Law of Attraction

This won't be long (famous last words for me)...but I've been thinking about this concept currently called the Law of Attraction. I realize it's really a new name for an age-old faith that improvement of absolutely any kind begins with the thought. When I was younger and practicing Christianity, we called it the power of prayer. Remember the words, 'as above, so below'? If we offer up our prayers, hopes, thoughts (mental energy?), those will manifest below--here in our physical world.

Much of this can be appealing...and since as I said the concept has been around for so very long, I can easily acknowledge there's at least something to it. And yet there's a downside, known at least intuitively by a good many of us...if we embrace this as fact; that we can bring abundance, good health, love and so on, to us, well, the flip side is true that people who are suffering must be engaging in 'wrong thought'. They bring abject poverty, illness, tragedy, etc., on themselves.

For many years, enjoying my beautiful children, I would serenely think, "I am blessed with wonderful, good hearted, caring children". Or I'd say, "God looked at me and knew what I could handle, so He gave me these terrific, healthy kids". Today, those thoughts and attitude shame me, because both sentences really continue: "I am blessed...and poor you, God must hate you!" Likewise, I've enjoyed good health...surprisingly so in light of my smoking, overeating, etc. I've just smiled at this, thinking that I have 'good genes', or again that God only gives us what we can handle...seriously? Millions are starving, burying their malnourished children, dying of disease carried my mosquitos...because: What? God looked at them and thought, "Here's a tough group of people who can 'handle' these atrocities??? Children are born with birth defects, or suffer brain damage from injury during their birth...well, I can just go on and on, but this is the fact:

I reject the simplistic notion that people who prosper 'think well' and that those who don't, 'think poorly'. On the surface, it looks goods...we can all name examples from our friends and family. But truly a look at the world's population illustrates that this concept is too linear. There are too many variables.

But, we can come back to the wording I used earlier, that improvement begins with a thought (and yes, I'm seeing the opposite--that horrific deeds of evil against humanity likewise begin with a thought). So, I can embrace this concept that before my actions I will have the thought. The next question becomes, what to think? What do I wish for, pray for, meditate upon and manifest in my life?

This has been on my mind for some time now. Earlier today, as I sat puffing a cigarette, drinking coffee and planning my to-do list, I thought ahead to this evening when I'll come together with family in remembrance of our brother, Jim, who recently passed away. A sort of meditation or prayer came to me, so I jotted it down: If I have a thought, may it be of my brothers and sisters. If I have a goal, may it spring from the desire to serve. If I speak, may it be with compassion. And, If I seek knowledge, may it be to increase my understanding, acceptance and love of all people.

Those words came to me before consiously considering the Law of Attraction today, but I quickly saw the connection for me. In accepting that I just might be able to influence my life with my thoughts, I will strive to keep that in my heart, rather than seeking wealth for the sake of personal material gain, education for the sake of status, fame for the sake of recognition.