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In these readings, “universal attraction” is much deeper than personal charm, romantic attraction, or the modern idea that we can obtain whatever we desire merely by thinking about it. Attraction is presented as a spiritual law operating through consciousness. Our ideals, attitudes, motives and patterns of conduct draw us toward particular people and experiences. At the same time, the people who enter our lives may reveal something within us, give us an opportunity to grow, or place before us someone whom we are able to help.
Like Attracts Like
The clearest statement of this principle is the “universal law of ‘like attracts like,’ relativity of force” [4121-3]. This suggests that consciousness has an attractive quality. What we continually think, desire and express creates a kind of inner pattern, and that pattern responds to similar qualities in other people.
But this teaching should not be reduced to the idea that every unpleasant experience was consciously attracted by the person experiencing it. The readings present attraction as part of a much larger spiritual process involving free will, relationships, responsibility and soul development. We do not always attract what our conscious personality wants. We may encounter what our soul needs in order to learn patience, establish boundaries, overcome weakness, repay an obligation or express love.
The reading also connects attraction with self-knowledge. It says that an individual must first understand self and one’s relationship with other people. Through that understanding, one gradually comes to understand one’s relationship with God [4121-3]. Universal attraction, therefore, is not simply a technique for getting things. It is part of discovering who we are, what we worship inwardly, and what kind of influence we are sending into the world.
Attraction Can Reveal Strength or Weakness
One person asked whether it was a waste of time to be friendly toward people to whom they did not naturally feel drawn. The answer was that such relationships might provide an opportunity for both parties. It then offered an important warning: “Those to whom you’re drawn may be your weakness, or it may be your strength” [5259-1].
Natural attraction is therefore not always a reliable spiritual guide. We may feel drawn to someone because that person encourages our best qualities. But we might also be attracted because the person reinforces an unhealthy desire, emotional dependency, vanity, prejudice or habit. A powerful attraction does not automatically mean that a relationship is spiritually right.
Likewise, an absence of immediate attraction does not mean that another person has nothing to offer us. Someone we would not normally choose as a friend may teach us tolerance, humility or cooperation. They may also need something that we are able to give. The question is not merely, “Do I like this person?” but, “What does this association bring out in me, and what opportunity for good is present here?”
This does not require us to trust everyone or remain in harmful relationships. Spiritual friendliness must be joined with wisdom and proper boundaries. The reading is challenging antisocial indifference, not commanding a person to accept abuse. Love may sometimes be expressed through patience and companionship; at other times, it may require firmness, honesty or distance.
Why We May Attract Difficult People
When one individual asked, “Why do I often attract undesirable people?” the answer was surprising: “That ye have much to give to others is indicated by all manners of people whom ye attract” [3576-1]. The reading did not simply blame the individual or say that the person must secretly be undesirable. Instead, it interpreted these encounters as evidence of an ability and responsibility to help different kinds of people.
It continued, “Ye owe them an obligation. They owe thee an obligation” [3576-1]. In the spiritual framework of these readings, some relationships may carry unfinished purposes or obligations. Yet this should not be understood only as punishment for the past. An obligation is also an opportunity to respond differently now—to replace judgment with understanding, selfishness with service, or conflict with reconciliation.
The instruction is to use the privilege without abusing or losing the opportunity [3576-1]. We abuse an opportunity when we exploit another person, encourage their dependency, or use our influence for personal power. We lose it when we reject someone merely because they are inconvenient or different. The proper response is to ask what loving and constructive action is possible while still exercising sound judgment.
Friendship Must Not Be a Bargain
Reading 3226-1 applies the law of attraction directly to friendship: “Like begets like—if the entity shows itself friendly, there will be friends” [3226-1]. This does not promise that every kindness will be immediately returned by the same person. Rather, friendliness establishes a pattern in consciousness and contributes that quality to the wider human community.
The reading warns against helping people merely to secure their favor. Friendship becomes distorted when it is treated as an exchange: “I helped you, so now you owe me.” The individual in this reading was willing to help friends but felt forgotten when help was needed in return. The reading calls this expectation a misunderstanding of spiritual law.
True service should arise from “a universal desire to be of help in many directions” [3226-1]. Universal love seeks the good of all rather than the advantage of one person or group. It does not keep a private account of every favor. This does not mean that friendship should be completely one-sided or that disappointment is wrong. It means that our goodness should not depend entirely upon the response we expect to receive.
Universal Attraction Is Larger Than Personal Possession
Reading 2988-2 says, “The soul is rather the soul-mate of the universal consciousness than of an individual entity.” This is one of the most profound statements in the collection. It suggests that the soul’s deepest relationship is not possession by another human being but unity with the consciousness of God.
