The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships [Livre audio, Version intégrale] [Anglais] [CD]

This is a difficult review to write. I have been smitten by the message and the writing. Well done. I've read the criticisms and understand them. The subject is important - the Law of Attraction and how the Universe functions. It is about Creation, so right from the start a majority (great) of people will dismiss it as WRONG and motivated by profit. And then there is this: If you suffer, no matter it politically, physically, socially, whatever - you brought it to yourself, even children. That is hard to take. I have friends who suffer from MS, Cancer, War, Child abuse, Abandonment, Crime, Bad relationships, PTSD ... any and everything (I am sixty years old.) Some critics say this is "Blaming the victim" at its worst. I offer this:

If you know what happens to a human being after they die - tell us. If you know what causes cancer - tell us. If you know why you do what you do - tell us. If you know how to make the world free of war, abuse, poverty, murder, theft, lying ... tell us. A lot of people do ... trouble is, there is someone on the "other side" who KNOWS that is not true and that they - KNOW THE TRUTH. So this book, in fact, the entire series of books, cds, seminars, etc. say one thing: There is only one thing that you can control and that is how you feel. At any given moment, no matter the circumstance, you can choose a better or worse feeling than where and what you are feeling. And if, IF, you choose the better feeling--you are moving in the direction of improvement. And if you continue in that direction (choosing the better thought) you will eventually reach your destination:
JOY, HAPPINESS, EAGERNESS, FREEDOM,EMPOWERMENT, LOVE, & APPRECIATION.

I have found that to be true.

The authors purport there are no exceptions to the Law of Attraction (like attracts like). It is gravity--a LAW. What it is - is misunderstood. If you focus on what is, what IS the matter, you will get more of that. On the other hand, if you focus on what it is you want (to feel better) you will get that. NO Exceptions! I have found this to be true. It is not easy to get, to understand. We were not raised this way. I have found no inconsistencies with the psychology of human development and behavior (Think Maslow's hierarchy of human needs - peak experiences and self-actualization) and the philosophy of "The Vortex." There are ideas and theories, of course, to the contrary. Such as, your thoughts don't matter. If you think ill of another person, that that does not matter - it is only action that counts. Here, with what "they" are saying is that it DOES matter; but what matters most is your dominant thought patterns. If you believe, at your core, that you are unworthy, then that is what you will be - worthless; and you will ATTRACT confirming events. You will be proven right!

Where did your core beliefs come from? (Parents/society/powerful others.) Are you even aware of them?
(Psychotherapy can help here - to make conscious the unconscious.) But the message here is: THAT DOES NOT MATTER. What matters is accurately discerning what it is you are feeling, and then choosing to feel better ... just a smidge - one small baby step in the direction of feeling better. The catch is, what are you truly feeling? Pretending everything is alright when it is not will not work. (i.e. putting on a happy face.) Not knowing what it is you want can be a barrier, also. The reason diversity exists is to engender contrast, expansion - and thus improvement (Sweet & Sour? both?). You cannot know what you want if you don't know what you don't want. How do you know what you don't want? By exposure to unpleasant feelings ... That feels bad, don't want that. That tastes bitter, don't want that. That hurts my ears, don't want that. That looks awful, don't want that ... I'll try something different (courage.) Where does courage come from? Is it innate? Some are born with it, others not? Why? Contrast. If all had courage it would not exist. Tricky, I know.

What is the point? Expansion. The Universe is creative, and thought is the energy that propels AND creates creation. Get enough people thinking ALIKE and you have large scale creation. Doubt that? Think Hitler and Nazism ... no don't. Think The Rapture, no don't - because on the other side there are Jihadists who are thinking thoughts of Mohammed, the last TRUE prophet, and that nothing but the annihilation of non-believers will bring peace on earth. And so we have perpetual war until one side has the dominant, strongest, thought (belief) and that will come to be ... because right makes might (Right, Abe?).

In the end, and in the beginning, we are all nothing and everything - energy, a vibration. And that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. Your choice as to how you experience it.

I know, I know ... I am writing a second book "Attraction." I'm not sure yet what is its genre ... Fiction, or not?

