When Positive’s a Spiritual Negative
Roses are red
Violets are blue
But they would be pink
If their thoughts didn’t stink.
Anonymous
It’s possible to be “positive” in ways that are highly negative because they lead people to respond to the hardships of others not with compassion but with some set of beliefs that blames them for "attracting" awful stuff to themselves through their own negative thinking.
Clearly it’s a good thing to avoid self-defeating thoughts, something long recognized by conventional wisdom, spirituality, and cognitive psychology. But to suppose that every kind of human suffering and hardship results from the individual’s own self-defeating thoughts is wildly unrealistic and judgmental.
If this isn’t apparent to one and all upon a moment’s serious reflection about what sorts of things happen every day to all kinds of people, then I could do a post on this – or you could just think a little more about the notion that in life as we know it, wholesome-minded folks consistently prosper while only negative thinkers die in infancy (?!), as civilian casualties in warfare, fall sick, etc. etc.
Like all of us, people who believe the law of attraction end up experiencing terrible losses sooner or later and, in the end, dying. Like others, their deaths are usually preceded by physical suffering, with the death scene rarely played out in the comfort of a peaceful, home-like setting.
“It can’t happen to me because I think happy thoughts” is a belief ready to backfire and fill the believer with needless self reproach, meanwhile putting him or her in the position of passing negative judgment on the inner lives of everyone who suffers - friends, relatives, even perfect strangers - regardless of any evidence that they are in fact particularly negative thinkers and even in the face of evidence that they are not. After all, if there's no sign that someone who suffers greatly has mental problems, they must be unconscious.
I hope - I hope but do not necessarily believe - that anyone who thinks this way is unconsciously aware that this line of reasoning makes no sense.
"I think well; therefore I am still alive."
- Descartes, before he died
Violets are blue
But they would be pink
If their thoughts didn’t stink.
Anonymous
It’s possible to be “positive” in ways that are highly negative because they lead people to respond to the hardships of others not with compassion but with some set of beliefs that blames them for "attracting" awful stuff to themselves through their own negative thinking.
Clearly it’s a good thing to avoid self-defeating thoughts, something long recognized by conventional wisdom, spirituality, and cognitive psychology. But to suppose that every kind of human suffering and hardship results from the individual’s own self-defeating thoughts is wildly unrealistic and judgmental.
If this isn’t apparent to one and all upon a moment’s serious reflection about what sorts of things happen every day to all kinds of people, then I could do a post on this – or you could just think a little more about the notion that in life as we know it, wholesome-minded folks consistently prosper while only negative thinkers die in infancy (?!), as civilian casualties in warfare, fall sick, etc. etc.
Like all of us, people who believe the law of attraction end up experiencing terrible losses sooner or later and, in the end, dying. Like others, their deaths are usually preceded by physical suffering, with the death scene rarely played out in the comfort of a peaceful, home-like setting.
“It can’t happen to me because I think happy thoughts” is a belief ready to backfire and fill the believer with needless self reproach, meanwhile putting him or her in the position of passing negative judgment on the inner lives of everyone who suffers - friends, relatives, even perfect strangers - regardless of any evidence that they are in fact particularly negative thinkers and even in the face of evidence that they are not. After all, if there's no sign that someone who suffers greatly has mental problems, they must be unconscious.
I hope - I hope but do not necessarily believe - that anyone who thinks this way is unconsciously aware that this line of reasoning makes no sense.
"I think well; therefore I am still alive."
- Descartes, before he died
Posted by Paul at 11:20 AM Permalink
17 Comments:
i'm probably in the wrong track here, but that's what i feel when i read "when positive's a spiritual negative".
a person can be positive thinking, but some problems can be real. of course a positive thinking person can handle it much better.
the law of attraction can be true too, like self fulfilling prophecy. i think and therefore i am. said by.. tuti?
"The Law of Attraction says people's thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) dictate the reality of their lives, whether or not they're aware of it."
The idea that our thoughts "dictate the reality of our lives" is so overstated that it's a falsehood.
For most of us, how we think is one factor behind some of the events in our lives. But to maintain that in every life it's the overriding factor behind all life events - there are so many obvious exceptions to cite that it's hard to know where to begin.
I did hint at it here in this post though, with the notion that people who die in infancy would have to be negative-thinking babies.
Maybe what the Wikipedia article and a lot of what I've read on blogs about the law of attraction states is too simplistic. If so, it would be great if someone can articulate it in a way that has more credibility.
Blessings to you, Paul.
p.s I would not be the one to articulate the Law, by the way, so pay no attention to me.... :-)
and you explained it way better than what i was regurgitating at 2am or so last night.
i can only try to be as positive as i can, and hang on. because there are times when i think god doesn't hate me, but does not love me too much either. i am so good at getting off topic. sorry.
Tuti - Your comment helped me state was I was trying to say more clearly, thank you --
It is similar to "positive thinking" of the kind Norman Vincent Peale wrote about. It is also similar to "psycho-cybernetics" which Maxwell Maltz wrote about. But in these cases, the emphasis is on having a healthy self-image.
Maybe the Law of Attraction works best in this way. You think positive thoughts and, rather than you attracting resources you will need to accomplish your goal, you are ATTRACTED to resources you will need to accomplish your goal. That makes more sense to me.
