Law of Attraction: How it Works

The earliest written expression of the idea now known as the law of attraction (LOA) is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and is found in a text called the Emerald Tablet, which includes the widely quoted phrase, "as above, so below." The LOA can also be traced to Plato's law of affinity, which states, "likes tend toward like."

Until the birth of the New Thought movement in the late 1800s, prototypical ideas about the LOA circulated within occult subcultures including alchemy, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalism, witchcraft, and many other secret societies and mystery school traditions. Scholars have grouped all of these various ideas under the single label of Western esotericism, and there are three fundamental ways to view these esoteric, mysterious ideas:

• They are nonsense or foolishness.
• They are heretical or dangerous.
• They stem from, or are based on, a single strand of truth referred to as perennial philosophy, which runs through all of the traditional religions as well as all of the various occult subcultures.

Today, all of the world's religions and occult subcultures remain split into various groups because the people within those groups have yet to realize the single strand of truth that unites them all is the law of attraction. The New Thought movement is essentially a process of enculturation that is removing the barriers between all of these groups by introducing a common set of language, values and rituals that everyone can share.

Is the LOA foolishness or dangerous? Why was it kept secret for so long, and why are millions of people now spreading the LOA's gospel of health, wealth and love? There is one simple answer: It works.