A significant milestone in my recognition of the dream-like nature of the world was in the use of what is called in contemporary times: “The Law of Attraction”, made popular by the movie “The Secret” (don’t really recommend it – has an overly materialistic bent) and by the Abraham-Hicks books, “The Law of Attraction” and “Ask and It Is Given”. I say contemporary because Napoleon Hill’s classic: “Think and Grow Rich” published in 1937, also speaks of the exact same principles – that what you focus upon will manifest in your reality.
I am writing about the Law of Attraction (LoA) because:
1. For the contemporary spiritual seeker it would be hard to have not heard of it, such is the popularity of LoA in our materially-obsessed world
2. It seems to me like speaking about the Law of Attraction is a taboo in the ACIM community
3. I have used the LoA, and still do use it occasionally AND I am a student of the Course. (shock!! scandal!!)
4. In allowing me to see that the ‘real’ world is dream-like, it actually allowed me to accept ACIM more readily in my life – in this regard, it can be helpful.
5. I would like to share my opinion on LoA vis-à-vis ACIM, and hopefully add clarification.
I first discovered LoA when I was about 14, while reading my Dad’s ancient copy of “Think and Grow Rich”. I later read the Abraham-Hicks books, which I took to like a fish to water. I would visualise the outcomes that I wanted – excellent exam results, a prestigious job offer, success with the opposite sex.
Most people will not deny that focusing on a particular goal will cause a change in behaviour of the individual and thus will allow to goal to be more easily achieved, ie. if I think about better exam results, I will be more dedicated on my studies and thus achieving better exam results will not be something magical.
What was shocking to me was that things outside of my control began to align with my intentions – the person who I was just thinking about called me, or I had an extra-friendly interviewer, or that a book I needed to read just happened to be given to me. One might call it luck – but it was obvious to me that the Law of Attraction was very real, and it does work.
The Law of Attraction to me was because it was proof to me that reality is not strictly ‘Newtonian’ – that it is in fact, much more ‘malleable’ and dreamlike than we think.
Just like in a lucid dream, it is possible to affect your reality with your mind. We are not talking about bending city streets into the sky here (like in Inception) or dodging bullets (like in the Matrix). It will be in little things in subtle ways. The way your reality is consciously affected by you – the projector – will very often be on the borderline of believability and unbelievability. In other words – things manifesting into your reality will come in a way in which your conscious mind can deal with. If you decide to manifest a Porsche into your life, it will probably not fall from the sky into your driveway, but you might be guided towards a higher-paying job, which would allow you to earn more money so you could buy it, or you could be guided meet someone who just ‘happens’ to have a Porsche for sale, etc. ‘It was just a coincidence’, our rational brain tells us. But if you stop putting ‘fuel’ into the manifestation process, or if you change your mind about your intention, I can guarantee you that the ‘coincidences’ will stop.
What you intend can and will appear in your reality. The only question is – how much and how quickly? There is only one dependent variable – you. How much and how strongly do you believe in the validity of your intention? This is where the problem is - our unconscious mind and our hidden limiting beliefs. To take the example of the Porsche again – if you have lived much of your life in poverty, are deeply in debt, chances are, as much as you want the Porsche, it is simply too much of a ‘jump’ in vibration for you to accept, and too much of a ‘dissonance’ in the ‘ecology’ of your life. For example, where would you park your Porsche if you are living on the streets? Your unconscious, still programmed with a mentality of poverty, will simply override your Porsche-wanting conscious mind in the same way a deep, fast flowing stream would overpower a little streamlet.
Vice-versa, for a wealthy millionaire who already owns several sports cars and lives in a big mansion, manifesting a Porsche is not a big jump at all. His unconscious is able to readily accept the presence of a Porsche in his life. Soon enough, one of his buddies is moving and looking to sell his Porsche for a cheap price, would he like to buy it? Bingo. Our millionaire has his Porsche.
