The Jungian Law of Attraction: Part II

If we each took a moment to examine our internal lives, what would we find? Do we have a mindset of scarcity or abundance? Do our thoughts first rush to fear when pursuing a desire? Do we even dare to view what we want as likely possibilities or, for even the most courageous, certainties?  

We finished off Part I with the topic of responsibility. If the Law of Attraction is true — if our lives are profoundly shaped by our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs — then we have some say over the course of our lives. While this is a freeing thought — that we can co-create our lives — it is also a burdensome one. It leaves us with the question: How should I shape my life?  

The answer to this question is held up by responsibility. The reality is that freedom cannot be sustained without responsibility. To embrace freedom is to embrace that we have the main say over our lives; this makes us responsible for our choices and much of what happens around us. 

For many of us, the circumstances we fear most are the circumstances we will find ourselves in. Fear ensnares more than hope captivates. The seduction of fear lures us into a false sense of security that, even though our lives may be awful, at least they are predictable. This is where consciousness emerges as the antidote to a disappointing life. Even if we are captivated by fear, hopelessness, regret, or nihilism, we don’t have to stay imprisoned forever.  

The quote Chase is fond of citing is vital here: “Man is free the moment he wants to be.” — Voltaire 

Cognitive Functions and the Law of Attraction 

Last time we discussed the Law of Attraction in broad strokes, discussing what the theory was, was not, and how to use it. In this final installment, we will be delving into the varieties of using the Law of Attraction; we will show how to utilize the functions themselves to get what we want.  

The Cognitive Functions represent avenues for energy to travel through. To tap into these avenues, and take conscious control of them, is to take a big step toward freeing ourselves from what holds us captive.  

In understanding how to utilize our cognition to get what we want, we must explore two aspects of cognition: 1) Cognitive Attitude and 2) Cognitive Function. 

Cognitive Attitude 

Each of our functions sits in a slot that lends its own characterizations. From Hero to Inferior, all the way down to the Demon, the functions that sit in those slots will reveal how we naturally perceive and judge accordingly.  

For our purposes today, it is not vitally important to take a deep dive into how the Cognitive Attitudes affect the Law of Attraction, except to reveal one thing. Just because, for example, the Inferior naturally creates anxiety, the Demon naturally creates resentment, and the Hero naturally has self-entitled confidence, does not mean that it must stay that way.  

The fact that the Inferior can become Aspirational, the Demon can become Angelic, and Hero can grow to no longer seek pursuits solely for its own edification, proves that there is something, some awareness, that exists beyond our cognition and computation.  

We can train our Hero to become warrior-esque, we can train our Parent to become responsible and strong, we can train our Child to no longer be naive, and we can develop the Inferior so that, for periods of time, it can become the strongest function in our inventory of cognition.  

We know that the Inferior naturally invokes a sense of angst. But, with practice, we can respond to that invocation with calmness and confidence, and we no longer have to be trapped by its fear. Then we become freed.  

Awareness is one of the prime goods of human development. Awareness is the tool that most directly shapes who we can become. Utilizing the Law of Attraction is to utilize a state of hyper-awareness in which we inhabit our thoughts, feelings, visions, and sensations with an idea of what our life could be like, and we become set on that path toward that end. Tuning into your Cognition cuts to the heart of awareness.  

Introverted Cognitive Functions 

Introverted Functions are source functions and must be the priority when utilizing the Law of Attraction consciously. 

Let’s look at how we can use each function in accordance with the Law of Attraction. This is a personal opinion, but I maintain that Introverted Intuition (Ni) and Introverted Sensing (Si) are the two most important functions to use with the Law of Attraction. 

Why? Because both represent awareness that is tied to the deepest part of ourselves. Future and past are important but, even more vital here, is focus and attention. Chase has attached “focus” to Ni and “attention” so Si. They both serve the purpose in terms of what one’s energy is being given to.  

An Ni user can build a scenario in their mind of a future they would like to inhabit. They can do so frequently, visiting the future place of where they would like to go, who they want to be, and what they want to do. Sometimes an Ni user (Ni Hero/Parent especially) will benefit most from borrowing someone else’s Si to understand what it is they want to experience. Nothing is off-limits for you to use to build a rich portrait of your vision. 

An Ni user must be cautious not to fall into the trap of separating that future possibility with their present experience. This is especially difficult for Ni Heros and Parents (who have Si Demon and Trickster) and are generally unaware of their internal experience. But they must see that future not as a “possibility”, but as a reality. They must experience that future as if it is happening now, as if it is already done, and with the conviction that it will be as you picture it or feel it.  

