Does the Law of Attraction work or not?

The Law of Attraction is one of those hot topics. People never seem to tire of debating why it’s true; why it’s false; or why everyone else just misunderstands it! (I’m in the 3rd category.)

There have been a lot of great comments on this blog about the subjects of Law of Attraction (LOA) and Divine Intervention. Some people wrote in to share their personal story as proof of either (a) why LOA doesn’t work, or (b) why Divine Intervention exists. I was not convinced. If anything, I think people just misunderstand those 2 concepts because they are so commonly mis-taught, especially in New Age communities.

Over the next couple of articles I’m going to clear up some huge misunderstandings about such vital subjects as:

How does (and doesn’t) LOA work?
How does LOA differ to Divine Intervention?
When is a synchronicity proof of God’s Divine Intervention?
What is “proof” anyway? When are people just plain deluded?

Today we are focusing on the first topic.

What is – and isn’t – the Law of Attraction?

The Law of Attraction simply states that vibrations attract like vibrations. The key (misunderstood) word in that sentence is vibration.

Notice how I did not say like thoughts attract like things for instance. The LOA has little or nothing to do with our thoughts. That’s the biggest misunderstanding of LOA, perpetuated by movies like The Secret. It’s the idea that positive thinking or focussed thought attracts the thing you are thinking about. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but it doesn’t work.

[Yes, I know, there’s always someone who it worked for. Every placebo works on at least 1 person. That’s not proof. Proof to me means it works on 90%-100% of people.]

There has been a backlash against The Secret because people went off and made their vision boards and then realized, “hang on, where’s my multimillion dollar house and my hot underwear model husband/wife that I’ve been manifesting?”

So how do I get some of these vibration thingies?

OK so we got that the LOA has to do with vibrations not thoughts. But what are vibrations and how do we harness them?

Keeping this really very simple, vibrations are the smallest, simplest piece of coherent energy. By coherent energy I mean that it is a transmission of information. So now you know what vibration really means – it means information.

Your brain and vibrations

Our brains have evolved to process information in a way that’s very complicated. Our advanced human brain (neo-cortex) is so complicated that we cannot isolate specific vibrations it processes. There are so many thousands of thoughts (hence millions of vibrations/information) in any instant.

In RPT we teach a specific brain model called the Triune Brain. It’s just a model, but it works brilliantly. In this model, the neo-cortex and limbic system are complex; but the deepest part of brain, our animal mind or R-complex, works on simplistic instincts for survival. These short, sharp impulses are powerful vibrations.

Where does Law of Attraction fit in?

It’s actually pretty simple. Positive thinking doesn’t make much of a difference. Affirmations are fairly useless. All the New Age crap about “Thoughts Become Things” – you already know it doesn’t work. Why? Because the LOA was never about thoughts, it’s about vibrations.

When you “think positive thoughts,” your mind has so many thousands of ideas / signals / information going on at the same time, how do you know which one you are manifesting. On the surface you might think “I’m ready for my soul mate” but the unconscious part of the neo-cortex is thinking “I don’t deserve it.” You can have multiple conflicting beliefs and ideas, which is why words and thoughts are pretty useless for manifesting.

Instead of words and thoughts, you have to go deeper and simpler. Use the part of your brain that speaks in simple instincts: key vibrations. Use the R-complex or animal brain.

We found that we can achieve remarkable results by using our survival instincts to harness the LOA. Example: Say you want to meet your soul mate. Instead of thinking “love” or “soul mate,” focus on how finding your soul mate will help you to survive and feel safe. When you get it down to a basic instinct, manifest for that instinct. This is a very simple RPT manifesting technique that works, because you are using the LOA correctly.

Manifesting is meant to be easy, and it is easy. Just stop reading all the rubbish about positive thinking and start Being with it.

Clearing up reader confusion

When people say “Law of Attraction doesn’t work” what they really mean is “LOA doesn’t work the way I saw it in The Secret and those other New Age books and courses.”

In my last article I made a lengthy reply to a reader who really thought he had single-handedly disproved the LOA. I addressed other issues last time, and I left the LOA part to today. Here is reader Dalben’s comment:

I was trying to kill myself subconsciously I know that now, so according to LOA I shouldn’t have gotten off the street all those negative vibrations, and it wasn’t until I was off the street that I had finally dealt with those feelings…

I should be dead, I am not … LOA doesn’t explain it not in the least, just like it doesn’t explain the countless members of MLMs like Amway who are living in squalor with their “Positive thought” brainwashing technique (I have a few former friends who are part of that with all the “inspirational messages” posted on their walls truly believing they are happy while their wife left them and their children are being taken away …. )

So to summarize, Dalben is saying “I wanted to kill myself but I failed, therefore LOA is rubbish” and “Positive thinking like Amway doesn’t work, therefore LOA is rubbish.”

Ask yourself – is he arguing against the LOA (“vibrations attract like vibrations”) or against the superficial rubbish that is common in New Age books and movies?

Though Dalben was trying hard to argue with me, I’m sure he just proved my point that LOA works on survival instincts, not conscious thoughts.

