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Is There An Attraction Factor?

Posted by Joseph Riggio on Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Hello again all,

I've been posting on the MythoSelf e-list at Yahoo Groups, MythoSelf-TM, about the DVD - The Secret. Specifically about an open letter, or you might call it an article, by Kevin Hogan - The Secret... The Truth Behind The Lie.

What I've found interesting was strong the response to this posting was - not the amount of response, but how strong. People have strong convictions about the ideas being presented in this book and I get that. I get that ideas about what I think of as pseudo-magical and pseudo-scientific thinking are very attractive to many people.

Let's lay out the scenarios:

  • Scenario One: You are not doing as well as you'd like - you're not healthy, you're not wealthy, you're not famous - whatever you perceive to be wrong/missing holds you back from having the life you want to be living
  • Scenario Two: You are doing extremely well, life is good - everything you want, you have ... but at the very least you want the life you are living to continue, and if it could be better ... hey why not???

    • Now let's consider these scenarios ...

    In the first it would be fantastic if you could just 'attract' what you need/want into your life. You mentally organize yourself and "poof" there you go ... one whatever you've imagined you've attracted into your life!!! All those difficulties you've been living with or imagining ... gone.

    In the second it would be fantastic if you could continue to 'attract' into your life what you've been 'attracting' all along ... after all it must be you who has been responsible for all this good fortune ... you deserve it now AND in the future!

    So it would be wonderful to believe that all you have to do would be to learn the "Laws of Attraction" and begin meditating/concentrating/thinking about what you want and ... "poof" there you go ... yours!!!

    I get it, I truly do. However I don't buy it for a minute!

    I get how what we think and put our attention on dramatically influences what we produce in our lives. I get how when we have organized ourselves to notice for something specifically in the world ... ways to become healthier, ways to become wealthier, ways to become more famous ... these things can begin appearing to us.

    I get how when we are already organized to produce success and we remain organized in that way and begin to even amp up the way we notice for what we've been noticing for so that it continues to remain apparent to us.

    I also get that this has absolutely nothing to do with attracting anything into our lives!!! It requires massive action on our part to first notice for what we want to be producing in our lives ... and then to act in relation to what we've been noticing for.

    See I think the key resides, NOT in attraction, but in regard to where you put your attention and take action! Yet I also get that this won't be nearly as attractive as the idea that you can simply wish things to happen for you in your life and POOF! ... there you go!

    All of this I can live with ... no worries, no trouble ... no problem. As I've said I get that people want the world to be this way. It even makes sense to me that people want the world to be this way ... to believe in attraction and manifestation ... "Oh, darling we're so clever and deserving ... we took that chance when we could and moved to California and now the Universe has rewarded us with this life we've manifested." ... blah, blah, blah ...

    However what I don't get has to do with those who are living in East L.A. who are manifesting the same quality of life ... no matter how hard they continue to try and manifest just enough to get by day by day. But, even this I can live with.

    Where I begin to have concerns starts when I see websites and postings on about the Laws of Attraction popping up all over. The ideas are not new ... in fact they're ancient. What I find interesting has to do with how people haven't updated their ideas ... what they believe in ... or how they're living their lives.

    So I don't intend to do anything about it other than to mention what I have already ... this kind of thinking deserves what a friend of mine refers to as the corporate sneeze ... ah ... Ah ... AH ... BULLS-IT!!!.

    Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
    Princeton, NJ

    If you are interested in updating your life take a look at some of the great resources at: JS Riggio.com ... I recommend you order a 30-Day Completely Risk Free subscription to Unconventional Advice my monthly audio newsletter!!!

    I promise I'll rock your socks ... with this month's edition ... and you'll keep it regardless of what you decide about keeping your subscription ...

    (3) Comments • (1) Trackbacks • Permalink

    > What I’ve found interesting was strong the response to this posting was -
    > not the amount of response, but how strong.

    Well, I guess you are attacking their secular religion!

    Mike

    Mike Gray on Thursday, March 01, 2007

    I get generally suspicious when people start writing or talking about laws, when it comes to people. (Not a Law, just a pattern I have that is very consistent and yet changes :O)

    To my humble opinion; in human behavior, interaction or ways they present them self to the world, there are patterns that can and for many, if not all, will change depending on the situation, people they interact with, moods, environment etc. that surrounds them.

    Talking about laws, putting people, behaviors etc. into boxes seems to me, shutting out data, being locked into a fixed pattern how you, your self see others, and no longer noticing for what is more to be noticed, seen, learned from/with other people.

    For me, I have until today only met a few people, and I am sure there are more out there, “but not a lot” that come across, as having the skill-set and life long experience in the interaction with others from the position of “being”. That they can lay out the patterns they see in others, as being as close as, to always being so in given situations.

    One of them being Joseph, the rest preaching “regligion” for me “leeches”, living of the dreams and misery of others. 

    I join the corporate sneeze… ah ... Ah ... AH ... BULLS-IT!!!

    Per Rehné on Thursday, March 01, 2007

    Mike and Per,

    Thanks for your comments.

    Mike, I haven’t necessarily put it into the frame of “secular religion” but it fits for me now that you have ... and it makes sense too! Whenever you snip at someone’s religion you’re bound to get push back. As Homer would say ... DUH!!!

    Per, thanks for the compliment. I have to agree with you completely about becoming suspicious. Beyond not buying into the whole idea about “Laws” I’m also suspicious about the entire premise of manifesting via beliefs.

    As I’ve stated I’ll put my money on the generating results from the action we take. I can and would agree that beliefs give rise to behaviors. In my book this is the “law” of action and reaction, I think a Mr. Newton talked about this law as well.

    Hey ... why not go out and do something!

    Joseph

    Joseph Riggio on Thursday, March 01, 2007

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