The law of attraction is a big deal for many people. Indeed it has become a very big North American cultural icon that has changed the way many people go about their lives. This is no small thing because it means that many people are starting to take conscious notice of the thoughts that go through their minds, taking responsibility for these thoughts because a growing number of people are beginning to believe that these thoughts directly influence the reality that they perceive.

Theories in advanced particle physics, have demonstrated that many of our more mechanical ideals about the nature of our reality are wrong. Quantum mechanics for example has opened the eyes of many to the incredible complexity and the holistic nature of our universe. It could be said that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for many of those who thought that science would actually create a permanent rift between mind and matter.

But there is no need to be a quantum physicist to prove the law of attraction. Indeed this is not an article written to try and prove or disprove this law but an article designed so that you can begin to personally study the power of your own focus/attention/awareness. Because it is this power of focus that somehow seems to be able to completely change our reality.

The law of attraction states that all similar things seem to attract themselves. Moreover it says that individual thoughts have electromagnetic properties that make them highly magnetic to each other and that thoughts of a similar nature (or vibration if you prefer) tend to attract each other. The idea being that if you focus on and maintain thoughts of a personally positive nature, you will be able to attract more of those thoughts and therefore be able to become more positive in your life.

This is something that many can agree with, to a certain extent (using their own theories and physical nomenclature). NLP for example takes this for granted that positive in equals positive out, and is therefore a system designed to allow you to take control of your internal space (your mind) so that you can control your external space (the world at large). That is if you are in a positive state and can get those around you in a positive state, you can get positive results.
Many psychiatrists and psychologists will also agree on this point. They of course do not use the law of attraction to try and explain such circumstances. One theory that they have can be explained sort of like ‘selective attention’; they believe that the mind has far greater control over the subjective state and the subjective awareness of the individual than was previously thought possible. Through the conscious control of attention and thoughts, a person’s mind has the ability to firstly control feel good chemicals within the brain such as endorphins and secondly has the ability to control the perceptive ability of the person. How this works is that:

A. By having positive thoughts and acting in a positive way (like smiling), you are able to control the feel good chemicals in your brain so that by thinking and acting in a positive way you feel good and become more positive.
B. By focusing your thoughts in a certain direction, you control the way your senses perceive the world around you. Scientists now theorize that we actually perceive a huge amount of data subconciously but that we are only consciously aware of so much; that our consciousness actually ignores most of the perceptions that we have and only perceives those things that are at the forefront of our attention. The best example of this would be to say that, when we are in a positive mood we tend to see positive things around us and we tend to ignore all those negative things that do not agree with our positive state. The world doesn’t change, your perception of the world changes.

There is a rift though because those that practice the law of attraction will tell you that this is just the beginning; that thoughts have the ability to create reality and that you can gain far more than just a positive state and a positive outcome through mental control. Essentially the belief is that thoughts are ‘things’ and that these things are the fundamental properties of the universe, and through them you can create reality. That is thoughts don’t just attract a positive outcome they can also create matter; that when enough thoughts of similar property get together they actually intensify in vibration, as it were, and can create something that we would consider physical. All matter therefore is a gestalt of highly concentrated thought.

But is there a way that you can test these theories on reality yourself? Is there any way that you can attain a kind of peace of mind as to the nature of your own reality? Well, with these questions in mind I have put together a little exercise for you that was originally created by Robert Anton Wilson. With it you will be able to begin to try and contemplate the nature of your own existence; an exercise that might allow you to begin to see the great wonder of your focus/attention/awareness:

Try to imagine as vividly as possible a quarter(money). For 5 to 10 minutes try to imagine the fact that you are going to find a quarter in the street, do this 5 to 10 minute exercise every day. See how long it takes before you find this quarter lying around in the street somewhere. This might take a bit of patience but stick with it and see how long you can go before you find this quarter on the street.

Now when you find this quarter I want you to try and explain this incident through the use of ‘selective attention’. That is try to tell yourself that you found this quarter because of the fact that there are lots of quarters out there but that you were not aware of these quarters because your mind was focusing on different matters. But that thanks to your exercise in visualizing the quarter, you have now created an alternate focus/attention/awareness that has allowed you to discover one of these many quarters that you usually just walk by. In other words, tell yourself that through selective mental focus you have been able to redirect the kind of attention that you give to the world around you.

Go looking for another quarter.

Once you find the second quarter, try to explain this happenstance to yourself by believing that you have mentally created it. That is, tell yourself that the mind is all-powerful and can create anything that you want it to as long as you are willing to focus your attention in the right way. That is explain to yourself, and believe, that the reason that you found the second quarter was that you actually manifested it by creating it through the power of thought force.

Try to find a third-quarter.

Compare the time it took you to find the first, second, and third quarter. Which one took longer? Why?

When you found the first quarter, what feelings did you have and what did you believe about what you were doing? Explore these feelings and these beliefs. Discover what these beliefs tell you about what you believe about the nature of your reality.
When you found the second quarter, did you find it easy to believe this theory of selective attention? What beliefs and feelings did you have during this facets of the experiment? Again question these beliefs and examine what they are trying to tell you about what you believe to be the nature of your reality.
Finally, how hard was it for you to believe that it was thought force that actually created this quarter for you to find? What beliefs or feelings did you have? Explore these beliefs in order to understand yourself better.

This exercise might take you a while to complete because it is directly based on your ability to find those three quarters. It is though an incredibly powerful exercise that will allow you to begin to truly question the nature of your reality. It will also allow you to question those thoughts and beliefs that you currently have but that you did not know you had because you were not willing to go this deeply into these kinds of questions.

Why is this so important? It is very important because whether you believe that the world is somewhat controllable through ‘selective attention’, completely controllable through the power of thought force, or a random event where thoughts play no particular role, you will be able to discover where you truly stand on these issues. This is important because some people like to tell themselves that they believe this or that but deep down inside they have beliefs that are contradictory. The greatest power that you can possibly have is congruence* and the only way that you will be able to achieve this congruence is through complete self-understanding.

*congruence = Agreement, harmony, conformity, or correspondence. In this case, it means that every part of your being believes the same thing.