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Debunking
the Law of Attraction and "Thoughts
Create Reality" Religion
By
Winston
Wu
Introduction to the Law of Attraction
Common sense and simple examples
that refute the
LOA
Beware: What you expect to happen will happen, and what you fear will manifest! Or will it?
Whatever
you
think of yourself will be what others think of you - Yeah right!
Example of circular reasoning by LOA
adherents
A simple experiment that would
prove Wayne Dyer
and his fans to be wrong
Why the LOA instills a victim-blaming mentality which leads to unjust persecution of others
Why belief in the LOA can lead to dangerous risk-taking and reckless behaviors
Can thoughts influence or affect
reality?
What does science
say?
Appendix:
List of questions for those who believe in the LOA
Introduction
to the Law of Attraction
Hello,
My
name is Winston. Those who have read my writings know that I have
written
extensive books and critiques of Christian
Fundamentalism and PseudoSkepticism,
covering points on both sides
of the
fence.
However, I
have yet to critique
anything in the New Age movement, partly because I consider myself
belonging to
that movement of course. But now, I believe I have reason to critique
one of
its core tenets that it touts as a universal principle.
First
of all though, let me say that there are many wonderful teachings in
the New
Age movement that have given comfort and meaning to many (including
myself),
changed lives, inspired people, provided guidance in life decisions,
and
insights into the nature of reality.
As
a seeker of truth and the meaning of existence, I've always been
interested in
spiritual teachings.
Popular
respected
New Age authors and gurus such as Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra have
helped many
by imparting their wisdom and spiritual teachings in their books and
lectures
to millions.
They
are among many who
have a deep grasp of the world's spiritual teachings, esoteric wisdom,
life
lessons, and even discoveries in quantum physics that support the New
Age model
of reality.
And
they are adept at
quoting from a plethora of sages and mystics throughout history. When
they teach that
everything happens for a
reason and that there are no coincidences for example, it brings
comfort to
those who feel like their lives are in chaos or marred by unfortunate
circumstances that "shouldn't" have happened.
I
would say that most of their teachings have some degree of truth in
them, though
some of their claims are unprovable from a scientific standpoint
and
subject to personal experience (e.g. other dimensions and astral
planes, life
after death, reincarnation, ghosts, extra-terrestrials, all matter
possessing
consciousness, etc). Also, psychic phenomena has now
been supported by a rising ride of scientists, researchers and
physicists (Dean Radin, Charles Tart, Gary Schwartz, Rupert Sheldrake,
etc.) on the cutting edge, who claim that the latest discoveries in
quantum
mechanics support many paranormal phenomena. However, "New Age" is
a wide umbrella, and includes some concepts which people take too far,
turning it into a religion set in stone. One
of these concepts is "The Law of Attraction", popularized by the book
and film The Secret, which
states that:
“Your
thoughts create your reality. Your attract whatever you think about,
positive or negative, and manifest it into reality. You create your
own reality”
This
belief
is very popular with New Agers, hippies, freespirits, and the
"alternative crowd". Though it is true and obvious common sense that
"like attracts like" in this world, some people take this way too far,
believing that if you only think positive thoughts, then only positive
things will happen to you, and that nothing bad can happen to you
unless you think negative thoughts or have doubt. This may sound
ridiculous, but many people actually believe this, especially among the
young hippie/freespirit crowd. Not only is this false and easy to
disprove with mere simple examples, but it also leads to a
victim-blaming mentality false sense of confidence that can lead one to
take dangerous and reckless risks (which we will get into later).
Now, this
isn't just pep talk about the power of
positive thinking, thinking healthy thoughts or reprogramming your
subconscious mind to work for you. Nor is it merely about how
your thoughts and attitudes can color your perception of the world.
No. This goes way beyond that. The proponents of
the LOA actually believe that thoughts create, control and manifest
all external reality! In
other words, thoughts don't just control or influence
yourself. They also control events, matter, time and space,
and even other people. What this implies is that nothing
can happen to you unless you think it or attract it, thus no one is a
victim! This leads to a "victim-blaming mentality" which we will get
into later on. Many of the LOA believers even
claim that all matter emanates from thoughts, implying that if we
weren't here, then the
universe wouldn't exist!
So,
it is
this concept turned religion which I will critique here, because
unlike the
other unprovable
claims they make, this one is:
- Demonstratably
false by even the simplest ordinary examples, logic and
common
sense/common experience. And also does not make sense and does not even
work if applied.
Debunking it
does not even require any knowledge or rocket science, but in fact is
as easy
as shooting fishy in a barrel.
Yet many believe it
nevertheless.
- Instills a victim-blaming mentality that leads to unjust persecution of the innocent.
- Fosters
a false sense of confidence that can lead one to take dangerous and
reckless risks.
