“We create our own reality, but there is a subtlety. We do not create reality in our ordinary state of consciousness, but in a non-ordinary state of consciousness.” – Amit Goswami, PhD
I’ve written in several posts that science has been proposing that consciousness is the real basis of reality, not matter. By science I mean by quantum physicists, cosmologists and biologists who are not otherwise associated with consciousness research. This has been going on for over 40 years.
These investigations led physicist Fred Alan Wolf to declare, “we create our own reality” way back in 1970. Sounds like the Law of Attraction, doesn’t it? Well, why doesn’t it always work? I tried to get Wolf to talk about that one time at a lecture of his, but he wasn’t interested. I didn’t know him well enough to know if he was always like that or just having a bad day, but I was disappointed.
I’ve since come to realize that one reason the so-called Law of Attraction doesn’t always work is that, thankfully, our individual impact on the world is usually small. Otherwise life would be like one of those bad dreams where your whole reality shifts moment by moment as your thoughts wander.
Another reason has been laid out by theoretical physicist Amit Goswami in his new book, “God Is Not Dead.” It has to do with the solution to a paradox first proposed by Nobel physicist Eugene Wigner and illustrated by a thought experiment called “the friend paradox.”
Suppose you and one of your friends set out for work from your homes one morning. You both have to go through the same intersection, you going East and your friend going South. As you both approach the intersection, you both set your intention for the light to be green.
What will the Law of Attraction do? If you both get a green light, it won’t be pretty.
Fortunately, Goswami reports that three different physicists over a 25 year period came up with the same solution. There is only one unified, nonlocal and cosmic consciousness, and we are individualized expressions of it. When we create, we are expressing our preference from our individuality and the unified consciousness chooses for all, thereby avoiding any contradictions and any preferences.
So no paradox and no favorites. Interestingly enough, it provides a scientific backing for what spiritual teachers have always said, because spiritual teachers have had a couple of thousand years to figure out the answer to Wigner’s paradox. And they mostly came to the same conclusion as the physicists.
For example, about 100 years ago Thomas Troward wrote, “We are seeking to arrange things to set in motion a train of causation that will harmonize our own conditions without interfering with the exercise of a like power by others.” Like getting a green light. Sounds like Wigner’s paradox, doesn’t it?
Troward went on to say, “All individual exercise of this power is the application of a universal power which itself operates creatively on its own account” and that our job is to get in harmony with it. Why? Because “it is universal and can have no particular interests to serve, and therefore its action must always be equally for the benefit of all.”
When he says that “our individual exercise of this power is the application of a universal power which operates on its own account” he is saying the same thing as the physicists. We express our preference and the universal power (unified consciousness) chooses the best outcome for all involved. Goswami calls that a non-ordinary state of consciousness for us – when we choose from unified consciousness.
So that’s a big mistake people often make with the Law of Attraction. They forget that the Law doesn’t play favorites and it won’t help us get anything at the expense of anyone else. People who use prayer instead of the LOA make the same mistake (prayer is the same as LOA but with different terminology and levels of consciousness).
My wife, Sandra, is a Unity minister and has an online prayer web site at positive-prayer.org. She often gets requests for prayer to “make my ex come back to me” or “make my spouse treat me right” or “make my kids shape up” and the people are disappointed when her emailed prayers have some version of simply affirming the highest and best outcome for everyone involved. They don’t realize that trying to get God to force someone to do what you want is not very spiritual, and as we discussed above, not very likely to happen. If there is anyone who needs to be changed, it’s usually the pray-er and not the pray-ee. Intentions for love, wisdom, guidance, understanding and transformation for yourself are the kind that are likely to get cheerfully answered by either prayer or LOA.
So let’s adopt the policy of an Ohio business owner and politician from 100 years ago whose motto was,“What I want for myself, I want for everyone!” His nickname was Golden Rule Jones, and he lived by that motto.
We could sure use some politicians like him today, couldn’t we?
So work on setting your intentions so that they’re for the highest and best outcome for everyone involved. And work on you, not them.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for the insight, this has been a fantastic journey I have been on, to be aware of my consciousness. Thanks for your daily imput as well!! Take care!!!!
