The Law of Attraction --- An Illustration
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This universe is a universe of vibration --- and vibrational matching. All events proceed from this fact.
Let's introduce Joe Doakes, a muscular, solidly built guy who likes to lift weights and enjoys sports. Mr. Doakes has, some would say, the unpleasant quality of being belligerent. Mr. Doakes is a warrior. When we look at him we can immediately see a 'high volume' kind of guy.
Joe chooses to find an outlet in the joys of conflict. To Joe, nothing in life is finer than a good fight. For Joe, it is of little consequence whether his opponent is fairly matched in skill or strength; it is the joy of battle which sustains him. Joe has little leaning toward fair play or morality. It simply is not in his makeup, and if confronted with the ethical dilemma of a 'fair fight' Joe would simply laugh and dismiss this important principle of life out of hand. We make no judgment of Joe, and neither does the universe. The Law of Attraction states that 'like attracts like'. The universe, as one of its fundamental properties, will draw to Joe circumstances and people in alignment with his preferences. Since Joe frequents bars and gyms, this is where the preponderance of his quarrels ensue. Joe lives in a world where everyone he meets is perfectly matched up with him.
Now let's introduce a person who has an exactly opposite set of preferences, as Joe. Let's call him Cecil Aldershot, a man of delicate sensibilities, steeped in metaphysical knowledge, and an avid supporter of peace on earth and harmony in relations between all living things.
Again, there is no judgment by the universe of Cecil's preferences. The Universal Operating System does not consider Cecil's preferences better than Joe's, or Joe's better than Cecil's. They are simply different.
What are the chances of the two of them ever meeting each other? Exactly zero. The Law of Attraction guarantees that only that which is like itself will be co-incident. Yet we will show how the two of them come together in the dance of vibration that is life.
During his childhood Cecil, of a frail constitution, was always the loser in any physical confrontation which he so unwillingly took part. Cecil learned that hatred and violence were abhorrent to him, in fact were opposing his own thoughts and feelings completely. His guidance system functioning perfectly, he learned to avoid those brutes, as he called them, who seemed to him to enjoy nothing more than the infliction of pain and misery to other life forms. Cecil has worked avidly in the refining and raising of his consciousness, and has attracted unto him many people of like mind; we can say confidently that Cecil enjoys his life very much. The same thing can be said about our belligerent friend Joe. Joe and Cecil merely express their joy differently. Joe expresses himself in what we will call an undisciplined manner (society calls it undisciplined, to Joe it is entirely natural). Observing Cecil, on the other hand, one immediately perceives a much more subdued and balanced demeanor.
One day during a meditation for global harmony at a local metaphysical bookstore, one in the group attracted through her vibration a hostile bully who broke up the gathering with threats, taunts and insults. After this confrontation, Cecil was reminded of those incidents in his childhood when he was confronted by the very same sort of violence. He began to ponder on this, wondering why he should have attracted such a one. As he began to devote more thought to it, the old feelings of intimidation and victimization began to be activated once more within him.
Let's pause a moment. If Cecil had dealt with this incident as he normally would have, going over it briefly and resolving for himself the disharmonies within it, he would have quickly returned to balance, and that would have been the end of it. But because the contrast to his everyday experience was so great, Cecil felt he had to have an answer for this unfortunate incident. It went against his nature as a student of metaphysics and a seeker of truth to leave the mystery of it unexamined. But as a consequence of placing his thoughts and feelings in the old vibrational pattern, it was reactivated within him.
Cecil and his friends are typical of many who seek a joyous experience on earth. In observing the world around them and it's incredible diversity and often powerful contrast, they reasoned that if all were in harmony, then everyone on the planet could enjoy a happy physical experience, not just a privileged few. After all, was it fair, they would say, for millions of fellow humans to be living lives of poverty, misery and desperation? Why should all not benefit from the higher vibrations of peace, joy and abundance? And so Cecil and his friends would meditate every day, volunteer their services to charitable organizations, and generally make themselves helpful to what they called the greater good. In order for someone to feel good, they reasoned, there should exist an environment comfortable to all. Then all could experience comfort! And what better idea for comfort than harmony and abundance for everyone?
If we were to ask Joe Doakes this same question, however, we would get an entirely different answer. You see, Joe would not agree at all that harmony and abundance was an environment to be desired. To Joe, this would be a nightmare of boredom. In an environment of harmony, Joe would immediately look for ways to liven things up! And what better way to entertain himself, he would think, than to start an argument or provoke a test of physical strength. To Joe, this test of strength makes him feel so alive! And abundance to Joe, while all right, would be too complacent for him. Joe likes to work hard for what he gets, he revels in action and physical movement, in the challenge of overcoming obstacles. If Joe meditated, he would meditate for global conflict – not world war or anything of that nature, but a world where laws were less restrictive, protection for the weak and innocent was less severe. Joe would wish to live in an environment like the old West, where fighting was understood and appreciated, and cowardice and physical weakness was punished severely.