Yet many
New Agers, ranging from best selling authors to hippies and
laypeople, stick to this belief and utter it as if it were
some
universal law or Gospel truth. But how can it be a universal law when
it
defies reality so much?! Isn't that ironic? New
Agers aren't the only ones that believe in this concept - it's
also popular among the pop psychology/self-help crowd as well.
One
of the most popular New Age teachers who constantly repeats and
emphasizes this
concept is Dr. Wayne Dyer. He and the intellectual spiritual teachers
that
espouse this tend to be highly intelligent and well read. Yet
he NEVER defines any limits to this principle, and thus insinuates that
it is an all-powerful concept. And surprisingly when
he and the other gurus are interviewed in the media, this is never
fully brought to their
attention. So, I hope that this article, in some shape or form, helps
put the
obvious in plain view and get them to address the questions they
haven't
answered.
Now,
I have nothing against the New Age movement, which I am a fan of. But
this New Age teaching
flies in the face of
even the plainest examples from ordinary life, doesn't work when
applied, and
has also been used to unjustly persecute others as well.
So I can't figure out for
the life of me how
so many New Age followers who are supposed to be "truth seekers", can
blindly believe in this teaching and not question it. (Am I the only
sane
logical
New Ager?) After all, if something defies the "truth" so
much, then
why would a "truth seeker" buy it?!
Perhaps
this idea sells, but I can't comprehend how something so obviously
false, erroneous and delusion could "sell" to an intelligent truth
seeking crowd. It's
just bizarre, and
I'd like any New Age guru to try to explain it to me.
So
I hope to call this to their attention and challenge them to defend it
in the
light of the following examples, and answer the following questions,
which they
haven't addressed for some reason.
First, I will make my case point by point, asking challenging
and
rhetorical questions that those who believe in this principle usually
avoid for some reason. Then, in the Appendix
I will list my questions for those who believe in this principle, in
the hopes that they may answer it someday and enlighten those of us
like me who are skeptical.
Let's
begin.
First,
one obvious problem is that these New Age gurus NEVER define exactly
the extent
and degree to which "thoughts create reality". NO
LIMITS are ever specified. They utter it as a blank
statement
without qualifying it.
Limits are never defined, however I have noticed that New Age laypeople
may clarify the concept's limitations, but those who have a vested
interest in selling New Age books NEVER like to define any limitations
to this belief, not surprisingly. And
thus, one can
easily imply that they are claiming that thoughts have an unlimited
ability to
create and manifest physical reality around us, which would be
laughably false
of course.
For
example, Dr. Wayne Dyer,
a positive wonderful inspiring spiritual teacher whom I have a lot of
respect
and admiration for, teaches this principle as a universal law
constantly in his lectures and
books but
NEVER EVER defines any LIMITS on it, nor does he clarify as to what
extent that thoughts create reality. Likewise, those who say
"You
create your own reality" never seem to define or clarify what they mean
exactly. Perhaps it's just some "feel good phrase" they like
to
utter, highly illogical of course.
Common
sense and simple examples that refute the LOA
The
thing is, the Law of Attraction (LOA) has only been proven to affect
performance related activities. For example, if I make a shot in
billiards with a feeling of certainty, it will more likely go in than
if I make it with doubts in my head. And if I'm playing sports or video
games, a more confident positive attitude will enhance my performance
so that I will play better. No one would dispute this.
But
many New Agers take it way beyond that into the creation of matter
itself, so that nothing can happen to you unless you think or attract
it. That's where the falsity and absurdity begins. Think about this. If
our thoughts instantly determined the physical reality
around us, then
no one would ever slip on a banana peel for instance, because
theoretically,
our assumption that the ground is safe to step on should have erased
the banana
peel from existence! But it doesn't! (
In
fact, the Titanic wouldn't have sunk either, since the thoughts of
everyone
on it were that it was "unsinkable" and no one feared that it would
sink!
And the Y2K scare would have manifested, since many were afraid of it,
so that should have made it HAPPEN, according to Wayne Dyer's claims.
But it didn't! Dr. Dyer NEVER addresses or explains this.
When
I was a child, my parents took me to this amusement park where there
was this
glass maze inside a building. As I tried to maneuver through the maze
of glass,
I kept hitting my head a number of times as I kept mistakenly thinking
that
there was empty space in front of me. The glass walls were so polished
and
translucent that it was hard to distinguish them from open space. Other
kids there kept
running into the glass
walls as well (I wasn't the only idiot).
It got annoying after a
while, and soon became no fun!
After I finally exited the
glass maze, my
head was sore from crashing into so many glass walls by accident. (this
was
back in the 80's, nowadays they'd probably be too scared of lawsuits to
have
such a thing in an amusement park for kids) After that, whenever I
heard the
teaching that "your thoughts create your reality" I've always
wondered how that could be in light of my experience in the glass maze.
