The Law of Attraction and my brand new iPad: How it manifested

According to Law of Attraction dictates, if we are to attract what we desire in life, we must to think about our desired object a lot, believe deeply that we will unquestionably receive it, and feel as excited now as we will when we receive it. In other words, we must raise our vibration to the level of the desired thing and it can’t resist us; it will naturally be drawn our way.

I’m not sure at what level a penthouse condo, S-class Mercedes, complete healing from an incurable disease or a famine-free life vibrates, so how does one match it? I also haven’t a clue how much time I must think about something before it actually materializes. On last week’s post about the Law of Attraction, a frustrated commenter mentioned that she’d been following the LOA dictates for years, and had concluded that she must be doing something wrong because she wasn’t materializing her desires.

If it doesn’t work, it means that I didn’t work it

Really. She thinks she’s the problem. Are we now blaming the victim rather than the misleading interpretation and misguided application of the Law of Attraction?

It appears to be very natural for us to give credence to the written word—particularly if it’s popular in our culture. Never mind that the words often contradict each other or they tell us to expect things that are implausible. We blindly believe in the expected outcomes, even after our lives and the lives of everyone around us fail to produce the predicted outcomes.

Cashing in on spiritual law

One thing was predictable to the producers of “The Secret” movie and other copycat media: human behavior. Humans crave control, and they would be magnetically attracted to a playbook that gives them the instructions to control their outcomes.

As for the millions who received no return on their investment, the response is typically: They must not have followed the steps correctly. They didn’t really, really believe in their heart of hearts that they could actually receive their desired outcome. Consider this: Maybe their “happy” frequency wasn’t high enough to attract that new home or complete reversal of terminal illness. Or, as someone recently told me, perhaps they simply didn’t believe that they deserved it. If we don’t believe it, it’s not going to happen.

Commercialized Law of Attraction’s Achilles’ heel

And that brings us to the Achilles heel of the commercialized version of this very spiritual law: surprises and disappointments. Not one enthusiast who has earned money espousing the virtues of LOA can prove or even claim that things always happen according to their dominant thoughts, visualizations of their desired objects or situations, beliefs in a certain outcome or emotions our beliefs about that outcome. Like everyone else, the only time they experience a deep disappointment is when they did all that and things didn’t materialize the way they envisioned.

If we follow their claims to their logical conclusion, what they’re saying is that if things never cross our minds and we don’t expect them, they will never manifest. Have these enthusiasts ever been surprised—pleasantly or unpleasantly? Of course. Will they stop trying to sell us material that insists we can do things to control every outcome? Probably not because humans predictably believe—and buy—without thinking.

Laws produce the same outcome for everyone. Otherwise it’s merely a possibility. But who’s going to pay for a book or a movie about that? Tell ’em it’s an ancient “secret.”

Bless their hearts, they found a way to commercialize karma–and in doing so, created some of their own because they know that nobody anywhere ever has gotten everything he or she wanted. If it was a law, everybody would. Laws produce the same results 100% of the time–whether they are spiritual laws or physical laws.

The Law of Surprise

I know: Maybe we should call it the “Law of Surprise.” After all, the outcome is the same for everyone: Whenever it happens, it’s unexpected. Always.

Such was the case earlier this week when I attended a seminar and entered a drawing to win an iPad. Everyone in the room wanted that iPad. I know that because when they asked prior to the drawing whether anyone had not yet registered, no one raised a hand.

The iPad wasn’t the only prize. There were three lovely mugs and several vases of flowers. I literally tried to become invisible during those drawings: I already have an enviable collection of mugs. Some are collectors items. So, no more mugs, please. And, since I was going to a meeting immediately after the seminar, I didn’t want to lug a vase full of flowers with me, either.

My eyes were still avoiding the front of the room when I heard the words “iPad” and “Pat Arnold” in the same breath. I was stunned! I’m one of those people who never wins anything really cool, and I had no expectation of breaking my streak.

But I did. Now, as my daughter squealed when I surprised her with an iPad at Christmas a couple of years ago, “My Apple Universe is complete!” And it happened while I was focused on what I didn’t want. Imagine that.

The physical realm does not control the spiritual realm

Here’s the thing: The Law of Attraction is a spiritual law. It applies exclusively to the spirit realm, just as physical laws exclusively apply to the physical realm.

Spiritual and physical laws also are not interchangeable. For example, physical law restricts physical beings and objects to one place at a time, no matter how much we desire to be in several. Spiritual law has no such restriction; invisible spirit can be everywhere at once.

