| Is the Law of Attraction a Law? To answer, let's | | | | message in your mind. When not acted on, the |
| define the Law of Attraction. "I attract to my life | | | | message becomes weaker as if fading from an |
| whatever I give my attention, energy and focus to, | | | | electronic screen. When it is acted on it becomes |
| whether positive or negative," says Michael J. Losier in | | | | brighter, louder, recharged, prompting more of the |
| his book Law of Attraction, The Science of Attracting | | | | same acts." In other words, "Acting on any belief or |
| More of What You Want and Less of What You | | | | feeling makes you believe or feel it more." |
| Don't. | | | | There is a two stage effect of any act, Weinberg |
| "We speak learnedly of the Law of Gravitation, but | | | | says. "The immediate effect is to satisfy, assuage, |
| ignore that equally wonderful manifestation, The Law | | | | reduce the motivating impulse behind it. The ultimate |
| of Attraction in the Thought World," William Walker | | | | effect, however, is to strengthen it." The paranoid |
| Atkinson wrote in his 1908 treatise Thought Vibration | | | | person, for example, who checks and rechecks the |
| or The Law of Attraction in the Thought World. | | | | locks feels first stage relief, "and ultimate reinforcement |
| Atkinson saw Thought as "a Force - a manifestation | | | | of his paranoia." |
| of energy - having a magnet-like power of attraction," | | | | How does what Weinberg is saying tie into our |
| and he claimed the reason life denies us what we | | | | premise about "Law" of Attraction? |
| desire is "we close our eyes to the mighty law that | | | | By the way, Self-Creation is not a book that mentions |
| draws to us the things we desire or fear, that makes | | | | the Law of Attraction. It's about how our acts, our |
| or mar our lives." | | | | behaviors, intensify the motivating message behind the |
| If we fall in love with whatever it is we desire to attain, | | | | acts we perform which makes them, to a certain |
| if it becomes our ruling passion or desire, then the Law | | | | degree, habits - for better or worse. |
| of Attraction, Atkinson believed, kicks in. | | | | Reading his book we discover that "Any acts of |
| The Law, he assured his readers, will draw negative | | | | avoidance based on fear will entrench the fear," |
| events to us if we're always negative and the things | | | | 'Talking about our problems is the most impressive |
| we desire if we maintain a positive state of mind and | | | | way a depressive keeps the depression going," |
| do not waver from our intended purpose. | | | | Weinberg writes. "Start checking up on someone [you |
| Some people, including talk show host Larry King, have | | | | don't trust] and you'll become even more suspicious." |
| doubts about the efficacy of The Law of Positive | | | | A man will never forgive you for the wrong he has |
| Attraction because, it seems to bypass those born into | | | | done you," Weinberg says. |
| awful poverty and starvation who will, no matter how | | | | "That which I feared most has come upon me," Job in |
| positive their thoughts, probably die without a chance | | | | the Old Testament told his friends. Job blamed himself |
| to ever raise themselves out of the circumstances into | | | | and his fears for his troubles. Doesn't Job's plight sound |
| which they were born. | | | | like the gravitation force of his fears, the "Law of |
| Witness what's going on in Darfur. | | | | Attraction" at work, making his worries visible? It would |
| So is The Law of Attraction a Law as real as gravity | | | | seem so, doesn't it? |
| or is it a work in progress - a "habit" of the universe | | | | It is a paradox that "Self-protection does not alleviate |
| rather than a ironclad Law? | | | | fear, it increases it." |
| Rupert Sheldrake, biologist with a Ph.D. in biochemistry | | | | "Love someone and they seem to become more |
| from Cambridge University, has written more than ten | | | | worthy of your love," Weinberg writes. This how Law |
| books including A New Science of Life and The | | | | of Attraction advocates say the Law works. We |
| Presence of the Past. Sheldrake says most of the | | | | attract the "vibrations" of other minds keyed to our |
| laws of nature, as well as the universe, are more | | | | thoughts. |
| habits rather than Laws. | | | | In Using Your Mind For a Change, Richard Bandler |
| He states, "There is no need to suppose that all the | | | | observes that "Most people motivate themselves by |
| laws of nature sprang into being fully formed at the | | | | thinking about how bad they will feel if they don't do |
