Most of us are familiar with the law of attraction. It has been debated around the world and put into practice by many. There have even been whole workshops devoted to just this law and we’ve found that it works for some, but not others. Why is this so?

A law is absolute. If it is a law, it should work for everyone. Right? There is more to this law than meets the physical eye of course. The debate has only touched upon the law, focusing more on the objects of desire and how to attain these objects than the subject who perceives and makes life happen. To fully understand the law of attraction, we need to understand its origin. That origin begins and ends with you. The world lives in us and is perceived by a body -mind system we have created.

We have always been creators, and we continue to create every day of our lives. Our mind is the tool we use to paint the world, but most of us don’t have full control of our brushes. Most of us live at the level of the body- mind system, believing that is who we are. We allow this system to run the show. We lose sight of the fact that the body – mind body system is our tool, a tool of our own making; a tool that allows us to create and live in this world as we travel through life having the experiences we so want to have.

We’ve become lost along the way, the human mind regularly moves from one desire to another, trying to find fulfillment, trying to regain our original state of bliss. We forget that is who we are. We are bliss itself. We are Sat Chit Ananda, existence, knowledge, and bliss absolute. This is our true nature, for we are powerful beings living in a world we have created and surrounded by other parts of ourselves that do reflect ourselves back to us.

At any moment, we can take the reins and run the show. We are all sleeping, but we don’t know we are until we wake up. So, as we take on the body- mind system, we forget our true nature. We become what our deep driving desire is. Desire is the cause, and birth is the effect. This world of duality is sustained by the law of cause and effect, the law of karma.

Once we accept our birth, countless desires are born, as we move away from the true self and into the world. These desires will be fulfilled in this lifetime or a future lifetime… that is the law. This process of birth continues until all desires are exhausted. These desires become exhausted, as we try on different roles, achieve our goals, and attain the objects we seek, bringing us to the realization after each desire is met, we are still no closer to the state of eternal bliss.

It is a state we catch glimpses of as we achieve a goal, but it is a temporary bliss, it never lasts. We then look in a different direction, inward. We start to ask ourselves the bigger questions of life, like who am I? What is the purpose of this life? Where do I fit into the scheme of things? We start to desire to know the Self and awaken to our original state, as we know all desires are fulfilled in this lifetime or future lifetimes.

The universe conspires to teach you about the self. It draws you into life situations that will satisfy your desires. A friend might bring you along to a yoga class. You might meet someone who is involved in an ashram and visit later that month. A guru might be there who speaks to you. Indeed, out- of- nowhere situations will present itself to you, so you may learn more about the Self, because your desire to know the Self has been awakened, and the universe is answering that call.

The universe always answers. However, our mind often becomes scattered, running in different directions, which is why our life reflects chaos. When all desires cease, even the basic desire to know the Self, we are able to merge with the supreme Self. Desire is what veils the Self and sustains the illusion, allowing the Self to experience its creation.

What is your deep driving desire? We seem only to know the immediate desires that surface when we are in constant contact with the world. Most of these desires are material ones… I desire to be rich, I want a huge mansion, a fancy sports car and more… but what is the underlying goal of all these desires? We think that when we have many material objects, we will be happy, but when we get them, we realize they bring only a temporary happiness that does not last. True happiness is spiritual in nature, not material.

You will never find permanent happiness in the objects of the world; the only place to find happiness is within yourself. Schopenhauer says “It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.” You need to look within to the subject that perceives the object; this is where your focus needs to be. The subject is the perceiver, the part of us that is eternally happy and satisfied; it cares not about material gain or the lack of it.

When the perceiver becomes our internal reference point, our anchor, we are always happy and satisfied. The mind becomes calm, yet able to move within the world as a productive creator of life. Spiritual evolution is marked not by your knowledge of the scriptures or how much you are able to renounce, but by stability of the mind. When the mind becomes stable, it allows you to move in the world as a conscious creator, not a victim of circumstance. We start to use the mind as a tool to create the world around us. We use our intellect to make evolutionary choices, and we keep the body healthy, so we can use this birth to realize the “Self”, the ultimate goal of life.

