The Flaw Of Attraction
All the rage today is centered around some ideas put out by some New Age practitioners who have labeled a so-called new discovery "The Secret". It has caught on like wildfire and the mass media is promoting them to no end. From what I hear it was created by a woman (not sure where she's from) and now droves of experts have joined forces with her to get this very important message out to the world. Truth is, they're a little late........like several thousands of years late. This 'secret' that they are slowly revealing to the world has been known for eons by many groups from many cultures. The whole concept is based on 'the law of attraction", "focal intention", "like attracts like", create-your-own-reality, and so on. If you can think it, they say, then you can manifest it....just like that. Hmmmmm. Wouldn't it be nice to bypass Heavens plan and change our destiny pattern any old way we choose. Wouldn't it be nice to over-ride God's decisions and alter them to fit our own desires. Who needs Gods and Heavens when we have the 'Secret'. It's all a bit superficial.
The law of attraction has been preached by many people...Jane Roberts/Seth, Hicks/Abraham, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Gary Zucav, and millions of others. They are all basically saying the same thing and people keep paying them money and making them millionaires to hear the same message over and over. It is strange to note, that if these people really believed that the law of attraction works why are the unattractive, out-of-shape, and unhealthy law of attraction promoters of 10 years ago, still unattractive, out-of-shape, and unhealthy today. Why has the law of attraction not worked for them. Many of the biggest names have battled alcohol and drug addictions and a host of other problems. If the law of attraction worked the way they say it does, the world could be saved in a day. Could it be that all these people are lying.......perhaps we should not be too harsh on them and just accept that they were probably misinformed and got a little over-excited in promoting their misinformed ideas.
I doubt that Pythagoras believed in the law of attraction. I would say that Shao Yung certainly did not buy into it.......unless of course you were a sage. Master Shao believed that things could be created with the mind because the mind can be equated with Tao. But only rare and certain people could accomplish this mind/Tao connection. Master Shao called this person a sage, and he unfortunately states that " I have never seen one with my own eyes". In one of Wayne Dyer's book he is referred to as a modern sage. I wonder if Shao Yung would consider Wayne Dyer a sage ??? If Dyer is a sage then we are seeing something that some of the greatest masters and philosophers of the Neo-Confucian era have not seen. At the time Dyer was called a sage, Dyer himself admitted to having a alcohol dependency problem. This was kept very quiet from the public because it would not look good for the publishers to promote a "Drunken Sage". Does all this seem a bit strange to you.
I would agree with Shao Yung in believing that anyone and everyone has the ability to create their own reality or even to become a sage, but...."amongst men he is one in a billion" to use his own words. It is like saying that everyone has a chance to win the 50 million dollar lottery but how many actually do it...some spend their whole life trying but get nowhere. It is probably much easier to hit the 50 million dollar lottery than it is to alter heavens patterns or to become a sage. The "Secret" crew/cult will very likely accumulate 50 million dollars at the rate they are going...and they don't have to alter Heaven's plan, become a sage, or hit the lottery. They just need to convince simple saps like us.