On the surface, life appears to be unpredictably random and chaotic. However, thousands of years of recorded collective spiritual wisdom and what neuroscientists are now discovering about the human brain uncover patterns emerging from this randomness and chaos. These patterns are distilled here into five laws of attention that flow from and into each other. Understanding these laws can bring clarity, direction, and purpose to our lives.
1. The Law of Focus: When we persistently focus on something with intensity, integrity, and grit, we unlock its secrets, manifest it, and expand its presence in our lives. “A genius is someone who uses more and better use of their subliminal thought processes than the rest of us.” ~Frederic Myers, British psychologist.
Neuroscientist David Creswell and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered that our nonconscious mind determines what is important to us based on what we think about, imagine, feel and pay more attention to. Then, as we deal with other routine chores or fall asleep, it keeps working subliminally over time to connect relevant pieces of information in our memory and develop strategies to achieve it. This law reveals how we can harness the wisdom of our unconscious mind and use the transformative power of attention to unlock our potential for personal growth. It also inspires us to shape our reality by choosing what we persistently focus on.
2. The Law of Earnestness: The universe propels our evolution at a pace in proportion to our passion for uncovering purpose and meaning in our lives. “Happiness or success cannot be pursued, for both can ensue only as a by-product of our dedication to a cause greater than us.” ~Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning.
When we have an address (or a goal) and give ourselves no option but to reach there, we will get there anyway. However, often, it is not what we achieve eventually but what we become in the process that is the greatest reward of undertaking that journey. Brain scientists researching neuroplasticity have discovered that the brain grows in the direction of challenges it receives and in proportion to the frequency and magnitude of these. Understanding this law gives us the courage to embark on our “purpose” journeys, fuels the passion and energy needed to persevere and inspires us to push our boundaries and evolve.
3. The Law of Clarity, Conviction, Consistency, and Course Corrections: Success in achieving any goal comes in proportion to our:
● Clarity (about the correct underlying principles),
● Conviction (about the proven efficacy of the methodology we follow),
● Consistency (in taking required actions) and the ability to make and
● Course corrections (based on regular reviews).
The aviation industry’s inspiring journey from being the most dangerous mode of transport to becoming the safest one is a testimony to the efficacy of this law’s four Cs. “Everything we know in aviation, every rule in the book, every procedure we have, we know because someone somewhere died…We have purchased lessons…with blood.” ~Sully Sullenberger, American pilot Understanding this law helps us channel our passion and energy most efficiently and effectively toward achieving our goals.
4. The Law of Veracity and Integrity: The sense of fulfilment we experience in life is feedback on the moral and factual correctness we pursue and adhere to. “If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.” ~Marcus Aurelius.
However, upholding veracity and integrity is difficult unless we prioritise noticing our violations of them over our need to look good in our and others’ eyes.
This is so because unless we train our unconscious mind, it will keep us from noticing inconvenient facts and moral violations that benefit us. Or else it will recruit our intelligence to rationalise these. However, when we voluntarily forgo advantages stemming from others’ suffering, we create a world where everyone suffers less. Genuine compassion doesn’t exclude any sentient being (who can feel pain) from its embrace. Understanding this law helps us follow the shortest, smoothest, and fastest route to a sense of ultimate bliss and fulfilment.
5. The Law of Non-separateness, Not-knowing, and Non-doership: Seeing ourselves in others, embracing our state of not-knowing the truth with humility, and understanding that we are not the doers instils a sense of growing peace, bliss, and purpose. “Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 per cent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn’t one.” ~Wei Wu Wei.
We harness the power of this law when we:
● Understand that a state of not knowing frees us to experience the truth directly.
● Realise that people’s behaviour and doings result from what they have gone through; hence, we ought to accept them as they are while seeing ourselves in them.
● Eschew the need to prove our relative superiority.
Practising the three pillars of this law and the other four laws helps us overcome formidable obstacles to evolving towards dissolving ourselves into the wholeness of the universe—the most profound purpose for which we are born.
Anil Bhatnagar is a corporate trainer, motivational speaker and the author of Reverse Your Thoughts, Reverse Your Diseases, and several other books
The universe propels our evolution at a pace in proportion to our passion for uncovering purpose and meaning in our lives