After
all, why weren't my thoughts "creating" empty space in the maze for
me when I thought I was walking into empty space? Instead, reality kept
giving
me "hard knocks"(no pun intended) on the head! Every proponent of
this belief so far has failed to explain this. Go figure.
Scratching
my head, I’ve always wondered "How can an ordinary example
like that so easily
debunk a core cherished belief of so many great spiritual people?"
Every
time I ask a New Ager who believes in this teaching the following
question,
"If
thoughts create reality, then why can't we fly just by thinking about
it, or
walk through solid walls, or move mountains?"
they
either become dumbfounded as if they don't know how to answer that (um
buddy,
if your belief is THAT EASY to debunk, then don't you think there's
something
wrong with it? HELLO!).
Or,
they argue
something like
"Our
thoughts are too preconditioned to believe that we can't do such
things. But if
we could increase the intensity of our belief by a thousand times, then
we
could probably fly or walk through walls or move mountains."
However,
neither they nor anyone else have been able to prove that one can do
such
things by multiplying their power of belief.
So sorry, but no cigar.
All I see
are words here. Yet these folks don't like to set limitations
to this principle, thus implying that it is all-powerful.
Now,
if
all thoughts materialized into reality instantaneously, then we would
all be
like "Q" in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" where
everything we willed into existence would materialize and everything we
wanted
to go away would dematerialize. I don't have to explain to you how
preposterous
that is of course. But if I'm overstating it, again the fault lies with
the New
Age gurus who refuse to clarify or define the exact magnitude and
degree that
thoughts can create reality.
Instead,
they tout it as though it were the ultimate guiding principle of the
universe!
If that were the case, this teaching would be a holy grail that anyone
could use
to rule the universe. And theoretically, this teaching wouldn't even be
a
secret, since if every thought manifests into reality, then everyone
would be
using this power from birth.
It'd
be
common knowledge, rather than some great hidden spiritual truth. Gimme
a break!
Here's
another obvious example.
Suppose
I was
in a big auditorium of 100 people, and I brought in a simple wooden
brown table
and set it in the center of the auditorium for all to see. Now, without
me
saying anything, any one of those hundred people can independently
testify that
they see a brown table.
I
would NOT have
to tell them that it was a brown table first.
But even if I told them it
was a blue table, they would
STILL see a
brown table!
Thus, this
demonstrates that
the brown table has an OBJECTIVE existence, and not one that is created
by
thought alone. Otherwise,
everyone would see something
different.
Likewise,
when it's raining, the rain is falling on EVERYONE outside, not just on
those
whose thoughts are "creating" the rain. Duh! There are countless such
examples I could give, but you get the idea.
Yet
New Age books about quantum physics never even bother to address this.
For
example, in the late Michael Talbot's book "The
Holographic
Universe", he presents in
hundreds of pages a plethora of
examples
from science and the paranormal that point to a Holographic model of
the
universe and of reality.
And
a central
core tenet of this model is of course that "thoughts create
reality".
Yet in
hundreds of pages,
he never addresses how this principle can be true in light of examples
above such
as the brown table seen by everyone.
Instead,
he cites some outlandish stories which any sane person would question,
such as
the claim that when Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, the
Native
Indians couldn't see his ship, because, since they never saw such a
ship
before, its existence was vanished from their sight. (If that were
true, then
every object that's new to us would be invisible, not!) And in a
similar strange
example, he cites a case where a person who was hypnotized into
believing that
another human being in front of him didn't exist, was able to erase
that other
human being out of sight by the mere intensity of his belief, and was
also able
to see a secret object that the person invisible to his sight was
holding
behind his back! (Ummm okayyyy) Gee, I'm sure we can all relate to such
experiences and easily test them out to be true. (sarcastic) Wouldn't
you like
to be the first to stand in front of an uncoming truck and try to
vanish its
existence with the power of your belief?!
In
his public televised lectures, Dr. Wayne Dyer is fond of citing
examples that
support his "thoughts create reality" principle, which is central to
his teachings. But of course, he never cites any examples that go
contrary to
it, such as the Titanic example above. Why would he, since it would
defeat what
he's preaching of course. But don't you think that a truth seeker
should take
into account such simple everyday examples that contradict what they
teach, or
at least take them into account? You'd think they would. "Dr. Dyer,
Hello!?"
Beware:
What you expect to happen will
happen, and what you fear will manifest! Or will it?
Dr.
Wayne
Dyer teaches some variants of this principle in his lectures,
which I will paraphrase below:
"Since
your thoughts create your reality, what you think will manifest. What
you
expect to happen, will happen. Therefore, if you expect bad things to
happen,
then bad things will happen. If you expect good things to happen, then
you will
manifest good things. You attract what you think about."
Is
he serious? So according to him, there are no surprises in life, and
all our
expectations manifest exactly as we think they will?! In other words,
he is
literally saying that whatever you expect to happen, HAPPENS! So that
means
disappointments can NEVER happen since nothing ever goes wrong unless
you think
it will?!
