The Attraction Delusion

News just in: there is no ‘Law of Attraction’.

Wishing for things doesn’t work.

You have to go out and make your own success yourself.

 This is a guest post by my friend Ayd Instone, an international speaker, philosopher, songwriter and entertainer on the subject of creativity. He’s the author of a number of books and I thoroughly recommend his blog ‘Ding!’ which is full of thought provoking articles.

There is no ‘Law of Attraction’

I know this to be true because I have run experiments throughout my life. There are things that I have really wanted, more than anything, that I have focused positively and insensately on for prolonged periods of time. The result: I have not got them. There are things that I have not wanted, that I have paid no attention to at all, that I did not even know existed, that came upon me in my life.

This is why there is no Law of Attraction.

I know this for certain because I have studied science. For something to be a Law it must be true under all condition, every single time. Anyone who refers to Wishful Thinking (or Focus, or Positive Thinking or The Secret or As A Man Thinketh as a Law – they are dimwits. And deluded. And wrong.

Something that is sometimes true, sometimes works, where the rules are arbitrary and not universal and are not simple to describe, cannot be a Law, it can only ever rise to be a superstition.

But so what? What’s so bad about making a wish? What’s so wrong about buying into the latest cool spiritual revelation?

There is no quick fix

By thinking there’s an easy quick fix to all life’s problems (especially the financial ones) people always end up losing a lot of money and time that’s either eaten away by wasteful inaction, or stolen by snake oil hypnotists who are masters at exploiting us at our most needy.

In short, the Law of Attraction does the opposite of what it claims: it is the Law of Distraction, of Repulsion. It is a delusion.

Let’s put aside scepticism for one moment and look at the Universe as if the claims of the Law where actually true.

If the natural laws of the universe were able to be manipulated as the Law of Attraction demands, we could not have any science or any technology at all. They require unrefutable, unchanging natural laws.

If Newton’s laws of motion, if chemical reactions, gravity, the electromagnetic force and other natural laws were all at the whim of someone’s individual will, what would the universe look like?

All matter and structure would collapse. We would live in a dark age of magick and chaos where the most powerful minds (those who can ‘try hard enough’ and ‘do it right’) would have the rest of us bent to their will. They could wipe us out, or manipulate us like voodoo dolls, they could bring the stars crashing down, they could set themselves up as gods.

Fortunately they don’t, because thoughts do not manipulate matter unless we intervene in the process by using our hands.

The words manipulate, manage, manoeuvre and manifest are all derived from the verb ‘to handle’, i.e. to use one’s hands, not one’s mind.

Let’s look at a few more mundane examples.

If you believe in the Law of Attraction you must never hold any insurance policy of any kind. Just by preparing for death, accident or thinking about any kind of safety net means you’ll be asking the universe for trouble. 

Another aspect that is intrinsically linked to belief in the Law of Attraction is that the controlling force behind it, the Universe, is amoral.  This means that we must be careful what we wish for. It also means we can wish for personal success and riches guilt free. There is no judgement. We can use the Law to be as greedy as we wish and in fact this is often encouraged and the main practitioners of the Law promote the wealth angle and cite their own wealth as proof that it all works. The Universe, it seems, just gets us whatever we really want.

And he has a point. If we want to believe in a universe or being that grants wishes, looks after us and communicates with us in some supernatural way then we should turn to the most researched, explored, debated, believed and trusted methodology for that kind of system which is contained in a set of books called the Bible. (Other faith based books are available).

But people stay clear of the Bible (and the other major faith based doctrines) because it says something that the Law of Attraction doesn’t say: you actually have to do some work.

And that’s the attraction of the Law of Attraction, that you don’t really have to do any work. You don’t have to be righteous, or truthful, or love your neighbour, or worship and praise a higher authority, or support a community. It’s spirituality without the religion which is like having a cake without baking it.

Some people deride religion as if it’s some sort of disease. It isn’t. All it is, is a mode of life that sticks to particular rules, an organised system of living a life. Football can be a religion. Religion isn’t a dirty word. Religion is about order and about getting things done, on time when you said you were going to do it, in the way you said you were going to do it. To do something ‘religiously’ means to do something continuously and consistently.

The Law of Attraction is anti-responsibility and anti-action. It is wishful thinking. It is a promise of a quick fix, an easy way out without having to do any work.

But what about all those people who claim they have indeed ‘attracted’ success?

There are two factors that play a vital role in any success: taking action and coincidental luck. Just study anyone who is or was successful and you’ll see that they all DID something AND were in the right place at the right time, often without conscious design to be there.

There is no evidence that wishful thinking increases ‘luck’. There’s plenty of evidence that directed, focused action increases ‘luck’. There’s also plenty of evidence that lack of action produces lack of success (even for people who were in the right place at the right time).

Taking action means actually doing something rather than just thinking about it or wishing for it. Directed focus means deciding on the right action that will likely get the desired result.

If dream/vision boards, positive thinking, prayer and meditation help you decide and set goals that create focus then they are useful tools. What you think about dictates what action you’re likely to take.

So instead of waiting around for the Universe to deliver our wonderful wishes, we should be taking matter and energy into our own hands, manipulating the Universe for ourselves, to manifest the outcomes we desire by focused, directed action.

As humans we are creators. We make things. Civilisations rose through action. The great discoveries of science were made by experiments. The great works of art were painted, transcribed, carved and written. In short: things got DONE.

It’s good to dream and it’s good to plan but it’s even better to DO.

But leave all that ‘wishing’ to Peter Pan.

P.S.

And if you STILL have a spiritual need, a vacuum inside you that needs filling, go join an established Church, and ask questions. Be very wary about finding the answers from some millionaire guru selling bootcamps and books. Do you really believe that anyone has had a genuine spiritual experience simply by paying money to get it? To get anything worthwhile in life you have to do the work to get it. Usually things that come easy aren’t worth having.

The author:

Ayd Instone is an international speaker, philosopher and entertainer on the subject of creativity. He’s the author of a number of books and writes regularly on his blog ‘Ding!’  Follow Ayd on Twitter @AydInstone.

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