Why the Law of Attraction Doesn't Work

One thing is certain about the way the Law of Attraction has been taught, and the way in which the great majority of people are using it: It just doesn't work.

Millions of people have seen or read The Secret and believe in the Law of Attraction, but have been disappointed with their poor results in using it.

I have been investigating this phenomenon long before the runaway success of the best-selling book and movie by Rhonda Byrne.

I've also compared notes with many of the teachers in the original movie, with whom I regularly associate as a member of the Transformational Leadership Council, whose members were the teachers featured in the movie. They mostly agree with me, with certain exceptions.

The premise of “The Law” is truly tantalizing: Whatever you think, if you think it hard enough and long enough and clearly enough, MANIFESTS!

But is this true?  It appears that within certain finite parameters, yes, and from an infinite perspective, NO!

Is it Even a Law?

Look at a pragmatic example which will make it very simple.

First, for something to be called a “law,” it must be true anywhere and everywhere at all times, and verifiably duplicable in any laboratory when its basic parameters are followed.

Consider the law of gravity, for example. Jump head first off a ten-story building onto concrete and you will fall at almost the exact same speed as everyone else and the body will die, virtually 100% of the time. It doesn't matter where you are, who you are, or whether you believe it or not—the law of gravity is real.

If you read my books or hear me speak, you'd get that I'm a metaphysical open-minded thinker.

But I love truth more than beliefs.

Beliefs vs. Truth

Beliefs are what might be true, what is hoped to be true, what one wishes to be true, and even fantasizes is truth. Beliefs might be, truth is.

If I visualize, affirm, meditate on, and pray for my goal of becoming an NBA basketball player, can I ever really "attract" it to happen? Facts: I am a 52-year-old 5'10" Caucasian male.

Some folks might get into new-agey rationalizations that my premise is flawed, and that I'm being negative to the degree that I'm violating the “law", but with any honesty, you know I'm not.

C'mon folks, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is roughly my age, and he was the greatest NBA center statistically. Don't you think he'd like to re-capture his heyday? Hell, YES! And if the Law of Attraction were true...he could.

I love the concept of the Law of Attraction, but I love truth more. To me, truth is God. I love truth beyond beliefs, because truth is what is, and the humble acceptance of it.

Vibration Precedes Attraction

In science there is a law called the "Law of Sympathetic Resonance." Experiment with it for yourself, because it is anywhere and everywhere always true.

You can verify it with any stringed musical instrument and a tuning fork. Say you were to take a guitar, and had a tuning fork tuned to middle A in the traditional tempered musical scale (440 CPS or hertz). If you tap the fork on your knee it vibrates, emanating invisible sound waves.

Now without touching the guitar strings, if you were to hold it close to the strings and move from one to the next, you’d hear nothing until you got to middle A string. Then, as if by magic, the string would “turn on” and make a sound without ever having been touched.

This is the scientific basis for the so-called Law of Attraction. So there is some truth to it, but here is the missing piece to why it works inconsistently.

There is a spiritual principle that profoundly influences the equation. Is the “law” being used for selfish reasons and individual gain, or for a moral and sacred purpose to serve others and alleviate suffering?

I believe the Law of Attraction is mis-named, because it puts the focus onto what the user gets out of the deal, which neglects a much more important ingredient: what they’re willing to give.

The key is not focusing on the attraction part of the equation; the key is focusing on getting your vibration right through powerful choices, thoughts, words, and by taking powerful action.

The Real Formula Begins with the Right Element

This ingredient begins by choosing a noble intention. Be honest and ask yourself, “Is my intention selfish or soul-fish?”

Your intention will deeply influence the end result. There is great proof of this fact in my friend Lynn McTaggart’s fine book entitled, The Intention Experiment.

In one of my books, The Prosperity Paradigm, I specifically address how to use what I call the Law of Vibration and Attraction in painstaking detail.

Being a productivity teacher in the financial services industry, I’ve seen far too many clients futilely try to apply the Law of Attraction to make more money.

They get their visualization boards, and their affirmations and the whole deal but they forget the most important premise: You gotta put something into the “bucket” before you can honestly expect to take something out of it.

Go serve somebody.

Create Favorable Conditions; Results Take Care of Themselves

Laws are mechanistic rules that operate predictably within controlled Newtonian parameters.

Principles seem to work best with organic systems like human beings. A principle isn't a law, which is irrefutable, but principles do work to create favorable conditions for a reality to actualize.

So if you're seeking to make more money, I suggest trying this principle: Begin with a good intention, using the equation Intention = Noble Goal + Non-attachment. (The non-attachment part is big, so big we’ll cover that in another blog soon.)

Then just BE the Cause, and make it a worthy cause that creates real value for others

In a world of cause and effect, value creation is the cause, money is the effect. Dollars follow value.

Strike the "tuning fork" of value creation in service to others first, and using this principle, chances are that the money will follow.