Recently, I was pleasantly surprised when a former TBM family member left TSCC.

This newly ex-mo relative appears to be very interested in the so-called 'Law' of Attraction, which I've learned was popularized by a book called 'The Secret' and given the added veneer of legitimacy by that respectable bastion of scientific thought - Oprah.

A few weeks ago the newly minted ex-mo family member seemed to be hinting that, by the power of positive thinking alone, another family member could achieve remission from the progressive autoimmune disease they've been coping with for the past decade. A favorite new quote was offered which, in a nutshell, stated that by harnessing the positive power of the law of attraction the world's problems of poverty, disease and misery could all be fixed.

Since I find little to none of what Oprah endorses to be of any intellectual interest or value, I'd never heard of 'The Secret' or the so-called 'Law' of Attraction. I've been aware for a year or two that there seems to be a marginal increase in the numbers of over-zealous, positive-thinking proselytizers. A few that I've encountered have spoken about how "we" attract bad things into "our" lives when "we" get stuck in negative thinking, even making "ourselves" sick as well as tired. "We" language that really means they're talking about you, and what you've been screwing up and how you should change since they are already enlightened.

So far, I've mentally shrugged such types off as credulous, intellectual midgets who have latched onto some popular new flavor of the optimism cult. Yet now I'm wondering if my family member is about to go off on another anti-intellectual bender by deciding that the Answer to Life is *now* to be found in some imaginary law of mind power. It's like they're on the rebound, looking for some shiny new belief to replace the security that was lost when they could no longer believe in TSCC.

I'm curious whether other ex-mos have encountered those who appear to believe in the 'Law of Attraction' or who praise the book 'The Secret'?

Yes, and look out, there's a passel of believers in the LoA here too!

Well, I guess it shouldn't be unexpected.

Thanks for the heads up :-/

And just look what happened to her.

The LoA is pretty cool and I think it does work, just like visualization used by athletes. But hopefully being obsessive is just a phase. I wouldn't worry yet. They've lost what helped them make sense of the world and need time to figure that out. Hopefully with time this family member will realize that life and the world is a lot more complicated than just thinking positively. (Although I do think some people can't cope with not understanding the world. Be ready for an intervention if this is the case as addiction to one thing or another (physical substance or "religion") is likely to follow.)

I'm appreciative of your reply, but I'm more interested in narrowing down the discussion of the "Law" of attraction as follows:

In what way should someone go about making it work if they want to cure themselves of the progressive autoimmune disease that they've suffered from for nearly a decade?

It's a well-known fact that diseases tend to attract people to doctors and hospitals. Some would even call it a law.

Yes...I believe we create our reality. That our vibrational energy draws our thought forms to us--and that this is the law of attraction. I believe that rather than following a creator, we are the creators. That ultimately, we are what we think. On a superficial level, if a reality comes toward us that doesn't match our vision, we cast it aside. If someone treats us poorly, and we think we deserve that, we stay. If we think we can get a certain job, we present ourselves in a way that will get it for us. But it goes much deeper than that. We are the creators...and that is the secret. And hiding that secret is why there are religions, and why we are taught to follow them...rather than follow the wise knowing inside us all.

I'd appreciate a better definition of 'vibrational energy'.

I have a loved one who needs to use this phenomenon in order to cure themselves of a painful, devastating and progressive autoimmune disease that they've apparently attracted.

I'm not trying to be unnecessarily snarky, but I admit that you're kind of waving a red cape in front of the bull here.

LoA, affirmations, visualization, positive thinking, prayer, faith healing, homeopathy, etc... all suffer from bias (of various flavors).

These things can be comforting... they give us a sense of control when we have none. That comfort can lower stress which has some positive impact to our health, but I would argue that there are better ways to manage stress.

Yes, thank you very much for saying this.

I'm with the O.P. The positivity thing has been around all the decades of my life. It can end up the same as being Mormon. Your life isn't going well? You weren't positive enough. (Same as not being worthy.) Something good happens? You automatically pat yourself on the back for being so positively attractive! (Same as standing in Fast and Testimony and bragging about how the Lord has blessed you.)

All men are not created equal. We are born with our own set of genes culled from thousands of ancestors and we come into this world with certain propensities from this special combo pak of DNA.

All you have to do is look at groups of very small children and you can see clear personalities emerging. One baby cries all day, the other sleeps all day. Some kids are assertive right out of the cradle, others are not. So why would we believe each one of us has this Attractiveness quotient at our disposal that has some magnetic power over others?

I'm with the part of the world that just believes you ought to do your damnedest to fulfill your dreams. There is no magic. There is no secret. There is only hard work and rolling with the punches.

I like the old saying, Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. This is not a secret, it's just the way things work.

blueorchid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm with the part of the world that just believes
> you ought to do your damnedest to fulfill your
> dreams. There is no magic. There is no secret.
> There is only hard work and rolling with the
> punches.
>
> I like the old saying, Luck is when opportunity
> meets preparation. This is not a secret, it's just
> the way things work.