And so, viewed externally, it would appear that nothing really magical is happening to these two individuals. Even for someone who is extraordinarily adept at this process, to a disbeliever in the Law of Attraction, it would appear that he or she is just ‘lucky’.
But even if the Law of Attraction does work, so what? So what if you are living the ‘dream’ – billions in the bank, a big mansion, a supermodel girlfriend / boyfriend, a successful career? Do you just bliss out and experience boundless joy every single second? Of course not. There’s always more to have. There’s always more to achieve. You could be afraid to lose it. There is no end to comparison, no end to the amount of money you can make, no end to the insatiable wants of the ego. As far as material things go, it’s a bottomless pit.
That was a key realisation for me - you could have everything you wanted, and still be unhappy. Having everything you want does not guarantee happiness. Having everything you want does not guarantee inner peace.
The Law of Attraction is not the answer.
“if you are spending time working on the effect, well, that is kind of like moving around the furniture in a burning house. It might make the house look better temporarily, but you are not dealing with the real problem, which is the mind.” – Gary Renard
It was at this stage when I went on to explore Buddhism and eventually came across ACIM, which I regard to be my calling and my spiritual path. It is the ‘centerpiece’ in my spiritual path, the book I always return to even if I do ‘deviate’, so to speak.
And so we come to a point where we realise LoA works, but we know it’s not the ultimate thing. We listen to ACIM teachers advising us (wisely and rightly) to stick to the Course and not to hang around in the ‘spiritual buffet line’. We are getting the hang of this forgiveness thing but man, it’s really tough with some people. Back in the ‘real’ world, we still have bills to pay and goals we would like to achieve. We think (Okay, I was thinking 
):
‘LoA could really help with this but Gary said it’s like ‘moving furniture’ around – I don’t wanna move furniture around, I want to be a good ACIM student, and forgive all the time, and go home ASAP.’
‘Oh, but it felt so good when I was going downstream, in the Vortex, now it feels like I’m rowing upstream.. Life shouldn’t be so hard! Forgive… Forgive… Aahhh who are we kidding!!??’
Stop.
…the world and the body are neutral and can serve one of two purposes. To the wrong-minded ego they are instruments to reinforce separation; to the right mind they are the Holy Spirit’s teaching devices through which we learn His lessons of forgiveness.
Dr. Kenneth Wapnick
http://www.facim.org/acim/theory.htm
The LoA is neutral. Everything in this world is neutral. It’s our investment in them that make it real, make it good, or make it bad.
The Course does not ask you to give up anything. It does not ask you to go vegetarian. It does not ask you stop wearing your rosary. It does not ask you to stop hanging out with your non-ACIM friends. And it definitely does not ask you to stop using the Law of Attraction.
Yes, the Kingdom of Heaven is within us and we really do have everything we want and need, but it takes time to realise this. It takes a lot of forgiveness work. In the meantime, it’s okay to ‘have’ a job, try to earn money, put food on the table for the kids, and use the LoA.
LoA is a tool and a skill. Driving a car is a skill. They can be incredibly useful. They can also be incredibly harmful. They are both, as the Course defines it, forms of magic. It’s okay to use magic in your life, depending on the context. But don’t compare them to the Course – it would be like comparing apples and oranges.
Are you using it in a right-minded way or a wrong-minded way? Instead of using the LoA for your egoic needs – it is far, far more important to be asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit.
This relates importantly to the specificity of the intentions: when we say we want a red Porsche, we don’t really want a red Porsche per se – what we want is the feeling of having a red Porsche is like. We want to drive it down the seaside with the top down, the wind blowing in our hair, with our loved one beside us. That’s what we really want. What we really want is a feeling or an experience: be it love, security, abundance, success, etc. When we say we want a billion dollars in the bank, we don’t really want a long number on our bank statement – we want to experience abundance. We want to be able to buy the things we want for ourselves and our loved ones. On the egoic side of things this is also true – if you wanted a billion dollars to show off to your friends how superior you are, for example: if you did have all that money but couldn’t tell anybody about it, it wouldn’t be any good would it?
