A Question on the Law of Attraction.

[CharlieBrown]

Yesterday I finished reading “The Secret”. While I second some of the concepts there (for example, I can buy into the idea that if we focus on negative thoughts, we just get negative things. I would not disturb quantum physics for this, but I see the point), other concepts are just impossible for me to grasp, because they conflict with “established laws” in which I do believe.

Let’s make an example: at some point it says that to lose weight, you can follow the LOA process and do nothing else than that (no need to exercise more or reduce the food intake). Now, this is just impossible for me to digest. There is one thing called the energetic balance: if you absorb more calories than you burn, your body will transform a part of the rest in fat – as simple as that. So how do the two things reconcile?

Another one is about abundance: just believing that there is enough for anyone, is simply not true, as proved not only by economics (which deals with managing scarce resources), but by logic as well: let’s assume we all want to go and live in the south of Italy, because we like the weather there. That would just be plain impossible, because of the scarcity of the resource “land”, which results in scarcity of the resource “house” – not enough space for building houses for all of us.

Last thing: I don’t see how can I buy into the “if you can imagine it, you can make it real” concept: I can imagine an apple floating in mid air, give thanks for it, live as if it was happening, but given there is a thing called “law of gravity”, this will never happen! Don’t take me wrong: I appreciate the other way around, which is that if something does not materialize in the mind first, it will not be materialize in the outer reality either (for something to happen, I have to believe in it and make it happen in my mind first). However, I just don’t believe in the other part of the equation, as per point above…

Am I misunderstanding the concept? Thanks in advance for any clarification!

[GilesC]

You're posing some really good questions Charlie Brown (I love that character, used to watch it all the time as a kid).

Originally Posted by CharlieBrown

Yesterday I finished reading “The Secret”.

Have you tried watching the DVD? I think it comes across better than the book myself, although I have to say the whole thing smacks too much of using the LOA for personal financial gain and doesn't focus enough on the understanding and true concepts of the LOA, which is why, I guess, you are having these questions.

While I second some of the concepts there <snip>, other concepts are just impossible for me to grasp, because they conflict with “established laws” in which I do believe.

Let’s make an example: at some point it says that to lose weight, you can follow the LOA process and do nothing else than that (no need to exercise more or reduce the food intake). Now, this is just impossible for me to digest. [Nice pun! ] There is one thing called the energetic balance: if you absorb more calories than you burn, your body will transform a part of the rest in fat – as simple as that. So how do the two things reconcile?

It's not saying that you shouldn't exercise or reduce food intake. It's saying that you can lose weight without making these the focus of your attempt to lose weight. Many people focus on what they eat or exercising to try and lose weight but, because of their negative view of themselves, and their belief that they are "fat" or "will never lose weight", these types of "diets" just don't seem to work for them.

What it's saying is that, by using the LOA, we can change our underlying negative self-beliefs, whether we are concious of them or not, and this then allows the unconscious mind to naturally become more aware of the things that will help us to progress in the way we want. In terms of losing weight and the LOA principles, we would naturally end up not feeling the need to eat so much or have more desire to exercise or go out for a walk etc. and thus bring new things into our lives (attract) those things that will help us achieve the desired goal. We wouldn't have had to consciously tried to do those things, they would have just happened or the right opportunities would have come to us to allow them to happen.

Another one is about abundance: just believing that there is enough for anyone, is simply not true, as proved not only by economics (which deals with managing scarce resources), but by logic as well: let’s assume we all want to go and live in the south of Italy, because we like the weather there. That would just be plain impossible, because of the scarcity of the resource “land”, which results in scarcity of the resource “house” – not enough space for building houses for all of us.

Ah, but it is true.
Economics is statistical and based on material attachment to things.
In truth, all that we truly need is to look after our health, have a roof over our heads to keep our body safe from 'the elements' and enough food to eat. We don't "need" to go and live in the south of Italy, that is just an attachment of ego mind to the value of one thing over another.

In terms of LOA, you simply cannot look at it on a global scale like that. Of course it's not practical for everyone to go an live in Italy, but on a personal level, if you were to choose that this is what you wanted, then the LOA could make that possible. On a more global scale, if more and more people started realising their desire to go an live in Italy and making it possible for themselves, then those already in Italy would most likely be inclinded to choose to move elsewhere, for which the LOA would make that possible.