Thanks, Patricia! It’s like seeing the world with new eyes and recognizing its essential oneness, isn’t it?
“There is only one unified, nonlocal and cosmic consciousness, and we are individualized expressions of it.”
Wow, this is deep. I love it!
Thanks for sharing such wonderful information.
I propose to give this abstract thoughts, why the law of attraction doesn’t always work – because we create the reality in a consensus, a name: “consensus reality”
Every dreamer dreaming his own dream, his own personal and private reality, will wonder why he cannot transfer the objects from his dreams into the waking world? Well, the reason is that the idea (on which the objects are based on) needs to be communicated to the individuals that participate to the creation of the common reality. How can something become manifest if all others doesn’t know that it exist?
The same thing happens all the time someone decide to be creative and paint or play some music. First imagination, then creation. The immaterial idea takes it’s way from consciousness towards the “physical brain” (only a interface) into our nerve system, muscles, hands, color, paper and so on … it is translated into a common language. The ideas, or our wishes, needs to be translated into a common language until they can become manifest.
We can use this for the best of all, if the our wishes are conform to the perfect will of God. Then the law of attraction works very good. But knowing the will of God is a prerequisite.
The consensus reality has also some security layers build in. This are called the conscience. The conscience is a common knowledge of what should be good or bad in order that all individual life has the opportunity to live. Going against the conscience means to put one self against the whole. Wishing money and power will at last fail, because it is something that is not really useful for the whole.
Thanks, Peter. I was glad to see your comments because I’ve been to your site before and we’re certainly on the same wavelength with this. The more of us that write about this, the more research that gets done and publicized, the harder it will be for the strict materialists to maintain the fiction that their science is the only truth. Upward causation has a hard time explaining non-local properties of mind, among other things.
I like your idea of consensus reality. That’s a useful term!
I like this article very much Wes. It’s all about taking personal responsibility and fits very well with the concept of Zero oultined by Joe Vitale in the book “Zero Limits”.
You’re so right that some of the LOA stuff has been misunderstood and your article goes a long way to closing the gap. Thanks so much for writing about it :0) Kind regards, Andrew
Isn’t the LOA mislabeled isn’t it really the Law of creation. Since we create from within to outside and not attract from outside to inside.
That come under the heading of point of view. The results are the same and we can think of it as creation or attraction. What’s important is whether we’re getting what we want.
If it is true that Universal Mind is constantly operating for Its “own good,” then it is true that It is constantly operating for the “good of all!” Therefore, it is not necessary for “me,” an individualized, local aspect of the Universal Mind, to do anything but enjoy the benefits Universal Mind constantly provides freely to all!
“I cannot have for myself, what I can’t allow myself to have! Arlo R Hansen, 1928 – ?
Delightful article, Wes!
This article explained a lot for me but one question remains: how do you know what is best for everyone involved? How do you know what God’s will is?
You don’t, and you don’t have to. In general, you can just set your intention for “this, or something better” and go to work on it. There are a few key points, though. If your desire requires the Universe to make someone do something they don’t want to do, then you’re off track. If the end result is not more benefits for all involved, then you’re off track. In essence, God’s will for all of us is to manifest the essence of our innate divinity in the greatest way possible. Everything else is just details.
I love the idea that we need to get in harmony with Troward’s “universal power”. I also enjoyed the part about your wife Sandra, and how it relates to the need to take responsibility for oneself. I am struggling to find where God fits into all of this; I am sure the answer will come in time but any help would be much appreciated. I wrote a few pages on my current thoughts just to get them out; it is too long to post here but if I could email them to someone who would comment on them I would really appreciate it. Thank you for the wonderful post.
In my selling careers I practiced giving myself many little rewards which not only enhances positive reinforcement but surrounds you with a positive aura that radiates to others as it did to my sales force. Many years ago I read a book called “How to live 365 Days a Year” written by a doctor who found that too many people came to him with illnesses which had mental causes rather than physical causes. Positive energy solves many problems. (Wes, call me for Kristi’s tel. # when you have a chance)