Ask to be taught, and do not use your experiences to confirm what you have learned. When your peace is threatened or disturbed in any way, say to yourself:
I do not know what anything, including this, means. And so I do not know how to respond to it. And I will not use my own past learning as the light to guide me now.
By this refusal to attempt to teach yourself what you do not know, the Guide Whom God has given you will speak to you. He will take His rightful place in your awareness the instant you abandon it, and offer it to Him.
T-14.XI.6.
This is what the Course says: We do not know what we want. Very often, what we think we want doesn’t truly make us happy. I manifested my job as a trader thinking it would make me happy. It didn’t. In fact, the most important lessons I learnt in the Bank was that I didn’t like it and didn’t need to do it any longer!
Go general with your intentions. For most people, it will be about abundance: food, shelter, relationships, experiences. We all want to live the happy dream. We all want to stop struggling. So ask for that! Imagine it! Leave it in the hands of the Universe / the Holy Spirit to sort out the details. Just make sure you stay receptive to the guidance that follows. The answers will very often be unexpected and will appear nonsensical in the short term, but stick with it and soon all will become clear.
So this is my advice:
If you are curious about it – try it. Play with it. Have fun with it. If it makes you feel good, do it! It’s a dream for god-sakes! It may work for you. It may not. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance with it.
If you use it – stop feeling guilty for using it. Put it into context with the Course. Be aware of your relationship with it. Are you obsessing with it? Is it more important to you than doing your daily lessons or practicing forgiveness? What are you using it for? Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance with it.
If you don’t – that’s absolutely fine too! But don’t judge it. Let it be. Forgive it.
Ken -
Thank you for this clear and concise offering on how to integrate these two important philosophies. I have studied the teachings of Abraham-Hicks for the last few years and it has brought me tremendous strength and peace. Then I came upon ACIM earlier this year (first by reading Gary Renard) and it seemed like a graduation of sorts to a perspective even more all-encompassing than what Abraham offers. But there were also some apparent inconsistencies. For example, Abraham says the purpose of life is joy, while ACIM essentially says the purpose of life is to awaken from the dream and realize our oneness with God/Source. For months I struggled to reconcile these teachings with each other into a seamless approach to daily life and was just beginning to come to the conclusions you set forth here. But today I had the thought to search the internet to see what others had to say on the matter. Yours is the first opinion I have come across and it brings me deep satisfaction. I guess you could say, I wanted confirmation of my own thoughts and so that is what I found. LoA in action? Guidance from the Holy Spirit? Both? Whatever is behind it, I extend my appreciation to you as conduit of my joy and clarity. Namaste.
Dear Morgan, it was a pleasure to write this article and to share this with you – and thank you for the reminder that I should do a video on this topic..
Funnily enough I am reading 'Zero Limits' again and I caught something which I didn't on my first read – in the last few chapters, Joe Vitale is coming across this very same topic of LoA vs a non-dual teaching (ho'oponopono in this case), having been in a position where he was formerly espousing the virtues of LoA and suddenly realising after his contact with ho'ponopono that LoA is not the answer and asking Spirit is.. Interesting synchronicity. In any case, enjoy your new beautiful paradigm. 
I will look forward to your video. Best wishes!
Kenneth,
Great article. Thanks for sharing it. I've been trying to establish a personal concordance between the two paths, but for me LoA and specifically Abraham-Hicks seems to speak to separation.
You referred several times to the Holy Spirit; the mediator between this dream world and the Reality of Heaven. I cannot find anything in Abraham that compares to this concept, and so each is left to his own 'reality' and must find happiness in separation.
Is there anything in A-H that corresponds to Holy Spirit?
