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Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Religion and The Law of Return

I have touched on this in previous posts but I wanted to devote an entire post to this subject because I believe it's a very important one. As someone who greatly believes in the law of attraction, has great faith in her religious beliefs and enjoys studying other religious beliefs, this is a subject that has occured in study and conversation many times over.

The Wiccan Three Fold Law teaches that whatever we do returns to us thrice. Generally the rule is spoken of concerning magic. However it works as a good law to live ones life by. The idea is that when dealing with Magic one must be careful, for energy put out in anger or sadness will return to us three times or at three times the strength. By using this rule as a general rule for life we are going to promote positivity and do our best to keep negativity to a minimum in all things we do.

The Christian teaching found in Mathew about "Do unto others what you would have them do to you." Puts a purely outgoing spin on the idea. Where many other versions of this rule strive the positive return for positive actions, this idea is simply to be good to others in the hopes of a good return. However, the basic idea is the same. While the teaching of return isn't there in writing it's greatly implied that if we are good to others, they will return the favor.

Karma is a belief originating out of Ancient India that simply put, states that what we do returns. This concept has taken many forms through out the incarnations of many Middle Eastern, Indian and Oriental religious systems. While some teach that Karma will return to you in this life, others believe that our actions in this life affect our place in life in the next life or in an afterlife. In any form the idea that if we are generally good people we will benefit if a common thread. Whether we believe we are going to profit today, tomorrow or a lifetime away, the idea is that by being positive and focusing on positivity we will prosper.

The Law Of Attraction states that like attracts like. When we focus our energy on positivity it only sends more our way, but when we focus on the negative, that is what we get.

So, what is my take? Why do I feel it's so important to post this information? Because while I am a great believer in the Law Of Attraction, I have heard many people who simply can't accept it as a fact. They are, in many cases, very religious people, but they can't understand that the Law is a teaching that even their path teaches. Maybe it's not always called the Law of Attraction, but that doesn't mean it's not taught. In fact, the Law shows up in every form of religion in one form or another. We simply have to be willing to accept it.

For me I tend to take my beliefs a step further. Many people on my path, or similar paths have a great faith in the Three Fold Law. However, many of them think about this belief only when when applying it to magickal doings, and not to every day things. I believe that everything we do, everything we think even, comes back to us three times. Why three? Well, it's not simply because I read a book about Wicca or even because my beliefs closely resemble Wicca. It's because I firmly believe that each of our actions have three layers to them and that the Law of Attraction applies to each part or layer or our action.

Firstly, before we do anything, we think about it. And generally, if we do something that means that we have focused our energy on making it happen - otherwise it would have been no more than a passing thought and wouldn't happen. The energy put in to that initial thought and the focus to motivate us to actually get up and do it, go out in to the universe and start to work for (or against) us from the get go. So, if our intent is negative even at this most basic non-acting level it's sending out and will in turn bring back like energy.

Second, of course, it the action itself. We can all understand that if we do something harmful we are going to get hurt in the long run. We all understand the basic idea of "be nice or no one will be nice to you." Well, again, our actions create energy, which again, returns...

And Thirdly, the aftermath. We are not alone in this universe. There are other people, animals and even the earth and universe itself. When we put out negative energy, it returns to us. However, just like our energy affected others and the world around us, so does the energy and actions of others affect us. It would be naive to believe that we could act recklessly and cause harm to others without some type of backlash... Well, I believe this backlash is the third layer of the Law...

While I use negative actions in my example, it's actually more important to understand that the law works just as well for positive outcomes. When we do good or focus on the positive aspects of life, we again, will see the same in return. I generally use negativity as an example because it's easy for us as people to focus on the effects of negativity, they tend to make a more noticeable affect on our lives. This too, however, is all up to us. If we are willing to focus on the positive and learn to be grateful for even the little things in our lives, we will also see a great deal more coming our way.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

365 Ways to Live the Law Of Attraction (day 12)

The Law is Unbiased

The law of Attraction does not judge the value or worth of your thoughts. It cares not whether they are harmful or well intentioned. Nor does it value whether or not your thought arises from particular belief system. You may eschew religion and be an atheist or agnostic. Or, you may be deeply religious. Knowledge and practice of spiritual tradition (or lack there of belief) doesn't concern the working of the law. What matter is how you feel about what you are thinking.