In fact, I just had a useful insight: people might attract danger and disease to them, but I don’t think you can use LOA to attract “death.” There isn’t a survival instinct for death. When Dalben says “I should be dead… LOA doesn’t explain it,” I think a better statement would be “I should be dead, but my animalistic brain saved me.”

(Obviously people attract disease and accidents etc. But I think that’s totally different from what Dalben is saying. He wants to know why he didn’t die when he was focusing on death. I don’t think it would have been possible.)

As to Dalben’s other statement about MLMs, I agree with him. Most positive thinking and brainwashing is front-cortex thinking. It doesn’t work with survival instincts or vibrations. Hence it has NOTHING to do with the LOA though.

Conclusion – the Triune Brain works for manifesting

What I love about the simple Triune Brain model is that it’s such a simple way to distinguish thoughts (neo-cortex), feelings (heart / limbic system), instincts (body / R-complex). A simple and brilliant model that tells us why tools that use language or thoughts (belief work, positive thinking, etc) cannot ever work – they ignore the instincts.

Most of the manifesting techniques taught in New Age workships leave people feeling frustrated. If you are an experienced reader: how many times have you manifested for $1 million, and how many times has it worked? But if The Secret was right, we should all be abundant and with our soul mates.

(Well OK I am and lots of you are, but it had nothing to do with The Secret. It has to do with RPT)

If you new to this blog and RPT and inspired to learn more, there’s plenty more information on the blog about the triune brain. I highly recommend the Level 1 Reference Therapy Course as a way to learn the simplest instant healing and manifesting technique based on the Triune model. It’s simple and it works!

Come back Monday when we clear up another huge New Age confusion: the difference between LOA and Divine Intervention.

Please leave your comments and questions. Don’t forget our prize going to a random person hitting Facebook Like or leaving a comment. You can enter as many times as you like.

Blessings
Simon

26 Comments

April 2, 2011 by Simon Rose in RPT theory and teachings
Tagged divine intervention, law of attraction, new age, positive thinking, prayer, reference point therapy, rpt, simon rose, the secret, vision boards

26 Responses

Reply

Jørgen Mæhre
April 2, 2011 at 11:58 pm

“The Law of Attraction simply states that vibrations attract like vibrations. The key (misunderstood) word in that sentence is vibration.”

-What is “vibrations” in this context? Could you please give me a definition?

“Notice how I did not say like thoughts attract like things for instance. The LOA has little or nothing to do with our thoughts. That’s the biggest misunderstanding of LOA, perpetuated by movies like The Secret. It’s the idea that positive thinking or focused thought attracts the thing you are thinking about. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but it doesn’t work.”

Yeay! I agree – LOA doesn’t work! Or did I mis-read you there

“Keeping this really very simple, vibrations are the smallest, simplest piece of coherent energy. By coherent energy I mean that it is a transmission of information. So now you know what vibration really means – it means information.”

“Yeay! Definition of vibrations! Ok, so this is based upon the “Consciousness as information”-theory? Or is it more “real” – like sensory and affective information that drives to wanting something, working for it and achieving it? “

Our advanced human brain (neo-cortex) is so complicated that we cannot isolate specific vibrations it processes. There are so many thousands of thoughts (hence millions of vibrations/information) in any instant.

“Isolate specific vibrations? Haven’t heard about that before. Is this a scientific or a new-agey idea? What does it mean to isolate specific vibrations?”

our animal mind or R-complex, works on simplistic instincts for survival. These short, sharp impulses are powerful vibrations.

“OK. Now I understand more of vibrations. It’s physical, neurological impulses, right?”

Why? Because the LOA was never about thoughts, it’s about vibrations.

“Or, it’s about neurological impulses and instincts. Follow you gut instinct etc? Isn’t vibrations just another airy-fairy word? Or at best a phenomenological description of how it is to feel impulses from our (reptilian) brain – I can live with that”.

When you “think positive thoughts,” your mind has so many thousands of ideas / signals / information going on at the same time, how do you know which one you are manifesting. On the surface you might think “I’m ready for my soul mate” but the unconscious part of the neo-cortex is thinking “I don’t deserve it.” You can have multiple conflicting beliefs and ideas, which is why words and thoughts are pretty useless for manifesting.

“I agree partly with this. What you’re saying doesn’t have anything to do with LOA and fairy-tales though, it is basic logical reasoning and I like it. “

Instead of words and thoughts, you have to go deeper and simpler. Use the part of your brain that speaks in simple instincts: key vibrations. Use the R-complex or animal brain.

“With other words, listen to your body – wouldn’t that be right? The physical aspect of emotions (affects) is very much the body’s way of expression what you call key vibrations (should it be key-impulses) or somatic markers as Damasio call them. And I just realized that I associate the word “manifest(ing)” with bullshit. Better “be” with that

Another thought that came to me while I read this: do you have to use new-agey expressions like LOA? Perhaps you feel it “sells” more, or that people recognize it etc – but the people who react positive to LOA are the same people who believe in fairies. When you (Simon) describe RPT LOA, you’re describing something very “reasonable” and human – I don’t think you should call I LOA. There’s no LOA – that is to say, there’s no need as I see it to call the act of “conscious creation” LOA. Most people (I know) associate LOA with New Age, and if you want RPT to be something other than that, then loose the popular LOA. Just call it “The RPT way of coherent creation/manifesting” or something like that.

