Archive for the ‘May 2009’ Category
May 25, 2009 — Violence and the Law of Attraction
May 25th, 2009 | 
Author: Proverbs 4:16-17: “For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble. They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!”
“We reap what we sow,” said St. Paul (see Galatians 2:7). But Jesus told a parable of an enemy coming at night and sowing the honest farmer’s field with weed seeds. See Matthew 13:25-29. So it’s true that we attract what we plant—unless others interfere. Then we have problems to deal with in the harvest.
Hundreds of millions of people suffered severely and tens of thousands died horrible deaths during the awful wars of the last century. Why? Our proverb above points out why. Not because of good people’s wrong thoughts—but because of evil people deeds. The Law of Destruction interferes with the so-called Law of Attraction.
As I consider the meaning of Memorial Day, I’m led to the thought that all wars, and many competitive sporting events (types of war) give clear evidence that the Law of Attraction, particularly as propounded in THE SECRET, is a lie. In wars and competitive sports we generally have two opposing sides, both considering theirs to be right and that they will win.
Even in the last few days before his suicide, Hitler still envisioned victory! And when he didn’t achieve it, he blamed the German people for their weakness and Germany’s loss.
We have the NBA finals going on now. With thousands of others, I cheered for the Blazers. A lot of energy flowed to “The Universe” for their victory. Blazer players had confidence that they would win. What happened? Did the Houston Rockets’ fans and players have MORE confidence, send more energy to wherever? Or did they just play a little better with more experienced and talented players? Or did the referees favor the Rockets? [This last explanation isn't supposed to count in the Law of Attraction, according to THE SECRET, because no outside forces can affect the outcome of the energy you send out into the Universe ."]
In THE SECRET, there’s enough truth to trick even discerning readers to believe the whole package. If there’s enough honey on the stale donut, the first few bites might taste good. But when you start to masticate and notice the inner taste, you realize that it’s stale and unappetizing. And the best part of that kind of donut is the hole!
The best part of THE SECRET is what’s been left out—realistic truth.
For your comments on this series, thanks again. You’ve helped me sharpen my thinking.
My blogs from now on will be thoughts more on practical daily life, so I might not refer to the Law of Attraction much anymore. The more I read and re-read THE SECRET, the more upset I became with its errors. It was developing negative energy within me, and I don’t need that!
“I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and women of will and vision.” – Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967).
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May 24, 2009 — The World’s Memorial Day
Ecclesiastes 3:8: “A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.”
Solomon here makes an observation, not a prescription. Of all the times in Israel’s history, his reign was the most peaceful.
My first memory of war was when I was three or four years old. My dad came home from town with a newspaper in his overcoat pocket. He showed it to us, and it had headlines and photos of the war in Europe. Dad also listened to a battery-operated radio to get news about the war, the bombings in Britain, the losses and advances in Europe.
Outside, we played war. We repeated, “Hitler can’t take Canada, Hitler can’t take France, If Hitler comes to Canada, We’ll kick him in the pants!”
In our rare trips to Winnipeg, we sometimes ate at the New Moon Café. A man came around the tables selling cards, much like baseball cards, with ghastly pictures of soldiers killing soldiers with bayonets, depicting the Germans as being without mercy.
Robert E. Lee in 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, said: “It is well that war is so terrible—otherwise we would grow too fond of it.” Often, during this Memorial Day weekend, those removed from war by a generation of two, celebrate the holiday with fondness and forget the purpose. Shopping and eating replace stopping and thanking.
During this weekend, we need to remember the fallen from all nations, the people who died and those wounded because of wars. We need to remember so that we will seek peace above all else.
The two world wars were appalling in just the deaths alone. WORLD WAR I – over 16,500,000 killed. United States lost 113,465 people in battle; Canada lost 66,944.
WORLD WAR II – over 73,700,000 killed, 3.71% of the population of the countries involved. Of that, the Third Reich countries of Austria, Germany and ethnic Germans in other countries lost 7,338,500 people – 8.7% of their population. Japan lost 2,700,000 or 3.78% of their population.