Last thing: I don’t see how can I buy into the “if you can imagine it, you can make it real” concept: I can imagine an apple floating in mid air, give thanks for it, live as if it was happening, but given there is a thing called “law of gravity”, this will never happen! Don’t take me wrong: I appreciate the other way around, which is that if something does not materialize in the mind first, it will not be materialize in the outer reality either (for something to happen, I have to believe in it and make it happen in my mind first). However, I just don’t believe in the other part of the equation, as per point above…

What is reality?
Ok, seriously, like if we are using positive affirmations, we have to be realistic about things. You could use an affirmation to say that you are a multi-millionaire owning your own company and employing 50 people by the end of the week, but realisitically this is very unlikely if you're a junior employee in a company yourself. Realisitcally we can make affirmations (just as we can use the LOA) to make realistic steps towards our goal.

The point of the statement "if you can imagine it, you can make it real" is not that you will make it real immediately, but that it opens up your mind to the possibilities around you that will present themselves; those possibilities that, if you were to take them up will give small steps towards that goal.

In the physical world our senses take in millions of inputs each day... lots of things we see, smell, hear, feel but which we are not consciously processing or aware of. e.g. you may be listening to a particular person talking to you, but your hearing will also be picking up on all the other sounds and conversations around you even if you're not consciously thinking about them or focused on them.

When you use the law of attraction to imagine something as real, you effectively instruct your conscious mind that this ultimate reality is something you are interested in, then when your senses pick up on something related to that ultimate reality your unconscious will kick it into your conscious mind to make you aware of it and allow you to act on it thus bringing you closer to that reality.

e.g. You've been stuck in a dead end job for ages and you decide that you want a new job. You use the LOA to see yourself in your new job, doing just what you want and happy in what you do, and you keep re-affirming this "reality" to yourself. Later, during your daily life, someone around you is talking of a job opportunity to someone else, and your hearing picks up on it, even though you were focused on something else. Because you're unconscious is aware of your desire for a new job opportunity, it brings your conscious focus to what has been heard and thus opens up that opportunity for you to take action on.

A real life example, but from a slightly different angle, is when I went and bought myself a new car. I went to the dealer and looked at the cars available and pretty much decided on the model I wanted. Then I had to choose what colour I wanted. I looked through the colours on offer and picked the one I liked, mainly because it was a colour I hadn't seen before and thought it would give me that 'unique' identity (this was before I understood the mind so much hehe!). I ordered the car and awaited it's arrival. When it arrived, I went and picked it up from the dealer admiring the lovely colour of it, then drove it out of the dealer to go home. On my journey home; just a matter of several miles, I saw a dozen identical cars of the same colour. Had all these people just bought the same car as me? No, they'd already had these cars and no doubt I had seen them before, but I just wasn't conscious of them as they weren't in my interest. But, now I had my own car of that colour, it was very much a focus of my attention and I couldn't help but to see the others around me.

So, you can imagine an apple floating in mid air if you like and if that's really what you choose to desire, your life will lead you to some means of really seeing that. It could be that you are led to opportunities that take you into research facilities into anti-gravity or suchlike, things that you probably never believed were possible. The trick is to recognise the opportunities and go with them and see where they lead you.

If you keep finding the same type of opportunity keeps rearing it's head to you, then you may want to see how that fits in with your desires in life. It may not be obvious, but it could just be the step in the direction you need.



Hugs

Giles

[CharlieBrown]

Thanks a lot, Giles!

Your "view" seems very much reasonable to me! However, if you read what the Author actually says, you'll see it is quite different - the next extract is taken from Book Excerpt: Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com :

"Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight. Remember, thoughts are primary cause of everything, and the rest is effects from those thoughts. Think perfect thoughts and the result must be perfect weight."

Please do not take me wrong though - I am not challenging you or being picky - quite the opposite actually - I am saying that your interpretation is much more logical than the actual original text, for me!

This said, I thank you a lot for the exhaustive post, which clarified a lot of things to me!

PS: About this part of your post:

"In truth, all that we truly need is to look after our health, have a roof over our heads to keep our body safe from 'the elements' and enough food to eat. We don't "need" to go and live in the south of Italy, that is just an attachment of ego mind to the value of one thing over another."

