The Law of Attraction | Some Issues With "Manifestation" Spirituality (And Some Benefits!)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มี.ค. 2022
- Hi all! In this video I dive into the "law of attraction"--the idea that you can manifest the things you desire in life through the manipulation of universal energies. It's based on the idea that "like attracts like," so if you have "good vibes" you'll attract positive things into your life, including material wealth. While this sounds great, I think there are certain elements about this "manifestation" mindset that can be really toxic and harmful.
In addition to discussing some of the more problematic elements of the law of attraction, I get into what the law of attraction is, some of its historical roots, and also some elements of the law of attraction that can be beneficial, like the way it encourages positive thinking.
Sorry for the super long video again--I promise next time I'll ramble less!
Thanks for watching! :)
Sources used in this video:
Crockford, Susannah. 2021. Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona. University of Chicago Press.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. 2012. The Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality. University of California Press.
Albina, Albert C. 2018. “The Law of Attraction: Positive Thinking and Level of Gratitude Towards Happiness.” CMU Journal of Science 22, no. 1: 15-22.
www.researchgate.net/profile/...
Eagleson, Claire et al. 2016. “The Power of Positive Thinking: Pathological Worry is Reduced by Thought Replacement in Generalized Anxiety Disorder.” Behaviour Research and Therapy 78: 13-18.
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Lyubomirsky, Sonja and Laura King. 2005. “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?” Psychological Bulletin 131, No. 6: 803-855.
www.apa.org/pubs/journals/rel...
Segerstrom, Suzanne C. And Gregory E Miller. 2004. “Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.” Psychol Bull 130, no. 4: 601-630.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15250...
National Geographic’s Brain Games episode “Positive Thinking” (S4, E13)
www.imdb.com/title/tt4447546/
Also a good article: www.psychologytoday.com/ca/bl...
Follow me on Instagram: / skeptical.witch
Music in this video is Blossom by Lakey Inspired: • Blossom
#lawofattraction #toxicspirituality #religiousstudies
Great video. I would point out, however, that positive thinking can be abused. My father got sucked into the Amway scam, and positive thinking was a big part of that. It was a way for the company to shift blame for a sales person’s failure from the company’s system to the sales person. In effect saying “If you’re failing, it’s your fault, because you’re not positive enough in your attitude.” Be wary of the law of attraction, but also be cautious with positive thinking.
Yes for sure, that’s a good point-similar to the LOA, positive thinking can be dangerous and toxic if taken too far, especially without critical thinking. I’m sorry that happened to your father!
Thank you for this!! Addresses a lot of the issues I’ve had with the law of attraction but never been able to put into words
This was a very important video. Thank you. If everyone would succeed with the law of atraction we would need many planets to fulfill everyones needs.So basically the poorest people in the world are not spiritual enough according to the thought of law of atraction. I wonder who have come to the idea of it. Sorry for my poor english. You definitely had good arguments and this was very refreshing to hear.
I agree 100% with everything you said! I get consumed with rage whenever I see millionaires (like Gwyneth Patrol and Ariana Grande) saying they manifested their success. And they have the audacity to admit they found the law of attraction after they already had wealth, and still swear by its efficacy.
Ironically, TH-cam put a law of attraction course ad in your video while I watched it 😂
I love your channel, and wish it had more visibility. The information you bring is golden. A huge thanks and a hug from one skeptical witch to another ❤️
Aw thank you so much, I really appreciate it! And I’m right there with you on getting a bit infuriated with celebrities and their “manifestation” talk... especially Gwyneth Paltrow and her fraudulent “wellness” brand too.
CW: References to Christianity
.
.
.
This weirdly reminds me of something I learned long ago in my Church days. James wrote "Faith without works is dead," and that it's useless to say to hungry person, "Be warmed and filled," without giving them material help. This rubbed against all the weird stuff the prosperity gospel preachers were saying. Great to finally understand the broader story of what was going on!
Yes for sure! I know a lot of Christians are very much against the prosperity gospel, since it seems to go against so much of what Jesus taught. I find the history and debates surrounding the movement really interesting, but also kind of horrifying...
I do believe to an extent that the energy you put into the universe comes back to you. I also believe that it only carries someone a bit of the way and hard work with do the rest. I genuinely enjoy this video and how well you explain these concepts. It helps keep me grounded and remember not to get too lost in the metaphysical ideations
As always I love watching your videos!
Anyone else here thought that was their own cat meowing 🤣
Thank you for making this thorough video! It was so helpful. I agree with all the criticisms you mentioned and also still like to use the positive thinking idea in my advantage to change my mood/perspective/behaviour.
I saw you @Angela’s Symposium and thought I’d check out your content. Great work, and thank you!
