Jonalyn and I recently listened to a recording of Jerry and Esther Hicks channeling a spirit during our long drive from NorCal.  The recording was titled, "The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham."  Someone recently asked us to listen to this recording, but in turn we asked them to read C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.  We listened to it out of respect for the lender but also to formulate more thoughts on this rapidly growing movement in boutique religion.  On the recording, Esther channeled a "spirit" to communicate with the audience.  Suddenly the "spirit" began to speak with an East Indian accent, harkening back to Hinduism from which these teachings are influenced.  Esther was truly possessed by the "spirit" (which I immediately sensed had demonic origins).

Jerry reassured the audience that the "spirit" shared profound and helpful information.  But I found the information rather dull, unhelpful, abstract (to the point of being impersonal) and often contradictory.  The "spirit" said it was a plurality of personalities (think: "Legion" in Mark 5) who wanted to be called "Abraham."  And Abraham's first teaching was the "Law of Attraction."

They gave the disclaimer up front that sometimes things make us uncomfortable because they are unusual or foreign to us.  Their own testimonies revealed a hesitation at first, until they learned to use the ouija board and meditate by emptying themselves (this is eastern meditation, not to be confused with Western meditation in which you fill yourself).  Once they learned to empty themselves and give themselves over to "spirit" beings, they learned how to channel.  Anyone familiar with the occult should find this familiar. 

I was discouraged that "secrets" to easy-living in place of hard work is pandered through the demonic as trustworthy information and swallowed by so many Americans today.  This information is tied into the boutique religion many practice, including The Secret, The Four Agreements, and many forms of New Age, Spirituality, and Theosophy today.

We’ve talked about the Law of Attraction before.  I want to go a little deeper and disclose its fatal flaw.  At the heart of it lies a contradiction.  Let me illustrate:

Joey is a lawyer.  Every morning he awakens intent on thinking positive thoughts.  Throughout his day, he is working, meditating, emptying himself, and just letting things flow so he can find harmony and balance in his routine and relationships.  At the end of the day, refusing to watch the nightly news for fear it will put negative thoughts in his mind, he quiets himself, focusing on his breathing, and is soon resting on his pillow.

He's following the Law of Attraction which says, "Like attracts like."  Joey believes the Law of Attraction is a real law in the Universe, as real as science. It's just the way the Universe is, he believes.  Positive thoughts manifest themselves as positive experiences.  Negative thoughts manifest themselves as negative experiences.  He believes, for example, that if people with illness will simply focus on healthy thoughts, then their illness will go away.

Yet, even as Joey is practicing the Law of Attraction, there is a deeper motivation going on.  Joey engages in these activities, neglecting the negative influences around him, so that he can enhance his experiences in this life.  And part of this betterment is not only health but also wealth.  The Law of Attraction teaches that people become wealthy because they have thought about and desired wealth (almost like goal setting, but more than that: it includes visualizing wealth, sort of fixating on wealth and what you want). 

One day Joey's client sits across the desk from him.  And this client sees how Joey conducts himself, refusing to talk about the negative, focusing on the positive.  The client finds this somewhat superficial and too happy-go-lucky for his tastes, but he lets Joey be Joey.  But then the client also notices that Joey is much more concerned about his positive energy than he is about getting his hands dirty in the crisis of his client. 

Joey knows the legal issues and applies it in theory, but the blueprint of his life is to attract to himself positive experiences, which means the Universe will throw negative experiences his way if he lets himself think too negatively about the issues in his client's life.  Joey has actually grown afraid of negative thoughts, almost superstitiously.

Over time, the client grows concerned over something peculiar in Joey.  Joey is largely focused on his own world.  Joey is less interested in his client than he is in himself.  The following week, the client makes an appointment with another lawyer who will hear his case.

