The Law Of Attraction- And The Secret -Are Bullshit

By Neece, on January 12, 2009, at 12:42 pm

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Pseudoscience

There is no plainer way to say it, The Law of Attraction is complete pseudo-scientific nonsense.

Here is the premise of the Secret, as well as other systems that use the principle of the law of attraction. You can call it whatever you like, positive affirmations, the power of positive thinking, Bernie Siegal’s Love, Medicine and Miracles, Deepak Chopra, and on and on.

Put on your thigh high wader boots, and cover your ears, the bullshit meter is about to sound off loud and long:

Thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy (sometimes borrowed from Quantum Mechanics, minus any evidence). You must control this energy by practicing four things:

Know what you want.
Ask the universe for it.
Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is already with you, or is on its way to you.
Be open to receiving it.

Of course, if you think negative thoughts, the universe will manifest those negative thoughts in your life as well. So you must think positively at all times so that the universe will manifest all of your desires.

Before the Secret was around, there were plenty of other similar methods of thinking – positive affirmations and the like. As I’ve mentioned before, even though I was an agnostic in my late 20’s and early 30’s, I was very spiritual. I believed this bullshit 150%. I’d read books, learned from “gurus”, had a few college teachers, doctors and nurses suggest these techniques, and even had success with it. I taught others how to manifest their dreams, too. In a way it was the core belief of my spirituality.

When I fully embraced the fact that there is no god about 9 years ago, and acknowledged that there is no evidence of a benevelent creator or universal force that watches out for me, I still didn’t quite give up the positive affirmations. They had seemed to work in big ways in my life. But they started really messing with my head, too. And this is where I realized that they can be quite dangerous.

If you believe you have control over events and objects in your life based solely on your thoughts, you feel you are much more in control than what reality supports. While I believe we all must be responsible for our actions, thinking like this goes grievously too far.

Examples:

I developed this fear that my thoughts controlled my husband’s success or failure at driving to and from work. If I had a worry based on the weather conditions that he might have an accident, I would panic and had to tell him to drive carefully, and I had to think only positive thoughts while he was on the road. This became an obsession in which I had to tell him to drive carefully before leaving or he would crash. It didn’t have anything to do with his driving skill, the safety of our well-maintained car, or anything else. It was all down to my thoughts. The problem is, the more I tried to avoid thinking about accidents the more they filled my mind. If he did have an accident it would have been my fault entirely. It wouldn’t have anything to do with the stupid deer that stand in the road, the patch of black ice, or the idiot that stopped dead at a green light because he was texting his girlfriend.

This then led to other obsessive thoughts that seemed to be incredibly important for our happiness and safety. Innocent random thoughts became terribly important. Mild concerns harbored doom if they weren’t countered with positive thoughts. A mild and common worry about leaving the coffee pot on would lead to thinking of the house burning down, a brief worry that would turn into a horrid panic. I had just sealed my fate by having that flash in my mind. It doesn’t help that my mind is graphic and vivid in technicolored detail for such things. That only led me to believe I actually had power over such events.

Sure, I do have some power. I can remind my husband to check the brakes or replace the tires on the car. I can make sure I don’t leave appliances on that could overheat if left alone for a long time. But I do those things anyway, just like the rest of us. And sure, mistakes happen, which can lead to accidents and misfortunes.

But the idea that your thoughts alone are so powerful as to change physics, to affect physical objects and the will of other people is crazy. You use your thoughts to make decisions on what to say or what action to take. Nothing more. I’m happily surprised I didn’t start wearing a tinfoil hat to keep those pesky negative thoughts inside my skull.

A lot of people use this belief system to try to gain wealth and money. Of course I did it too. This is where it seemed that I had the most success. But like everyone else, I would cherry pick the results of all the thousands of times I controlled my thoughts and forced myself to repeat positive affirmations over and over to just those few that were amazingly, positively successful. That’s anecdotal evidence, my friends. It isn’t scientific. It isn’t reality.

Of course I felt I had full power over our finances, just by my thoughts. When I write that and read it, I see how insane it is. Our financial successes and setbacks had nothing to do with the economy, the job market, my husband working 2 jobs at one point, the housing market or anything else? No, it was all due to my thoughts. Yes, that’s crazy, I know.

Once I realized how far I’d gone with crazy thinking, I forced myself to do a test. For a week, I didn’t tell my husband to drive carefully when he left for work. If I had worries and negative thoughts, I tried to rationally remind myself that they were simply that: irrational worries. I didn’t force myself to repeat positive affirmations. And you know what? He didn’t get in an accident. I tried different mind experiments after that, every one unscientifically confirming that my thoughts were staying in my head and simply causing stress and worry. Nothing more.

Here’s another angle. If you get cancer, it’s your fault for being afraid of cancer and worrying about it. If you are a woman and you get mugged and raped, you were afraid of being attacked and you attracted it to you. Again, your fault. That’s the way that screwed up belief system works. Blame the victim because it strengthens the flawed and unproven system as “effective”.

But it’s completely unscientific and downright cruel to tell a cancer victim, a child with leukemia, or a rape victim that they did this to themselves just through negative thinking when there is absolutely no evidence to such bogus claims.

I used my personal examples to explain this insidious system of false belief, hoping you could learn from my errors. Even an intelligent nonbeliever can fall into the trap of the law of attraction. In fact, the reason I am writing this is because I hear people say “what you think about is what you attract to yourself” or some variation thereof, even within the atheist community.

It leads me to understand that not all atheists are critical thinkers or skeptics. But in this case, it’s a good idea to examine the evidence (NONE) for our thoughts controlling objects both near and far, physics, and the actions of others. Seems silly when you think about it. Your thoughts are in your head. So don’t fall into the same trap that I got stuck in. Think for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

I have written some follow-up posts to this one:

Share and Enjoy:

Steve

January 12th, 2009 at 1:58 pm · Reply

Great post. The notion of sympathetic magic has been around far longer than the pseudo-psychological ravings of morons like Chopra and their ilk- like attracts like- and the results have always been similar to the ones you describe.

Thanks, as usual!

Reply to This Comment

Neece Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 12:50 am

Hey Steve, you’re welcome.
I came to the conclusion a few years ago that gurus of ANY stripe or manner are BAD.

mimi Reply:
February 13th, 2010 at 10:17 pm

I do know there is a God, yes, know, and I do agree the “Secret” is flawed. In the first place, we live in a world of opposites and it was set up that way! You simply CANNOT AVOID being exposed to the opposite of things – they DO exist – the opposite of good must be bad or there would be no good, and it could not exist. It would just be “flat”. The opposite of joy and happiness are pain and suffering. They both exist on this planet and you cannot hide under a rock and think yourself into the belief that there will never be any of the negative. There is positive and there is negative, like two ends of a battery. That is a fact of the world we live in. There is life, there is death. There is up, there is down. I do agree we should aspire to be positive — that does make the world a heck of a lot nicer if we would all be decent and happy to one another, and it makes your day feel better. It also prevents people from avoiding you and probably increases your chances for some success in some instances, as no one likes being around a miserable person. However, there are plenty of negative, nasty, miserable people who are wealthy. There are plenty of car accidents that happen to happy, bubbly people. The first time I was hit was when I was the happiest in my life and life was going amazingly well. I did not decide to make the other guy drunk – he had his own agency to make his own decision on that one. I chose to be in a car as a passenger, that’s all. It is cruel, immature and ignorant to believe that all victims attract all their adversities. We have to have some adversity in order to learn compassion, or we would all have huge egos filled with pride. Adversity also humbles you, and teaches you things you can never learn any other way. Everyone on this planet will be touched by some, that is the way it was set up.
“Bad things happen to good people” as the old book says. Some of the kindest people I know had kids who screwed up and brought them heartache. Good decent folks get killed at young ages. There are evil people in the world, there are crooks, there are people with zero morals, and there are terribly unenlightened folks all over the place, and if you live long enough, the stats say you will run into one of them eventually!
Not because you attracted them, but simply because they exist, because we live in a world of OPPOSITES. If everyone on the planet started thinking positive thoughts, maybe we would have a “heaven on earth” – but, that ain’t happening any time soon. There are portions of this planet still in the dark ages. Even in free countries. So for now, all the guilt this “Secret” is causing, and all the blaming of victims makes for more negativity itself!! Try this – LOVE, unconditional love. Now that’s a hard pill to swallow. But until we all do, there will always be problems. For now, accept the fact that this planet is still a testing ground for all of us that live on it, and tests require challenges that need to be overcome. Sadly, many of them are not very pretty. But within every adversity is a silver lining if you look for it and stay grateful.
We do all have things to be grateful for and that is where the Secret has some merit and truth, and we can all set goals and strive for them and try to “create” our futures in as much as we are able, notwithstanding the obstacles that DO and will come at us in that process.

