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Author
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Topic: Law of Attraction and Religious Environment
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MineAgain
Knowflake Posts: 1194
From: A Thousand Miles From Philadelphia
Registered: Nov 2013
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posted February 01, 2015 06:56 PM
  
I've been practicing the LOA for about two years now and I was living on my own when I started practicing. I moved back in (for a short period of time) with my extremely religious parents (basically, they talk about religion from morning to night). Unfortunately, the energy in this household is very toxic mainly because my parents don't even practice what they preach daily (long story). Anyway. I lately realized that I had no problem manifesting back when I was living on my own, but now I can't seem to be able to manifest anything! Nothing has changed in the way I apply it, however I can't concentrate. I always feel annoyed/bothered for no apparent reason. I'm not feeling "peaceful" and "stable" the way I used to. Do you think the energy/environment I'm in has an effect on the LOA's results?
LOA in this context: "The Secret" (Rhonda Byrne) which involves visualizing, vision boards and positive thinking. There is no ritual, prayer or spell involved. It doesn't involve any psychic ability. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Moderator Posts: 6113
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted February 01, 2015 07:39 PM
Makes sense to me. We're not the only ones generating energy or "creating reality" and just as contact highs (and lows) can be spread just by interaction, so can other psychic vibrations. And you have to be careful about that energy. I knew one person who was raised in a household like you described with a lot of sexual abuse that "God allowed." After she converted to a new denomination a priest blessed her apartment and soon after she was the victim of a serial rapist with the same name as the icon used. I don't believe this tragic event was a coincidence, rather it was how her mind manifested that energy based on the horrific abuse she suffered as a child in such a religious environment. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Moderator Posts: 6113
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted February 01, 2015 07:45 PM
Interesting enough I did an experiment with prayer (as some said I should), and I prayed for both likely and unlikely things. So many didn't come to be, even that which SHOULD, that the odds were just as amazing as if it had instead all come to be.Yet I seem to find magick all too easy (if potentially dangerous). So what gives? I have different ideas but my "most likely" theory is that it was from how I was raised with capricious parents that as a kid I knew I couldn't count on and were best avoided, and therefore praying to a God/dess manifested the anxious energy of asking Mom/Dad for something which sabotaged it. However, when I was 5 I woke up while the 'rents were too hung over and I was scared to wake them to feed me (since last time I did that Dad literally knocked me across the room with my feet off the floor and me not landing until I bounced off the wall). So I analyzed the problem and put a chair up to the cereal cabinet...still not high enough so I got a spatula which opened the cabinet but couldn't get the cereal, so I got a wooden spoon to help me pry it out (and catching it in my arms when I did). The rest was easy after that and as I ate a warm, positive feeling filled me that I'd done it myself and I wanted to do everything myself (and fell in love with books like those with Pippi who lived by herself), and I had the feeling that no matter how screwed up the adults I could still count on myself...and I believe that's why magick works for me (as I'm making it happen myself) while prayer does not. Put another way, had I instead fell and hurt myself that fateful day instead of getting the cereal then magick might not work for me either anymore than prayer. IP: Logged |
MineAgain
Knowflake Posts: 1194
From: A Thousand Miles From Philadelphia
Registered: Nov 2013
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posted February 01, 2015 08:03 PM
Thanks Pixie. However, I don't think we have the same definition of the law of attraction. You probably misunderstood my post. I'm referring to the LOA as in "The Secret", vision boards and so on ... It's not magic in any way, just the power of thoughts and positive thinking. It doesn't involve any praying at all, only visualizations and positive thinking. There is no "ritual" or prayer involved. That said, when I say "toxic energy", it doesn't involve sexual abuse. There are all sorts of toxic family environments. I know it was just an example ... IP: Logged |
florence
Knowflake Posts: 846
From:
Registered: Jun 2012
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posted February 01, 2015 08:12 PM
Wanting something too badly is supposed to not help. Maybe that desire is greater when you are in an unhappy environment. also rather than try attract things you think will make you happy maybe relinquish control a little and visualise being happy so you aren't trying for something wrong for you. Id imagine that will help not want it too badlyIP: Logged |
PixieJane
Moderator Posts: 6113
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted February 01, 2015 08:17 PM
The LOA is that our thoughts create reality, yes? I know that's how some define it, they believe that if you're positive then good things will happen to you, but if negative then you have only yourself to blame.And it seems to me that people who believe this also believe that others don't have an affect, that is it's literally magical thinking like children engage in who believe everything that happens is because of something they said, did, or even thought (like "my brother fell off the swing because I was angry at him" though some might modify it as "because he felt guilty/scared"). Obviously, I don't accept the LOA as popularly understood (and I have seen The Secret, btw, though it was many years ago). However, I have noticed that UNCONSCIOUS thoughts have a lot of power with synchronicity (or what some call "coinci-dance"). As an example I knew a witch who cast money spells and though it worked every time something would sabotage it (for example, she once got over $200 but then her cat was mauled and the vet bill to sew her cat back up was almost to the dollar of what she gained) so she instead worked on her subconscious belief that she would always be in poverty, and it worked...not only did her spell work really well but she even got retroactive pay for like a year as well as getting to keep it! I started a thread on how the subconscious can manifest patterns in real life called Manifesting Patterns. And that's what I think on the ACTUAL LOA as opposed to the promoted LOA, so if you want to see my thoughts on that then it's there. OTOH, if you want to believe that you alone are generating reality (and doing so consciously) then I'd suggest "attracting" a guide or a dream that can help you understand it. (Btw, you might find solipsism interesting to learn about, and note that it can be compatible with such religious paths as Zen Buddhism.) IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Moderator Posts: 6113
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted February 01, 2015 08:18 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MineAgain:
That said, when I say "toxic energy", it doesn't involve sexual abuse. There are all sorts of toxic family environments. I know it was just an example ...