I know it sounds crazy.

One of the great things about the principles expounded by Abraham are in my view that they exist at all. What I mean is, isn't it fantastic that it turns out that the Universe has been constructed in this way, that we ourselves can control everything in our lives, that nothing happens by chance, and that we cannot be victims except by the power of our own negativity? I think it's wonderful, like a fairy tale, or a dream come true. Pity we weren't taught all this in school or on our mother's knee.

My favourite Abraham book is "Ask and it is given". I found it slightly difficult to get into this one - for some reason I didn't find it particulary readable at first.

In this book Abraham for the first time, I think, talks about "the Vortex", "Vortex of attraction" or "Vortex of becoming". This apparently contains all the requests you have ever made, and when you finally get into the Vortex by continually reaching for better and better thoughts, all your wishes will be granted - you will become "You", as Abraham puts it.

The book is highly inspiring. I think perhaps no one Abraham book is necessarily better than any other, but the more you read the books and try to practice the precepts, the more you integrate the teachings, i.e. the more you really "get it", and the more you understand and appreciate the next book. So when I got to the end of the book, I felt it was the best of their books, not necessarily because it actually is (and anyway there is no objective truth), but because I've got slightly further in the process.

Abraham says that the fastest way to improve matters in your life is to make peace with your current situation and make lists of all the positive aspects you can find about it i.e. make the best of where you are.

A few years ago I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor because I couldn't afford a bed, although my physical problems were such that I had difficulty getting up from it. But every night I thanked the Universe for my comfortable mattress, and after a few months an acquaintance informed me she wanted to give me a bed + mattress she no longer had use for, and couldn't be bothered to sell. She and her partner drove it out to my flat, installed it and carted away the old mattress to the dump.

Before that I had lived in a tiny one-room flat, but again thanked the Universe every night for it. After a few months, I was offered a bigger and better flat, and a friend's husband and family helped me with the removal, transporting all my stuff to the new place at no cost to me.

In both cases I had got into the Vortex by the act of gratitude.

Back to the book, There are useful chapters about "mating", sexuality, parenting and self-appreciation. And finally, prior to the transcript of the enjoyable and amusing CD, we are offered a few simple processes to help release resistance and find a path into the Vortex. I will be doing these processes when I've bought an exercise book.

I strongly recommend this book to EVERYONE. Five stars.

While I have received enormous benefit from Abraham's teachings, I have to say I was disappointed by this book which basically takes earlier, and in my opinion, better ideas and messages and reworks them with new `buzzwords.' Instead of the "upstream/downstream, just find the best feeling thought" messages, now everything is about the whirling swirling Vortex and all its cooperative components that will spit you out should you falter. And suddenly, we all need to be doing focus wheels everyday! Esther says she makes lists and constantly does numerous focus wheels on nearly every subject in order to stay in the Vortex. (And this a woman with a direct channel to Source!) The book recommending all these focus wheels is in direct contrast to the central, `be easy, you make too much of it, it's NOT about action' message. Esther gives flailing explanations of why the new take on things is better, but I would think a group of ascended beings would have gotten it right the first time (and I believe they did, in the Hicks' book, "Ask and It is Given"...which is a true classic). "Do a focus wheel! Get in the Vortex!" seems to be the answer for everything, whereas in earlier works, Abe gave fascinating and original insights.

It seems with this latest material, Jerry and Esther are trying to move us into the mindset that if we are really in the Vortex, we will never question why something has not manifested (even after decades of trying). Nor will we even really care if it does, because, if we are in the Vortex, we are already feeling the essence of our desire, so we don't really need to have it. Hmmm. Convenient! And a great way to assuage people who have been practicing for a long time and still haven't gotten their stuff. This new "essence is enough" tack seems to be contradictory to the message that it is perfectly natural to continue wanting, creating and actually attaining more and more desires, including material things.

I don't think this book has come so much from true inspiration, but rather a need to keep putting out new material. The message is distorted, diluted and convoluted from what I consider core Abraham teachings. My impression is that Abraham may have left the building some time ago, and Esther is just giving it her spin now.