Goal setting is a common theme throughout the Personal Development genre and most everyone recognizes the value of having goals as objectives toward which you are striving in order to better your life, lifestyle and/or circumstances.

Recently, the acronym SMART has been advanced as a guideline for setting goals. In Short, make your goals:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Action Oriented
• Realistic
• Timeframe

However, the widely promoted “Law of Attraction”, at its wildest extreme, is stated as consisting simply of Visualizing your Goal, then releasing it to the Universe for its manifestation. The thinking behind this is that the Universe takes your mental vibrations and works to bring your desire into your life. This is not Goal Setting (nor, arguably, rational), it is a believe in Something for Nothing, which is inconsistent with the proven Laws of Nature (as opposed to the Man-made “Natural Laws”).

Setting Goals

Are they Achievable, Realistic and Rational?

As a general statement, anything you desire and are willing to work toward is possible. To explore this statement, however, I will present a hypothetical scenario for the “Law of Attraction” and need to make a quick digression in order to qualify the above general statement.

Scenario:A woman in Taliban controlled Afghanistan uses the Law of Attraction to visualize becoming the President of the United States. Could a woman in Afghanistan (i.e. a male dominated culture in which women are actively suppressed / oppressed), conceivably (by stretching the imagination almost to the breaking point) become President of the United States through use of the Law of Attraction? Is it possible? Is it probable? Is it likely?

Natural Laws

Rigorously Defined, Tested and Proven

Wikipedia definitions (as it is a widely available forum):

Law of Conservation of Momentum

“The total momentum of any group of objects remains the same unless outside forces act on the objects.

Momentum is a conserved quantity, meaning that the total momentum of any closed system (one not affected by external forces) cannot change”.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion

“Whenever a first body exerts a force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force -F on the first body. F and -F are equal in size and opposite in direction”.

Therefore, by anecdotal application of these well tested, well documented and quantifiable physical laws from Classical Physics), we can take the position that there is well established political AND cultural momentum opposed to the possibility of our woman in Afghanistan becoming President of the United States. The Force (F) required for her to do so would have to be more than the force (-F) working against her being able to do so. It is a rather easy mental exercise to envision the opposition to this hypothetical goal.

Therefore, I doubt she will become President in the foreseeable future.

Achieving Goals

Now, back to our topic, you can achieve anything you desire, provided you are able to apply sufficient “Force” (let us , instead use the word “Effort”) to overcome the momentum opposed to the goal you wish to achieve.

The larger your goal, the more “Effort” (cultural, economic, spiritual, physical inertia) opposing you and, therefore, the greater the Effort required from you in order to achieve that goal.

Example: Can I Achieve Universal Understanding?

I believe it is possible to get in touch with that aspect of us that is Universal, to become “One” with the “Universe”, provided we are prepared to make the effort required. In order to do so, however, one would need to identify and eliminate the various mental filters that bias your perception of reality.

Reality

“”Reality” is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines that we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality” Dancing Wu Li Masters

- Gary Zukav

I present the above quote as representative of one of the mental filters (perception of reality) we have to address, and the feedback loop it entails (if you accept the quote). At which point do you break the feedback loop and begin to re-define your perception of reality? And, as a rhetorical question: How much effort would be required to change your belief system?

(In the following, I am making a gross simplification, a “Western” based interpretation of “Eastern” philosophy / religion). Many of the Eastern philosophies and/or religions espouse pursuit of becoming “One” with the “Universe” as the ultimate goal, the objective being “Enlightenment”. The path to Enlightenment typically involves losing oneself, one’s ego through progressively more difficult meditation exercises.

The question for me then becomes: Do I really want to become one with the Universe at my current stage in life? Not at this time. This goal can not be achieved as I have no Desire for it.

I believe there is considerable value to our individuality and I cherish mine. Having teenage daughters, I certainly strive to understand their perspective but would not want it for my own. I value my perspective as a middle aged, Caucasian male in a democratic country. I try to understand opposing perspectives as they can help me grow. Some, however, are utterly foreign to me.

However, by virtue of being a middle aged, Caucasian male in a democratic country, I have inherent filters (gender based, cultural, economic, spiritual, etc) that bias the reality I perceive. Some of these biases I don’t even recognize (for example, many optical illusions are based on the bias of our mental filters).

I believe there is a universal aspect within mankind that allows us to experience empathy for our fellow human being. For example, we, in a first world country, can experience considerable empathy for the starving in a third world country (although we may not have experienced starvation). Males can experience empathy for woman’s suffrage in a male dominated society. I can experience empathy for my teenage daughters (although I may not understand them). Therefore, in this regard, in this one aspect I may approach being “Universal”, limited as it is.

So, this provides a brief, introductory review of the effort apparently required for me to become “One” with the “Universe” and achieve “Universal Understanding” (as I understand the term). Obviously, I haven’t rigorously examined the required effort as I am not willing to undertake that effort as it is not one of my current goals.

Finally, my perception of reality is an umbrella term for an array of mental filters that includes those based on gender, social standing, political system, culture, religion and so on. What other mental biases would I need to identify and overcome in pursuit of this goal?

Summary

In conclusion, I invoked two laws from Classical Physics on which to base an anecdotal examination of why the “Law of Attraction” may not work for a hypothetical woman in Taliban controlled Afghanistan who wishes to become President of the United States.

I then addressed why my goal to become “One” with the “Universe” may not work due to a lack of Desire to achieve that goal. As I have no desire for it, I am unlikely / unwilling to expend the effort necessary to realize it.

Therefore, I have introduced three aspects I believe are required of the “Law of Attraction” in order for it to work:

1) Any goal I wish to achieve through use of the Law of Attraction will require Effort proportional to the value of the goal (”Value” remains undefined at this time).

2) The Effort required is related to the level to which existing “Momentum” opposes realization of that goal. I am far more likely to realize my goal to stand on the floor when I get out of bed than to have $1 million delivered to me tomorrow morning. For greatest success, my goal has to be consistent with an environment suitable for, conducive to, its realization.

3) As obvious as it sounds, I have to have a real Desire for the goal. It has to be mine and one in which I believe in order for me to be willing to make the effort required.

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