| moment of the Big Bang, like a kind of cosmic | | | | something. A few people do the reverse. They use |
| Napoleonic code, or that they [these Laws] exist in a | | | | pleasant feelings as motivators. Those few," he writes, |
| metaphysical realm beyond time and space." | | | | "live in an entirely different world than most people." |
| Eternal laws make sense to us. Aren't they why the | | | | "Love someone and they seem to become more |
| universe works? This would seem, at first glance, to | | | | worthy of your love," Weinberg notes. |
| be the case. | | | | Is it possible that we, by our thoughts, actions, feelings, |
| Sheldrake thinks differently. He believes the universe | | | | moods, and desires, for good or ill, are teaching the |
| learns, just as we do. Nature progresses, the laws of | | | | Habit of Attraction how to become the eternal Law of |
| nature also progress, just as human laws evolve over | | | | Attraction? |
| time. Sheldrake's years of research have led him to | | | | Might it be likely that all the wonderful things people |
| conclude that the Laws of the Universe, so-called, are | | | | who follow the "Law" of Attraction are doing - |
| habits it has learned over time. | | | | imagery, meditation, positive thinking, affirmations, cutting |
| The more habits are repeated "the more probable | | | | pictures of what they desire from magazines and |
| they become, other things being equal." Habits of past | | | | creating Dream Boards - are showing the Habit of |
| members of the species are transmitted, he says, | | | | Attraction how, as a work in progress - to become a |
| "through a kind of non-local resonance, called morphic | | | | better, more dependable Law of Attraction? |
| resonance." | | | | If this is so, then the Habit of Attraction is Learning |
| "Many kinds of organisms have habits," Sheldrake | | | | from us to become a better, more efficient, reliable |
| writes, "but only humans have laws." | | | | friend and "Law" to our worthy desires, but it's also |
| Through what he calls Morphic resonance "the | | | | learning - from our human thought forms - how to |
| patterns of activity in self-organizing systems [which | | | | create images on the screen of space colored by our |
| we are; which the universe is] are influenced by similar | | | | inner fears and money worries as well as the images |
| patterns in the past, giving each species and each kind | | | | on our nightly network news. |
| of self-organizing system a collective memory," which | | | | Our thoughts are powerful Forces! |
| is then integrated into what we humans call Laws but | | | | "Never lose sight of the great principle of |
| are actually habits of the species - and habits of the | | | | autosuggestion," The great healer Emile Coue' told his |
| cosmos. | | | | patients who visited his clinic in Nancy, France, during |
| If Sheldrake is right, and I'm not arguing that he is, his | | | | the 1920's: "Optimism always and in spite of everything, |
| theories would seem to suggest a different view of | | | | even when events do not seem to justify it." |
| the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction, | | | | The Law of Habit of Attraction, learning from us and |
| therefore, may not be an eternal law but a habit | | | | ever closer to becoming an eternal Law of Attraction |
| progressing toward Law status. This "Law" may likely | | | | - thanks to us - will, if we trust it - be a powerful ally. |
| be a work in progress, not a final fact. | | | | "Then again he begins to set into motion the great |
| What does it mean when we hint that the Law of | | | | Law of Attraction, whereby he draws to him help, and |
| Attraction may be a work in progress and not an | | | | is, in turn, attracted to others who can aid him.," William |
| eternal law set in motion at the time of, or before, the | | | | Walker Atkinson writes. "This Law of Attraction is no |
| origin of our universe, solar system, and earth? | | | | joke, but is a great live working principle of Nature, as |
| The implications, actually, are pretty exciting. | | | | anyone may learn by experimenting and observing." |
| In Self-Creation by George Weinberg, Ph.D., Weinberg | | | | Whatever side you take in this discussion, it's always a |
| indicates that "Every time you act you add strength to | | | | good idea to remember the words of the comedian |
| the motivating idea behind what you've done." | | | | George Burns who said, "There's something to this |
| What this means is, "The act retypes the motivating | | | | thinking positive business! |