GMNightmare Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 5:40 pm

“I do know there is a god”
This was completely irrelevant to the rest of your post. Why did you think it was necessary?

First, no, the world isn’t based only upon opposites. In fact, if it was setup, it wasn’t setup that way. Take gravity for example. Or temperature. Any kind of measurement, these do not have opposites.

What you are talking about is humans tendency to compare things. It is a false dichotomy. What, you don’t think you can have joyful sadness? That proves they are not opposites, that they are compatible with each other. Things like up and down, are completely relative, they have no exact criteria for there use. If everything was truly opposite, we wouldn’t have moral and ethical dilemmas.

Furthermore, only thinking “positive”, brings about no “heaven on earth” in any case. You seem to have missed the point in that regard. Just thinking positively doesn’t change a thing.

And, you can love and hate at the same time as well. But assuming you were right, let’s say, if everybody had unconditional love for everybody, then love wouldn’t exist, as the opposite wouldn’t exist.

…

Not that, I don’t in part agree with your conclusions in some areas, I however do not agree with how you got to them.

Neece Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 7:27 am

I agree, the first line was totally irrelevant. Another great response, GMN. I really couldn’t have said it that well. Thanks very much for saying what I was vaguely thinking but unable to articulate.

Dan Gilbert

January 12th, 2009 at 8:51 pm · Reply

Well said! It reminded me of a quote from my favorite motivational speaker, Jim Rohn. Referring to all the people who tell you to say things like “Every day in every way, I’m getting better and better” regardless of whether it’s true or not, he said, “Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.” In other words, there’s no mental magic. Just get it done!

Cheers!

Neece Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 12:57 am

Exactly. Why walk around lying to yourself with silly sayings? As you say, Just get it done!

Guanoloca

January 12th, 2009 at 11:23 pm · Reply

So true.
People who are susceptible to the conformational bias are the new-age gurus stock n trade. They will uncritically see the ‘hits’ while disregarding the misses. But then again, isn’t all religion/energy ideologies based on this kind of simplistic non-thinking..lol.

Neece Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 1:06 am

You’re right, Guanoloca. I wish I had been stronger to see it sooner, but I’m glad I’ve got “guru” radar now.
And you’re right, it is all the same… simplistic non-thinking.

GMNightmare

January 13th, 2009 at 10:25 pm · Reply

This one is a bit more tricky than I think you let on.

In fact, positive affirmation and “positive thinking” as it were, does work.

Although not in the form of how you gave it, or how I suppose the “secret” is. I’ll tell you, in fact, what the real… ahem… “secret” is.

This has a lot to deal with athletics, with how you view your life, with goals, and, indeed, a huge argument to be played against theism. It’s basically like this, how you perceive things, is completely up to you. This is personal though, you can’t actually change the events, or affect others with thoughts.

Take it with running as an example. Running is, 80% a mental game. Before races, you mentalize how much you want to win. This doesn’t necessarily make you win, but it sets you up to go all out in order to try and achieve that. Running in general even, requires positive thinking over the agonizing pain of the sport. Or setting goals. By setting goals and repeatably thinking about that, your going have a more likely chance to meet that goal. Consider you want a large screen TV. If you set a goal and constantly think about it, you’ll be less likely to go out for fast food, or buy that new pair of shoes… Thus, you’ll be more likely to achieve your goal, were as if you didn’t you’d probably not have enough money for a TV.

All this amounts to are changes in your attitude and hones your attention to what you want. That’s it. There is a lot of power in positive thinking, in your life and your life alone. Nothing mystical about it, it can all be explained away with psychology.

Hmm… that came out rather hard. Oh well, I think you get the point no?

GMNightmare Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 12:34 am

As a quick add-on, I do realize that many like to inflate and embellish the words and things it can do for you. The central core of what they are saying works kinda like a simple psychiatric trick. The embellish and inflation… well, can also be explained with psychology of them trying to act smart-which they aren’t.

It does get a little overboard, certainly.

Neece Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 6:23 am

Hi GMN,
I stand by what I said AND I agree with you. Thinking positively and having goals are both very useful, helpful and effective. Keeping a goal in mind, like your big screen tv, will definitely help you act accordingly when faced with a choice on how to spend or save your money in regards to attaining the tv. That’s what I was saying. You have power over your own thoughts and your own behavior.
In sports, visualizing yourself winning, going over in your mind again and again how to run or what moves to make to achieve that win, that is all very important psychology and very helpful. But you’re right, it doesn’t insure a win, of course. But it will help you keep your goal in focus and do your best.
But books like the Secret and Chopra’s books basically say that the universe is paying attention to your wishes. So if you think positively really hard the universe will grant your wishes. Or, if you worry constantly about something negative the universe will send that to you, like cancer or having a car accident. That’s ridiculously crazy and personally I think it’s terribly unethical to tell people that.
Your thoughts are in your own head. They don’t travel across space and time to affect physics, the universe, other people, or anything else. Your thoughts control your mind and your behavior. That’s it.

Sandon

February 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am · Reply

I too believe it is all bullshit that some dickhead made up to make money, which in turn he did and he became the only one to be rich. I have had the most terrible years after believing this crap and yes when things went right for me i was ecstatic about my life, hence in a positive frame of mind. Then it all crumbled the whole lot until i had noone or nothing. The only way i ever got anything was to work hard for it. But i was positive and used all that shit so if i asked this universe for it to be good and it was then how could it go wrong. For instance, I didn’t make the company i work for collaspe to cause me stress. Yes i am sure i said you must crumble in my dreams and subconscious. What a load of shit. And when people say there is always something better along the way. What bullshit is that. I was so happy where i was why would my subconscious want that changed. The only better things i can see is that because i went down from work loss, everyone abandoned me, showing who my true friends and loves are. Noone. It is just shit and all this positive thinking crap is brainwashing people into not seeing what is really before them. Everyone has had a dream for a long time that could go like the white picket fence dream but does it happen for most of us. Now that dream would be firm in your subconscious without a doubt. It would have been there for many years so why doesn’t it come true. My dream did come true but went messed up when i was so happy. I can see the negative there, NOT. It is all shit and i am sick of people telling me to do this and that when they have no idea. Things happen for a reason. What reason would destroying my life be of any good. It is just shit. People who don’t believe this shit can have just as good, if not better life then all the must be positive in every situation junkies. How can breaking up with someone you are in love with be positive. Oh well that happened, i will be great. Another good one is people come into your life for a minute a day etc. Cherish that. I can’t see how someone coming into your life and turning it upside down is something you can cherish. Today i was in a positive frame of mind and thinking things will be better and going about my day when my ex said my kids didn’t want to see me. I have loved them and done all i can. I asked for that, i am sure. Oh universe please grant this wish, i want my daughter to not want to see me. Please make that come true. Another is god loves you and love is all he wants. Then you are totally in love with someone and it is destroyed. If god is like that then we are his puppets for torture. The devil did that. Bullshit. If love is so pure then the devil would not touch it. What about if you love someone let them go. More shit. Or you can’t make someone happy if you aren’t happy in yourself. What if that someone makes you happy and is what you are striving for and the only reason you aren’t happy is because you want to make someone happy. All this shit just pisses me off now. I am sick of getting kicked in the guts when i was happy and positive and doing all the right things as best i could with what i had. I was striving to be better and get more. Then some dick wad says you can attain your desires just by thinking it and setting it into your subconscious. It will appear like magic or devine intervention or a miracle. What bullshit. Sit on your arse all day and dream about what you want and see how much of it comes to your door. Bullshit all bullshit. We are all equal, tell that to a child born into poverty with no food. Thats right they had that in thier subconscious when they were in the womb. I want to be born into poverty where bombs rain over my village. Who is the sexiest man or woman alive, oh yes some stupid slut who gets 300 takes to get it right compared to a genuine person who gets one take. It is all bullshit that is destroying real values and morals and having those morals in a world like today is so devastating. It kills you on the inside. You must believe or get baptised or goto church or do some shit and everything is going to be so great. Tell that to the idiot who got rich by conning people and lives a fantastic life of the backs of others. This ask the universe shit is just another way to do that but make people believe that they are gods themselves or knowlegeable people. As children we live off dreams and desires and as children those dreams seem so real. In that case then those dreams should be real since what these people are saying is the law of attraction. Tell that to a child tortured by his mothers boyfriend or a boy abandoned by his mother never to be seen again and who had no unconditional love but that is all he wanted. Tell that to him when he left home and became a fantastic guy and made a business and strived to not be a bad person and struggled and then finally made it. tell that to him when all those things from his childhood made him destroy the best thing that ever happened to him because he was scared to make her happy and sabotaged his relationship. All because all he ever wanted was unconditional love. He wanted it and got it but lost it. Abra Cadabbra It is all coming to me now. Bull shit!!

elizabeth Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:17 am

i am with sandon 100%. and therapy doesn’t change shit about this reality. i get you.

