Here is a popular New Age film called "The Secret" that shows only the first 20 minutes. It's about the Law of Attraction which teaches that whatever you think about will manifest, so you can control your life and destiny by controlling your thoughts.
You can try to watch the whole thing or download it here:
http://stagevu.com/video/shmtsjjthbltMy commentary:
This film and its content shares a wonderful message and revelation that our thoughts affect our reality a great deal, which has a degree of truth in it and can be used for positive beneficial change in one's life. Yes the "law of attraction" is real. We do tend to attract more of what we think about, good or bad. I've experienced this myself and seen it in others' lives.
However, it is also very naive in the way it spins this New Age concept and the law of attraction. Thoughts are not "all powerful" as this film and other New Age gurus and books try to spin them as. Sorry to say but LIMITATIONS exist. We do not have total control over everything that happens and we cannot have "everything" we want, nor can we become "anything" we want as this film claimed, not in the literal sense. There are some things we just can't control, not even with the "law of attraction" or our thoughts. That's just simple reality and any down-to-earth person with common sense knows that.
No one can use their thoughts to walk through walls or fly like superman for example. Or move mountains, grow back amputated limbs, stop bullets, etc. If thoughts had that kind of power, the world would have been destroyed long ago, for many would have used such powers (The Secret) for evil or selfish purposes. Yet such limitations are never defined in films like this nor with many New Age gurus that teach this concept.
Also, while it is true that you do attract what you want and don't want, there are limitations and exceptions on that too, which this film never acknowledges. For example, there are plenty of times when I was positive and optimistic about an outcome, waiting in excited anticipation, yet the whole thing bombed and turned out to be a big disappointment and let down. And I can recall many times when I was worried and afraid that something terrible was going to happen, yet much to my relief, it didn't happen or turned out to be no big deal at all. Everyone has such examples. How does this film and its teachings explain such common occurrences? It doesn't.
To me, that's intellectually dishonest and a lack of common sense as well.
Simply put, if expectations always came true, as this film seems to imply, then disappointments and surprises would never happen. The Titanic would never have sunk, since everyone thought it was unsinkable. And the Y2K scares back in 2000 would have all came true, yet thankfully they didn't.
So I don't get why many wise knowledgeable New Age gurus whom I respect, such as Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra, still teach that thoughts are all powerful and that expectations always come true and that everything that happens to us is in our control and a result of what we created, etc.
Furthermore, if "the secret" was that simple, then why doesn't everyone have only positive thoughts so that nothing will ever go wrong?
Finally, it is not true that you can be whatever you want by thinking it or putting your mind to it. I can't become Michael Jordan for example, or the President of the United States. I don't have the talent and there are too many factors going against it that would make it impossible.
See my essay exposing the flaws and limitations of this "thought creates reality" concept, where I ask questions they don't answer, at:
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/LawofAttraction.htmIn short, yes the law of attraction and positive thinking can and will HELP you get what you want, but it is NOT all powerful as some New Age authors claim. There are many factors and variables that we have no control over, including other people's wills, so we have to learn to work optimally with what we have that's within our reach.
Thanks,
Winston