At the core of our being, we are actually whole, the Supreme Self, the Atman which is cloaked in the body- mind system. The Atman is what animates the body and allows it to perceive and act. It animates the mind and lets it feel and allows the intellect to think and contemplate. Yet, the type of perception, action, feeling, and thought that comes from the body- mind and intellect will depend on one’s inherent nature or vasanas. Your present vasanas set the pattern of your life, and only self-effort can modify or change that pattern. It is a choice only human beings have.

Vasanas are unmanifested seeds of action that lie dormant as your potential nature. These seeds wait for the right environment before they will grow, and when that right environment presents, they take root and grow into the proper manifestation. Your vasanas come from and are a result of the past. Your past actions produce your present vasanas, and your present vasanas produce further actions. This cycle continues until all desires are exhausted. When all desires cease, we merge with the Supreme Self. Here we exist in eternal bliss. It is the state we are actively searching for in the world. It is the ultimate goal of human life. That state is here within us; there is no need to search outside, for we carry it everywhere we go.

But how do we find this bliss? With all the desires that keep bubbling up to the surface of the mind, how is it possible not to have desires? But let’s not go down that path of thinking yet, for most of us are not ready for the ultimate goal. We still desire many objects of the world, which is why the law of attraction is so attractive… Many of us still like the play. So let’s play with the world as a conscious creator.

The whole universe that springs forth from the Supreme Self also resides in you, for you are a creator. When you created this world, you spoke its language and told it what you wanted it to do and be for you. You received just what you asked for, but to fully experience the creation, you had to lose yourself in it, forget how powerful you were. You are now asking to become a full participant in your life story, and the universe is listening.

We can all speak the language of the universe. We do so every day; its language is vibration. When you raise your vibration, the universe matches it and sends it back with an experience that matches the vibration. When you lower your vibration, the universe does the same; it does not discriminate. So how do you raise and lower your vibration? With your thoughts… where do your thoughts come from? Your mind.

Here it gets tricky because the mind is a product of your vasanas, and your vasanas are the primary cause or source of desire, thought, and action. This is why when you hold a thought about what you think you want, other thoughts combat that thought because it might not be in line with your inherent nature. That’s not to say that the law of attraction does not work. What I am saying here is that we have to master a lot more than your thoughts because those thoughts won’t stay in line with your desire if the desire is not in harmony with your inherent nature.

A person who is an environmental activist will not wake up one day and wish for more of anything that might ruin our earth. He has awakened to his purpose, now anything he desires from this place will manifest easily as he is in harmony with his higher calling. It would then be against his inherent nature to wish for a gas guzzling car etc… The same is true of us. If what we wish for is something that is not in line with our inherent nature that something will not manifest. Our inner dialogue will be at war with what we wish for. You see our desire has to be believable to ourselves before the universe, our source of material abundance, can believe it and provide you with it.

Most of us are not sure what our inherent nature is because we don’t really reflect or contemplate the Self. We really need to look at who we are, or more accurately we need to look at who this person is that we’ve created. We need to look at our ego or created self and analyze it to see what desires we can safely absorb and play with in our lives. Then we can move forward and manifest our life to be in line with our inherent nature. We can play in this world where we exist and be a conscious creator of life. We are powerful beings enveloped in this body – mind system, live from your true self and the world becomes your playground.

- Chitra Sukhu

The Kybalion outlines a process of Mental Transmutation (Mental Alchemy) which is said to be an art of changing and transforming one’s own mental states and conditions, with the Law of Attraction being primarily performed through knowledge of the Principle of Vibration. If you are genuine about learning The Law of Attraction then a study of the Kybalion is highly recommended.

The Seven Hermetic Principles or Axioms

“The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open”. – THE KYBALION

• The Principle of Mentalism.
• The Principle of Correspondence.
• The Principle of Vibration.
• The Principle of Polarity.
• The Principle of Rhythm.
• The Principle of Cause and Effect.
• The Principle of Gender.

Principle of Mentalism

“THE ALL IS MIND; The Universe is Mental.” – The Kybalion

The Principle of Mentalism suggests that “All is Mind.” The ALL is the term used to refer to all that is seen and unseen within the Universe. It the true reality from which all other aspects of the Universe become manifest. Essentially it could be said to be synonymous with God or The Great Spirit That Runs Through All Things. The idea that the ALL is mind suggests that the Universe in some sense is self aware or  sentient, a form of intelligence that exists within the Universe.