Brent

April 22nd, 2009 at 10:31 am · Reply

Tim Nelms informed me of your blog and I find it fascinating. On the subject of “attraction” or homeopathy [Gr. like-feeling], both, in reality, forms of magic, I have read some interesting analyses, of which yours is one. In the late Nineteenth Century book, The Golden Bough by James George Frazer, it is stated that:

“The fatal flaw of magic lies not in its general assumption of a
sequence of events determined by law, but in its total misconception of the nature of the particular laws which govern that sequence. If we analyse the various cases of sympathetic magic … we shall find … that they are all mistaken applications of one or other of two great fundamental laws of thought, namely, the association of ideas by similarity and the association of ideas by contiguity in space or time. A mistaken association of similar ideas produces homoeopathic or imitative magic; a mistaken association of contiguous ideas produces contagious magic. The principles of association are excellent in themselves, and indeed absolutely essential to the working of the human mind. Legitimately applied they yield science; illegitimately applied they yield magic, the bastard sister of science. It is therefore a truism, almost a tautology, to say that all magic is necessarily false and barren; for were it ever to become true and fruitful, it would no longer be magic but science. From the earliest times man has been engaged in a
search for general rules whereby to turn the order of natural
phenomena to his own advantage, and in the long search he has
scraped together a great hoard of such maxims, some of them golden and some of them mere dross. The true or golden rules constitute the body of applied science which we call the arts; the false are magic.”

I believe that the key lesson to be gained from your experience is that one must always, when possible, empirically evaluate any claims. Indeed this is the key element of science, that separates it from magic. One can see in history the stark contrast in productivity when the magical was abandoned for the empirical, i.e. the Scientific Revolution. Your abandonment of the Law of Attraction, after an empirical evaluation of its efficacy revealed that it was “mere dross”, is analogous to this historical development.

However, it is intriguing that such mystical beliefs are so ubiquitous. I myself have been plagued by obsessive-compulsive types of thoughts and behaviors. I suspect that at some time such a predilection conveyed an selective advantage (e.g. being hyper-clean, even if too clean, would be selected over unhygienic tendencies). So, even though much has been written on the subject, I believe that the final explanation, if ever determined, will posit that the fallacies of homeopathy arise from the various intricacies of natural selection, into which I will not delve here.

Anyway, very nice blog!

Neece Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 10:40 am

Hello Brent, thanks for the great comment.
I totally agree with James George Frazer that all magic is false, because if it were ever to become true it would no longer be magic, it would be science!
Maybe there is also something to be said for the power of wishful thinking and blind hope when it comes to how the mind clings to magical thinking? I’m not sure, it’s just a half thought. I’ll have to look into that more…
Thanks for the great food for thought, Brent. I hope you comment more often!

Tom

May 26th, 2009 at 9:16 pm · Reply

Actually, it was a “she” who gets credit for it. Check out the website for the Secret and you will see the story of Rhonda Byrne. On the one hand, the site says she discovered all these incredible “laws of the universe” and on the other hand, she credits getting the ideas from “The Science of Getting Rich” written in 1910, something treated like the same kind of magic supposedly offered by The Secret. Byrne ran a production company. One of its first products was a show on UFOs. You’d think that would tip people off to look hard at this stuff.

What people should really look at is the well researched work on optimism by people like Martin Seligman. His book, “Learned Optimism” is based on real research and is excellent. “The Secret” fits in with the same phenomena that made “The Bridges of Madison County” a huge bestseller.

Anyway, if our thoughts are magnetic, I always thought opposites attracted with magnets? No? If I put two like poles together they repel each other. But my positive thoughts will attract positive events? How come my positive thoughts don’t attract negative events in this magnetic world of the Secret? Hmmmm.

Neece Reply:
May 27th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

Hey Tom.
People never look deeply into this stuff. They see a pretty book and Oprah tells them it’s “magic” and they obediently eat it up like candy.

I don’t know about the “learned optimism” you mention here, but I do know that optimism and pessimism are both forms of delusion, both of which can be beneficial in different ways. Personally I think being pragmatic and realistic is by far the way to go for best results and happiness.

Our thoughts aren’t magnetic. So don’t even go there. Our thoughts stay in our precious little heads. There is ZERO EVIDENCE that our thoughts ever get past our skulls. ZERO EVIDENCE. So don’t even go there with that nonsense. Thanks.

keepitreal

May 29th, 2009 at 6:40 pm · Reply

Neece:great topic for people who feel like they are going insane in their lives over this–this positive thinking bullshit has become like a religion. i am personally dealing with people i work with who buy into it and it is affecting their perceptions of me because i don’t comply. i never realized how bad it was until it hit home with me. i haven’t read all of the posts, but I did want to respond to sandon–because i think he was pretty darn honest with his anger over this–not all anger is bad and needs professional help. sometimes, like your blog, we need to find others who are pissed off about this too. we all respond differently and it looks like he has a lot of validity for his anger.
Sandon: i appreciate your passion/anger on this topic especially how people responded to you. i had a few similar drastic lifestyle changes that allowed me to see what people really believed and how they acted towards me. sad reality in this world. i can’t stay positive about it when i know all these evil things go on towards humanity. i dont buy into karma either, which seems to be an ongoing fad—i had that conversation today and told the person–I don’t blame a victim. its horrible how educated, powerful people believe this shit and prosletize it (because after all—its “positive” thinking) just like the inquisition was cleaning up the ungodly–same lack of tolerance going on which is terribly scary to me. ideology is powerful and unfortunately, this shit seems like its bound to stay. Yes–get angry about it–get very angry, and then figure out what to do. Your not alone with this. Many people know and feel just as much as you do. I don’t have an answer to this insanity.

Neece Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Anger can be quite healthy. Obsession is not healthy, neither is bitterness. Even if you have validity for your anger, at some point you need to come to terms with it, focus that anger and work for positive change. Ranting mindlessly on a blog is not really what I’d consider healthy. Also, I think I was very polite and thoughtful. You don’t need to defend Sandon. I didn’t attack him.

It’s good to get angry. But then focus that anger into positive change and action.

iamgo12345

June 10th, 2009 at 11:43 am · Reply

Seriously the person who wrote this article DOES NOT UNDERSTAND what the “law of attraction” is or how to use it. ITS not “oh im gonna think negatively for a couple of hours, days or weeks and see what happens (to test the law of attraction); nothing happend so the law of attraction doesnt work. THATS NOT A TEST.THAT IS WRONG. The law of attraction means this; whatever thoughts/visualizations u hold onto will happen AFTER A WHILE (it takes years of holding onto it, it takes years of trail and error, it takes years of failing over and over; eventually it will happen) The law of attraction means never giving up on that vision/thought; no matter how long it takes, no matter how many times u fail, no matter how many times u notice nothing leading up to ur goal. ANd it will take a year or a couple of years. Weeks/months is not enough. Simply thinking negativly about a certain thing for a couple of days is not enough to make it happen lol. U NEED way more time than that. IT TAKES YEARS of holding onto a specific thought for it to happen (it various. sometimes more time is needed. Other times less time is needed) U have no idea exactly when it will happen (maybe a rough idea); but as long as u never give up NO MATTER HOW LONG AND NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS (this is the law of attraction). IT TAKES A LONG TIME OF HOLDING ONTO THAT THOUGHT NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES U FAIL; eventually it will happen 100%. IF U DONT GIVE UP AND IF U NEVER LET GO OF THAT END GOAL/VISION/THOUGHT. What happens in real life is the thoughts/visions u really FEEL over a LONG ASS PERIOD OF TIME. Keep in mind u will fail, u will struggle, u will see no progress; but u just have to hold onto that end goal/visualization and believe it will happen.