(Obviously people attract disease and accidents etc. )

“So people do attract disease and accidents? That’s obvious? But seriously Simon: you can’t say something like that. It’s a remnant of Bronze Age thinking, give it some awareness and see if it still rings true. “

Other than that, good article, IMO. But as an answer to your title: No, LOA does not work, because there’s no LOA.

[Reply]
Jørgen Mæhre Reply:
April 2nd, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Hm, the formatting didn’t work. My bad.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 8:19 pm
hi
I really understand what you are saying re changing the name. I guess it’s a tough marketing question of where to position ourselves. I don’t believe in most New Age stuff, but I guess most of my clients do – at least before doing the course. You want to talk people’s language else they wont find you.

I really did not understand your final comment about the Bronze Age thinking. Obviously we are having a Lost in Translation moment.

It’s fundamental to RPT and all emotional healing techniques that trauma and destructive thinking creates disease. Starting with Louise Hay there has been an understanding in the West that specific thoughts attract specific diseases. (I think this knowledge existed in the East for thousands of years.)

So yes Jørgen I believe that we attract our disease, in the way written about by Louise Hay and hundreds of other brilliant writers. The metaphysical relationship between specific thoughts and specific diseases is clear. It’s something I have researched myself and made some specifics breakthroughs for our Level 3 course and Evette’s upcoming book on Metaphysical Anatomy.

I’m sure you can clarify your concern.
Simon

[Reply]
Reply

Dmitry Yeschenko
April 3, 2011 at 1:07 am

Keeping this really very simple, vibrations are the smallest, simplest piece of coherent energy. By coherent energy I mean that it is a transmission of information. So now you know what vibration really means – it means information.

Sounds quite beautyful, but to be true not enough clear for me. After reading it I’ve got an idea like “nice stuff but I’m too stupid to understand it”. If you can write a bit more on it – it’ll be useful.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Dmitry, who are you kidding? You are not the self-deprecating sort.

But here goes.

Rather than “vibration” having some vague spiritual meaning, I’m saying it has a precise meaning in physics and in our work. In relation to our work I am calling a vibration a unit of information, think of it as a message.

Imagine an office with lots of messages going back and forth. “Intra-office memos”
they were called in the days before email. When Person 1 sends a memo to Person 2, one of 2 things could happen:
1) Person 2 does nothing;
2) Person 2 reacts in a meaningful way.

OK here’s the cool bit. So if that memo was just rubbish (“white noise”) then Person 2 does nothing.

But if the memo had a clear precise message, then Person 2 does something useful.

So vibration is a memo that gets a reaction. In fact it’s the shortest, simplest memo you can imagine. It’s just a very basic unit of INFORMATION that gets sent out and gets a reaction.

A vibration always gets a reaction since the universe (in quantum physics) is just information.

By contrast THOUGHTS and FEELINGS are vague, ephemeral and often lacking INFORMATION.

A negative belief for example is a complex symptom of thousands of feelings and lots of vibrations. The belief itself is so complicated (as a vibration) that it’s information content is lost. It depends on language and millions of unconscious norms and associations.

People sometimes teach that you create your reality according to your beliefs, but actually you only need 10 minutes of critical thinking about what beliefs are, how the brain works, and then how cell membranes function on a vibrational level, and you can see this is nonsense.

Clear enough or more confusing?

Simon

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 10:43 pm
PS – it’s not directly relevant but this may be helpful. 20 years ago I studied information science in a computer subject at university. I remember just 1 thing from the entire course which was the teacher saying “The difference between data and information is that data is a collection of facts/figures but it is only information if it is USEFUL.”

That was brilliant to me, because so much of what I hear people saying is either data or white noise, it’s not useful.

When I read the newspaper for instance I see lots of data, but I ignore things that don’t affect me in some way. The fact that someone was murdered in NYC is just data. A tsunami near me is information.

Back to your question – it’s an indirect analogy, but: thoughts and feelings are the “data” and survival instincts are the “information.” They have a precise meaning (something feelings don’t).

Then ask yourself, whatever a VIBRATION is, is it more likely to resonate with data (thoughts, feelings) or information (instincts).

It’s not a perfect analogy but it occurred to me that it may help.

[Reply]
Reply

Ben Ralston
April 3, 2011 at 4:51 am

I’m living my dreams abundantly, with my soul mate. I manifested a lot of things. Many people I’m sure would call me lucky.
I don’t believe in luck. You make your bad luck just like you make your misfortune, and in the same way, it can all be turned around (consciously or not).

I must say though, that the backlash against the movie The Secret is a little misguided in my opinion. I thought that they said it very clearly in that movie: it’s not enough to think it. You have to really FEEL it. And they also (at some moments) said that you have to feel it with your whole being.
I know a lot of people really didn’t pick that up, and still try to just ‘positive think’ things into their life… but to me it was clear that the movie was guiding people a little deeper. For example, I find ‘gratitude’ to be a very, very important vibration to send out in order to manifest, and there was quite a focus on that in the movie.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Ben I acknowledge your point about the benefits of The Secret. However I still think the backlash is justified because the movie was dumbed down – intentionally – and gives people false ideas. I don’t agree with your comment about feelings – well it was there but hidden. The animated logo was “Thoughts become Things” not “Feelings become Things.” (That would still be incorrect of course anyway.)

