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I imagine these four states of being are all interrelated with our state of mind. I propose that the things that befall us that we didn’t deserve are results of our unconscious state of mind. The things that befall us that we did deserve, we created consciously.
Grace is when good things happen that we didn’t deserve. Sometimes we say Grace is a gift from God. That would imply that it has nothing to do with our state of mind at all, it’s just a gift. Misfortune is when negative things happen that we didn’t deserve. Sometimes we say misfortune is just bad luck. That would imply that our consciousness has nothing to do with “bad things” happening “to us.”
Rewards are when we get positive things we deserved, and punishment is when we get negative things we deserved.
What if misfortune wasn’t really as random as we thought? What if we created a stream of misfortune by how we think of ourselves? What if grace in our lives was the result of our unconscious tendencies; our character; the “law of attraction” in action? Where would that leave God in our lives?
What if the results we see in our lives had everything to do with our mentality?
Do you think of yourself as deserving? Do you think of yourself as not worthy? Do you consider yourself an innocent victim of circumstance? What is the most pleasant life results you can imagine? Do you believe you can have it?
Just food for thought. I was simply wondering to myself what the opposite of grace was when this idea presented itself.
7 comments
Jeanne says:
December 5, 2008 at 8:28 am (UTC -7 )
Jessica,
Wow! To me this is paradigm aligned with the “law of attraction” as presented in the Abraham Hicks CDs. (I’m not sure if you have ever listened to them but they are interesting).
Great post!
Jeanne
Carol King says:
December 5, 2008 at 5:27 pm (UTC -7 )
Hi Jessica, great questions you have raised. For what it is worth here is my two cents.
“What if misfortune wasn’t really as random as we thought? What if we created a stream of misfortune by how we think of ourselves?”
It is my belief that misfortune is not ramdom, we create all that we experience. Those who use the word misfortune to describe their experience either do not know that they do not need too or have not yet taken responsibility for their thoughts and actions and therefore find it easier and more comforting to place the blame somewhere or with someone or upon something else.
“What if grace in our lives was the result of our unconscious tendencies; our character; the “law of attraction” in action? Where would that leave God in our lives?”
God is who, what or where you want he, she or it to be. What you believe is, is. What you want to believe is, what you consider to be the truth is. Every experience, belief and thought you have is the sum total of what you want to experience, believe and think. I choose to believe in God, someone else may say that God does not exisit but Allah does. I ask them to describe their Allah and they describe their creator exactly the way I would describe mine. All are the same it is just being viewed from different perspectives based on different beliefs.
God is who or what you say he is, that is why with the law of attraction you hear many teachers saying to refer to your creator as what ever suits you i.e God, your higher self, the holy guardian angel, the point is you get to choose.
“Do you think of yourself as deserving? Do you think of yourself as not worthy?”
Simply put, now yes, a few years ago, no. As I learn and develop and grow my feelings towards myself improve and I am learning that I am a Princess of the Universe I can have, be and do what ever I want. There is nothing that I cannot achieve if it is my intention to achieve it.
“What is the most pleasant life results you can imagine?”
Wow where to start, I would love to see more harmony in the country where I live, I would love for people here to understand their true value, I would like to be the person to help them to discover their worth. I want to gain knowledge and pass it on, to experience moment to moment bliss instead of partial bliss… I will stop there because I could go on for ever.
“Do you believe you can have it?”
ABSOLUTELY
My apologies for the length Jessica, my excuse is you offered up so many interesting questions I got carried away.
Excellent post.
Jessica says:
December 5, 2008 at 6:14 pm (UTC -7 )
Jeanne:
Thank you for the compliment. No, I haven’t listened to those CDs but I’ve surely read about them and have heard of Gay and Abraham Hicks.
Carol:
I’m thrilled you took the time to answer all those hypothetical questions!!!I see that change can happen in people when I read your own comparison of before and after. (and I needed that because sometimes I get to thinking that people don’t tend to change)About the God comment; as that’s the one I get hung up on in regards to LOA:
When people realize that even though they sin and mess up, they still get God’s grace in their lives in the form of forgiveness and spiritual gifts, it brings humility. I believe being humble is a wonderful “spiritual” trait to have, and I wonder about the law of attraction as it relates to a person’s ego.
For instance, I wonder if I would get too big-headed if I truly believed that every good thing in my life were the result of my own mentality or my own doing. I’d get carried away and become conceited, thinking I could do everything by my own strength; not needing to pray!
But there must be something to temper my willful spirit…oh yes, it’s the practice of gratitude. If people try to live their lives by LOA and skip the gratitude part, that’s where they’ll run into trouble. I imagine circumstances will arise that will force them to humble-down, in a most unpleasant way!
Carol King says:
December 6, 2008 at 12:46 pm (UTC -7 )
Hi Jessica.
“For instance, I wonder if I would get too big-headed if I truly believed that every good thing in my life were the result of my own mentality or my own doing. I’d get carried away and become conceited, thinking I could do everything by my own strength; not needing to pray!”
That is a really valid point and I think it could happen very easily. This is one of the reasons why my own LOA personal growth journey has not been simple or straight forward. For instance when I was first introduced to the LOA I intended to go on a creative binge I was going to manifest every single thing I ever wanted in my life, but after reading “the secret’ my first question was ‘do these people believe in God’. And this troubled me for some time until I read ‘The Greatest Secret by Rev Ron McIntosh’ I realised then that this so called secret was no secret at all, it is one of Gods laws written about very clearly in the bible.
So then I found that in order to live the life that I want to live and be comfortable and happy in my own skin I needed to first become a better person and then as a natural progression from that the ‘things’ in life that I want will naturally show up and that is exactly what has begun to happen now. It was not easy to come to this realisation but when I did and I learned humility and peace I even found that the things I had wanted originally changed.
The LOA in of itself can be very cold and mercinary depending on who you learn this law from, there are many different points of view but I think that it can be a joyous and wonderful experience if you look to become a better version of yourself first.
When we learn to be happy, peaceful and grateful it is impossible to also be self centred and greedy.
Jessica says:
December 6, 2008 at 2:58 pm (UTC -7 )
I think you found the key, “in order to be happy…I needed to first become a better person…”
I think the time and money one spends for self improvement is the best investment of all because this investment will pay dividends not only for your own lifetime, but your children’s lifetimes, too.
Thanks, Carol, for sharing the book “The Greatest Secret.” I will have to look for it.
Jessica says:
December 6, 2008 at 3:01 pm (UTC -7 )
The Greatest Secret
I found it on Amazon.
Carol King says:
December 7, 2008 at 6:41 pm (UTC -7 )
Jessica – I have really enjoyed discussing your post with you. I hope you will find the book I mentioned as helpful as I did.
You are so right about the ‘investment’ we make in ourselves. I have spent many dollars on my own education and some of my family members truly believe that I obviously have ‘way too much spare cash on my hands’ but this has never deterred me and although my journey has been and is still taking many different twists and turns, I am happy with every single dollar I have spent.
Some materials have been more benefitial than others but I have still picked up some useful knowledge from every teacher I chosen to learn from. Increasing knowledge is something that I will indulge myself in until the day I leave this realm.