Human love remains valuable, but no individual can completely possess or fulfil another soul. The soul belongs first to God and is related, through God, to the whole of creation. A person may therefore be called to become “much…to many” [2988-2], rather than concentrating all spiritual meaning in one exclusive relationship.
In that reading, this universal capacity for love was to be expressed through creating or caring for a home, teaching, companionship and guiding the physical, mental and spiritual development of young people. Universal consciousness is thus made practical. It is not merely a mystical feeling of unity; it becomes shelter, instruction, encouragement and daily care.
Christ is presented as the perfect expression of this consciousness. He is described as the way, truth and light, who offered himself so that others might have “life, light and immortality” [2988-2]. To live by universal attraction is therefore to let the consciousness of Christ attract us away from selfish possession and toward sacrificial, constructive love.
Nothing Is by Chance
Reading 2946-2 says, “There is nothing by chance” and describes friendships as “the RENEWING of former purposes, ideals” [2946-2]. Within the reincarnational outlook of the readings, people may be drawn together again because something begun previously needs to be continued, corrected or fulfilled.
Whether one accepts reincarnation literally or not, the practical teaching remains useful: important relationships deserve reflection. Why has this person entered my life? What qualities are being awakened? Is an old pattern repeating itself? Is there something to forgive, repair, complete or create together?
The reading uses the image of the last apple being connected with the first apple created [2946-2]. Forms change across time, but their originating life and purpose continue. In the same way, friendship may be a renewed expression of a deeper principle already present in consciousness. People come together because their purposes, ideals, needs or opportunities can meet.
This does not mean every association must last forever. The purpose of some relationships may be fulfilled quickly, while others continue throughout life. The spiritual value of a relationship is not measured only by its length, comfort or emotional intensity, but by what it helps each soul become.
Attraction as a Spiritual Ability
Reading 3908-1 describes an individual with an unusual ability to attract many kinds of people because “the very characters of individuals are parts of the entity’s consciousness.” This appears to describe a broad sympathy—the capacity to recognize and respond to many different human temperaments.
Such attraction can become a gift for healing and service. In this case, music was recommended as a means of helping people suffering from nervous disturbance, shock or deep weariness [3908-1]. The individual’s attraction was not given merely to gain attention. It was an ability through which others could be comforted, restored and united.
The reading connects this gift with the Cross and “unity of purpose” [3908-1]. Attraction becomes spiritually universal when it gathers people around healing, cooperation and a higher ideal—not around the personality or ego of the person exercising the influence.
The Practical Law of Universal Attraction
Taken together, these readings suggest that we are always attracting and being attracted through what we hold in consciousness. Yet the most important question is not, “How can I attract what I want?” It is:
What am I becoming, and what am I helping others to become through my influence?
If we express suspicion, manipulation and selfish expectation, we strengthen those qualities in our relationships. If we express friendliness, patience, truth and service, we create conditions in which these qualities can grow. The result may not appear immediately or come through the person from whom we expected it, but no constructive spiritual expression is wasted.
The readings offer several practical principles:
Examine what a strong attraction brings out in you; it may reveal either strength or weakness.
Do not reject people merely because you feel no immediate personal attraction.
Regard difficult encounters as possible opportunities for learning, service or correction.
Be friendly without making kindness a bargain for future favors.
Maintain wise boundaries while seeking the good of everyone involved.
Do not attempt to possess another soul; recognize that every soul belongs first to God.
Look for the purpose within important relationships rather than treating them as accidents.
Use personal influence to heal, encourage and unite—not to control.
Make Christlike love the central attractive power in your consciousness.
Conclusion
Universal attraction, as presented in these readings, is the spiritual relationship between consciousness, character and experience. “Like attracts like” does not merely mean that positive thoughts bring pleasant possessions. It means that what we nurture within ourselves influences the people we recognize, the relationships we form, the opportunities we can use and the effect we have upon others.
Some people are attracted to us because they share our ideals. Others may appear because they expose our weaknesses, require our help, or give us an opportunity to complete a deeper purpose. In every case, the spiritual task is to respond consciously.
The highest form of attraction is not the attraction of personalities seeking to possess one another. It is the attraction of the soul toward God and, through God, toward loving service to humanity. As the individual becomes more aligned with truth, compassion and the consciousness of Christ, that person becomes a constructive influence—a centre through which others may find encouragement, healing and a clearer direction toward the One Source.
EDGAR CAYCE READINGS ON (UNIVERSAL) ATTRACTION
(Q) Is it a waste of time and effort being friendly to people to whom I'm not drawn, associating with them, rather than be anti-social? So few persons attract me.