I was lucky enough to see the original version with Esther Hicks and it was a great movie. Esther understands manifesting (I may disagree with her about divine intervention but I respect her approach). But when they edited Esther out of it, the movie became a soul-less beast, dumbed down for the Oprah watching masses.

If you can find or download the Esther Hicks version it’s worth a watch – just to see how bad the final was by comparison.

I also read – and loved – Neale Donald Walsch’s response to The Secret. You may recall he was part of the original but got edited to nothing in the final production. His response, Happier Than God is another good book about manifesting. Of the speakers who are prominent in The Secret I have respect for Jack Canfield. Most of the rest are get-rich-quick scheme flakes.

I’m not saying that there’s no positives that came from it. Wendy’s is a good example. Nevertheless, I stand by my comments that it is both soul-less (because it’s all about money) and extremely misleading. To put that in simple words: it just doesn’t work the way the movie suggests.

If that isn’t grounds for a backlash, then I don’t know what is?

SR

[Reply]
Ben Ralston Reply:
April 4th, 2011 at 6:14 am
Aha! I saw the original then…

[Reply]
Tony Reply:
April 6th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
The original is brilliant and Esther Hicks is a beautiful being doing beautiful work.

In the “new” version of “The Secret” I was really touched by Rev. Michael Beckwith. I felt like his sincerity shone through and when he appeared on Oprah I felt like he really wanted open people to the truth of who they are.

Just wanted to point out there are some wonderful things in the movie and the fact that it got so many people thinking, is remarkable.

[Reply]
Reply

WendyB
April 3, 2011 at 8:20 am

Great article, Simon, but I agree with Ben on The Secret. That movie changed my life. I know it sounds rediculous but until watching that movie, I didn’t know I had any real control over my life. I was brought up being taught that God was in total control and I bought that excuse for misery hook line and sinker. Once I watched The Secret and started vibrabing what I wanted, life changed drastically. Is what The Secret teaches perfect? Absolutely not otherwise I’d be wealthy instead of just having needs met. Money is the one area I vibrate for but obviously have blocks that need clearing. I come from a deep poverty mentaliy. Nothing has worked for me yet. So, needless to say, I am beyond eager to learn manifesting the RPT way next weekend with Val!!

Thanks for talking about this subject! Many of us do need help in fully understanding the power of LOA and how to use it properly and completely.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 5:25 pm
hi Wendy, thanks for sharing. I find it amazing that belief in God can be used as an excuse for misery. That is such a perversion of spiritual truth.

You will LOVE the course next week, Val is an awesome teacher.

blessings
Simon

[Reply]
Ilona Goltman Reply:
April 4th, 2011 at 3:39 am
Hi Wendy, I am attending the training in Seattle too. Flying from Florida next week. Will be delighted to meet you there! And thank you so much Simon for developing this fantastic system!

[Reply]
WendyB Reply:
April 4th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Great! Am eager to meet you too, Ilona!! I know we will all have fun

[Reply]
Reply

Shane Marsh
April 3, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Hi Simon

I agree with you for the most part but then found myself disagreeing with you when you said LOA has nothing to do with thoughts. However, upon reflection I think you might be thinking (no pun intended) along the same lines as me but that it doesn’t come across quite the same because you were trying take the emphasis off the positive thinking fallacy. So let me put this out there to see if we’re on the same page. I’ll use a few analogies as well as a fictional scenario and characters to illustrate the point. Sorry about the length of this reply but it takes a bit of explaining. Hopefully it will benefit everyone and be worthwhile.
————————-
Vibration:

The word “vibration” sometimes seems a bit hokey or new age but it’s really the best word there is to describe the concept. The word “vibration” conjures up notions of energy and frequency and that’s exactly what it is. It’s an energy field that we emit that interacts with other energy fields in a similar way to a magnetic field that extends beyond the magnet and interacts with other magnetic fields. If you put 2 magnets close to each other, you’ll either feel a pull or a push depending on the alignment of the magnets. The magnet analogy isn’t perfect because opposite polarities attract with magnets (as they’re completing a circuit) and the same polarities repel whereas, in LOA, like polarities attract and there is no repulsion. By virtue of attracting something you’re effectively repelling its opposite but it’s not the same as literally repelling the opposite. Also, the power of a personal vibration doesn’t diminish with distance like a magnetic or gravitational field does.

Thoughts:

LOA is simply about the interaction of vibrations so you’re absolutely correct when you say it’s all about vibrations. However, it’s all very well to understand that on a theoretical level but how can we use it to our advantage? Well, that’s where thoughts come in. You can’t affect the vibration of anyone else (other than through influence) but you can affect your own vibration. How do we do that? We do it via our thoughts.