I am with you there, but again, this is not what "the secret" says. If you give this philosophical interpretation, then we don't really "need" anything apart from the basics for surviving. The Secret puts a lot of emphasis on how to ask everything you want to the Universe - and I agree, there is too much emphasis on material stuff there.

Last point: with your interpretation, it becomes a self fulfilled profecy: if you ask and you obtain, it worked; if you ask and do not obtain, it worked anyway because you didn't ask "the right thing", so the universe did not provide. You see what I mean?

[GilesC]

Originally Posted by CharlieBrown

Thanks a lot, Giles!

Your "view" seems very much reasonable to me! However, if you read what the Author actually says, you'll see it is quite different - the next extract is taken from Book Excerpt: Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com :

"Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight. Remember, thoughts are primary cause of everything, and the rest is effects from those thoughts. Think perfect thoughts and the result must be perfect weight."

Please do not take me wrong though - I am not challenging you or being picky - quite the opposite actually - I am saying that your interpretation is much more logical than the actual original text, for me!

let's remember...

a) the Law of Attraction has been around for many decades prior to "The Secret" (which is in fact no Secret). When I saw the DVD it did make a lot of sense, but there was also a lot of ego and promotion in what was being given. It was very much a meterialistic video which is not truly what the LOA is about. You could say that their desire was to make a lot of money and they have... from good advertising and publicity about their books and DVD's (and all the other books that have been done off the back of it). Calling it a "secret" just adds to the mysteriousness that makes people want to get it and see what it's about, but as I said, it's no secret, just a very good money making business. That's not saying that what they say in it is wrong, just that it doesn't cover all aspects of LOA.
b) As for the statement about "food is not responsible for putting on weight", it's clever (and rightly positive) wording. The food itself is not responsible. How can an inert object take responsibility? You are responsible for your own health and what you eat, so therefore it is your thoughts that are responsible.

PS: About this part of your post:

I am with you there, but again, this is not what "the secret" says. If you give this philosophical interpretation, then we don't really "need" anything apart from the basics for surviving. The Secret puts a lot of emphasis on how to ask everything you want to the Universe - and I agree, there is too much emphasis on material stuff there.

Some people want material things, and "the Secret" is targetting a worldwide audience, not just those on a spiritual path who know there is no happiness from materialism. Indeed it does focus on materialistic gain, and that is one of the things I found lacking in their teaching of the LOA.

Last point: with your interpretation, it becomes a self fulfilled profecy: if you ask and you obtain, it worked; if you ask and do not obtain, it worked anyway because you didn't ask "the right thing", so the universe did not provide. You see what I mean?

On the contrary...
If you ask and you obtain, it worked.
If you ask and do not obtain, it's not a case that you did not ask the right thing, but more that you are likely to have missed the opportunities presented to you possibly because you were not aware/present or because of "fears" that preventing you taking up those opportunities. e.g. How many people are not happy in their work, say they want a better job, but actually "fear" going for interviews or seeking out a new one?

Hugs

Giles

[CharlieBrown]

My bad Giles, I assumed the whole LOA "thing" came out with "The Secret" - now I understand...

Thanks again!

CB

[Franz]

Hey Charlie Brown. Let me take a shot at this one. I'll fill you in on what happened to me and maybe this may help. Before I read the Law of Attraction I was real consious of my weight and my appearance and all. I used to watch what I eat, ate no carbs, felt tired all the time, slaved at the gym...just to get the appearance that I wanted. The I started visualizing the body that I wanted and said to myself "I am happy and grateful I can eat whatever I want to and be in the best shape ever and have absolute health." I didn't try to plan anything out I just visualized and felt good as if I had the body I wanted. This was 3 months ago. I started eating rice and for some reason I developed a particular liking to brown rice. Before this I was on a low carb diet that restricted this kind of food. Down the street from my home there was this fast food chain that served a chicken and rice bowl with vegetables. I tried it for lunch one day and I absolutely loved it. I started buying turkey bacon instead of regular bacon not because I thought I had to but because it tasted really good. I started eating oatmeal and I hated oatmeal up until this point but for some reason fell in love with it.

