Why the Law of Attraction is Wrong, But Why It Still Works

Mike Says:

June 8th, 2008, 5:56 am

Good post Leo, I bought a copy of The Secret when I was last in Amsterdam airport thinking it was a mystery novel or something - I should really pay more attention to what I buy!
I found it fairly interesting, but don’t believe it personally.

Clay Collins | The Growing Life Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:03 am

Yeah, whenever I hear crazy claims made and then backed up with quantum physics and stated as “law” my B.S. detector goes off. I feel sorry for *real* quantum physicists who must be pissed at all the misuse of their branch of science.

And then there’s all the egoistic megalomania. Blah. :-)

Allison Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:10 am

I completely agree with Clay - any time someone mentions quantum mechanics outside of the context of actual physics, I automatically assume it’s BS.

Along those same lines, I’m taking a quantum mechanics class and after our final the prof plans to show “What The Bleep Do We Know” so he can explain to us all what complete and utter crap it is. :D

Ben Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:27 am

I agree, Leo. The LOA seems to me to nothing more than unscientific balderdash. Its only validity lies in that it may encourage you to get off your butt and do what you want done yourself. Thanks for the debunking.

Ben

Scott Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:28 am

Personally, I’m not a fan of theories which take away from the belief that we, as individuals, are directly able to influence our own lives.

Acknowledging that we can actually do things to acheive our goals, is the very first step in being empowered. When people feel disempowered, they seek to “blame” outside forces and lose the motivation/ drive/ spirit to go on as they believe that nothing they do will make any difference.

On the other hand, what does work is the explicit planning & setting of goals, and then working towards achieving them.

Any other approach- no matter how much in vogue it is- takes away our sense that we can do great things through our own efforts.

Hanna Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:37 am

I won’t comment on whole LOA issue since I don’t know anything about physics and such.

But I have to say I do appreciate the fact that the Secret people and others have started to talk that we can do things for ourselves and we can change our lives. You have your GTD people who are much more goal oriented people in core so stuff like GTD resonates with them.

But the people who mostly just sit back and play the victim card are finally getting the idea that you can do something about it. For me personally the cause is more important than the yadda yadda - as long as it gets people to think for themselves :)

Shanel Yang Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:40 am

So true that LOA is mostly pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo! I especially take offense that they basically repackaged the original great-granddaddy of self help book on this subject, Think and Grow Rich (which is now free to everyone as part of the public domain), in such a smoke and mirrors medium that is quite pricey in comparison.

I downloaded a free eBook of the entire Think and Grow Rich book and summarized it on my blog to make it more accessible to modern day readers. But, the content is much more honest in that Napoleon Hill admits that he does not know why if we create a burning desire for a specific written goal and think about actually having it as much as possible that our body will follow our mind and lead us to that desired result. Instead, Hill sets forth 13 clear steps on how to develop the habits that will get you there from here. I saw nothing like that in The Secret DVD. I haven’t bothered to read the book.

Thanks for your candid thoughts, Leo!

Ben Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:54 am

I think the Pareto Principle (80/20 Principle), whereby 20% of the effort creates 80% of the outcome, is a far more important concept to grasp than the LOA, since it requires that you find out what is most important and focus on that, i.e. find out what actions will be most productive and eliminate what is not. If you can identify what truly needs to be done and how to do it in the most efficient way possible, then you’ve already accomplished 80% of your goal, so to speak–a number which I’m sure would put the results of LOAers to shame.

Mark - Creative Journey Cafe Says:

June 8th, 2008, 6:59 am

My biggest problem with the law of “attraction” is the word “attraction”. Who can prove this? My issue is the guilt and paranoia that has to come along with this belief that we “attract” everything that happens to us.

It’s impossible to monitor and control every negative thought. And if this theory is true, how come the majority of people who get on an airplane don’t make it crash because of their fearful thoughts?

Who are these so-called “experts” in The Secret who can prove this theory? That must be considered as well. Who are those guys?

All this said, I do believe in the good things about it - the power of focused attention to manifest from the invisible.

Hanna Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:13 am

Re: based on Think and Grow Rich book. I actually thought it (Secret) was heavily based on The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.

Gustav Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:22 am

Great post!

I just wanted to say that I do completely agree with the next to last part in your post. Having conscious goals and acting to achieve them (and constantly reviewing them) is a big step in accomplishing things!

Caroline Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:26 am

I have read The Secret and it used a lot of pages to repeat one idea over and over. Having said that: it is somewhat praise-worthy for suggesting that you can change your own life by thinking about how you want it to be (visualization as mentioned in GTD also, in Project Planning), it is clearly not a scientific ‘law’ for all the reasons already given AND it has a healthy dose of the ‘if you don’t get what you want it’s because you don’t believe strongly enough’ guilt-inducement. Not explicitly stated perhaps but it’s there.

Jeff Lilly Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:28 am

Just to show the other viewpoint here: I am a Druid; I perform magical spells frequently, to great effect; my wife is a witch, and is very good at magic, especially weather magic. (We haven’t been rained out of a picnic or school function in years. :-) ) In my worldview, and in my experience, the LOA is just a very simple kind of magic.

Everyone here is quite correct in saying that the LOA is completely unscientific, cannot be tested, cannot be proven, etc. etc. But just because something isn’t scientific doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I’m willing to bet there are many people commenting here who believe in God, even though God is also unscientific and unprovable.

You can an article of my thoughts on this matter here, and and a whole collection of them gathered here.

Liara Covert Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:31 am

Some people believe that success can be defined by giving reasons for new kinds of communiation.

Roman Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:32 am

The Secret. Just think you want a cheque of USD 100.000 instead of a bill and the miracle happens - dangerous stuff for a lot of people out there. Think, work, have goals and folow through - no miracles needed.

Tim Brownson Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:44 am

I’m grateful The Secret was made in two respects. It has definitely created a shift and opened some peoples minds and allows me to discuss stuff with clients that would have been taboo a couple of years ago. I can now bring up topics like meditation and visualization where previously I’d have been laughed out of my own office. I think it’s also helped with getting people to think positively and take more personal responsibility.

OTOH, on several occasions I have had people come to me and say something along the lines of “My life is a complete **** up and I know it’s all my fault because I’ve seen The Secret” Trust me, that’s not helpful and not a great starting place.

Secondly, there are so many holes in both that and the Abraham Hicks stuff that you could spray it yellow and call it a lump of cheese. I have found SOME of the LOA devotees really patronizing when I’ve asked tricky questions in different forums and I’ve often had the response that I just don’t get it. Well yeh maybe, but I just don’t get herpes either and I’m quite relieved about that.

So tell me again exactly how a 2 year old that contracted meningitis manifested it? Or how the 8 year old boy that died after swimming in a local lake and contracting a brain infection manifested that? Then let me know why people that truly do get it and KNOW it’s true can’t manifest themselves off a tall building or a sack of cash out of thin air?

I was asked to leave one forum because I demanded they manifest Pluto into my back yard (the planet not the dog btw). It never happened in case you’re wondering although I’ve not had chance to look this morning, so fingers crossed.

Adam Sicinski - Study Matrix Art Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:45 am

I agree with you Leo.

I think the Law of Attraction is something that must not only have intention behind it, but must also contain the seeds of proactive action that will help bring that intention into fruition within the physical world.

I use to read many books on the law of attraction, and I actually religiously applied those rules into my life, however I lacked the ingredient of proactive action.

My belief is that The Law of Attraction is brought forward into the physical world through a combined process of:

- Setting clear and effective goals.

- Letting go of limiting beliefs.

- Making sure your values are perfectly aligned with your major life purpose and objectives.

- Asking the right set of questions that will expand possibilities and awareness, while keeping you focused on the things you want, and on the solutions to the obstacles that are confronting your life.

- An optimistic approach to life, meaning that all our thoughts are aligned with the outcomes that we desire to bring forth into our lives.

- And finally through consistent proactive action that is perfectly aligned with your life’s purpose, goals, beliefs, values, thoughts, questions and habits of behavior.

I believe that these principles will allow us to stay aligned within the Universal Laws of Attraction, and will in the long-term bring WHAT WE WANT into fruition.

Abduljalil Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:46 am

I’ve watched the Secret movie, I didn’t like it much as I thought it was a cheap way of playing with peoples’ dreams and showing as it can be easily achieved. It was to dreamy and lake practicality. I think the LOA work because you know what you want when you keep thinking about it. But it won’t get achieved just because you thought about it. Hard work, positive attitude is what get things done.

The Zen Dad Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:47 am

I think the LOA is also hit and miss and will work for a few people because of the simple fact that thoughts=action. If you think about something long enough you are going to act on those thoughts to come to a resolution. It’s human nature to “check off” things on our mental checklist. I got about halfway through the audiobook myself and thought “nahhh, not for me”, I’m just not buying what she was selling.
http://www.zendad.net

Daniel Richard | WE Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:49 am

Cool. The good thing that came from LOA is that it gives us something else to talk about, be it bee-ess or not. Creates this new topic that has the word “law” added on to it and you have a controversial item to discuss on.

Leo Says:

June 8th, 2008, 7:54 am

I’m really enjoying hearing your thoughts, guys! I’d love to hear from opposing viewpoints as well … maybe people who believe in the LOA and have used it to some success? People who have tested it more scientifically? I think it would be interesting.

Improve Your Mind Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:10 am

I think it’s not a LOA’s fault that it cannot be scientifically proven or disproven. Today’s science is still rather limited and far away from truly understand the universe and life - at least that’s my perception.

I think the issue is, that LOA works only in limited circumstances. There were example when people believing in LOA had unfortunate accidents or even died - and that’s certainly not something they attracted themselves. In my opinion, sometimes life brings you something, either good or bad, regardless of what you intentionally attracted with your mind.

Joel Falconer Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:15 am

@Shanel: I always thought it was based on fluff-piece, “The Science of Getting Rich” - which advocates similar measures and no real action.

You’re spot on Leo. I don’t know this kind of dribble actually gets traction.

Joel Falconer Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:16 am

*don’t know how

Honza Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:19 am

Leo,
great post. That’s exactly what I think.
Anyway I think we know absolutely nothing about how the universe works so……. maybe.. :-)
As you say - we can’t prove it wrong.

Leo Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:31 am

@Improve your mind … you wrote:

“I think it’s not a LOA’s fault that it cannot be scientifically proven or disproven. Today’s science is still rather limited and far away from truly understand the universe and life - at least that’s my perception.”

Well, the problem is, if you can’t prove something is wrong — if it’s absolutely impossible to prove it wrong — how can you test it out? How do you know if it’s right?

I can tell you, for example, that if you think happy thoughts, then someone, somewhere in the world, will be happy as a result of your thoughts. But how can this be tested? You can always point to someone who was happy at any given moment, so there’s no way to prove the theory wrong.

This simplistic example is just to show that, whether science is limited or not, the logic behind science is simply that you should be able to test it out to see if it’s right. If you can’t test it, how will you know?

Heidi Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:38 am

I am one of the fans of LOA and I will say that I began a complete transformation of my way of thinking thanks, in part, to The Secret.

I have manifested some pretty remarkable opportunities in my life since I changed my perspective, none of which would have happened while I was complaining about what others had and I didn’t have.

All that is around me exists simply because I am there to experience it. That doesn’t mean those experiences aren’t there for others. How it impacts me, however, is uniquely my own, making it my own reality! By seeing all circumstances as opportunities instead of tragedies, I open myself up to personal growth.

The Secret, to me, is a starting platform for us “Westerners” who are accustomed to seeing our reality being thrust upon us from some outside influence. Eastern Cultures have known for 1000’s of years that their mind creates their own reality. LOA and the Secret are superficial introductions to the power of our mind and creation.

So little of our mind power has been tapped into, but I’ve seen enough to know that everything comes from a “thought”. Having faith that there is no ‘fail’ when we take action gives us the courage to take action! If something doesn’t quite work the first time, doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to work… just that we have to maybe do something different until it does (perseverance can be part of our growth opportunity as well)

How to explain the horrific circumstances that plague us? I’m no expert in the mind, but collectively our minds have power to manifest realities as well. I’ve experienced enough pessimists and “negative” thinkers to know that they can make the world pretty miserable for anyone to live in (we do tend to notice more the things we think about)… yes, I used to be one of them (I can say, life wasn’t too fun).

Anyway, I did do a little experiment on this mind manifestation on the LOA with a pretty impressive outcome. I envisioned in my mind a red balloon. Then I thought BIG and made it a hot air balloon. Sure enough, as I drove to school a few days later, a red hot air balloon floated across the road.

Want to see Pluto in your backyard? You may have to get a telescope and look into the sky from your backyard, but even that could show up unexpectedly, but then I am kind of an “out of the box” thinker and see that sometimes how things manifest is often left up to interpretation!

Leo Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:52 am

@Heidi: Thanks for sharing your fascinating perspective on this! I’d like to hear how others respond to your comment … though I only ask that they treat you civilly! Sometimes people can be a bit unkind in blog comments, and I hope that doesn’t happen here, but if it does, just keep a thick skin. :)

My take on a part of your comment:

“I have manifested some pretty remarkable opportunities in my life since I changed my perspective, none of which would have happened while I was complaining about what others had and I didn’t have.”

This is exactly what I meant in my post — if you used to complain about what you didn’t have, and then you changed your behavior to actually doing something about it (and visualizing what you wanted in the first place), I absolutely believe that your life will improve. Because of the reasons I stated in my post.

If the LOA helps people to change their lives, from being complainers to being people who take action to get what they want, then I am all for it, no matter if I agree with the explanation behind it or not.

So congratulations on making these positive changes!

I agree with you, that our mind creates our reality. Totally agree. I don’t agree that there is some mystic or cosmic explanation, but if you think about something enough, you will likely take the action necessary to make it happen. The action you take is what makes it happen, though, not some unexplained connection with the universe.

On this point, it would be very difficult for either of us to be proven right, but that was my point in the post as well — there’s no way to scientifically test it. Especially if you are able to interpret the results any way you like.

However, let’s agree on the reality: know what you want. Focus on this desire. Then take the steps necessary to make it reality.

Thanks for sharing! :)

James Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:52 am

Well put Leo. I couldn’t agree with you more.

James Says:

June 8th, 2008, 8:59 am

@ Hanna
“… I do appreciate the fact that the Secret people and others have started to talk that we can do things for ourselves and we can change our lives”

This isn’t a new or unique thing - people doing things for themselves and that we can change our lives. Quite the contrary. They have found a new and unique way to capitalize on it.

Elissa Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:00 am

If there’s any basis to the so-called “Law of Attraction,” it’s in human psychology. As you’ve noted, articulating your goals clearly makes you more likely to take action to achieve them. In addition, thinking about the world as if the things you desire may have already have happened makes you more likely to notice opportunities that previously you may have ignored. And social psychology is full of studies about the self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby having an expectation (particularly, but not necessarily, about another person) makes you act in a way that makes it more likely that your expectation will be confirmed. The metaphysical explanations are unnecessary and unprovable–simple social psychology is sufficient.

Eddy Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:09 am

Another excellent post Leo — I think you’ve summed up the LOA very nicely.

There’s a section of the brain, called the Reticular Activating System, which is a kind of spam filter. It blocks information received from your eyes, ears, etc. which is not relevant, so that you don’t get overwhelmed by sensory overload.

When you’re focused on a specific idea or concept, things related to that are much more likely to make it through your spam filter — everything from newspaper stories, magazine ads, a chance remark in conversation, a new book covering the subject, a possible social connection, etc, which otherwise would have slipped under your radar. There’s nothing other-worldly about this, it’s just how our brain works.

(After I bought a new Toyota Avensis a few years ago, it seemed like every other car on the roads was the same model — previously, I’d barely noticed them. Right now, I’m interested in attic conversions, and I can hardly leave the house without discovering someone else doing the same thing.)

There’s some more discussion of this at The Write Event from last year. The BBC also recently ran a news article about some new research in this area.

Benny Greenberg Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:21 am

The Secret does not work - on itself - just sitting back and waiting for IT to happen gets you nothing!
The Secret can work, when you apply your plan, the desire and the everyday work effot that is needed to make it happen… I guess thats not the secret

Benny
http://www.ya-ttitude.com

dave a Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:22 am

there are no right or wrongs

Amanda Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:24 am

Thank you Leo! I was waiting for someone to state this. It is exactly how I feel too. I go through the same steps you are supposed to for the “law” but for different reasons. I feel thinking if I actually have something and keeping positive puts me in the mindset I need to be to reach my goals. Someone should write a book on this concept. Or maybe you know of one?

Open Minded Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:37 am

Well put Heidi, and Leo! I have seen the Secret, and read the book. While I couldn’t subscribe to the theory of LOA, I could see how this could positively impact many people in exactly the way you stated. And at the end of the day, what matters is that a thought, an idea, a theory, (THE SECRET) became the tool you and so many others used to change their way of thinking about their world around them and see things and feel things positively which resulted in improvements to your life. While the whole package of LOA doesn’t “work” for me, there are many elements that I think apply to everyone. If we want something badly enough, and we think positive thoughts and make a goal for ourselves, we often attain it. Many people today have lost sight of their goals or where they are headed and are wandering through life aimlessly. I think the LOA/The Secret gives folks a tool to get back onto some sort of road toward a destination without bringing a lot of religion into it or introducing a get rich quick scheme that tries to tell you money is the answer to solve lifes problems. Therefore its a little easier for many people to apply to their own lives comfortably.

Robert Williamson Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:43 am

Its very simple really and totally true it has always worked my whole life and suprized me at times to all educated
scientific people who do not understand this, Stay in school!

Kelly Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:48 am

One danger of books like The Secret is they give insensitive people one more way to blame those victimized by uncontrollable circumstances. For example, I’ve heard peopel tell a cancer patient and a widower that had they lived more positive lives they would not be suffering. The Secret invites lack of compassion.

Want to know what I think “The Secret” of The Secret really is? The Secret to how to market regurgitated pseudo-science and make millions of dollars.

JERRY Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:53 am

Good article…
The LOA attracts money alright–it attracts money to the folks peddling the books, cds , seminars, etc.

OutsideMyBrain Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:55 am

Leo,

I agree and disagree. First off, let me say that I am not a fan of “The Secret”, as I believe they have thrown in way too much “mumbo-jumbo” that isn’t necessary. But, I also believe that you might be throwing out the baby with the bath water, if you completely toss out the LOA with it.

There are two points I would like to make here, and then if you are interested, head to my blog and read, “What Does Your Internal Music Sound Like?”, for a better understanding of what I am portraying here.