In Appreciation,
~AJH
Hi Jay, the short answer I would say is no – AH doesn't really emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit / Higher Self – however there is a exercise in 'Ask and it is Given' where you leave things to the 'Universal Manager' – that's the closest I can think of. Re: AH being a separation concept – yes no doubt there is an element of that, viewed from Course perspective.. However, I think AH is a great stepping stone, and its such a 'Joy-based' teaching! Peace Ken
Hi Kenneth, I just continued listening to the Law of Attraction teaching with Abraham-Hicks and in the Introduction, it says there that we are guided by our Inner Being – they also said that another word for our Inner Being is our Higher Self. In the Disappearance of the Universe, Gary Renard states that he thinks that another term for the Holy Spirit is our Higher Self.
Abraham goes further to say that our Inner Being guides us through our emotional guidance system.
There have been religions like Buddhism and Hinduism that have put emphasis on being guided by the Inner Self. Jesus mentions the Self, too.
This is the comparison that I understand between the Course in Miracles through Jesus and the Law of Attraction by Abraham: Jesus says that our ultimate goal is to co-create with God. Abraham also says that our purpose is to co-create with our Source (or God).
Jesus says that the Holy Spirit is our "communication link". Abraham mentions us communicating with our Inner Being or Higher Self, which others have called the Holy Spirit.
All of this is to be aligned with God through our "communication link," or rather the Holy Spirit – Higher Self – Inner Being.
I see the confusion with the Holy Spirit and the Christ consciousness. I think the Christ consciousness is us aligned with the Holy Spirit and communicating in a connection with God.
This, I think, is how I'm able of correlating these two teachings.
Ken, Yes, the Abe material certainly is Joyful, but I found ACIM first, and to me it feels wonderful. Regarding my previous post, a Google search brought me to this specific page. (I'm certain the Abers would appreciate that.) Now that I have read your introduction and your response I will continue browsing the rest of your offerings.
~Jay
I find it that the Law of Attraction could help others with their illnesses. In order to continue learning the teachings of the Course in Miracles, excellent health is important. I happen to have multiple illnesses and it's hard to concentrate on the Course's teachings – so I try to learn from the Law of Attraction in order to manifest an improved state of health.
I find it confusing that the Course states in the Song of Prayers (from my understanding in the Disappearance of the Universe) that the correct form of prayer to God is to give God our manifestations – our false idols. Does this include excellent health? I'd like to keep my excellent health and focus on it. It's hard to pray to a God and give to a God that I barely remember and give Him/It my illusions of excellent health when in fact, my illusions of poor health are causing me to suffer so much.
The pain from the illnesses makes it difficult – however, I continue to try to learn these two similar, yet very opposite teachings in order to find an excellent health, not just an excellent state of mind. I understand that Gary Renard discusses with his masters in the Disappearance of the Universe that the pain caused by illnesses is interpreted as something else once the Holy Spirit takes over.
Hi Derek, I think the important point that the Course makes, is that we do not know what is best for us. So in this case of illness, there are often tremendous learning opportunities related to the body (eg. not making it real, teaching that incredible things are possible even with a seemingly poor body) which could be worked through in ways that are not necessarily tied to an excellent state of physical health. The better thing to do, in my opinion, is to give the suffering to the Holy Spirit and ask what the suffering is for, rather than to focus on manifesting an excellent state of health. For example, this chap, Nick Vujicic (http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/) is clearly not going to be manifesting a set of arms and legs anytime soon, but he is doing such a tremendous job of inspiring others with his passion. So the learning opportunity doesn't always correlate to what we commonly think the best outcome is – Spirit does answer in unexpected ways. Also, just like how being rich or feeling abundant has nothing to do with how much money one actually has, but rather about how one feels about his financial situation – the same is true for the body – we can learn to accept our seeming disabilities and still feel like we are in the state of perfect health! But I also do think that in most cases, a healthy body is a natural consequence of a healthy mind… I wish you excellent health! Peace, Ken
Thank you, Kenneth! I honestly had a couple of terrific experiences with the Holy Spirit. I'm listening to your technique of surrendering the experiences of ill health to the Holy Spirit. I trust in It.
Even though the Course in Miracles and the Law of Attraction may not heal me in regards to my health, they have been two teachings that have helped me continue and live with life, ignore and re-interpret the experiences into something else.