Let me phrase it another way for those who believe that we are spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience: LOA applies to the invisible, immortal you: the soul that is temporarily wearing a human body costume. The law does not apply to the costume.

Your costume, which is limited both in nature, power and life span, has no ability or authority to successfully trump, direct or place demands on the spiritual realm, or manipulate spiritual laws for its benefit. But many have tried.

We may be confused, but LOA isn’t

The spiritual Law of Attraction says whatever you put out, you get back; what goes around comes around. Spiritually, it is simply another word for “karma.” Many confuse karma with punishment; but karma is merely the natural reciprocal for every action, including the good we do. That’s why LOA is also called the Law of Reciprocity.

Unlike the physical world, in the world of spirit, balance is always maintained. Scripturally, it’s been expressed as “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”—a bit graphic, but I think they wanted us to get the point. The way I express it is: “Whatever you do will be done to you.” Some might find that a bit graphic, too, depending upon what they’ve done.

From the Balcony of Life, there’s a bigger picture and broader context than is visible to those on stage. From here, it appears that our karma is not always balanced while we are playing a certain role and wearing a particular body costume. That is why so many of us tend to think that life is unfair. But our actions don’t stick like glue to the body costume that we’ll eventually slip out of. It sticks to us—as immortal souls.

That is the Law, and we should think about that before doing something to someone that we would not want done to us. Because it will.

Who’s directing the show?

Manifesting my shiny new iPad was the perfect punctuation for last week’s post about humans’ egoic belief that we control everything, including spiritual laws. I view my unexpected gift as a hat-tip and a wink from the Universe. (Thanks so much for the encouragement to continue speaking the truth from the Balcony of Life!)

How does LOA explain my unexpected windfall? It can’t, because what happens in life is more than the physical eye can see and the physical brain can comprehend—or control. I was simply lucky that day. That’s always a possibility.

 

Did the Law of Attraction manifest my free iPad?

According to Law of Attraction dictates, if we are to attract what we desire in life, we must to think about our desired object a lot, believe deeply that we will unquestionably receive it, and feel as excited now as we will when we receive it. In other words, we must raise our vibration to the level of the desired thing and it can’t resist us; it will naturally be drawn our way.

I’m not sure at what level a penthouse condo, S-class Mercedes, complete healing from an incurable disease or a famine-free life vibrates, so how does one match it? I also haven’t a clue how much time I must think about something before it actually materializes. On last week’s post about the Law of Attraction, a frustrated commenter mentioned that she’d been following the LOA dictates for years, and had concluded that she must be doing something wrong because she wasn’t materializing her desires.

If it doesn’t work, it means that I didn’t work it

Really. She thinks she’s the problem. Are we now blaming the victim rather than the misleading interpretation and misguided application of the Law of Attraction?

It appears to be very natural for us to give credence to the written word—particularly if it’s popular in our culture. Never mind that the words often contradict each other or they tell us to expect things that are implausible. We blindly believe in the expected outcomes, even after our lives and the lives of everyone around us fail to produce the predicted outcomes.

Cashing in on spiritual law

One thing was predictable to the producers of “The Secret” movie and other copycat media: human behavior. Humans crave control, and they would be magnetically attracted to a playbook that gives them the instructions to control their outcomes.

As for the millions who received no return on their investment, the response is typically: They must not have followed the steps correctly. They didn’t really, really believe in their heart of hearts that they could actually receive their desired outcome. Consider this: Maybe their “happy” frequency wasn’t high enough to attract that new home or complete reversal of terminal illness. Or, as someone recently told me, perhaps they simply didn’t believe that they deserved it. If we don’t believe it, it’s not going to happen.

Commercialized Law of Attraction’s Achilles’ heel

And that brings us to the Achilles heel of the commercialized version of this very spiritual law: surprises and disappointments. Not one enthusiast who has earned money espousing the virtues of LOA can prove or even claim that things always happen according to their dominant thoughts, visualizations of their desired objects or situations, beliefs in a certain outcome or emotions our beliefs about that outcome. Like everyone else, the only time they experience a deep disappointment is when they did all that and things didn’t materialize the way they envisioned.

If we follow their claims to their logical conclusion, what they’re saying is that if things never cross our minds and we don’t expect them, they will never manifest. Have these enthusiasts ever been surprised—pleasantly or unpleasantly? Of course. Will they stop trying to sell us material that insists we can do things to control every outcome? Probably not because humans predictably believe—and buy—without thinking.