First, people tend to like people who are like themselves, who have their same interests, likes, etc. This concept is what is driving the social network phenonmenon.

So, based on that, I say the LOA is bringing like-minded individuals into your sphere or network and perhaps, even as close friends. Now, in order for a person to attract a certain “type” of person, they have to become like that person, if they are not that type already. The process of becoming “like” the person you want to be, or “emulating” is done by putting the GTD principles to work.

Our dominant thougths, increase or decrease our chances of “connecting” with those we are trying to reach. No one want to be around the slothful, complaining, woe-is-me, party pooper type individual. Misery loves company and those are the types of people the whiners will attract.

My second point is this, as in my article, our “internal” music is being broadcast to the world. Now, before you all toss me out, hear me out. Radio Waves can not be seen. Does that mean they don’t exist? The same with microwaves, x-rays, gamma-rays, etc.

Though you may not be able to scientifically prove, nor disprove this, there are well documented cases where siblings (especially twins) have felt strong emotions at the exact same moment the other sibling was in an accident or died. How do you explain that? Many times, the siblings were seperated by some great distance.

Something, whether you want to say it was spriritual, or meta-physical, happened. Something allowed them to communicate over great distances with each other. Some people might call this intuition, or that gut-feeling, but I think it is deeper than that.

Can I prove the theory, no way. But, I believe that our thoughts have a certain amount of energy attached to them which causes a “wave” of some sort to emit from our brains. Since energy can be converted into matter and vise versa, than thoughts can become matter, however small and minute that matter is that creates a thought-wave if you will, that eminates from within us to those around us.

I use the analogy of “internal music” in my post. It’s worth the read, if your willing. For example, have you ever felt someone walk into a room before you even saw them? Have you ever been around someone that just gave you the creeps? Have you ever felt an electric spark between you and someone you were attracted to? And I’m not talking about static electricity. All these examples point to something eminating from that other person that either sits well with you, or it doesn’t. People constantly have their sensors up (woman more in particular than men) when they are meeting people, to “feel them out”.

Again going back to my first point, this music that we constantly play in our heads is what attracts or repels others from us. If we want to “attract” a higher level of indiviual into our lives, we must be able to “attract’ those types of people by speaking like them, dressing like them, going to social gathterings where these poeple “hang out”, etc. People like to be around other poeople that are like them… it’s that simple!

I guess I threw a little more than my 2-cents in there, but I would be interested in reading your response.

Kelly Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:56 am

PS - The Secret also misdirects justice. Rather than blame war criminals, The Secret blames their victims for collectively not being more positive - this was something I heard during a discussion of those advocating the book. So rather than blame the war criminals for their actions, focus was directed toward blaming the victims.

No, you couldn’t pay me to put a copy of this farce of a book on my shelf. Would those who believe in the LOA explain how New Orleans attracted Katrina? Or other such situations? Quit ascribing all this oomy goomy stuff to some pseudo-science and take responsibility for your own strengths and use your success compassionately.

Tim Brownson Says:

June 8th, 2008, 9:59 am

@ Heidi - You know what? I don’t even not believe in the LOA, I just don’t believe in the way it’s explained and I think too many people are jumping on the bandwagon and treating it almost as a pseudo-religion because it’s an easy option.

I agree 100% that everything starts in the mind with a single thought, but that can have everything or nothing to do with the LOA imho.

Do the red balloon thing again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and then make it blue with yellow spots because there are NO exceptions to the LOA it ALWAYS works because The Secret said so. To be fair, one example is meaningless unless you can replicate it.

BTW, my introduction to manifesting was The 28 Laws of Attraction by Thomas Leonard that originally came out (I think) about 6 or 7 years ago. Thomas Leonard then died at the age of 48, so his manifesting ability as an expert seems questionable at best ;-)

Kelly Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:01 am

As I read through some of the posts above, the danger of The Secret is evident - victim-blaming and lack of compassion and done so self-righteously. Not every person suffering in this life created their circumstances. Many good, positive, assertive people suffer.

‘nough said!

Kelly Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:06 am

“What’s easy?”

1 - blaming those suffering for their own suffering instead of considering they might be as assertive, if not more assertive, than we are and bad things can still happen.

2 - not learning about physics - if one learns about physics one quickly sees how silly The Secret is.

Again, The true Secret is how to mass-market old junk.

Zenplease Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:07 am

Great point.

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http://zenplease.com/zen-please-announcement/

Chris Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:10 am

I agree and dissagree with you. “The Secret” fails to fully explain all aspects of the LOA. It makes it seem like a mystical, magical force that wishful thinking will bring what you want.

The LOA is extremely powerful, if applied correctly. There is an awesome book/cd set called “The Secret of Deliberate Creation” by Dr. Robert Anthony. He takes the LOA and breaks it down scietifically and gives you ways to actually IMPLEMENT the LOA. I’m not in any way affiliated with or compensated by his company, I just beleive in what he teaches.

The LOA starts in your mind with what you’re thinking and is carried out by your feelings and ACTIONS. When you’re thinking and feeling the right things, your actions will lead you to your desire. It’s not magic; it’s science.

Bev Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:11 am

such great thoughts!! I found the book itself rather boring. But the concept…well, I’ve read it in many places before. I do think if it helps someoen change their perspective in life, then there is some value to the book. But overall, I agree, to make a real change, does require some action, not just thought. Has anyone read the book White Banners ? Some similarities although more about being a pacifist. Interesting ideas if not taken to an extreme. I think too often people read a book like these and take the idea to the fullest extreme without totally understanding. Then it doesn;t quite work as the author intended and others begin to denigrate the entire concept.

Vered Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:11 am

Tim said: “Thomas Leonard then died at the age of 48, so his manifesting ability as an expert seems questionable at best”. Funny as always Tim - AND you are making a very good point.

I don’t believe that our thoughts can directly influence the physical world as in “I picture a bag of gold coins - viola! it manifested itself and now I’m rich”.

I do believe that thinking positive and believing in yourself will get you further in life and make you happier than being a whiny pessimist.

So I guess I agree with most people here.

Liz Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:36 am

Thank you Heidi, and I agree very much with your response.

Personally, for the past ten years I’ve learned that for me the Law of Attraction works ! However, “The Secret” is not at the top of my list of teachers.

For me, a combination of teachers and ideas are continuing to help me manifest positive results in my own life. It’s work. There is a lot of forgiving, releasing and learning to do.

What is the definition of “works” when I use it above? What can I do to prove this to people through science or on a blog post? Those and other questions aren’t ones I can help with.

But I do feel anyone interested enough in “The Secret” to have an opinion about it, and to continue to read, think and comment about it, will find other sources of information about the Law of Attraction to further inform their point of view.

I have a group of friends interested in all this. We share information, and we all respond to different teachers and ways of thinking. It’s a process.

Ultimately, for me this is about a personal inner knowing, and it could be called spirituality. I’m not sure how you could do this without having a “religious” aspect to it, though for me that’s not the word to use. But going “spiritual” as opposed to “scientific” has been a big key to my personal progress with this path.

That’s because to me, being thankful and having “feelings” are what allow what you are attracting. This goes beyond the define-focus-work steps you mention Leo. Those are also important. But emotionally aligning yourself is key, and at this time I can’t give you the science.

GREGG BRADEN - is an author who may be able to do so.

I also like Louise Hay, Lynn Grabhorn, Caroline Myss. There are many others, and for each one of us a different group of teachers will be best! I like that Abraham Hicks and others call it “The Art of Allowing” instead of a law. But hey, maybe what it’s called isn’t so important either!

For me, its a thrill to have this joy and appreciation for all the moments, rewards, and yes, parking spaces I receive, without needing scientific evidence. If and when that shows up — yippee — but I’m not waiting around for it.

And when bad things happen, my advice is forgive, forgive, forgive — instead of looking for someone to blame - whether thats blaming myself, my teachers, a book like The Secret, one of the two dorks making my current freelance job so irritating … … Ooops! See, I’m not claiming perfection as a manifester. I’m just recommending that by learning much more about the “law of attraction” than what’s offered by The Secret, by not looking for ways to doubt, including application of scientific theory … instead, doing the opposite and appreciating all the reasons to believe and trust and then letting ‘em flow, I do have and am having much much more better life than before I started on this path - and recommend further exploration for anyone. (It’s work tho, it’s just figuring out what kind of “work” it really is …)

Love reading all these posts - so glad this topic is out there. Thanks Leo !!!

Barry Morris Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:39 am

Some things work whether or not you believe in them or can explain them.

One the original works on LOA (as it’s come to be known) was Wallace Wattles’ 1910 work, The Science of Getting Rich (he also penned two other works based on the same principles as related to health and attracting love).

Interestingly Leo, ACTION plays a huge role in his version of LOA. Also of note, The Secret is based on this original work.

I’ve had some pretty amazing things happen in my life that could only be explained in reference to implementing the LOA (forming a vision, focusing intently everyday on what it would feel like, feeling and expressing gratitude for its ultimate realization, ACTING on what seems the right course of action, and knowing that all things are working for me in this endeavor.)

Also of noteworthy comment is the Abraham-Hicks audios on LOA. Granted they are very woo-woo, but then I’ve always found if I close my mind to things I don’t understand initially, I invite ignorance around the topic.

Recall that Socrates said:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

I’ve found that in all areas of life there are those who will jump on the “anti-xxxx” bandwagon without really taking to time to examine the issue. I’m assuming everyone here who’s taken an alternate view has done that.

Barry Morris Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:42 am

CLARIFICATION: What I meant to say in closing my comment above (before my trigger happy finger hit the Enter button) was I assume everyone expressing alternate views HAS taken to time to examine the issue.
BWM

SpaceAgeSage Says:

June 8th, 2008, 10:57 am

Questions — which will create a better life?:

A life belief that the world is out to get me, or that the world has many wonderful things in store for me?

A life belief that blames others for my problems, or a life belief that with unbending will and the ability to “lean into” a problem, things will work out for the best?

A life belief that says I must overwork myself in the corporate world to succeed, or a life belief that says building relationships and improving the world and myself will generate more meaningful successes in my life?

A life belief that all illnesses are just happenstance and not my fault in any way, or a life belief that I can change my health and well-being for the better?

A life of judgment and shaming, or a life of appreciation and gratitude?

A life of self doubt and feelings of unworthiness, or a life of building inner strength, inner peace, and taking risks to find improvement and betterment?

A life where my personal example is filled with anger, hate, and tearing down others; or a life where my personal example is filled with supporting, encouraging, and nurturing others?

It’s not science. It’s wisdom and common sense, yes?

Thomas Herold Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:02 am

In order for the Law of Attraction to work for someone you simple can start believing in it. Believing in something is a very strong force.

However you can digg deeper and you will end up in the realms of consciousness and how consciousness unfolds into energy and matter.

The Secret movie scratched that topic only and left many people hanging there. I actually wrote a free ebook that explains in details how it works.

Cheers

Thomas Herold
CEO Dream Manifesto

Michael Moniz Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:09 am

Great article. Many of my clients come to be because of this book. It is hard to explain to them that they can not just wish but it requires action as well.

It is a great idea and it works but action is what makes it happen. Without the action, you are only wishing.

We need to dream, make goals and make them a reality.

derek Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:19 am

I think the biggest thing that the Secret has done is to open people`s minds to the fact that they do have control over their lives. The “easy money” systems are making easy money from selling repackaged public domain works to desperate people. However, to change your life, you still need to change your mind…noone can do it for you, regardless of how much you pay for the “system”.

Linda Foor Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:28 am

I have always thought that the secret of The Secret was that it was a great way for the person who wrote that book to make tons of money!

But your response makes me think of it in a different way…

Years ago, when one of the early abdominal exerciser gizmos came out — I can’t remember the name of it but it was a frame you used that you kind of put around your upper body and you held on to it and rolled up into a crunch and rocked back — I read an article in a fitness magazine about whether or not the gizmo worked. The response of the fitness expert was that it didn’t do anything a normal crunch wouldn’t do BUT if it would make you do crunches on a more regular basis, why not go ahead and use it.

I think you raise a really good point that I never thought about — as an option; as a focusing tool for goal setting and goal attainment.

That’s right, Dorothy, no matter the path or the journey, you knew the way home all along….

Hanna Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:43 am

What’s with this “don’t make money” illusion people keep having? Who cares if they make money with it? People keep writing about it like they are the mob or something. They have chosen that life path and better other peoples lives that way - and pay the bills as well. Just like Leo has that donate button and ads - bad, bad Leo! (just kidding - I almost always agree with you on things). It really is just the same thing, people thinking they have something to offer to the world. Some people agree, some don’t.

Mike Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:45 am

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” - Buddha

Sheila Says:

June 8th, 2008, 11:51 am

Put it this way–The Secret is to the Law of Attraction what those late night infomercials about Getting Rich Quick In Real Estate are to the actual practice of real estate investment. If you don’t dig any deeper than that, you’re not going to get very far and you frankly run the risk of severely screwing things up.

I’m surprised no one else has brought up The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn, another early book (now in the public domain) on the concept.

First off, I think Leo has definitely got a point–it’s entirely possible that it works simply because focusing on something in a positive manner leads you to take steps to make that thing happen. And, face it, detailed goal setting always helps because how will you know if you’ve found what you’re looking for if you haven’t even figured out what it’ll be like when you find it?

But there’s an aspect to it that gets glossed over in a lot of discussion about it, which is the part that intuition plays. It’s not just about taking action, it’s about listening to that still, small voice that tells you what action to take next. This allows things to flow much more easily and indeed may seem magical to people who are used to drilling ahead and doing things the hard way because that’s what they’re supposed to do.

Novices at the Law of Attraction tend to rattle off that the Law of Attraction is like the Law of Gravity–it works whether or not you believe in it. However, they seem to ignore the fact that gravity is not so inevitable that it cannot be defied by other forces like friction and aerodynamics. It’s entirely possible that there are other ‘Laws’ that prevent the Law of Attraction from working in a perfectly predictable matter.

Scientific types don’t seem to condemn meteorology as pseudoscience even though it can’t predict the exact temperature at three o’clock on Tuesday, yet if a manifestation is close-but-not-quite, it’s clearly nonsense and mere coincidence. I don’t quite follow that.

Jen Says:

June 8th, 2008, 12:43 pm

There is something to be said about what happens when we believe something. One good example is a person who believes their co-workers are out to get him or hates him.. He is going to reflect that belief in small ways through his actions, “It doesn’t matter if I get this report to Jerry on time, he hates me anyway.” And he will looking for evidence that he is correct, “Bill didn’t stay and talk to me at the water cooler. He doesn’t like me.” (When in fact, Bill was just busy that day.) And pretty soon everyone at the office does hate him. The same person could believe that everyone likes him and notice all the little things that could be interpreted as kind actions towards him. Then he might react kindly to people because he believes they like him. And tada, he is well liked.

So in the end we get what we believe and think. Because of some meta-physical properties in the universe? No, because it is human nature to find evidence for what we want and to react in ways based upon our beliefs.

Carl Says:

June 8th, 2008, 12:52 pm

I do not have the capability to prove, but I believe that thoughts have a certain type of energy to them. Real energy. I have also found that prayer as a way of channeling thoughts is extremely powerful, but I cannot understand that power.

One are where The Secret turns me off is that most of the manifestation it encourages for people to do is for them to accumulate great wealth in material things. I think it works with emotional happiness but it is not a positive tool for “wealth accumulation.”

I don’t understand it, but my prayer for others is often very effective, but selfish prayer is rarely positive.

I also think that I have a lot of destructive unconscious “thinking,” and if practicing tricks in The Secret removes some of that, that is a very good thing. Selling the thing is quite an admirable commercial enterprise, and a lot of people are buying…

CindySense Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:02 pm

Great post! I think one of the latest crazes in self-improvement, is the law of this or the law of that. Even though they arent’ really laws. I

I believe that we do create our lifes due to our thoughts. But thoughts with actions are nothing. In watching “The Secret” I really didn’t see anything about taking action. I think that the movie/book may give people the wrong impression - that ALL they need to do is think and visualize. Such as in the movie where the little boy is thinking about a new bike and viola it appears on his front porch.

parkingstones Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:07 pm

You could burn every copy of the Secret and we would lose nothing. There is no reason for it’s continued existence. It is the opposite of useful.

Charles Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:09 pm

Wow, I didn’t expect my tiny little post to hit the ZH front page, I’m touched! :)

Thanks for your opinion. I believe in LOA because all of us feel attracted or rejected by others, and there are reasons behind it (positive or negative feelings among others). However, I’m not convinced by most scientific explanations that are exposed on the web.

But there are charismatic and positive people who attract to themselves many smart, wealthy, creative and hardworking people, while bad-tempored people attract only problems to themselves.

We all know kids raised in unstructured and problematic families, who then forecast a bright future to themselves and who become successful thereafter. We also know kids raised in wealthy and good families who then do drugs, waste the money they inherit and who have a pretty bad end. Your destiny is largely connected to your mindset and stance.

This is something we can experience in real life.

Marelisa Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:14 pm

“The Secret” is sort of cafeteria spiritualism. It describes the process by which we create our lives in very rudimentary terms. That is, there’s a lot more to manifesting the life that you want than what “The Secret” explains. That being said, I think that there’s basically 6 steps to getting what you want in life:

Basically, you first have to be very clear on what you want. It’s amazing how many people don’t know what they want or are constantly changing their minds. That’s like being in a restaurant and not telling the waiter what you want or constantly changing your order.

Second, your belief system has to be congruent with the things you want to manifest. For example, if you want to become wealthy but you hold the belief that it takes enormous sacrifices to become wealthy–spending little time with your loved ones, no time for leisure activities, no time to take care of your health, and so on–you probably won’t allow yourself to become wealthy.

Third, you should visualize the things that you want to manifest in your life, often. If you don’t believe in a spiritual energy going forth and attracting the things that you’re thinking about to come into your life, then just think of visualization as a focusing exercise. The more you focus on something the more you’re likely to get it, right?

Fourth, your emotions have to be aligned with the things you want to manifest in your life. Emotions such as fear, resentment, worry, and anger are repellents to good things coming into your life.

Fifth, you have to act, and you have to act in a way that creates value for others.

Sixth, be grateful for what you have in your life right now. Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions that there is.

That’s my take on it.

Sean FitzGerald Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:16 pm

Hi Leo. I have a question for you.