Both Joe and Cecil do agree on one thing: in order to feel as good as possible, the environment around me should be pleasing to me. Joe hates the fact that his aggressive impulses are restrained, that the only outlet for his kind of physical expression is in a gym. He would like very much to be able to provoke anyone he sees on the street at any time.
Cecil dislikes the 'meanies' of the world, considering them to be of a 'lower' vibration, and would like very much to see others behaving toward him with the same consideration he bestows on them. This is a reasonable assumption, is it not?
But, in order for the environment to be pleasing to all, all must agree on a pleasing environment. And that is an impossibility. Cecil would like it very much if people like Joe would just disappear. In his support of animal rights, environmental harmony and peace on earth, Cecil and his group are constantly butting heads with short sighted people who couldn't care less for anything or anyone but their own selfish pleasure. Even though he tries to be loving to all, Cecil truly cannot understand how the infliction of pain on another life form can be tolerated. However, there are 6 billion humans living on earth, and if each one of them is trying to get the others to act in a manner pleasing to them, what is the likelihood of success? Not very high! In fact, it is a job even God does not want to undertake. That is why God permits all thought and all action, for by limiting some thought or action, the all-that-is is also limited. However, an understanding of the Law of Attraction makes this dilemma unnecessary.
Let's go back to our original statement: how do Joe and Cecil come together, even though their natural vibrational patterns are opposing? We have seen how Joe likes to pick fights, and his indifference as to his opponents. We have also seen how Cecil has reactivated the vibration of fear toward bullies. Now, Law of Attraction goes to work. Normally Joe would never find Cecil. It is up to Cecil to attract to him such a one as Joe. Only by Cecil's continued attention to his fear of bullies can this occur. As Cecil continues to focus upon the incident at the peace meeting, his vibrational signal becomes more aligned to bullies.
One day soon after Cecil is walking down the street from the metaphysical bookstore and in his musings unwittingly takes a right instead of a left and goes walking down toward the gym. At this time it just so happens that Joe has completed his workout and is feeling rather sprightly and aggressive. Joe looks around at all of the others passing and vibrationally feels Cecil. Cecil's vibration is saying 'do not come to me, bullies. I do not want to fight. Please do not send me a bully, I do not like violent people.', etc etc etc. Out of all of the dozens of people who are passing by at this moment, only Cecil is a vibrational match to Joe. So what happens? Joe gets a taunting smile on his face and that old devil takes over. He feels the joy of battle, and the comfort of the life force surging through him. Joe sees immediately that Cecil is physically delicate and decides that he will have a little 'fun' with him.
“Hey meat -- yeah YOU!” he says to Cecil.
“Who me??”
Joe bumps up against Cecil and sees the fear turn on in Cecil's eyes. This is music to Joe's senses.
“Hey you bumped into me!” Joe says, all the while shoving Cecil backward.
You get the idea. A conflict of greater or lesser proportion will ensue depending upon how strong is Cecil's fear of conflict. In this case, it has less to do with Joe than with Cecil. Although it takes two to tango, for Cecil it is entirely up to him how far this encounter will go. If Cecil is fearful enough of fighting, his vibration is now more and more powerful, and more and more of a match to Joe's always very powerful desire for conflict. In other words, Joe's vibration is always for a fight, and in order for Cecil to encounter Joe, Cecil must bring his vibration toward Joe's.
This is simply the law of 'like attracts like' at work. It is a situation often described as 'karmic.' 'Karma' is simply Law of Attraction. Those situations which seem to magnetically pull you into the middle of them, are simply your own attention to, and focus on, a vibration matching the situation, in the present. Your attention to the person or situation now being experienced actually attracted it to you, not the other way around. It's not someone else, or the universe, imposing itself into your life, even though it sure feels like it! It is always and only your free will offering of vibration that attracts whatever is in your experience, to you.
You might say, “but Joe's actions are terrible! What if everyone were like Joe?”
