by Stephanie Brail

Does The Secret work better for affluent white people?

Here's an interesting quote I caught randomly on a blog. The article is mostly about PETA, but I was struck by this sentence at the end about the organization:

To me, they’re just another group based on the same hype that sustains New Age religion: they make privileged people feel good about their privileges, and relieve them of the difficult responsibility of making the world better for other human beings AND for animals.

I immediately thought of The Secret and the Law of Attraction, and how those memes do precisely what this author accuses: "They make privileged people feel good about their privileges, and relieve them of the difficult responsibility of making the world better for other human beings..."

by Stephanie Brail

Since I do hypnosis and energy healing, you would think that I would be a huge fan of the Law of Attraction, right? After all, I often use hypnosis to help people visualize positive outcomes for themselves, often with very powerful results. I use affirmations in EFT and in my healing music. Aren't all these things the Law of Attraction?

No. Visualization, energy work, and affirmations are not the same thing as the “Law of Attraction.”

First, let's distinguish what these things actually are. Visualization is a personal development technique. Energy work, or energy healing, is a method of spiritual healing. Affirmations are another method of personal development. All of these things are tools.

The Philosophy is Not the Tool

The Law of Attraction is not a tool. It is a philosophy. It is a philosophy that states, “whatever you focus on, you will attract into your life.”

I had an opportunity to see Michele Blood speak earlier in the week. She is the singing Australian self-help guru who has for years teamed up with Bob Proctor, one of the main guys on The Secret DVD. I enjoyed her talk, if just for the fact that she liked to throw the F-word in there a lot, and didn't seem to take herself too seriously.

What struck me was her comments on the issue of manifesting money. She mentioned briefly that sometimes she gets criticized for her focus on wealth. She said something along the lines of: "If you want to accomplish anything, you need the energy of money behind you, and so I don't apologize for that." (I am completely paraphrasing here.)

Hmm. Well, yes, I certainly would like more money, as it would make my life easier in many respects. But do we need to be wealthy in order to achieve anything?

by Stephanie Brail

I am a mystic, but I am also a science geek. I used to teach science to elementary school students. I believe in miracles, but I believe these miracles occur within the framework of a very real world that is subject to certain laws of physics. Science is very complicated, and you cannot reduce the way the universe operates down to one simple formula.

Yet, many are accepting the idea that the so-called Law of Attraction is the way the universe works, or, in the least, the way people’s lives work. This idea, now put forth into the mainstream by The Secret, has been called “scientific” by many of its adherents. Yet, this label is not only misleading but downright false.

With all this talk about The Secret, I have to say: I really don't want to manifest more stuff right now. I have lots of clutter that I have been clearing out and organizing. Can there be some sort of Law of Repulsion where when I look at my clutter, it will magically fly out the window on its own accord?

How about a Law of Organization, where when I look at my unfiled papers, they magically re-arrange themselves into neatly organized files in my file drawer?

I have been having lots of discussions lately with folks about The Secret and the Law of Attraction. I believe quite a few people think The Secret has the "answer" because they've tried the positive thinking portion of it, and that works.

Of course positive thinking works (though, not for the reasons the film states). But that doesn't mean you've attracted everything in your life, 100%, as the Law of Attraction states.

I was at an EFT seminar yesterday. Overall, the seminar was very well done, but I was a bothered by how much this "Law of Attraction" meme has begun to infect the self-help world. The teacher, an avowed fan of The Secret, spent quite a bit of time explaining how the world was our "mirror" and if anything bad happened to us, it's because we created it inside first.

Life force energy is a concept familiar to many cultures. The Chinese speak of chi, and Hindus speak of prana.

Chi, or prana, is the spiritual energy that makes your body go. According to Chinese medicine, chi flows throughout the body by pathways called meridians. These meridians are to chi as blood vessels are to blood.

When chi is blocked or becomes stagnant or negative, mental or physical disease can result. Chi is both cause and effect in the mind/body system. If a person experiences an emotional trauma, the chi can stagnate, causing health problems, which cause more chi to stagnate, which causes more health problems and so on.

The Law of Attraction (And Why It's Not the Full Story)