I haven’t read The Secret, so I don’t know the specifics of how they think the LOA works, but I do know that from my reading about LOA over the years that many describe the process differently from what you have laid out, in particular Step 2 - the idea of staying focused on what you want.

Many authors say that once we have identified a clearly defined goal (Step 1 in your schema) we “hand it over” and “let it go” and let God, the Unconscious, the Universe or whoever your Higher Power is to “worry” about the specifics. You take action wherever it’s suggested (your Step 3), but basically you just trust that your HP will deliver what you want (it’s often suggested that you “act as if” you already have your goal as well).

In this view constant focus on your goal (your Step 2) is considered counter-productive, as your conscious mind/ego is getting in the way and you are sending the message that you don’t have faith in your HP delivering your goal. I’m also thinking the Taoist’s Wu Wei here.

How would you account for this view?

On the importance of the process of setting goals and taking action towards achieving them… several years ago I investigated Life Coaching - I even considered becoming one myself - and successfully used the assistance of a Life Coach to achieve a goal of taking a trip to the US (I live in Australia). I was struck by how simple and practical the basic process of Life Coaching was (which is evidenced by the fact you can become a Life Coach after only a 12 week part time course).

My understanding is that Life Coaching is based on the type of process you lay out, namely: clearly identifying your goals, keeping your goals in focus, and taking consistent concrete actions towards achieving them. I think the benefit of using a Life Coach is that you have someone to encourage you and keep you accountable. Without that support it’s easy to slide back into inertia. I found this simple arrangement worked for me.

As for the Secret, any philosophy that holds the victims of the Holocaust or children starving in Africa responsible for their own predicament falls at the first ethical hurdle as far as I’m concerned. From what I’ve read and seen it’s just repackaged new age egomaniacal spiritual materialism, and an excuse for some really selfish behaviour and an excuse to not lift a finger to help others, since they brought it on themselves.

In response to Heidi’s post - the problem is that we often mean different things when we talk about “creating our reality”.

There is a big difference between saying that we create our own reality in the sense that our thoughts create reality “out there” (manifest) in the objective world, and saying that we create our own reality in the sense that we are responsible for how we react to and interpret reality that is already “out there”. This is, as you suggest, what Buddhists and cognitive therapists have been saying for years.

The whole goal setting and going for it thing is not about our thoughts creating our reality “out there” but a simple, logical psychological process whereby we use our mind effectively to practically achieve our goals. And, as others have pointed out, by focusing on what we want we become more attuned to opportunities as they arise. Nothing really that mystical about it.

As for whether we can collectively influence objectively reality, I think there may be some truth in that, but note that this belief is inconsistent with the idea that we can get what we want as individuals as the populace may be unconsciously creating something different than what we want. What we are talking about is collectively creating the world through consensus reality, but that’s a whole other argument for another time.

Sean FitzGerald Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:18 pm

Whoops! To be clear I meant to say: “The latter is, as you suggest, what Buddhists and cognitive therapists have been saying for years.”

Laurie Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:37 pm

@ dave a - You are right, there is not right nor wrong….but then how can you be right to say the is no right nor wrong? You must be wrong then…oh S**T you must be wrong and I must be right, or is it I must be right and you must be wrong? OMG! Can you see that your statement is nonsense? Of course there is a right and a wrong!

@ Tim- You misguided Pluto. I found it in my back yard. What do I do with it now?

There is a book out there by Dr. Henry Cloud “The Secret Things of God”. He discusses how there are things out there that cannot be scienctifically explained but it is not a ramdon force but the hand of God. I’ll stick with Henry.

Jonathan Mead Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:48 pm

Leo, you say if a theory cannot be proven wrong it is not scientific. That doesn’t make any sense at all, sorry.

The theory of evolution has never been proven wrong, scientifically. Does that make it unscientific?

Christopher Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:53 pm

I watched this movie recently.

I think that the law of attraction is real, but not so much in the sense of the superficial way this movie shows it.
I don’t think our minds can connect with another person in a parking lot somewhere coaxing them to move their car just as I pull up.

Another really great book is A New Earth. It speaks about the law of attraction but not in the sense of the physical realm. I think our belief systems can draw similar energies. Positivity gets positive energy and negativity gets negative energy. Even when negativity is brought to a positive person in their perceptions, many can take a negative and make it a positive (learn the lesson of life). In the end our perceptions are our reality. In that manner I feel we have another plane to ourselves, a depth plane. Its when a musician, creative, writer, artist, athlete gets into the zone. Time ceases to exist when we become engulfed into what we do. Ask them to reproduce the thing they just did consciously and many can’t. Why? I think its in this zone we touch God. The living divinity that resides in us. We become united with this divine energy we become channels to the small sliver of God that resides in each of us. When we do this more and more I believe we then open a pathway between us and the divine. Its through this constant zoning, things we want arise. Some may call it our life’s purpose, to do what we were put on this planet to do, is aligning ourselves with the 1 true power in this world. Through that the world opens up to us, doors open, networks grow, you glow with an aura that people and things gravitate to. I think in this sense the law of attraction works. Buts its less about wishful thinking and more about just BEing who you are supposed to be doing what you supposed to do in life and loving each moment for each moment is all we have. If we do that coupled with hard work and perspiration, we may get our dreams to become reality or we may not, but even if we don’t we learn lessons through the journey, we find peace inside us.

Eve Says:

June 8th, 2008, 13:55 pm

As a scientist, I’m actually kind of offended by the LOA. I also find it hard to follow the advice of a former drug dealer, but maybe that’s unfair. The whole thing reeks of exploitation.

Owen Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:03 pm

The Secret = Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The LOA is just a ripoff of the tenets of CGT.

Sean FitzGerald Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:08 pm

@ Christopher - beautifully said, and not inconsistent with what was saying - you just said it more poetically!

Whether we talk about identifying and following “God’s will” or “following the Tao” or “going with the flow” it all amounts to the same thing. The language we use isn’t important.

One of the problems I see with the “mind power” industry is that people are often not encouraged to distinguish between the desires of the ego and the desires of the authentic self. So we end up with a bevy of useful techniques, like visualisation, but no guidance on how best to use them. The result is that people use them to achieve what they believe society says will bring happiness. Hence we get people visualising a Porsche!

Joel Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:17 pm

I have posted this to the forum but I will leave it here too: Considering that the law of attraction can be equated to the act of intention, there are double blind scientific studies that indicate that intention or directed thought is an energetic force that can and does have a measurable effect on the world around us. I don’t know that I have an interest in the mind power industry as a bogeyman, but if there is anything or anyone that can stress that one meditate or have a positive attitude toward life then gogogo!

Sara Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:29 pm

I’m very much in agreement. And good call on providing a simple, non-inflammatory answer. Based on your answer, I’m a bit more anti-Law than you. Asking people whether they’re culpable in their lack of success is one thing, but it’s another to actively blame them for all the negative things that happen to them.

Andrew is getting fit Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:44 pm

Great points. Something I’ve thought for a while as well.

J Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:46 pm

@ Jonathan Mead
The theory of evolution, has plenty of scientific, among others disproving it. A recent book, Kluge, presents an interesting perspective (that sides not with Evolution nor Christian creationist theory).
In Australia, the recent discovery and analysis of DNA of a Platypus also presents a big wrinkle/questioning of a purist interpretation of the theory of evolution.

Christopher Says:

June 8th, 2008, 14:47 pm

@ Sean FitzGerald

Much agreed.

I think the problem with the Secret is that it feeds the ego and not the authentic self if your not careful. To want, desire, or even think, is to be in the ego, and not in the presence of your true self. Your true self is formless and nameless and can not even be fathomed by the thinking mind (the ego). Once it is labeled it then becomes ego.

@ Joel
I have read books by Joe Vitale (the Attractor Factor, and Jack Canenfield Chicken Soup for the Soul) and agree with Joel, anything positive in this world today is in the right direction.

We have to remember that the LOA may be more about creating your reality through plain thought process, its a combination of hard work, blood sweat and tears faith in the future and faith in ourselves. I think if we break it down like that although unprovable I think its very real in that sense.

We blogged about this recently,
The Secret Is True.
http://yinvsyang.com/the-secret-is-true/98/

I do think however in some cases it does work, I have had experiences with it on some levels where things have happened and its just too coincidental to say nay. But like Leo said in the initial post, its impossible to prove. So who knows. Regardless anything positive is awesome.

HealingSelf_Warrior Says:

June 8th, 2008, 15:00 pm

Although the law of attraction may or may not be able to be proven or real or whatever the case may be. I find the message in “The Secret” to be of great value. Not only does it promote setting goals and visions but it also places total responsibility on the individual (not necessarily the law of attraction) but on the individual based on his thoughts, his worries, his actions, etc. The individual is totally and completely responsible for their lives and that is one thing I really do like about the secret as it doesn’t give you a way out to blame external forces for things in your life. Secondly, I think the other message whether the LOA works or not, is positive thinking. Regardless of whether or not the LOA works or not, the message of positive thinking is good for all people. I won’t go as far to say that the theory that positive thinking materializes into anything more that more positive thinking. I find when I’m feeling positive and such, I meet more positive people, hear more positive stories and generally feel better about things whereas when Negative, the exact opposite happens.

I am not going to debate the accuracy or not of the “quantum physics theories” or other things in the Secret but think that although some may be marketing, some false claims, etc. There are definitely some positive aspects that when taken can help a person and people as a whole. If it took marketing things like they did in the secret even for just a few real messages to get out… well worth it.

Just my thoughts. :)

Gloria Says:

June 8th, 2008, 15:01 pm

One of the major traits of any evangelist/cult/exploitation is the central beliefs that 1.a version of how the world will end, and 2. and the idea of giving yourself to the idea (theory, cause, participation, movie, etc).

James Arthur Ray is a master at this. He charges a very high price for his events and systematically defines his idea of giving…all pointing back at him, his so called discoveries, and his expensive events and products.

To witness this with any amount of distance, it appears nothing short of exploitative, and undermines the credibility of his so-called “discoveries.” Especially when the ideas aren’t new or self-fulfilling. He’s great at creating the demand for “fish,” but tells you he’s “teaching you how to fish”…as long as you keep buying his “fish.” tsk tsk

The great scam is you become dependent on his theory while you empty your wallet and waste your time with such a shallow and incomplete ideas that appeal to such desperation.

Clay Collins | The Growing Life Says:

June 8th, 2008, 15:37 pm

@Jonathan: If a theory is not testable, then the consensus is that it’s not scientific. If something can’t be confirmed or denied through experimentation then it tends not to belong in the realm of science. Evolution has been proven in fruit flies and in laboratory settings. The origin of species, however, has not.

There are large philosophical debates about this, but the consensus is that non-testable theories are not scientific theories. So in that sense, Leo is right.

Harmony Says:

June 8th, 2008, 16:11 pm

I can see what some people are saying about the law of Attraction…it’s thoughts become things fundamentals is good , but you would also have to take into account where you are born and what your exposed or not exposed to, but maybe that is another part of the overall “ATTRACTION” that we are missing here.
Nonetheless, justice blaming the victims is kind of going too far, for example
911
When my Aunt worked at the world trade centers she would go on time every day; but her friend never came to work on time. But that one day that my Aunt was late and her friend was on time and unfortunately died. My Aunt was just opening the doors when the first tower was hit so she lived.
What was it that set one person up for life and one for death?

Bamboo Forest Says:

June 8th, 2008, 16:55 pm

I got to be honest, I happen to agree with Leo. It’s like going to a job interview; if you believe you’re going to do well, then your body language will embody that belief. However, if you have great trepidation and doubts as to your ability to perform well, in kind, your body language will represent that mental state — to your own detriment.

Indeed, even with great confidence you may still not be chosen for the job — *but by having a positive outlook, you put yourself in the best possible position to be selected!*

Could thoughts impinge upon physical events on some supernatural level? Maybe. But I can tell you this — I certainly don’t believe it can to the extent that “The Secret” portrays. The body acts how the mind projects. But this in of itself is no guarantee, merely it puts the odds in your favor.

Markus Says:

June 8th, 2008, 17:07 pm

The LOA is crap and actually dangerous. People who won’t get what they’re trying to manifest will think they’re at fault! And not that crappy ‘law’.

Also if the LoA did work does that mean all those Africans wanted to be poor? Did that kid wanted to be raped?

Tyler Seymour | Living Consciously Says:

June 8th, 2008, 17:11 pm

Hi Leo,

I’d like to add another rationalization as to why the Law of Attraction works. Though Jack Canfield touches on it when sharing his story of getting publicity for his first book, it was never articulated as explicitly as I would have liked. Anyway, here it is:

Because you are so focused on your goal, you pick up on opportunities that you would not otherwise have. You even become aware of resources that were available to you all along, but you had just never noticed.

Thank you for posting this - I’ve felt the same way about the method and results of the Law of Attraction being correct, even if the explanations are a bit misguided.

- Tyler

Curt Says:

June 8th, 2008, 17:36 pm

Good article. A lot of being successful IS knowing what you want, focusing on it and then acting on it. As for the LOA itself, I dont know if it is real or not. Years ago I saw the PBS show The Elegant Universe, which explained the concept of the String Theory. The theory (backed my math but yet so far not physically measurable, hence the “theory”) suggests that at the smallest level EVERYTHING is made up of small strands of vibrating energy. Knowing that our brains operate (simplfied) by neurons firing electrical impules, I couldn’t help but think of how different electric signals can influence each other. CAN the impulse in our brains effect the world around us purely from an energy point of view? Plus, the math of the String Theory points to our universe having up to 11 dimensions, not just the four we can measure. So who knows what functions those other dimensions serve. I am reluctant to say the LOA is a bunch of hooey, but it does seem like one of those “too good to be true” theories.

Sheila Says:

June 8th, 2008, 17:38 pm

Because you are so focused on your goal, you pick up on opportunities that you would not otherwise have. You even become aware of resources that were available to you all along, but you had just never noticed.

I call this “The Telephone Pole Effect”. My brother once observed that when you’re driving down the street, you don’t even notice telephone poles, but if you actively pay attention to them, holy heck, there are a lot of telephone poles out there!

michael Says:

June 8th, 2008, 17:39 pm

I’ve found it to be true that if you boldly do only what ever makes you happy, then you’ll be presented with new things and situations that can keep you happy, if you take notice. It has happened to me so many times I can’t even count and it seems to be working through other people almost every time, like we’re all telepathic without even knowing it.

I started to practise this in daily basis around 1993 when my life was in really bad shape. Although it wasn’t called LOA then these same ‘laws’ (6 more of them) can be found in many places, it’s nothing new. Anyway lot of amazing things have happened since I begun. Many of my visions/intentions/dreams etc came true, some within hours, some after many years. I didn’t have to sweat or be particularly active but I just followed my intuition.

Today I’ve 100% confidence that something like LOA is there and it really works. In my mind it seems that being aware in the present time is key to everything – to avoid accidently getting lost in your thoughts but go to alpha states only in purpose by meditation. iPod, computer, tv, car.. many things can accidently put you into alpha state (=hypnosis) and make you suck unwanted influences, like ads, into your subconsciousness. And it’s the subconsciousness that seems to be playing the biggest role in manifesting.. There are lot of methods available how to program your subconsciousness working for you, like methods that take advantage of those accidental alpha states by using custom symbols or even tattoos.

What The Secret basically lies about is that LOA can bring you *anything* you want. I don’t believe that. It can provide us with everything we need, but we don’t really need very much.. it’s often just our ego talking. Nobody *needs* to travel around the world and see all the cool places, anybody can be perfectly happy without. It’s more important to recognize what we already have and to be happy for that, appreciate everything that comes along, even the bad things.

Instead of trying to attract money you can use LOA to help others or develope yourself somehow. For example you can become telepathic, to be able to see invisible worlds and remote places, heal and lot more. Sometimes I feel that there is a destiny out there which we cannot escape.. but during the journey our feelings play major role in the quality of our life experience, both internally and externally. In many ways using LOA is more about changing wallpaper than moving to new house and we’re able to fine tune some details of our lives.

Personally I couldn’t care less what science has to say about LOA. Life is an experience and so far science doesn’t seem understand much of life or experiences.. Besides, isn’t our subjective experience of *now* absolutely everything we have? Why science doesn’t count that as evidence?

Rhys Says:

June 8th, 2008, 18:02 pm

I think the main challenge here is that the LOA *does* work - for the reasons you state - but not all the time, because there are things you simply can’t attract (can *you* attract the Sun towards Earth?).

However for the LOA to work for you, you have to have a very high level of confidence that it will. This means that you have to choose a target which is somewhere between ‘more possible than you think it is’ and ‘impossible’.

Choosing such a target is highly dependent on the individual and their circumstances, and well beyond the scope of popular works like ‘The Secret’. Nonetheless they do a great job of getting the overall concept across.

On the darker side there is apparently evidence that MLMs ano other well-meaning organisations that encourage people to raise their aspirations can actually do significant damage to their self-worth when they fail to meet those aspirations.

On balance I think LOA does a great job of getting people to think about taking control of their lives.

Leo Says:

June 8th, 2008, 18:47 pm

This is an AMAZING comment thread guys! Such great points by everyone, great back-and-forth discussion, and so civil! I’m still working my way through some of the longer comments, but I skimmed through and it’s fascinating.

I’m not going to be able to respond to everyone, but that’s good — you guys have taken the discussion and have run with it. I’m glad, as you’ve gotten deeper into it than I ever would have. :)

I’ll respond to a couple though:

@Sean Fitzgerald: “In this view constant focus on your goal (your Step 2) is considered counter-productive, as your conscious mind/ego is getting in the way and you are sending the message that you don’t have faith in your HP delivering your goal. I’m also thinking the Taoist’s Wu Wei here.

How would you account for this view?”

Ah, I kinda forgot about that part. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. My thinking is that even if you “put it out of your mind”, it’s still there. You might not be consciously focusing on it, but you are focusing on it nonetheless. You can’t help it! So in the end I think it’s the same thing, just from my experience with things like that. If you really want something, trying to put it out of your mind won’t really do much, because you’ll still focus on it somehow, even if you trick yourself into thinking you’re not.

@Kelly: I agree with you completely … the victim blaming used by some people is a really bad use of LOA … I was just trying to focus on the positive side of LOA, which is how you get what you want using its methods. Thanks for bringing that up, though.

@Jonathan Mead:

“Leo, you say if a theory cannot be proven wrong it is not scientific. That doesn’t make any sense at all, sorry.