I see people testing the law of attraction simply by thinking about rich materialistic things in a week. They notice nothing; so it doesnt work. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA. This stuff takes a couple of years to a year at least (maybe months if it is a small tiny goal).

GMNightmare Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 9:40 pm

Seriously the person who wrote the above comment DOES NOT UNDERSTAND what the “law of attraction” is or how to use it.

The law of attraction amounts to the same thing as prayer. It does absolutely nothing. It is actions, it is our actions that do things. Focusing on goals, as I said earlier, is all it amounts to. The law of attraction is nothing but goal setting.

That’s it. That’s all. It is BS that the law of attraction will ever do anything for you that goal setting doesn’t.

June 11th, 2009 at 8:00 am · Reply

Absolutely, GMNightmare. Goal Setting keeps your goal in mind so you can focus your efforts on achieving it. If that’s as far as the “law of attraction” went, it’d be fine, but that’s not what imgo12345 is referring to. The “think about it and it will happen” idea is nonsense, no matter how long you wait. You’ve got to actually DO something (other than wishing/praying) to achieve your goals.

Johnny Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 11:47 am

One hand does more than a thousand mouths.

GMNightmare Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

For clarification, imgo12345 is one of those who “think about it and it will happen.” He’s referring to Neece’s post saying that she didn’t do it right because she didn’t stick with it for a long time. As in…
“whatever thoughts/visualizations u hold onto will happen AFTER A WHILE” and “IT TAKES YEARS of holding onto a specific thought for it to happen” and “but u just have to hold onto that end goal/visualization and believe it will happen.”

hornyhobo

June 11th, 2009 at 7:31 pm · Reply

So let me get this straight. What I think about might come true but it could be years and years before it does. If it comes true than it’s “positive attraction” that’s responsible, and if it doesn’t come true it’s because I didn’t think about it hard enough or wait long enough.

What bullshit. Either way you can’t prove it doesn’t work, because people will just say you didn’t wait long enough or think hard enough. Get your head out of the sand imgo12345, otherwise you’re in for a long life of disappointment.

June 12th, 2009 at 4:17 pm · Reply

obviously action is needed. what im saying is ur dominant thoughts/visions that u hold onto and never give up…. eventually happen. BUT only if u perform the action needed. Thats so obvious….. U perform ur daily actions and routines that u “think” will lead u up to a goal. But never give up on that goal/vision no matter how long it takes. Just keep performing ur actions as ur mind is focused on the ultimate goal (over a long period of time). This is what im trying to say. U people are not really understanding my point or im not explaining it properly or ur misunderstanding my point.

June 12th, 2009 at 4:29 pm · Reply

Basically people give up way to easily and they have to idea that whatever their doing is actually leading them to their goal. Why? people start thinking to much. People start worrying about “how” to achieve great/impossible goals etc etc.

Bruce lee quote “dont think, feeeeelllllll”.

June 12th, 2009 at 4:35 pm · Reply

hornyhobo u misunderstood me completely…… All im saying is u have to feel/visualize ur goal (materialistic, non materialistic, or if it is insanely hard/impossible/easy etc). THen u urself will figure out a way of “how” to get there. But that only happens if u feel/visualize ur goal for a while. Then when u urself start figuring out “how” (it will just pop in ur head when u least except it) the last step is to; PERFORM THE ACTION. NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT PERFORMING THE ACTION. I know this works because all my life i have wanted to do several one hand pullups, i never know how. Since i started using the feel/visualize ur actual goal; My dream of doing many one hand pullups is FINALLY A REALITY. Now if feeling and visualizing the actual goal works for one hand pullups (in my case). IT WILL WORK FOR ANYTHING. A mansion, a ferrari etc etc. Things just take different amounts of time to be achieved. Never give up, perform the action, believe, have faith, and feel ur self already there.

Neece

June 12th, 2009 at 8:20 pm · Reply

GMN, Dan and Johnny I agree, that’s what I was trying to say! Goal setting is about having a specific goal in mind, and then acting in ways that make the goal come to fruition.
I want a cup of coffee as I’m sitting here. I think about the coffee, then I GET UP and MAKE the coffee, pour myself a cup and enjoy it. (BRB.. I really do need a cup of coffee…) LOL

What the Secret says is that if you have thoughts in your head, over time, they magically come true because cosmic voodoo energy is attracted to those thoughts. The most heinous example is if you are a woman and you are afraid of being assaulted, and then you get assaulted, you attracted that attack to you. You are to blame.

Now, iamgo. You changed your tune. Stop leaving comments that say the same thing over and over, with subtle changes to agree with the people on here who are using COMMON SENSE and LOGIC to explain why the law of attraction is total bullshit.

iamgod12345

June 13th, 2009 at 8:39 pm · Reply

no neece thats not what the law of attraction is saying at all. IT doesnt say think about things and they magically happen over some time. U dont understand the true meaning behind “the law of attraction”. The meaning of the law of attraction is; visualize ur actual goal (or think about it) and feel ur self there. Do that over a long period of time (a couple of years perhaps); and every action u do in ur life over those years, will actually lead u closer and closer to that goal (without u even knowing about it). U will automatically start working towards that goal (without even thinking). To achieve this state of mind is very simple; yet people dont know how to do it.

Bruce lee is an example i can use here. He didnt even know that martial arts would make him be the best actor in the world. He just had a goal to be the highest paid oriental actor in the world by 1970. He didnt know how to get there. He just felt it. Ultimatly all the actions he did lead him to that goal (being the best martial artist in the world & focusing on martial arts etc). Bruce lee said it himself “u must not THINK. u must FEEL”. People think to hard and that is problem here. Things are extremely simple and straight forward (achieving goals). They just take time, patience etc. The problem is people think things are extremely confusing to figure out, complicated etc etc etc.

June 13th, 2009 at 8:42 pm · Reply

another one of bruce lee quotes “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do”. What the law of attraction does is it solves the “knowing” part. It solves the problem of figuring out “how” to do ANYTHING. But the second step is u have to perform the action (now that u know how). If u dont know why the law of attraction solves the “knowing” part then u DONT UNDERSTAND THE TRUE MEANING BEHIND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION.

Neece Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 3:05 am

If you leave another comment that says exactly the same thing, I’m going to end this conversation by asking you to kindly shut up. You have brought nothing to the table except wish fulfillment and nonsense.
If you want to accomplish anything in life it takes hard work, perseverance and clear goals.
END OF STORY.
Now, go think really hard about something you want for years and years and hope the universe grants you your wish.

June 13th, 2009 at 10:27 pm · Reply

Iamgo, I’m guessing you didn’t wake up one day and suddenly realize you could do one hand pullups. You worked at it and eventually gained the upper body strength necessary to do it. The way you explained it suggests that all you did was visualize being able to do the pullup and one day it came true.

And no, being able to do pullups doesn’t have anything to do with becoming rich. The universe is incredibly complex, and very very large. To think us, in our insignificant, tiny tiny spec of it can somehow make all of existence do as we wish is, nicely put, wishful thinking.

Visualizing and feeling your desires helps in getting what you want, but that’s because it focuses your energy towards a certain goal, not because it shifts reality to suite your purposes.

Neece Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 3:07 am

Yes, exactly. How solipsistic and egotistical is it to believe the universe bends and changes its constant laws just to grant your wishes, after several years, of course. Freaking crazy!

June 14th, 2009 at 10:31 am · Reply

I guess I’ll say it outright… although I feel it’s been implied. There is a difference between “law of attraction” and goal setting. Law of attraction simply, as quoted:
” 1. Know exactly what you want.
2. Ask the universe for it.
3. Feel, behave and know as if the object of your desire is already yours (visualize).
4. Be open to receive it and let go of (the attachment to) the outcome.”
There goes the problem. The law of attraction puts focus on the thought, just the thought. If you think it, it will happen. But this is not going to happen, just thinking does not bring about grand things–but that is what the law of attraction argues. For benefits of thinking positively, I refer to the first post I made here.

But the crime here is the guarantee. There is never a guarantee for just thinking about things. And again, all the law of attraction amounts to, is goal setting. There is no guarantee you’ll meet your goal. The law of attraction TRIES to fluff up goal setting and sell it for money by adding BS to the mix. Quite frankly, it worked, because their are a lot of suckers in the world.

