Why The Law Of Attraction Is Wrong

One of the central claims in Buddhism and a variety of other religions is the law of attraction: That the like attracts like. This claim does not pass the muster of scrutiny.

The same person can attract completely different people in their lives. One can attract great people and terrible people within a few days of one another. I myself have attracted into my life both people who were inspirational and people who were down and out. That would not have been the case if the like attracts like.

Am I like the inspirational people and the down-and-out people at the same time? Is a woman like both the man who batters her and the man who adores her? Melanie had the attention of men who were horrible to her and men who loved her. That would not have been the case if the like attracted like.

Are we in control of what we attract? We can certainly do a lot to improve what we attract; but we also have to be mindful of things over which we have no control. We are not in control if a tsunami strikes us. If it does, it doesn't happen because of negativity in our consciousness. It happens because a tsunami has happened, which is nobody's fault.

The law of attraction is obviously wrong. Am I both my Latin teacher and the people who attacked me on the Internet? Is Melanie both the brutes that she was with and the good people that she is with now? All this would point to people being many self-contradictory things at the same time. And that makes such beliefs outside the province of reason.

I am not driven here by wanting to be a victim or anything of the sort. I am driven here by simple rationality. If a person can attract people who are nothing like one another, then that cannot be an outcome of what's in her consciousness. People can attract people for any number of reasons, some of which are compatible with them and some of which are not.

So it is time that more people be skeptical of such sentiments. If I can attract great people and terrible people in days of each other, then that means that the mechanism is something besides my consciousness. Sometimes people will make rightful choices; sometimes they won't. The reason is not anything in their consciousness. The reason is choice.