Law of Attraction: New Age Fantasy?
by dreach on 2007-09-23
Have heard about the Law of Attraction? This law states that whatever your predominant thoughts are that is what you will attract. If you constantly think about all your aches and pains and how poor your health is then you will attract more of the same. On the other hand, if you concentrate on abundant health and imagine yourself healthy and full of energy then you will attract health into your life.
Some people would argue that the law of attraction is just wishful thinking and could actually be dangerous. They feel that people who believe in this so-called law might for example, just hope that a tumor would go away rather than getting proper medical treatment. Or they might wish that their bills would go away and end up in bankruptcy rather than upgrading their skills and finding a new job which would enable them to pay their debts.
Both the critics and proponents would be missing the larger picture if they believed in the above. Visualizing an ideal outcome is only the first step in the law of attraction. We live in a material world so inspired action is also usually required. Nevertheless, the visualizing stage will quite often reveal possibilities that were unknown or even seem to create synchronous events that seem almost magical.
Let's look at a difficult situation such as that of a poor African country. One could feel that since there is no food in the environment it is impossible to attract it. Yes, I agree that wishing for some food will not make it magically appear. But, if an individual was able to stay positive in that very difficult environment they would have the best opportunity to become aware of and avail themselves of an air-drop of refugee supplies. Victor Frankl did pretty much the same thing in the German concentration camps. Yes, it was grim and he did not make the concentration camps disappear but by working with his consciousness he was able to change his internal condition. He was then in a much better position to help himself and others.
But how about actually attracting something? For example, you decide that you would like an extra five thousand dollars next month. You begin to visualize it and emotionally feel what it would be like to have that extra money. Then a week later you get a letter that a distant relative has passed a way and left you five thousand dollars in their will. This is not at all an unusual circumstance and most people probably could point to a few in their own lives. Is this just a coincidence a fluke, a bit of good luck? Or is something else going on?
This is where it gets interesting. Recent studies in such diverse fields as quantum physics, brain scan imaging, and distance healing, seem to be indicate that something is going on in terms of our ability to affect things at a distance. Larry Dossey, the well known physician who has done a great deal of work in studying distance healing through prayer, feels that medicine has progressed through three distinct stages.
Stage 1 is the traditional 19th century mechanistic view of the body. Stage 2 is the age of "psychosomatic medicine" which believes that the mind can influence the body. Stage 3, which we are just entering, proposes that consciousness is not confined to one's individual body. In other words, an individual's mind may affect not just his or her body, but the body of another person, event or object at a distance.
Perhaps it is in these new areas of research that we will begin to understand the Law of Attraction and whether or not it has true validity.
Some people would argue that the law of attraction is just wishful thinking and could actually be dangerous. They feel that people who believe in this so-called law might for example, just hope that a tumor would go away rather than getting proper medical treatment. Or they might wish that their bills would go away and end up in bankruptcy rather than upgrading their skills and finding a new job which would enable them to pay their debts.
Both the critics and proponents would be missing the larger picture if they believed in the above. Visualizing an ideal outcome is only the first step in the law of attraction. We live in a material world so inspired action is also usually required. Nevertheless, the visualizing stage will quite often reveal possibilities that were unknown or even seem to create synchronous events that seem almost magical.
Let's look at a difficult situation such as that of a poor African country. One could feel that since there is no food in the environment it is impossible to attract it. Yes, I agree that wishing for some food will not make it magically appear. But, if an individual was able to stay positive in that very difficult environment they would have the best opportunity to become aware of and avail themselves of an air-drop of refugee supplies. Victor Frankl did pretty much the same thing in the German concentration camps. Yes, it was grim and he did not make the concentration camps disappear but by working with his consciousness he was able to change his internal condition. He was then in a much better position to help himself and others.
But how about actually attracting something? For example, you decide that you would like an extra five thousand dollars next month. You begin to visualize it and emotionally feel what it would be like to have that extra money. Then a week later you get a letter that a distant relative has passed a way and left you five thousand dollars in their will. This is not at all an unusual circumstance and most people probably could point to a few in their own lives. Is this just a coincidence a fluke, a bit of good luck? Or is something else going on?
This is where it gets interesting. Recent studies in such diverse fields as quantum physics, brain scan imaging, and distance healing, seem to be indicate that something is going on in terms of our ability to affect things at a distance. Larry Dossey, the well known physician who has done a great deal of work in studying distance healing through prayer, feels that medicine has progressed through three distinct stages.
Stage 1 is the traditional 19th century mechanistic view of the body. Stage 2 is the age of "psychosomatic medicine" which believes that the mind can influence the body. Stage 3, which we are just entering, proposes that consciousness is not confined to one's individual body. In other words, an individual's mind may affect not just his or her body, but the body of another person, event or object at a distance.
Perhaps it is in these new areas of research that we will begin to understand the Law of Attraction and whether or not it has true validity.
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