You are confusing the law of attraction. You are applying things that are not a part of it. The law of attraction IS just thinking will make things happen. You are muddling it with actual beneficial actions.

Here’s the equation:
Goal setting + BS = law of attraction

For Rhonda Byrne:
Goal setting + BS = money

And that’s all there is to it.

Dan Gilbert Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

Excellent summation, GMNightmare! Right on the money (no pun intended).

Neece Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Well said, GMN. Most excellent.

June 14th, 2009 at 2:26 pm · Reply

hornyhobo u dont understand what i am saying. If visualization and feelings can work for achieving one hand pullups. IT can work for anything else in this world. ANy goal; money, non money, huge goals, small goals, materialistic goals, non materialistic goals etc.

I know this because there are many other things that are finally happening in my life (after only a year of visualizing/feeling of the many goals i have). Of course like i said; without action nothing happens.

June 14th, 2009 at 2:30 pm · Reply

Neece dont tell me to shutup. Let me say this. U SHUT UP (kindly). Also im going to tell u something that might hurt (but its true). Anyway here goes; I will making more money in a couple of years than u can make in ur whole life. In fact i will making more money in a couple of years than ur entire generation of family put together (no fence). Once again everything i said is garbage and nonsense to you; because u dont get it. U never will. U are blind when u read what i write. U will never understand it. So all i can say is; u will be nobody in ur life, u will achieve nothing of significance, u will just be another average person, living in a mediocre house, driving mediocre/below average car, working at a shitty office type job (that u hate), waiting for the weekend to party, etc etc.

Dan Gilbert Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

Even though Neece is fully capabable of defending herself, I feel a need to jump in here.

First off, what you’re spouting is nonsense. Secondly, it makes no difference how much money you have made or how much you are going to make if you still act like an immature brat.

I would venture a guess to say that everyone here, including Neece, fully understands what you are saying when you talk about the law of attraction. GMNightmare summed it up nicely above. If you want to believe in woo and magic, go right ahead, but don’t go trying to convince rational people that the nonsense you’re spewing is to be taken seriously.

Even more importantly, don’t go getting all self-righteous and indignant when people don’t buy the woo you’re selling. Your spewing of insults and “bragging” really shows your true colors. Perhaps you should use your law of attraction to wish for some semblence of decency toward your fellow human beings.

Neece Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 2:54 pm

Thanks Dan, you’re the best. Well said!

Neece Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Are you kidding me? Now you resort to ad hominem attacks because your argument is baseless? How pathetic and childish.

GMNightmare Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 11:15 pm

“In fact i will making more money in a couple of years than ur entire generation of family put together (no fence).”

Wait what? Impossible. As Neece is around her 40s if I remember correctly, just judging some of the richest summed near approximate 55 billion dollars. And that’s just from a few. Do you know what that represents sir? No? That is more money than the richest man in the world, Bill Gates only has approximately 40 billion. You will NEVER make more money than any entire generation in your lifetime. Ever. Of course, you meant of the family, but you have no credible way of saying just exactly who is in her family, nor do I guess you can realize that YOU are a PART of her family tree, somewhere along the line. She could be a billionaire for all you know (which is near zil).

In fact, by your incredibly bad grammar, and complete lack of ability to say “you” instead of “u” or capitalize “i”, you will make it nowhere. And I quote, “[You] will be nobody in [your] life, [you] will achieve nothing of significance, [you] will just be another average person, living in a mediocre house, driving mediocre/below average car, working at a shitty office type job (that [you] hate), waiting for the weekend to party, etc etc.” And just to boot, you’ll be waiting for your magical law of attraction wish to complete. But no, I’ll bite, how? How do you suppose to make this endless amount of money? You sound a lot like every other person out there for the law of attraction. “The law of attraction didn’t work for you, because you didn’t know the real secret! The secret from ‘The Secret’ was only the start… and for a limited time only, you can get my book for $29.99 that’ll tell you the REAL secret! Order now!” Is that the way your going to make your money.

By the way:
“when the FREAK did i say just think about something; and it will happen over the years magically WITHOUT performing the action?”
That is the law of attraction. You can’t just add whatever you want to make it work. Although yes, you did say it as hornyhobo pointed out.

So yes, explain it all. But there is a condition, if you can’t explain it in one complete and grammatically correct sentence, then it’s BS. Better yet, a step plan, IN CLEAR TERMS. In other words, redo this for what you want to say:
” 1. Know exactly what you want.
2. Ask the universe for it.
3. Feel, behave and know as if the object of your desire is already yours (visualize).
4. Be open to receive it and let go of (the attachment to) the outcome.”
Of course by changing it, you should understand that you are making up your own law of attraction. A lose-lose situation it is, and that’s precisely the point.

Neece Reply:
June 15th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

Well said, as usual, GMN.

June 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm · Reply

when the FREAK did i say just think about something; and it will happen over the years magically WITHOUT performing the action???????????? NOT ONCE.

GMnightmare that is not the true meaning behind the law of attraction. Im not gonna go into it and explain it to u right now. maybe later if u really want the true meaning. Yes the law of attraction is just another goal setting method. IT helps u focus on the actual goal.

Neece Reply:
June 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

Moving the goalpost, anyone?

June 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm · Reply

Iamgod, this is in response to your recent posts. These are your exact words:

“The law of attraction means this; whatever thoughts/visualizations u hold onto will happen AFTER A WHILE (it takes years of holding onto it, it takes years of trail and error, it takes years of failing over and over; eventually it will happen)”

You claimed that “whatever thoughts/visualizations u hold onto will happen AFTER A WHILE”.

“IT TAKES A LONG TIME OF HOLDING ONTO THAT THOUGHT NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES U FAIL; eventually it will happen 100%.”

That means it doesn’t matter what you think about, it WILL come true after a while. You then try to validate your claims by saying “an action” is required. As if by just thinking about it the cure for cancer will come to me and the only action I have to take is write it down.

You’ve altered you’re original claims in an attempt to win an argument over the internet. In the future stick to what you believe in, and if you realize you might be wrong, admit it, learn something new, and move on.

bystander

July 27th, 2009 at 3:35 am · Reply

reading this argument I have no stake in it.

stuff I hear about “Law of Attraction” from its practitioners sounds more like what the critics are saying here, than what iamgod is saying. but a light bulb went on when he described his interpretation of the “Law” and the fruitful results in his life.

I took it that he is saying that the “goal setting,” if you will, is assisted by a sub-cognitive process.

In other words, striving effort and conscious intention are only a part of the picture, actually a very small part, the part of the iceberg below the waterline. and sometimes focusing on ‘effort’, hard work, etc can even be counterproductive to achievement using this “Law.”

Reason and logic are even less of what puts you in the position to achieve your goals than effort and intention.

He’s saying that subtle mental stuff below the level of conscious perception and knowledge is functioning to make zillions of tiny minute adjustments in your perception and actions in order to help you achieve your goal.

It’s a form of mental programming that efficiently but below the level of conscious perception picks out those parts of the outside reality that produce non-conscious learning needed to support and achieve the desired state. It is pattern recognition through perception, on a scale beyond what we are normally aware of.

The sought after performance still has to be physically feasible. A man with no legs is not going to run a marathon w/o a prosthesis. but someone could greatly best the current statistically average performance for a marathon if they can make this type of mental training work for them.

but it’s not in the number of trials, the sheer amount of repetitive practice. it’s perfect efficiency in where you place the legs, pace the run, draw the breaths, even the food and sleep, the day and route you pick to run. You can think and plan all these factors out — but maybe instead you just wake up one day, intuitively just KNOW it’s the right time, and sure enough its a perfect run, and maybe this wasn’t pure chance after all.

Just like you no longer think about all of the myriad of stimuli and responses involved in driving, in hitting the golf ball or returning the tennis serve, but you nevertheless do it flawlessly, and largely w/o conscious learning or effort, so too does his version of the “Law” work.

similar also to how one moment you couldn’t balance the bike to save your life, but then one time you do and then you never “forget” how. as if you ever consciously “remember” anything in this process. but you have a memory of some type that is a fusion of total muscle, mental, balance, and other sensory experiences.

So, what he seems to be saying is achieving some other types of goals that may require many complex circumstances and years to pull off — goals that go beyond performing discrete physical acts, or specific outcomes in athletic games — can work in the same manner as learning in these largely non-cognitive disciplines.

