There has been a lot of material published in recent years about the Law of Attraction. Films like the Secret brought it further into the mainstream and there has been a lot of buzz about the notion that we can attract the realities we want if we only learn to manipulate the way in which we think about them. The vast majority of this positive thinking propoganda is focused around generating wealth, good health, success, power, influence, fame and romance. It isn't difficult to see why it has garnered such a wide audience, especially in the Western hemisphere. In these times we live in, where the mechanisms of society continue gearing up the pace at which the social treadmill we are all standing on moves, any promise of reprieve or respite from the quiet desperation that is the new bottomline standard of our human existence, is something that might seduce even the most rational of people.
That is not to say that the Law of Attraction is bogus. But just as with any ancient tradition or philosophy that falls prey to our insatiable need for novelty, this wisdom too has had the meat and soul stripped out of it and has been dressed in a frilly digestible package ready for mass consumption. The end product promises a far too simplistic and unrealistic approach to life and circumstances, one which offers no insight into why and how it works. But regardless, of how it has been approached and marketed within our contemporary culture the Law of Attraction points to an aspect of reality that functions within each and everyone of our lives. Everyday we are moved by it, influenced by it, informed by it. In order to truly get a feel for this, it is necessary to cultivate an approach of inquiry into ourselves and our own experience of life. What the Law of Attraction is really pointing to is a phenomenon that occurs within Consciousness: the phenomenon of Energetic Resonance.
What is Energetic Resonance?
When you strike a tuning fork against the side of a table, it resonates with a certain frequency. This frequency of resonance generates a sound with a specific pitch. If you hold a second tuning fork up without making contact with the first, but in close proximity to it, soon the second tuning fork will begin to vibrate at the exact same frequency as the first fork. The resonance of one tuning fork induces the resonance in the other without contact. Now imagine, you were unable to see or hear the first tuning fork and all you had access to was the second fork. If the same process were repeated, it would seem to you as if the second fork had begun vibrating of its own accord and this would perplex you. However, your knowledge of the simple physics of sound resonance would lead you to make an educated guess that your tuning fork was most likely influenced by a resonance effect whose cause you couldn't perceive.
Your Conscious Mind is much like a tuning fork. And just like a tuning fork it has the capacity to resonate through a wide range of energetic frequencies. What do I mean by an 'energetic' frequency? When you perceive the tuning fork vibrating what gives you the feedback that it is in fact vibrating at all? The most obvious one is the sound it emits. The second is that it visually appears to vibrate and the third is the physical feel of it vibrating. All these three means of experiencing this phenomenon are only side-effects. The actual cause is not something we cannot detect directly. What is really happening is that the resonance causes the space around the tuning fork to begin expanding and compressing in a sort of ripple effect. As the space ripples outwards these ripples make contact with the second tuning fork in a very particular way which makes it reciprocate the same ripple pattern, thereby genrating sound. What has happened as a result is that the energy that the first tuning fork was expressing has influenced the second tuning fork to express the same energy.
Similarly, you only experience your own Conscious Minds through certain side-effects that you are able to witness. But you may not be aware of the energy dynamics that cause these side-effects to happen. These side-effects appear in the form of your thoughts, your emotions and your sensations. Each of your minds is a tuning fork with the capacity to resonate not only to the energetic vibrations that occur within it, but more importantly is constantly in interaction with the energy vibrations that are present in other minds you come in contact with as well as with your environment itself. To begin to see how these dynamics works gives a whole new perspective on how connected everything really is.
Everything has a Resonance
Everything is the Universe resonates energetically. From the subatomic level of electrons to molecules to cells. From the inanimate mediums of rock, water and air to the simplest of life-forms to the most complex. Everything that exists, only exists because it has an energetic resonance. The look, feel, sound, taste etc. are all the side-effects so to speak that allow us to experience their existence. But the cause that even allows these side-effects to exist is the dynamics of energies resonating within Consciousness.
In the Universe Out of Nothing I discussed how recent findings in Quantumn Physics point to the possibility that even electrons possess Consciousness. Science is slowly coming to terms with the realization that what we thought we knew about Life is becoming grayer and grayer. The boundaries between what we consider "living" organisms and "non-living" things is gradually evaporating. Even the most skeptical among the scientific community would reluctantly admit that reality is not as easily definable as we previously thought.
If you think of the Universe as one giant Energetic symphony, then each of the instruments involved in this symphony represents an individual life-form, resonating within this symphony. Each instrument is unique and performs its harmonies with varying degrees of complexity. While a human being might represent a complex instrument, like say a Grand piano, capable of experiencing and expressing a wide array of energy frequencies - a bacteria may represent a much simpler instrument like a triangle which is capable of only a limited range of energetic expression. But regardless, of how simple or complex the life form, it is the larger movement of the symphony that influences the harmonies of the individual instruments performing.