Essentially our vibration in relation to any particular subject is a reflection of the current sum total of our thoughts on that particular subject. For simplicity I’ll use an example of wanting to be a multi-millionaire.

Mike the multi-millionaire:

People with a strong and consistent vibration about being a multi-millionaire are usually already multi-millionaires such as our friend Mike. Why wouldn’t Mike’s vibration be strong if he’s already multi-millionaires? There’s nothing to doubt about it! Mike checks his bank balance and see millions of dollars. His surroundings are consistent with being a multi-millionaire and people relate to him like the multi-millionaire he is. In short, there’s not one shred of evidence to the contrary. Everything about Mike’s life suggests he’s a multi-millionaire so it’s not difficult for him to think thoughts that are consistent with that. It’s like a perpetual motion machine – he doesn’t have to try to think about being a multi-millionaire – the thoughts just think themselves without any effort. It’s not like Mike is going to wake up one day and start doubting the reality of being a multi-millionaire!

Imagine being in a room that has a dimmer switch on the lights. If the lights are turned on fully then the room is bright. This is equivalent to a vibration that’s strongly positive in terms of being a multi-millionaire. Mike’s light switch is fully on.

Broke Betty:

So what about our friend Betty who’s broke but just read some book about LOA and wants to use it become a multi-millionaire? Betty is sick and tired of being broke and wants the good life for a change. So she sits down in her room to visualise being a multi-millionaire. Her room is very dark as she has the dimmer knob almost all the way down but she manages to brighten the room from her 15 minutes of visualisation efforts. She read that the most important thing about visualisation is to make it feel real and get emotionally involved so she does that and now she’s feeling much better in relation to the subject of finances. Then Betty opens her eyes and what she sees reminds her of the reality she’s living so the light begins to dim almost immediately. After a short time, the room’s dark again. Why did that happen? Because Betty began to think thoughts consistent with her current reality again. It wasn’t hard for her to do that. Betty’s starting from a place of being broke and she knows she’s broke. She knows that visualising being a multi-millionaire is just pretending but the reality is she’s broke. It’s not hard for her to think thoughts about being broke as there’s not one shred of evidence to the contrary. Her beliefs and self-image are consistent with being broke.

Betty also read about affirmations so she thought she’d give that a go. She starts saying over and over “I’m rich, I’m rich, I’m rich” but it doesn’t feel quite right. There’s a small shift in her vibration but it doesn’t last and she actually begins to feel a bit aggravated. Deep down she knows she’s broke so her affirmations of “I’m rich, I’m rich” just feel like she’s lying to herself. She tries hard throughout the day to be positive but it feels like a lie. She’s saying all the right things but it feels like being positive through gritted teeth. Even though she’s consciously trying to shift her vibration by thinking the “right” thoughts, the sum total of her thoughts are actually about being broke. She’s not being congruent and it starts to get tiring and annoying. The room remains dark.

Betty meets Mike:

Betty keeps this up for a few months but nothing much changes so she begins to think this whole LOA stuff is bogus. Then she meets Mike and he explains to her that it’s not LOA that’s bogus, it’s her approach to it that’s ineffective. Mike explains that he used to be broke too and made all the same mistakes she did until he figured it out. She’s been trying to buck the current of her predominant vibration by trying to swim upstream! Sure she may be able to temporarily grab onto to a rock or branch to slow her down but the stream is very powerful and, sooner or later she has to let go of the rock or branch and, when she does, the stream is just going to continue carrying her down towards Brokeville because that’s the direction it’s heading towards. It’s impossible to look at “what is” and feel good about it if “what is” isn’t pleasing. Pretending or denying the reality of “what is” isn’t going to work because she’s just painting over cracks. Once the paint dries, the cracks will come through again – it’s a never ending process and nothing much will change. The only way Betty’s going to be able to change her current circumstances is to either change the direction of the stream itself to one tha’s heading towards Multi-millionaireville. In terms of the paining analogy, she has to repair the cracks before repainting. Once the cracks are repaired then the paint has a decent surface to be painted onto and is more likely to stick.

“How do I do that?” Betty says. “Well that’s what’s created a billion dollar industry!” says Mike with a grin. “Everyone has a different take on it. There are some schools of thought that say, if you visualise or affirm enough times then you’ll eventually begin to imprint the new beliefs into your belief system. Then it won’t be so difficult to think thoughts that are consistent with the idea of being a multi-millionaire and you’ll have a much better chance of getting some consistency with your thoughts and shifting your vibration. But, to be honest, that’s the hard way of doing it. It may work some of the time but it’s not the best approach.”

“Another approach is to shift your focus. Instead of looking at things that don’t please you and pretending otherwise, shift your attention to things that do genuinely please you. Look for the genuinely positive aspects of your life and focus on those whilst de-emphasising the negative aspects. If something negative comes up that has to be dealt with then deal with it in whatever way’s necessary but once, it’s been dealt with, don’t dwell on it as it will consume your thoughts and keep your vibration stuck in that place. You’re not ignoring reality but dealing with reality on an “as needs” basis and then, in moments when it’s appropriate, choosing to focus on the parts that please you. Then you’ll begin to genuinely feel good (which is an indicator that your vibration has shifted) and you’ll begin to attract more things that genuinely please you. That then gives you more pleasing things to focus and before you know it, you’ve got a consistently good vibration going on. Then you just keep ramping that up because things that were previously outside your range of feeling good about come within range and, before you know it, you’re on an upwards spiral. You’re slowly changing the direction of the stream so you don’t have to try so hard to think positively – the stream just takes you there. That’s the secret of the gratitude exercises that the LOA teachers teach. An attitude of gratitude and appreciation is a very powerful vibration-shifter.”

