The Secret - Law of Attraction

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There has been a big to do this year about "The Secret."

To me, there is no secret. It has been known for ages and ages before us. But someone recently did some reading, had an "ah-hah" moment and packaged it in CD, DVD and book form. Financially brilliant, and good for her, but by no means anything new or Secret.

I have known the secret all of my life. It is as if it is innate, which I believe it is in all of us. It is a matter of whether or not one wants to listen and know it. The Secret is being touted as New Age. It is not. It is as old as the beginning. Always has been and always will be. It is within and without of everyone and everything whether we claim it or not.

I would like to use this thread to discuss the concepts behind "The Secret" which is in a nutshell, the Law of Attraction. (Hereinafter, LOA). I'll warn you ahead of time that my mind works on a different level, more philosophy than hard science. So, those with knowledge of quantum physics, infinity, energy and atoms please jump in to clarify and correct my understanding. This is more of an exploration and learning process for me than an effort to convince anyone I'm right.

(And, to those that are discovering LAO and find this through Google, Welcome to A2K. Please join, jump in and contribute. I do not know all there is to know about the law of attraction and the secret. Don't consider this a study guide of another self-proclaimed guru. I'm not. I'll touch on the same subject matter, but from my own knowing, not that of the author of The Secret.)

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This (excuse me SQuinney) load of carp is going to going to confuse a whole generation of budding scientists. It took me two full google pages to find anything remotely scientific. However, there were many websites proclaiming this LOA as based in quantum physics. Sad.

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I went to the web page and it really struck me as something along the same lines as buy my course and become a real estate millionaire with no cash at all....ive been wrong before of course....

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It skairt me - chilled me to the bone.

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The secret law of attraction is no big deal. Simply stated, "The very thing that attracted you to your partner is the very thing that, leter in the relationship, drives you nuts"

AM I close?

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Hehehehe

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farmerman wrote:

The secret law of attraction is no big deal. Simply stated, "The very thing that attracted you to your partner is the very thing that, leter in the relationship, drives you nuts"

AM I close?

hmmmm... does this mean I owe you 79.95?

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Farmerman - You are indeed very close. Very Happy

It is precisely because of the recent "craze" over the secret and New Age proximation that I started this thread. That's why I said I'm not another guru claiming to know everything and sell you something. The other reason I posted the original title and post as I did is that I know it will show up in Google within a short time due to CDK's set-up, and hopefully some will stop by and get more information than what they are getting from the $79.95 websites.

If you get past the hype, CD's etc. you can actually find the science.

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Wikipedia states this:

Quote:

Proponents of the modern 'Law of Attraction' claim that it has roots in Quantum Physics. According to the 'law of attraction', thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy.[1] In order to control this energy, proponents state that people must practice four things: [6]
Know what one desires and ask the universe for it. (The "universe" is mentioned broadly, stating that it can be anything from God to an unknown source of energy.)
Focus one's thought upon the thing desired with great feeling such as enthusiasm or gratitude.
Feel and behave as if the object of one's desire is already acquired.
Be open to receiving it.
Thinking of what one does not have, manifests itself in the perpetuation of not having. Proponents say that by abiding by these principles, and avoiding "negative" thoughts, the Universe will manifest a person's desires.

Calamity Jane states this:

Quote:

The law of attraction is done and over with in 2 seconds. That's
how long it takes to be attracted to a person at first sight. If the first meeting leaves you with no positive emotional reaction, nothing will change this not even the universe

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Except there is no science to the "secret". It simply attempts to bastardize science for it's own use. I listened to about 10 minutes of the first CD and snorted the whole time. It is about as valid as astrology and just about as vague.

If only "like attracts like" as "the secret" claims then why do opposites attract in the physical world? (Think magnets)

One could as easily claim if you don't think about something it will come to you since we have all seen instances of that happening. It must be science because opposites attract in the universe.

"The Secret" takes the same basic premise of most self help books, in that you have to be willing to work at it for something good to happen, then wraps it up in a pile of lovely looking crap that starts to stink if you scratch the surface.