So all
you have to do to make
something happen is to think about it, and if you don’t think
about it, then it
won’t happen?!
What
kind of person in
his right mind would say or buy that?! Anyone with any experience in
life can
cite many simple examples that contradict that. Even a child can! (I
expected
my parents to buy me that new toy and they didn't!) So who does he
think he's
fooling?!
Get
real here. If this were actually true, then EVERYONE would think only
positive
thoughts or thoughts that work to their advantage and manifest
everything they
want! And NOTHING would ever go wrong, EVER!
But that's not reality and
it's not even true in fiction.
So what the blazes kind of
delusion is
this?!
If
he were right, we could all raise the value of our stocks just by
optimistically expecting them to rise, and no one would ever lose money
in the
stock market! Sheesh. And why does NASA need to do so much planning and
preparation before launching manned missions into space? Can't NASA
just use
Dyer's principles and merely expect the missions to go well with the
power of
thought and expectation alone, without all the rocket science
calculations and
risk management?! NOT!
I
can cite many instances where I was pessimistic and expected things to
go
wrong, and to my pleasant surprise, they turned out well. Likewise, I
can
recall many times when I've been full of optimism that something will
go great,
and it flopped or became a huge disappointment! Anyone in the world can
cite
such instances!
But
of course, Dr. Dyer
never cites such cases, and instead pretends they don't exist. That's
highly illogical in
my opinion, especially
for an intellectual truth seeker. Thus, I would conclude that Dr. Dyer
may be
brilliant at some things, but logic isn't one of them.
Another
related variant of this is:
"Now
this also means that what you fear or what you don't want to happen,
will also
happen and manifest in your reality."
Uh,
gee, I hope Dr. Dyer and his followers don't watch horror movies and
get scared
at night, lest whatever monster they saw on the screen "manifest" in
their reality! Thank goodness that he's not right, or else Jason from
the Friday
the 13th series and Freddy
Krueger from Nightmare On Elm
Street
would have manifested in many
people's homes long ago,
killing everyone in their path! Plus, there would be Draculas,
Werewolves, and Frankensteins appearing into reality as well, on a
murderous rampage! And parents BEWARE! If your children are afraid of
boogie monsters hiding under the bed or in the closet, then they
just might get eaten alive, since according to Wayne Dyer, thoughts
always
manifest as reality, which means whatever your children fear will
become real and
materialize into the physical universe! Danger! Danger! This is a
global crisis!
Also,
if that were true, then everyone who gets on an airline and is afraid
that the
plane will crash, will cause the plane to crash! Thank goodness that
such fears
alone do not cause planes to crash! Gee whiz! And don't even dare
tinker with
the thought that a meteor might fall and crash where you're at, lest it
happen
and you be responsible for killing millions of people! Also, don't dare
to fear
Elvis coming back to life, lest he actually come back to life too!
Goodness
gracious.
Honestly
though, there are many instances in life where we've feared something
that
fortunately didn't come to pass. This
is
so self-explanatory that I don't even need to give any examples. A
national example of this was the Y2K scare back in 2000, which turned
out to be nothing. If Dyer was right, Y2K global catastrophes
would have happened, but it didn't. He was wrong.
Think
about this though. When
someone has an
overactive imagination and is always fearing the worst, even against
other
people’s reassurances, do they tend to be proven right or
wrong? Usually the
latter of course. We've all known such people I'm sure, as they are
quite
common nowadays.
In
some of his lectures, Dr. Dyer cites a woman who moved to a new
location and told
him about how unfriendly and rude the people were back where she came
from. In
response, he told the woman that if that's how she felt, then she would
also
find the people here in this new location to be unfriendly and rude
too, to
which his audience clapped.
He
seemed to
be saying that if you believe that everyone around is friendly, then
people
will be friendly to you universally, and vice versa. Say what?! Excuse
me Dr.
Dyer, but you can't cause everyone to be friendly to you just by
thinking that
they are friendly! If you could, then you could rule the world and
declare
yourself dictator just by using the power of your thoughts! But
paradoxically,
if everyone had this power, then which "thought-created reality"
would win in such a battle of control? Besides, if someone "chooses"
to be unfriendly to you, how can your thoughts be causing that? Aren't
their
thoughts causing their unfriendliness, and not mine? This doesn't add
up.
Nothing
could be more naive or further from the truth.
Anyone who has spent time in
different continents and is a
keen observer
who isn't confined to political correctness will tell you that people
are
friendly to varying degrees depending on the location and circumstance
as well
as many other factors, not just in accordance with your thoughts alone!
(lest
you have a God complex). In my life, for example, I have discovered
that my
dating and social life, and how I am treated by others, largely depends
on
LOCATION, not attitude or thoughts. I can go somewhere with the exact
same
attitude but get completely different results from people in how they
treat
me.
