The Law of Attraction and Self-Inquiry

[stardustpilgrim]

The law of attraction works whether we intend it to work or do not try to use it deliberately. Self-inquiry OTOH is a deliberate process. (For sdp Self-inquiry is/was backing up to a point of honesty/truth, and when you think you have found it, inquiring into that, and then that, repeat). What is your life? Look around, what you do, where you live, the people who are around you, your job/career, your education, your house, neighborhood, clothes, hobbies, car, "toys", how you spend your time, that's your life. We could say that's the life of me, the me. All of that has been chosen by the me, they form me, they reflect me. Me has attracted all that in some manner, attracted like a magnet attracts iron. But what if one deliberately tries to manifest using LOA? The same principle holds, the me which is seeking to manifest, is seeking those things which it thinks will satisfy, comfort, give pleasure to and fulfill, me. So everything is centered on me. Now, consider how much time is chosen/necessarily-allotted, for me. (The body, the needs of the body, food, shelter, clothing and same for family, etc., and how much time is allotted for self-pleasure, movies, TV, reading, sports, etc.). Time shows what one values.

So what is Self-inquiry? Is Self-inquiry different? Yes, Self-inquiry is not centered on the me. Now, most here have ~done~ some form of Self-inquiry. But I put the questions above, first paragraph, to examine a little where Self-inquiry has led. Does Self-inquiry change one's values? OK, here the 1st mountain, 2nd mountain, 3rd mountain Zen truth enters. Your going to say, 3rd mountain takes us back to 1st mountain, with little unchanged between 1st mountain and 3rd mountain, outwardly. I am questioning whether that should be the case, or not. I'm asking in what sense has the me changed, from pre-inquiry to post inquiry. I'm not talking about what one has realized. I'm talking about the "nuts & bolts" of everyday life, the me that makes decisions, (even in the light of non-volition). That is, asking if non-volition isn't merely a convenient concept for me to have? Isn't me having its cake and eating it too? How would one know?

I'm asking if there is not a sense of I, which comes out-of Self-inquiry? I'm asking what Niz really meant/means by stay in the I Am. I'm asking, might not, would not one's whole life be turned around by actual Self-inquiry? That is, might one attract a different exterior life, if one's sense of "self" (from me to I) has changed from Self-inquiry? Would one's values change? Or it might not change exteriorly, but one's attitude to life will certainly change. (?) I'm asking, how clever is the me sometimes? (For any picky people out there, not liking the word I {but then, why did Niz use it?} change from the me to Self, or not-self). But I'm not really merely asking these specific questions, I'm just saying, look at what arises from the thread.

[roy]

My exterior life has changed dramatically, as a natural result from my interior work (my route was to simply dive into the space between thoughts). I am literally living in a heaven realm right here on earth. It's freakin' magic. The synchronicity and effortless flow of the happenings in my life is beyond anything that my little thinking mind could have possibly designed.

In my experience, the more that consciousness/awareness is tuned into the stillness (pure potential), the more in unison one's life will be with the universe.

Yes, I know our clunky language opens up the opportunity to point out everything dualistic about what I just said, but it's the best I can do right now.

[zendancer]

Yes, values, attitudes, and one's entire way of life changes rather significantly. The past and future lose importance, and whatever is happening NOW becomes one's primary focus. One becomes a person of action rather than reflection. There's no psychological resistance to the way life unfolds because one accepts what's happening and goes with the flow. The fear of death disappears, worries disappear, and regrets disappear. One stands on solid rock, so to speak, and it no longer matters what other people think. You don't care if other people think you're crazy because your direction is clear. You don't care if other people laugh at you, and you can even join in the laughter because you know that whatever you're doing doesn't have to make sense or be logical. One becomes extremely flexible and willing to change one's plans in a second based upon whatever unforeseen thing happens. Ditto on Roy's comment about tuning into the stillness. Silence leads to clarity and an underlying sense of peace.