There's been a lot of criticism about the law of attraction, which is to be expected given all the media attention The Secret has garnered. The community of teachers and aspiring practitioners needs to take this seriously and in the right spirit, not as an attack on anyone or their beliefs, but as an outside perspective illuminating the aspects of manifestation that the community has not yet addressed. Unfortunately this more often results in deeper divisions rather than opening the sort of dialog that gives rise to deeper understanding. We are so used to being served refined pedagogy that we sometimes forget that understanding and mastery are developmental processes. And we're just at the beginning of this one.
There are a lot of questions that aren't being asked about the law of attraction. The one I'm most interested at the moment is why. Not why it works, but why are we becoming aware of this possibility at this point in human history? I see a lot of teaching and selling the law of attraction as a way of getting what you want, about building the life you want. It's all about the individual. In other words: classic narcissism. And if any of the spiritual traditions are to be believed, that is the worst possible approach to life. It's not that it's bad to have the life you want, but that cannot be the highest motivation.
Stuart Davis, one of my favorite musicians and a very smart and honest "brother in the mystery" (to steal his parlance), posted a very pointed commentary on the Spirit earlier this year, and it's taken me three months to really work out my position with respect to his comments. Take a look at The Secret: The Spirituality of Narcissism. He has some pretty harsh criticism of the way in which postmodern narcissism has become entangled with spiritual thought and the dangers of that predicament. He doesn't go easy on proponents of the law of attraction, and my honest reaction when I first read it was that he's exactly right. That's my reaction still today. But the whole time I've felt like there was some missing element that neither the critics nor the proponents have brought to light. Taken in the right spirit, it raises some important questions.
Foremost is, if there is meaning to the unfolding of events, then why would the law of attraction come into our consciousness at a time when selfishness, inequity and oppression are not only rampant, but threaten the stability of human existence on a global level? And of course, it doesn't make sense as long as you think the law of attraction is only about what you can get for yourself. And that's the question Stuart raises: How good can this be if it more deeply embeds pathological narcissism in culture? But ask the question another way: Why would the law of attraction come into our consciousness at a time when the world is in such dire need of healing?
Makes more sense that way, doesn't it? The law of attraction can't just be about "your" or just about "me;" it has to be about "us." Maybe our collective consciousness is speaking to us, giving us the answer we're searching for, telling us how to solve our problems and move into a new stage of human history. But it's not going to happen if we only learn to apply the law of attraction to our own health, wealth and well-being. We need to learn how to practice the law of attraction collectively for collective benefit, to overcome oppression, aggression, inequity. Or at least to find out what potential lies down that road. Political systems are too entrenched, economic systems too borne up by global scale, power too protected by military might -- the revolution of the disenfranchised is a thing of the past. Maybe there's a different way to bring about change on a global scale.
Seems worth finding out at any rate.
Comments
It's good there are other
It's good there are other people concerned with the narcissistic nature of the law of attraction. I doubt though that this pseudoscience is going to result in any kind of positive collective action or unity. Narcissists do cooperate with each other while competing for the same dupes. That's the kind of networking I see this thing achieving.
I think the law of attraction came to societies attention just now because there's an underlying philosophical dilemma we need to figure out. The whole thing with narcissists is that they see themselves as the only legitimate, conscious human being. Everyone else are autonomous objects to be used or otherwise destroyed. While they seem obviously in the wrong, the trick is that when you think about it, everything you perceive, including your own body is just that: nothing but perception. The only thing you truly know exists is your mind.
Most reasonable, mature people figure that what they perceive must represent real, independent objects that they have no magical control over. But narcissists never grow up and some of the rich ones can't help imposing their infantile fantasies on society. Though I'm sure that when it comes to money, temporarily adopting a narcissistic viewpoint could give insight into how the secrets of commerce work. But unless your already in the loop of the social elites (like Haanal probably was), thinking like a baby probably wont get you a cent.
So I think this is confronting us with the question of "how do I know for sure that everything I perceive is independent of my mind". Seems like a simple question but it's not.