What is the Law of Attraction?

If you have spent any time at all in the personal development arena you must have come across the term "Law of Attraction".

This law was made popular in "The Secret" movie (based on "The Secret" book by Rhonda Byrne).  But it is not a modern idea at all.  Many of the basic concepts of the law were outlined in the early 20th century by both Wallace Wattles, in "The Science of Getting Rich", and Napoleon Hill, in "Think and Grow Rich" and other books.

It goes back a lot further than this, though, as "The Secret" makes abundantly clear.  In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for", and in Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for."

These two quotes go to the very root of the Law of Attraction.  Notice the two qualifications Jesus added - "keep on", and "believe".  Both are vital qualifications, especially the latter.  Without true belief you are not truly asking, and therefore it will simply not happen.  Persistence is also important.  Just asking the once and then forgetting all about it is not likely to achieve anything at all.

Much has been written on the subject of the Law of Attraction.  You will find references to it throughout my blog.  You will also come across many books and courses that are based almost entirely on this law, some of which I have tested and found to be excellent material and have therefore recommended to my subscribers from time to time.  But if you break down what all the gurus say, you will find much of it is focussed on ensuring you believe 100% and that you continue to persist in making your requests.

In order to concentrate that belief, and make it really powerful, you must invest it with real emotion.   Otherwise it will not be recognised as a true request and will just be ignored.  There are many different techniques you can use to create the right powerful emotions.  The starting point, though, is finding out what it is you truly want.  This might sound obvious, but for many people it is not.  They go through life never really knowing what they want and never having a real passion for anything at all.  Many others think they know what they want but identify the wrong things.  For example, they may think what they want is lots of money.  But do they really?  Or do they want some of the things that money can buy?  It is far better to identify in your mind what it is you really want, as you are much more likely to be passionate about those things than you are about money!

They may not be physical things of course.  You may want the freedom to do what you want when you want, rather than having to slave at a job you don't enjoy every day.  That is something that money could buy for you, but that is not the only way to get it - maybe a career change will bring you what you really want.  So in that case, focus your desire on that freedom - and at the same time, be more specific about what it is you want when you say "freedom to do what I want".  You may well be surprised at how quickly the Law of Attraction works for you once you phrase your request more carefully.  You begin by focusing on the kind of work you really want to do, and within days you see opportunities to do that work and take up those opportunities.  This is a great example of the way the Law of Attraction can work.  Not by magically making those things you said you wanted appear as if the Law were a genie, but simply by making you more aware of the opportunities that have been there waiting for you all the time.

In a short blog article I cannot teach you everything you need to know about the Law of Attraction.  There are some great courses out there which you should use to develop this much further.  Keep your eye on your inbox for recommendations from me about these (and if you are not yet getting e-mails from me about them, go to www.beallican.com where you can download 4 great personal development e-books and at the same time register for me to keep you informed).  But hopefully this has given you a taster and will encourage you to explore the Law of Attraction further.

There Is A Science of Getting Rich

Chapter 2 of "The Science of Getting Rich"

by

Wallace D Wattles

There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person will get rich with mathematical certainty.

The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way, and those who do things in this certain way - whether on purpose or accidentally - get rich, while those who do not do things in this certain way - no matter how hard they work or how able they are - remain poor.

It is a natural law that like causes always produce like effects, and, therefore, any man or woman who learns to do things in this certain way will infallibly get rich.

That the above statement is true is shown by the following facts:

Getting rich is not a matter of environment, for if it were, all the people in certain neighborhoods would become wealthy. The people of one city would all be rich, while those of other towns would all be poor, or all the inhabitants of one state would roll in wealth, while those of an adjoining state would be in poverty. But everywhere we see rich and poor living side by side, in the same environment, and often engaged in the same vocations. When two people are in the same locality and in the same business, and one gets rich while the other remains poor, it shows that getting rich is not primarily a matter of environment. Some environments may be more favorable than others, but when two people in the same business are in the same neighborhood and one gets rich while the other fails, it indicates that getting rich is the result of doing things in a certain way.

And further, the ability to do things in this certain way is not due solely to the possession of talent, for many people who have great talent remain poor, while others who have very little talent get rich.

Studying the people who have gotten rich, we find that they are an average lot in all respects, having no greater talents and abilities than other people have. It is evident that they do not get rich because they possess talents and abilities that others do not have, but because they happen to do things in a certain way.

Getting rich is not the result of saving, or thrift. Many very penurious people are poor, while free spenders often get rich. Nor is getting rich due to doing things which others fail to do, for two people in the same business often do almost exactly the same things, and one gets rich while the other remains poor or becomes bankrupt.

From all these things, we must come to the conclusion that getting rich is the result of doing things in a certain way.

If getting rich is the result of doing things in a certain way, and if like causes always produce like effects, then any man or woman who can do things in that way can become rich, and the whole matter is brought within the domain of exact science.

The question arises here as to whether this certain way may not be so difficult that only a few may follow it. As we have seen, this cannot be true (as far as natural ability is concerned). Talented people get rich, and blockheads get rich; intellectually brilliant people get rich, and very stupid people get rich; physically strong people get rich, and weak and sickly people get rich.

Some degree of ability to think and understand is, of course, essential, but insofar as natural ability is concerned, any man or woman who has sense enough to read and understand these words can certainly get rich.

Also, we have seen that it is not a matter of environment. Yes, location counts for something. One would not go to the heart of the Sahara and expect to do successful business.