But everyone is not like Joe. Every being incarnated on earth is unique. If there were two people exactly alike, one of them would be superfluous! There are 6 billion humans, all with our own unique set of preferences. We are all different. We attract unto us that which is consonant with our preferences. That is how the universe works. This planet is in absolutely perfect balance. For every vibration of hatred, there is a like vibration to match it. For every vibration based in love, there is one of like kind to match it. In the case of Cecil and Joe, there is Joe's love of spirited conflict to exactly match Cecil's fear of spirited conflict. The common denominator is spirited conflict! Cecil remembers the delight of the neighborhood bully, in his pushing and shoving and taunting of him; his utter dismay that there existed persons in the world with (to Cecil) such a crude and brutal worldview. It is the apparent joy of conflict for some people, and his utter inability to deal with it, which is uppermost in Cecil's consciousness. That is what attracted Joe to him! Joe and Cecil are an exact vibrational match, like two waveforms of the same frequency and phase. Cecil's vibration attracted Joe's vibration and they fit together like a key going into a lock. Thus we see that it is the victim of a crime that is more responsible for the crime than the perpetrator. Without a like vibration to match to, no criminal could ever find a victim! This is an outrageous, offensive, and counter-intuitive statement that is fully supported by the laws of the universe.
The Law of Attraction never misses. It is infallible, because it is woven into the very fabric of the universe.
Many people think that it would be a good idea if the world would just shape up and others would behave themselves. Then it would be easy to be happy, for we could just look around and see pleasant things! So well– intentioned people form groups and organizations to fight poverty and cancer and war, and stamp out corruption and p 0 r n o g r a p h y and many other things as well. But things get messy very quickly, for when everyone in the world is acting to control others, many toes are stepped on. If you desire that others should act in a way which is comfortable for you, be sure that they are feeling the same way about your activities! Now we have a recipe for conflict. There are now lots and lots of people all acting to control you, in their fear that you might do something to threaten them. And you are doing the same. I'm sure that you have, at some point in your life, tried to accommodate the wishes of a group of people, whether it be family, friends, or co-workers, and you very quickly came to understand the difficulty of pleasing everyone. That is why I said above that not even God would attempt such an endeavor. But such grotesque circumstances can be avoided, with a clear understanding of the Law of Attraction.
Let's look again at the portrait of Cecil and Joe. Joe is happy with his bar fights and his sporting encounters in the gym. Cecil is happy with his metaphysical friends. Each can live harmoniously in his separate world without ever attracting the attention of the other. Because Joe would be merely inconvenienced by a metaphysical discussion, whereas Cecil would be seriously incommoded in a fight, Cecil has the most at stake. But Cecil, if he understood the Law of Attraction and the Universal Operating System, would know clearly that it is his perfect guarantor of safety and protection. The solution for Cecil is to keep focused on what he wants. By focusing only on peace, harmony and abundance, he attracts these into his life and automatically places himself in a position where Joe cannot ever reach him, for unmatched vibrations are never co-incident.
This is a much more elegant way to run a universe! Now, instead of each person having to control the actions of everyone else, it is only necessary for each person to control his or her own vibrational space. Now we can dispense with the inevitable conflicts which result when people are trying to stick their noses in each other's business. Joe can have his bar fights, Cecil can have the group which feels most comfortable to him, without there ever being a conflict. If Cecil is focusing on his desires for peace and harmony, he does not take that wrong turn and so never encounters Joe.
Where the Cecil's of the world get into trouble is when they try to limit or constrain the Joe's of the world. By pushing against the Joe's they only get more of them. What you resist will persist in your experience. It is simply an alignment of energy. The universe works always to align energy. That is why there is perfect balance everywhere. The planet orbits around the sun, rotates about its axis, the atmosphere stays glued to the planetary surface, rain falls, geologic processes function to keep the earth stable, seeds always grow into the same plant every time, larvae and embryo's grow into their proper form. The forces which operate to maintain harmony and equilibrium in nature are so powerful they cannot even be measured. It is for us only to trust to this vast, immense, power of well-being that surrounds us, and which penetrates the very structure of the universe. By trusting to the infallible energy matching power of the Law of Attraction, we need only attract into our experience that which is wanted, and preempt those things we do not want. Therefore, we do not need to control the actions of others in order to get what we want, and so it is not necessary to go into so much conflicting action to produce a pleasant environment.
This is a much more elegant way to run a universe! Now, instead of each person having to control the actions of everyone else, it is only necessary for each person to control his or her own vibration. Now we can dispense with the inevitable conflicts which result when people are trying to stick their noses in each other's business. Joe can have his bar fights, Cecil can have the group which feels most comfortable to him, without there ever being a conflict. If Cecil is focusing on his desires for peace and harmony, he does not take that wrong turn and so never encounters Joe!
The allowance of the actions of others is the true definition of harmony. Harmony is not everyone thinking and acting alike, but an energetic agreement to live and let live. It is a friendly dance of vibration! Harmony means attracting to you what you would like, and allowing others to do the same. It means that even in the midst of incredible diversity and contrasting preferences, there can be peace. "To each, his own", as the saying goes. It only requires an allowing of the diversity of opinion and action, without resistance, knowing that if not resisted, nothing that is not wanted can ever be drawn to you. This is the powerful simplicity, the trenchant clarity, the perfect elegance of universal law!