What seems “magical” about it is that the accomplishment can seem to take much more than any amount of planned effort or even diligent constant practice can give you. the suggestion here is that the breakthrough really starts in the mind, but not the part of the mind that resides in the frontal lobe, i.e. the conscious “thinking” part.

Not sure if any of this is true, but it’s sure an intriguing idea. some things DO seem to come easier for some people, whereas others in a similar or better position conscientiously struggle and have a much harder time. maybe this accounts for some of the differences in performance.

maybe there are all kinds of subtle cues in the real world environment that your brain is not registering in the frontal lobe — but other parts of your brain are nevertheless hard at work sussing out while you are not even aware of it.

So by this theory, the “Secret” is the unsuspected processing power of a certain mindset and group of beliefs, however delusional they may or may not be.

Indy

July 27th, 2009 at 12:33 pm · Reply

Great post! Sounds like we’ve been down the same road of learning that LoA is BS. It’s a twist on how that (allegedly benevolent) bearded being in the sky knows your every thought and will punish you for wrong thinking.

btw, what does iamgo12345/iamgod12345 think he/she is attracting with all that hostile, egomaniacal ranting? Very bad mojo in the world of LoA!

Found your blog via Drazzle while on a quest to find atheists on twitter.

PeterVH

October 25th, 2009 at 2:28 am · Reply

I know what you were trying to say by this article, but you missed a couple very good points, or perhaps were taught wrong or read the wrong books. I’d suggest Conversations With God, but again…only take what you think is important FOR YOU to gain from these books.

You have a good point, but obsession isn’t healthy. Neither is the notion that you can possibly control what may or may not happen to someone you love. Loving them is good enough for you.

This “law of attraction” as it were, is dependent upon the existence of something or someone greater out there than ourselves, which is to say not necessarily greater per se, but simply…the sum of us, as our spirits all connect.

And that is how the law works. Many more factors are at work than only one person on any given day can possibly hope to control on their own.

You. YOU are responsible for your own happiness. We cannot control whether or not we get cancer, but we CAN prevent it’s spread. We can’t control whether our loved ones get into accidents…but we CAN decide how we feel about it and react.

We CAN heal this world. We CAN do good in people’s lives.

But it all starts with how YOU react. 24/7 monitoring of thoughts isn’t necessary, just don’t let them control you.

If we…as a planet, if each individual would start by themselves to be responsible for their happiness and joy, and then began forming groups, from there…only then can we go a long way towards preventing and abolishing the mentality which makes rape, abuse, hunger, or poverty possible.

But remember. The only person you must look out for in this world is you, and that may sound selfish, but let me finish.

You…and if you want something good, more love, more positive things….start by doing those things for others, and it will com back to you a hundred fold.

Don’t worry…just love. I even noticed in your article, you said everything fell apart when you focused on fear. Focus on love instead. Laugh often. Do nice things for others and for yourself just because. Smile for no particular reason.

You don’t have t monitor your thoughts or always consciously use the law of attraction just to feel happy.

True happiness is something natural. Something precious.

And trust me when I say, you will feel a lot better.

It will be okay. Life is eternal. We simply change form, shifting in and out of full consciousness.

We are God in our own right.

I love you, and I hope one day you do come back to a spiritual existence. I hope I do too, lol.

Peace to you. I hope you find what you’re looking for.

- Pete

Neece Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

Thanks for your comment, Peter, but Elizabeth’s comment below sums up my response to what you’re saying. You are talking about personal beliefs, not facts based on how the world actually works. It sounds sweet to think that there is some spiritual force connecting us all, but there’s no evidence for anything beyond the natural in the universe. Life is not eternal. At least not as far as anyone can prove. So far, it looks like you live, then you die. And that’s that. That’s reality. While it’s not as warm and fuzzy, it does make life more precious to realize that you only have one go at it.

elizabeth

October 25th, 2009 at 12:56 pm · Reply

hi peter, you wrote many lovely things here, which I believe there is not anyone amongst us would not like to BELIEVE is true. But that is all it really is. A personal belief system, rather than reality.
“YOU are responsible for your own happiness. We cannot control whether or not we get cancer, but we CAN prevent it’s spread. We can’t control whether our loved ones get into accidents…but we CAN decide how we feel about it and react.”
There is both truth and fallacy as far as this “belief” goes, whether it be regarding cancer or responsibility for our happiness.
Regarding happiness, things happen outside of ourselves that DO influence our level of happiness. Some people are born or are raised in situations that create severe hypersensitivity in an individual. This influences the level of which they are able to have a shield against those that taunt them, hurt them, deceive them etc. If one did not learn healthy self esteem or boundaries from a young age, it is unfortunately an upstream and expensive, time consuming battle to develop that later in life. Sometimes, there is so much damage, that it can take years, if ever, for someone to gain the self respect and dignity involved to achieve happiness.
As for saying that we CAN prevent cancer’s spread, that is the same logic you can apply to the happiness factor. There is absolutely no guarantee we CAN prevent its spread, only a hope that if we take all necessary precautions, that cancer might not spread. I have seen many people go on macro diets, gerson therapy, positive thinking, visualization, etc. and do everything humanly possible to prevent it’s spread, and still die.
Optimism is wishful thinking, and although it can make for a happier person, for those that have truly experienced both sides, and having had many disadvantages emotionally in this life, it is hard to convince that our problems we face in our own beings will be resolved if only our way of thinking changed.

Neece Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

I agree with you completely Elizabeth. Your comment is kind and truthful. Thank you for taking the time to reply so clearly.

elizabeth Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

your welcome. i actually want to believe all the warm and fuzzy stuff, but after being so incredibly burned and hurt, the only thing i know now is not that shit happens FOR A REASON, just that shit happens, period.
i also want to acknowledge that peter DID actually say things that i resonated with.
“you can do good in other people’s lives”
“Do nice things for others and for yourself just because. Smile for no particular reason.”
I find these things to be a part of being a decent, caring human being. And sometimes the act of smiling can affect a tiny change in someone’s psychological disposition.
So many times when I deal with people who assume I share their beliefs regarding these metaphysical “laws”, i find them to be defensive and closeminded and behave in a way that is antithetical to what is to is to be regarding as “spiritual.”
Unlike the iamgod dude, Peter’s email has a very kind tone, and I feel he has these belief’s not for his own selfish ends, but because he is sincere in his good intentions. I don’t want him to feel disrespected by my response, but my own experience in life was so similiar to Sandon’s, that my ENTIRE belief system shifted after that. I was deeply affected in a very dark way after someone I loved, cared for and supported for years read “the secret” and became the biggest narcissist in the world. He left me when his life finally got better, completely destroying my heart, and thought leaving little quotes from it as he called with his new love beside him would make me feel better. It really only made him feel better about himself, because he bullshitted his way out of his actions of deep deception and abuse by reading that shit.
I found this website by googling, ‘ “the secret” is bullshit.’ When I read Sandon’s letter, I felt that in a very sad, tragic, unfortunate kind of way, i found a cyber-twin mind and new home.

Steve Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm

Hey, Elizabeth- What a gentle and kind response. Thanks for that. Despite learning the hard way when I was seven that shit just happens (my dad died in a stupid training accident) it took another twenty years to come to terms with not only a lack of real control but the idea that there’s no supernatural force that controls anything. While it seemed scary, in the long run I find it very comforting that the universe does what it does.

I am sorry for your loss- Although I suspect that that kind of thing happens to other folks even without reading The Secret- There are a lot of selfish people out there.

elizabeth Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

i just believe the golden rule is the best rule in the entire universe. It blows “the secret” out of the water, and its only 11 words. If you believe in that karma stuff, if you practice the golden rule, you wont need to worry about it.
It encompasses everything. We all want to be treated with honesty, compassion, fairness, respect, and dignity. If I believed in religion, this would be my chosen one. If i was political, I would apply this law to all living things.
In lieu of reading The Secret for creating anything else in your life, such as wealth or hot babes, perserverance, focus, discipline, hard work, good grooming, timing, connections, listerine and the shit happens doctrine will be your best bet. That will attract it rather than some non scientific reasoning that “like attracts like”. Give me a break. And please send me the check for the money you saved from buying the book. lol
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

Karthik

October 26th, 2009 at 1:07 pm · Reply

This is why the law of attraction isnt for anyone – and why it was kept hidden, and only known to the most intellectual of people. The law of attraction is something thats always been a part of nature – but you have to understand it.
First you say its works, then you say its complete bullshit. If you cant control your mind, then you should now even attempt to use the law of attraction. A few hundred years ago – you would be referred to as an “unworthy” – and a reason to keep it a secret.