United States lost 418,500 people—0.32% of its population—and Canada lost 45,300—0.40% of its population. A very small percentage when compared with some other nations. Yet, a dear loss to families and friends. I remember the tears shed by families when news of their loss came to them.
So we remember. We thank. We sing our national anthems. But let’s sing in a way that does not make us feel superior to other nations, but one with them in the sorrow of our common losses.
“There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory; but, boys, it is all hell.” — General William Tecumseh Sherman to the graduating class of Michigan Military Academy, April 11, 1880.
May 15, 2009 — THE SECRET of How to Remove Lint from Your Navel
Proverbs 27:23: “Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds.”
You might have to do some slanted thinking to tie in my title with today’s lesson of wisdom. I think you’ll get the connection, though. Even the most way-out Law of Attraction teachers would.
A story told often is of the devoted shepherd who cared for his sheep. Even if he had a flock of a hundred, if one sheep were missing, he’d go out in search for it no matter what dangers to himself. “There Were Ninety and Nine” is a gospel song that echoes that image.
So many of the teachers of The Law of Attraction, as found in the book and DVD THE SECRET, focus so much on achieving one’s own goals that they virtually ignore the lost sheep. In short, much selfishness rings through in their teachings.
For instance, in the DVD version, Lisa Nichols, one of the star teachers, says, “It’s not your job to make the world a better place.” What is your job? She says it’s to make yourself a more successful person, attracting the power of the Universe to deliver your wishes to you.
But let’s consider Irena Sendler. If it hadn’t been for her, at least 2,500 Jewish boys and girls would’ve been murdered in the Nazi death camps. Perhaps Irena didn’t think of “making the world a better place.” But she definitely thought about saving children ready to be tortured and killed. [Please see my previous post on this.]
Irena was a Polish Roman Catholic social worker in Nazi-controlled Warsaw in World War II. She and a colleague, dressed in nurses’ uniforms, went into the ghetto of over 500,000 Jews, herded there by the Germans. The two nurses brought food, clothes and a vaccine against typhoid, a great threat to thousands. But the greatest threat was the Nazi grand scheme—to herd most of these Jews to the Treblinka death camp.
Irena became part of the escape network. Some children were transported out of the ghetto in coffins, suitcases, sacks, and even a mechanic’s toolbox. Some escaped through the sewer system beneath the city.
Irena witnessed the heartbreak of parents trusting their children to others. She promised to do her best to reunite them after the war. So she kept a notebook with the children’s names—over 2,500 of them.
Eventually, the Nazis captured Irena, but she would not reveal her partners. For this she suffered beatings, broken limbs, and even a death sentence. Only through the help of a kind guard was she able to escape.
If Lisa Nichols and other self-sufficient gurus of THE SECRET were to counsel Irena, what would they say? “Irena, it is not your job to save these children. They attracted this upon themselves through their thinking. Don’t interfere.”
So, what is the THE SECRET’S secret of removing lint from one’s navel? “Send positive thoughts out into the Universe. The Universe will remove the lint. It is not your business to make your navel a better place.”
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960.
May 3, 2009 — THE SECRET = SELF-HELP FOR NAVELS
Proverbs 15:33: “Fear of the Lord teaches wisdom; humility perceives honor.”
In the last few years, millions of readers and viewers have adopted the mantra of “The Law of Attraction” as propounded in THE SECRET and other media.
As I listen to and read this teaching, I am sickened by the self-focus so much of this stuff teaches and encourages. “The Universe” (or THE THING—see last post) exists for YOU. Every guru in THE SECRET focuses self-absorption. “As you learn The Secret, you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want” (page xii). We used to call it “meditating on your belly button!”
They will quote, often out of context or little snatches that fit in with their teachings, from the great teachers and leaders of the ages, such as Jesus and Solomon. But they dare not refer to equally pertinent quotes from “leaders” who, in seeking their own destiny, destroyed millions of lives.