In fact, I've
created an entire huge
website about this that contains a mountain of evidence and
testimonials from
me and real people, at www.debunkingskeptics.com. None
of it agrees with
this New Age tenet of
course, but that doesn't lessen their reality one bit.
(Likewise,
they say too in real estate that it's all about location, location,
location,
which also again refutes this principle)
Among
those who believe in the LOA is the belief
is that whatever you think and believe about yourself is what others
will think and believe about you too! Yeah right.
Uh huh.
So if I think I'm Superman or Batman, then so will everyone
else?
And if I believe 100 percent that I'm the President of the
United
States and walk into the Pentagon, then everyone will think I'm the
President too? Gimme a break.
Also,
what if a fat ugly woman acted like she was skinny, sexy and hot?
Would everyone start desiring her and thinking that she was
hot?
In your dreams butthead! And what about the people
in the
insane asylum who believe that they are Napoleon or Jesus Christ?
Do their delusions become reality? Does society
accept
their claims? Get real. I don't understand why you
folks
believe in such a delusion so much.
Unfortunately, those
who believe such a silly notion also use it to blame anyone who's
mistreated by others, that others are treating them badly because they
think badly of themselves! This mistreats such victims
further,
and perpetuates a "victim-blaming" mentality, which we will get into
later on.
Example
of circular reasoning by LOA adherents
One
time I crossed paths with some young pot-smoking hippies from
These
are same folks who, if you complain in front of them that people in LA
or SF people are stuck up, noninclusive and unfriendly, will tell you
that your attitude and expectations and attitudes are causing it.
They don't bother to see the obvious fact that it's part of
LA's
culture to be stuck up, and that I do NOT have control over their
attitudes. Instead, they use this concept to falsely imply
that I
have full control over other people's behavior and that they will act
according to my expectations, and that it is thus my fault.
Total
bullshit. They also presume that people are the same
everywhere
and if I experience snobby stuck up unfriendly or anti-social people in
one place, then I will experience the same everywhere. When
they
are confronted by the fact that I do not experience unfriendliness in
other places that are more friendly, they again use circular reasoning
and argue that my expectations in other places are different, and so
that creates different attitudes toward me. Um sorry, they
are
wrong again. I can go everywhere with the exact same attitude
and
expectation, yet get 100 percent totally different results
from
people. Location matters a lot and in my experience, makes
the
biggest difference. But of course, they won't listen to
evidence
and reason, and instead rationalize my proof and experience away so
they can keep believing their deluded notions.
A
simple
experiment that would prove Wayne Dyer and his
fans to be wrong
In
Dr. Wayne Dyer’s universe, thoughts are all powerful, nothing
ever goes wrong
and accidents never happen. Those are mighty statements to attempt to
prove.
Yet surprisingly no one has really challenged him on it, partly because
he's
such a wonderful loving charismatic person so full of positive energy.
But even
that shouldn't shield him from so many illogical fallacies and
outlandish
claims.
Here's
an idea. Suppose I put Wayne Dyer in the cockpit of a large commercial
airliner
with 300 passengers from his fan audience and asked him to fly the
plane
safely. Would he do it? If not, what would his excuse be? If he said he
couldn't fly an airliner, could I then use his teachings against him,
saying,
"
Of
course, he could never logically get out of that one. He would be
NAILED and
forced to admit that something he taught he was wrong, shaming him in
front of
his fans one way or another. I would love to televise such an event,
but since
it's unfeasible, so maybe I can use the power of my thoughts to make it
happen?
(hehehe)
Anyhow,
enough of comedy time. Let's move on.
Why
the LOA
instills a victim-blaming mentality which leads to unjust
persecution of others
Now,
besides being clearly erroneous, the LOA belief also leads
to a
"victim-blaming" mentality which assumes that EVERYTHING that happens
to us must be our fault because our thoughts, intentions and choices
created
them. Thus,
all victims are to blame, even if their suffering is the result of the
unfair or cruel actions of others. According to this warped train
of thought, since
“you create your reality”
then whatever happens to you, good or bad, MUST be the product of YOUR
creation, so you CREATED your circumstances and you chose it! In
other words, no one is
a victim, and you
only get what you ask for. This
is
utterly naive and ridiculous of course, but there are many out there
who
actually believe this, using this concept (which is mostly false to
begin with)
as the justification.
This
belief isn't just technically wrong, but MORALLY wrong as well. It is a form of
unjust persecution that affects
the truly innocent and it doubles the unfairness that victims suffer
through no fault of their own. Adherents
of this
idea are prone to blame everything bad that happens on the victim. In
their view, everyone
that's been raped,
bullied, abused, mistreated, etc. MUST be to blame, according to this
paradigm,
because "your thoughts create your reality" and therefore YOU must
have CREATED it all, including your misfortune and bad experiences. In
short,
the innocent are automatically made guilty by this belief. Thus, it's a
form of
"Salem Witch Hunt" so to speak. But the reality is that bad things do
happen to good people, and innocent victims do exist. Anyone who denies
that is
a real fruitcake in my book, sorry to be rude.
