Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Law of Attraction


There is alot of discussion about the Law of Attraction since the release of the DVD, The Secret. Do you use this law in your life? If not, why not? If so, how?

The law of attraction states that you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your experience. A person's thoughts (conscious and unconscious), emotions, beliefs and actions are said to attract corresponding positive and negative experiences, or "harmonious vibrations of the law of attraction".

Although this idea has been popular among certain philosophers and denominational adherents for centuries, the idea has recently received intense criticism from multiple circles in the media, the scientific community. What do YOU think?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, as for *me*. I really enjoyed, "The Secret," and I have secured the next, "The Secret," (I forget the title of the next in the series), but have not watched it yet. I'm not sure why. I *think* because of the effort involved in trying to implement its teachings into my life, thus far.
Or, maybe I'm saving the movie for a special time to see it?
Or, maybe it's not *time* for me to watch it yet?

Tina - Freebird Professional said...

For me - well - I haven't seen "The Secret" yet - think I need to add that to my list of "must do's". But I was introduced to the principle a number of years ago.. All I can say is that while I'm not sure I have adopted the principles completely, since I have been living my life with the concept in mind, and generally believing in positive outcomes and positive visualisation - certainly my life has improved ten fold, and I now seem to be in a position where many opportunities that I have dreamed of are presenting themselves to me as reality...

Anonymous said...

It is a pernicious concept when examined in it's entirety.

Sure most of us tend to reasonably believe that if we do good, good will come back to us. It is probably no more than wishful thinking, but if it encourages someone to do good then it surely is a good thing within itself.

The problem with the secret is that it goes beyond that to making it a psuedo scientific principle and mixes it with common greed (so many of the people involved are talking about the money they are making).

The problem with making a direct connection between cause and effect has a downside when looking at the total human experience and can feed into bigoted notions.

Example: the Jews in Nazi Germany. Is it their fault and their actions that lead them to the extermination camps? Of course not, but if you accept that all good things are a direct result of your thinking processes and actions, then surely the same rule must apply to the bad things that happen, including extermination in a gas chamber.

Of course their are those people around (including Neo-Nazis) who think this is correct - that the Jews were to blame.

The same problem with this "philosophy" can be applied to the West African slaves on ships headed for the US in the early 19th century. Surely it is not possible to suggest that their own thoughts and actions caused their degredation?

What about cancer suffers? Sure they can make lifestyle changes to minimize the risks, but even healthy living individuals can and do get cancer. Is anyone going to suggest they caused it by their mental attitude?

So yes I like to believe that by doing good, good will come back to me, but to turn that into the ideas in The Secret is something I would always challenge.