An Si user must focus on experiences they have had in the past, and place their focus and faith in pieces of those experiences that they want to experience again. This is especially true for Si Heros and Parents (who have Ni Demon and Trickster) who must rely almost totally on the catalog of their own experiences to shape their future. They can learn that the awareness beyond their cognition can place attention on certain kinds of experiences, and experiences that frequently, and their Si will become coded with that experience and “vibration”, and emanate to the world around them.  

Both lower Ni and lower Si users — Ni and Si Child/Inferior — have the benefit of being able to use both functions to an appreciable degree. An Si Critic can look at their experiences consciously, releasing some of the bitterness from their Si and finding positive pieces of their experience to dwell on. Mixed with their Ni Child, they can utilize both of these vital cognitive functions to build their future from both sides of their mind. The same process is available in a similar way to all the other types who have Si and Ni in their middle four functions.  

What about the introverted judgment functions? The same process exists here. A Ti user must become hyper-aware of their thoughts, exploring how they impact their mind and outlook of themselves and the world. Thoughts are free to be released and watched as they pass by. One can manually inject thoughts into the stream of consciousness. This process can be used to build new patterns of thought.  

For Fi users, the process is hardly different. It’s not that Fi exists without thought, because it is still a judgment function and produces a mental experience; but there is also a heightened awareness of mood. The Fi user must assess their judgments, feelings, and values consciously, exploring them and embodying the feeling associated with a future possibility they would like to inhabit.  

Notice that the titles of the two of the books mentioned in Part I, As a Man Thinketh and Feeling is the Secret, semantically point to the process of utilizing Ti and Fi. Further, Ti users can certainly use Fi, and Fi users can use Ti. Particularly if you have both these functions in the middle four, there’s no reason to only use one. Use both, but know it takes some practice to, for example, have an Fi Critic let themselves feel what it’s like to be worthy.  

Extraverted Cognitive Functions 

This is where one of Chase’s iconic phrases — “Get the losers out of your life!” — comes to mind. When utilizing the Extraverted Functions in accordance with the Law of Attraction, you must examine your surroundings. Your physical surroundings (Se), your desirous surroundings (Ne) your intellectual surroundings (Te), and your emotional and evaluative surroundings (Fe).  

If an Ni user imagines this grand vision of their future but does nothing to adjust their physical surroundings to match that future, how can that vision be desired fully? It also works the other way. How do you know that what you want is actually what you want? Desire comes from the options available to your sight. Is there more to choose from than the small picture that can be taken of your environment at that point in time?  

If you wish to be a great artist, Ni user, surround yourself with the type of art you would want to create. Targeting your Se in this way helps light the fire of your Ni with precision and direction. An Se user must ask themselves, “Does my environment match the vision I want for my future?” If not, then bring that future into the present by adjusting your Se environment.  

For the Ne user, what do the people in your life want for you? The Ne user is driven in life by their Si obligation. And those that desire them and make them comfortable most easily obligate them to certain duties.  

The Ne user must examine the influence of others’ Ni is having on their sense of duty. If you felt as desirable as humanly possible, Ne user, would you let those people treat you that way? If not, maybe it’s time to find a better vision and a purer desire from others. Surround yourself with the types of desire and the strength of visions that match what you want to experience. 

This same process can be applied to the mindsets of the people in your life. Do the mindsets of your family, friends, coworkers, and all the people you spent time with match what you want to be thinking about? It is dangerous to underestimate the power of others’ mindsets and thoughts. If their mindset does not match what you are looking for, look for others who do.  

What do people around you feel? What do they value? If all the people in your life are always down, always mopey, attuned to self-victimization and learned helplessness only, how is that affecting your own emotions?  What kind of energy do the emotions and values you are absorbing give off to the world around you? Is what you are feeling and valuing from other people what you want to feel and what you want to value? If not, perhaps it’s time to pursue people who experience other emotions and other values that do.  

Awareness of Awareness 

In a previous article, “How Each Type Experiences the Present Moment,” we found that our whole cognition echoes Echart Tolle’s insight to “Watch the thinker.” Our minds are constantly working. They spin and spin, gathering new information, perceiving things beyond mere thought, and making judgments about what is seen.   

• An Ni user sees their path forward. 
• An Ne user sees the path of those around them. 
• An Si user sees their own past and duty. 
• An Se user sees others’ experiences, both past and present. 
• A Ti user processes information in a logical sequence. 
• A Te user gathers reference points and compares them. 
• An Fi user weighs to determine value. 
• An Fe user absorbs what other people feel and value. 