Gratitude plays a role because of how it makes you feel. For example, when you are grateful for having something, you feel good and the thoughts of "having" and the positive feelings of "having" bring more of the same. The law always responds to what you are focusing on in your thoughts and the emotions generated in response to those thoughts, since feeling strengthens the attracting powers of thought.

Taken from the book 365 Ways to Live the Law of Attraction by Meera Lester (available in the Inspired Mama Goddess Amazon Book Store)

**My Two Cents... I happen to be someone that greatly enjoys the study of religion. Religions of all types. As for my own faith, I'm rather eclectic and hold beliefs from a number of paths. However, when I was just starting to learn about the Law of Attraction, I quickly saw the parallels between the Law and numerous religious teachings. Wicca and other forms of Paganism teach and believe in the "Three Fold Law" which simply states that everything we do comes back thrice. While many Pagan believers will tell you this only applies to Magickal workings, I believe differently. In my mind, the Law of Attraction, the Three Fold Law and even other beliefs such as Karma, are all simply translations of the same principal. We get what we give! If we are doing or thinking positive things, that's what we shall get in return, conversely, if we are acting or thinking out of negativity, we aren't going to like what returns to us...

Thursday, January 7, 2010

365 Ways to Live the Law Of Attraction (day 7)

Let Go of The Negatives, Focus on the Positives


A thorough understanding of the fundamentals of the Law of Attraction allows us to quickly achieve our goals and et more of the stuff we want and avoid attracting things we do now want. With deliberate and focused application of the priciples of the Law of Attraction, we can achieve our full human potential and perhaps work together toward creating a more harmonious and just world.

The Law of Attraction, as already noted, works in response to thoughts that have become energized.  What if you deliberately focused your attention on something that you wanted to call forth in your life... something that you deeply desired to manifest? Would the Law of Attraction bring it to you? The answer is yes... Always.

Taken from the book 365 Ways to Live the Law of Attraction by Meera Lester (available in the Inspired Mama Goddess Amazon Book Store)

**My Two Cents...  Placing focus behind thoughts has been a practice since the beginning of time and thought. For millions of modern practicing witches, this is the essential point in working magick. The use of tools, candles, herbs and even rhyme to help the mind focus on a desired outcome is simply a way of life. For millions of others prayer is a great form of this same principal.  And yet to others this is something completely new... In either case, the Law Of Attraction is the unseen force making the magick!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

N.Y. Protestant churches apologize to Native Americans

N.Y. Protestant churches apologize to Native AmericansBy Daniel Burke, Religion News Service

Four hundred years after their spiritual ancestors took part in the decimation and dislocation of Native Americans in New York, one of the nation's first Protestant churches held a "healing ceremony" to apologize.

"We consumed your resources, dehumanized your people, and disregarded your culture, along with your dreams, hopes and great love of this land," representatives from Collegiate Church said in a statement. "With pain, we the Collegiate Church, remember our part in these events."

The Friday ceremony took place on Native American Heritage Day in lower Manhattan, where in 1628 Dutch colonizers built the first Collegiate Church, then known as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, at Fort Amsterdam. The Dutch West Indies Company treated Native Americans "as a resource," Collegiate said in a statement, and "we were the conscience of this company."

Collegiate now includes four churches in New York, including Marble Collegiate Church, where the late Rev. Norman Vincent Peale preached from 1932 to 1984.

Ron Holloway, who attended the ceremony as a representative of the Lenape people, said "the native populations were suppressed by a political and religious will of which they could never begin to conceive." But, he said, he and other Lenape people "whole-heartedly accept this apology."

At Friday's ceremony, Holloway embraced leaders from Collegiate, according to the Associated Press, and exchanged wampum, strings of beads symbolizing money or ornaments.

"After 400 years, when someone says 'I'm sorry,' you say, 'Really?'" Holloway told the AP before the ritual. "There was some kind of uneasiness. But then you've got to accept someone's sincere apology; they said, 'We did it.' We ran you off, we killed you.'"