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You are right Calamity Jane. The positive (or negative) energy percieved within a short time of meeting someone is part of the law of attraction. What we do with it is what matters. Do we listen, or cast it aside? If we listen, we determine whether or not to continue to allow that person a place in our lives. Call it gut feeling, intuition, or law of attraction. Doesn't matter what it is called. Whether we listen or don't listen to that feeling determines future events. The fact that we made the choice, listened or not, sets a course not just for our lives, but for theirs, their childrens, their friends, etc enumerating out to any number of lives that are affected by that one choice.

But, let me start elsewhere. Do you agree or disagree that an acorn will, if not eaten by a squirrel or otherwise harmed, grow up to be an oak tree? It will not become a mulberry bush. It will not become anything except what it is made to be, which is an oak, right?

We are born (or maybe even before we are born. I don't know) with a destiny. Not necessarily a devinely determined destiny, but a destiny set by our personalities, characteristics, mental and physical abilities as well as where, when and to whom we are born. From that which we have, we experience and how we experience determines our reality.

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Quote:

We are born (or maybe even before we are born. I don't know) with a destiny. Not necessarily a devinely determined destiny, but a destiny set by our personalities, characteristics, mental and physical abilities as well as where, when and to whom we are born. From that which we have, we experience and how we experience determines our reality.

Hm squinney, I am not so sure if we're born with a destiny, and if, we
certainly can change the course of our destiny by - as you said - listening to our intuition, acting upon it, or leave things alone. The choice is always
ours!

Squinney, don't you think our personality, characteristics, mental and
physical abilities change over the course of the years? They do, and at
different stages in your life you attract completely different people.

How would that fit into the destiny we're born into it, if we were?

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To me the basic premise of Law of Attraction is that our thoughts create. Aside from the money grabbers some of you seem put off by, there is that underlying truth.

Here's where the science comes in, from best I understand it. And, again, all scientists feel free to clue me in:

Everything there is always has been and always will be. It may not have been in the form it is in now, or the form it will be in at some later time even if that is just a second from now, but it will still "be" and exist.

So that, as an example, we have always had the ability to fly to the moon. Everything we needed to do so has always been in existence in some form even when we did not know how to put it together to make it happen.

Then, someone (a bunch of someones over time) has the idea of going to the moon. Two hundred years ago someone thought of this as they gazed at the sky, just as someone probably did two thousand years ago. But, they did not have the ability to make it happen because some of the required final form materials had not yet been created. The building block materials existed, perhaps in their smallest possible form, (atoms, energy, or even oil that had yet to be extracted) but they were still present. Eventually, as more existing materials that have always been available for use, get made into various forms to create a rocket to carry us to the moon.

Someone, somewhere had to have the idea in order to create it. It isn't magic. It isn't New Age. Someone had to think it. If I look at the sun and think "Wow! That's hot! Too bad I couldn't harness some of that heat for the winter, am I not on the path to creating a way to do just that? (As long as I follow through?) Someone thought that. Someone created it.

To me, that is the very basic Law of Attraction and why I can see it being based on science.

Hasn't everything always been?

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Louis Tice has been teaching the "visualize how you want things to be different" technique for at least twenty years. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be the person who invented the term 'comfort zone'.

Joe(I need to go back and listen to his tapes again.)Nation

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CalamityJane wrote:

Quote:
We are born (or maybe even before we are born. I don't know) with a destiny. Not necessarily a devinely determined destiny, but a destiny set by our personalities, characteristics, mental and physical abilities as well as where, when and to whom we are born. From that which we have, we experience and how we experience determines our reality.

Hm squinney, I am not so sure if we're born with a destiny, and if, we
certainly can change the course of our destiny by - as you said - listening to our intuition, acting upon it, or leave things alone. The choice is always
ours!

Squinney, don't you think our personality, characteristics, mental and
physical abilities change over the course of the years? They do, and at
different stages in your life you attract completely different people.

How would that fit into the destiny we're born into it, if we were?

I'm using a broader form of destiny only because I couldn't think of another word. What I meant was that I have different brain and body cells than you, and how my brain and body works is determined by certain things (genetics and environment), some of which I cannot overcome and some which I can. The things I can't change I have to accept and learn to use to my advantage, and those I can change (learned thought process, for example) are what I can use to create the life I desire.

That enters into Law of Attraction in that I can visualize that I'm a 5'9 blond scandanavian Babelicious all I want, but that won't make it reality to myself or anyone else that see's me. However, I can change my thought process to accept that dark haired green eyed women are just as beautiful and worthy and make that my reality, which then gets projected when others meet me.