The theory of evolution has never been proven wrong, scientifically. Does that make it unscientific?”

Great question. The theory of evolution has never been proven wrong, conclusively, as far as I know. However, it is possible to prove it wrong. You’d have to show that genes don’t mutate and that species don’t evolve over generations based on natural selection (or something like that — I’m not a scientist). It is possible to prove wrong, but it hasn’t been proven wrong. There’s a key difference there.

A theory is scientific if you put it out there and say, “If this theory is wrong, then X should happen under Y conditions.” Then it’s up to other scientists to go and try to prove you wrong. But if, like LOA, you have a theory that says, “Even if X happens under Y conditions, my theory is still right, because I interpret it differently than you do,” then you have a theory that cannot under any circumstances be proven wrong. So you can’t test it, and you can’t ever every know if it’s right or wrong by objective tests.

Kalika Says:

June 8th, 2008, 19:19 pm

Finally Leo, you nailed it! I have bought the book and read it and totally agree with you. I have even remove myself from people who are following it and claim that if I don’t follow it I am a negative person and cannot be part of their lives. Mind you that I have been in the spirtual path over 20 years and nothing surprises me from people who claim and make a religion of this LOA. To me is like the quote in the movie Forrest Gump, “Life is a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get”. In my opinion you can focus on a goal, visualize and get results, but sometimes what you wish or work hard for is not what is best for us. I do believe that whatever situation we are living right now is for our best interest for growth.

Jonathan Mead Says:

June 8th, 2008, 19:27 pm

Leo,

Thanks for clarifying. I think you might want to change that to not being possible to test, or measure. That’s why you can’t prove the existence of God or the paranormal, because it can’t be measured.

I think that the law of attraction has a lot of merit to it. I just hate all the hype the movie the Secret has given it. They focus mostly on material things and act as if you don’t have to take conscious action.

What I do believe though is the idea of being a “vibrational match.”

Quantum physics has proven that all possibilities exist simultaneously. All possibilities, positive and negative exist at exactly the same time.

The reason you’re experiencing your current situation is because your thoughts are aligned with a certain vibration, a certain energy. When you change your thoughts, you change your vibration. You become more in alignment with the other possibilities that currently exist within the same realm, but you couldn’t connect to previously because you were at a different vibration.

I think this is scientifically provable, but it will take significant strides in brain measurement technology in order to prove this fully. It’s already been proven to a certain extent. When you think about an action, the exact same areas of the brain are active as when you’re actually doing the action. Crazy stuff. It makes you think about what is physical and what is non-physical, and if there really is a difference. =)

Thanks for the great discussion Leo.

Clay,

Thanks for clearing that up. I kind of felt that’s what Leo meant, but he didn’t quite say it that way. I agree if it’s non-testable it doesn’t belong in the scientific realm. What Leo said was that if it can’t be proven wrong, it’s not scientific. A significant difference I think. =)

Sean FitzGerald Says:

June 8th, 2008, 19:45 pm

Wow! I just looked at the YouTube video of Rev. Michael Beckwith explaining “The Secret” that Christopher pointed to over on his blog and I gotta say I’m impressed.

I recommend checking out the YouTube video - http://tinyurl.com/2be2ed

I agree with everything that Beckwith says (and he says it quite eloquently). He seems to fall firmly on the “take responsibility for yourself and your perceptions, don’t blame others, adopt a new, positive attitude and open yourself up to become aware of all the possibilities around you” side of the debate.

He talks about thoughts influencing things in a causal way that many would now agree with, such as causing disease in the body, but no mention of thoughts influencing external reality (although he may hold that belief and didn’t mention it in the brief interview).

But then, I flicked over to the Oprah site on the show she did about “The Secret” and there it is again - “The law of attraction means that everything that happens to you—good or bad—you attract to yourself.” which I totally disagree with, so it seems like it’s a very conflicted movement, with different teachers interpreting and teaching the principles in different ways.

He seems to squirm a bit when the interviewer asks him about the crass materialism of the video, but Beckwith answers by saying that is the first stage, that manifesting material things is a way of proving to yourself the process works and that the real goal is to use your mastery of the law in the service of others. Hmm… that’s a relief, but a bit of a rationalisation perhaps?

I may have been wrong about “The Secret”. My opinion was formed by articles I saw which I’m now thinking may have misrepresenting the video (and maybe the Wikipedia page). I will reserve my judgement until I see it for myself. I now believe it seems to have some good stuff in it (as well as some dangerous stuff) and deserves a serious look.

As to quantum physics supporting the LOA… I notice a comment on the YouTube video that says: “They got it wrong when they call it attracting, its more resonance, the same way that sounds with the same frequency resonate and become larger, and sound waves out of phase cancel each other out.”

This makes more sense to me, but I think the problem with “The Secret” crowd and the “What the Bleep?” crowd (and I did see that one) is that they communicate the connection so poorly that they do themselves a disservice and undermine their own argument, in the process alienating themselves from the scientific community, as well as losing support from the very people who could work with them on theories, models and experiments to see if there really is a mechanism for the LOA.

They should probably just leave things alone until a better connection is made, or someone can describe the connection better.

@ Leo: Thanks for your response. I hear what you are saying, but I’m still not totally convinced. Maybe the issue here is one of language. “Holding intention” sounds a lot better than “keeping focus” as the former allows for activity to be occurring in the subconscious, and can create a state in which we become alert to opportunities, whereas the latter would tend to make us more consciously aware of our goal all the time and take us out of the present moment, which I don’t think is an effective way to be.

And you really didn’t think you were going to get a feisty debate when challenging one of the apparent laws of the universe that many people hold dear?! :-)

Tom Stine | Living from Consciousness Says:

June 8th, 2008, 19:50 pm

Very cool post. Interesting, too, coming as it does on a site called ZEN Habits. No, Zen doesn’t really have much to do with the Law of Attraction, so let’s not get sidetracked there. But let’s do consider that the ultimate foundation of Zen is Buddhism, and the Buddha had some pretty wild things to say about the world, our experience of it, it’s reality, etc.

I won’t get into the details, but suffice it to say that if you delve into any school of Eastern thought, you will find ideas that are completely at odds with our typical, rationalistic world view. The world we look upon, so convinced of its utter reality, maybe isn’t as real as we think. So much that we believe in ultimately becomes so much “mumbo-jumbo.”

Look at the history of science itself. It is littered with the train wrecks of once “unassailable” givens, things that were so incredibly obvious that you had to be a fool to question them.

So, can I really think something into existence? Why not. Sure, I can prove I can, but then again, we can’t “prove” much of science. That’s why scientists are usually pretty honest by calling things “theories” and “hypotheses.” Very few laws in science, but even those only rest on the simple fact that they’ve always occurred every time they are repeated.

I guess my bottom line for you, Leo, is a simple question: do you believe in magic? Do you believe in miracles? Do you think that we really have a reasonable handle on what is true and what isn’t? While I’m not fan of the LOA and its devotees, I am a fan of miracles. I’m a fan of being incredibly surprised by the mystery of life that works in some really remarkable ways.

Lastly, let me leave you with a fantastic statement by one of the most talented writers of the 20th century, Arrthur C. Clarke:

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Think about it. Maybe we just haven’t worked out the technology of “magic.”

Leo Says:

June 8th, 2008, 19:52 pm

@Sean: I certainly did expect a lively debate, and got exactly what I hoped for.

Regarding “holding intention” … perhaps it’s just that I haven’t done it right. I’ve tried this method, before reading about LOA, on my own, and in my experience it’s not much different than “keeping focus”.

For example, when I make “quit my day job” be my focus (as it was for most of last year), there is no way I am thinking about that all the time. I think about it several times a day, sure, as it became a sort of mantra to me. And when key decisions came up, I would think about it. But most of the time, it was in my subconscious.

In contrast, when you “hold intention”, most of the time, it’s in your subconscious (if you’re successful at the method) … but there will inevitably be times when it’s in your conscious mind … there’s no way you could keep it out all of the time.

So in the end, there is no real difference in my mind. They end up being the same thing, in practical terms. Maybe there’s a subtle distinction, but for the most part there isn’t really any useful difference, and the result is pretty much the same.

Leo Says:

June 8th, 2008, 19:57 pm

@Tom Stine, who wrote:

“I guess my bottom line for you, Leo, is a simple question: do you believe in magic? Do you believe in miracles? Do you think that we really have a reasonable handle on what is true and what isn’t?”‘

I certainly do believe in magic and miracles! It is almost impossible to be a parent, for example, and not believe in miracles. It’s hard to do a run at 5 a.m., and watch the sun turn a new day into a miracle, and not believe in magic. It’s hard to go through life, with your eyes and heart wide open, and not believe in magic and miracles.

However, I don’t think that means they are supernatural, meaning that they are outside the realm of science. I think science is just another way of looking at the same things. Is a child a miracle? Yes, I believe so … but a child can also be explained by science.

Is it a miracle when you overcome amazing odds, using the power of positive thinking, to achieve something incredible, as many people have? Absolutely! And yet, that doesn’t mean that science can’t explain it.

The problem comes, in my mind, when we take these miracles and come up with explanations for them that are totally unprovable, that have no real basis in reality, for no good reason, as is often done.

Felix Says:

June 8th, 2008, 20:14 pm

I believe in LOA and it’s really hard to perfect it. I personally had experienced it several time in small item, the things I wanted most comes to me in the way of raffle or the opportunity just appeared in the least expected time. The most unforgettable experience I have is paying debt, the money come in form of sales without hard selling.

The LOA is simple but hard to practice. A friend of mine taught me this principle more than 10 years ago, but he just can’t explain it as clearly as “The Secret”. He always told me the nature is design to give us everything we need but we must not go against it or delay it. Let say if we feel like urinated, if we don’t follow our body signal then we will get sick, that’s is the way natures work. Using the same principle, we can apply it on other things, if we feel like doing something, do it and don’t second thought about it, and the hardest part is we usually second thought about it or postpone it, by second thought about it, then we lose the signal or the opportunity. I believe almost all of us may experience in losing something, then the thing appear in the least expected time, recall the event, most of the time we are lead to the place where the missing things located by other event we do without hesitation of doing it. And that’s how it works.

The law will not work overnight, same as our profession or career, for it to work, it’s a continuous learning and growing process.

Maura Says:

June 8th, 2008, 20:17 pm

Leo, I think you have a healthy take on a dubious theory.

LaVaughn Says:

June 8th, 2008, 20:22 pm

You write:

“Various scientific phenomena, such as electromagnetism, are used in some of the explanations, but there have been no actual scientific studies done to support this theory, as far as I know.”

Here is an actual quote from the movie “The Secret.”

“How does it work? Nobody knows. Just like nobody knows how electricity works. I don’t, do you?”

If these folks don’t know how electricity works, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for double blind studies. Not that “The Secret” is the be all, end all authority on the “Law of Attraction,” but I don’t find the concept terribly credible.

I wrote a rather scathing review of Secret and LOA mania on my blog a while back. The response was overwhelmingly positive. I received numerous emails from people, who much like numerous commenters on this thread, shall we say, smelled a rat.

B Smith @ Wealth and Wisdom Says:

June 8th, 2008, 20:43 pm

Leo-as I am like #100 to comment you probably won’t see my comment!

I am middle of the road with LOA. I am a firm believer that you achieve what you set your mind on. Some of this is due to focus. Some due to having a purpose and clarifying what you want. Some due to God (or fill in you deity of choice).

I did have several issues with The Secret. The writing was loose. The info repeated itself. If you listen to the CD her voice drove me nuts (yes, this is a trite and personal issue).

On the positive side it did get me focusing on what I want not what I wanted to avoid. I also found that my luck improved and parking spots did pop up.

In conclusion, LOA is just part of the equation. You also need to work with the author seems to gloss over.

Jan Tore Says:

June 8th, 2008, 21:25 pm

I think of the Law of Attraction as someone´s simple set of rules to make it easier to focus. I have very little doubt that setting goals, focusing your thoughts, using your mind effectively and making sure that you actually pay attention to what you think and do is a good thing.

The people behind “The Secret” are in my opinion focusing more than what is good on money and material goods, when it is in fact the idea of letting your mind follow a positive set of principals that should be the goal in itself. But I guess money and material wealth is a good way to motivate people to use their mind.

I don´t want to dismiss the Law of Attraction just because there is not real proof that it works, it might be true, it might not, who knows?

All I know is that paying attention to your thoughts, using your good will and trying to be kind and attentive will get you a long way. Focusing too much on rules, proof, narrowing your view to imitate focus and submitting oneself to one specific theory will get you nowhere. Keep an open mind and try to think positively and try to feel what is going on around you, that at least works for me :)

Lightening@Lightening Online Says:

June 8th, 2008, 21:29 pm

Things I like about the LOA:

* focus on gratitude
* focus on giving
* positive thinking

Not every LOA “disciple” teaches those aspects but I think they are of paramount importance. I’m not sure what I think about the whole “vibe” side of it but I do believe that the 3 things above, in the right frame of mind, will improve quality of life. Which is what we’re all after in reality.

What I don’t believe about LOA:

* that more money will bring you more happiness
* that you can attract finances simply by thoughts

Shawn Says:

June 8th, 2008, 22:29 pm

I believe in the law of attraction, but not because of the “universe will give you what you want” reason in “the Secret.”

I believe in the power of the subconscious. As an example, when I began studying real estate investing, I gave myself an affirmation that real estate deals would come my way. The very next day, I overhear two people talking about their homes going into foreclosure and needing to sell them quickly.

Was this the magical “secret”? no. It was merely something that I wanted to pay attention to that would have normally escaped my attention had I not told my subconscious that this was a subject I was interested in.

I believe that is all the Secret is: using a form of self-hypnosis to train your subconscious to NOT filter out subjects you want to pay attention to.

Mike Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:23 pm

Hey, I think you state a good argument. I have studied this type of phenomenon, out of curiosity, for a while. I cannot say if the Law is true or not, whether it works or not, but a good book to read is Deepak Chopra’s “Quantum healing”. It has to do with the law but what makes me interested in it is that it talks about the attraction of non tangible things like spontaneous remission from cancer in patients. Many people state that the LOA will help attract money and people and things into your life that you desire, but I believe your statement is correct in the way that if people follow certain steps that they will get what they work for or desire, not out of mere “attraction” but by doing what needs to be done in order to get those things. But if you are interested in studying this more read quantum healing because it talks about attracting certain energies into your life. I do agree with you that the LOA probably doesn’t attract “tangible” things in life, peoples hard work and dedication and their organized plan does that. But maybe there is a LOA also. Maybe there is a LOA plus those steps which yield results were they work together. I believe in both. But in the end -really- who knows and how can we prove it???

Mike Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:26 pm

@ shawn
I like your comment that is a good point!! :0)

Jonathan B. Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:36 pm

I’m in 100% agreement with you, Leo. The Law of ACTION is the secret.

And the idea that “well if Law of Attraction didn’t work for you, then you didn’t believe in it enough” is a bunch of bull. It’s a cop-out. It doesn’t make logical sense. Whenever something doesn’t work out, people just fall back on the “you didn’t believe” excuse. I could just as easily make up my own religion and tell people the same thing!

vimoh Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:42 am

I haven’t read all the comments so you will please excuse me for repeated opinions. Thanks!

I do think there is more to LOA than can be proven. If proof is what we are dealing with, then we can’t even prove that goal-setting works or taking action on what your ambition is works (people might blame fate to save themselves).

When I saw the secret, I realised it had already worked for me in several spheres of my life. Ever since school. That is what perhaps made me more accepting of it. Of course, the thing with anything popular is that it is often lambasted out of sheer impulse

The Secret used “Think and Grow Rich” and many other books. But that doesn’t take anything away from it. In fact, the fact that so many people have said the same thing before, gives LOA credibility.

Shawn has made a good point about the sub-conscious. It is immensely powerful and it accepts whatever we tell it to. If you tell it it has no power, it will accept. If you believe it can work for you, it will give you proof you can’t deny.

LOA hints at the presence of a greater force. A super-conscious mind that connects all the sub-conscious minds out there. Call it God. Call it the Force. Who cares?

Yvie Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:56 am

Hi Leo. This is an interesting post from you. I have been subscribed in your journal for a long time and this is my first time to post a comment here.

Like Heidi, I am also a huge fan of the LOA and all-things-that are good.

I can say that this belief has changed my life completely. I am a skeptic in my own way but reading through the materials of The Secret and the Hicks’ Ask and It is Given, the whole gist of the material is that feeling good now. It’s not all about the money but it’s all about feeling good from within. That is how you really attract good things in your life and of course with your deliberate intent of wanting something.

I’ll leave it all to the readers here that we can not force people to believe what we believe.

I am happy to say I have manifested all wonderful things in my life. And it wasn’t hard for me to find this job.

I now have a better job that doesn’t demand too much of my time.

And on top of that, better pay.

Cool bosses to match that.

I was depressive, thought I could have a medication or something but it all went away when I discovered this.

I’m happy you brought this up. I respect other people’s opinions, it’s theirs to keep. And if they want to test it themselves, they just have to know first how it works. Anyway the good thing about this is we don’t go door-to-door to prove that this works :)

All the best,
Yvie

AJ Says:

June 9th, 2008, 1:08 am

I think it falls down to belief. As you guys have said, it cannot be tested. It worked for some while it didn’t for others.

MrFlippy Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:21 am

I too don’t understand the claim that “if it can’t be proven wrong its not scientific.”

The LOA is NOT a law that places blame for circumstances on the external world. Quite the opposite.

The LOA suggests that we can change the direction of our lives and circumstances with purposeful choice in attitudes that, as proposed in movies such as “What the bleep…”, can have the effect of subtly changing the nature of our physical vibration and ourselves at a quantum level.

Its a fairly tangible phenomenon that some people are just plain negative. Is this some sort of magic or simple variation in human makeup? It is also known that people can go from negative circumstances to positive circumstances. One need look no further than a sports event where one team was down, sometimes by a huge margin, only to turn the tables and win. Can this be attributed to a change in attitude? Definitely yes!

At bottom, the LOA simply suggests that people’s circumstances are not “fixed” much in the same way as the position of an electron is not fixed but exists in a probability “cloud.” The hopeful conclusion of the LOA is that we can change the direction of our lives by first changing our attitudes at a very fundamental level and visualize what we want for ourselves and exercise choice over our emotions, the exact antithesis of pinning our hopes and explanations of our circumstances on the external world.

