The Law of Attraction - A Reflective View

We are all becoming over powered by the amount of information and hype on the law of attraction following the film “The Secret”. In this article I would like to take a reflective look at the concepts as they have been presented to us unknowingly in the past.

To commence the reflection I would like to quote from James Allen.

I looked around upon the world, and saw that it was shadowed by sorrow and scorched by the fierce fires of suffering. And I looked for the cause. I looked around, but could not find it; I looked in books, but could not find it; I looked within, and found there both the cause and the self-made nature of that cause. I looked again, and deeper, and found the remedy.

I found one Law, the Law of Love; one Life, the Life of adjustment to that Law; one Truth, the truth of a conquered mind and a quiet and obedient heart. And I dreamed of writing a book which should help men and women, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, worldly or unworldly, to find within themselves the source of all success, all happiness, all accomplishment, all truth. And the dream remained with me, and at last became substantial; and now I send it forth into the world on its mission of healing and blessedness, knowing that it cannot fail to reach the homes and hearts of those who are waiting and ready to receive it. I bring you the law of attraction.

We all remember with what intense delight, as children, we listened to the never-tiring fairy-tale. How eagerly we followed the fluctuating fortunes of the good boy or girl, ever protected, in the hour of crisis, from the evil machinations of the scheming witch, the cruel giant, or the wicked king.

And our little hearts never faltered for the fate of the hero or heroine, nor did we doubt their ultimate triumph over all their enemies, for we knew that the good guys were infallible, and that they would never desert those who had consecrated themselves to the good and the true.

And what unspeakable joy pulsated within us when they won the day, scattered all the darkness and trouble, and were granted all their hopes, and they were "happy ever after."

With the accumulating years, and an ever-increasing intimacy with the so-called “realities" of life, our beautiful fairy-world became obliterated, and its wonderful inhabitants were relegated, in the archives of memory, to the shadowy and unreal.

And we were told we were wise and strong in leaving for ever the land of childish dreams, but as we re-become adults in the wondrous world of wisdom, we long to return again to the inspiring dreams of childhood and wish that they are realities.

Our beliefs show us that there is no evil in the universe but it has its root and origin in the mind, and sin, sickness, sorrow, and affliction do not, in reality, belong to the universal order, are not inherent in the nature of things, but are the direct outcome of our ignorance of the right relations of things.

According to tradition, there once lived, in India, a school of philosophers who led a life of such absolute purity and simplicity that they commonly reached the age of one hundred and fifty years, and to fall sick was looked upon by them as an unpardonable disgrace, for it was considered to indicate a violation of universal law. It was their belief that disease comes to those who attract it, to those whose minds and bodies are receptive to it, and flees from those whose strong, pure, and positive thought-sphere generates healing and life-giving currents.

A couple of older quotes show the length of time the Law of Attractions has been with us simply under the term the law
If you are given to anger, worry, jealousy, greed, or any other inharmonious state of mind, and expect perfect physical health, you are expecting the impossible, for you are continually sowing the seeds of disease in your mind. Such conditions of mind are carefully shunned by the wise man, following the law of attraction, for he knows them to be far more dangerous than a bad drain or an infected house. (Written by an unknown writer in the late 1890’s)

A further reference to our minds power is found in an article by W Atkinson in 1906
If you would be free from all physical aches and pains, and would enjoy perfect physical harmony, then put your mind in order, and harmonize your thoughts. Think joyful thoughts; think loving thoughts; let the elixir of goodwill course through your veins, and you will need no other medicine. Put away your jealousies, your suspicions, your worries, your hatreds, your selfish indulgences, and you will put away your dyspepsia, your biliousness, your nervousness and aching joints.

We now know that true health and true success go together, for they are inseparably intertwined in the thought-realm. As mental harmony produces bodily health, so it also leads to a harmonious sequence in the actual working out of one's plans.

Two articles from the late 17th century also reflect on the law of attraction and our junction with the law.

Item 1
By the power of faith every enduring work is accomplished. Faith in the Supreme; faith in the over-ruling Law; faith in your work, and in your power to accomplish that work, -here is the rock t e universal Law of Attraction, upon which you must build if you would achieve, if you would stand and not fall.

Item 2
To follow, under all circumstances, the highest promptings within you; to be always true to the divine self; to rely upon the inward Light, the inward Voice, and to pursue your purpose with a fearless and restful heart, believing that the future will yield unto you the meed of every thought and effort; knowing that the laws of the universe can never fail, and that your own will come back to you with mathematical exactitude, this is faith and the living of faith.

There are those today, men and women tabernacled in flesh and blood, who have realized this faith, who live in it and by it day by day, and who, having put it to the uttermost test, have entered into the possession of its glory and peace.

So in closing this article I want you to be assured that what we talk about today has been with us through the ages. See the wheat from the chaff, question what you read and hear as the miracles being portrayed from the Law of Attraction may not be true, but go forward in the sound knowledge the law is with us and will be as we move forward.

Mere wishing brings nothing but disappointment; it is living that tells.
The foolish wish and grumble; the wise, work and wait.