Laws produce the same outcome for everyone. Otherwise it’s merely a possibility. But who’s going to pay for a book or a movie about that? Tell ’em it’s an ancient “secret.”

Bless their hearts, they found a way to commercialize karma–and in doing so, created some of their own because they know that nobody anywhere ever has gotten everything he or she wanted. If it was a law, everybody would. Laws produce the same results 100% of the time–whether they are spiritual laws or physical laws.

The Law of Surprise

I know: Maybe we should call it the “Law of Surprise.” After all, the outcome is the same for everyone: Whenever it happens, it’s unexpected. Always.

Such was the case earlier this week when I attended a seminar and entered a drawing to win an iPad. Everyone in the room wanted that iPad. I know that because when they asked prior to the drawing whether anyone had not yet registered, no one raised a hand.

The iPad wasn’t the only prize. There were three lovely mugs and several vases of flowers. I literally tried to become invisible during those drawings: I already have an enviable collection of mugs. Some are collectors items. So, no more mugs, please. And, since I was going to a meeting immediately after the seminar, I didn’t want to lug a vase full of flowers with me, either.

My eyes were still avoiding the front of the room when I heard the words “iPad” and “Pat Arnold” in the same breath. I was stunned! I’m one of those people who never wins anything really cool, and I had no expectation of breaking my streak.

But I did. Now, as my daughter squealed when I surprised her with an iPad at Christmas a couple of years ago, “My Apple Universe is complete!” And it happened while I was focused on what I didn’t want. Imagine that.

The physical realm does not control the spiritual realm

Here’s the thing: The Law of Attraction is a spiritual law. It applies exclusively to the spirit realm, just as physical laws exclusively apply to the physical realm.

Spiritual and physical laws also are not interchangeable. For example, physical law restricts physical beings and objects to one place at a time, no matter how much we desire to be in several. Spiritual law has no such restriction; invisible spirit can be everywhere at once.

Let me phrase it another way for those who believe that we are spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience: LOA applies to the invisible, immortal you: the soul that is temporarily wearing a human body costume. The law does not apply to the costume.

Your costume, which is limited both in nature, power and life span, has no ability or authority to successfully trump, direct or place demands on the spiritual realm, or manipulate spiritual laws for its benefit. But many have tried.

We may be confused, but LOA isn’t

The spiritual Law of Attraction says whatever you put out, you get back; what goes around comes around. Spiritually, it is simply another word for “karma.” Many confuse karma with punishment; but karma is merely the natural reciprocal for every action, including the good we do. That’s why LOA is also called the Law of Reciprocity.

Unlike the physical world, in the world of spirit, balance is always maintained. Scripturally, it’s been expressed as “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”—a bit graphic, but I think they wanted us to get the point. The way I express it is: “Whatever you do will be done to you.” Some might find that a bit graphic, too, depending upon what they’ve done.

From the Balcony of Life, there’s a bigger picture and broader context than is visible to those on stage. From here, it appears that our karma is not always balanced while we are playing a certain role and wearing a particular body costume. That is why so many of us tend to think that life is unfair. But our actions don’t stick like glue to the body costume that we’ll eventually slip out of. It sticks to us—as immortal souls.

That is the Law, and we should think about that before doing something to someone that we would not want done to us. Because it will.

Who’s directing the show?

Manifesting my shiny new iPad was the perfect punctuation for last week’s post about humans’ egoic belief that we control everything, including spiritual laws. I view my unexpected gift as a hat-tip and a wink from the Universe. (Thanks so much for the encouragement to continue speaking the truth from the Balcony of Life!)

How does LOA explain my unexpected windfall? It can’t, because what happens in life is more than the physical eye can see and the physical brain can comprehend—or control. I was simply lucky that day. That’s always a possibility.

 

Law of Attraction “secrets” that #LOA enthusiasts never mention

The Law of Attraction has been the focus of several conversations within the past week, inspiring me to update the book I wrote on the topic several years ago, Crossing an Unseen Bridge: The Law of Attraction Secrets No One Wants to Talk About. I’ve put it near the top of my to-do list. In the meantime, I’ll discuss it here.

For those who have heard the term “Law of Attraction” or have seen the hashtag “#LOA” but are not sure what it means, let’s first look at what a law is and isn’t, what it does and doesn’t do:

Laws produce the same result every time for everybody

First and foremost, laws are predictable. They produce the same result every time for everybody. That’s what distinguishes a law from a possibility. Imagine this: You’re going to a football game and every seat in the stadium is filled. You can predict with certainty that not one seat will suddenly be vacated because its occupant randomly floated into outer space.

