A Challenge to the Conventional Law of Attraction

First and foremost, the following summary of my understanding of the "Law of Attraction" is based on my practical experience and, therefore, differs from that presented by Esther and Jerry Hicks' and, to a lesser degree, The Secret. I believe I keep an open mind and am willing (even eager) to be proven wrong. After all, Jesus in the Bible performed miracles, drawing on the power (authority) of his Father (God - the Universal, the One, etc) without the accompanying action I believe is necessary.

Law of Attraction

If my understanding is correct, the Law of Attraction (as commonly described) does not require any action in order for your desired goal to manifest, however, this version is inconsistent with my practical world experience. I believe there to be a process underlying the empirically defined, man-made Law of Attraction. I accept the point you will undoubtedly make that my experience is neither definitive nor necessarily consistent with others experience. I have noted, however, considerable dissatisfaction throughout the Internet, primarily on blogs, with regard to the Law of Attraction as presented in "The Secret" (as the common point of reference, being the most widespread and well known release on this subject). The component of "Action", as I have argued in previous articles, was mentioned in "The Secret" but certainly not emphasized as a requirement. My understanding, perhaps faulty, of the commonly held version is that Action is entirely absent. As I said earlier, I remain open, and eager, to discover the process whereby I can realize my desires without effort but, to date, have been entirely unsuccessful.

Natural Laws

The Law of Attraction is often likened to other physical laws, the most frequently used example being that of Gravity. Gravity works irregardless of whether or not one believes in it, visualizes it and/or has faith in it. Similarly with all other physical laws of Nature (Law of Conservation of Momentum, Newton's Laws of Motion, Laws of Thermodynamics, etc.). They have, without exception, all been studied, measured, quantified and found to be Universal to the extent that our observations and measurements can ascertain, at all scales, from the sub-atomic to the universal (in the sense of astronomy / cosmology). Finally, precise predictions have been made, tested and proven on the basis of these Natural Laws.

Man-made "Natural Laws

The many man-made "laws", however, are inconsistent, unmeasurable and empirical. The Law of Attraction is, arguably, the most well known of the man-made "laws". Again, since the release of The Secret, many people describe their experience trying to utilize the Law of Attraction as resulting in little or no success.

Furthermore, the Internet is full of "Gurus" selling products and services who claim to have achieved great wealth and success using the "Law of Attraction". In my opinion, based on my review of their web-sites, they are making their money selling false dreams to hopeful masses and generally fail as they promise "Something for Nothing", no action required. While I have no problem with people selling goods or services (I am, after all, a consultant), the hard sell tactics of many of these gurus is, I suggest, contradictory to their claimed Law of Attraction success. To be utterly clear, if they were, indeed, successful in their application of the "Law of Attraction", they would not need to use hard sell tactics or make grandiose claims of their success using the law. As a counterpoint, by way of example, Jesus went about performing his countless miracles with little or no accompanying fanfare.

Reconciliation?

So much of the message I read associated with the Law of Attraction is with regard to the external. Change your thought pattern and the Universe manifests your desired goal.

It may only be an issue of semantics, however, my understanding of this version of the Law of Attraction is that the Universe manifests what you are visualizing according to the vibration you send out.

I suggest it is all an aspect of your internal thoughts, rather than an external manifestation of a vibration. You manifest what you are thinking, the vibration you are "sending out" as that is the external manifestation of YOUR core beliefs, YOUR thought pattern, YOUR Truth. You manifest only what you believe, you act in accordance with those core beliefs and your actions are, therefore, directed toward a consistent goal, the only goal you are able to manifest with your beliefs. However, the successful manifestation originates from within you, as a result of your actions exemplifying your belief, not as a result of an external "One" acknowledging and rewarding your weak vibration sent out through the process of visualization.

The mental energy we send out by virtue of the mental activity on our brain is vanishingly small compared to that from other natural and man-made sources and so it is difficult to imagine the Universe picking up a signal vibrating at "X" MHz and acting to manifest my desire (except through the Butterfly Effect under Chaos Theory).

What does make sense to me is focussing my mind on my desired goal and recognizing the opportunity to act on that desire when it presents itself rather than sitting on the couch in a depression over setback. In this situation, I am actively watching for an opportunity (i.e. Earl Nightingale's "Luck is when Preparedness meets Opportunity"), rather than passively resigning myself to circumstance.

To use myself as an example, I fail in my application of the Law of Attraction using the common model widely presented because I am not "doing it right", do not have sufficient faith in the outcome, act when I should be passive, have the wrong vibration, etc. There are many reasons why I fail using this model, but little recourse for identifying and correcting the fallacies in my understanding as far as the model is concerned.

Law of Attraction process

I have achieved considerable success, however, by utilizing the process I believe underlies the Law of Attraction as I have described in earlier articles on this subject.

The process underlying the "Law of Attraction" is the process that has worked for me, was documented through 25 years of research by Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich, Law of Success) and is consistent with that described in Charles Haanel's The Master Key System. More convincingly, it is consistent with what I see and observe for every example of "success" I see today. Every example of success documented in the media (whether TV, newspapers, magazines, books, radio, etc) contains a component of work ("Action") in order to achieve success (with the exception of lottery winners). (Note: as an aside, one consistent generalization with regard to lottery winners is that, as they did not earn their "success", they often lose their winnings in a relatively short time. Humans do not, generally, treasure what they have not earned).

To summarize, I remain skeptical of the Law of Attraction but wholeheartedly believe in a process underlying the Law of Attraction requiring the necessary component of Action.

What is your experience?

Rick Walker has been a student of personal development for over 25 years, with specific interest in the ability and latent power of the mind, particularly the subconscious. He has recently developed the Integrated Success Program (Integrated Success Program) web-site comprising many ebooks, including many of the classics, pertaining to personal development and associated philosophy. In addition, he offers both the Integrated Success Program Blog (Integrated Success Program) and Integrated Success Program Group (Integrated Success Program) so as to provide a forum for discussion of topics pertinent to the field of personal development and for exchange of ideas..