Keep in mind I didn't write down a list of foods that I needed to eat and stay in shape. These types of food just started becoming part of my diet. So now I really can eat whatever I want and stay in excellent shape. It just happens that the food I love are whole grain foods, chicken, vegetables, etc...I really can't explain it. As I am writing this down now I am realizing how everything came together. In regards to exercising I used to hate going to the gym but went because I felt I needed to to maintain my appearance which I was so obsessed with. Every trip to the gym was like torture. Now when I go it feels so natural. I love going. It's silly because in my mind I feel like I go to the gym to relaxe. The gym feels pretty much effortless which is weird. Another interesting factor is within the last 3 months I have grown stronger than I have ever been my whole life. I am a 30 yr old male and worked out like a madman when I was younger. Now I go and relaxe and do my thing but have grown so much stronger than I have ever been my whole life with less effort. I know this may sound like a bunch of baloney. If I read something like this before I started applying the Law of Attraction I would have said "wow, this guy is full of it!". Bottom line I focused on the end result and here I am. Awesome right?

In regards to a floating apple. If you apply the Law of Attraction this will manifest somehow. I remember for I used to say to myself "I am so happy and grateful money falls on me like an avalanche". Then I pictured money falling one me from the sky. It's weird how the Law of Attraction works. It's so funny because shortly after I went to a club and all of a sudden they dropped money from the ceiling down to the dancefloor. As I looked and saw the $$ bills floating towards I stopped and was totally shocked. The $$ bills looked exactly how imagined them falling through the air. Obviously I picked up as much as I could. Now back to apples. I know it was just for an example but why would you want a floating apple? When you think of your ideal life and what you want, think of something that allows you, as well as others, to grow. When people want to attract money, money doesn't just fall on them (well it did in my case). But when they want to attract more money on a permanent and consistent level they get an inspired idea to do something. Something that provides value to others. More value than the cash value they receive. When people start receiving checks in the mail I'm almost positive that it's not just random money. It may be from more business they attracted or maybe a pleasant surprise from overpaying taxes or a gift for great service performed or whatever.

You have excellent questions. The same I had once I started practicing the Law of Attraction. You will see though that we can write whatever we want to show you but the real answers will be achieved once you start learning for yourself. It's fun. Each little thing you receive will lead you to more firm believing and the power inside will continue to grow stronger. Keep the questions coming.

[CharlieBrown]

Franz, many thanks to you as well for your very well thought-out post!

I think I understand what you mean: I think I will stay away from "The Secret", because I don't really like how the concepts are exposed there, but will try to get more to the "core" of this LOA, which as explained by you and Giles is much more interesting.

What you are saying, resonates very well with my Christians believes: it is true that Jesus said, according to the Gospel, "ask and you shall be given", but it is also true that he said that we don't know what is good for us, and that we have to ask the Father to gain that knowledge, so we can see what is good for us. In that context, the example of the apple would apply: wishing for a floating-in-the-air apple has no good consequence to me, while focusing on positive thoughts, for me and people around me, would be a much better application.

Do you have any recommendadion about where I could find more information on the LOA?

Thanks again,

CB

[Franz]

The Secret does an excellent job in introducing the Law of Attraction. From your response I think these books will help.
go on The Secret :: Official Web Site of The Secret Movie :: Law of Attraction

click on gifts for you, recommended readings, the look for the "Master Key System" and "The Science of Getting Rich".

Here's the link. If it doesn't work then just do it manually.

Recommended Reading ::: Official Web Site of The Secret Movie

Both are avail on the website. And can be downloaded.

Let me know what you think once you're done.

[Ta-tsu-wa]

Your conversation with Giles is intriguing and I've been following it with much interest.

Your observations are quite good, CB, and your questions are ones that many people making money by promoting LOA either gloss over or skip entirely because the ugly facts tend to screw up a perfectly elegant theory.

A point to keep in mind while sorting through your questions, and I have found over the years that this saves a great deal of time and frustration, is that there's never any need to reconcile false statements with true principles. Clearly, some proponents of LOA really are suggesting that it works something like a wishing well: toss in your coin and whatever your wish is will come true. You need do nothing further. Not all proponents make this claim, but some do.

The reason they say this is because it is what people want to hear. Many sellers of entrainment programs like Lifeflow have a comparable strategy (not suggesting that Project Meditation uses this stategy in selling Lifeflow). Google brainwave entrainment and there are tens of thousands of sites selling some sort of product. Often they will say their product has the precise frequency that will do this or that. For instance, one will say they produce a track with the exact frequency "proven" to stop hiccups. And they have another one with an exact frequency "scientifically proven" to cure acne, and so on. Or they state outright that all you need to do become a master at whatever it is you want, is to buy the right track, stick it in a player, then listen to it. The track does all the work while the listener gets whatever they can dream up, just for having listened.