If
you find it hard to believe that some would think like this, then think
again. I'm sorry to say that I have met MANY
among the
New Age and hippie crowd that literally believe this and are infested
with such
a "victim-blaming" mentality.
I've debated and refuted them
too, point by point, but as
you know
people are very stubborn about giving up their cherished beliefs and
will use
circular reasoning to defend their beliefs. Not all New Agers ascribe
to this
concept of course, since "New Age" is an umbrella term that covers a
wide assortment of alternative spiritual and metaphysical practices and
theories from the simple to the bizarre, which can involve many
different types
of people. But a large percentage of New Agers do, including some of
the best
selling authors such as Dr. Dyer and Deepak Chopra.
Not
only is this unjust persecution cruel and unrealistic, but it does
nothing to
help people either.
After
all, what good
is false blame?
And
in my opinion, this
victim-blaming mentality is very UNspiritual, UNkind, UNwise, and
UNintelligent
as well, so it's ironic that great spiritual teachers are preaching it. Yet
they seem to be blind
to their own
folly.
I hope they
see this article and
see the light, but fat chance. You know how people are, they believe
what they
want to believe, often using circular reasoning. That's human nature.
However,
if they are really "truth seekers" then they'd be open to "truth"
wouldn't you think?
Why
belief in the LOA
can lead to dangerous risk-taking and reckless
behaviors
Can
thoughts influence or affect reality? What
does science say?
Now, I am not saying that thoughts have no effect on reality, just that the degree that New Agers claim it to is way out of proportion, turning it into a religion. It can be rightly argued that thoughts INFLUENCE and AFFECT reality. And by that I mean that thoughts themselves can have an effect on external objects that are not connected to our physical body. There is some scientific basis for this. And some scientific experiments support this in fact. For example, in mind-over-matter experimental trials known as the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR), which have been conducted for many years, experimenters have been able to isolate a consistent microscopic effect that thoughts and intentions have upon the outcome of random generator machines - evidence of psychokinesis so to speak. Furthermore, honest independent researchers and skeptics such as Darryl Sloan have done controlled experiments using a psi wheel made of paper or tin foil that prove that telekinesis exists.
However,
the
effects produced are MICROSCOPIC, and
nowhere near the all
powerful status that New Agers claim that the power of thought has. In
addition, some quantum
physicists have
discovered that the mere act of observing subatomic particles affects
their
behavior, a finding that is still controversial. But again, this is at
the
subatomic level, which is so small that even the most powerful
microscope will
not allow us to see it with the naked eye.
Thus,
science has only detected a microscopic effect that thoughts have on
reality,
not an all powerful effect that controls all of reality, but even that
finding
is controversial and not universally accepted by all scientists. Therefore,
I might agree
that thoughts
“influence” or “affect”
reality, but to say that it “creates” reality is
perhaps the wrong and misleading term, for it assigns an all-powerful
status
that is inaccurate and can lead to a victim-blaming mentality as well.
What
this means, sorry New Age folks, is that at best, thoughts can
influence reality to a very microscopic degree, but there
are still LIMITATIONS to that.
I know they don't want
to believe in any limitations, but that's the truth.
Now
let’s suppose that I’m blowing this concept way out
of proportion here, and that
what these New Agers are really saying is that thoughts AFFECT reality
in a
slow and gradual process,
which the more reasonable New Agers might espouse.
Even then, my argument would
still stand. The ordinary
examples I've
given in this article still hold true, and the fact still remains that
there
are things out there that we can't control and that not everything that
happens
to us manifests according to our thoughts.
There would still be real
LIMITATIONS. And Dr. Dyer would
still be wrong in saying things like
"whatever
you think about comes true" and "whatever you expect to happen will
happen" and "if you think everyone is friendly then everyone will be
friendly to you" etc. which implies that there are no limitations, for
the reasons I’ve already explained.
Now,
even if we take the concept of a “self-fulfilling
prophecy”, a psychological
effect well documented in psychology where a person’s
behaviors act out to
fulfill his/her own expectations, that would still only be limited to a
reasonable framework within a person and his/her physical actions. It
has nothing to do with
a metaphysical
power that thoughts have to control external objects and events. And
in no way proves that
everything that
occurs happens as the result of our thoughts, intentions, or
expectations, as
I’ve elaborated on in this article.
Thank
you for reading my critique and challenge.
I hope I've made my case
clear to you.
Understand
that I'm not an ignorant person who doesn't research what he writes
about. In
fact, I'm very well read in New Age metaphysics and spirituality, and
have read
a ton of books, listened to many lectures of New Age gurus, and watched
many of
their documentaries. And that's why I can nail down the core
discrepancies and
unanswered questions in their teachings, such as this one.