This is an example of how the Law of Attraction is inherently unrelational, even self-destructive:  it cannot attract others to itself. People don't want to be around selfish people.  No matter how much positive energy Joey puts into the world, he cannot overcome the deeper motivation that he wants certain things for and only for himself. The Law of Attraction depends on it.  The Law of Attraction claims that "like attracts like," yet the overlooked Achilles heel of this Law is that selfish people, even the ones who use the Law of Attraction to think about good friendships will actually only attracts loneliness.  The Law of Attraction is lonely because it starts alone, with the self as the center of all things. "Abraham," Esther's spirit, smells exactly like the devil’s plot.  He would dangle all dazzling things before us if in the end it leaves us isolated from God and each other. 

Selfishness moves away from love.  And love is what helps bring about real justice and friendship in this world.  Yet in order for love to flourish, we have to deny ourselves and look out for the good of another, even if they are full of negative thoughts and force us to get our hands dirty in the muck and mire of dysfunction and evil.  Listen to what Jesus said and notice how much it flies in the face of the Law of Attraction, "If you want to gain your life, lose it."   Jesus statement requires God to oversee our lives and experiences.

Not only does the Law of Attraction stand opposed to love but also humility.  Humility, by definition, is not being preoccupied with yourself and rendering yourself of little account.  A humble person is not the center of things but is given an opportunity to be involved in life, however it twists and turns.  Humility knows that both blessing and hardship are to be expected as features in this world, not merely created experiences brought about by creating a world around us.  Sometimes we receive undeserved blessing.  And sometimes we go through hardship that was also undeserved.  The Law of Attraction wants to congratulate the individual for blessing himself and correct the individual for the hardship he caused in his own life.  This sounds terribly upside down!  How is the Law of Attraction attractive?  We know that through blessing and hardship comes so many things we cherish in this world: confession, redemption, friendship, and growth through pain.  Humility knows that One Greater stands above all things; humility does not pretend it stands in the center and thus eliminating God himself.

For all that the Law of Attraction tries to prove, the one thing it cannot overcome is the innate sense we all have toward humility and love.  We want to be around it.  We want it for ourselves, even if it costs us dearly.  Love wins.  Love prevails.  Love is the heartbeat of meaning in this world.  Love can change the world.  Love requires effort.  It wills the good of others in creative ways, not by altering circumstances through positive thoughts, but by lending a hand when others are slipping.  Yet if we use the Law of Attraction to manipulate our surroundings to fit our wantings (and how do we know what we really want or what the future may hold so we may want the right things), it cuts us off from healthy relationship because we do not love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Esther's "Abraham," when asked why he is speaking through Esther to the audience, says he does it because he gets to share in material experience too.  That's it.  No real purpose; no larger story.  Just experience after experience, to manufacture joy and peace.  What "Abraham" leaves out (yet knows, if he is a demon) is that joy and peace can be had in negative experiences too: ask Paul.  The devil is devilishly preoccupied in getting us to look to ourselves for deliverance (the original sin in the Garden of Eden).  In the exclusion of God, the Law of Attraction makes it difficult to be appropriately human. 

In using the Law of Attraction, Joey actually became unattractive.  This is its deception.  The law defeats itself even as it begins to operate, it ruins the user who must fixate on self and exclude others to make it "work."

When Jesus came into the world, he ignored the Law of Attraction by, first, humbling himself, and then by laying down his life to share it with the world.  He didn’t do it to add to his experience but to deliver us from death.  He knew of no such Law of Attraction because he didn’t design the Universe that way.  He loved the prostitutes and hung out with the drunks.  He faced temptation and argued with the religious leaders.  He did not avoid the sick and dying but comforted them and healed them.  He took action beyond mere thoughtful meditation.  It was not the Law of Attraction that defeated the stinging blow of death and evil, but Love that laid down his life for his friends.

[If you have any questions/comments, simply reply to this email. And don't forget "Ask! LIVE" on Wednesday evenings for questions or puzzling situation.]

© 2008 Dale & Jonalyn Fincher