However, as Jan says, we really do not understand how the Universe works.
But Paul, you DO think there is something to visualization don't you? I mean visualizing that you are healthy and all your cells are healthy and so on. Don't you think there is a certain amount of power in that? Mind over matter?
As for the "positive thoughts", all I can say is "try it"--no point in using logic to predict what will happen...
As for how--your book showed me how to think positive thoughts (I'll never forget the "sticking your nose in dog poop on a beautiful day in the park" image), and I stuck with it, and it finally works for me.
How many people have really DECIDED to think positive NO MATTER WHAT? That's the key, the dance, whatever.
Because there can be no doubt that any number of factors powerfully affect our lives in addition to our thoughts – other people’s thoughts and actions, genetics, personal connections or lack thereof, inherited wealth, poverty, etc. etc.
Firebird – No, no… I could never catch on to the venerable “Roses are red” form, so ancient and difficult…
Yes, yes… That is, as you mention, I’ve written about positive thinking and live by it. To do this and see the value of it hasn't required me to convince myself that there are no factors at work in my life and the lives of others besides our own thoughts.
Tuti – That’s how I see it too – different kinds of poop, as it were, lol, and some of it, like the “flying poop” you cite – well, the trajectory is affected little to none by even the most positive thoughts once it’s been launched at a high enough rate of speed…
But even if - or especially if - you're stricken by pernicious flying poop, it's imperative not to just stand there and keep going, "This stinks!"
Of course it stinks, but spending the rest of your life going, "This stinks!" also stinks – in a different kind of way but also really bad...
So you have to try to get the poop off, and if you can't, start figuring out how to live with something that’s difficult as well as you can.
Most often, this concept is applied to material prosperity, and most often by someone trying to sell some up-to-now unknown mystery about how to "really" make it work.
Believe you me... if material prosperity were just a matter of wishing for it and pretending it would appear, I would be wealthy. Suffice it to say, I am not materially wealthy (at least not as I wish for). But, then again, maybe I just haven't found the right secret mystery yet.
I actually think this sort of thing falls in line with what Jesus was explaining when he said, "Seek and you will find." However, we have to be careful what we seek... I one time prayed for patience. That was a MISTAKE! :)
Although just to play devil's advocate, I was thinking recently about LOA in relation to various theories of karma, and I think there is another way to look at it...say for example that someone's deepest intent is to grow beyond their ego, for liberation/enlightenment/universal love, whatever word you want to use...and so because that is their deepest intent, the biggest challenge they could ever face in terms of breaking through their own barriers to that manifests in their life, so that they will face those barriers even more quickly...in a way, they have 'attracted' the difficulties, but not because of something 'negative' they did, or because of subsconscious 'issues' they have...
I do think this happens sometimes...and since I believe in rebirth, I do also think that sometimes beings choose a certain kind of suffering in order to teach others in certain lives...
But I don't think any of these things are the 'rule' or 'law' all the time...and sometimes shit just happens...i.e. all these various 'laws' can apply some of the time, who says they all apply all of the time? I don't think it's all or nothing with LOA, or theories of karma, or any other theory of the cosmos
Lisa – The idea that LOA and other forms of what might be termed prosperity spirituality can foster the attitude that “happiness and even spirituality are just about getting what you want” has come across to me too.
On the devil’s advocate front, I see two major problems:
Assuming that we know what goes on in somebody else’s unconscious is a big assumption.
Using presumptive events in a person’s past life to explain events in his or her present life requires, to begin with, that the person shares one’s belief in rebirth or that one can offer the other person grounds for this belief that they find compelling.
now when i see projectile poop coming and i get hit, i now have a mental pic of meself wiping down and cleaning up. you arm me thoroughly, ground and air covered. thank you paul.
One of LOA’s fatal flaws is that it not only doesn’t explain surprising things but anything. If an assertion is non-falsifiable then it can’t be distinguished from something imagined or made up. For example, I could assert that the Law of Extraterrestrial Control rules over us all – that the course of our lives and even what we think is controlled by certain aliens living on a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. Just because nobody could prove me wrong wouldn’t make my argument compelling.
Tuti – A lot easier said than done, but if you keep at it and commit to it, then in general it eventually gets easier to do too – always rough patches from time to time, but certainly it gets easier overall, at least that’s how it’s worked for me.
Pauline – Well stated. “The Law of Attraction” is also known as “magical thinking” by child psychologists. We all go through a stage in early life where we believe our thoughts can directly bring us what we want.
The interesting thing about these beliefs is the desperation with which we want them to work. In this desperation, it's easy to overlook, as you point out, genocide and the Rwandans and the starving children in Darfur.
We turn to these beliefs to trump over what is negative in us, but there's much, much easier way. We can simply face up and release what is negative.
But it's much more fun for the ego to believe the universe will manifest whatever it wants--all it has to do is to think about it.
And of course there is some truth to these techniques. Visualization does help improve health, and I use a very simple chakra-lighting technique, and when we take the mysticism out of it, it does make sense that if we truly intend something, we will be open to the opportunities that support it.
It's just a lot of frantic doing, when all we have to do is be still and let go.
Post a Comment