I
project that the New Agers who believe in this principle would argue
that
I either
misunderstand this teaching and blowing it out of proportion, that I am
taking it too literally, or that I
am
creating straw man arguments here that are easy to knock down. But what
do you
expect? The New Age gurus and authors out there are the ones that teach
this
concept as though it were some universal truth and divine principle
that
controls the cosmos! And they are the ones implying that
there
are NO LIMITATIONS to this principle! So you see, THEY are
the
ones blowing it out of proportion,
not me!
And their
followers are doing likewise,
albeit illogically. I'm merely responding to what they say. If I've
misunderstood anything, it's not my fault they aren't more specific
about this
blanket statement they make that "your thoughts create your reality."
I'm not the one who is dodgy with questions and issues such
as
the ones
I've
raised. I'm not the one who's vague here, and I'm not the one with the
victim-blaming mentality either. So isn't the ball in their court? And
that's
why I'm writing this, to ask these gurus to clarify what they mean
exactly and
to either justify their position and prove their claims, or else be a
man and
admit that they are wrong or misleading.
But
if they can't even answer simple questions such as the ones I've
raised, then
isn't that a red flag that something's not right?
So
perhaps the key question to ask is:
Why
would something that doesn't work when applied, and that went against
common
sense, common experience, logic, and ordinary examples be taught as a
universal
principle by wise spiritual New Age teachers and be blindly accepted by
so many
seemingly intelligent New Age spiritual truth seekers?
It boggles my mind and does
not compute. Am I
the only sane person among my fellow New Agers, or am I missing
something?
Now
maybe they say this because it "sells" (books). But again, by
golly me I can't see why something that flies in the face of common
sense,
common experience, doesn't even add up, doesn't even work, and creates
unjust
persecution of the innocent, would sell, but that's just me.
Perhaps
this belief is appealing because it gives people a sense of being
Creators with God-like
powers in a
universe where their thoughts can manifest whatever they want, and also
it supports the belief in a just and fair universe in which no one is a
victim unless they deserve it.
Ok but what about the
fact that it doesn't work when applied to real life, in the examples
I've
already given? Wouldn't these "truth seekers" then abandon such a
false teaching? Many don't, and you have to wonder why. Perhaps they
aren't
really seeking the truth, but a utopia that they imagine where they can
create
their own reality.
Well
good luck to
them then, but they aren't truth seekers in my book, just people who
are living
in denial who believe in something that doesn't work and that they
can't
demonstrate.
Here
is what
one respondent on Yahoo Answers had to say about why this idea sells:
"The
belief in all powerful thoughts is a charm that seduces many because it
plays
to the ego. In this age of mass democratic man nothing separates us
from each
other that is considered legitimate except for merit. And what's the
one bench
mark of merit that is visible to other people? Money! How do you get
more
money? By working harder, which if you publish a book saying that you
will sell
absolutely nothing. The solution is to make success about the power of
will
over reality. So take a truism: that your thoughts about reality shape
your
attitude and change it to your thoughts shape reality. It comforts the
successful since they now can believe it's all because of their own
selves and
gives an easy message to those you want to be successful. And if you
fail at
it, well than its not the message but you who are the problem. A fail
proof way
for the authors to make a ton of money."
Well he has a point. But why would something that tells you to blame yourself, and often falsely, for not controlling your "all powerful thoughts" be appealing? Who wants to be blamed falsely? And again why believe something that makes no sense?
Now
let me just state for the record that I am not
claiming that
thoughts have no value. On the contrary, thoughts are
important
– they
influence our mind, and affect our health, our actions and behaviors,
attitudes, our successes and failures, and even how we treat
others. And
generally, positive healthy thoughts that are sincere are better for
you than
negative ones. And over time, your thoughts become part of
your
subconscious programming that forms your habits and instinctive
behaviors. So they do matter. But they need to be
put in
their
proper place, not overblown to an all-powerful status where you are in
full
control of all external reality and nothing can happen to you unless
you let
it. That is way grandiose and ridiculous, and on the level of
a
sort of
God-complex, yet many New Agers want to believe exactly that.
Controlling
your thoughts are important, but limitations have to be acknowledged as
well,
lest we delude ourselves.
Perhaps
this respondent in Yahoo Answers, a
researcher in neuroscience, best described the
relationship between thoughts and reality:
"...Thoughts
create
your subjective reality, your
impression of what's out there. But they don't create objective reality
-
what's out there.
Reality is really out there. If you bump into it, it will hurt. But
your brain
has it's own way of creating perceptions from the information provided
by your
senses. For one thing, you don't perceive everything around
you...selective
attention. Perceptions are combined with your feelings, thoughts,
fanatasies,
values, attitudes, needs, desires, analysis...all completely unique to
you.
