The Law of Attraction (LOA)
What is LOA? Is it for real? Does Law of Attraction work? How can it help me?
History of the Law of Attraction
In the early 19th century, there was a New Thought movement. Phineas P Quimby is thought to be the founder of this New thought movement. Quimby was influenced by a lecture by Charles Poyen and Franz Mesmer’s work on hypnosis, which was called mesmerism, which is where we get the word “mesmerize”. Mr. Quimby founded a mental health facility in Portland, Maine in 1859,using hypnotism(mesmerism) to help people to understand that “illness is a matter of the mind”. Prentice Mulford and his White Cross Library is where the name “New Thought” and the term “Law of Attraction” first came to fruition. There are still schools and organizations based on New Thought that are active today
What is the Law of Attraction?
In the New Thought philosophy, the law of attraction is the belief that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts a person brings positive or negative experiences into their life. The belief is based on the idea that people and their thoughts are both made from “pure energy”, and that through the process of “like energy attracting like energy” a person can improve their own health, wealth and personal relationships. What you give out in terms of thoughts, be it positive, loving thoughts or negative, mean thoughts; is what you get back from people and situations.
Books and media
Early writings about LOA— Phineas Quimbys papers of his healings were written about by Horatio Dresser in Health and the Inner Life: An Analytical and Historical Study of Spiritual Healing and Theories, and also in the book, The Collected Manuscripts of P.P. Quimby.
Wallace D Wattles– wrote “The Science of Getting Rich”, “The Science of Being Great”, “The Science of Being Well” and more.
William Walker Atkinson–wrote”Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World”
Napoleon Hill– “Think and Grow Rich”
Louise Hay– “Heal your Body”, “You Can Heal Your Life”
Rhonda Byrne–” The Secret” , “The Power”, “The Magic”,’The Secret DailyTeachings”,”Hero”, and “How the Secret changed my life, real people real stories”
Dr.Wayne Dyer–“The Power of Intention” , “Change Your Thoughts-Chang Your Life:Living The Wisdom of the Tao”, “Wishes Fulfilled” ” You’ll See It When You Believe It”, ” Manifest Your Destiny”
Esther and Jerry Hicks– “Ask and It Is Given, Learning to Manifest Your Desires”, “The Law of Attraction”, “The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent”
And Many more……
Criticism
There is some criticism of this way of thinking. There were some studies done in Germany and the UK that said that taking the time to positively envision their week took away time that they could have made real actions in their lives. The students in the study “wasted time”. There is no real scientific merit to what the book and movie “The Secret” proclaim. According to Christopher Chabris and DANIEL J. SIMONS, two psychology professors, in a New York Times article; the Secret uses pseudo-scientific jargon to create an illusion of knowledge; as social scientists call our tendency to believe we understand something much better than we really do. And The Secret also uses something psychologists call “Social Proof”, which means that people like to do things that other people do to prove the value of their own actions. Action(buying the Secret) as touted by Oprah. If everyone else does it, then its good. And I have read other criticisms about not getting needed medical care because the person wanted to heal themselves with “magical thinking”.
How can it help me?
My thoughts on the Law of Attraction are that it has helped me. I have read “Think and Grow Rich”, “You Can Heal Your Life” and “The Secret”. I did the exercises from the books. It gave me a sense that i was taking a good action for myself, instead of being pessimistic and negative. In the past I was very negative, it affected my whole life. I really think that God, the Universe or whatever you call it leads me to information that i need to learn, to help me change my life for the better. I learned how to visualize objects and scenes and how to have faith in an outcome and how to let the desire go, to let God and the Universe provide what was best for the situation for all involved. People liked being around me because I wasnt down and gloomy all the time. How can it help you? It can teach you how to be positive, how to visualize, how to use your feelings in the correct way( focusing them) and how to stop worrying and have Faith in the outcome.
In conclusion
The Law of Attraction is a very old thought. It is a Universal Law. There may be some criticisms about it but I enjoyed all of the books I have read on the subject. I also use common sense when making decisions, but I leave room for the Unknown to work its’ magic.