These sorts of claims just aren't true. They never were, and they never will be. In our hearts we all know this. And yet people continue to buy their products. One wonders why this might be, and the answer is simple: Many people, perhaps most people, believe they want something for nothing. I say "believe" because if we really did get everything we wanted just for the asking, life would quickly become dull and stagnant and not worth living.

There was an old television series called The Twilight Zone which you've no doubt seen before. I recall one episode in which this petty crook dies and goes to heaven. He is given everything he wants there, instantly, and just for the asking. If he wants women, beautiful women appear to fulfill his every desire. If he wants money, piles of it appear. He goes to a casino to gamble and he wins every time he plays, no matter what the game. As he begins to get bored with this situation he explains to his attending angel that nothing is worth doing if the outcome is always guaranteed to be exactly what is desired, and he asks if it is possible that perhaps he could lose at gambling sometimes. The angel replies that this is certainly possible. Any time he asks to lose he will lose. So again, it was just another way of giving him exactly what he wanted. There was no element of chance to anything; no risk; no spontaneity. In the end he complains to the angel that things are not right; that people are supposed to be happy in heaven, and he was not happy, to which the angel replies, "Who said you were in heaven?"

While people believe they want a free lunch, if it was really given to them they would soon find it to be a dead and meaningless existence. But because they've never experienced it this way, the belief that this is what we want persists in most of us, and many of these LOA advocates capitalize on this desire by holding out what is allegedly a way to get that free lunch. And many companies will continue to market entrainment products that promise everything for nothing because people want to believe those claims.

Whenever you run across statements and claims like this which are clearly false, there is no need to attempt to reconcile them to real life. No reconciliation is possible. They're false claims, end of story. Dismiss them to the trash bin and move on.

Some of those people who featured in the film and book, The Secret, make such false claims, either out of the desire for profit, or because they are genuinely mistaken in their beliefs and are simply passing along their own misunderstandings.

It's unfortunate that this whole subject was given the name, "Law" of Attraction. It presents the impression (and there are some proponents who will actually claim this,) that it is something which cannot fail, and which must be obeyed, 100%, every time. Again, there are some who claim this is the case, and they would be wrong. Dismiss such claims and toss them on the scrap pile along with all the others.

What we tend to forget is that "laws" seldom, if ever, exist in isolation. They are but individual threads in a grand tapestry, with each functioning independently to some degree, and dependently on the other threads to another. Nothing that exists is independent in the absolute sense. Nothing. It would have been much more useful if the phrase "Principle" of Attraction had been used instead of "Law".

A colleague of mine is Professor of Physics at a university in Oklahoma. He once taught me the distinction between laws and principles. We were discussing the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) and I asked him why he thought it had not been called "The Law of Uncertainty". He responded that it was not a "law" because it was only an incomplete fragment of a much bigger picture. Physics has two dominating theories: Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics. One deals with the very large, the other with the very small. Both make accurate predictions within their relative spheres of operations, and yet when they overlap each other they give contradictory results. The question then becomes, how can they both be accurate while at the same time be contradicting each other? The answer is that they cannot, and they probably don't.

Something is missing; something that would unite and harmonize the two, only we have not yet discovered what that "something" might be. This has resulted in a search for what is called a "Grand Unified Theory", or GUT; the discovery of the complete set of laws which would unify and perhaps to some degree, modify, those theories we already have. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is not the GUT, but it is sort of a stop-gap rule that allows us in many instances to work around the fact that we don't yet have a knowledge of all the true laws in physics. HUP is quite useful, and permits us to make accurate predictions in its own right. But my colleague assures me that once we have the complete GUT, Heisenberg's Principle will no longer be required. It will be discarded because a GUT will supersede it.