Leo Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:26 am

@MrFlippy, who wrote:

“At bottom, the LOA simply suggests that people’s circumstances are not “fixed” much in the same way as the position of an electron is not fixed but exists in a probability “cloud.” The hopeful conclusion of the LOA is that we can change the direction of our lives by first changing our attitudes at a very fundamental level and visualize what we want for ourselves and exercise choice over our emotions, the exact antithesis of pinning our hopes and explanations of our circumstances on the external world.”

I completely agree that our circumstances are not fixed and that a lot of it has to do with attitude. If that were the entire LOA, there would be no argument, as people have known this for centuries.

The argument, that requires scientific proof, comes from the explanation, that somehow our intentions alter the outside world in a way that isn’t through our actions … some mystical explanation that has no basis in reality.

As I said, I agree with the overall attitude of LOA that you can change your circumstances … especially if LOA is getting people to make positive changes in their lives … but it’s the unscientific explanations of this phenomenon that I have issues with. :)

Leo Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:29 am

@Yvie: I’m very happy that LOA has worked for you! As I said in the post, I definitely think it works in many cases, and if you are happy with it, I don’t think you should change a thing. I think the methodology will have positive changes in most cases — it’s the explanation that I disagree with, but in the end the results are what matter.

Congratulations on your positive changes!

MrFlippy Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:33 am

Jonathan Mead in the thread above seems to “get it.”

LOA is really about the idea that all possibilities exist within the same instant in time and the next event or action depends on the present predominant vibration or phase. By changing first an attitude, then other higher level actions, we can change our fundamental vibration and bring about different threads of action in our lives. Through other formidable powers such as the power of visualization we can bring ourselves closer to our goals by bringing them closer to us.

MrFlippy Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:35 am

LEO, by altering ourselves, by attitude and action, we DO alter the outside world since we are part of it…

MrFlippy Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:38 am

Since our bodies and heads (plus electrical activity of nerves and brain) are essentially giant radio towers, by changing just our thoughts or intentions, we have, albeit invisibly, changed our environment.

Leo Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:47 am

@MrFlippy … like I said, I agree that if we alter our attitude and action, we alter the outside world … the problem comes when you use explanations such as “giant radio towers” … that’s completely unnecessary. You can explain changes in the world simply by the actions we take. You don’t need to use pseudoscientific explanations that cannot be proven or disproven.

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:50 am

“We are what we think; as we desire so do we become! By our thoughts, desires, and habits, we either ascend to the full divine dignity of our nature, or we descend to suffer and learn.”- J. Todd Ferrier

Isn’t that a great quote? And I’m so glad it includes the fact that HABITS (i.e. getting off your behind and doing some work) are what matters too. Great post! And great discussion!

Djuna - Simple Ways To Help Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:51 am

Another great post and such a great follow up discussion. I have enjoyed reading the thread.

The popularity of The Secret has amazed me. I have been studying the LOA and New Thought for the past 20 years. As Sheila mentioned Florence Scovel Shinn was one of the earliest teachers of the LOA. I think it is interesting that these old spiritual concepts have had such a tremendous resurgence in popularity. The Secret really hit a cord with our mass consciousness. Why is that and why now?

Is it because the world is so scary right now that we desperately want to believe that we have some control over what happens and The Secret offers us hope?

Leo Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:53 am

@Jonathan and MrFlippy: That’s exactly what I mean … when LOA turns to quantum physics and uses it in a way that it really shouldn’t be used, it is practicing pseudoscience.

Why do you need to use quantum physics to explain why changing your attitude and taking positive action towards a goal will help achieve that goal? It’s nothing mysterious, and it doesn’t need quantum explanations. It’s simple: you take action to make something happen (even if that action is to be friendlier, or smile more, or something subtle like that) … and that “something” is more likely to occur. Use Occam’s Razor — don’t get fancy with the explanations.

The quantum explanation can’t be disproven — if it can, you should be able to state under what circumstances it would be disproven. LOA cannot do that, because it uses explanations that are purely made up by the authors (after they read some popular physics books).

Yvie Says:

June 9th, 2008, 3:08 am

Thanks Leo. :) We all do want a positive change. And yes, it’s all in the matter of choosing to which you love the best.

Ed McDonough Says:

June 9th, 2008, 3:24 am

Leo,

Actually “ACTION” is the biggest part of the Law of Attraction. Although the book/movie The Secret somewhat implies that the LOA requires minimal (or no) action to achieve what you want, anyone who has been practicing it with success will confirm action is always require.

The Universe “does” line us up with exactly what we want; it just sometimes it takes more effort than other times to get it. The real key ingredients to using the law successfully is understanding how to use it. First (as you stated), you focus on what you want. Next, you combine that with the desire to take action, the belief you deserve to have what it is you want and the expectation that you will receive it. And, don’t worry about “how” you’ll get it (that’s the job of the Universe), just focus on the goal and expect the results. It’s really simply and works amazingly well, but it seems we make it out to be a lot harder than it is.

Thanks for starting the discussion.

All the Best,
Ed

OutsideMyBrain Says:

June 9th, 2008, 3:39 am

Leo:

I humbly request a response to my original post.

With one more consideration…

I don’t think humans use their brains to their fullest potential, which is a scientifically proven fact. If we were to utilize even half of our brain power, who knows what potential would lie in wait.

How do you explain bending spoons with one’s own mind?

kras Says:

June 9th, 2008, 7:46 am

I’m not an LOA believer too. But I agree with Leo.

Our actions are influenced by our thoughts and our thoughts are influenced by our body and environment (family, friends, colleagues, society) experience. For example, suppose you want to start a new business. You set your goals to achieve that “desire”. Now, if your family is supportive in your initiative you might feel energized and creative, thus setting favorable conditions to experience more “a-ha” moments that would help you in your venture. By experiencing success when working toward your goals (positive feedback) you start to feel more energized and creative and eventually you might achieve your “desire”. On the other hand, if your family doesn’t support you in your initiative you might feel down and alone. You might start questioning if what you would like to achieve is even possible. You start to think negatively in relation to your “desire”, since you feel it impossible to do. Then, you might not work so hard toward your “desire” and eventually “feel” it very difficult to do and abandon it in the end.

This might not be the best example to explain and further thoughts on this are welcome.

Alex Fayle Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:12 am

Hear, hear! I think that LOA is a God-replacement for people They want to believe in an external force that explains things in their lives. Instead of taking responsibility for their own choices and recognizing that everything is a choice, they say “I was working against the LOA” when things don’t turn out right.

But hey, my attitude is whatever gets people being active and conscious about their lives, it’s great! (Plus it’s made some people very rich as they spread the word.)

Alexandros Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:15 am

That “the secret” book and all similar new-age theories have both good sides and bad sides.

What’s happening is some author (in “the secret” for example) writing about a universal truth with some great practical points about the way of living. It should work in some extend: Why? Because it’s common sense that believing in something is the first step to making it happen.

But stating fiction like “a secret that was known to some people for ages now” is the new-age stupidity: New-age followers are trying to put everything in the sphere of the supernatural. Writing a whole book about “believing” is stupid. Common sense sold under a trademarked name, that is.

shakti Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:22 am

isn’t one of the basic tenets of buddhism to
“cease desiring”?
isn’t zen about realizing that happiness is all around, within and without, all the time — we just have to see/be/know it?
isn’t faith/intuition/emotion and reason/intellect/rationality (i.e. proof) kind of silly to argue? we believe all sorts of thinks we can’t prove, and science is always and only ever a series of theories, that changes when another theory comes along that explains more of the phenomena or explains the phenomena better. no truth there either.
wanting/having/desiring/being is at the core of a “zen” and simple life.
m
(p.s. having typed all of this, i will say it is all much easier said/written then done,lest you believe i have mounted some kind of high horse or achieved any kind of success over/on any of the above…)

shakti Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:28 am

sorry, i hit the submit before proofing.
instead of “thinks” i meant “things”…
i also wanted to add the word “conflicts between them all” to my sentiment of the core of a “zen” simple life.
since i am on again, i will add something else, which i am sure i will most likely regret at some point:

we are not in control, we are of no more importance than anything/anyone else. we all have our individual karmas, and those individual karmas all contribute to a group karma. i would like (not believe or follow mind you) LOA if people tried to attract food for the hungry, medicine for the suffering, responsible capitalism for the West, blahblahblah. selfishness is selfishness and profit is profit.
as far as i know, all of the world’s religions teach pretty much the same thing: kindness, compassion, generosity, unselflessness.

shakti Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:31 am

sh*t.
selflessness.
okay, i am off now. apologies for the poorly proofed intrusion!
btw, these are all just my beliefs. not the truth, mine or anyone else’s…

LaVaughn Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:07 am

You know it’s funny. I subscribed to this entry when I posted last night, so I’ve seen all the comments in my mailbox. So, I read the post from Amram that you deleted. There was nothing wrong with that comment. Sure it’s a little off-beat, but it was the most thought-provoking commentary on this page. And even if it wasn’t. Are you really so small that a little weirdness in style and phrasing causes you to censor something that harmless? There was nothing profane. There was no hate speech, or even hostility. So it’s a little quirky. So what. I am always amazed at how quick forums like this are to censor people. It seems very counterproductive to me. What am I missing?

Parag Garg Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:21 am

I “believe” in LOA. I have seen that working, and it amazes me. I have achieved somethings in my life which I just thought about and never added any special efforts apart from my usual efforts for them. I have seen that working when I am thinking of something in my mind and the other person simply starts discussing about that in front of me….I have seen Secret and “What the Bleep Do We Know!?” and only after watching that I realized that there could be some scientific reason behind that.

Jonathan B. Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:35 am

@OutsideMyBrain, I have a ton of friends who have studied the brain extensively in school, and I have talked with them much about it. There’s no scientific basis for your statement that we only use “half of our brain power.” How do you compute your statement?

The brain is probably the most complex thing we know of on Earth. We barely understand anything about it.

Jonathan B. Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:43 am

Sorry for the double post. Just saw something.

@LaVaughn, when I used to moderate a forum of many active members, we would ban spammers and delete their posts. Even if they occasionally had something worthwhile to say, it didn’t matter because overall they were being a negative force on the forum. Maybe Leo is removing Amram’s post for the same reason. I’m not sure, maybe not.

But Amram is being disrespectful. It’s obvious that the claims of “ALL ONE” are not extremely wanted on this PRIVATE web site, and yet he keeps sending them.

And now look at what Amram says: “Amram hopes it will not cost you the ultimate price.” He’s implying the same kind of psychological “you might go to Hell” crap that some Christians use on people. Amram, why don’t you try some of your magic on me too? I’m not afraid of the All One. :)

With that said, I wouldn’t mind if his posts were left alone. They’re amusing, at the very least, and sometimes could be something interesting.

LaVaughn Says:

June 9th, 2008, 10:03 am

Jonathan B wrote:

“And now look at what Amram says: ‘Amram hopes it will not cost you the ultimate price.’ He’s implying the same kind of psychological ‘you might go to Hell’ crap that some Christians use on people.”

You don’t know that. I don’t know what he means, but that assumption is a leap. Although there are some incongruencies in his posts, he seems to be saying that we must awaken to one-ness, which makes perfect sense to me.

Look. Not every bizarre, mess with your mind post is spam. Some people just like to communicate in a way that is challenging and even off-putting. It’s good to have your buttons pushed a little every so often. It shows you where your buttons are and could ultimately increase your sense of tolerance and compassion. If you’re lucky, you might even learn a little something. “Message, not the messenger,” and all that.

“With that said, I wouldn’t mind if his posts were left alone. They’re amusing, at the very least, and sometimes could be something interesting.”

Precisely.

Paul Freeman Says:

June 9th, 2008, 10:36 am

I have really mixed feelings about The Secret and The Law Of Attraction in general, because like you discuss, thinking positively, focusing on your goals, and then actually working towards them yields fantastic results. But there isn’t any need to wrap that up in some pseudoscience belief system, and to me that actually harms it’s message.

In fact, with The Secret I feel it puts to much focus on the thinking about your goals, and not enough of taking steps to get results on your own. Though it does state you need to act on your own to see the results it almost seems to gloss over that less glamorous fact of the process.

Still, I always hope that people who find The Secret without any background in self-help and productivity reading will see the good parts, and venture on to find some of the better and more constructive works out there.

Jonathan B. Says:

June 9th, 2008, 10:39 am

@Amram, … Okay. :)

I would just caution against being one of those people who knock on your door every week with the same message, even after you politely asked them to stop.

There’s a difference between sharing a message and jamming it down someone’s throat. That’s the main thing I’m getting at.

@LaVaughn, “You don’t know that. I don’t know what he means, but that assumption is a leap.”

Agreed. I don’t know his true intentions, but the fact that it could be implied is pretty strong, I think. It’s a similar type of statement.

OutsideMyBrain Says:

June 9th, 2008, 10:52 am

@Jonathan B: You wrote: “There’s no scientific basis for your statement that we only use “half of our brain power.” How do you compute your statement?”

I wrote: “I don’t think humans use their brains to their fullest potential, which is a scientifically proven fact. If we were to utilize even half of our brain power, who knows what potential would lie in wait.”

You misquoted me to begin with, however, this debate is off topic. I retract my statement that it is a scientifically proven fact. In regards to what I was referring to was our “potential”. Potential is nearly impossible to measure when it comes to human potential. Therefore, my statement should be more accurately written as…

“”I don’t think humans use their brains to their fullest potential. If we were to utilize even half of our brain power, who knows what potential would lie in wait.” This changes it to simply my opinion.

Just so we are clear on this. I understand that our brains would not be able to function properly if we took a portion of the brain matter away. Therefore, I am not saying that a portion of our brain matter lies dormant in our heads as wasted space. What I am saying is that if humans were to apply themselves to their fullest potential, they could accomplish much greater things than they currently do.

Now, let’s get back to the topic.

Parag Garg Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:00 am

Has anybody seen “Phenomenon”.

Hendrie Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:03 am

Great topic. My experience is that when I spend time working deliberatley towards a goal or idea, I experience a strong tendency to see what i am striving for in many dirrerent places. For example, people that have accomplished or attained my goal that are ofter willing to help, articles show up, and other resouces. I think my brain has a tendency to seek what it is convinced it wants. The corrollary is also true. If there is some doubt or disbelief the naysayers show up and other reasons why not.
I have not seen the Secret so cant comment.
That being said, I have watched this scenario play out in my life and the lives of others. So with out the hype, this is really as simple as being mindful of what is given to us, presented or is in our experience that supports what we are really trying to do.
Sometimes the resistence can be just as powerful to refine, redirict or simply strengthen our sense of purpose towards the goal or objective.
thanks again

MrFlippy Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:19 am

Leo, it seems like you have slightly changed your position in that before, you seemed to say that you didn’t think attitude could have a measurable outside effect. Now you seem to agree that inner thoughts can have tangible outside effects. Now why not take it one step further and accept that thoughts can be tangible and can be measured. Scientists have recently successfully proven that monkeys can cause movement in mechanisms with their thoughts.

As an electrical engineer who worked with the developers of Bluetooth, I can tell you that when I say we are like giant radio towers (giant in a quantum sense) I’m being far from “pseudo scientific” I consider myself a HARDCORE science type. Considering that thought energy can be measured, what else is there left to prove?

Jonathan B. Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:35 am

@OutsideMyBrain: Sorry for the misquote

“What I am saying is that if humans were to apply themselves to their fullest potential, they could accomplish much greater things than they currently do.”

I agree that if all humans consciously made an effort for self-improvement then the world would be a greater place. But as you said, we can’t really measure potential…

I’m not as dedicated to learning and education as much as a typical Japanese student, but does that mean they are using more of their potential? In some ways, definitely. But maybe not in others. So yeah, it’s like you said.

And no worries, mate. I don’t imagine Leo would mind a little interesting off-topic discussion. Happens all the time. Natural flow of conversation, or something. :-D

Raphael Burnes Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:36 am

I certainly can’t say the LOA works as expected, but I grew up in an interesting community - the Transcendental Meditation community. Where these kinds of things have been talked about long before “The Secret” ever came out.

When I was a younger kid, I noticed it a lot more acutely. I thought of it as manifestation by itself, not particularly attraction or whatever.

I can’t test it because it cannot be tested. However, here are a few moments I remember from my childhood.

My parents are divorced and I saw my dad on the weekends. He would come pick me up on saturday and I’d go spend the night at his house. One saturday, I was sitting at home waiting for him to pick me up, with an intense craving or ginger snaps. I could think of nothing other than ginger snaps. My dad liked ginger snap cookies, but didn’t regularly buy them. When my dad got there, to my surprise, he had just picked up a bag of ginger snaps. When I asked him why he got them, he said “I just thought you might like some”

There have been other situations like this in my childhood and more recently, but none come to mind at the moment.

raj Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:38 am

Hi Leo - great post - but I take issue with your statement that the LOA cannot be proven wrong.

As Kiyosaki pointed out, you’ll sit a long time on the banks of a river before a roast duck flies into your mouth.

LOA counsels desperate people to do just that.

MrFlippy Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:39 am

Leo your theory works fine if a person’s actions successfully lead to the desired result. But more often than not, people’s actions dont lead to the desired result. What if you tried smiling more often, but for some reason it didn’t seem to get you the result you were looking for. Should one just keep acting in the outer world attempting desperately to grasp for their desired result?

Buddhism teaches not only to cease grasping but to detach from specific outcomes. Their is a Hindu saying that those who act in order to gain an outcome are miserable for they are always anxious about the results of what they do. Under your theory Leo, only action can cause effect in the external world.

IMO, in LOA, quantum physics is used not as pseudoscience, but more as an illustrative example of how, at any moment, we all have an unlimited universe of possibilities before us, giving hope to those who feel they can’t change their circumstances despite attempts at action. I don’t see anything in consistent with the principles of LOA and quantum physics. Except that as beings we are not simply inanimate matter that is only at the whim of quantum forces. However given that nature acts in rhythms perhaps LOA is more about tuning into nature’s rhythms more closely.

This seems to be the core of your resistance to accept the possibility that by making fundamental inner changes you can bring about corresponding and sometime radical changes in the outer world and begin a process of altering what comes your way in life and how you deal with what does.

Alex Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:47 am

Thank you for addressing this topic, Leo. Your perspective is really insightful and, I think, very helpful for those of us who wish to attain our goals, but not quite sure what to think about the social phenomenon of The Secret. As a graduate student in the humanities, it is hard to see the universalizing tendancy of programs such as LOA, and the way that The Secret gleens the “best” parts of history to prove their perspective.

