Why ‘the Law of Attraction’ is Bullshit

The law of attraction is the idea, touted by many including the book/movie ‘The Secret’, that we ‘just’ need to hold a certain energy, an attitude of what we want and then what we want will be attracted to us.  Gratitude for what we have emphasized.  And if we are not getting what we want, then that is OUR fault - we were being too negative or just not doing it right.

So easy, so convenient! Try it now!

Now is there some truth to this?  Yes.  When we are in a ‘good’, happy, grateful state of mind we can be more receptive to opportunities and interactions that we very well could miss with our head down. There does seem to be an attraction between the energy state we are holding and what opportunities, interactions, energies are draw towards us. 

But my problem is the way in which this ‘insight’ is delivered is incredibly convenient, simplistic.  It puts 100% of the responsibility on the individual.  There is no room for the truth of the state of our collective experience.  No room to challenge the systems at play - systems of crippling capitalism destroying our earth, white supremacy inflicting unspeakable violence, class dynamics in which the rich and powerful 1% maintain control while scapegoating the pain of the 99%, the working class - against immigrants, against the ‘other side’ of politics’.  Who sponsored the reveal of this ‘secret’, big oil and gas? 

This ‘just be happy and you’ll get what you want’ feels like the rugged ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ dressed up in crystals and a cute yoga outfit.  We all know that the conditions we find ourselves in are drastically different - I have a much easier time as an affluent white female with some free time available in my days to practice tools of healing and contemplation, to ‘be grateful’ for what I have than a family which is food-unstable, working long hours and concerned with affording rent at the end of the month.  Could that family benefit from gratitude for the positive things in their life?  Would it make a meaningful change to their situation in 1, 5 years?  Sure, maybe.  But to boil everything down to the simplistic ‘just be grateful’ feels really, really unfair to so many people.  

It also ignores, forces US to ignore, all the pain in our lives we have experienced.  That pain is valid and deserves to be explored!  Do not put this bright shiny tapestry of ‘gratitude!’ over a chest full of difficulties, only to discover years later the pain is still there and leaking out into all areas of our life.  Your painful experiences deserve anger, they deserve tears.  The state of our earth deserves our pain and our tears.  Will our gratitude reverse the melting ice caps, the dying species?  Our inner and outer world need us to look fully, truthfully and not only the beauty but the ugly truths that need our attention to heal and to change. 

So yes - do practice gratitude for all of the beautiful things in your life.  No doubt if you have the time to read this, there are many many things to appreciate.  And feel the blossoming of that appreciation, how it can radiate out into your relationships and daily activities.

And please, please do not subscribe to this dangerously overly-simplistic ideology that puts the truth of suffering in the world, in all its micro and macro forms, further out of our healing and transformative view.