is the law of attraction real Archives - The Law Of Attraction Sceptic

Is the law of attraction truth, or is the law of attraction scam mongering!? Since the release of Rhonda Bryne’s film the Secret in 2006, millions of people were inspired to change their lives. The Secret film alludes to a secret law which governs our lives. This “secret” can be harnessed to increase our levels of abundance, happiness and satisfaction in life. The “secret” is the law of attraction. But is the LOA a LIE?

Law Of Attraction Scam – What Is The LOA?

The first known usage of the term the law of attraction was in 1877. It was found in a book by Helena Blavatsky, in a book about esoteric mysteries. Since then, there have been many books written on the subject including books such as:

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
The Science Of Getting Rich – Wallace Wattles
Working With The Law – Raymond Holliwell
The Strangest Secret – Earl Nightingale
As A Man Thinketh – James Allen
Plus many more.

See Law of attraction pdf to access some of these and other titles on this topic.

So, Rhonda Bryne’s book and film “The Secret” is definitely not the first time the phrase has been coined. But it’s the first time many people have been told that there is some mystical reason why their lives suck so bad! For many, this was good news. They were inspired to make changes and take a different route. But most people found nothing major happened in their lives. Is that because the law of attraction scammed them? Or was it because they didn’t understand the secret in any real depth?

What Does The LOA Say?

In essence, the law of attraction says that what we think about and give attention to grows in our experience. “What we think about and thank about we bring about“. So, if we think about possibilities and outcomes we would like to create in our lives, we can create more of them, or come up with solutions to how we might create them. If we only think about our current circumstances, or about grievances from our past, we’re likely to get more of those too!

But there’s a lot more to it than just that of course. Your upbringing, your beliefs, attitudes and opportunities will have a huge say in what you can manifest using the law of attraction. But you can be pretty sure that if you do nothing, you can’t expect the world to fall at your feet and give you everything you want.

The LOA And Belief

Are you unhappy with your current situation and circumstances in life? Do you believe you are worthy of more? Here lies the starting point of the law of attraction. Whether you believe you are worthy or not, of something you want, is a large precursor to what is coming. If you don’t believe you are worth it, you surely won’t take the time to work out how to get it! If it comes, you’ll reject it for some reason you have predetermined. Perhaps it’s too good to be true!

Is “The Secret” too good to be true? Whether you believe this or not will lay the foundations for your results when using the law of attraction. You can’t dismiss the LOA out of hand and expect your results in life to change too!

In Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich, he talks about the subconscious mind being a “fertile garden spot”, “in which weeds will grow in abundance, if seeds of a more desirable nature are not sewn therein”.

This simple sentence explains very succinctly how the law of attraction works. Flowers grow steadily towards the sunlight. They don’t doubt themselves and throw a tizzy like we do!

Is The Law Of Attraction A Scam?

It’s easy to see how people have decided the law of attraction is a scam when they don’t see evidence of it working for them. But their justification of their position in life is the law of attraction working! Those are the very “seeds” they are planting! The results they see in their lives are the fruits which are borne from their thinking and acting in a certain way.

Behaviour doesn’t change for most people. They generally work in the same jobs, see the same people, and their lives map out in a predictable way. For the law of attraction to really work, you have to change your behaviour. The Secret is looked upon by many as a scam because they misunderstand it. For your life to change, you must change. You can’t alter your life by much without changing your behaviour. And behaviour doesn’t often change because people are rooted in their beliefs from an early age.

Law Of Attraction Scam – Self image

Behaviour doesn’t change mostly because people have bought into a self perception of who they are. Self image is a strong indicator of how well a person will do in life in terms of love, income, and satisfaction. Most people have a well engrained self image which is difficult to change. One of the best books on this subject is Maxwell Maltz’s psycho-cybernetics.

Maltz worked as a plastic surgeon but realised that many of his clients were unhappy even after they had facial corrective surgery. He discovered that changing the self image was far more important than changing someone’s outward appearance. in some instances, his clients didn’t want facial surgery after their self image was changed. They no longer needed to change the “outside” of their appearance.

So Is The Law Of Attraction A Scam, Or Is It Real?

Whether you believe the law of attraction is a scam or real is up to you. But be aware that your thoughts are the “seeds” which are growing your future. In the words of Henry Ford, whether you believe you can or you can’t, you are right”.

Is the law of attraction real? Many seem to thinks so but the law of attraction also has its fair share of critics too. Some believe that the law of attraction is impossible to prove and that confirmation bias and the placebo effect is as much to do with the outcomes as anything else.

Some say the law of attraction is proved by quantum physics – see quantum physics law of attraction for details of the double slit experiment. In the double slit experiment, electrons are fired through a barrier with two slits in it. What you expect to see is two lines on the wall behind where the electrons get through. But in fact the electrons behave differently whether they are being observed or not.

Law of attraction advocates use this experiment to give credit to the idea that nothing exists in the universe as it appears. The observer influences the outcome of the experiment by being present in it. In the same way, we influence the outcome in our lives by our observations and judgements of it and of ourselves: hence we create what we give attention to.