As Heidi notes, Western culture has had difficulty in believing in the power of the mind to influence reality. The Secret provides people with the opportunity to find meaning in a consumeristic reality, and for this it is to be commended. I think that Western culture de-emphasizes the integral component of belief in living a full life. I don’t necessarily mean religious belief, but primarily a beleif in the fullness of life and in the rich capacity and value of each person.

It’s interesting that we are so hard on The Secret for being a pseudo-scientific system, because its supposedly scientific, historically universal approach is what has been so attractive to so many people. Our culture craves to find a tangible REASON to believe in oneself, and thus is drawn to a smattering of “facts” which “prove” the LOA.

But why is it necessary to “prove” a belief in the amazing rich capacities and potential that each individual has? Personally, I think that human beings are have an incredible force, depth, and capacity to highly complex interactions with reality that will never fully be able to be conclusively explained by science, and whether or not we use The Secret or another system to justify a belief in our amazing potential, and use that belief to move us to action, it is not always necessary to find an objective explanation for how it “works.” But that’s just my opinion!

One of my major difficulties with The Secret is the immense overlooking of what happens for people who are in disadvantaged situations around the world. Bad things do happen to good people, and while it is relatively easy to pursue one’s goals and dreams in a wealthier country, what about those in third world situations or those in oppressive realities?

Jonathan B. Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:49 am

@MrFlippy: You wrote,

“This seems to be the core of your resistance to accept the possibility that by making fundamental inner changes you can bring about corresponding and sometime radical changes in the outer world and begin a process of altering what comes your way in life and how you deal with what does.”

What do you mean? Leo is all about how your inside affects your outside. The whole blog practically revolves around that idea. I think what many disagree about is “how” it works.

You can sit at home and try to manifest cookies in front of you with your mind. No matter how much you believe, it’s not going to happen. This is the type of thing that some LOA followers have, and it’s just silliness to me. If you are able to manifest cookies, then please go ahead and manifest a few million dollars for me too.

Another way to obtain cookies is to take action. Decide you want cookies, drive to the store, and buy some cookies! This is reality.

Everyone just wants to be like Jesus Christ and walk on water, it seems. :)

Leo Says:

June 9th, 2008, 17:46 pm

@MrFlippy, who wrote:

“This seems to be the core of your resistance to accept the possibility that by making fundamental inner changes you can bring about corresponding and sometime radical changes in the outer world and begin a process of altering what comes your way in life and how you deal with what does.”

As Jonathan noted, I have no resistance to making fundamental inner changes and the changes that can bring in the outer world. I just don’t think you need quantum physics to explain that corresponding change — if you change your inner self, you’ll take action to change the outer world. It’s pretty simple really.

MrFlippy also wrote:

“Leo, it seems like you have slightly changed your position in that before, you seemed to say that you didn’t think attitude could have a measurable outside effect.”

Read back over the post — I never said attitude wouldn’t have a measurable outside effect. In fact, I said the opposite — that it would have a measurable effect, but the reason would be because you take action based on that attitude. Not because of radio waves or something complicated like that.

@raj, who wrote:

“Hi Leo - great post - but I take issue with your statement that the LOA cannot be proven wrong. As Kiyosaki pointed out, you’ll sit a long time on the banks of a river before a roast duck flies into your mouth.”

Ah, but LOA people could say several things to show that you haven’t actually proven them wrong: 1) you haven’t waited long enough; 2) you didn’t want it badly enough; or 3) you’re doing it wrong — perhaps you are focusing on it too consciously or something.

That’s the problem — you can interpret the results so differently that there is no way to prove it wrong.

@Amram: I’ve deleted your post again. If you keep posting the same message, I will keep deleting it. Don’t complain about that as you’ve been forewarned.

@Outside my brain, who wrote:

“Can I prove the theory, no way. But, I believe that our thoughts have a certain amount of energy attached to them which causes a “wave” of some sort to emit from our brains. Since energy can be converted into matter and vise versa, than thoughts can become matter, however small and minute that matter is that creates a thought-wave if you will, that eminates from within us to those around us.”

See, this is exactly why I have an issue with LOA — it uses complicated explanations like this to explain something that doesn’t need complications. You change your attitude, you explicitly state your desires or goals, you take actions to make them a reality … no radio waves necessary!

If you can’t prove it, you’re probably using scientific theory incorrectly.

Regarding bending spoons with your mind, that’s never been proven, and if it could happen, it would be easily proven in laboratory conditions (not just through hearsay).

Abhigyan Agrawal Says:

June 9th, 2008, 19:53 pm

What a coincidences! I was just having the same discussion yesterday. I couldn’t put it in a better way. I agree that action is the key, but all actions don’t get the desired result. There is something unexplained here.

Magic Says:

June 9th, 2008, 21:55 pm

As with all messages, there are valid and invalid parts to The Secret. I watched it the first time several years ago and it changed my life.

If a person follows exactly what the movie and book say to do, it is not successful. If, however, a person follows the spirit behind it, and realizes the power of one’s own mind to create their destiny, it’s a powerful tool.

I agree that there are dangers; where insensitive folks can heap even more blame on those less fortunate, but, people who are that insensitive don’t believe in the power of the mind anyway.

I have found great peace and strength in what I find to be th truth behind The Secret, and that peace in my mind and with myself brought me to this blog. That peace has allowed me to realize I can choose how to deal with the people around me. I choose to surround myself with positive people as much as possible. I choose to walk away from negative people and negative situations as much as possible.

I’ve also begun reading The Power of Now, which I wouldn’t have been open to as the person I was before I saw The Secret. For me, it’s been about opening my eyes and realizing there’s more to life - and more to me - than my material and physical possessions.

As for being able to prove it, I can’t. But I’m happier and more at peace. And that’s all that matters to me. :-) I find most of your blogs, Leo, actually line up quite nicely with the general messages of The Secret.

Thanks for this discussion. It’s interesting to see how other people feel and think about it.

kitty Says:

June 9th, 2008, 22:20 pm

I have been really enjoying this thread. Very thought provoking. In fact, I have even written my own blog post on the subject! Thanks for a fascinating discussion, all.

MrFlippy Says:

June 10th, 2008, 0:58 am

Sorry Leo here is a cut and paste of your quote: “The argument, that requires scientific proof, comes from the explanation, that somehow our intentions alter the outside world in a way that isn’t through our actions”

It seems like you are stuck on “action” being necessary and you ignored my posits on Buddhist grasping. Sometimes action is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Changing an attitude or belief requires no discernable external “action.” It is an inner change that, by itself, can bring about change in the external world.

Will it bring you a cookie or a million dollars on a silver platter? Of course not. I don’t hear anyone saying that.

Is it “pseudo scientific” to say that humans are radio transceivers? Absolutely not. We absolutely are radio transceivers.

These days, its downright non-scientific (along the lines of the Luddites or the Flat Earth Society) to say that human thought is not a measurable electrical phenomenon. If it is, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with using quantum physics to explain it.

Action is overrated and, while an important part of getting what you want, it is not the most important thing. I think LOA is about bringing your attitude, your actions, and your environment into greater harmony and alignment. External actions aren’t necessary to change an attitude, and unsuccessful and grasping actions are useless without a changed attitude.

If we charge two electric plates to a high enough voltage, eventually a discharge spark will be produced between them. Is it “action” to apply the charge to the plate? Or is it action only when the spark appears?

Further to your quote that I pasted, If we change our mental “vibration,” e.g. the characteristic frequency of our thoughts (again, a measurable phenomenon) then we have electrically changed the external world. The only thing left to do is to agree either that 1) attitudes can change the external environment OR 2) that changing an attitude IS an action.

Jennifer Says:

June 10th, 2008, 1:04 am

I have seen “The Secret” and read bits of the book “Law of Attraction”. Positive thinking is part of the criteria in both.

There is great value of positive thinking. Simply learning how to turn the negative thoughts off and begin to think postively has an impact on what you see in the world, which can open different doors.

I am sure we have all been in situations where your morning starts off poorly and then there is the domino affect.

I have also been in situations where life was not handing out roses but my state of mind was healthy and positive and somehow I got through the tough times with a glimmer in my eye and was able to see a way out. Do I believe if I have positve thinkng I will wake up one day and every last dream will be my reality. No. But if I work on keeping a healthy and positive outlook I may be able to see different paths that I couldn’t before even though they were in plain sight.

I will say that I feel I like to visit this site because in many ways it supports these things..by giving me the tools to be more organized, learn how to make goals a reality, accept who you are and learn how to work with this. These all clear my mind so I feel brighter about my future and see all that life truly has to offer.

MrFlippy Says:

June 10th, 2008, 1:08 am

Leo it sounds like you’re saying “its all too complicated” “my life is easy, whenever I have a problem I just change my attitude and take action”

Well, maybe you just haven’t faced an insurmountable situation that required a fundamental change in an unsuccessful belief system. Maybe you haven’t been in a situation where you realized that your actions weren’t successful because your deeply rooted attitudes were standing in your own way. If true, just wait around a while, its bound to happen. When it does, maybe you will have a greater appreciation for what LOA is all about.

Leo Says:

June 10th, 2008, 1:18 am

@MrFlippy: I think you’re misunderstanding my words again. I never said my life is easy, or that changing your attitude and taking action is easy.

What I said was that those things don’t require a complicated explanation. The explanation is simple — actually doing them takes a lot of effort.

Leo Says:

June 10th, 2008, 1:21 am

@MrFlippy, who wrote:

“These days, its downright non-scientific (along the lines of the Luddites or the Flat Earth Society) to say that human thought is not a measurable electrical phenomenon. If it is, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with using quantum physics to explain it.”

It’s taking a huge leap of reasoning from saying that human thought is a measurable electrical phenomenon to saying that quantum physics explains how human thought can make a red air balloon appear, or make anything physical in the world appear or change. There is no proof that the tiny amount of electricity in the human brain can change the outside world by that much, and in fact if you think about it it’s pretty ridiculous.

OutsideMyBrain Says:

June 10th, 2008, 4:09 am

@Leo:

I think what you are getting at is this:

The term theory is regularly stretched to refer to speculation which is currently unverifiable. Examples are string theory and various theories of everything. In the strict sense, the term theory should only be used when describing a model that is derived from experimental evidence and is provable (or disprovable). It is considered sufficient for the model to be in principle testable at some undetermined point in the future. (Source Wikipedia)

You are upset with the LOAists for calling it a scientific theory, when it is neither provable, or in your argument, disprovable at this moment in time. I refer back to the last sentence of the first paragraph.

You said, “It’s also never been scientifically proven that we don’t use half of our brainpower” — that’s actually an urban legend and has no scientific studies to back it up (if you disagree, I’d love to see you cite an actual study — not just an article in a magazine or something).”

I don’t know if you saw my response to Jonathan B, but I changed my earlier statement: “Therefore, my statement should be more accurately written as… ”I don’t think humans use their brains to their fullest potential. If we were to utilize even half of our brain power, who knows what potential would lie in wait.” This changes it to simply my opinion.”

There are plenty of people in this thread who have watched, read or listened to “The Secret”, applied it “principles” and as a result, have seen dramatic changes in their lives. Your argument is, it’s not the LOA that caused it; it was their actions taken after they received the information that caused it. I agree with you that some sort of action is required, but you seem to think, correct me if I’m wrong, that it is ONLY your actions that cause change, not anything to do with the LOA.

This is where we disagree. Did you have a chance to read my article, “What Does Your Internal Music Sound Like?’ I explain in this article that we “attract” people into our lives based on what is emanating from us, using “music” as an analogy. “When the student is ready… the teacher will appear”, is the principle here. Changing our thoughts, creates new and different situations in our lives. We are then more open to opportunities because of this change in our thinking. We also start to “attract” people into our lives we would not have known otherwise. These connections could turn into the next job, the next business deal, the next romantic relationship and so on.

In my first comment here, I referred to having an “eerie” feeling, or a “good” feeling about someone when we meet them. Where does this “feeling” come from?

Consider this article: Computer Model Reveals How Brain Represents Meaning – …”This first step using computer algorithms to identify thoughts of individual objects from brain activity can open new scientific paths, and eventually roads and highways,” added Svetlana Shinkareva, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Carolina who is the study’s lead author. “We hope to progress to identifying the thoughts associated not just with pictures, but also with words, and eventually sentences.” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080102222813.htm

This shows that there is remarkable progress in the study of how our brains work. Regardless, at this moment in time, without the ability to obtain proven facts, those of us who wish to believe that we have transmitters and receivers in our heads will have to do so by faith, with the hope that someday soon, man will better understand this phenomenon and give us the scientific backing necessary for the skeptics. This is what Christopher Columbus did, and look where that got us!

Melanippe Says:

June 10th, 2008, 5:54 am

Hi, Richard Bach in his book Illusions says the same things stated in The Secret, in a simple yet very direct manner:
“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. YOU MAY HAVE TO WORK FOR IT, HOWEVER.”
Call it law of attraction or whatever, but please WORK for it ;-)

Kallie Says:

June 10th, 2008, 8:42 am

It isn’t about the law of attraction at all. Just another example of Crazy Wisdom and the theory of unintended consequences. Life happens. If you imagine it happening in a particular way that makes it more likely.

If the law of attraction worked the way the “gurus” claimed why didn’t all the finalists in the Olympic 100m dash (all of whom visualised, thought, affirmed etc as hard as one can) cross the finish line together?

vimoh Says:

June 10th, 2008, 9:13 am

@Kallie LOA also states that the universe finds the most harmonious way to bring about what one wishes for. If you have seen the movie, you would remember the “run for the bank” part. :)

And sportsmen are not all alike. Some have more focus than others. There are a lot of pressures as well. Even the most positive-minded people succumb to dread sometimes.

vimoh Says:

June 10th, 2008, 9:26 am

@leo

The Secret was dramatised I agree. But it didn’t use quantum science as the only theory to explain our mind’s power to manifest a reality we desire.

If I remember correctly, there was a spiritual angle to it as well. Action alone doesn’t work. Beasts work hard. What sets human beings apart is imagination.

The theory is by no means new. It is there in religious texts and all manner of spiritual books. Has been there for ages.

The Secret just pointed out another possibility.

Parag Garg Says:

June 10th, 2008, 9:29 am

Do watch “What the bleep do we know”. It tells law of attraction works both ways, it attracts both negative and positive thoughts, if you think too much negative, then negative things will happen too.

Kallie Says:

June 10th, 2008, 9:36 am

That’s the problem with the LOA. Like all religious arguments (and it is one as sure as daisies are flowers) for those who believe no proof is necessary and for those who don’t no proof is sufficient.

Anything can be rationalised and where you stand depends on where you sit.

What the LOA does is to set people up to fail and to believe that it is all their fault because they didn’t have enough focus or succumbed to dread at the wrong time or whatever.

Here’s the deal:

- The universe conspires to encourage what is good and discourage what is bad.
- If you commit yourself to attaining a goal you are more likely to achieve that goal than if you don’t.
- How the universe responds to that commitment seldom resembles the response you get when you buy something through a mail order catalogue.
- For every intended consequence there is an equal and opposite set of unintended consequences which means that the wave of energy you set in motion is much like the proverbial flutter of butterfly wings and you have about as much control over what happens as you do over what the man in the moon will have for breakfast tomorrow morning.

As Tom Robbins put it: “Insist on joy despite everything”.

Cheers

Jonathan B. Says:

June 10th, 2008, 9:49 am

@MrFlippy, who wrote:

“Will it bring you a cookie or a million dollars on a silver platter? Of course not. I don’t hear anyone saying that.”

When I used that example, I was remembering a scene from The Secret movie where a guy said that he just started imagining money coming to him, and “checks just started appearing in the mail!” It was hilarious to me.

There is also a train of thought in the New Age community that claims if you believe in something enough, it will happen. The Secret seemed to go along with the idea. This is how they explain the miracles that Jesus was able to pull off.

Jonathan B. Says:

June 10th, 2008, 10:00 am

Sorry for the double post, but I was just reminded of something else. It would be a cool feature if we could edit a recent post. I’m spoiled by forums. :)

I’ve also met people in the New Age community who say they would not help someone if they got hit by a bus, because “surely they attracted that bus to them with their thoughts.” This kind of thinking is insane. In many cases, it is also cruel.

Jeffrey Rodriguez Says:

June 10th, 2008, 11:31 am

I totally agree with your viewpoint. I see way too many personal development people taking this idea and latching onto it without actually being critical of what the idea is proposing.

Thanks for brining a more level-headed viewpoint to the table.

Pete Says:

June 10th, 2008, 12:44 pm

Actually I think you nailed it Leo. The only difference is your take kills the entire marketing strategy and ‘magic’ feel to the whole LOA.

I think the lesson of the LOA is that whatever we put our mind to, we can achieve in one way or another. We may not see the path that leads to that achievement when we initially set it as a goal, but that does not mean there is no path.

In some senses, LOA or not, it is kind of magical what humans can do when they fully believe in themselves.

I mention it all the time in my blog http://www.yinvsyang.com.

Travis Says:

June 10th, 2008, 12:56 pm

The modern concept of the Law of Attraction is based on a misunderstanding. None of the original physicist who pioneered Quantum Mechanics said that observing something causes it to be. The very idea is silly because the act of observing a thing presupposes that things existence. The whole error arises from a wrong idea about what the collapse of the Quantum Wave packet actually is.

The Quantum Wave packet, or Quantum Wave equations are a set of probability calculations for the physical position of a given quanta at a given time. Because of the nature of quantum level activities, a calculated guess is as good as we can get before actually looking. When we look, we see, and then we can say “ok, it’s there so calculation A2 was correct.”

This is different from large, or normal scale predictions for the location of an object. With only a few basic starting numbers I can tell you where the Moon will be, on any given day, for the next century, with a high degree of certainty (accepting dramatic changing events such as an impact of a mega-comet, or colonization of the moon by Vogons. ;-) ) Not so with quanta. But, that doesn’t mean that they are not already there, just that we can’t say with surety where they are until we look. Hell, the same thing can be said about my socks. Does looking for my socks make them be? No. It makes me know factually where they are.

The Quantum Wave equation is not a thing. It’s a gamblers tip sheet.

Anyone who wants to see what the original quantum physicist thought about the mystical truths of reality, and why quantum mechanics has nothing to say about it, should read Ken Wilber’s collection of these physicists mystical essays title Quantum Questions.