Such as Adolf Hitler. If you examine his teachings in Mein Kampf and his actions and those of his cohorts, you will see that he would have been an ideal candidate for THE SECRET. He obeyed the so-called law of attraction. “To use the law of attraction to your advantage, make it a habitual way of being, not just a one-time event” (p. 93). Hey, you sure did that, Herr Hitler! You went all out.
What’s greater than “the law of attraction?”
The law of loving action.
My sister-in-law sends me a lot of “forwards” on my email. I’m very thankful for today’s. I’ve heard of many heroes of the holocaust, such as Anne Frank, the family of ten Boom, Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg—the historical list includes thousands of known saviors.
But until today I never heard of Irena Sendler, who died May 12, 2008, at age 98. She was a Polish Roman Catholic social worker who saved at least 2,500 Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War.
Irena Sender, Holocaust Hero
Did she use “the law of attraction?” You decide. This I know: God used the love in her heart to act for children targeted for the Nazi death camps. She risked her life.
“All you have to do to receive is feel good,” writes Rhonda Byrne in THE SECRET (p. 53). I’m sure Irena felt deep joy in saving the lives of babies and children from death camps. She also received capture by the Nazis and imprisonment, felt torture, broken legs, mangled feet, disfiguring scars, and a death sentence.
She attracted those “rewards” to herself, not by navel-gazing and sending her thoughts out to “the Universe,” but by acting out her love in a tangible, risky way.
I’m so moved by Irena’s story that I will continue it in future posts. You might want to read more about Irena Sendler on the internet. Very inspiring…and humbling.
You might even forget, for a few moments, that you have a navel. I wish those teachers in THE SECRET would forget theirs!
“We who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. That term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true. I continue to have qualms of conscience that I did so little. I could have done more. This regret will follow me to my death.” – Irena Sendler (1910 – 2008).
May 1, 2009 — THE SECRET OF “THE THING”
Proverbs 15:14: “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.”
In a lot of teaching about “The Law of Attraction,” as in THE SECRET, the writers use the phrase “The Universe.” But I’ve never seen it defined clearly: it’s just an allusion or an assumption that the reader will know what is meant, or at least get a warm, reassuring feeling. The exception is when they use “universe” in the way we normally understand it, which is all creation and not some esoteric power.
By “the Universe” do they mean the totality of created or existing things? Then is the Creator outside or inside this Universe? Do they mean God? Do they mean the spiritual world? I have no idea.
Many use “the Universe” in the same way we’d use “the Thing.” It can mean anything…or nothing. So in a selection of “universe” sentences in THE SECRET, I’m going to use “the thing” and see if we can get a clear grasp of what these writers mean. After all, if there’s no definition of a word, it can easily be THE THING.
“You are in that moment summoning what you want with the mightiest power in THE THING” (p. 14).
“As you think thoughts, they are sent out into THE THING, and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency” (p. 25).
“What if your feelings are actually communication from THE THING to let you know what you’re thinking?” (p. 33).
“So when you think a sustained thought it is immediately sent out into THE THING” (p. 33).
“So when you are feeling bad it is communication from THE THING” (p. 33).
“Some great teachers created stories to demonstrate how THE THING works” (p. 45).
“You are the Master of THE THING, and the Genie is there to serve you” (p. 46).
“When you are acting to receive from THE THING, you will feel as if you are flowing with the current of the river” (p. 55).
‘It’s like having THE THING as your catalogue….It is You placing your order with THE THING. It’s really that easy” (p. 48).
“THE THING will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you” (p. 51).
“It takes no time for THE THING to manifest what you want” (p. 68).
“Size is nothing to THE THING” (p. 63).
“THE THING is bringing all good things to me. THE THING is conspiring for me in all things. THE THING is supporting me in everything I do. THE THING meets all my needs immediately” (page 40).
So, “Trust THE THING” (p. 57). It’s even more powerful than THE FORCE.
“The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.” Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 – 1882).
“The worst moment for a law-of-attraction teacher is when he is really thankful and has only THE THING to thank.” Paraphrase by Robert Natiuk.