The Law of Attraction: A Harmful Philosophy Disguised as Positivity

The Law of Attraction has zero scientific backing, no matter what its proponents claim. There is no credible body of scientific research to support it, no empirical tests to prove its validity, and any observed "results" are easily explained by cognitive biases, misunderstandings of probability, statistical averaging, and selective framing.

Worst of all, the concept victimizes individuals while simultaneously promoting external victim blaming. Consider this: I come across the most positive person in the gas station, and I decide to secretly follow them and subtly sabotage their life over time. I could absolutely do this, and it would completely invalidate the Law of Attraction. Yet, believers might argue, “Well, she must have some subconscious negativity that attracted this.” This is blatant victim blaming. You're not holding me accountable for my actions—you’re blaming her for being harmed.

If you believe the law is more about influencing probabilistic tendencies, then you'd have to prove this. For instance, if you have a positive mindset that knows it won't rain today, how do we measure - being caught without an umbrella - in a way that shows an improvement of probability compared to a negative mindset across billions of people? And how does this account for conflicting goals when John is positive it will rain to feed his crops which will feed thousands of people at a lower cost versus Sara's positive outlook that it won't rain so she doesn't need an umbrella?

If we’re serious about testing the Law of Attraction as an absolute principle, we must remove ambiguity. Here's a challenge: go on the dark web, record your screen, post your name, address, and personal details on a site like Dread, and publicly claim that your positivity will protect you. Let’s see if that positivity can override external malice. If the law were true, you should have no reason to fear such a test.

This might seem extreme, but it's not. It’s a straightforward way to expose the flaw in this supposed law. If someone genuinely believed positivity defied gravity, they’d jump off a bridge to prove it. Similarly, believing in the Law of Attraction without limits doesn’t align with reality. Worse, the philosophy shifts blame onto victims of random misfortune instead of equipping them with tools and mindsets to navigate life's challenges. It’s cruel and counterproductive.

In neuroscience and psychology, we know for a fact that people do not remember events correctly. People remember events that are important to them (confirmation bias, survivorship bias, and hindsight bias), and it is almost impossible for them to recall events that contradict their beliefs unprompted. This is heavily tested, repeatable in experiments, and based on empirical evidence.

Last and not least: The Law of Attraction if real would prove that free will is not real for the same reasons Bruce in Bruce Almighty's granting prayers leads to disaster. For such a law to exist - it would require absolute determinism which would prove the law doesn't exist and therefore creates a paradox. That is to say that if everyone on earth had 100% positivity - then nothing bad could ever happen to anyone, which means nobody has the agency to cause harm to others (even accidentally). Worse, drawn to the maximum conclusion: Nobody would have to leave their bed. They could acquire yachts, and mansions, and all the hot partners without moving a finger by exploiting the law in new levels of positive thinking.

And if everyone ends up with a massive yacht, then they with the least of yachts becomes the new standard for inequality which goes back to blaming them for being less positive than everyone else. And if everyone ends up with the same yacht, then that speaks of determinism that decides what is best for them with no subjective agency (The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz.) Worse, even if best possible yacht, this still creates structured inequality based on external perspectives of subjective goodness - which leads to victim blaming and inequality again. But more to the point - who makes the yachts since everyone can lay in bed exploiting maximum positivity and not having to do anything else?

My hope is that you can realize bad things happen, and good things happen too. What matters is finding tools and methods that can help you cope with them while keeping a positive outlook for your mental health and sanity. I'm not downplaying bad things that happen—I'm merely stating that bad things DO happen, and what is important is how we choose to deal with them.