Getting rich involves the necessity of dealing with people and of being where there are people to deal with, and if these people are inclined to deal in the way you want to deal, so much the better. But that is about as far as environment goes. If anybody else in your town can get rich, so can you, and if anybody else in your state can get rich, so can you.

Again, it is not a matter of choosing some particular business or profession. People get rich in every business and in every profession, while their next door neighbors in the very same vocation remain in poverty.

It is true that you will do best in a business which you like and which is congenial to you. And if you have certain talents which are well developed, you will do best in a business which calls for the exercise of those talents.

Also, you will do best in a business which is suited to your locality: An ice cream parlor would do better in a warm climate than in Greenland, and a salmon fishery will succeed better in the northwest than in Florida, where there are no salmon.

But, aside from these general limitations, getting rich is not dependent upon your engaging in some particular business, but upon your learning to do things in a certain way. If you are now in business and anybody else in your locality is getting rich in the same business, while you are not getting rich, it is simply because you are not doing things in the same way that the other person is doing them.

No one is prevented from getting rich by lack of capital. True, as you get capital the increase becomes more easy and rapid, but one who has capital is already rich and does not need to consider how to become so. No matter how poor you may be, if you begin to do things in the certain way you will begin to get rich and you will begin to have capital. The getting of capital is a part of the process of getting rich and it is a part of the result which invariably follows the doing of things in the certain way.

You may be the poorest person on the continent and be deeply in debt. You may have neither friends, influence, nor resources, but if you begin to do things in this way, you must infallibly begin to get rich, for like causes must produce like effects. If you have no capital, you can get capital. If you are in the wrong business, you can get into the right business. If you are in the wrong location, you can go to the right location.

And you can do so by beginning in your present business and in your present location to do things in the certain way which always causes success. You must begin to live in harmony with the laws governing the universe.

The Right to be Rich

For those who do not know, Wallace D Wattle's book, "The Science of Getting Rich" was written in 1910, and is believed to have inspired Napoleon Hill to write "Think and Grow Rich".  It was also the original inspiration for the book and film "The Secret".

I strongly believe that one of the biggest stumbling blocks most of us have when trying to become wealthier is a subconscious belief that we do not deserve wealth, or even a feeling of guilt about wanting to be rich.  Wattles addressed this issue in the first chapter of his book, so here is Chapter 1: The Right To Be Rich

"Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich. No one can rise to his greatest possible height in talent or soul development unless he has plenty of money, for to unfold the soul and to develop talent he must have many things to use, and he cannot have these things unless he has money to buy them with.

A person develops in mind, soul, and body by making use of things, and society is so organized that we must have money in order to become the possessors of things. Therefore, the basis of all advancement must be the science of getting rich.

The object of all life is development, and everything that lives has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable of attaining.

A person's right to life means his right to have the free and unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest mental, spiritual, and physical unfoldment; or, in other words, his right to be rich.

In this book, I shall not speak of riches in a figurative way. To be really rich does not mean to be satisfied or contented with a little. No one ought to be satisfied with a little if he is capable of using and enjoying more. The purpose of nature is the advancement and unfoldment of life, and everyone should have all that can contribute to the power, elegance, beauty, and richness of life. To be content with less is sinful.

The person who owns all he wants for the living of all the life he is capable of living is rich, and no person who has not plenty of money can have all he wants. Life has advanced so far and become so complex that even the most ordinary man or woman requires a great amount of wealth in order to live in a manner that even approaches completeness. Every person naturally wants to become all that they are capable of becoming. This desire to realize innate possibilities is inherent in human nature; we cannot help wanting to be all that we can be. Success in life is becoming what you want to be. You can become what you want to be only by making use of things, and you can have the free use of things only as you become rich enough to buy them. To understand the science of getting rich is therefore the most essential of all knowledge.

There is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire for riches is really the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant life - and that desire is praiseworthy. The person who does not desire to live more abundantly is abnormal, and so the person who does not desire to have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal.

There are three motives for which we live: We live for the body, we live for the mind, we live for the soul. No one of these is better or holier than the other; all are alike desirable, and no one of the three - body, mind, or soul - can live fully if either of the others is cut short of full life and expression. It is not right or noble to live only for the soul and deny mind or body, and it is wrong to live for the intellect and deny body or soul.

We are all acquainted with the loathsome consequences of living for the body and denying both mind and soul, and we see that real life means the complete expression of all that a person can give forth through body, mind, and soul. Whatever he can say, no one can be really happy or satisfied unless his body is living fully in its every function, and unless the same is true of his mind and his soul. Wherever there is unexpressed possibility or function not performed, there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is possibility seeking expression or function seeking performance.

A person cannot live fully in body without good food, comfortable clothing, and warm shelter, and without freedom from excessive toil. Rest and recreation are also necessary to his physical life.

One cannot live fully in mind without books and time to study them, without opportunity for travel and observation, or without intellectual companionship.

To live fully in mind a person must have intellectual recreations, and must surround himself with all the objects of art and beauty he is capable of using and appreciating.

To live fully in soul, a person must have love, and love is denied fullest expression by poverty.

A person's highest happiness is found in the bestowal of benefits on those he loves; love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. The individual who has nothing to give cannot fill his place as a spouse or parent, as a citizen, or as a human being. It is in the use of material things that a person finds full life for his body, develops his mind, and unfolds his soul. It is therefore of supreme importance to each individual to be rich.

It is perfectly right that you should desire to be rich. If you are a normal man or woman you cannot help doing so. It is perfectly right that you should give your best attention to the science of getting rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies. If you neglect this study, you are derelict in your duty to yourself, to God and humanity, for you can render to God and humanity no greater service than to make the most of yourself."