“Trying to make a quantum leap from broke to multi-millionaire is not going to work. It’s theoretically possible but the reality is that most people simply can’t consistently align all their thoughts in a direction that bucks their well-established current. We’ve got lots of subconscious things going on that, by definition, you’re not consciously aware of. However, the subconscious is very powerful and will predominantly drive your thoughts, attitudes and behaviours. Sure you can consciously try to think positive thoughts but, as soon as you’re not paying attention (which is most of time) the subconscious will seep through ie. the cracks will start to appear through your fresh paint. Most of time you didn’t consciously choose your thoughts – they just appeared because they’re being driven by your subconscious. There’s also an aspect of LOA that plays a role in what thoughts you think. If you get on a roll and manage to shift your vibration, thoughts that are consistent with that vibration will begin to come into your mind without effort but, sooner or later, your underlying tone will begin to seep through again and your vibration will go back to what is was. Then LOA begins to work against you – thoughts consistent with your current negative vibration will begin to come into your mind without effort. It’s like being on a leash. Your leash only has so much range and, if you stray too far, your subconscious will say “Hey Betty, don’t get too carried away! Who do you think you are? Come back here where you belong!”

“So, whilst things like gratitude exercises and vigilance about your focus certainly work, they do take a lot of work. For highly disciplined people, those sorts of things may be all they need. However, for the rest of us we need to go a step further and deal with that pesky subconscious. That’s where things like NLP, EFT and RPT come into it. These “acronym therapy” techniques are addressing what’s at the bottom of why you find it so difficult to focus and align your thoughts. These techniques are similar in the sense that they’re going beneath the surface to address what’s driving your thoughts but the beauty of RPT is that it goes deeper than the others and is usually quicker. If you can kill the roots of the tree, the whole tree will topple as opposed to pruning branches and wondering why it keeps growing back. ”

End of fictional story

BTW, Mike began coaching Betty and they ended up falling in love and getting married. So Betty got her wish in the end – just not in the way she expected (as is often the case with LOA)
————————–

So, whilst I think it’s absolutely valid to make the distinction between thoughts and vibration, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that thoughts have nothing to do with LOA. In my opinion:

1. LOA operates in response to vibration. This is something distinct from actual thoughts.
2. Thoughts are what creates one’s vibration. Hence the sentiment “thoughts become things”. However, thoughts aren’t always driven consciously
3. Emotions or mood in the moment are the indicator of vibration. However being able to differentiate some of the subtleties of emotion is an art in and of itself. A “good” vibration doesn’t necessary equate to ecstasy or over the top excitement. Is Mike ecstatic about being a multi-millionaire? No. To Mike it’s more of a happy comfortable “beingness” feeling. That’s another fallacy with most approaches to LOA. The aim is to feel as if you already are the thing that you want. Multi-millionaires don’t go jumping up and down yelling “Woohoo!!” No, they just have a comfortable feeling of “knowingness” on the subject of being a multi-millionaire. Mike may actually be in a foul mood because his football team just lost but he still has that comfortable knowingness in relation to being a multi-millionaire.
4. Look at the results of your life. If you’re not living it, you’re not vibrating it. You’re wanting it rather than being it. Wanting it keeps it away because you’re just affirming that you don’t have it. Why would you want something you already have? Mike doesn’t want to be a multi-millionaire, he is a multi-millionaire – big difference!

The Secret:

I don’t begrudge the makers of The Secret. In fact, at the risk of name-dropping, I actually know some of the people involved in making it. I’ve met Rhonda Byrne and became friends with one of her daughters before The Secret was released and I can absolutely say they’re totally genuine people. This wasn’t just some marketing thing to become rich although, in hindsight, it was inevitable that it was going to be a huge money-spinner. They were truly living “The Secret” before it came out and they genuinely wanted to help people. I had the opportunity of seeing a pre-production version of it and what I saw blew me away at the time. However it was a little different to what eventually came out. One of the problems was trying to cram all the subtleties into a 90 minute film. The intention was never to be the definitive and final word on LOA but more of a teaser to get the message out and generate an interest in deeper study of the subject. There are many many hours of video that was left on the cutting room floor and many “teachers” that didn’t make it into the final production but were going to be used in the sequels on more specific subjects. However the plans for a series of sequels didn’t eventuate as a whole industry developed around The Secret and they didn’t think it was necessary. By that stage it would have just become a “me to” exercise.

Also, because the Nine Network in Australia had a financial interest in the film, they had control over the final production and one of the instructions to the producers was to omit any reference to “vibration”. The original version talked about vibration but the network thought that was too new-agey so it had to be edited out. I think the producers actually did a brilliant job in the end but we need to bear in mind that the released version is a bit watered down from the original and viewers generally tend to miss the parts where they discuss taking action and the importance of emotion and the “feeling place” of what they’re trying to attract.