October 27th, 2009 at 10:20 am · Reply

The golden rule is part of the Secret…in doing things for others, you do it for yourself, it’s about the thought-word-deed process. I think you’ll understand more what I mean if you read the Conversations With God series, which even if you DON’T believe in God, it’s ok since it completely redefines what we call “God” anyway.

Look, we don’t need science to explain everything. If we did, we’d be in big trouble, because half the stuff people have deemed as “religious bullshit” over the years is now being proven by science. If it weren’t for faith and people having courage or being daring, how else would the human race have survived this long?

I just don’t quite understand what you’re getting at. Your boyfriend or husband leaves you, and because of that you start proclaiming “The Secret is bullshit and there is no God or law of attraction!”

In order for things…anything, to work for you in life, regardless of whether or not you believe in the law of attraction…you have to be receptive and open to love, to patience, to knowing yourself. Fully and completely.

It’s not rocket science. It’s just understanding things from a deeper level than what you’re used to.

My suggestion is have another go. It’s interesting from your story how things started spiraling downhill once you “accepted the fact that there is no god”. What caused this “realization” if I may ask?

By the way, in case you didn’t notice, we exist in the realm of the relative…not the absolute. Even science points to that. The farther away from Earth you go, time slows down. Eventually it has to stop, right??

You speak of what is “real life”, as if your perceptions of negativity are all the world can possibly run off of, that things “just happen”, yet you claim to have used the law of attraction to a certain degree of success, and now because one or two things fail in your life, you decide to blame it all on chance.

It’s not about being positive every waking moment, it’s just being aware, and letting those negative thoughts pass through you without giving them your dominant attention.

You know, it’s nice to believe that things just happen by chance, that there is no god and that our lives don’t have meaning, therefore how are we possibly responsible for what we do on this planet? And why does it matter if we all get buried in the ground and eaten away anyways??

And if you believe we just simply live and die, then you are hypocrites….because in that case, why would all that negativity be affecting you? What’s it matter if someone we care about dies, if you’re just going to die and go nowhere too??

If we are so MORTAL, then why does ANYTHING we do on this planet matter?!?!?!

That’s my question to you. And if you truly believed what you preach, you wouldn’t be harping on all your negativity in the first place. That was YOUR responsibility, what you let happen to you, letting all your thoughts go ballistic.

Stop blaming your problems on the law of attraction, you’re the one who decided to try it, no one forced you. You garnered your own understanding of what you believed and learned about it from other people and stressed yourself out because you can’t let other people worry about themselves.

And so you end up…like me. A hypocrite. A person who is trying so hard right now to have faith in something. A person too scared to leave his roommate in this apartment and rot, because I spent too much time turning from what WORKED FOR ME and instead trying to take care of other people who, incidentally, can take care of their own selves anyways.

Now. If it worked for you once and IS NOT working now, obviously you went wrong somewhere. And where you went wrong is in blaming it for your problems and worry.

I’m not going to do that. Your “real world” causes me too much despair to make it worse and deny that any sort of god or greater force exists.

This is why I have my own world in my head is because I can’t deal with a place like that state of mind that you live in and succumb to. It turns you into someone no better than those you criticize.

People who are arrogant when using the Law of Attraction, it was not meant for them because they shirk their responsibilities, while people like you claim to be victims of the same Law just because some lying, cheating, heartless bastard screwed you over, and it must be the fault of the Law.

Learn to open your eyes before you criticize it all. We as people are at fault…not the Law, and not because we had faith in the Law, but because of our own stupidity.

This world is sleepwalking, always playing the blame game, always looking for something on which to cast our pain. And in the process, we act like children.

Try to see the truth through the fabrications you’ve created. I’m not saying it’s your fault for everything. But perceptions have a lot to do with how you live.

GMNightmare Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

Redefining what god means is useless and an utter contemptuous action. Instead of having us read your religious BS, which we won’t, how about you just define your new god?

And your wrong. What “religious BS” is now proven? None. None of it’s proven. At all. But I’ll bite, what is proven right? And for that matter, how is it proven right or wrong? That’s right, science. Science doesn’t mean lacking in courage or daring or anything. It’s a process of how we go about to gain knowledge and the best way to get truthful knowledge and share that with others successfully. Take your personal misconceptions of what science is and throw them away.

http://www.heavingdeadcats.com/testimonial/gmnightmare/

It’s a testimonial. Neece has one too, and it has nothing to do with “boyfriends leaving”, or bad things happening for that matter. Personally, one of my revelations is that bad things don’t happen to me and happen to others. And that’s still the case. My suggestion for you is to have a go at not believing in god.

“The farther away from Earth you go, time slows down. Eventually it has to stop, right?”
What utter and completely misunderstanding of the theory of relativity. No, that is completely wrong, completely off. The theory of relativity has to do with speed and the decay of particles. I hardly doubt you’ll understand the science part so let’s skip that. Time slows done relatively, meaning if you are going say nearly 3/4ths the speed of light, everything ages slightly slower. You do not perceive this. It has absolutely nothing to do with how far you are away from Earth.

Let’s review. Time is nothing but a measure of decaying particles. As you approach speed of light, decaying slows. Simple enough?

No, it’s not nice to believe there is no god, it’s honest. Nobody said things happen just by chance, another of your misconceptions of what is said. Nobody said our lives don’t have meaning, it just means we aren’t given meaning, we make our own meaning in this world.

And no, we aren’t hypocrites for thinking we just live and die. Why do you assume you are an immortal? What BS. Dying isn’t something negative, you fear death so much you’ll make up a bunch of BS. In large scale, nothing matters, at all, but you fail to take into consideration that there are others and we aren’t all completely selfish like yourself. I don’t care if in the end everything I do and will do will amount to nothing to the universe. How selfish to think my insignificant life should. But religion doesn’t change that! What did everybody before do? What change did they bring, what meaning to the universe did they have? NONE! But you think becoming immortal and living in the clouds adds meaning and something additional to this life? BS!

If the only meaning to this life is to prepare for our next life, then our next life is quite meaningless–not to mention I call that a poor excuse of a meaning for a life anyways. Suppose god asked the question, “Why give you another life when you spent the first life I gave you trying to get into the next one?”

There is nothing negative about us just dying for good. In fact, I would hate to be immortal, what a horror, to live even a trillion years would be boring beyond imagination.

No one is blaming law of attraction. You’re so full of it. The law of attraction NEVER works.

How about you quit being selfish. Why does the law of attraction only affect you? Hmm? Why can you not help others with it? You are also muddling what the law of attraction is:

“” 1. Know exactly what you want.
2. Ask the universe for it.
3. Feel, behave and know as if the object of your desire is already yours (visualize).
4. Be open to receive it and let go of (the attachment to) the outcome.”
There goes the problem. The law of attraction puts focus on the thought, just the thought. If you think it, it will happen. But this is not going to happen, just thinking does not bring about grand things–but that is what the law of attraction argues. For benefits of thinking positively, I refer to the first post I made here.

“Try to see the truth through the fabrications you’ve created.” I am saying it’s your fault, by the way.