Yes, thank you for saying this so eloquently. I cannot agree more.

The family member I mentioned with an autoimmune disease has been incredibly proactive, self-educated and optimistic doing all they can to meet and overcome the challenges presented by their affliction. Nevertheless, it has at times brought them to their knees.

Humility. We have so little control in life. Accepting that reality is so hard. It's maddening that some would choose to believe that those who get slammed the hardest have some personal culpability for simply being unlucky.

How compassionate is that?

I'm with bluorchid. And i've always been tired of people blaming me for being cynical and for not being typeA, too. But there is something to be said for thinking more positively if done along scientific terms rather than making a religion out of it. Oprah's LOA thing is just more religion. Something like 'Psychocybernetics' for instance by maxwell maltz. because it is just easier to learn something if you can first envision yourself actually doing it. nothing magical here.

Nice

will also keep in mind the law of "don't give unsolicited and untrained medical advice" and also the law of STFU.

I have plenty of experience with people who have chronic illnesses. Unsolicited advice and offering (to sell) unproven cure-alls gets old FAST.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2014 09:24PM by imaworkinonit.

Amen to that!

It seems like everyone who hasn't had the illness, always has a cure.

Double Amen.

Thank you for saying this.

Sometimes I feel the whole world is going crazy.

Ohmigod yes. I get so sick of people trying to cure me when I leave doctors confused (who have been treating people like me their entire career).

Just look at the piss-poor attitude of starving kids from third world countries. It's obvious this is caused by a sh!tty outlook on life.

"I'm starving to death. I bet I won't get any bread today. BOOHOOOHOOO."

Not with that glum and depressed way of thinking, mister!

You're irreverently subversive. I admire that in a person.

Yeah, those starving kids and their negative energy...will they never learn?

My sister's friend is such a die-hard Law of Attraction nut, she thinks a person can contract aids by thinking they have it. On the flip side, she thinks a person inflicted with aids can cure it through thinking thee don't have it.

I was taught as a child that wishing something was so doesn't make it so.

Well your parents have a lot to answer for.

yes. it does work. since you are into science let me give you a quick example.

take for example drug testing involving humans in which usually they have a placebo group and a control group. the placebo group exists because the researches are fully aware of the power of the mind; they know that sometimes placebo has the same or better results than the drug they are testing.

there are lots of literature on the subject. no, no new age. real scientific literature.

can that person heal himself after 10 years? i'm not aware of any natural/physics law that would prevent him from doing that.

Um, the placebo doesn't cure the disease. The body does, and would have done so with or without the placebo. A positive mental outlook might help a little, but like priesthood blessings, it has severe limits. Neither God nor a positive attitude will re grow a limb. Both work best on touchy-feely maladies that have to do with how you feel.

I forget the expected rate of improvement using a placebo. But they try to develop treatments that work BETTER than the placebo.

If placebos were good enough, they would just prescribe THEM.

However, I will add that placebos have unpleasant side affects, too. For example, magical thinking if you were healed by a shaman. And it's not cheap to owe a religion for your life.

Placebos have limits, they may work well for depression but I am unaware of a placebo that cures pancreatic cancer

This is also about The Power of the Subconscious Mind -- see Joseph Murphy... http://josephmurphy.wwwhubs.com/

I've encountered it. It kind of resonated with me for a little bit there then I saw all kinds of poverty and it went kaput.

Yeah, you aren't going to sway them. Coincidentally one of the founders of this type of thought has filed for bankruptcy and I only know because I work in the industry and their file came across my desk. I almost thought about passing that info on but then I was like. meh... people would still be falling for it even if one guy's law of attraction "i just have to think success and i will attract success" lead to him living a lifestyle too lavish for his means and ended up filing bk.

The placebo effect can improve symptoms for some people, but it doesn't cure disease. I have an autoimmune disease, and a friend who buys heavily into the LoA and other types of magical thinking. What proponents of those theories often don't realize is that they're blaming the victim. You either made yourself sick or are still sick because you didn't wish hard enough, or both. My friend told me I should write "love" on things around my house, and it would "change my cell structure" so that my body would heal itself. I tell her I don't believe in that, or whatever the next thing is, and she gets mad at me for "refusing to help myself" (doctors don't count). It's just like religion. Tell your family member, "You go to your church, and I'll go to mine", and don't let them guilt the one who's got enough problems already dealing with a serious illness.

I think there's a clear line between: going into a job interview with a positive attitude vs. a starving child in Liberia visualizing a turkey sandwich to fill its bloated tummy...

The Law of Attraction is also huge among the Multi-Level Marketing crowd. It is a blame the victim philosophy at it's core.

The new age, self-help hucksters like Rhonda Byrne or James Arthur Ray are in the same mold as Joseph Smith. Snake oil sales.

I think this article says it well:

http://www.salon.com/2007/03/05/the_secret/