What we imagine, direct our energy toward, and focus on, happens. We've all been there. Wanted a puppy. Found a stray. Our lucky day! Then, the inevitable pleading with the responsible adults. "Can we keep 'em? Pleeease!!!"
Who can resist?
This is me, in a nutshell, completely enthralled and irresistibly drawn to what I gather into my focus: unable to resist kids, elders, outliers, quirky eccentrics, new neighbors, dogs, cats, birds, wild-kin of any kind, flowers, trees, plant-kin of any variety, people from all places, stories, music, dance, art, and pretty much anything alive and vibrant that needs to be part of my pack, my wider "We." I resonate with their energy. I want to bring 'em home. "PLEEEASE!"
Something attracts us, and we focus all our energy and attention on it. The best of us longs to reach out, to connect, to draw closer to what draws us, to be attractive and attracted, and to have our imagined reality come into existence. It's called the Law of Attraction.
Is it real, or woo-woo mysticism, or somewhere in between? This has been debated in the quantum realm, where attempts to observe matter in its smallest form demonstrate that everything is comprised of vibrating energy, and matter is simply its slower form. Einstein had famously postulated that matter and energy are interchangeable forms of the same thing. The question is, can one form - manipulated, or focused energy - affect the form of the other - matter?
Those who ascribe to the Law of Attraction think it is possible. The Law of Attraction suggests we bring about what we think about, or we affect material existence by means of conscious, focused energy. We focus our energy and lean into its becoming something else that we intend, something directly related to its energetic iteration.
The so-called "father" of quantum physics, Max Planck (1858-1957), ascribed to such a notion: "I regard matter as derived from consciousness." Physicist Fritjof Capra compared quantum mechanics with the principles of Eastern mysticism in The Tao of Physics (1975). Physicist Nick Herbert maintained that consciousness is a fundamental process of nature. (1995) (https://www.aaas.org/quantum-mechanics-and-consciousness-connection)Â
The argument continues unabated as to whether consciousness affects material existence, and it's gaining ascendancy among those who study neuro-biology and its relationship to the metaphysical - especially spirituality. The power of prayer? (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3190564/) For centuries, those who documented the effects of prayer, meditation, and embodied energy practice needed no validation from the guardians of Western science. Still, many modern physicists regard the Law of Attraction as "pseudo-science," or in the realm of "spiritual metaphysics," not empirically verifiable, a load of waffle. https://www.iflscience.com/no-quantum-mechanics-can-t-underlie-a-mystical-law-of-attraction-67676
What do you think? Law of Attraction? Anything to it?
Focused attention of energy through healing touch, reiki, or energy healing, prayer, meditation, visualization, or conscious intentionality, in my opinion, should not be immune from ongoing debate and testing. Empirical testing reveals the therapeutic effects of focused intention and subtle energy on healing the human body, for example. Why would we not admit such evidence to our wider body of knowledge? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32931459/ It comes down to what constitutes valid knowledge - or how we know what we know - the study of epistemology.
How do we know what we know? What is the fabric of knowledge? Knowledge is perspectival and multi-faceted, not univocal, and the tenets of Western science have embedded epistemological assumptions that are no more sacrosanct than the epistemological assumptions of "believers." A healthy metaphysics can inform our knowledge base if we approach knowledge and belief with practiced dialogue, and sound hermeneutical checks and balances. I find it unhelpful and impractical to rule out entire branches of experiential knowledge, like knowledge associated with the metaphysical realm - beauty, truth, goodness, and love.
When I meet new clients, new neighbors, new creature-kin, new arbor-elders or plant-kin, new stories, cultures, traditions, music, or art, my focused attention is definitely one of shared energy and attraction. I like to practice radical hospitality, openness, kindness, wonder, curiosity, amazement, and gratitude. Like the kid with a puppy, I am completely enthralled. And this is why my wider "We" is so WIDE! How about yours? PLEEEASE! I can't resist knowing!
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