Many critics of the law of attraction complain that the law of attraction is merely a tool to satisfy materialistic cravings.  However, what they fail to realize is that the law of attraction (or manifestation consciousness) is merely one level of consciousness.  Each person must master this level of consciousness before they can trust God to work through them for the greater good of all.  Fail to master the law of attraction and you will never be able to achieve a higher level of consciousness.

I am currently working through Dr. Michael Beckwith’s Life Visioning Program.  As I do so, I found that he has a very good explanation of where the law of attraction fits into a program of personal development; and moreover, why mastering it is an important turning point on the way to achieving a higher level of consciousness.  Take a look at this brief article and you will understand why I am enjoying his program.

Stage One: Victim Consciousness

In this stage, a person perceives something outside himself as the power that provides everything from basic needs such as food, water and shelter to abundance, relationships and, ultimately, happiness.

When “bad” things happen, a person living from a “victim consciousness” will describe the event as “caused by them or it” and “happening to me.”  Whether “it” is family, friends, coworkers, society or an external deity, the victim asserts no control over his own life and blames someone or something for all of the good or bad that manifests within his perception.

I found this attitude in churches where, when praying for the sick, the prayer is concluded in a manner such as “And God, if you choose mot to heal Jane, help us accept and deal with her death.”  Wow, now that’s an effective prayer of healing.  Unfortunately, most people fail to ever escape this stage of consciousness.

However, the ultimate goal in this level of consciousness is to escape to Stage Two where he learns to consciously create all of his needs and wants, thereby ceasing to rely (or blame) something or someone outside himself.  Through the process of accepting responsibility for his state of being as well as exercising the practice of forgiveness, the former victim arrives at a heightened state of consciousness whereby he realizes that he has the power and the responsibility over his own existence.

He learns to implement this newfound wisdom by moving to Stage Two – Conscious Manifestor.

Stage Two:  Manifestor Consciousness

In this stage, the manifestor is aware his responsibility and power to consciously create the world around him.  We call this the law of attraction.  His perspective shifts from “he caused it to happen to me” to a “I caused this to happen to me.”  With this newfound power his prayer life shifts from begging God to have mercy on him to declaring that God will (or has) provided all that is necessary to manifest the desires of his heart.

The manifestor couples affirmative prayer with meditation and visualization, thereby allowing his thought to become things and change his circumstances.

This is where critics argue that the person should be declaring that God’s will be done, instead of their own.  The problem with this argument is two fold.  First, a good argument can be made that the desires of your heart come from God.  God gives the musician the desire to own an instrument and the builder the desire for materials to build.

Secondly, before the person can ever trust God to the point that he can surrender and let God work through him, he must know that he has the ability to control his own destiny.  Only, then can he let go and let God.

Once the manifestor masters the law of attraction, he will awaken to a higher level of consciousness  that reveals two truths.  The first truth is that material possessions do not lead to fulfillment.  The second truth is that when you know that you can have the desires of your heart, your desires change from materialistic desires to spiritual desires.

At that point, the manifestor is ready to move to Stage Three – Conscious Channeler.

State Three – Channeler Consciousness

In this stage the manifestor, having mastered his domain, has built a level of confidence and trust in God to allow God to work through him for his greater good as well as the greater good of mankind.

This is commonly referred to as being “in the zone” whereby you somehow accomplish extraordinary undertakings but cannot explain how you were able to do it.  In this stage the channeler realizes that “God did that through me.”  Through the practice of meditation, the channeler surrenders his will to God and lets go of all earthly baggage.

The more the person meditates, the more time he spends in union with God.  Eventually, he will be able to maintain this state when he not in meditation.  At this point, he awakens to the final stage of consciousness.

Stage Four – Being Consciousness

In this stage, the channeler exists in a state of union with God.

As he persists, he eventually realizes that God is expressing himself as that person.  The person’s perspective shifts from “God did this through me” to “God did this as me.”

In this stage, the person’s sense of self begins to dissolve and he realizes that his consciousness is the consciousness of God along with all other things in the universe are the same.