The first step to using the Law of Attraction is to attune yourself to what is already flowing through your mind. Observe your mind, observe your perception, observe your judgments, and observe how the feelings and thoughts that inhabit your mind affect your life. Then, you are free to change them.  

The Yin and Yang and the Law of Attraction 

In utilizing the Law of Attraction, one must become a beacon that is a source for who and what they want to be (Introverted Functions and the Yang). But, one also must create a “home” that is prepared to house the beacons of others (Extraverted Functions and the Yin). One must be the seed and the soil simultaneously.  

But you already are. This is the flow of cognition. From internal to external, and external to internal, the canvas of negative and positive space are both vital. A painting is drawn by both what is sketched and the shapes between the sketches. You only must ask yourself if the negative space — the space filled by others — in your life, the Se, Ne, Te, and Fe, matches the positive space of the energy you are trying to emit through Ni, Si, Ti, and Fi.  

A Warning  

You can have whatever you want. 

Even if you are not completely sold on the Law of Attraction, consider that the above statement is accurate for just a moment.  

The way the Law of Attraction is presented in media, books, and lectures generally all carry the same flavor: unbridled optimism. Financial success, passionate relationships, and a high level of respectability in the world are the main selling points that bring many people into its seductive folds. And why shouldn’t it be seductive? The option to be in control of your life is intoxicating, especially when we consider all the awesome ways our life is about to be transformed. 

But there lies a danger when unbridled optimism is embraced without caution. This is where the famous idiom, “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it,” serves as a necessary counterbalance to this unbridled optimism.  

The Law of Attraction could be used for great things: achieving material success, securing intimate relationships, buying your first car, and pursuing spiritual maturity. There is much to be unlocked and experienced when you step consciously into your being. But we must practice some level of wariness, and ask ourselves often: “Is what I want good for me?” 

As we discussed toward the end of Part I, the Law of Attraction is a law. It is not an exclusive club that you can choose to opt-out of. If it is a law, like gravity, it is always working. And further, the universe does not judge what we want. Just like gravity doesn’t “judge” mass, it simply attracts the mass within its pull.  

The responsibility to decide what to attract is ultimately placed on us. 

Orienting Our Attraction  

Once we embrace the Law of Attraction and tune into the type of energy we are emitting, there is one more question to answer. How do we decide what to do with the responsibility of shaping our lives? 

This cuts to the issue at the very core of human nature. Human beings face a tremendous temptation to conveniently place themselves on the universal throne of dishing out judgments. When we believe that we have the capacity to solely determine what is best for us and others, we find ourselves inching toward the role of playing God. This is an issue thoroughly explored in Season 29,  “Master your Demon Function”  and in the article, “Why you should master your Demon.” 

For the conscious users of the Law of Attraction, we have two paths open to us.  

Path one is given to us by the ancient Greek philosopher, Protagoras. His famous quote, “Man is the measure of all things,” etches out the first path. If this quote is true, then you have the capacity within you — with all your knowledge, wisdom, and insight — to shape a great life on the back of your own will. You know best emanates from the quote.  

Path two is given to us by the author of Proverbs, likely Solomon. “Lean not on your own understanding.” This quote indicates that the path to “success” is not to grasp on to your own will, knowledge, and wisdom, but to let it go. The quote puts the thought in our minds, Maybe I don’t always know best.  

We are not looking to make converts here, but the above quotes hint toward a deeper experience regarding the force of the universe. To hold on or to let go? Pride holds on, humility relinquishes. Anxiety holds on, peace releases. Lust holds on, and love obliterates all contrivances. This is the path of surrender. And if you live as if you already have what you want, that too is surrender. 

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”  — Lao Tzu 

But this does not answer our question exactly. How do we know what to attract in our lives?  What about goodness and truth? Why should I attract one thing and not another? What if it doesn’t pan out? What if it does? These, dear reader, are questions you must answer for yourself.  

But, in the theme of all of Chase’s teachings thus far, though we may not know what the objective good or truthful thing is — or what the exact “right” thing to attract may be — humans do seem to have the capacity to gain wisdom. If we really believed wisdom was the “most valuable substance in the cosmos,” perhaps we should consider “attracting” that above all else.

To obtain wisdom, we must experience life. How much more wisdom do we obtain when we experience life consciously, guiding our choices and pursuing ends with real intent? 

All that is left to say is that you have the power within you to change your life. It starts at the base of your soul, with your Introverted Sensing (faith) or Introverted Intuition (hope). What do you want? What do you want to experience? 

How you go about it and how you transform your life is a path only you can walk. The mystery enclosed in how you make this path your own is what gives excitement to our lives to begin with.  

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” — Matthew 7:7