I'd like to hear more of your experiences with the Holy Spirit and from others! I like it how Gary Renard explains in an interview how the Holy Spirit communicates with everyone.
You might also like this essay by Christoph Engen and his experiences with depression and multiple sclerosis! I thought it was amazing… http://www.desert-miracle.com/mediapool/62/628890…
I could not continue reading this article. I understand that everyone is responsible for their own suffering; however, Jesus would not have said those things to the narrator like Michael said in such a cold way. Compassionate individuals do not just distance themselves from others that are having terrible experiences like that man with the illness.
If you could explain to me if he ever healed from his illness, and if so, how, I'd like to hear it.
One of the things that I like the Course in Miracles is that it's a course in "miracles" and just like the law of attraction promises healing, it can promise healing, too.
Yes, a limb cannot grow back, but there have been many stories of those that have cured and have been able walk when their health practitioners told them they'd be paralyzed forever. I choose to listen to those teachings and stories that tell me that I can change my life into positive experiences.
I choose to have faith that I can heal – and that life is not to resign myself into terrible experiences; rather, it is to change the experiences into positive ones.
Thank you for sending me the links – I am thankful of your positive thoughts and consideration!
A point that I would like to make is that it is possible for the Law of Attraction to lead to joy and happiness – is it enlightening? I'm unsure. However, if you choose to focus on excellent health, unconditional love and enlightenment – you can attract it. Think of how much enlightening can mean to you. Think of yourself having and receiving unconditional thoughts to others – imagine it. Positive affirmations like that of Louise Hay's can help change the thinking.
If someone is suicidally depressed, the Law of Attraction teachings can help them manifest things that are positive for them and help them cope with their issues and struggles. Others that are overwhelmed with challenges can temporarily be helped through the Law of Attraction.
I understand what it's like to be in a spiritual buffet. I suffered tremendously from changing one teaching to another – jumping from this teaching to that. It can be confusing, too, to try to correlate or compare certain teachings together. I understand this.
I loved the post. It is all about working on the cause, which is our thinking, that produces the effects in our lives.
I think many view the Law of Attraction as a form of teaching when it is simply a law, that when understood, can help in controlling the types of manifestations that show up in your experience. Simply stated, the Law of Attraction is the organizing principle of all energy flow. If we understand how it works, we can consciously choose where and how to direct our thoughts (energy), which can lead to wanted results in our lives.
Brilliant article. It helped me align LOA with ACIM beautifully. Thanks!
Glad it helped and thanks for letting me know! Peace, Ken
I am just beginning to read and integrate the Course into my studies. I am intrigued by it after many years of being intimidated by it. I had just written one of your Course contemporaries who is on the defense about mixing the Course with the Secret and I told him that the secret need not be antithetical to the Course, they can compliment each other- I find that they do so quite well.
I am glad that you are much more considerate of the Law of Attraction and its application to the Course. I hope that I might apply it so wisely- seeing as how I’m coming from the opposite direction, LOA Before the Course- I guess you could say it might be the Main Course. Hehe.
In any event, I appreciate your compassion.
Hi Elizabeth – yes! I spoke to Carrie Triffet about it as well – see here http://youtu.be/E6kosEJgiI0?t=53m25s Peace, Ken
Hi Ken,
Thank you for writing this. I have this class about Law of Attraction. Could you please answer some questions about the AH followers? Do they believe in God and Holy Spirit? I am really beginning to see that AH followers are coming from the ACIM place about we are all Source. In fact, AH came about in the same way as ACIM through trance.
Hi Janelle, hmm… To be honest, I don’t think AH doesn’t go that deeply into the metaphysics, but that’s not the aim of the AH teaching really.. I think the equivalent in the AH framework would be a general ‘the Universe’ or some form of intelligent, creative force ‘Universal Energy’ or the like. In ‘Ask and It is Given’, one of the practices when we feel overloaded with things is to give them to the ‘Universal Manager’ – sounds very similar to the HS to me!
Love, Ken