The Law of Attraction is magical wish thinking. Staying focused on a goal may help you achieve it, but, duh. Of course that’s true. If I don’t stay focused on my destination when driving I won’t get there. This is a big surprise to whom?

deb Says:

June 10th, 2008, 17:06 pm

Been reading your blog for a while, but just had to comment on this one.

I’ve been amazed by the popularity of The Secret – it felt like a well-marketed, simplified re-packaging of lots of older concepts to me, but it obviously hit a chord w/many folks for whom this was new news. What has bothered me about LOA stuff (no matter how it’s packaged/presented), is (as many others have commented) that it often bypasses the work WE need to do to help things along … and I’m talking inner work and outer work. (that inner work often requires some pretty heavy lifting …)

I have a former colleague who discovered The Secret last year, who says many of the things in the video that you share above, but minutes later she may talk about how people are cheating her, how this or that scenario will not work out, how nobody gets ahead unless they are brown-nosers; if this is what she sees, no matter how many times she says that she has wealth beyond those wildest dreams, her default skips back to the messages of “lack” on the lower vibe. In order to break out of that sort of groove, we all have to look at the circumstances we’ve accepted/the patterns we repeat/the stories we tell ourselves (etc.) that have kept us from these things before.

The packaging of The Secret seemed to gloss over that part and I think did a disservice to the basic concept at work behind the LOA (whether it’s an actual scientific law or not) – that keeping the most positive intention and working on whatever it is that might keep you from fulfilling that (internally or externally) is going to bring more good things. (maybe not wealth beyond our wildest dreams, but who knows?)

Really enjoy your writing/the conversations you start here; thanks for doing what you do!

Deb

Usman Akhtar Says:

June 10th, 2008, 18:07 pm

Yeah, I completely agree with the title of the article leo, the law of attraction is mostly gibberish, but if one uses the principles that are prescribed, they can still achieve their goals. Maybe this is a way people could attract weird crazy people to achieve their goals:

“The Universe is With You…..”

Alison Says:

June 11th, 2008, 0:23 am

If you look at different religions and philosophies from various cultures they all say similar things about how to create new realities in your life (Seriously they do. Forget your dogma and open your minds). They involve changing your thoughts, your emotional reactions to things, and ultimately your choices, behavior, and your reality. The secret is merely another way to package these ideas and sell them to the average Joe. The secret is what I would consider “pop psychology.” A scientist did not write it. An enlightened individual did not write it. It is just another metaphor. Science is a metaphor. Religions are metaphors. “What the bleep” is a metaphor. Quantum mechanics is a metaphor. Wicca is a metaphor. How can a metaphor that works for some people be bullshit? And when are people going to stop pointing their fingers and judging what is ultimately an illusion anyways? All descriptions of reality are merely projections of our minds. It may be helpful to sit on a pedestal and point out flaws in other peoples theories about how to create reality, but it is awesome to look at all theories, all religions, and all philosophies and see the similarities!!!! LOOK FOR THEM. They are there! Its all the same: Illusory and a mere reflection of our limited array of experiences. But the greatest and oldest philosophies SAY VERY SIMILAR THINGS. Your way of creating a business plan to reach your goals is boring. At least “The Secret” and “What the Bleep” was interesting to read/watch. Try reading “Journey to Ixtlan”. Try reading “The only Dance There Is” by Ram Das. Stretch your minds. See something besides yourself for a change. The secret is for kindergartners. Grow up and critique something that is brilliant. That would be more interesting to read.

MrFlippy Says:

June 11th, 2008, 4:19 am

Leo, I wish you would respond to everything in my post instead of one small piece.

So you will admit that though creates an electrical charge in the external world, but you just don’t think its enough to get anything accomplished. Is that it?

Well anyone who has studies physics knows about VanDerWaals forces of attraction (weak forces) and that they are indeed formidable.

With that in mind, I don’t think its a stretch to use quantum physics to describe the effect of changing a thought. Its like mental aikido. If we apply that small electrical force that you’re willing to admit exists in the outside world, we can leverage actions and circumstances to become aligned with that small electrical signal. As more and more actions and events become aligned with the small amount of energy from that thought, it builds.

This is the kind of thing you have to be able to meditate on. Its not like a sledgehammer up side the head. Its more like the proverbial flap of a butterfly wing causing a hurricane - only much better because we can control our thoughts and emotions and, by doing so, have much greater control over what enters our lives.

Michael Grove Says:

June 11th, 2008, 4:27 am

What IS … IS … and sure ain’t NO ISER … and no better grasp of this “wisdom of knowledge of understanding” could be established than by first accepting ALL that Alison Says !

MrFlippy Says:

June 11th, 2008, 4:32 am

Travis I am not familiar with the theory that observing something causes it to be.

I am familiar with the notion that the act of observing, for example, an electron, causes changes in its nature vis a vis Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Knowledge of a position changes the momentum calculation. There are other examples that raise questions about the fundamental nature of reality such as the refringence properties of light suggesting that light can be two places at once.

MrFlippy Says:

June 11th, 2008, 4:33 am

Alison makes a great point. At bottom, all religious mythologies deal with the same fundamental questions of life…

MonkMojo Says:

June 11th, 2008, 11:07 am

Wow, great discussion!

Inspired a webcomic some may enjoy:

http://mojo1000.com/1000cuts/the-law-of-attraction-and-diminishing-returns.html

Jonathan B. Says:

June 11th, 2008, 13:50 pm

@Alison, who wrote: “Grow up and critique something that is brilliant.”

So you’re saying that reality is an illusion, and then you say to grow up and critique something that is brilliant (as if the brilliance is something objective). Interesting paradox! :)

Reality is not completely an illusion. How we feel and emotionally experience the world depends on our minds, this is true, but the world itself does not depend as much on us. The truth is the truth, no matter if anyone believes in it. For example, no matter what anyone thinks, twenty bullets flying into your physical head will kill you 99.99999% of the time. That’s reality. That’s not you or me creating an illusion. That’s the physical objective world.

Alison also wrote: “Science is a metaphor. [...] Wicca is a metaphor.”

Maybe I’m not understanding what you meant, but science and wicca beliefs are two different things. One is based on experiments and proven tests, and the other is based on faith and often seeing what you want to see.

If you mean that they’re just two different ways of experiencing and viewing life, then sure. But even if I believe there are twenty thousand unicorns watching out for me, that doesn’t make it true in the objective world.

Alison is 100% correct that most religions teach very similar things. The Golden Rule is a good example: http://www.teachingvalues.com/goldenrule.html

Alison Says:

June 11th, 2008, 20:20 pm

20,000 unicorns…I like that! And I would agree with you that there is a difference between apparent reality (what we merely see and experience) and ultimate reality (what is actually happening whether we are able/willing to see it or not). From what I have studied it seems that there are individuals who have worked through their own baggage enough to see more than they saw before. The more I am able to detatch myself from my emotional reactions via meditation or whatever, the more I can SEE beyond my own world view.

“Facts” that have been “proven” through scientific tests only tell us so much because so many phenomena cannot be studied quantitatively. It is just another way (a limited one at that) to look at this fabulous miracle we call life.

Faith is limited too. It is indeed sort of like seeing what we want to see and some people take it waaaay to far. But who is to say that the forces of nature cannot be worked with and cultivated? I dont have any “scientific” proof that magic spells work, but I suppose a self fulfilling prophecy can be very powerful and that HAS been “proved” to an extent by objectively minded behavioral researchers. I dont really know where I want to go with this thought stream at this time, but these are just a few thoughts.

Thanks for letting me make comments on your blog! This is fun!

Rahsheen Porter Says:

June 12th, 2008, 0:04 am

I thought that I was going to dislike this article. I’m glad I was wrong. Good stuff!

I do believe in the LOA, but I don’t give a crap about any of the science “they” try to explain it with. It just seems so basic to me that focusing on achieving something can set events into motion that will make it happen.

Elio Galluzzi Says:

June 12th, 2008, 11:57 am

I feel I need to post a reply to this interesting discussion. The fact is I own a blog about self – improvement…and the law of attraction! I value all the comments as absolute interesting, also because they reflect the average point of view about this issue. I believe there is or better, there will be a scientific explanation about these phenomenon. The connection made with quantum physics might seem such a big lie and -yes for the most part of “writers” it is. A large number of authors who write about LOA just fill their mouth with quantum theory even though they do not have any knowledge of Newtonian mechanics which is the basis to understand probabilistic concepts at quantum level. Besides I totally agree that these ideas have been presented under an inflated tone, just as a powerful marketing instrument, “give me 97$ and I will show you how to attract a million”.
Streams of academic papers are written about what is called entanglement between two (or more) fundamentals particles such as quanta of light –the photons. Many observable results cannot still be explained, as for example some non – local properties which seem to be preserved at incredible magnitudes of space, surprisingly changing just with the act of observation (thoughts?) of the scientist taking the experiment. The claim of being a “law” I understand sounds pretentious, but I would like to think about the term under a more philosophical point of view. History is full of popular says about “what you think about you have back” and we must agree there is a fundamental layer of empirical truth about all this.
I try to analyse under a reasonable point of view what lies behind the concepts of attraction and vibration and if you ask me if I believe in all this, the answer is yes.
When humans don’t understand something they always tend to neglect it and bury it with the excuse of being against religion (what is religion?) or not rigorous enough –or at all for the academic lobby. I enjoy to write about this argument, it makes me more positive, open to life and overall I am feeling a better person. You harvest what you seed. Everybody know this. Everybody know the law of attraction.
Elio
http://entangleduniverse.net/blog

Gruggers Says:

June 12th, 2008, 16:36 pm

I paged through The Secret at a bookstore and recognized the same ol’ stuff that has been passed around for years. You can find the same idea in The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, published in 1952; Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, published in 1960; The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy, published in 1963, and more recently in The Power of Intention (Wayne Dyer) and A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle) and even in Simplified Qabala Magic (Ted Andrews). It’s just all the same stuff.

andrea Says:

June 12th, 2008, 17:05 pm

Actually the secret does say that one must take actions towards making your desires manifest. Watch it again, i know you’ll find it…Whether your living like you already have it (the object of your desire)(fake it till you make it) or taking steps to manifest it in your life…

It’s not just “wanting things more than you already do” like i hear some people say…

I do believe that there are positive things that were said in this movie, mostly what i got out of it is, “What you focus on expands” and the various ways that manifests…

I don’t think that the secret or loa is the end all be all, because i do believe in a personal destiny or life’s blueprint we all set out for ourselves…so while we may move in one direction for what we want, it may not be the best thing for our lives in the grand scheme. The universe may not give us stuff because plain and simple, it’s just not meant to be…

that’s all for now!
Thanks for allowing me to contribute…

Pete Says:

June 13th, 2008, 10:08 am

@sean fitzgerald

glad you liked the blog, http://www.yinvsyang.com.

@mr.flippy

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’ve never studied quantum physics, but am familiar with some of the theories you mentioned. I believe the LOA works if you believe it does.

I didn’t realize there was actual scientific proof of a ‘change’. That is quite interesting.

Brice Stacey Says:

June 13th, 2008, 20:32 pm

I’m in agreement with your original article, Leo. I too believe the LOA can and more often than not will produce results, but for reasons relating to increased mindfulness of goals. Action to fulfill those thoughts will naturally unfold. However, in the overall awareness of things, an end-user needn’t know this as it will come about on its own. Thus I feel it can be omitted.

Samantha Says:

June 14th, 2008, 19:00 pm

I love this concept. LOVE. I believe the power of positive thinking can have amazing benefits. Once you can tune out your negative thoughts and embrace the good ones you will see how wonderful this world it!

sassyandfabolous.blogspot.com

Forrest Evans Says:

June 15th, 2008, 2:05 am

I’ve read a number of the comments, and it’s an excellent topic for discussion.
First, the new age likes to think it has created something new, but the Buddha two thousand plus years ago said, “With our thoughts we create the world.”
Negative thoughts create negative world, positive thoughts create a positive world.
Hitler had some nasty thoughts, apparently a number of Germans agreed, and you end up with concentration camps.
The Dalai Lama is unremittingly happy and positive, and hence is beloved around the world (except maybe among the Chinese government!).
Several people mentioned GTD. I have been working with it for a year, and it has helped me “manifest.”
Here’s the thing: it is absolutely true that we focus on something with our thoughts, and then take action, and we will “attract” whatever it is we want.
But what do we want?
And who wants it?
So far mankind has manifested a world full of poverty, pollution, nuclear bombs, greed and cruelty to each other.
It’s not really so hard to manifest-what is challenging is to manifest a world that lives in harmony and peace with one another. What seems to be challenging is manifesting a beautiful and loving world. Ignoring our mistaken identifications with our personality (ies), the road to actually manifesting our understanding that we are one interconnected universe, one song being sung by all races, by ants and stars and elephants and dolphins is simple.
1) Know who we are. We are the cosmos.
2) Pay attention to what is in front of our noses.
3) Listen to our own inner dialogue and listen to others when they speak.
4) Project a thought that comes from Source, and is clearly in the best interests of all.
5) Make a plan, and implement it.
6) Eat a mango, and laugh with our brothers and sisters.
7) Don’t stop working until the whole planet is bubbling with joy and has enough to eat, and clean water and air…

Heimdall Says:

June 20th, 2008, 7:22 am

When I read this post, a sutta (teaching) from the Pali Canon (collection of Buddhist scriptures) came to my mind. It states that wishful thinking alone does not lead to desired results, but the “appropriate” action ultimately does, regardless of any wishful thinking:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.101.than.html

Or, as one of my teachers says, “be patient about the results themselves, but persistent about the cultivation of the roots leading to these results.”

I believe that the LOA can “work” by preparing the mind to think and act in ways that actually bring you closer to your goal. However I should better not start seeing things through rose-colored glasses and see only what I want to see, and/or believe that things will now “manifest automatically”. Thoughts, words and actions lead to results, and I can try to figure out how they are actually connected. :-)

carol Says:

June 25th, 2008, 12:14 pm

First, don’t comment on a book you haven’t read. The Secret does say you have to take action. So all you commenters who have said, in essence, it doesn’t work if you don’t take action, well, duh.
Second, if you want to read about scientific evidence backing up the reality of the power of intention and the law of attraction then read The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart. Also interesting but more woo-woo is Wishing Well by Paul Pearsall which actually comes with a CD that has a game on it you play on your computer and will prove that your thoughts have energy.

Elio Says:

June 25th, 2008, 12:25 pm

Carol, I totally agree with you.
I cannot believe that whatever is happening, or say, manifesting in our lives is just the result of a mere probability. We do have an influence on the infinite permutations of events.
Action must be taken, of course, because this is a mean dictated by the nature of this universe with its physical laws.

Joey Says:

June 28th, 2008, 22:26 pm

Yes, “action” is necessary; but, “positivity” is the element that is usually lacking within individuals. Regardless of all the hype with The Law of Attraction, it can be utilized as a guide for improving one’s life.

I have recently read The Secret, by Rhonda Byrnes; and, within the first week of a positive outlook in life, things have been changing for the better.

cmbooth Says:

July 3rd, 2008, 5:12 am

I’ve read several books and articles on the law of attraction not because I believe in it wholesale but because I know that positive thinking and feeling bring dividends in our lives. The responses to this blog have been a fascinating addition to my reading.

Of the books I’ve read, each provides insight into how to change from a negative “vibe” to a positive “vibe”. In my opinion, that alone is worth the time it takes to read the books and sift through the metaphysical haze that must accompany the belief system that each author espouses. I work in a field that can often be a real downer. To stay healthy I have to be very conscious of being bombarded by negatives so I can keep balanced. It’s easy to get pulled into a vortex of negativity and I feel that the LOA stuff has helped me keep from bottoming out more than any other source. But, as you can see I’m not using it to try to attract a new car or a visit from Publisher’s Clearing House.

Then, on another track…many responses to the original post speak of “action”. It’s not really just action that creates change in our lives, it’s “inspired action”. There is a fundamental difference between action and inspired action. Action implies doing something, anything. Inspired action is more focused and driven by intentions.
If we can get out of our own way by transforming the constant negative dialogue in heads, we have the means to access inspired action…that is, action fed by our own belief that what we are doing can and will positively affect whatever it is we’re focused on.

I believe that whatever lens we apply to the world is what creates our reality and that includes the lens through which we perceive ideas like the law of attraction. It is what we make it.

Tim Rosanelli Says:

July 18th, 2008, 15:52 pm

Hi Leo,
I agree whole-heartedly with your post except I don’t believe even taking action helps most people unfortunately because focusing on the right actions is important too. I’ve seen many people spinning their wheels because their perceive right actions are many time wrong. That’s why using an excellent coach or mentor as a compass is so important.

Rodney Says:

July 26th, 2008, 13:38 pm

you know all of this sounds good and all but one fact still remains….energy cannot be created or destroyed.
the mind is energy and that means its eternal, now your brain isnt your mind its the shell for it. and the body is a shell for the brain. and all of this physical stuff we see and feel is nothing more than the world our mind creates, in a since we are all sleeping and when we die we all wake up. sounds grim but i think that thats it.
here is a thought for all the religious people out there
the bible says that god created us in his own image right
maybe it didnt mean physically but spiritually so in a since we are all different aspects of a greater mind whether it be god the universe or what ever
the law of attraction might not be what its said to be but we do have the power to do anything with our lives
nothing is preset and nobody knows what will happen because if they did free will wouldnt exist and if we can make any possibility in our lives happen then that makes us beings of infinite possibility’s just like god

Alison Says:

July 28th, 2008, 10:47 am

It is interesting what you said Rodney:

“…all of this physical stuff we see and feel is nothing more than the world our mind creates, in a since we are all sleeping and when we die we all wake up.”

This is the conclusion that I have been slowly coming too through my own meditation practice and readings and life situations. One of my friends was killed not too long ago in a street racing accident. Right after she died I had this feeling like she was with me for a day or two. She “told” me (or perhaps I projected this (?)) that she had found enlightenment after her death. She realized in a moment her mistakes in her life that ultimately led to her death (aka her karmic predicament). She knew that she would be coming back to this earth and she would have the oppourtunity to try to overcome these patterns.

She said that when she was in a coma in the hospital, she tried to come back to her physical body because she wanted to continue to live. She had been trying to get back into her body for a day or so when she was in a coma.Her body however was too broken and she could not return to it, but her consciousness still remained. She was heartbroken but had to accept it: this is when she had her realization.