The subtle difference is that the person shifts from “witnessing” God work through them to realizing that he is the spirit of God participating in the creation of his own life.  You no longer are “in the zone”; but, instead, you “are the zone.”  As Jesus said “I and my Father are one.”

All of the other stages of being have prepared you for this consciousness.  Knowing that this consciousness flows through all matter in the universe, the person becomes one with God, nature, other humans and the cosmos.

The Law Of Attraction Is A Waypoint, Not A Destination

Now that you understand that using the law of attraction is only a means to an end, you understand why the critics of conscious creation miss the point.

The law of attraction is merely a point of transition a life of blame, victimhood and helplessness to a life of trusting God to work through you for your good as well as the good of mankind.  It is important to master the law of attraction so that you understand that you have the power and the responsibility to consciously create your reality.

Only then, you move from a point of materialism to a higher level of consciousness where material manifestations pale in comparison to the wonderful things created by God through you and, eventually, by God as you.  So, it you felt as though embracing the law of attraction was selfish and base, reconsider your conclusion.

The law of attraction is a tool to take control of your circumstances on your way to a level of existence that creates good for all of mankind.

Related posts:

1. Change Your Vibration to Attract Wealth
2. Law Of Attraction: Release Blame And Forgive
3. Law Of Attraction: Create Effective Positive Affirmations To Manifest Abundance (Part Four)

The sole difference between folks who do it frequently and those who don’t is practice. The art of astral projection can be taught, learned and practiced in a rather similar way as yoga or meditation.

It merits the same respect as those two disciplines.

Astral Projection And Lucid Dreaming

There are numerous ways to perform and achieve astral projection. For instance, lucid dreaming is a kind of astral projection. Lucid dreaming alludes to the state of being aware you’re dreaming. After you know that you are dreaming you can do anything you need in the dream and can control your environment.

It is so easy to project when you’re lucid dreaming. As quickly as you realize you are dreaming you want to consciously say to oneself ‘I am dreaming.’.  One exercise that I do throughout the day is to look at my hands and ask if I am dreaming.  Because I have learned to do this habit while awake, I also do it when I sleep.

If I look at my hands and they begin to “melt away” I can conclude that I am dreaming.  If you keep doing this, you’ll become conditioned to being aware when you’re dreaming.

Astral Projection Starts With A Belief

It could be hard for a newbie to astral project with just random practice because you first have to internalize the fact that astral projection will work. In fact, it is something that has happened to you even though you are not mindful of it.

The key component to projection is to believe you can do it. This is going to help erase any fears or doubts that you’ll have that might be keeping you from having the ability to planetary project.

Preparing For Astral Projection

Your body and mind must be prepared to gain planetary projection. Meditation is a great preparation for the experience. Find a meditation you like and practice it. All you have got to do is get relaxed in your favorite chair at a point in time when you’ll have no diversions.

Clear your head of everything that’s flowing thru it. Do not target any issues you are having.

Picture your problems and strains flowing out with each breath. The following step is to go into altered state of consciousness. Keep targeting your respiration and believe that  all issues are gone, and your mind is blank. Breathe slow and deep, in thru the nose and out the mouth, getting more relaxed with each breath.

It’s time now to get your body relaxed as you breathe slower and deeper. Begin with your toes, as they’re the most remote part of your body. You can simply tell each part of your body to chill or tense the muscles up first and then relax each part.

Tell each part of your body to chill as you move up. Use the strategy that you’re most happy with.

You will start to feel heavy, as if all of your energy and stress is going away as you relax each part of your body. Once this happens in your complete body, you are prepared to move on to the following step in planetary projection. You will feel a bit like sleeping at this time, you want to prevent this.

Using A Mantra

Many advocate repeating a command like ‘I can fly, I am able to fly.

You are able to say anything you need, just attempt to come up with something that will keep you from slipping into sleep. Your intellect may wish to drift off and cause thoughts to start flowing thru it.

You want to keep your concentration on a phrase to keep these thoughts out. You will need to end the session and start over if you lose your focus.

But, do not give up as you will eventually get yourself to project.