Why? Because the Law of Gravity grounds every edifice to the planet, including that stadium; ditto for every seat in the stadium and every physical being or object occupying a seat.

This phenomenon doesn’t happen occasionally or frequently. It’s governed by a physical law. Consequently, there are no flying buildings or flying people—unless you’ve heard of instances of which I am not aware. If so, please share.

Laws don’t require human intervention

We don’t have to do anything to invoke the laws of gravity or attraction. We don’t have to read books or attend seminars to learn how to use these laws for our benefit. They are in effect all the time, without our awareness, intervention or facilitation.

Many disagree, starting with the creators of the 2006 “The Secret” movie and Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling book of the same title. They claim that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work unless we work it.

They contend that with some effort, we can attract everything we want or need. All we have to do is:

• Repeatedly think about the object, situation or person of our desire (i.e., make it our dominant thought),
• Believe that it will manifest, and
• Maintain positive emotions that our desired outcome will manifest. The more gleeful we feel, the higher our vibration and the more likely it is that we will match the vibration of our desired thing.

If humans can manipulate the Law of Attraction to produce what they want, everyone who has followed these steps consistently receives what he or she wants, without one exception because laws produce the same results for all.

If we follow the same directions and get a different result, it is not a law

Since 2006, more than a million people have seen the “Secret” movie, bought the book, paid for seminars and practiced the principles espoused by the motivational speakers who appeared in them. Some of them got precisely what they desired—but not everyone. That would be a clue.

Sometimes we ignore clues. During a 2008 show that focused on what I call the commercialized version of the Law of Attraction, a couple of women had LOA testimonials. One claimed that because she decided to think positively about her husband’s surprise lay-off, and celebrate rather than mourn when he returned home, he landed an even better job weeks later. (One might ask what she was thinking before he was laid-off, if LOA did all that.)

Oprah shared an LOA testimonial of her own: She claimed that she had attracted a beautiful silver bubble blower from Tiffany & Co., just minutes after declaring to a guest who was making phenomenal bubbles that she’d love to have a bubble blower.

Wow! What a powerful demonstration of LOA, she thought. I didn’t. And she confirmed it when she finished the story:

In the next breath, Oprah told the audience that her assistant had given her that bubble blower from Tiffany & Co. several months earlier. Yes, months before a bubble blower was even on Oprah’s radar, let alone on her wish list, that gift had sat in her office, unopened. Her assistant brought the gift to Oprah’s attention after she mentioned it on the air.

Not to disparage Oprah. I like her personally. We socialized when we worked together at ABC-7 years ago. I’ve brought in a New Year at her home; I think she’s cool people and would never do or say anything to intentionally mislead anyone. But not only did she drink the LOA Kool-Aid, she gave credit to LOA that belonged to her poor assistant who’d been waiting for months for her gift to be opened.

I remember that incident so vividly because it inspired me to write “Crossing an Unseen Bridge.” Thank you, Girlfriend!

We must think before believing

If life worked as LOA disciples claim, everyone who follows its prescribed steps would attract their desired result. There would be no exceptions: Every sick person who wanted to be healed would be. Everybody who didn’t want to die would not. Everybody would be admitted to the college at the top of their list. Everybody would land the job and marry the mate of their desire.

People in countries who desperately want clean water, access to affordable healthcare and an end to war would receive that. And everyone who wants a lovely gift in a Tiffany box within minutes of expressing a desire for one. In fact, banish the thought, everyone who wanted to be released from prison would simply have to focus on their freedom, visualize themselves on the outside, and feel the ecstasy of that moment when they walk out of the pokey. Whoo hoo! Freedom! Praise LOA! Hallelujah, amen!

There are a number of other secrets that LOA enthusiasts don’t tell us. I’ll share them with you next week, starting with this little factoid: The monetized version of the Law of Attraction pretends that two words don’t exist in our vocabulary: Surprise and disappointment. In fact, you might call it LOA’s Achilles’ heel.

Know that I love you much—and I encourage you to keep thinking before believing.

Law of Attraction “secrets” #LOA enthusiasts never mention

The Law of Attraction has been the focus of several conversations within the past week, inspiring me to update the book I wrote on the topic several years ago, Crossing an Unseen Bridge: The Law of Attraction Secrets No One Wants to Talk About. I’ve put it near the top of my to-do list. In the meantime, I’ll discuss it here.