She told me some other stuff too about myself and some of the other people that we knew. It has really made me think about my karma. It was pretty wierd…so Rodney thanks for validating this experience with your profound comments. :)

Boggey Says:

August 7th, 2008, 15:01 pm

Whatever you believe, is up to you. Everyone has that choice. But I can tell you that the power of thought and the power of the mind is a very powerful thing. I won’t stand up and say PRAISE THE SECRET or anything. The way it is presented is very hokey. But at it’s base it makes sense.

2 years ago, I was working an IT job making 60k a year. I was stuck and we were pretty miserable. A friend told me about the Secret and so I read it. At first it was a little strange but I was open minded and started trying some of the techniques listed. I figured, what the heck. I started visualizing getting a job for over a 100k a year which was just outrageous. I also threw in getting this job back in Austin where my wife and I had wanted to move for a couple of years but I couldn’t find any jobs there.

I continued visualizing and meditating on this for a couple of months. Then one day, out of the blue, I got a call from a recruiter that had found my resume on Monster.com. (I had not touched that resume or upated that info in over a year) He had a job possibilty for me and got me an interview.

I got the job. They offered me 110k a year and it was in AUSTIN! Needless to say. From that point on I was a firm believer in visualization and the power of the mind.

Neil Says:

August 18th, 2008, 21:41 pm

I have read pretty much all of the main LOA books out there. There is no doubt that this stuff works - but I think many of us have a lot of junk on the inside, ie. our subconscious which prevent us from truly having “unwavering faith” that a desired result will come true. We really have to take a look at our mental programming.

http://lovelifeandthelawofattraction.blogspot.com/

nsd Says:

September 9th, 2008, 10:14 am

I’ve been recently reading up about LOA and positivism - saw the book many times, never bought it. Then somone gifted it. I still didn’t read the book itself but explored around it. ha ha :)
If you ‘believe’ you can take action, it changes your attitude and your face expression. ‘Glum’ is converted to a face of ‘hope, possibilites and potential’ . That transmits itself to others who see it and perceive it. Talk about real action and here is one: 2 people caught in a traffic congestion. 1 of them is sure that the best way out is blocked and shows visible signs of stress. 2nd person - the driver - relaxes to music & figures out : there is a road in front of me, 1 to my left and 1 to my right. I can choose any. Both parties reach destination at the same time - 1 sighs, the other is still enjoying the music. It is a mind-set that LOA is asking you to change: to Chill!!! to look at possibilities and then play the game of life. When they talk about ‘belief’, I take it as ‘ faith’ in me to find the answer and to explore my surroundings more fully.
So, here is to a ‘ +attitude’, more explorers and attractive possibilies. It makes you happier at the end of the day. That is what counts!
Cheers!
nsd

Tom Says:

October 7th, 2008, 21:05 pm

The Law of Attraction, personally i like it. The Secret was based on the Book by Wallace Wattles “The Science of Getting Rich” which was written in the early 1900s. There are about half a dozen books that the Secret is based on so yes it is repackaged stuff that was written in the first half of the 1900s,,BUT the author doesnt deny this in her book. The author of The Secret says it right in the book that she got this info from wallace wattles, james allen etc etc. She makes no bones about it, that this is not new info!

Alot of what the LOA says is in the bible, you reap what you sow, as a man thinketh so is he. Basically the LOA is about programming your subconcious mind, and before ya know it you start to make baby steps towards your dreams, thats the way i see LOA. Programming ones subconsious mind for whatever you want.

In the 1950s Earl Nightingale repackaged LOA and called his record album THE STRANGEST SECRET, the secret was,,”we become what we think about.” It was a best selling record.

As Donald Trump said, “i dont know if it works but since we have to think all day we might as well think positive.”

Me personally, the LOA is a great motivator for my brain, and reminds me to live in the now. The LOA helps me take action to make my dreams come true.

colin kelly Says:

October 12th, 2008, 12:23 pm

Great stuff.I have an idea,(maybe too many THC’s)
What if we aren’t changing reality in this plane, but shifting our conciousness into the alternate reality where we are rich,talented,lucky,etc.This could also maybe be a possible cure for the free will vs. destiny paradox.We go to our selected destiny by free will. I miss “Sliders !”

law of attraction Says:

October 12th, 2008, 20:02 pm

You right the law of attraction a put for in the movie is wrong or more accurately a misrepresentation of facts or spiritual principles. In fact many of the teachers featured in the movie have distanced themselves from rhonda burnes, because of the narcissistic undertones of the teaching but the principles are sound and are a good beginning step for and individual to create a more comprehensive understanding of spiritual practices .

onstigator Says:

October 19th, 2008, 5:48 am

A map of population density does not look like a map of average rainfall though both may be “true”. If I give directions on how to get to Chicago they may work if you start in Portland Oregon and not if you start in Portland Maine. Perhaps “is it true?” is not as important as “does it work for me now?”

Alvin Says:

November 8th, 2008, 13:28 pm

I think LOA has many different versions and styles. The Secret says that we must believe that we already have got something we don’t have while Micheal Losier author of LOA (2003) states that a positive affirmation can have a negative vibration. Most affirmations don’t work because the Law of Attraction doesn’t respond to words - it responds to how you feel about the words you use. For example, you tell yourself that you have a happy, slender body when you do not, or when having a happy, slender body feels unattainable, you’ll create negative vibrations. You’ll send out a vibration of doubt (a negative vibration), which the Law of Attraction will respond to by giving you more of the same, even though it’s unwanted. We only need to get the good thoughts and concepts and throw the craps.

D. James Albert Says:

December 12th, 2008, 12:10 pm

The law of attraction is merely a fancy label to describe the relation between the mental and the physical in the creative process. It is often discounted or disbelieved or considered magical fancy thanks to the way in which it is propogated by those who seek to profit from it. But the influence of mind on matter, and of matter on matter, cannot be simply discounted as a result of poorly presented ideas on how it works.

Before you discount that the mind and the body are both shared and separate elements of the creative process, you might like to consider that in fact there is a scientific study being undertaken into this very thing. It is called the Global Consciousness Project, and it has been running for over a decade at Princeton University. The data collected by the project, whilst not absolute categoric proof (and lets face it, there is no such thing in science as absolute proof of anything), certainly offers enough evidence to indicate that rather than a pseudo-scientific theory, that there is a scientific basis behind the idea of creative attraction. Check it out:

http://noosphere.princeton.edu/

poetics Says:

December 24th, 2008, 22:50 pm

I like how someone said ” something immeasurable isn’t scientific”. That’s so true because the reality of God IS neccessarily without measure. The only measurement God will except is infinite! Why are some people so caught up in the measurement of finite objects when infinite ones are so superior in every way conceivable?

Someone here also said that only outside of ego can we perceive God and that’s truly what I believe the sixth sense is. There is more power in silence than in the noise we inject into our minds on a daily basis. One problem with science is it does not care to address the voice within us all. The voice that can only be heard in the calm of thoughtlessness. Positivity, Joy, Happiness, Peace, Love, Wisdom & Understanding are made manifest the more time you devote to thinking less!

It’s plain and simple: People Think TOO much most of the time and most of the time what they’re thinking is NOT constructive, positive or meaningful. Don’t be a lazy thinker. Don’t be a wishful thinker. It would serve most better simply to think less and less, especially about anything that does not merit attention! Be sensitive to the right things and insensitive about everything else. And remember, you’ll never lose, want or waste time if you live in the present! Take what you have NOW and make something GOOD out of it! God Bless and Happy Holidays!!!

Adil Says:

January 20th, 2009, 14:14 pm

hello

Aoki27 Says:

March 17th, 2009, 12:28 pm

What will happen will happen and what will not happen will not happen however hard you may try. The best course is to remain silent. Silent is not gagging your mouth but keeping your mind silent. Be still and Know that I AM God is a bibllical statment and here being still denotes stillness of mind. Try being still and you will know all the SECRETS. TRY and TRY till you succeed.

LaVaughn Says:

March 17th, 2009, 20:51 pm

Aoki27:

Thank-you! Aside from blame-the-victim mentality, the commercialism, the bad science analogies, and the fact that it encourages DENIAL as a spiritual practice, what really disturbs me about “The Secret” mentality is that it’s completely ego based. It’s not about aligning yourself with God, or your higher self. It’s not about opening your heart or surrendering. It’s not about discovering your soul’s purpose and living an authentic life, in which spirit can move THROUGH you. It’s about getting what you want.

Power Of Thoughts Says:

April 5th, 2009, 8:14 am

Hello Leo. Good post and fantastic discussion. Infact the discussion is a great read and has given me a lot to think about.

I have made my own response to your post on my blog here: http://powerofthoughts.info/2009/i-think-therefore-i-am-or-i-am-therefore-i-think/

Philip Says:

April 7th, 2009, 5:30 am

I say, that LOA is a form of existential thinking. And as anyone would know who has taken a college course in philosophy that there is a difference between existential and philosophical thought.Kierkegaard, is consider ed to be the father of existential thought. Philosophy started with the Greeks who invented theory as the highest kind of knowledge. Disinterested attitude, reflection, self-criticism, and
reason enables one to discover objective, universal, timeless truths. This is still the goal of natural
science and every discipline that claims to be scientific.

Existential thought is all about giving existence to an idea/revelation. For example Thomas Jefferson had the idea that all men are created equal. Now back in his time that idea of equality was not shared by a lot of other people. But none the less Jefferson has this revelation that he existentialize in the written words in a document called The Declaration Of Independence. I say that LOA is a reinvention of existential thought. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger, who by the way is considered by most a n existentialist said language is the house of being, said in another way, language is the place that lets things exist, I”

Avatar Says:

April 23rd, 2009, 6:38 am

I do believe in Law of Attraction. There are claims of those people “using the Law of Attraction” to receive what they wanted. Yet, of course it does need an action from the person applying the law itself. The thing is, there are also claims and miracles that happened without efforts too, these people admit they were using the secret. :)

whatever Says:

April 27th, 2009, 15:01 pm

The world is reciprocal. That which you put out is what you get in return. So the law works to that extent. Like going to gym. You can’t just show up and say what you want. You have to workout.

I am reminded of the old saying, “God helps those that help themselves.”

Harry Husted Says:

May 30th, 2009, 16:05 pm

Anyone who disbelieves in the Law of Attraction are only fooling themselves. I am a testimony to the fact it works. I use it everyday and have gotten everything I asked for.

People who say there is no scientific evidence to prove in the Law of Attraction, or how the mind works, are ignorant and shameful. They don’t care about doing research, just simply to follow what everyone else says.

Frankly, I think anyone who disavows the Law of Attraction is a load of crap. Let me tell you something Quantum Physics is for real. I know because I took a course in it. I even wrote a book on the subject. I even have eyewitness to prove everything in my book.

It burns me up when I read posts from people who claim the Law of Attraction does not work, They say that because they are too lazy to follow it. They want to simply blame society for their troubles.

I will take on anyone who wants to argue against the Law of Attraction and I will win hands down.

Challenge me if you dare, but you won’t win. I have seen for myself how the brain works, and I wrote it down in my book.

Jonathan H Says:

June 3rd, 2009, 13:39 pm

Hey Guys,

I haven’t read all the comments, but had to post after reading Heidi’s post. I have had 2 instances (perhaps coincidence, perhaps not) that I’d like to share. Immediately after using LOA the first day, I watched a video on YouTube about spiders. I went into my bathroom and low and behold there was a spider crawling on the wall. I had not seen a spider in my house in years.

Second instance, I am a huge fan of Lamborghinis. I watch videos about them, and read about them all the time. After using LOA the second time, I was reading about Lamborghinis. I suddenly hear a loud engine noise and run to my window to see what it is. Its a bright orange Lamborghini Murcielago racing down my street. It stops at the end of the block, makes a U-turn and slowly drives away in the opposite direction.

The following night, I’m about to go to sleep and hear a loud engine noise again. I rush to my window, and this time I see a bright yellow Lamborghini Murcielago stopped at the light. I’ve never seen ANY exotic car drive by my house in my entire life. Coincidence? Maybe. However, I think there really may be a link between our thoughts and reality.

P.S. - I was raised on science, logic, and proof-based beliefs and the scientific method… however, I’ll be the first to admit that science has a long way to go when it comes to our understanding of the universe as a whole. Science right now is only in it’s infancy.

Harry Husted Says:

June 3rd, 2009, 14:33 pm

Jonathan, are you an atheist. I am asking this because many atheist I talked to has the same belief system. They were brought up to believe only what is solid proof evidence, not just on faith and trust.

The LOA is based on faith most of the time. You think a thought, feel the feelings of what you want, and before long you manifest what you thought. However, LOA is not just about thinking and you get what you want. There is a procedure you must following.

LOA is a law of the universe that is always working no matter what we think. There are rules that God or our Supreme Ruler established when he created the planet, that must be followed. It is just like the law of gravity. If you jump off a building, you will fall down. You can’t change that law. The LOA is the same way. You can’t change it, but it is as part of you as the law of gravity is.

I am an expert on LOA nad have studied it, along with the other 11 laws of the unverse for years now.

Jonathan Hall Says:

June 3rd, 2009, 17:46 pm

Hey Harry,

I was raised as a Christian so it’s very difficult for me to fully embrace atheism. My beliefs are more in line with agnosticism, that the existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven.

I have never read the book “The Secret,” nor have I seen the movie. From the comments I’ve read though, it seems to trivialize LOA and its possibilities (ironically through exaggeration and embellishment). I have read Michael Losier’s Law of Attraction… it was a great intro to LOA.

I believe there is a lot more to life than our simple brains can comprehend. Someone commented about twins being able to “sense” what their other half is experiencing even when separated by great distances. I believe this is a tell-tale sign that there is an energy out there we have not yet evolved the ability to sense.

Or maybe we have… maybe our conscious thought is the “sixth sense” we have evolved to perceive and influence this unknown energy. And maybe those who claim to possess psychic ability, are just better able to sense this unknown energy. This topic raises a lot of great questions, and although they may be impossible to test or measure right now, it doesn’t mean they are without merit.

If none of us had eyes, would the world suddenly become gray and colorless?

James Fleming Says:

June 14th, 2009, 13:22 pm

If it’s truth, it would be free. People make these things up to make money, It sounds good but I don’t think that secrets for sale is an answer for any one. I sounds a lot like creative visualization. You can read up on that free….

Harry Husted Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:17 pm

James,

Nothing in this world is free. No matter what you do, there is always a price to pay to get it. People never make things up, and you are insulting the intelligence of those who wrote on the subject (including me), by saying so. Maybe if you open your eyes and see (I’m not just talking about literal eyes), you would understand what it is all about. But alas, you have been brainwashed to believe, just as a major portion of this world has, to accept only what is real and in front of your eyes.

Although I did write a book about it, I do volunteer work. I teach people how to use visualization and the subconscious mind to help themselves. And I don’t charge for it. So stop saying that everyone does it for money, because that statement is invalid.

James Fleming Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:20 pm

They biggest crock of ISH I’ve heard this week! It’s snake oil you’re selling and you can’t accept that some one has the heart to call it out. Move on….

Harry Husted Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:23 pm

Nonbeliever … Go to …

Harry Husted Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:26 pm

For those who do not believe in the LOA, or The Secret, or trash it, is becuase they don’t practice it, or they do the steps incorrectly. I teach it to others, and those who tried what I taught found their lives changed dramatically. And i have proof of it.

James Fleming Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:31 pm

Oh I believe in it. BUT, all I’m saying is that you people take a good thing, exploit it for mere financial gain over the internet and the reality of it becomes distorted. If you want to help people, HELP THEM, but don’t take advantage of people’s lack by adding to it. Pick up a Bible, a Quran, a Torah, read about Buddha maybe? I’m sure you can get the right idea about servitude there…

Christopher Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:33 pm

Faith is believing in something you can’t see. It’s not for the weak at heart.

Cynicism IS for the weak at heart.

Harry Husted Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:38 pm

James, I already stated I help people free of charge. There may be others who charge, but I believe in giving back, so I help people without charging any money for it.

I do have a book that is available for sale, but I don’t force people to buy it, and I often times give it away for free to people I help. I understand and also know how it feels to have lack, because I was there at one time myself. This is why I try to help when I can, do the people living with lack can turn their lives around just as I have.

James Fleming Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:45 pm

You know there are those of us out here who need something to help us put our lives in perspective. Some never stop looking. We find ourselves looking all over and most of the time. That something to supplement the the life we live spiritually and we need to see results. So a lot of us
may turn to look online first because that is usually the most convenient medium theses days. And when we find that something that we think that could help us get through maybe. You know that something extra to add to the concept of spirituality or just a new method of thinking and going about our daily lives and we get excited! Could this be it? It sounds so helpful! WOW! You mean I can achieve this by doing that? OK. I’m in!…… But when you get to the bottom of the page, there’s the order form, paypal, visa, mastercard. Just pay $9.99 and I’ll show you how to change your whole life! That’s what’s wrong with the world!

Harry Husted Says:

June 15th, 2009, 12:55 pm

Oh, I agree with you there. I often wonder why it is that people can’t just give away information for free, considering when people log on the Internet, their primary goal is to search for free information.

But as a businessman, I also know the practical reason for charging. Why not, It is free enterprise. Everyone is allowed to make money. Perhaps it is exploiting another person, or not. That is not for me to know. The choice of whether to purchase is up to the consumer. I am not forcing any one to buy, that is their decision. I am simply making it available for those who want one.

On the other hand, there are those who want to take advantage of others and lie about such things and try to con people out of money. Those people should be found and their website taken down.

The basic premise here is that when you see such pages, you have the option to close your browser, or pay for it. That is your choice.

Jonathan Hall Says:

June 15th, 2009, 17:20 pm

Organized religion is probably the biggest money making machine next to pharmaceuticals.

At least LOA is 100 percent positive. Negativity in any way, shape or form is scorned from what I’ve witnessed.

The ultimate goal of practicing LOA is finding true happiness. That seems like a pretty noble pursuit to me.

James Fleming Says:

June 15th, 2009, 19:33 pm

please unsubscribe me from this site since you won’t post my responses or let me unsubscribe… Thank you.

Harry Husted Says:

June 15th, 2009, 22:55 pm

Jonathan,

Amen to what you said. I agree completely. Organized religion is the biggest money maker and is also the most hypocritcal.