A decade ago, an aging Australian TV producer in mid-life crisis read a life-transforming book on positive thinking. Rhonda Byrne got so excited with this concept that she decided to produce a movie around it, convinced investors and assembled a crew to fly out to America to go meet the masters of self-help.
Rhonda meticulously interviewed leading thinkers in the New Thought movement, such as Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor and Esther Hicks. She focused the production tightly around the idea that thoughts are things, that like creates like, that if you think positively, you will automatically get positive results, sometimes instantaneously.
While this proposition may have seemed suspect to most thinking people, Rhonda did such a superb job of illustrating the principles through clever action scenes and a superb job of editing, with grandiose music to make the production seem like the greatest film ever made.
It worked.
The people Rhonda interviewed developed a massive email list in the millions to promote it, and came up with the brilliant strategy of making the world’s first full-screen web movie, then DVD.
Eventually, it was converted into a number one New York Time’s Best Seller, rapidly selling 20 million copies. The Secret had become a media sensation, pumped by Oprah Winfrey and all the prime TV talk shows.
While Rhonda ended up making over $300 million for her trouble, and all the authorities in the movie went on to produce their own best sellers around this publicity stunt, we are left with the question, “Is the Law of Attraction all that real?”
Pitfalls to The Law of Attraction
Can you simply close your eyes, think a couple of positive thoughts, snap your fingers and have money automatically pour down from heaven, courtesy of your own private genie?
While many people have received inspiration from The Secret franchise, and some have experienced windfalls, most have been left holding the bag and protesting the movie with a number of parodies, or simply moving on.
If we look at the state of the world today, versus in 2006, it is hard to say that it is all that much better. We still have race riots, bombing, plagues, and economic crises.
This approach to the Law of Attraction leaves many people bitterly disillusioned and disgusted with the whole business.
While many of The Secret’s suggestions were sound, such as the importance of gratitude in daily life, for its own sake, as well as for any wealth it may attract, the overall impression the movie and book give is deeply misleading.
It tells the truth in such a way as to make it into a lie. It is not true to our own every day experience in the “real world.”
The Theory of Attraction
Does the concept of “Law of Attraction” hold water?
The simple answer is – Yes.
All you have to do is to look closer at how your inner world impacts your outer world…. Or how your outer world reflects your inner world.
There is no doubt that the outer world corresponds with the inner world. As the ancient metaphysician, Hermes Trismegistus, revealed, “As above, so below. As within, so without.” If you want to change the outer world, you cannot afford to ignore the inner world. In fact, all transformation must begin with the inner world.
Sustained positive thinking, or optimism, versus sustained negative thinking, or pessimism, impacts the world. You develop vibes or energy that friends and foes can pick up in you.
Some people have an inner beauty that simply radiates out to the world. Invariably, these people are positive in a profound, rather than superficial, sense, with deep inner peace, love and joy.
On the other hand, some people always seem troubled, and have a chain of unfavorable circumstances that never seems to stop. Very often they are accused of being drama queens. You get the impression that they are profoundly unhappy. However, if you would mention it to them, they would strongly disagree.
People who are addicted to drama will keep living in it and re-creating it unconsciously. I worked with a few people in the past who would have “bad stuff” happen to them weekly if not daily. Then they come to work and all they do is talk about their drama… after which they go home, dwell on it some more and manifest it in a different form all over again… and the never-ending circle of drama continues…
In good fortune, we often go through virtuous cycles, where one break follows upon another break, and things seem, at least for a while, to get better and better (upward spiral). Likewise, we can all too easily undergo vicious cycles that suck up our energy, and lead us from one reversal to another, down, down and down (downward spiral).
What makes the difference? Is it simply a question of changing your thoughts? Is it all that simple?
What The Secret Left Out
By the way, if you have never seen The Secret – you can watch the movie below…
- Habits developed over a lifetime take a while to break, usually months and years, rather than days and weeks.
- We are multidimensional: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. These dimensions are tightly integrated, like a chain. You can’t ignore one link without compromising the entire chain.
- A vision board is fine, but you need to compliment it with well-defined action steps. As Tony Robbins, the performance master, puts it, “massive action” is often required in any personal improvement program. In fact, all outcomes require action!
- Without recourse to our Higher Self, we will lack the sustained commitment and focus necessary to achieve success, as life is riddled with upsets and surprises.
- Acquiring great masses of things for their own sake has limited value. Talk to multimillionaires, and you will find that the ones who are excited about life are into building something that makes a difference in the world.
- Doing what you love, especially when you are appreciated and blessed with talent, provides fulfillment in ways that money alone can never do. While you are never your job, in a real sense, you are your “work” in life, your own special mission to Planet Earth.
- Engaging in something “bigger” than yourself is essential to really finding yourself.
Attracting Desired Outcomes Requires…
Attracting desired outcomes requires all around consciousness and consistency on your part. Or simply put, you need inner power.
Read more: What Is Inner Power? Can It Help Me…?
Napoleon Hill, who a generation or two earlier, introduced positive thinking to distressed Americans in the midst of the Great Depression, having interviewed 500 of the richest and most successful people this country ever knew, summarized the essential ingredients of success as follows:
- A definite purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment.
- A definite plan, expressed in continuous action.
- A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.
- A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.
Napoleon Hill’s masterpiece, Think and Grow Rich, sold over 60 million copies and has continuously been on the bestseller list since 1937. It is a very systematic and no-nonsense approach to wealth creation that hammers the importance of a mastermind, detailed planning and nonstop action.
Napoleon stresses that, without strong emotion, affirmations are of little value. The whole point is to stimulate unshakeable faith, almost religious in nature.
He goes out of his way to emphasize persistence, and that temporary defeat is all but inevitable before one marches on to final victory.
Napoleon was a rookie journalist recruited by one of the richest men in the world to devote literally 20 years of his life to design a philosophy of wealth creation. Napoleon’s project was never underwritten, although he was given the highest imaginable introduction to people of the likes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.
All his family and friends questioned the merits of such a project. Napoleon never gave up. He was fiercely independent and worked for the Roosevelt Administration for literally a dollar a year. He was all about the golden rule and contribution.
What I, Personally, Have Gotten From Prosperity Consciousness
The Law of Attraction is not trivial, but rather a universal principle. It is not easy to master, but well worth the effort, even if it takes a lifetime. I have gained much by reading and viewing books like Think and Grow Rich and movies such as The Secret, as well as studying deeper works, such as Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and A Course in Miracles. Nothing can take the place of the Sacred Scriptures of the Great Traditions, but these works are priceless.
In particular, I have repeatedly gone back and read Think and Grow Rich. It has invariably inspired me with new visions, ideas, and opened up new channels. Often times, I have gone to it in distress, with acute financial reversals, and it has invariably pulled me out of them.
I thank all of these inspiring people for stepping up and encouraging us to dream on, to never give up, to keep opening up to new possibilities. I encourage you to explore them for yourself.
Is the Law of Attraction Pure Hype? appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.
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