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Law of Attraction, The Secret, and Snake Oil

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Here is the Law of Attraction, according to Wikipedia -

The phrase Law of Attraction, used widely by New Thought writers, refers to the idea that thoughts influence chance. The Law of Attraction argues that thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) can affect things outside the head, not just through motivation, but by other means. The Law of Attraction says that which is like unto itself is drawn. Essentially, “if you really want something and truly believe it’s possible, you’ll get it”, but putting a lot of attention and thought onto something you don’t want means you’ll probably get that too.

Here’s a quick story.  I was taking a course a while back; one that I had paid a lot of money to take.  It was over some period of time and for the most part, I think I learned a lot.  One afternoon, the instructor told my class she had a real treat for our learning experience.  She was going to show “The Secret.” I was both flabbergasted and insulted.  but here’s the funny part, as far as I am concerned – the rest of the class glommed on to it like it was the bloody treat of the whole semester.

And I’ll even bet these people forwarded chain letters.

Now I know this stuff is getting a bit old for new age now, but, the LOA and things like “The Secret” keep popping up in conversation. And they aggravate the shit out of me.  The only law that any of that attracted was the law of all the money that the, I’m sorry, hoodwinkable public paid them for the damn book and the video.

I ran across a blog post on it today. No offense to the author, but it’s just so much hooey, I can’t stand it. Here is part of what was written in the post,  Money and The Law of Attraction | Learn the Power of Your Subconscious Mind.

Barf.

Using the Law of Attraction to create more cash in your life has got to be one of the most misunderstood concepts that came out of the movie The Secret. I know it confused the heck out of me. It took me quite a while to get a handle on it.

I agree with part of it.  It confused the hell out of me. So, it goes on to say something like if you are really nice to your customers and you really appreciate yourself, then your customers will appreciate you and you will make lots of money. He goes on to say this -

Little by little as you do this often and repeatedly, you’ll start to see the value of who you really are – you’ll start to see your “worth” go up – and when you feel worthy, the Universe will respond with the powerful Law of Attraction by sending you the exact amount of money that you think you’re worth.

Now, I don’t know if this was a popular blog or not.  But let’s say that a hundred people read it and really buy into it.  So they go on and the really work on seeing the value of who they are and see their worth go up.  They believe that when they really – that is a key concept here – when they really feel worthy. So they work on that, and as far as they are concerned, they get to a point where they really feel good about who they are.

How many of them will be able to turn that into one thin dime?

I don’t have the statistics, but my bet would be that those that did come into any money would have no matter what they did.

Ahh, but this is how this stuff gets perpetuated.  What about those other 99?

Isn’t it obvious? This is the answer that is always on hand for the snake oil salespeople.  They didn’t believe hard enough.  They didn’t quit make the grade in “feeling worthy.”  There are millions of people right now who worked their asses off, and really believed in themselves, and they are sitting idle in a country where there is no shortage of resources.

The real story, folks?  There is no big secret (that is the big secret).  The truth is that, even when it isn’t working, the only route to success is hard work and ingenuity.  Ask people who have won lotteries and are more miserable than even I am obviously feeling today.

There is no Law of Attraction, unless you are talking about gravity or magnets. To put it simply, even though at times I wish there were -

There just ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

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