Does "the law of attraction" fit into your tantric worldview?

Q: What are your thoughts on the New Age Law of Attraction and manifestation spirituality? Do any of their principles fit into your spiritual worldview?

A: To answer the second part of the question: yes, actually, the principles DO fit into my spiritual worldview—which might sound surprising, because you wouldn’t necessarily think so.

I want to start by sharing something from The Recognition Sutras by Christopher Wallis. (The scripture it’s based on is called Pratyabhijnahrdayam; the gist is that it’s a text about recognizing God through your own awareness.)

There’s a passage in that book that always stuck with me. He writes that in the Tantric tradition, there is a clear acknowledgment that spiritual practice—sādhanā—can lead to both worldly success (bhoga) and spiritual liberation (moksha.)

In fact, the idea is that true sādhanā will naturally bring more Shakti, more Power, into your life, and Her Presence is what draws opportunities, abundance, and support into your life.

But—and this is key—the purpose of that abundance is ultimately liberation.

The teaching recognizes that if you’re living in poverty or constantly stressed about survival, it’s much harder to meditate on the inner Self (among other things.)

So the tradition doesn’t outright shame worldly success. It just makes sure that it’s placed in service of something deeper.

In the book, Wallis differentiates between bhoga (worldly enjoyment or success) and moksha (liberation). The idea is that you can have both: You can strive for greater happiness and success while also cultivating a spiritual practice that allows you to deeply love your life—even if it doesn’t go the way you want.

That’s moksha: that liberatory insight and inner stability regardless of what's happening.

But here’s the warning: unless your pursuit of bhoga is subordinated to moksha, it’s likely that the drive for success will take over.

He says—and I’ve definitely found this to be true—that unless someone is really vigilant in their practice, the desire for worldly success can easily overpower the deeper desire for liberation.

So yes, you can want what you want. You can use spiritual energy to shape your life. But don’t assume that the pursuit of what you want won’t start to eclipse the real work—freeing yourself from the cycle of life and death, the ups and downs, the constant clinging and aversion.

If you haven’t cultivated inner freedom—and your carefully built house of cards collapses, as it inevitably might—then what will catch you?

That’s the question.

Without moksha, there’s no inner safety net. And when life throws you a wrench, which it always does, you won’t be able to meet it with equanimity if all your stability was tied up in external success.

So to answer your question: yes, there are ideas in manifestation culture that absolutely align with the Tantric worldview. But the core difference is orientation. 

In classical Tantra, abundance is seen as something that flows from spiritual practice—not the goal of it. And if you’re not careful, the craving for outcomes can become a spiritual bypass, leading you further from the peace you were hoping to find.

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