What you experience as reality is subjective, and different with every
human
being.
The philosophers can debate this if they want, but this is the way it
is."
So I
again, I appeal to the New Age truth teachers
and their
truth seekers out there to face the "truth" here and explain their
teachings and principles regarding the "thought creates reality"
doctrine in light of my questions and examples above. And to answer the
questions in the Appendix
below. Otherwise, to
be a
"truth seeker" and not face such simple truths would be an oxymoron.
And besides, isn't one of the objectives of a truth seeker to free
oneself of
delusion?
And
I would like to ask of Wayne Dyer and other New Age leaders those who
teach this doctrine, "To what degree are you claiming that thoughts
create reality? Can you define the limitations? So
far, you
haven't. So aren't you falsely misleading people into
thinking
that thoughts are all powerful and can fully control objective external
reality? And isn't that wrong? If you are in fact
claiming
that thoughts are all powerful, then why can't you fly, walk through
walls, move mountains, or materialize and dematerialize matter with
your thoughts? You've got to come to terms and do one or the
other."
I
rest my case.
Thank
you for reading.
Sincerely,
Winston
Wu
Appendix:
List of
questions for those who believe in the LOA
Here is my list of questions for those who believe that “thoughts create reality”, which they seem to avoid for some reason. When I ask them, they tend to either avoid the question or go off into some irrelevant rant and then re-confirming that “thought creates reality” principle without even addressing any of my points directly. How strange. I would have expected better from so called "truth seekers". Nevertheless, here is the list.
1. If thoughts create reality, then how come we can’t fly or walk through walls or move mountains with our thoughts? How come even if I believed 100 percent that I could pass through a solid wall, I'd still bump my head if I tried?
2. If thoughts create reality, then how come it’s possible to trip or slip on banana peels? Wouldn’t our assumption that it was safe to walk there create a trouble-free walk?
3. If thoughts create reality, then why did the Titanic sink when everyone “thought” it was unsinkable?
4. If thoughts create reality, then why are there surprises in life? Why do both optimists and pessimists experience events that turn out better or worse than they expected? Shouldn't they have manifested whatever they expected?
5. If thoughts create reality, then why do most things not go according to plan? By planning, wouldn’t your thoughts generated during the plan create the reality in which things went exactly according to plan?
6. Is there any objective reality? If not, then how come you can bring a brown table into a room full of people, yet everyone will see the same thing, without you telling them what it is? And even if you told them it was a blue table, they'd still see a brown table. Doesn't that indicate that the brown table has an existence in objective reality?
7. To what degree do thoughts create reality? Are there any limits? If so, then why doesn’t Wayne Dyer or Deepak Chopra define any? And aren’t they misleading people into thinking that their thoughts are all powerful by not doing so? Or do they have a vested non-spiritual interest in promoting this concept? If there are no limits, then why can’t you materialize and dematerialize matter in the physical universe like "Q" in "Star Trek The Next Generation"?
8. Another variant of this principle is that "expectations create reality" as well. In other words "Expectations manifest. You attract what you think about. What you expect will be drawn to you. And what you fear also will manifest." Now if that's true, then how come most things don't go according to plan and how come expectations often fail?
9. If "expectations create reality" then how come we don't always get what we expect? How come there are so many let downs and disappointments in life?
10. Another variant of this is that you will "manifest what you fear" as Wayne Dyer like to put it. If that's so, why aren't children who are afraid of the boogie man at night don't actually get harmed or taken by one? And how come children afraid of monsters under their bed don't get eaten or killed by them? How come people who get scared after watching a horror movie don't manifest the creatures from the movie into real life? How come Dracula, Werewolves, Frankenstein, Jason or Freddy Krueger haven't manifested into reality yet?
11. If we manifest what we fear, then how come many of our fears don't come to pass and turn out to be just due to an overactive imagination?
12. How come when the year 2000 came, many feared that a Y2K bug might wreak havoc in society by causing many crucial computer systems to shut down, yet the scare turned out to be nothing? How come their collective fears didn't manifest?
13. Do you really believe that if you drank cyanide or muriatic acid and believed 100 percent that it was just plain water, that it wouldn't harm you? I hope not!
14. Since a lot of you folks also believe that how you see yourself and what you think you are will be how others see you and what others think you are, then do you really believe that if you walked into the Pentagon and believed 100 percent that you were the President of the United States, that everyone there would think that you are The President? And what if I believed that I was Superman or Batman? Would everyone believe it too?
15. And what if an ugly fat woman walks around in public like she is super hot and sexy, and believing as such in her mind 100 percent? Would everyone then think she was super hot and sexy and desire her? Or that she was delusional? And what about the people in the insane asylum who believe they are Napoleon or Jesus Christ? Does society accept their claims? Do they then become that and become the ruler or savior of the world?
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