Is the law of attraction false?
Legal LawIn the movie The Secret, the main message is that thoughts become things. So by thinking more positively, can you create a better life? Is this marketing fluff or is it real science?
The law of attraction has been around for some time. Napoleon Hill popularized the term in 1937 in his book Think and Grow Rich, but it also existed long before that. Thought “leaders” used the term in successful essays and it is believed to have arisen from the teachings of Phineas Quimby in the early 19th century:
“The problem is in the mind, because the body is only the house in which the mind dwells, and we give it a value according to its value. Therefore, if your mind has been deceived by some invisible enemy into a belief , you have put it in the form of a disease, with or without your knowledge. By my theory or truth, I come into contact with your enemy and restore you to health and happiness. This I do partly mentally and partly speaking until that I correct wrong impressions and establish the Truth, and the Truth is the cure.” -Phineas Quimby.
So if the truth is the cure for wrong thinking, as Quimby says, by correcting the false beliefs we hold in our minds, we can correct our lives for the better. Quimby was talking about his illness here since he had tuberculosis. He recovered despite the fact that the medical treatment did not work and he attributed it to his way of thinking.
It is claimed that science also supports the law of attraction and the double slit experiment is used to explain it. The double slit experiment shows that electrons act differently depending on whether they are observed or not. So the mind that goes into something changes it at the atomic level. Without being observed, the electrons appear to act like a wave. While they are observed, their behavior changes and they act like particles.
But does this explain the law of attraction and how it is presented in the movie The Secret? Maybe you’ve seen The Secret and spent the afternoon imagining all those dreams you gave up earlier. I know that when I first saw the secret, that’s exactly what I did. Then after a while with nothing happening I decided it was complete rubbish. It was only when I went back to the idea and started studying it that it started to make more sense.
The Secret is an overview of the law of attraction, and while many have frowned upon it, it is not an in-depth investigation of the idea. It can be said that it is a little fluffy. All the presenters of the film have experienced The Secret from the perspective of success. But what about us mortal mothers struggling to get by? Why can’t we manifest those great things in our lives? Can?
Joe Vitale, (one of the presenters of The Secret), for example, was not always a success. He claims in his books that he, in fact, had been struggling for many years and even homeless. He talks about it and also says that he ‘created’ struggle in his life because he believed that’s what writers should do.
So is the law of attraction false?
Here’s another perspective. There is a thing called confirmation bias that can explain a lot in life. Confirmation bias is the natural inclination to look for evidence to support our existing beliefs. So if you’re a fervent believer in something, you’re unlikely to look for evidence to the contrary. Instead, you look for evidence that supports your existing beliefs.
The placebo pill can also explain the law of attraction. If you believe so much in a fake pill, you trick your mind into getting well. Placebo pills that are nothing more than sugar have been shown to produce amazing effects in people simply because they believe so much what a doctor tells them. Check out Derren Brown’s TV show “Fear and Faith” to get some amazing insight into this.
If the law of attraction works, maybe it’s because we think it will. Certainly if we don’t believe in it, we will never apply it in our lives.
There is also the depth of understanding of the law of attraction that matters most. On a superficial level, you can easily dismiss The Secret movie as marketing fluff. But on a deeper level, I think we’re all manifesting our lives based on what we believe. The placebo pill proves it. So if this is already proven by such a simple experiment as a placebo, surely there must be something else to the law of attraction.
Another similar idea is to be lucky. In his book The Luck Factor, Richard Wiseman sheds some light on the subject of luck. He shows that it is those who believe they are lucky who create their own luck. Those who think they are “lucky” tend to be more outgoing, take more opportunities to meet people and do things, and thus create more opportunities to find what they believe to be “lucky.” Therefore, they think they are lucky!
Those who believe they are unlucky do the opposite. They associate bad things instead of good things happening with increased interaction. So they avoid going out and meeting new people. They tend to take fewer risks and venture less. As a result, they encounter fewer experiences, encounter fewer opportunities, and thus create the feedback “loop” that they are “unlucky.” The cycle continues and they are proven right.
So is the law of attraction false? You choose. But given this evidence, be careful what you decide!