For those who have heard the term “Law of Attraction” or have seen the hashtag “#LOA” but are not sure what it means, let’s first look at what a law is and isn’t, what it does and doesn’t do:

Laws produce the same result every time for everybody

First and foremost, laws are predictable. They produce the same result every time for everybody. That’s what distinguishes a law from a possibility. Imagine this: You’re going to a football game and every seat in the stadium is filled. You can predict with certainty that not one seat will suddenly be vacated because its occupant randomly floated into outer space.

Why? Because the Law of Gravity grounds every edifice to the planet, including that stadium; ditto for every seat in the stadium and every physical being or object occupying a seat.

This phenomenon doesn’t happen occasionally or frequently. It’s governed by a physical law. Consequently, there are no flying buildings or flying people—unless you’ve heard of instances of which I am not aware. If so, please share.

Laws don’t require human intervention

We don’t have to do anything to invoke the laws of gravity or attraction. We don’t have to read books or attend seminars to learn how to use these laws for our benefit. They are in effect all the time, without our awareness, intervention or facilitation.

Many disagree, starting with the creators of the 2006 “The Secret” movie and Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling book of the same title. They claim that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work unless we work it.

They contend that with some effort, we can attract everything we want or need. All we have to do is:

• Repeatedly think about the object, situation or person of our desire (i.e., make it our dominant thought),
• Believe that it will manifest, and
• Maintain positive emotions that our desired outcome will manifest. The more gleeful we feel, the higher our vibration and the more likely it is that we will match the vibration of our desired thing.

If humans can manipulate the Law of Attraction to produce what they want, everyone who has followed these steps consistently receives what he or she wants, without one exception because laws produce the same results for all.

If we follow the same directions and get a different result, it is not a law

Since 2006, more than a million people have seen the “Secret” movie, bought the book, paid for seminars and practiced the principles espoused by the motivational speakers who appeared in them. Some of them got precisely what they desired—but not everyone. That would be a clue.

Sometimes we ignore clues. During a 2008 show that focused on what I call the commercialized version of the Law of Attraction, a couple of women had LOA testimonials. One claimed that because she decided to think positively about her husband’s surprise lay-off, and celebrate rather than mourn when he returned home, he landed an even better job weeks later. (One might ask what she was thinking before he was laid-off, if LOA did all that.)

Oprah shared an LOA testimonial of her own: She claimed that she had attracted a beautiful silver bubble blower from Tiffany & Co., just minutes after declaring to a guest who was making phenomenal bubbles that she’d love to have a bubble blower.

Wow! What a powerful demonstration of LOA, she thought. I didn’t. And she confirmed it when she finished the story:

In the next breath, Oprah told the audience that her assistant had given her that bubble blower from Tiffany & Co. several months earlier. Yes, months before a bubble blower was even on Oprah’s radar, let alone on her wish list, that gift had sat in her office, unopened. Her assistant brought the gift to Oprah’s attention after she mentioned it on the air.

Not to disparage Oprah. I like her personally. We socialized when we worked together at ABC-7 years ago. I’ve brought in a New Year at her home; I think she’s cool people and would never do or say anything to intentionally mislead anyone. But not only did she drink the LOA Kool-Aid, she gave credit to LOA that belonged to her poor assistant who’d been waiting for months for her gift to be opened.

I remember that incident so vividly because it inspired me to write “Crossing an Unseen Bridge.” Thank you, Girlfriend!

We must think before believing

If life worked as LOA disciples claim, everyone who follows its prescribed steps would attract their desired result. There would be no exceptions: Every sick person who wanted to be healed would be. Everybody who didn’t want to die would not. Everybody would be admitted to the college at the top of their list. Everybody would land the job and marry the mate of their desire.

People in countries who desperately want clean water, access to affordable healthcare and an end to war would receive that. And everyone who wants a lovely gift in a Tiffany box within minutes of expressing a desire for one. In fact, banish the thought, everyone who wanted to be released from prison would simply have to focus on their freedom, visualize themselves on the outside, and feel the ecstasy of that moment when they walk out of the pokey. Whoo hoo! Freedom! Praise LOA! Hallelujah, amen!

There are a number of other secrets that LOA enthusiasts don’t tell us. I’ll share them with you next week, starting with this little factoid: The monetized version of the Law of Attraction pretends that two words don’t exist in our vocabulary: Surprise and disappointment. In fact, you might call it LOA’s Achilles’ heel.

Know that I love you much—and I encourage you to keep thinking before believing.