(A) As has been indicated, it may be an opportunity for thee, as well as others. Those to whom you're drawn may be your weakness, or it may be your strength, depends upon that to which they respond.
5259-1
(Q) How should this body go about developing the psychic, soul and spirit forces in others and in self?
(A) As has been given. One first must understand self and its relations to its fellow man. It will then understand its relation to its Maker, and will then be in that position to give to others and build self therein. How understand self? The relation as is received through that as has been given. "My Spirit beareth witness with Thy Spirit as to whether Thou be the Son of God or not." When thou walkest in that way that leads to the everlasting thou hast that understanding. "Seek and Ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." In this force and body, and in the present plane, with that understanding of the higher law get the understanding of self between the Creation, or its fellow man, and thou will get the thorough understanding of how the relation is between self and Maker, and can lead and guide others therein, through Psychic, Spirit force, and through the universal law of "like attracts like", relativity of force.
4121-3
In giving the interpretation of the records, there is much from which to choose. For, as indicated, from the seal, this is a very unusual entity or one endowed with many abilities. In music should the entity excel, in the stringed instruments, harp or plane, and such music should be used for the applications in healing, or as part of the entity's endeavor to reclaim individual entities that are disturbed by nerve or shell shock or long weariness in the out-of-the-way places. For these are abilities with the entity that may be surpassed only by very few.
There are also the abilities to attract, as well as to be universal in its nature of attraction, for the very characters of individuals are parts of the entity's consciousness; and ever, as indicated, under the seal or the Cross, and of unity of purpose in the activities of its own peoples in the present as well as those in the land of its present adoption.
3908-1
(Q) Why do I often attract undesirable people?
(A) That ye have much to give to others is indicated by all manners of people whom ye attract. Ye owe them an obligation. They owe thee an obligation. Use it, the privileges - don't abuse or lose opportunities.
3576-1
From Jupiter, we find that the entity, is ever ready to help a friend, yet often the entity finds self in the opposite extreme when requiring or desiring a friend to help the entity - the entity feels they have forgotten the friendship shown. These are not true laws. For in the manifestation of spirit and mind and matter, like begets like - if the entity shows itself friendly, there will be friends - if the entity manifests itself in those things pertaining to a universal consciousness, that is the good for all rather than the individual or individual group. Courting favor with others, that there may be favor shown self is not so good - unless it is prompted by a universal desire to be of help in many directions.
3226-1
But know, the soul is rather the soul-mate of the universal consciousness than of an individual entity.
Thus may this entity be much, in a large measure, to many. And the greater hope, the greater influence the entity may make, the greater contribution the entity may give in the experience, is the care of a home; if not by its choice of its OWN home, then in MAKING one for those who have not been so fortunate as to have one.
Thus, not as a nursemaid; not wholly as a governess, but rather as a teacher, as a companion, as an instructress, as one that may guide not only the body-spiritual but the body-mental and the body-physical of the young, in the care of same, in the unfoldment of mind, in the directing of the spiritual purposes to the One Cause, the One Way that is found in Him - who IS the way, the truth, the light. HE has so oft stood in that way as to encourage, to direct, to warn, - yea, even to offer self as a sacrifice, entering into the holy of holies indeed; that we through Him might have life, light and immortality. Hence as that sacrifice, as the spirit of truth, as the spirit of light, as the consciousness of God, He may indeed abide with those - daily - who seek to Know His will and His way.
2988-2
(Q) Have I ever been associated in previous incarnations with any of the friends who came to Virginia Beach with me?
(A) We haven't the friends as yet. These may be paralleled in their own experience. These as we find have been associated, though, somewhere along the way. For, this is a law - even as was indicated by the Master in His choice of those close to Him. There is nothing by chance. Friendships are only the RENEWING of former purposes, ideals. For, as the preacher gave, "There is nothing new under the sun." For, in the beginning all was made that was made, and as it unfolds from what man terms time to time, period to period, there is only the renewing of the First Cause. Isn't the last apple also that portion of the first one created? Isn't the first friend the same purpose and principle that has been held, or that has grown to be a part of the consciousness?
Let those things become as a part of thy application of self, in the picturalization of the life of the Master, - stick close to that which John portrayed to thee and Mary.
(Q) How can I be of use in Mr. Cayce's work?
(A) Finding those differences as indicated. It would be well to parallel this with the experience of the entity in that particular sojourn. There are those tendencies and differences that may be mended well by the purposes of the entity in those associations and activities. Especially in the aiding of that as would be presented to readers of the work, of the group or Association.
2946-2
