What the Law Of Attraction Forgets
06/11/06 19:42 Filed in: Goal Setting
In February 2000 I set a goal of being happily married by the end of the year (there were no obvious candidates in sight at that point) and I'm pleased to report that we did just manage to squeak the wedding in on December 29th! Six and a half years later we're still happily married.
Do I attribute this to the Law of Attraction? Not really. As Steve Pavlina points out in his blog, to make the law of attraction work as a philosophical concept, you've either got to believe in reincarnation or in subjective reality:
That's the option Pavlina goes for. Well, you can't disprove it. It's one of those hypotheses that aren't subject to testing by scientific experiment, since any conceivable results you could get might also be a projection of your thoughts.
But there's no reason to believe it either. In order to believe in the Law of Attraction you have to forget the principle called Occam's Razor:
Let's look at why people believe in the 'Law of Attraction' in the first place. Assuming they're not just believing it because they hope it's true, they will have had some personal experiences which the Law of Attraction 'explains' - they've wished for something, thought about it, and believed that it will happen, and it's happened.
The LOA is not the only possible explanation though. A simpler one, that is fully consistent with 'common sense' and the scientific worldview, is that of course things will happen for you sooner or later if you get clear about what you want and do the things that will make it happen.
When we add to this the idea that once you've got a clear image of what you want, your unconscious mind will be looking out for opportunities, people and resources that will bring it closer - plus the fact that your mind will amplify any evidence that supports your beliefs, and downplay or ignore anything that contradicts them - I don't think we need to believe in reincarnation or subjective reality to explain the fact that things are more likely to happen for you when you have a clear idea of what you want, and you believe it's possible.
Is it just me, or is that idea that everyone and everything is just a projection of you - essentially, that life is just like a dream, just a bit more solid - lonely and uninviting?
Graham English's blog has an intelligent commentary on the LOA from a Ken Wilber/ Integral perspective. He points out that the LOA reduces everything to the level of the 'individual interior' quadrant and to the level of 'mind', without taking into account the influence of external and collective reality.
Do I attribute this to the Law of Attraction? Not really. As Steve Pavlina points out in his blog, to make the law of attraction work as a philosophical concept, you've either got to believe in reincarnation or in subjective reality:
a belief system in which (1) there is only one consciousness, (2) you are that singular consciousness, and (3) everything and everyone in your reality is a projection of your thoughts.
That's the option Pavlina goes for. Well, you can't disprove it. It's one of those hypotheses that aren't subject to testing by scientific experiment, since any conceivable results you could get might also be a projection of your thoughts.
But there's no reason to believe it either. In order to believe in the Law of Attraction you have to forget the principle called Occam's Razor:
Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or "shaving off," those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. In short, when given two equally valid explanations for a phenomenon, one should embrace the less complicated formulation.
Let's look at why people believe in the 'Law of Attraction' in the first place. Assuming they're not just believing it because they hope it's true, they will have had some personal experiences which the Law of Attraction 'explains' - they've wished for something, thought about it, and believed that it will happen, and it's happened.
The LOA is not the only possible explanation though. A simpler one, that is fully consistent with 'common sense' and the scientific worldview, is that of course things will happen for you sooner or later if you get clear about what you want and do the things that will make it happen.
When we add to this the idea that once you've got a clear image of what you want, your unconscious mind will be looking out for opportunities, people and resources that will bring it closer - plus the fact that your mind will amplify any evidence that supports your beliefs, and downplay or ignore anything that contradicts them - I don't think we need to believe in reincarnation or subjective reality to explain the fact that things are more likely to happen for you when you have a clear idea of what you want, and you believe it's possible.
Is it just me, or is that idea that everyone and everything is just a projection of you - essentially, that life is just like a dream, just a bit more solid - lonely and uninviting?
Graham English's blog has an intelligent commentary on the LOA from a Ken Wilber/ Integral perspective. He points out that the LOA reduces everything to the level of the 'individual interior' quadrant and to the level of 'mind', without taking into account the influence of external and collective reality.
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