I enjooyed this video very much, I was looking for a video regarding the law of attraction because I also believe that it is problematic. As for future videos... I would like to see a video regarding agnosticisism maybe in combination with witchcraft and/or paganism? I find this topic very interesting xx
Thanks for the suggestion! That’s a great idea :)
I am intrigued by the degrees of subtlety in beliefs of how Magick works. Yet most would admit that psychology is an integral part of their practice. As far back as Dion Fortune, practitioners have been aware of psychology and its importance in mundane and spiritual life.
Yes for sure! The connection to psychology was something that originally really attracted me to witchcraft in the first place. I remember Adler discusses it quite a bit in Drawing Down the Moon too.
I missed this video so I took time out of re bingeing Heartstopper. Glad I did. Another great video.
Thanks you! I appreciate that haha
I love your videos
I put a comment on your last video saying how I hope you came back soon, and a few hours later you did haha now that’s some synchronicity I’d like to call magical. Thanks for a such a well researched video, I hope a lot of people see it because this LoA thing can get pretty toxic and insensitive and even useless if you’re not actually putting in any work. I’m glad you also don’t totally bash it though and take an even, critical approach! Just yesterday I started looking into building a vision board, inspired by the one you showed, cuz I’ve been feeling pretty useless at work and lots of impostor syndrome and I think a vision board will help me get clear on my goals and simply keep me inspired to continue working for those things I want in my life. Again, hope to see more of you soon and hope your studies are going well!
That’s awesome 😊 I hope the vision board is working out for you!! Imposter syndrome can really suck sometimes, but I find having little reminders like that can definitely help.
Litha blessings 🌛🌕🌜🐈🐈
Great video touching on points of practicality. While the law of attraction has many pitfalls and possible benefits i personally believe there is a middle ground between the mental and the physical senses. We know that even small seemingly unrelated events can culminate to shift events in the future, by putting energy into a system (aka the universe) that physical energy, possibly, could be channeled in a direction. Personally i do not practice the law of attraction nor manifestation, however i can see the connection that people make through physics or metaphysics. It seems to me that there are two types of approaches to spirituality, one is self help or self gain and the other is understanding. I see spirituality, philosophy, and as being languages to describe and potentiallly define the things around us while materialistic science is bound to mathematical or ratio driven languages, this tells me that a traditional scientific process is unable to examine or define anything truley unique or not interacting materilistically, since it depends on defining ratios and patterns. Im not suggesting that one can will events or materials into existence rather that the wisdom of spirutality is capable of showing a path for the future, and that a series of action and intent is part of that process. The other part is that when it comes to material science at fundemental levels, the traditional ideas on newtonian physics breaks down and that our reality is a personal biased perspective. Objects, density, colors, emotions are all interpretations of our physical experience of being alive but they do not represent any set of fundemental laws outside our own perspective. They are ratios percieved and constructed by the brain in order to categorize, but at no point determine the actuality of the material world.
Personally i came to spirituality through atheism, and while self help is good, i perosnally think that the true power of spirituality lies within the wisdom and attunement that one can seek. I see alot of people who pray, cast spells, or whatever to gain something for themselves or others, either mentally or physically. This to me is problematic in that people want to feel like theyve been avle to take something from the experiences, in my personal path, the best experiences have been where i gained nothing but responsiblity and understanding of the connection of animate and inanimate materials.
Thanks for this, you have a really interesting perspective. I agree perception is hugely important when it comes to how we understand reality. And while I agree that some elements of contemporary spirituality can be shallow in that they can feed into the individual ego, I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong to have a spiritual practice that focuses on self-improvement... it’s not something I could really get into in this video, but I don’t think the individualism or even materialism associated with spirituality today is always a bad thing... as long as that’s not *all* that it’s about. Maybe it’s something I’ll do a video on in the future-it’s something I’d definitely be interested to discuss further!!
@@theskepticalwitch6611 very goos points and as i read back on my comment, i was a little harsh on the material side of things. Self help can be a good part of spirituality as well, and i wasn't attempting to undermine personal health. I get a little salty when it comes to material gain because i do see how some people can exploit beliefs through what is gained. Being raised by a christian family, there was always a "reward system" involved where by doing good/righteous things (aka giving money to the church, praying, ect.) Was just a means to gain the reward of heaven or forgiveness. I didnt mean to thrash on mental or personal needs that much.
Ostara blessings. 🌛🌕🌜🐣🌼🏵🥚🐇😼
Do you identify as a atheist witch or just secular?
Non-theistic, naturalistic pantheist. I don’t identify as a secular witch actually, because witchcraft isn’t secular for me 😊