entrainment.

The Monroe Institute

Jennifer

[Thomas]

Maybe it's because you are able to concentrate better on visualizing?