Principle of Correspondence

“As above, so below; as below, so above.” – The Kybalion.

The Principle of Correspondence is very similar to the Emerald Tablet’s second verse: “That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.” . This is the concept that there is always a correspondence between the laws of phenomena of the various “planes” of being and life. A variation on this theme is “That which is within is like that which is without; That which is without is like that which is within”. The “above” or “within” can be called the macrocosm, the bigger picture, or perhaps the astral plane. The “below” or “without” is the physical world with which our body interacts, and is the microcosm. This principle states that there is a harmony, agreement and correspondence between The Great Physical Plane, The Great Mental Plane and The Great Spiritual Plane.

Principle of Vibration

“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” – The Kybalion

The Principle of Vibration states that everything in the Universe is in motion. Nothing rests. Modern Science has shown this, that even seemingly solid matter is actually comprised of moving atoms. An interesting example is glass, which some have speculated is a very slow moving liquid, but a more common theory is that it is one of several substances in a state between a liquid and a solid. The principle shows that the differences between different manifestations of Matter, Energy, Mind, and Spirit are due to rates different of vibrations. This principle can be seen in the Four/Five Classical Elements. Spirit is vibrating at an infinite level to the point of almost being at rest (see Polarity principle below).

This is the main principle applicable to the Law of Attraction, as “revealed” by The Secret. The practical demonstration of this principle is Mental Transmutation, where you can change your mental state by changing your vibration. This can be achieved by an Act of Will, in which you fix your attention upon a more desirable state.

Principle of Polarity

“Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be  reconciled.” – The Kybalion.

The Principle of Polarity states that everything is dual in nature (has two poles). Everything in the physical world has its opposite. It states that all truths are only half truths and that every truth is half false. The opposites are said to be identical in nature, yet different in degree (different sides of the same coin). Further, all extremes meet, and it is possible to reconcile all paradoxes.

Principle of Rhythm

“Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.” - The Kybalion.

The Principle of Rhythm is related to the Law of Vibration and the Law of Polarity. It states that everything has a measured motion, a swing backward and forward, like the movement of a pendulum. Every pair of opposites or poles (as in the Principle of Polarity) has a particular rhythm.

Principle of Cause and Effect

“Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.” – The Kybalion.

The Principle of Cause and Effect states that every effect has a cause and every cause has an effect. This is essentially the underlying principle embodies in the principle of Karma (the word itself deriving from the Sanskrit word for an action or performance). It is not necessarily moralistic (as the popular New Age concepts of Karma), but acknowledges that all actions (causes) will have an effect. This principle also states that there is no such thing as chance. Chance is the term used when the cause(s) are not recognized or perceived.

Principle of Gender

“Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles;  Gender manifests on all planes.”–The Kybalion.

The Principle of Gender states that there is a gender for every manifested thing. This Mental Gender does not relate to physical gender, rather to the concepts of procreation, generation, creation, or production. Gender is manifested as principles classified as Masculine and Feminine. According to the Kybalion Gender manifests itself on all planes. While this may be so, it may confuse some people who become aware of teachings which talk of androgynous beings on other planes, or that concept of the All (or God) as being both masculine and feminine in nature. The key concept is that things contain both masculine and feminine principles which ideally need to be balanced.

The Masculine principle is described as always existing in the direction of expressing, and is related to the Will in its various phases.

The Feminine principle is described as always existing in the direction of receiving impressions, and having a more varied field of operation. The Feminine conducts the work of generating new thoughts, concepts, and ideas, including the work of the imagination.

It is interesting to note that The Secret Book (Note: Not ‘The Secret‘ Book) uses a number of feminine verbs for derived from the Greek verb noein – “think, be aware, or perceive.” The usage of feminine gendered verbs reflected the Feminine Principle of these aspects of receptive awareness, given as Ennoia, Pronoia, Prognosis, the luminous Epinoia.

For further information read The Kybalion. You may also find useful to compare the teachings of The Kybalion with The Secret – read the book, or watch the movie.

Free download of the Kybalion

The PopMagick.com Edition of The Kybalion comes with additional appendices: an article on the History of the Kybalion and The Emerald Tablet of Hermes.

Authorship

The Kybalion is credited to the authorship of “Three Initiates” who chose to remain anonymous. As such, there is only speculation about who the actual authors of the book really are.