Astral Projection Is A Skill

Astral projection is a skill, like meditation, that must be taught, learned and mastered.  Anyone can do it, with a little practice.  The key is to believe that you can do it and continue to try until successful.

Related posts:

1. Meditation Training: Which Method Is Right For You?
2. Meditation: Meaning and Forms
3. Kundalini Awakening: Controversy Or Consciousness

88 Important Truths I’ve Learned About Life | Raptitude.com.

My favorite one of all was:

30. The most common addiction in the world is the draw of comfort.  It wrecks dreams and breaks people.

If we could learn to deny ourselves a little comfort once and a while, we’d all be skinny, rich and (probably) happy.

Seriously, take a look at David’s article.  It was enjoyable and thought provoking

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Indeed, everyone who has ever accomplished anything great has done so as a result of a focused sense of purpose.  Today, let’s take a specific look at how to evaluate your strengths, talents and skills to get an idea of your life’s purpose.  We will then look at how to begin to craft a personal mission statement that accurately reflects your purpose in life.

Evaluate Your Strengths and Talents

Or better yet, ask a trusted friend to evaluate them for you.  While they are doing so, ask them to identify your greatest weaknesses as well.  This way, you have an additional way of identifying your strengths by contrasting them with your weaknesses.

So, go ahead and write down what it is that you really love to do.  What do you spend the bulk of your free time doing?  What are you good at?  What do others say you are good at?  What do others come to you to help them?

These are all indicators of your strengths, skills and talents.

Evaluate How Your Strengths and Talents Can Help Others

How can the strengths and talents that you identified above be used to help other people?  How are others affected (positively or negatively) by your actions?  If you can do something you really love and make the world a better place for others, you have moved significantly closer to finding your life purpose.

Reduce Your Results To A Mission Statement

Reduce your findings to a single mission statement.  Here is my personal mission statement

Need help drafting your own?  Try the following template as a starting point.  Once you have something on paper you can continue to revise it until you get that knot in your stomach.

My life purpose is to use my (strength talent) to help others by (product, service or benefit to others).

My life purpose is to use my financial talent to help others save and invest wisely for retirement.

Write this mission statement on an index card and place it where you can access it many times per day.  I like to use the perforated sheets used to make computer generated business cards.  Simply repeat the mission statement on the template and print out several cards bearing your mission statement.  Place one by your bed, one on your bathroom mirror, one on your steering wheel, and one at your workplace.

Read Your Mission Statements Repeatedly Throughout The Day

To be effective, you have to repeat and remind yourself of your life purpose (mission statement) many times throughout the day.

By all means make sure to review and contemplate your mission statement immediately upon waking up in the morning and before going to bed at night.  Each morning quietly review and contemplate what, if anything, you will do that day to fulfill your life purpose.  At night review the actions taken that day to live a purpose filled life.

From Mission to Vision

In order to build upon the preceding exercise, I want you to go further in contemplating your life purpose.

I want you to create a vision of the ideal life in full and exact detail.

• What will your house look like?
• What will it smell like?
• Can you hear the crackling of logs in the fireplace?
• Can you smell the fesh coffee brewing in your kitchen?
• What will your bank statement look like? (I mean literally – I have gone so far as to Photoshop a bank statement with the amount of money I desire to have).

Your vision must be clear and exact.

It must literally be a place that you can go, in your mind, each day.

Live there.  Spend time there.

Your life purpose represents your “big picture”.  But, it is the detail placed in your vision that fills the canvas with paint.

From Vision To Decision

You must decide to act to fulfill your life purpose.  The most gifted pianist cannot play the first note until he decides to take that first piano lesson.  The tallest building begins with the laying of a simple cornerstone.

What will you do each day to move yourself further upon your life path to fulfilling your own life purpose?

If you only do one positive thing each day to move toward that life purpose, you will have accomplished seven items the first week, thirty items the first month.  In a year, you will have taken 365 steps toward the purpose filled life that you always knew you wanted.  That is a prescription for how to find happiness.

So how about it?  What is it going to take to step out, in faith, and begin that journey toward fulfilling your life purpose?

