Law of attraction (New Thought)

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This article is about the New Thought principle. For the scientific and historical laws, see Laws of attraction. For the film, see Laws of Attraction.

The phrase Law of Attraction, although used widely by esoteric writers, has a variety of definitions. Turn of the century references conceptualized the law of attraction as relating to physical structure and to how matter develops. [1] A more modern consensus among New Thought thinkers is that the Law of Attraction says people's thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) dictate the reality of their lives, whether or not they're aware of it. Essentially "if you really want something and believe it's possible, you'll probably get it" but that putting a lot of attention and thought onto something you don't want means you'll probably get that too. [2][3]

Widespread popular interest for the law of attraction reached its peak after the release of the The Secret (2006 film). After the film's release, the book, Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham, by Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks [4] made the New York Times Best Sellers list, drawing more attention and interest to this topic. In 2007, Oprah Winfrey began a series of interviews during her talk show on the law of attraction.

Since many of the claims of the law of attraction appear impossible without violating established scientific principles and our understanding of the universe, it has received criticism from the scientific community.[5] Physicist Ali Alousi, for instance, criticized it as unmeasurable (and therefore unscientific) as well as questioning the likelihood that thoughts can affect anything outside the head [2]. The associated press is also quoted as saying that "some medical professionals suggest it could even lead to a blame-the-victim mentality and actually be dangerous to those suffering from serious illness or mental disorders".[6]

Overview

Many modern proponents say that the Law of Attraction has roots in Quantum Physics, though no reputable scientist or publication ever supported the alleged scientific credentials of this theory.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

  1. Know what you want and ask the universe for it.
  2. Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is on its way.
  3. Be open to receiving it.

Thinking of what one does not have, they say, manifests itself in not having, while if one abides by these principles, and avoids "negative" thoughts, the Universe will manifest a person's desires. [7]

Scientists are critical of the lack of falsifiability and testability of these claims. The evidence provided is usually anecdotal and, because of the self-selecting nature of positive reports, as well as the subjective nature of any results, highly susceptible to misinterpretations like confirmation bias and selection bias.[8] References to modern scientific theory are also criticized. While brainwaves do have an electrical signal, quantum physic principles do not act in the way proponents of the Law of Attraction have described them.[5]

The use of the term law has also come under fire. Critics have said that the use of the term and the vague references to quantum physics to bridge any unexplained or seemingly implausible effects are hallmark traits of modern pseudoscience. Proponents of the Law of Attraction however say that the nature of the 'law' is not one to be settled scientifically, and the word 'law' carries the same belief-based weight as non-scientific 'laws' from other religions, such as the 'Law of Karma' and the Ten Commandments.

The principles of the law of attraction have also been interpreted in the realm of medicine and illness. In 1990, Bernie Siegel (a retired assistant clinical professor of surgery at Yale) published a popular book, Love, Medicine and Miracles, which asserted that the threat of disease was related to a person's imagination, will, and belief.[8] Siegel primarily advocated "love" as the source of healing and longevity stating that "if you want to be immortal, love someone."[9][10]

Siegel's description has been largely rejected by the medical community[11]. The most notable critic is neuroendocrinologist and Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky, who devoted a whole chapter in his book Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers to critiquing Siegel. Sapolsky refers to Siegel's general idea as "benign gibberish" but is strongly critical of what he sees as blaming patients for their illness, based only on questionable anecdotal evidence[12]. Sapolsky sums up his primary criticism as follows:

Where the problems become appallingly serious is when Siegel concentrates on the main point of his book. No matter how often he puts in the disclaimers saying that he's not trying to make people feel guilty, the book's premise is that (a) cancer can be caused by psychosocial factors in the person; (b) cancer (or any other disease, as far as I can tell) is curable if the patient has sufficient courage, love and spirit; (c) if the patient is not cured, it is because of the insufficient amounts of those admirable traits. As we have just seen, this is not how cancer works, and a physician simply should not go about telling seriously ill people otherwise.[12]

History

An "occult law of attraction", 1879

The New York Times was the first major newspaper to use the phrase "Law of Attraction." Their April 6th, 1879 edition described the wagon trains of the Colorado gold rush as "moving in obedience to some occult law of attraction that overcomes all obstacles in their progress to their destination."[13]

A physical "energy of attraction", 1902

As early as 1902, references to something similar to the law of attraction can be seen particularly in discussion of matter formation. John Ambrose Fleming an electrical engineer and turn of the century physicist described "every completed manifestation, of whatever kind and on whatever scale," as "an unquenchable energy of attraction" that causes objects to "steadily increase in power and definiteness of purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form stands out as an accomplished fact."[14]

The New Thought Movement, 1904 - 1907

Thomas Troward, who was a strong influence in the New Thought Movement, claimed that thought precedes physical form and that "the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form." [15]

In 1906, William Walker Atkinson (1862 - 1932) used the phrase in his New Thought Movement book,Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. [16] The following year, Elizabeth Towne, the editor of The Nautilus Magazine, a Journal of New Thought, published Bruce MacLelland's book Prosperity Through Thought Force, in which he summarized the principle, stating: "You are what you think, not what you think you are." [17]

The "law of attraction" in Theosophy, 1915 - 1919

The phrase "Law of Attraction" appeared in the writings of the Theosophical authors William Quan Judge in 1915, [18] and Annie Besant in 1919. [19]