The Conscious Spectrum
There is a spectrum of energetic frequencies that form the entire experience of reality. This spectrum can be broadly subdivided into three sub-spectrums: the Physical, the Mental and the Emotional. If the Spectrum represents the entire range of possible musical sounds, you can think of each sub-spectrum as being something similar to a musical scale. Each scale contains a hierarchy of notes which form the individual frequencies that exist within that scale. While some musical instruments are limited in the number of scales they can express, more complex instruments can exhibit a variety of scales.
A simple organism such as a bacteria is only able to access and express itself in the Physical subspectrum but may have little access to the Emotional and Mental subspectrums. A more complex organism such as a dog has the capacity to express fully within the Physical, to a great extent within the Emotional, but to a far more limited extent within the Mental. A human being, the most complex life-form that we are currently aware of represents the broadest range of access and expression on all three scales.
Still, the same basic frequencies (notes) repeat themselves in each scale and in this way the three sub-spectrums are connected. How we experience events in our lives is a function of the different scales through which we are able to express. For example, when a cockaroach bumps his head it triggers a single energetic wave in Consciousness. Because the cockaroach's Mind can mostly only access the Physical sub-spectrum, the physical sensation of pain encapsulates its entire experience of this energetic event.
However, when you bump your head that same single Energetic wave in Consciousness triggers a pain sensation within the Material sub-spectrum, an emotion of frustration or anger perhaps within the Emotional sub-spectrum and a thought of "What's that damn thing doing there" within the Mental spectrum. One sound experienced simultaneously in three different scales - what in music would be refered to as a chord.
And this is in fact how we experience life. Every experience we have is a physical, mental and emotional trifecta of sensation, emotion and thought.
The Musicality of Experience
All this creates an image of a Universe that runs quite contrary to the one we have accepted by general consensus. The world we believe we live in is one in which we are mostly separate entities who interact almost exclusively through physical action. In other words, we believe that what we think and feel has no impact on others and our environment unless we physically express ourselves through words or some action. However, understanding how Conscious Resonance works reveals that our minds are influencing and affecting others and the environement constantly (and vice versa being influenced and affected by them). Every thought, emotion and action is only the side-effect of an energy ripple that is already in movement. So when you have a thought, your consciousness is already interacting with the Consciosness of others without you even knowing it. And similarly with emotions.
To illustrate this further consider this example. You are sitting in a living room having a light-hearted conversation with a friend when a stranger enters it. They seem moody and quiet and immediately you feel the entire energy and dynamic of the conversation switch. You sense the "tension in the air" and it sets you on edge. Your thoughts begin to take on a more defensive and serious flavor and your lighter emotions are replaced by darker more guarded emotions. Nothing has physically happened per se, yet an entire mental-emotional event has been energetically induced in you. Your demeanour towards your friend and the subject of your conversation changes and your friend too responds alike.
Now, consider a second example. You are at a boring family event. The same relatives, the same conversations. You are standing quietly in a corner nursing your egg-nog, occassionally glancing up at the clock. Your mood is restless and your thoughts complaining about how you wish you didn't have to be here. At this point someone new enters the room. This is someone new who brings with them a certain air of positivity and a cheerful disposition. They immediately "light up the room". Many in the room begin to respond with enthusiasm and laughter and you feel the air lighten and your body language begins to shift. Your own enthusiasm is sparked and your attiude towards the situation transforms.
In both cases, Energetic resonances this person introduced within the environment caused a shift in the energetic resonances in all the individuals in the environment. This is experienced Physically as a tension and stiffness in the first case, relaxation and ease in the second. It is experienced Mentally as thoughts of suspicion in the first case, and those of curiosity in the next. It is experienced Emotionally as fear in the first case and enthusiasm in the next.
Now, realistically it would take a very magnetic individual with a powerful resonance to influence the energy of an entire room. The strength in numbers rule does tend to hold true more often than not. However, we have witnessed time and again in history how single individuals have held power and influence over millions for the sake of good or evil. What sets these men apart from the rest is not so much their words or actions, but rather the clarity of their purpose which is experienced as an amplification of their resonance fields. A single musical note expressed at a high enough volume has the capacity to arrest an entire musical movement.
At the end of the day it is not just a case of the frequency of energy resonance that influences these Conscious dynamics, but also the amplitude at which the energy is emitted. And this is where the philosophy of the Law of Attraction comes in.
(to be continued...)