October 28th, 2009 at 1:37 am · Reply

hi peter,
I want to acknowledge your thoughtful response, i think you truly come from a good place. I am not blaming “the secret” and the “law of attraction” on my romantic woes, I am merely citing it as an example of promoting narcissicism and personal gain rather than really giving people true insight as to how the “laws of the universe” work. I can think of better “laws”, I saw some great ones on Neece’s voice of the people poll. Putting that book in the hands of someone who is selfless, honest, needs a little empowering, and is in need of an elusive miracle, might possibly benefit from it. Put into the hands of someone who is already out for themselves and perhaps has a bit too much selfishness and not enough selflessness will not understand the importance of also thinking of the bigger picture, rather than just your wishes being granted.
As for you stating that I tried using the “laws of attraction” i don’t know where you got that from. I don’t think about “laws” other than being decent and honest. Read what I wrote again! I stated very clearly my “law” is the golden rule, funny enough, when i looked around on this website after stating that, i saw it listed as a value of the people running this.
My “realization” did not come from this relationship, it’s what completely solidified it. It was just the final straw i had in believing “that something better was coming” because so much bad shit had happened before that my karmic dues were finally paid. Every cosmic person told me that as well.
Just so you know a little of my background. I lived in an ashram with very metaphysical people growing up. When I was 13, I roomed with a woman who later changed her name to Katrina Rafael, after some angel. I was her nanny when she “channeled” a best seller called “Crystal Healing”. We were very close, and I would ask her where she got all this info on crystals and their powers. Her response? “I make this stuff up.” I liked her a great deal, but I knew she could be shrewd, clever, and definitely ought to be successful. She even opened a “crystal healing academy” to train other people in the bullshit she made up! That’s when my wheels really started turning into another direction.
I have lived in places that have more than their fair share of “the secret” followers and even some dear friends of mine are devotees of the book, as well as hold beliefs that venture far from mine.
I can only speak from my own experience after living for many years with healers, astrologers, crystal bowl toners, guru followers, and the like. I have gone to rainbow gatherings and held hands in a circle of tens of thousands of people. I believe in the power of love, just not in the power of nonsensical, magically optimistic sounding bullshit. There is a saying, “your thoughts become you.” There is truth in that. There is also truth that there is so much beyond our control, that reading all these optimistic meta-reality books can’t change the tide of. You can’t push water up a river, no matter how much you believe in these “laws of attraction.”
I don’t need to believe in the “laws of attraction” to behold the virtues you mentioned of: patience, receptivity to love, knowing yourself fully and completely. Amen, (if i dare say!!) to all that good stuff. But still, there is no promise it will change anything, but perhaps it will increase one’s chances.
To me, that has nothing to do with “laws”, just common sense and not giving up. It is my choice if want to perservere or not, that choice will not be based on any disdain for “the secret.”
I thank you for taking the time to comment, and also, taking the time to read this.

Marehd

October 28th, 2009 at 11:57 pm · Reply

Uh…I think the best (known by some) secret I read was in a book
called,”Chicken Poop for the Soul”.
I’ll cut to the chase,quickly as I can: the writer says he’s read this book,because John Doe 1 said he had the answers.The writer believed in different writers, one at a time, as each book’s advice fell apart.
Then one day (he relates) he got an idea: he would write a book! Now he’s ‘happy’ with all his riches.End of anecdote.

Robert M. Novick

November 2nd, 2009 at 5:29 pm · Reply

what a relief! for years, i’ve been challenged by my view of spirituality and philosophy….i’ve had some amazing experiences, made both motivated and intelligent decisions, and some very selfish and destructive decisions….i’ve taken the beauty i’ve seen in the world, and have attempted to share it through my writing, as well as the tragedy and disappointment….
the self help industry is nothing more than a series of products designed to feed people’s desires for hope and success…and i agree, any idea whatsoever, without action, is empty….if i were guaranteed that i would make a healthy living telling other people to think positively and then use metaphorical testament to affirm my initial ideas, then hell yeah!! who wouldn’t want to sit around all day and devise colorful scenarios where you illustrate how effective your ideas are??? people like esther hicks make me sick….to think for a second that some ultradimensional entity is being channeled by some hack is beyond comprehension to me……most folks are placed on heavy medication when they hear such voices, but esther goes on cruises and rattles off rhetoric in rooms packed with hopeful believers……and she’s not the only one who gets to take the easy road….just the most absurd example i can think of….
i do believe that a positive attitude does enable me to enact more discipline towards my goals, and it does alleviate the pressure of internalizing negative events…..but i don’t believe that my thinking does anything except lead to whatever action i choose….take away the money and i doubt anyone would preach the good word….
i’ve come to the point in life, and i’m only 40 years old, that i’m weary of witnessing the preponderance of greed in humanity, the general lack of compassion, and the continual efforts of those with influence to push ideas into confusion and obscurity, to serve their own selfish agendas…unfortunately hypocrisy flourishes and as long as we tell ourselves that it’s okay and one day we’ll be forgiven, then it flies as acceptable….in reality it only perpetuates the isolated and self serving world views that are leading to the downfall of our species….
all that said, the mind is a brilliant and beautiful instrument capable of so much rich and fascinating thought…and i enjoy the world, and i also enjoy hating aspects of it while revelling in the beauty…..i believe in inspiration followed by discipline…and i believe in love…..if i am persistent in my kindness, and tolerant of the process of understanding, then i am closer to being on track with what i think matters most in the world…..
really what needs to happen is those ultradimensional beings need to quit speaking to the loons and start informing people on how to distribute food to the starving…that would go a lot further in actually making this a better world.

elizabeth Reply:
November 7th, 2009 at 2:35 pm

this comment is my favorite comment on the whole page. I can rest my case.

Neece Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

Thanks Robert.

Johnny

November 6th, 2009 at 6:39 pm · Reply

Thought I was gonna be resurrecting this one, but there’s recent comments here.

Barbara Ehrenreich on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

“I never think delusion is okay.” ~Barbara Ehrenreich

Neece Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

Excellent video, Johnny. Thanks. I agree with her, I never think delusion is okay either. Realism is not a bad word.

Laws Attraction

December 26th, 2009 at 10:00 am · Reply

Nice post here. Gave me something to think on. But for me, the law of attraction really does work. People just tend to forget that you don’t only think positively, but you have to put it in your heart. Convert it to energy to become your driving force to succeed. The law of attraction is a developing process. It doesn’t happen overnight. You need to really have that passion and action to succeed.

GMNightmare Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

BS, you aren’t thinking about it at all. You just said that to make yourself sound nice, but I can see through BS like that. Don’t lie to hide your intentions.

So, you have the new secret to the law of attraction huh? Going to go make a book just like all the other BS spewers, for 9.99 we can have the secret too? Just put it in your heart? Sorry, but you’re absolutely wrong. The heart is nothing but a organ to pump blood. You made an absolutely useless statement, the brain controls everything, so it boils down to yes, just thinking positively.

Covert it to energy? You mean like, act upon your wants? Yes, that’s all fine an dandy, but there is NO GUARANTEE TO WORK. Of course it’s supposed to be a developing process, because it doesn’t work. If thinking positively about things did anything magical, we’d all be happy.

Look, you obviously can’t think outside the box. How about you use it to win the lottery? Have you won the lottery yet? No? Of course not. Become president? Nope. Fly into space? No.

You see, one of the basis for the law of attraction is that you have to do it for something that is realistically possible without it.

IE, you don’t really need it to get anything.

But hey, positive thinking helps, it just doesn’t go do any BS magical things.

Neece Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:55 am

Put it in your heart? Convert it to energy? Like kilojoules? That is complete nonsense. It is not based in the real world in any sense of the word.
And saying it doesn’t happen overnight is just covering your ass because it doesn’t work at all. There are no laws of physics that support this BS. You making up mumbo jumbo is completely pointless.
Think about what you want to accomplish in life. Then go out and DO it. That’s how things are done. Period. No mumbo jumbo needed. And it fits with the laws of physics. How convenient, huh?

Richard

January 20th, 2010 at 11:47 pm · Reply

I know the Law of Attraction is BULLSHIT!!! I lost my my girlfriend to a bunch of hocus pocus she started going for and then all of a sudden I wasn’t good enough for her anymore and she ran off and left me a note sayind she loved me but had to be honest with herself and she needed to learn how forgive herself before she can be in another relationship. WTF is that shit????

GMNightmare Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:07 pm

To me it just sounds like she just plain out dumped you. I don’t know all the details, but I think she just gave excuses for not wanting to be with you. I wouldn’t worry about it very much, it sounds like it might have been a good thing to happen when it did instead of down the line.

Neece Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:57 am

I have to agree with GMN. It sounds like she wanted out of the relationship with you for whatever reason and it was just an excuse. You can’t make someone love you and being bitter about someone moving on is only going to make it harder for you to move on and find someone better suited to you now.

But I agree with you that the law of attraction is Bullshit. Plain and simple. And people do use it to act even more selfish and narcissistic than without it.

January 24th, 2010 at 11:26 pm · Reply

i agree with these two. i was basically dumped, also, by a self serving person who read that bible for narcissists guide. Honestly, he was already out of it and merely used that book to reinforce his bullshit and denial. It is designed for people strictly to believe in self serving fairy tales, but if someone truly loves you, this heap of crap will not get in the way of that. Do you really want to be with someone who buys into such nonsense, anyways?

Mig

March 12th, 2010 at 7:22 am · Reply

NON BELIVERS!!! It’s true! It works! Screw you! IT TOTALLY WORKS!!! DON’T QUESTION THE LAW OF ATTRACTION!!!!

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