Return To Finding Life’s Purpose: How To Know Your Life’s Purpose (Part One)

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2. Finding Life’s Purpose: How To Know Your Life’s Purpose (Part One)
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If you cannot answer that question, someone else will answer it for you.  Tired of living someone else’s life purpose?  Well, let’s take a look at some exercises, tips and techniques to help you find your life purpose.

How Do You Find Your Life Purpose? 

First, you have to understand why having a “life purpose” is a key ingredient to success and happiness. 

If you look back over the course of human history, anyone that has ever accomplished any great feat (good or evil) had a life purpose.  Whether it was Adolf Hitler or Jesus Christ, each were driven by a unique life purpose. 

If you have done great things, then you surely had a life purpose.  If you have a life purpose, you will do great things.

All people who accomplish great things rise each day with a sense of direction and determination to do what it takes further their life path.

Let’s look at a few of the principles underlying the successful application of purpose in one’s life.

Focus On Others And Personal Rewards Will Follow

Zig Ziglar once said:

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.

Indeed, everyone throughout history who achieved greatness focused upon getting what they wanted by focusing on what other people wanted – Dave Thomas (Wendy’s), Ray Craft (McDonald’s), Walt Disney.  All of these men were immensely successful because they gave the customer what they wanted in each of their respective fields. 

The same can be said of the “great” evildoers of the world as well.  Adolf Hitler rose to greatness by giving the German people what they wanted – a sense of nationalism and the Jewish people as a scapegoat upon which to heap all of the blame for the state of their country.

In return, the German people gave him absolute power.

When you seek your life purpose, it is imperative that you seek that which creates the greatest good for all. 

The YOU will take care of itself. 

When you have a well defined life purpose, you will reap the personal benefits you seek.  

Every successful venture should begin with a purpose that aims to help others (usually the customer) first.  The customer is excited, the employees get excited about the customers getting excited.  You get excited about all of the above.

The Mission Statement:  A Concise Statement of Your Purpose For Life

In industry, the company’s “life purpose” is often called a “mission statement.”  This allows the business to remain dedicated to accomplishing its definite chief aim.   You can bet Microsoft has a mission statement (and so does Apple!!!).  Ultimately, you need to reduce your life purpose to a single mission statement.  It takes time, sometimes years, but with each revision, you become more focused.

Before you can set out on any journey, you need a destination.  Otherwise, how will you plan to get there? 

Once you have a destination, need a map to plan the most efficient way to make the trip.  Will you still occasionally get lost?  Sure you will.  But, without a map, you are sure to end up somewhere you do not want to be.

Your life purpose is your destination.  It is the reason you are making the trip.  If you know your destination, you have a good reason to keep driving. 

This is also why so many people, not having a life purpose, simply pull over to the side of the road exhausted and out of gas.

Without A Plan, Plan to Fail

In the movie, The Secret, Jack Canfield said that you can travel from San Francisco to New York City in the dark by seeing just the amount of the road illuminated by your headlights.  However, Canfield would be the first to agree that you also need a map, or you will find yourself wandering aimlessly in the dark

Have you spent the “best years” of your life wandering aimlessly in the dark?  On your deathbed are you going to look back over your life glad that you skipped your children’s ball games to spend an extra hour or two at the office?  Probably not.  Without a life purpose and a plan to get there, you are like a hound following his nose.  Sooner or later, he ends up in lost but he never catches the rabbit.

So how do you set a destination that will create a trip worth taking? 

Sure, you might be lucky enough to stumble upon your life purpose, but most likely, without some effort, you will meander on an off your life path throughout your life. 

Are you on your path right now?  The way to tell if you are living your life purpose is to look at the results and work backward.  Don’t like the results?  Then reexamine your destination and/or the map you are using to get there. 

In Part Two of this article, I will take a short look at excatly how to go about determining your skills, strengths and talents.  I will then touch upon how to craft a personal mission statement that reflects your life purpose.

Finding Life’s Purpose: How To Know Your Life’s Purpose (Part Two)

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