Napoleon Hill Think And Grow Rich – Is The Law Of Attraction Real?

Before Rhonda Bryne wrote the book and released the film of The Secret, there were many books written on the subject of the law of attraction. Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill, Working With The Law – Raymond Holliwell, The Science of Getting Rich – Wallace Wattles, the list goes on. See the law of attraction pdf for a list of these books available to download.

In Napoleon Hill’s Book Think and Grow Rich, he talks in depth about the attractive forces which we all hold inside our minds. Hill explains that the nature of our thinking processes instructs the subconscious mind to bring about the results we “want” in our lives. Most people aren’t aware that their thoughts are running an inner dialogue throughout the day on virtual autopilot.

“Nature has so build man that he has absolute control over the material which reaches his subconscious mind”. … “In the great majority of instances he does not exercise it (control). Which explains why so many people go through life in poverty.” – Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich

Understanding The Law Of Attraction

In the film The Secret, the theory almost alludes to the idea that we can almost just think about something and have it materialise without any action or work on our behalf. I’m sure this is not the intention of the film, to simplify the Law Of Attraction so drastically.

In reality, we have been creating our lives for a long period of time already. To give a few days or even weeks or months worth of our intention to a drastic change in direction, and expect some kind of magic to prevail against all our previous bad habits, is unrealistic.

You simply can’t think about something and expect it to magically arrive without a great deal of intention. But think about your life now, as it is. What was your thinking 10-20 years ago? Did you get what you wanted? Or what you were thinking about? Did you get what your expected? Whether the prevailing thoughts and intentions are deliberate or accidental is irrelevant. The prevailing beliefs and dominant signals to the unconscious have a far greater effect on our direction than the whimsical wishes we occasionally imagine.

The dominant prevailing intentions you have can be outside of your conscious awareness. Your intentions include your desire and expectations.

Why Thoughts Become Things

The idea that you can think of manifesting a brand new car, or a house, is not realistic unless you’re already in the situation where this is possible. So if you’re broke with no job or income, this is pretty unlikely to happen very soon. The law of attraction is about attracting more of the same, not attracting things which are outside of what you believe is possible.

Thoughts magnetise more thoughts of a like nature. If you absolutely don’t believe your situation can change, you’re unlikely to think about ways to instigate or bring about change. Start with the belief that you can do something though, your mind gets busy looking for possibilities to make things happen.

A pessimist will always look always on the bad side of things. These thoughts are unlikely to attract a beautiful life because, well, you don’t believe it in the first place. So you won’t attract more thoughts which will help you achieve it. You don’t believe a charmed life is possible for you so you don’t take action on the opportunities which present themselves.

Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right – Henry Ford

Believe It Or Not

Think for a second of the nature of a placebo pill. A placebo pill is a ‘fake’ pill which only works because you believe it works. If a doctor gives you a placebo pill and you have huge faith in your doctor, you take it religiously and expect to get well again, which of course you do. You actually made yourself well with the power of your belief. The pill did nothing in reality but acted to inspire you into acting on yourself through your beliefs.

The placebo just shows the power of belief. Whether you believe in the law of attraction or not, can in part determine whether you’ll bring about the changes you want in your life.

Watch Derren Brown’s Fear and Faith on the Placebo Effect.

Confirmation Bias – Is The Law Of Attraction Real?

Confirmation bias favouritism towards beliefs and ideas which you already believe to be true. We search for information and reassurance to confirm what we already think. This is another theory which is used by some to say the law of attraction is just new age nonsense. If you believe the law of attraction to be real, what actual proof do you have?

Once you decide which side of the fence to sit on, you use all your energy in looking for information to prove yourself right! So, think about that for a moment. If your life isn’t quite what you want it to be, you can make the appropriate changes and take responsibility for it, or you could spend time proving yourself right?

Would you rather be right or happy? What are you trying to be ‘right’ about?

Is The Law Of Attraction Real? – You Decide

What are your thoughts on the law of attraction? Please let me know in the comments section. Whether you believe in it or not, it’s a tool which could change your life, if you want it to. But it’s not a quick fix which lets you sit cross legged for an hour and suddenly turn your life around. You’ve been ‘manifesting’ your life for years.

Many of the things you have attracted already are unwanted too. Unconscious traumas and conflicting desires can confuse the subconscious mind into delivering something not quite what you thought you had imagined. If you’re holding on to resentment from the past, judgement about things, people or circumstances and your expectations don’t match your desires for what you want in life, this can all collude to bring about your life circumstances and situation.

Whether or not you believe in the law of attraction also has a bearing on the creation process, much like the placebo effect. If you decide it’s all phoney, you’re unlikely to investigate it and you will continue creating in the same manner as you have done previously. If that’s working for you, no worries! Keep doing it. If not, you deserve to give yourself a better chance at life and undermine some of your beliefs thought processes and habits which no longer serve you.

Check out my journal on the law of attraction anger where I’m currently doing a journal into my own inner anger in order to release my inner turmoil in order to remove a glass ceiling in life I’m currently dealing with.