Law of Attraction and Happiness

The phrase Law of Attraction, although used widely by New Thought writers, has a variety of definitions. Turn-of-the-20th-century references conceptualized the law of attraction as relating to physical structure and to how matter develops.?Waves in water, Air and Either,? delivered in 1902, at the Royal Institution, by J. A. Fleming "?All branches of physical science demonstrate the fact that every completed manifestation, of whatever kind and on whatever scale, is started by the establishment of a nucleus, infinitely small but endowed with an unquenchable energy of attraction, causing it to steadily increase in power and definiteness of purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form stands out as an accomplished fact." A more modern consensus among New Thought thinkers is that the Law of Attraction says people's thoughts (both conscious and unconscious) dictate the reality of their lives, whether or not they're aware of it. 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 for the law of attraction reached its peak after the release of the The Secret, a 2006 cinematic release. After the film's release, the book Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham by Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks made the New York Times Best Sellers list, drawing more attention and interest to this topic. Prior to this, the couple had been in the New Age field since the 1980s.The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham,By (Spirit) Abraham, Abraham, Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks,Published by Hay House, 2006,ISBN 1401912273, 9781401912277

In 2007 Rhonda Byrne, the writer of the bestselling book The Secret, had become so popular that she was interviewed on Oprah Winfrey. By the time Byrne went on Oprah the book had already gotten its break on the Ellen DeGeneres show and was "hugely successful". Oprah aired the first of two segments on February 8, 2007. Oprah Winfrey interview with Byrne http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/slideshow1_ss_20070208/1 Newsweek article, "Decoding 'The Secret'", bottom of page 3 http://www.newsweek.com/id/36603/page/3 Newsweek article, "Decoding 'The Secret'", bottom of page 3 http://www.newsweek.com/id/36603/page/3

Since many of the claims of the law of attraction appear impossible without violating established scientific principles and our understanding of the universe, it has received criticism from the scientific community.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 neuroscientists 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!" Physicist Ali Alousi, for instance, criticized it as unmeasurable (and therefore unscientific) as well as questioning the likelihood that thoughts can affect anything outside the head . The Associated Press is also quoted as saying that "some medical professionals suggest it could even lead to a blame-the-victim mentality and actually be dangerous to those suffering from serious illness or mental disorders".