The Law of Attraction

The phrase Law of Attraction, used widely by New Thought writers, refers to the pseudoscientific idea that thoughts influence chance.

The Law of Attraction argues that thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) can affect things outside the head, not just through motivation, but by other means.

Essentially, "if you really want something and truly believe it's possible, you'll get it", but putting a lot of attention and thought onto something you don't want means you'll probably get that too.Whittaker, S. Secret attraction, The Montreal Gazette, May 12th 2007.Redden, Guy, Magic Happens: A New Age Metaphysical Mystery Tour, Journal of Australian Studies: 101

Widespread popular interest in the Law of Attraction reached its peak after the release of the The Secret, a 2006 film by Australian television writer and producer Rhonda Byrne. Byrne followed up the film with a bestselling book of the same title and appeared on a series of talk shows in 2007.

Various scientists have stated that many of the Law's claims are impossible, violating scientific principles and a scientific understanding of the universe, Scientific American; Jun2007, Vol. 296 Issue 6, p39-39: "The brain does produce electrical activity from the ion currents flowing among neurons during synaptic transmission, and in accordance with Maxwell's equations any electric current produces a magnetic field. But as neuroscientist Russell A. Poldrack of the University of California, Los Angeles, explained to me, these fields are minuscule and can be measured only by using an extremely sensitive superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) in a room heavily shielded against outside magnetic sources. Plus, remember the inverse square law: the intensity of an energy wave radiating from a source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from that source. An object twice as far away from the source of energy as another object of the same size receives only one-fourth the energy that the closer object receives. The brain's magnetic field of 10-15 tesla quickly dissipates from the skull and is promptly swamped by other magnetic sources, not to mention the earth's magnetic field of 10-5 tesla, which overpowers it by 10 orders of magnitude!" though others have drawn parallels between the Law and quantum entanglement .

The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help and spirituality book written by Rhonda Byrne. A film based on the book was released before the book in DVD format. The tenet of the book is that an individual's focused positive thinking can result in life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, happiness and more. The book achieved high sales after being featured in two episodes of Oprah, whereafter the book reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list and the film based on the book reached #1 on the sales charts on Amazon.com.

The book has also reached a high level of notoriety and criticism from those who claim that the book misleads readers with its claims of positive thinking being able to influence a reader's life and real-world outcomes.

The film is largely influenced by Wallace D. Wattles' 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich.

Esther Hicks is an American inspirational speaker and best-selling author. She has co-authored nine books with her husband Jerry Hicks, presents workshops on the Law of Attraction and appeared in the first release of the film The Secret. The Hickses' books, including the best-selling series The Law of Attraction, are ? according to Esther Hicks ? Channelled from a group of non-physical entities called Abraham (Hicks describes what she is doing as tapping into "infinite intelligence").[http://www.nypost.com/seven/08152007/entertainment/dirty_little_secret_entertainment_maureen_callahan.htm?page=0 Dirty Little 'Secret'. New York Post.]

Hay House, Inc. published the Hickses' best-selling book, Ask and It is Given, in September, 2004. Since that book they have also published four more New York Times Best-Sellers: The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent (January, 2006), The Law of Attraction (October, 2006), The Astonishing Power of Emotions (September, 2008), and Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness which ranked #1 two weeks after its release in August 2008. As of November 2, 2009, The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships has been on the New York Times Best Seller's list for 7 weeks.NY Times Best Seller List for August 31, 2008 A series of fictional children's books, Sara I, II, and III, is also available. Several of their books were translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch and Russian.

Esther Hicks was born in Coalville, Utah. She married her current husband, Jerry Hicks, in 1980 and has one daughter by her former marriage.