Mid 1900s to 2000

By the mid 1900s, various authors addressed the topic and related ideas under a range of religious, occult, and secular terms, such as "positive thinking", "mental science", "pragmatic Christianity", "New Thought", "practical metaphysics", "Science of Mind" / "Religious Science", and "Divine Science".[2][20] Among the mid 20th century authors who used the term were Florence Scovel Shinn (1925), Sri K. Parvathi Kumar, (1942)[21] and Alice Bailey (1942). [22][23] [24]

The "law of attraction" in the 21st century

In 2006, a film entitled The Secret (2006 film) based on the "Law of Attraction" was released and then developed into a book of the same title in 2007. The movie and book gained widespread attention in the media from Saturday Night Live to The Oprah Winfrey Show in the United States.[2] The same year the Hickses' The Law Of Attraction was on the New York Times best seller list.[25]

The success of the film and various books lead to increased media coverage. Oprah Winfrey devoted two episodes of her show to discussing the film and the law of attraction [26]. Talk show host Larry King also discussed it on his show but criticized it for several reasons. He pointed at the sufferings in the world and asked: "If the Universe manifests abundance at a mere thought, why is there so much poverty, starvation, and death?"

This is similar to a common criticism that the law of attraction only works because most of the anecdotes cited in books and movies are about people who live in a culture that has paths to allow people to overcome adversity, while this is not true for much of the world. [2]

In August 2008, Esther and Jerry Hickses' book Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ “Waves in water, Air and Either,” delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J. A. Fleming "“All branches of physical science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form stands out as an accomplished fact."
  2. ^ a b c d e Whittaker, S. Secret attraction, The Montreal Gazette, May 12th 2007.
  3. ^ Redden, Guy, Magic Happens: A New Age Metaphysical Mystery Tour, Journal of Australian Studies: 101
  4. ^ The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham,By (Spirit) Abraham, Abraham, Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks,Published by Hay House, 2006,ISBN 1401912273, 9781401912277
  5. ^ a b Scientific American; Jun2007, Vol. 296 Issue 6, p39-39: "The brain does produce electrical activity from the ion currents flowing among neurons during synaptic transmission, and in accordance with Maxwell's equations any electric current produces a magnetic field. But as neuroscientist Russell A. Poldrack of the University of California, Los Angeles, explained to me, these fields are minuscule and can be measured only by using an extremely sensitive superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) in a room heavily shielded against outside magnetic sources. Plus, remember the inverse square law: the intensity of an energy wave radiating from a source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from that source. An object twice as far away from the source of energy as another object of the same size receives only one-fourth the energy that the closer object receives. The brain's magnetic field of 10-15 tesla quickly dissipates from the skull and is promptly swamped by other magnetic sources, not to mention the earth's magnetic field of 10-5 tesla, which overpowers it by 10 orders of magnitude!"
  6. ^ Critics Express Concern About 'The Secret' Associated Press, June 25th 2007.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference gazette2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Kaptchuk, T., & Eisenberg, D. (1998). The Persuasive Appeal of Alternative Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine, 129(12), 1061.
  9. ^ Woo, L. (1989, May 5). Doctor's prescription: Love yourself Caring can cure when science can't, Siegel tells 1,300. The Orange County Register.
  10. ^ Siegel, B. S. (1990). Love, Medicine and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients. Harper Paperbacks.
  11. ^ Surviving terminal illness with big dose of optimism Surgeon prescribes peace of mind. (1991, June 18).The Atlanta Journal, E1.
  12. ^ a b Sapolsky, R. M. (1998). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, 2nd Edition: An Updated Guide To Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping (2nd ed., p. 178-179). W. H. Freeman.
  13. ^ TO LEADVILLE IN WINTER, COLORADO'S NEW MINING CAMP - New York Times - April 6th, 1879
  14. ^ The quotation is from a course of lectures on “Waves in water, Air and Either,” delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J. A. Fleming.
  15. ^ Judge Thomas Troward, “The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science,” 1904.
  16. ^ William Walker Atkinson. Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction. Advanced Thought Publishing. 1906. Out of Copyright version
  17. ^ MacLelland, Bruce, Prosperity Through Thought Force, Elizabeth Towne, 1907
  18. ^ Judge, William Quan (1915). The Ocean of Theosophy. United Lodge of Theosophists. pp. p103. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  19. ^ Popular Lectures on Theosophy. Theosophical Publishing House. 1919. pp. p79. {{cite book}}: |first= missing |last= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |last= ignored (help)
  20. ^ Griffiths, L. ‘Law of attraction’ has long history in inspirational writing East Valley Tribune, April 21st 2007.
  21. ^ Kumar, Sri K. Parvathi (1942). Occult Meditations. Dhanishta. pp. p230. ISBN 8189467042. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  22. ^ Bailey, Alice A. (1942). Letters on Occult Meditation. Lucis Trust. pp. p53, p265. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  23. ^ Bailey, Alice A. (1942). Esoteric Psychology II. Lucis Trust. pp. pp 111-113. ISBN 0853301190. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  24. ^ Bailey, Alice A. (1973). A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Luc]]is Trust. pp. pp 1166-1229. ISBN 0853301174. Section Two - Division F - The Law of Attraction {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  25. ^ NY Times Bestseller information March 11, 2007
  26. ^ A new spin on positive thinking
  27. ^ NY Times Bestseller information August 31, 2008

Bibliography

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