All right believers, before you take offence and attack me, just please hear me out. All of us have heard about the bestselling book “The Secret” and its magical Law of Attraction, which says that you can manifest anything that you truly, deeply wish for. You will attract into your life that which you think of, or obsess over, which leaves me wondering why Ranbir Kapoor is not dating me by now. Maybe it’s just my “sceptic energy” that’s stopping him from calling.
Why this book sells:
“There is nothing like a dose of supernatural to spice up the drudgery of facts.” So, instead of holding your actions or circumstances responsible for your life, let’s just say that the universe conspired to make your life as it is today. Also, when a mishap or tragedy happens, fret not; the universe will gladly take the blame. Humans have always wanted an easy way out, whether it is for realizing their dreams or coping with tragedies. This book is the ultimate solution to that problem. It exploits people who are ready to accept certain guidance, or invest their faith in new philosophies. Now, I am all for a positive attitude and faith, but really, this book takes it too far. Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad, bad supper.
To all those people who says this book works:
More than once in my life, I have received exactly that what I wished for. But does that really mean I attracted it into my life? What about my hard work, or Karma, or good old destiny? And most importantly, what about those times when I didn’t get what I wanted? Maybe I just didn’t wish hard enough, huh? What really ticked me off: This book goes as far as to claim that even the negative aspects, of our life, like death and disease, have been attracted into our lives by our thoughts and wishes. While I do agree that a negative thinking pattern ultimately leads to an unhappy life, I want to point out that sadist and negative people are not the only ones that have to endure tragedies. What about the bad things that happen to happy, positive people? A child with cancer does not wish for radioactive chemicals to be injected into his body, much less think about it. Accidents happen to even those who don’t obsess over them. No one wishes for tragedy.
What made me laugh:
So this book claims that if you really want something, act like you have it, and soon you will. So I guess that means that if I want to be super rich, I should just go out and buy that Prada dress and wait for the money to magically appear in my account by the end of the month. That, or risk going to jail for not paying my credit card bill. You choose what sounds more plausible. Why we need to ditch this book: If you really want to read psychology, there is lot of good stuff out there, like Freud. For the sake of all things rational and scientific (even religious concepts like karma sound more rational in comparison to this book), please think twice before making this philosophy a way of life.
Maybe I’ll never get a single person to agree with me on this topic, but at least I tried. Talk about wishful thinking! (Pun intended)