The following people are commonly suggested as authors, either alone, or working together:

William Walker Atkinson. He was known to use various pseudonyms was the owner of the “Yogi Publication Society of Chicago” who published The Kybalion. He was known to have self published various other works. The main evidence is that he had earlier published a series entitled The Arcane Teachings, which has some similarities to The Kybalion. For example, while The Kybalion examines seven “Hermetic Principles”, The Arcane Teachings explores seven “Arcane Laws”. Likewise, The Kybalion is said to be an elucidation of an ancient, unpublished Hermetic text called The Kybalion, and The Arcane Teachings claims to reveal the wisdom of an ancient, unpublished scroll of occult aphorisms. Both books describe the three “Great Planes” of reality which are subdivided into the seven lesser planes and the also both describe three of the lesser planes as “astral black keys” analogous to the black keys on a piano, and inhabited by elemental spirits. Further, both of these books describe a process of “Mental Alchemy” which are almost in complete agreement with each other.

Paul Foster Case, Michael Whitty and Charles Atkins, (chiefs of the Thoth Hermes temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). It is often claimed, sometimes by members of the Builders of the Adytum, that Case was one of the authors of The Kybalion. The Fraternity of Hidden Light are likely the originators of this claim. Case was certainly a notable author of this period of time, and had a good knowledge of the concepts and principles outlined in The Kybalion. The first seven lessons from the Builders of the Adytum study course talk of similar concepts to The Kybalion. The lessons were originally written by Paul Foster Case, and later additional information was added by Ann Davies. It is impossible to tell if The Kybalion influenced the lessons, or offers evidence that Case (or Davies) were involved in writing The Kybalion.

Other people suggested to be co-authors of The Kybalion include: Harriet Case (Paul Foster Case was her husband at the time The Kybalion was written), Ann Davies (who was the head of B.O.T.A. after Paul Foster Case), Mabel Collins (a Theosophical writer), Claude Bragdon (a writer on “mystic geometry” and a known Theosophist), and Claude Alexander (a stage magician, mentalist, proponent of crystal gazing, and New Thought author).

Influences

Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher, is referenced in The Kybalion, and is said to have shown a good understanding of Hermetic Principles. Spencer is said to have been a reincarnation of a 5th Century BCE Greek philosopher, Heraclitus.

Thomson Jay Hudson, a psychical researcher is mentioned in the chapter on Mental Gender. Hudson formulated the Three Laws of Psychic Phenomena, which was published in 1893. He is well known for his theories of the subjective and objective mind.

Hudson’s three laws are as follows:

1. Man has two minds: the objective mind (conscious) and the subjective mind (subconscious).
2. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control by suggestion.
3. The subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning.

William Walker Atkinson, influential in the New Thought Movement, and credited with authorship with The Arcane Teachings. If The Kybalion was not written by Atkinson or adapted from the The Arcane Teachings, then it would appear likely that this series was influential in the development and philosophy of The Kybalion.

Rama Prasad, a Theosophist and author of the classic book Nature’s Finer Forces, published 1894, may have had some influence on the Kybalion, if for no other reason that The Kybalion’s author choosing to mention the use of the term “Nature’s Finer Forces” when talking of seven sub-planes of the Plane of Energy.

Hermes Trismegistus, perhaps only a mythical influence. The Kybalion has many influences from Hermetic Philosophy. The Kybalion uses the Hermetic Axiom “As above, so below; as below, so above” which is found in the Emerald Tablet.

Derivative works

Divine Magic: The Seven Sacred Secrets of Manifestation by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D. This book claims to present a more modern version of The Kybalion and includes a companion meditation CD. The author claims that one can learn to master one’s moods, release negativity, manifest “higher levels of abundance”, and attract new opportunities into one’s life with the aid of the teachings of The Kybalion. This is similar to the Law of Attraction popularly marketed as The Secret (book and movie). It is no surprise that William Walker Atkinson, a possible author of The Kybalion also wrote a book in 1906 entitled Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World.

Summum, an esoteric organization. This group rewrote The Kybalion to incorporate the Principle of Creation, which they claim to be the grand principle underlying the existence of The ALL, and the source from which the previously detailed seven Principles emanate.