My approach to LOA:

Having said all that, I do agree that the standard approach to LOA is flawed because it assumes we have absolute conscious control over our thoughts and ignores the powerful role the subconscious plays. In my view a person’s vibration doesn’t change much because of 2 main factors:

1. Reaction to what’s observed. This becomes a vicious circle as they react to what’s observed which then shapes their vibration which then creates more of the same to be observed which then shapes their vibration which then creates more of the same to be observed…
2. Their subconscious programs keep them on a leash. It’s difficult to totally break free from a subconscious program that’s deeply embedded. If it weren’t for subconscious programs and associations we wouldn’t be able to survive because we’d have to relearn everything we know every minute of the day. However they’re a double-edged sword. They can either serve us or serve to hinder us. Most people don’t even question their subconscious programs (or even know they exist) hence the expression “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Whenever I hear someone say that I always have to interject and say that a dog of any age can learn new tricks if it wants to.

So, to me the best approach to LOA is twofold:

1. Try to be mindful in your reactions. It’s impossible to react positively to something perceived as negative so this involves being mindful in what’s being focussed on. Play up and shift attention to the positive aspects (as opposed to pretending that the negative aspects are positive) and play down / shift attention away from the negative aspects (whilst still dealing with them if necessary). Deliberately look for things to appreciate and be grateful for and then ramp that up
2. Analyse adverse reactions and patterns for the message they’re sending. Every reaction and pattern is an indicator of something deeper within. I did that when I adversely reacted to your previous articles. I RPT’d it and discovered a deep association with having my beliefs challenged and survival so I cleared that and I’m now much better off for the whole experience. I no longer have that leash around my neck

That’s my 2 cents. Good thing it’s the weekend and I’ve got nothing on as there’s no way I’d normally have the time to write something this detailed

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Simon Rose Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Gee I’d love to see that director’s cut of The Secret! Like I said elsewhere, even the first production version (presumably Channel 9 approved) with Esther Hicks, was great. It’s the final international release I don’t like. Funny they wanted it less New Age, I would say that in the end it kept the very worst of the worst of New Age (money-hungry flakeys) and omitted the non necessarily New Age but brilliant metaphysical teachers that could have made it awesome.

So how do you know Mike and Betty?

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Shane Marsh Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 9:13 pm
Yep unfortunately the deletion of Esther Hicks/Abraham was due to a contractual dispute but even in the first production version you can see where the edits have been made in the Abraham dialogue. They’ve taken out the bits that talk about having to achieve vibrational alignment before the desire can be manifested but that’s the most important part!! Then they get Lisa Nichols in to paraphrase the Esther/Abraham dialogue but then any semblance of the original message has been even further distorted. It’s ironic that the Secret played on the theme of long lost and distorted secrets but then it ended up suffering from the same fate. Kind of reminds me of the Bible – original message lost in translation.

Mike and Betty said to say hi and that they like your blog

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WendyB
April 4, 2011 at 2:52 am

I only saw The Secret version with Esther Hicks. Can’t imagine the version without her. Glad I missed that one. The Secret planted the seeds to vibration and Esther’s books taught me how to apply the vibration more completely. I credit my vibrational state for “accidentally” leading me to RPT.

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Nicholas Hall
April 5, 2011 at 5:11 am

Like it Simon! (And indeed I clicked accordingly)

Ah yes, The Secret and its unfortunate side effect of some to “sit on the sofa and have the beachfront / city mansion, hot spouse and the Ferrari GT California” manifesting secret. Except if you sit on the sofa for hours with your dream board or other paraphernalia, the bailiffs / debt collectors are going to come knocking and take your sofa away along with everything else they can recoup. I own a copy and it opened my eyes to another way of doing things though like others prefer the Abraham-Hicks cut. It is a shame that they never produced an major extended “down the rabbit hole” boxset of the cut material.

What is interesting is that a number of The Secret stars – or flakes as Simon you so amusingly called them – including Bill Harris and James Ray have since written about this method of manifesting and the missing element from the film. In fact to make a few more quid / bucks from the Secret followers, I am sure most of the others scrambled to publish a tome or develop a course to do the same. (I admit I own a copy of The Key which I never finished – must take it to the book bank in the local car park for someone else to enjoy)

The secret (no pun intended) ingredient which was omitted is for those unaware, the action. The actual doing which yields our desires. James Ray who was in it, talks of “going 3 for 3″ – having in alignment your thoughts, feelings and actions to achieve your desired outcome. Which is a valid piece of advice.

The short of it is that if you think “right” about having e.g. a new Ferrari, it feels good and yet you’re not prepared to do something to actually have it sat in your driveway, something is clearly amiss.

I am reminded of reminded of the story about the man who told God he wanted to win the lottery. He asked God for the right numbers so that he could have the jackpot. So the story goes, God told him the numbers. Following the next lotto’s draw, the man complains to God that he didn’t win. God responded, “meet me half way – you’ve got to buy a ticket at least!”

