Robert Todd Carroll
Think Negative! Oprah, it's time to come clean about The Secret by John Gravois
|
 |
law of attraction
The law of attraction is a New (Dark) Age belief that one's mental disposition attracts similar external circumstances and events. In other words, your mental intentions and attitudes draw people and things of like intention and attitude to yourself. On one level this is trivially true. We generally hang out with people who think like us and share our values and we avoid people who disagree with us on important matters and don't share our values. But a moment's reflection should reveal that this "law" is false; it's not even truthy. Sellers don't attract sellers; they attract buyers, unless they're running an MLM scheme. Lazy dreamers don't attract lazy dreamers. They attract con artists with big smiles and lots of promises. Grieving vulnerable people don't attract vulnerable people; they attract vultures and vampires who take advantage of their grief. If you say that grief and greed are both negative so this example supports the law of attraction, then this law is impossible to test. It's too slippery to have any meaningful content if obvious contradictions to it are said to support it. When kindness begets not more kindness but resentment, a New (Dark) Age defender of this "law" can always claim that the kindness wasn't genuine. One of the main purveyors of this belief is Gary "Dancing Wu Li Masters" Zukav. According to Zukav:
The so-called law of attraction is the kind of law that many people will find attractive. It provides them with the illusion of having control over their lives. All I need to do is change my attitude and intentions and I'll attract money like a magnet (or lose weight or whatever else it is I want to achieve). If it doesn't work, it's my fault because I didn't genuinely change my attitude and intentions. Sound familiar? What is it that the faith healers say about those who don't get healed? You didn't have enough faith! If you want to succeed at something, draw up a plan of action. List what you want to achieve. List what you must do to achieve your goals in the order you must do them. Specify how you are going to measure success at each step along the way. Anything on the list that requires you to passively wait for somebody else to act must be eliminated from your list before you continue. If you can't achieve your goals without the help of others, pick the best people possible to help you and listen to them when they offer advice. Go down the list and check off each item as it is completed. If an item can't be completed, don't blame others. Come up with an alternative plan. Then move on to the next item. When you've accomplished all your goals, make up another list of goals and start over. Reaching one's goal is usually not as satisfying as striving to achieve it. Anyway, some goals aren't worth achieving. You'll do well to re-examine your goals regularly and weed out the worthless ones. And remember: Anyone who tells you they have the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth, and everything else you have ever wanted, is lying to you. So, do not be fooled by any of the following Internet ads: Get Rich #1, Get Rich #2, Get Rich #3, Get Rich #4, and Get Rich #5. What do they have in common? None of them tell you what you have to do to get rich quick. They do tell you that they are not MLM schemes. #3 (Eric with Kimberly) and #4 (Jan and Shane) have in common that they have testimonials from the same people. Another thing they have in common is that they, and others like them, all pay Google to list them when you search for "law of attraction." Ask yourself: Who is attracted to people who run such ads or who promote such come-ons as "The Secret"? They attract people who aren't like them but want to be like what they think these folks represent. And that is a pity. See also confirmation bias, manifesting, and magical thinking. further reading
|
|
|
©copyright 2007 Robert Todd Carroll |
Last updated 08/28/08 | ||
large group awareness program