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Is the LOA Spiritual?
Practicing the "law of attraction" as taught by the movie The Secret basically breaks down into "my will be done."
Practicing the spiritual teachings as taught by Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Jesus, Krishna, and so on, breaks down into "Thy will be done."
That's a huge difference.
So, is practicing the LOA really a spiritual practice if it's constantly fueling the desires of the ego instead of surrendering the ego and its workings to God/Truth/Love?
When looked at in this light, the LOA is all about the me, mine and I, while true spiritual practices are all about losing the me, mine and I.
It's no wonder that it's said that "God laughs at our plans". We're all too eager to try to control every aspect of our life, but where does that leave the perfect infallible Will of God that always knows what's in the best interest of All? (That which is everything, knows everything.)
A Zen Master once said "Don’t try to win. Go out with nothing in your mind. Give up the thought, 'This is how I’m going to win.'"
Aurobindo taught that "None of us are here to 'do as we like', or to create a world in which we shall at last be able to do as we like; we are here to do what the Divine wills and to create a world in which the Divine Will can manifest its truth no longer deformed by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated by vital desire."
It's important to remember that the word "spiritual" refers to the non-material and non-physical, so the practice of spirituality is the evolving beyond the material & materiality.
A Course in Miracles says "Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no need for driven behavior of any kind." Since this quote is taken out of the context of the whole I should make clear that by "have everything" it means "are everything". And that's what Oneness is; all of existence is Oneself. What's there to get, gain or obtain when you are already the Allness of Existence?
Practicing the spiritual teachings as taught by Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Jesus, Krishna, and so on, breaks down into "Thy will be done."
That's a huge difference.
So, is practicing the LOA really a spiritual practice if it's constantly fueling the desires of the ego instead of surrendering the ego and its workings to God/Truth/Love?
When looked at in this light, the LOA is all about the me, mine and I, while true spiritual practices are all about losing the me, mine and I.
It's no wonder that it's said that "God laughs at our plans". We're all too eager to try to control every aspect of our life, but where does that leave the perfect infallible Will of God that always knows what's in the best interest of All? (That which is everything, knows everything.)
A Zen Master once said "Don’t try to win. Go out with nothing in your mind. Give up the thought, 'This is how I’m going to win.'"
Aurobindo taught that "None of us are here to 'do as we like', or to create a world in which we shall at last be able to do as we like; we are here to do what the Divine wills and to create a world in which the Divine Will can manifest its truth no longer deformed by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated by vital desire."
It's important to remember that the word "spiritual" refers to the non-material and non-physical, so the practice of spirituality is the evolving beyond the material & materiality.
A Course in Miracles says "Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no need for driven behavior of any kind." Since this quote is taken out of the context of the whole I should make clear that by "have everything" it means "are everything". And that's what Oneness is; all of existence is Oneself. What's there to get, gain or obtain when you are already the Allness of Existence?
Labels: a course in miracles, gandhi, god, law of attraction, spiritual, spirituality, the secret
posted by Jarett | Friday, July 31, 2009
4 Comments:
Isn't intention important? To do what you are here to do, don't you need intent? e.g. Mother Theresa needed to have the intent to help the poor. She aligned herself with the universe and the universe responded.
As with everything, it all depends on one's current level of understanding/consciousness. Intent is very important, until you reach the point where even intent is surrendered. Mother Teresa said very clearly that she was not the doer of deeds, but that she was "God's pencil." Gandhi, the Bhagavad Gita and numerous ancient Buddhist teachers also all stressed that "there is no doer" because the individual entity we call "self" or "me" no longer exists. The little self was surrendered for a higher Truth. If there are no longer thoughts (by a self) being thunk, there is obviously no intent.
Lao - my will being done.
So very true.
The last sentence you have "when there are no longer thoughts being thunk" sort of implies that thoughts stop happening.
I imagine that thoughts keep happening but that there is no-one to take ownership of them.
It is a materialistic view of ancient wisdom. Portrayed in a way to grab the attention of a mass audience the real truth of the matter is very subtle.
You make good points.
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