If you’ve done the work on having the right frame of mind to what you desire, it feels good to have it and yet you are not – for whatever reason – doing whatever it takes to have it or be it, there is more exploration to be done.

Luckily nobody needs to spend hundreds or thousands on one of the success CD / DVD / book packages out there. I can think of many of the Secret stars whose livelihood depends at least in part on people doing so!
On Simon’s level 3 RPT course there is a whole day devoted to manifesting and the basics are covered on the level 1 course. It was unfortunate that I missed that particular day on repeating the last course as it has got even easier since the London level 3 in 2009
Not only that, even with the level 1 course under your belt you get the tools to sort out whatever stops you from having your desired manifestation. From personal experience as an RPT graduate and teacher, it is a far less convoluted way rather than ploughing through hours of DVDs and written material.

Simon – perhaps I am jumping the gun and you’ll be covering the themes of action and non-action in a later article on your LOA series. If not I’d like to read your take on it. I am looking forward to the next installment!

Must go, waiting for the celestial dealership to deliver my 911 turbo….

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
April 5th, 2011 at 9:00 am
hey buddy, thanks for commenting. Just one thing, if you are going to re-tell my favorite lottery ticket joke, you have to at least have a go at Micky’s Irish accent.

[Up to you what accept God replies with.]

Yes I agree of course about action being the vital ingredient. I should have mentioned it, since one of the things that annoyed the crap out of me with the secret was this image of a 12 year old buy lying under the sheets manifesting his bicycle, then the next day he gets one. Random examples aside (I know 1 or 2 that apply only to kids), this is baloney.

No one met their soul mate or got their dream house or their Aston Martin by lying between the sheets manifesting. It was their actions that defined their success.

The reason I didn’t mention this in the article is mainly that I didn’t think of it, but it is a bit of a tangent to LOA. Still it accounts for many people being disappointed with LOA and not believing in it.

Just a clarification for other readers about the manifesting courses I offer (an hour on Level 1 and a whole day on Level 3). There are NO SECRETS to manifesting. The methods I teach are shared freely on this blog, and I’m probably due to do so again. I object strongly to the Joe Vitales and other who contribute to The Secret, which doesn’t work, and then makes millions selling the “Missing Secret from the Secret.” WTF?

So I just wanted to clarify that on the courses, especially Level 3, what we actually do is spend a day clearing emotional blocks to manifesting. I work through a list of about 15 major areas, the main ones being boundaries, worthiness issues, receiving issues, trust issues, etc.

These are blocks to being in action as much as having anything to do with LOA.

Just as a little example to readers who have not done an RPT course: imagine the thing you most want. Shut your eyes and picture and feel that you already have it (/him/her). How does that make you feel? What happens next? What will happen to you? What will people think of you?

Very few people can hold the “vibration” of their dream without some fear coming up. That’s fear of success. Consider that a recipe for blocking your manifestations.

When people like Dalben say the Law of Attraction doesn’t work they could also just as well be saying it does work but it is easily blocked by our fears, doubts and disbeliefs.

blessings
Simon

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Nicholas Hall
April 5, 2011 at 6:10 pm

I had no idea that it was an Irish joke

Thanks for clarifying on the RPT method & difference between levels 1 & 3.

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Sarah
April 7, 2011 at 3:07 am

The tuning fork is an anology that I find descriptive of “vibration.” You strike a tuning fork tuned to the note “C.” Adjacent to the tuning fork tuned to C, are a tuning fork of the note C as well as several others, say G, Bm, and E. The vibrating C tuning fork will cause the adjacent C tuning fork to ring, because they are vibrationally alike. The other tuning forks will stand mute.

I think of vibration as a metabolic event – feeding like vibration – and leaving untouched – unlike information.

Thanks for instigating this interesting conversation Simon.

Sarah

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Simon Rose Reply:
April 7th, 2011 at 9:22 am
Yes that is an excellent analogy.
blessings
Simon

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Mick Thackray
April 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm

Really insightful message there Simon. I had never really thought about LOA that way before, but it does indeed make a lot of sense..Especially intrigued by the triune brain involvement, it would be very interesting to experiment with the powerful r-type complex (is that right?) energy to see what can be done with it. I appreciate the lesson, and will investigate this some more.

Mick

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Missy
February 12, 2013 at 6:47 pm

I don’t understand what it means by “manifest that instinct”? Let’s say I’m trying to manifest a good job, that i could make money and therefore pay for RPt sessions (just graduated and finding a job has been hard..) how do I go about manfesting? What instincts do i have to draw out or more so HOW can i discover what the instinct it?

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Simon Rose Reply:
February 13th, 2013 at 10:16 am
Hi, I re-read it and I think it could be clearer, or at least I’ve improved the method in the years since writing this article. I think perhaps it’s clearer to say “energise that instict.” You want to engage the instict in the manifestation. Don’t just use head or heart, use the body mind (which speaks in insticts). So find an instict relating to your manifestation and activate it.
sorry if I cannot be more precise, it’s something taught AFTER the Level 1 course (I mean right at the end) because the students get 3 days of using and activating insticts and then apply it to manifesting.
Simon

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