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Oh yes, now I understand your reasoning, squinney, and I agree,
genetics can't be changed, even though surgical enhancements are
available, deep down, a brunette will never be a true blonde Razz

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CalamityJane wrote:

Oh yes, now I understand your reasoning, squinney, and I agree,
genetics can't be changed, even though surgical enhancements are
available, deep down, a brunette will never be a true blonde

Oh, gee! Thanks for THAT visualization! Laughing

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Joe Nation wrote:

Louis Tice has been teaching the "visualize how you want things to be different" technique for at least twenty years. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be the person who invented the term 'comfort zone'.

Joe(I need to go back and listen to his tapes again.)Nation

Exactly! There have been many many many others that have taught some form of the concept. Some packaged it as a CD, others as The Bible, or even The Tao of Pooh. Some made it known through science, art, or music. Did Michelangelo not visualize some form of the Sistine Chapel results before he first touched the surface with a brush and created? Did he not cisualize himself as a painter before he became one? Did Einstein not have to have some ability to see, visualize and create before he could even enter the realm that he did with his theories?

It isn't science, psychology, religion or arts or any other category alone. The Law of Attraction is a combination and acumulation of studies. That's why I think it is important to distinguish what the internet guru's are doing as a money grab from the vastness of what the concept encompasses. In many ways, The Secret is still secret if it doesn't go as deep as required to really teach others the secret.

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squinney wrote:

Everything there is always has been and always will be. It may not have been in the form it is in now, or the form it will be in at some later time even if that is just a second from now, but it will still "be" and exist.

So that, as an example, we have always had the ability to fly to the moon. Everything we needed to do so has always been in existence in some form even when we did not know how to put it together to make it happen.

Then, someone (a bunch of someones over time) has the idea of going to the moon. Two hundred years ago someone thought of this as they gazed at the sky, just as someone probably did two thousand years ago. But, they did not have the ability to make it happen because some of the required final form materials had not yet been created. The building block materials existed, perhaps in their smallest possible form, (atoms, energy, or even oil that had yet to be extracted) but they were still present. Eventually, as more existing materials that have always been available for use, get made into various forms to create a rocket to carry us to the moon.

Someone, somewhere had to have the idea in order to create it. It isn't magic. It isn't New Age. Someone had to think it. If I look at the sun and think "Wow! That's hot! Too bad I couldn't harness some of that heat for the winter, am I not on the path to creating a way to do just that? (As long as I follow through?) Someone thought that. Someone created it.

You're either saying something quite vague and new age-ish, or you're stating the bloody obvious. I'm not sure which yet.

Somebody had to have the idea to build a rocket before a rocket could be built. Yes. That is so incredibly obvious that it isn't worth saying!

But when someone 200 years ago thought about flying to the moon, how exactly do you think this led to the final outcome of building a rocket? This is where I'm worried that you're being new age-ish. Do you just mean that this bloke 200 years ago probably said to his friends, "wouldn't it be great if we could fly to the moon?" and they agreed, and they encouraged their children to dream about flying to the moon, and their children passed the idea on to their children, and eventually somebody built a rocket. Is that what you were getting at?

Or do you think that this bloke 200 years ago asked the universe to fly to the moon, and the energetic vibration of his question bounced around the universe for about 150 years until it hit a rocket-maker, and then the rocket-maker made a rocket?

Which will it be?

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To go back to your acorn squinney..

If I want the acorn to grow up to be a Mulberry tree, it won't no matter how many people I get to think it will.

To say things happen in the universe because people want them to happen is one of those logical fallacies that proves true sometimes so it becomes easy to convince people it will happen all the time. If I want the acorn to grow up to be an oak tree, did I will it to happen or was it going to happen anyway. If I water the acorn and keep predators away until it gets larger I have helped it but did I cause it?

If you work for something, it could happen. But just thinking about it won't make it happen. You might get lucky but the universe isn't what "the Secret" tells you it is. "The Secret" is a logical fallacy preying on people for their $79.95. It uses enough truths to make it seem believable but at it's heart it isn't much more than a money making scheme.

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The Secret - Law of Attraction

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