Yesterday I shared several real life examples of “magical thinking” in the New Age community. People searching for deeper answers to why things happen are very quick to say “Upstairs” showed me a sign, and very reluctant to own and take responsibility for their creation.
I’d like to share now another true story that happened to a friend who doesn’t believe in divine intervention:
- Anne was early for work and was thinking “Damn, I hate getting there early.” 10 seconds later she had a minor car accident which wasted 25 minutes in exchanging details and she ended up late to work.
- The next day Anne’s housemate said “don’t have an accident” and Anne said “don’t worry, I’m not running early today.”
What makes Anne different to the New Agers that I meet every day who confuse their fear of success with their angels giving them a pain in the gut, is that Anne truly OWNS her experience. She took total responsibility for why she attracted the accident. This is a sign of a really conscious individual.
So how can you tell when there really is a Divine Intervention?
I’m keeping an open mind here. Somewhere, in the thousands of readers that visit this blog, might be a true miracle of Divine Intervention. The thing is, it can be hard to tell the real miracles apart from the magical thinking I discussed yesterday.
The problem is that we all WANT to believe in magic, at least on some level. (And who didn’t watch Harry Potter and think it would be cool to do that?) Psychologists show that that magical thinking is natural in children, which I think means it’s innate in us all.
But how can you know whether something really is Divine Intervention or just the natural flow of life, as governed by universal laws like gravity, cause and effect and the Law of Attraction (LOA)?
To help you answer this question I want to propose a philosophical test. I start by assuming that you believe in something like the LOA, as I described it in my recent article. To me, LOA is just a principle of attraction and vibration, like gravity. Gravity works whether you believe in it or not, the same with LOA.
So here’s the test: Something can only be Divine Intervention if can’t be explained by LOA. If LOA explains it, it’s not Divine Intervention.
Got it? I mean if I throw a tennis ball up and it comes down, I don’t scream “it’s a miracle!” Similarly if I manifest to meet my soul mate using LOA and it works the way my Law of Attraction text book says it should, well that’s not Divine Intervention. It’s just LOA.
If you can show me an example of something that can’t be explained by natural laws that an atheist would recognize, THEN and only then I’ll grant your “Divine Intervention.”
Let’s go back to Kim’s example in yesterday’s post about how she manifested her husband.
My husband also has beliefs very close to mine–I’m not sure I could have found him on my own, and I’m not sure I did. …
Can YOU explain Kim finding her husband or making the right decisions without believing in the intervention of Gods and guides? Of course you can.
Throughout history people used the word God or Divine Intervention to explain things they couldn’t understand like the change of the seasons, why the sun comes up each morning, solar eclipses, earthquakes, etc. As science has progressed we have simple, rational explanations for these things. The same thing has happened to manifesting.
Belief in God versus disbelief in an Interventionist God
Just to be clear – science isn’t disproving God, but science has disproved the Interventionist God, the one that creates earthquakes and might not change the seasons on time if you fail to sacrifice enough virgins. This blog is not about whether God exists, but I am willing to debate whether an interventionist God exists. The first is a question of personal belief; the second is a question of science.
I’m going to repeat that last sentence, it’s so important that it was life-changing for me, and could be for you.
Whether or not there’s a higher consciousness is a question of belief because it can never be disproved. No atheist can disprove my belief in my higher Beingness, no matter how much they try.
But whether there is an interventionist God, one who answers prayers, smites the unholy, nudges people in the right direction, heals the sick, or even makes people sick – this is a question of science. It is testable.
There’s a big distinction there, and this article is about the interventionist god fallacy, not God itself. I’m very spiritual and chances are you are too, but that doesn’t mean that you have to believe in New Age mythology, or anything else that doesn’t stack up logically.
We will return to this theme regularly as I am planning several articles about prayer healing.
Back to testing Divine Intervention
My point is a fairly simple one. Plenty of people disagreed with what I wrote last time about Divine Intervention, some people shared their own stories, but NOBODY gave me an example of a supposed “Divine Intervention” that wasn’t explainable by the laws of science and probability.
One reader argued that Law of Attraction doesn’t exist because he should be dead. So apparently Divine Intervention saved him. I’ve previously said that I find this logic morally offensive – that Divinity chose to save him whilst millions around the world suffered and perished. It’s ego and it’s outrageously slopping thinking. A MUCH more likely scenario is that he (the reader) didn’t really want to die, even though the thought occurred to him.
If, like me, you believe in a personal higher consciousness (Beingness as I call it, or perhaps a higher self) then his Beingmess didn’t want him to die. This is a personal choice, not divine intervention (well it’s not any sort of intervention, you cannot intervene with yourself BY DEFINITION!).
It’s amazing how quick people are to thank divinity and how slow to really take the credit for their own creation (both positive and harmful).
Put simply – instead of thanking God for the good and bad that comes our way; we can take responsibility that WE CREATED these opportunities, unconsciously using the LOA to attract experiences into our lives.
I don’t want to be the one to tell you “Sorry, your Friend Upstairs doesn’t exist.” Rather, I’d like to be the one who empowers you to find a more meaningful relationship with your own spirituality.
Apply these ideas, test them. Next time you want to claim Divine Intervention, simply ask “could this be explained by the Law of Attraction?” “Is it possible that my gut manifested this even if my head wasn’t thinking about it?” I can pretty much guarantee the answer will be “yes,” but if it’s ever “no” please call me ASAP! You have a miracle!
Thankyou for joining me in this exploration of spirituality and New Age mythology. I’d love to hear from you, do you agree that the Law of Attraction can explain away Divine Intervention? Do you agree that “New Age thinking” (God saved me when I wanted to kill myself) is a lack of personal responsibility? Hopefully some of you disagree with me – that’s where the best comments and discussions come from!? I look forward to hearing from you.
Blessings
Simon
Sorry to disappoint you but I have to agree with everything you said (boring, I know)
I’ve never seen a supposed example of divine intervention that can’t be explained by LOA. In fact, the irony is that a strong belief in divine intervention and strong faith that a prayer will be answered can create vibrational alignment with whatever it is the person’s praying for and bring it into their experience. The person then says “look – it’s a miracle! God answered my prayer!” when all that happened is that they were able to achieve vibrational alignment by the strength of their faith. Vibration is vibration and works the same no matter how you get there.
In that sense, their faith is a good thing. Even though they’re denying their own power, if it’s working positively for them and they’re not using it to control others then good luck to them. There are some people who believe in divine intervention but they’re happy and their lives are working really well. They may not be expanding to the level they’re capable of but they’re happy with their situation so it would probably be counter-productive to talk to them about LOA unless they specifically asked. On the other hand, there are people who believe in divine intervention but are wishy washy in their faith and so they have the worst of both ends of the stick. They’re not happy, they have no understanding of their own power and they feel like victims being buffeted by a cruel world (which then just perpetuates a victim vibration). They’re the ones I feel sorry for.
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