If LOA had been more aptly named "POA", it would probably give a more accurate idea of its potential. Attraction is a principle. It deals with "tendencies", not with "absolutes". There is a tendency for like to attract like. At the same time there is also a tendency for opposites to attract each other, as anyone who's ever played with magnets knows. Both tendencies are true, and both give accurate results, but only within their relative spheres of influence. Neither is independent in an absolute sense. The so-called LOA is not a stand-alone, absolute law, as some would suggest. To make use of it you have to know when and how it works. To do that you also need to have a fair idea about what other, inter-related principles exist, as well as how and when they work. If you know only one or the other, yet believe yourself to know the whole, you'll be forever running headlong into apparent failures of your "law", and it won't make sense to you why it's failing.

Using LOA there may in fact be some instances in which you set your intentions on something and it "seems" to appear without you doing anything else. This does not mean, however, that you did nothing to bring about this successful event. It may very well be that what you are seeing is due largely to other actions you have previously taken; a sort of fruit that springs from previously planted seeds. It could also be that your shift in focus and intention has resulted in others being drawn into your sphere of influence, and it is these others who supply the additional, necessary pieces to the puzzle which ultimately bring about the result you desired.

Most of the time though, what Attraction will do is help you more consistently be in a position to take the next step or steps towards your ultimate goal, which means you have to be open to and aware of arising opportunities and then seize them at the appropriate moment. You won't be able to sit back and presume that your efforts are done just because you have placed your intention upon something.

That reminds me of an old joke about a man who was trapped on top of his house during a flood. The rains continued to fall and the flood waters rose ever higher, but the man had faith so he prayed to God that God would save him. Before long someone appeared in a small rowboat and shouted to the man that he should climb down off the roof and get into the boat so they could row to safety. The man thanked the would-be Samaritan, but declined the offer. "God will save me!" he insisted. A short while later another small boat came by, also offering to take the man to safety, but he declined this as well, saying, "I'm praying to God, and I know He will save me!". As the water continued to rise a helicopter passed over and lowered down a rope ladder so that the man could climb up and fly to safety, but the man once again declined the offer of help. "God is going to save me!" he shouted. Not long thereafter the water rose up and took the man and he drowned.

When the man got to the Gates of Heaven he demanded of St. Peter that he be given an audience with God immediately, so he was ushered into the throne room where God was sitting. "How could this be?" he fumed at God. "All my life I was a good man. I lived the best life I could. And now, when I needed help, YOU abandoned me and let me drown! Why didn't you answer my prayers?"

A very puzzled look came over God's face and He responded, "I don't understand. What are you doing here? I sent you two rescue boats and a helicopter."

Attraction is a lot like this joke. If you don't act on circumstances Attraction might place in your path when they appear, count on being disappointed a lot. Again, there are clearly people who suggest that you won't have to do anything but set your intentions to attract what you want and that's the sum total of the efforts you will need to make. That's horse pucky. Most of the time what you attract is the next step that you need to take in the process of getting from point A to point B, and you DO have to take it. If you refuse, it wasn't Attraction that failed, it was you. That's not a popular thing to say, but it's true.

It's also good to keep that Rolling Stones song in mind that says, "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime you might just find you get what you need." Often in my life I've set my sights on one thing with the belief that it was what I really, really needed. But somewhere along the line I found other avenues opened up that turned out to be infinitely preferable. As an individual, I possess only a very limited ability to see the whole picture. My point of view is highly subject to giving me incomplete and incorrect pictures of things. But I am part of a greater Whole that does not share my individual myopia, and fortunately for me, that Whole seems to have my best interests in mind. I may well set my intentions on attracting one thing and end up with something totally different when all is said and done. That's fine with me. It means I'm still moving forward and I'm a little bit wiser afterwards than I was when I started out, and that's always a good thing. There are other times when I insist on having things the way I want them. Sometimes it works out, sometimes I get them and it doesn't work out so well. Those are usually the times when I look back and see that other opportunities did present themselves but I was too busy insisting I knew what was best to see them at the time. Even these are valuable teaching experiences, but I can't help but think if I'd been more open I might have been able to learn the lessons and still come to a better conclusion. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

[CharlieBrown]

Ta-tsu-wa,

thanks for passing by. I have read many of your posts on other threads, and I find them exceptionally inspiring - this is no exception by all means, and I thank you a lot for the time you have taken to reply.

I believe I am getting more insight on the LOA (or POA?) from you guys here, then from what I have read so far in the book! Nobody can say you are not knowledgeable and willing to help, and I am really thankful for this!

Thanks again,

CB