Exactly, that was an extreme example. In your case I was suggesting you look to how your "manifestations" are comparable to how you were treated as a child, not that you were identical to this other person.
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PixieJane
Moderator Posts: 6113
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted February 01, 2015 10:27 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MineAgain:
LOA in this context: "The Secret" (Rhonda Byrne) which involves visualizing, vision boards and positive thinking. There is no ritual, prayer or spell involved. It doesn't involve any psychic ability.
I'll just say one more thing: I don't see a difference between them, at least once you scratch the surface paint off. It's all about the mind creating reality, not gods or other forces outside one's self (at least not in the dichotomous sense). I also see the power of other minds affecting yours just as you affect theirs (and that can be from prayer to how they think about you, especially when you're living with them). (ETA: for more on the above see my response at 3:40 AM on the thread here asking about the difference between as spell and a prayer.) And I'm quite serious about looking into solipsism, it might help you in that I believe it could inspire you to find a reason why LOA doesn't seem to be working for you in this circumstance. That is to say I didn't recommend that to you so that you could learn that "I am right" (I'm not a solipsist, though I find it an interesting school of thought) but rather help you figure out why the LOA of your mind is still real as you conceive it but misfiring in this case. If I believed in the LOA in the same way you did then that is what I would do to figure it out, that and psychology on what my own mind was doing in this specific environment. (And Zen Buddhism might prove helpful as well, particularly the Rinzai school and their gardens on how a single mind/pebble can change everything but is also connected to everything so that everything can change it as well.) IP: Logged |
florence
Knowflake Posts: 846
From:
Registered: Jun 2012
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posted February 02, 2015 04:41 AM
Interesting about discoridianism. Sometimes I think I've been entered into this kind of mindfk to break down my realities. Can't really tell if this has been positive but I feel freer from people and outcomes. Eris conjunct my Mercury. Someone lent me a book which seems along the lines of solipsism ... The idea that a God didn't create us but that we created God/universe which makes sense to me but I became afraid that allowing that idea could be dangerous without a disciplined mind. I do though think we are all interconnected - universe is in us, we are in the universe. Which is why I think it's possible to feel sex with others remotely. Or, telepathy etc. I've manifested quite a few scenarios but to me they always seemed superficially. The problem is that if you don't truly believe you deserve to enjoy those things, it's not going to be real on a level. Also, realised that since so many people's joys in life come from things unexpectedly, that they might not imagine bringing happiness, but that do - you'd really have to be very tuned in in lieu of having a complete overview. Plus, I think we lie to ourselves. I thought I wanted to marry someone once but in reality I've always enjoyed my own space or living independently. A good exercise to work out if you really want what you think you do is to imagine an ideal day - from where you wake up, to with who, everything you'd like to do. If people did that more they'd probably identify so many misplaced priorities. My aunt who believes in LOA wouldn't buy a bed that was too feminine in case it wouldn't attract a man to live with her but I think why not just attract someone who doesn't care what bed you have lol. Myself, I don't even try now because my unconscious is so unhealthy and probably other reasons that I'd have to think about. Maybe that I think really life would be dull if we got what we think we want. And, I really can imagine myself in some before-life room saying yes, I'll have that tricky path because I want to overcome those challenges. Think now I believe in myself and maybe only myself - like you as a child Pixie. And is that why some of us are more likely to turn to these things - we feel we have so little control and destiny is so shaped by others are more likely to hope those outside forces can be shaped by us in return. But I do have a feeling these methods can reinforce and replicate those circumstances if you don't dig deep first - again relates to the Buddhism you mentioned Pixie. IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 51051
From: Saturn next to Charmaine
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 13, 2015 01:55 PM
I think environment would matter.IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 51051
From: Saturn next to Charmaine
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 22, 2015 10:45 PM
Bump!IP: Logged |
Gabby
Moderator Posts: 5702
From:
Registered: Sep 2012
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posted February 23, 2015 10:20 PM
Environment is huge!! IP: Logged |
Padre35
Knowflake Posts: 3932
From: Asheville, NC, US
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted February 26, 2015 12:54 AM
Sort of, the difference is a religious household operates under a sowing and reaping energy."As you sow, so shall you reap" For example the law of attraction is more aligned with manifesting through trading energy with the universe. IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 51051
From: Saturn next to Charmaine
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 27, 2015 06:48 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Padre35:
Sort of, the difference is a religious household operates under a sowing and reaping energy."As you sow, so shall you reap" For example the law of attraction is more aligned with manifesting through trading energy with the universe.
IP: Logged |
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