Law of Attraction, Part 6: The New Age

 

When the New Age Movement came into prominence during the late 1970s, nobody knew that by the end of the 20th Century, the New Age Movement would become the third largest religion in America. The New Age’s allure and appeal stem from the perceived breakdowns of the economic, political, cultural and religious systems in the world, underscoring the great disappointment in the promise of the various systems that were born in the Age of Enlightenment. Pollution, wars, economic downturns, military repression, the failure of Democracy, has forced people to re-evaluate their lives by taking a look at alternative spiritualities.

 

Even in its earliest stages of development, New Age Movement has been linked to the New Thought Movement of the 19^th century as well as the mind cure and Human Potential Movements which saw increasing popularity in American culture with the advent of various self – improvement courses related to prosperity building (such as the Dale Carnegie courses) or releasing one’s inner power and ability (such as L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics and Scientology crusades or Werner Erhard’s EST).

 

Central to the New Age belief system is the notion that human beings no longer have to search “out there” for the divine, because human beings are divine already. Praying to God is no longer necessary since humans are all “gods” that share the same divine essence. Reincarnation, creating one’s own reality, meditation and attaining higher consciousness are the main preoccupations of those participating in the New Age Movement.

 
The New Age message descends from a variety of sources: Neopaganism, Spiritism, Theosophy, New Thought, Ascended Masters Teachings and so forth – therefore it cannot be defined into a single doctrine. There exists no single defined set of New Age belief, Articles of Faith or a centralized administration. Truth and authority are located within the charismatic leadership of authors, channelers, healers and motivational speakers.

 

As far as channelers are concerned, New Agers attach great emotional and spiritual significance to the messages these entities speak and write through human beings, evidenced through the popularity of books by Jane Roberts, J.Z. Knight, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry and Ester Hicks. Which brings us back to the Law of Attraction. A chief feature of the New Age version of the Law of Attraction is the same as ritual magic of old; empowerment. The leaders of the New Age have marketed this desire for empowerment by treating the Law of Attraction as a marketable commodity. There is much to choose from in the wide variety of books, courses and seminars that present the law of attraction as an empowering tool for self-realization.

 

Channeled Sources of the Law of Attraction

 

During in the 1960’s, Jane Roberts allegedly channeled a being named, ‘Seth,’ who claimed that reality and the mind did not exist independently of each other, thus consciousness has a real effect on one’s own reality. Seth presented the famous New Age maxim of, “You Create Your Own Reality” through your thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

 

A Course in Miracles, is a classic New Age tome allegedly channeled from ‘Jesus Christ,’ teaches that spirit, mind, and body are interrelated, and “proper” mental attitudes will help one become more effective with their life. This type of “reality manipulation” has been spoken about before in the 19th and 20th centuries in the writings of Quimby, Atkinson, Hill and Bailey. Thus the trajectory of the human search for empowerment has come a long way from the old days where ritual magic and incantations were used to manipulate natural and supernatural forces – which finds its fullest expression as the New Age principle of reality manipulation within the Law of Attraction. As divine humans, we are to use our divine mind, which is the only creative force in existence.

 

The Secret 

 

In 2006, Rhonda Byrne created a colossal marketing tsunami with her hit DVD, The Secret. Appearing on Oprah drove in book sales as well, as you could not visit your local neighborhood bookstore without seeing a gaudy display of The Secret near the cash registers. Promoting The Secret in a documentary style that mixed conspiracy theory, self-improvement and motivational speaking, made The Secret irresistible to many people.

 

The ‘Secret’ that changed Rhonda Byrne’s life was, of course, the Law of Attraction. She came across Wallace Wattle’s book, The Science of Getting Rich during a difficult time in her life and to her credit, turned her inspiration into a worldwide marketing sensation after an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Byrne’s “secret” was that she just recycled earlier New Thought and Theosophical teachings, placing it in a shiny wrapper and made a fortune. In the DVD version of The Secret, Byrne presents a roll call of “philosophers,” entrepreneurs, “visionaries” and self-help gurus who tell the viewer that The Secret can be revealed to anybody. Bob Proctor, one of the “philosophers” on the DVD, appears and announces that you can ‘get anything you want’ health or wealth – with The Secret.

 
So, what is The Secret? It’s the Law of Attraction, of course – “the Greatest Law in the Universe.” “It always works,” claims one of the Law of Attraction gurus featured in Byrne’s production. They adamantly assert that thoughts emit a magnetic field that draws events to you. Add intense emotional charge, and what you attract happens faster, and it doesn’t matter if it is positive or negative events. Feeling Good, is your duty. Feeling bad, well, that’s verboten.

 

 

Abraham and Esther Hicks

 

 
One of the featured narrators on The Secret DVD is Esther Hicks, who channels the non-physical entity “Abraham,” who Hicks describes as an “infinite intelligence.” Hicks appeared in the original release of The Secret, but later had a falling out with Rhonda Byrne, and she was edited out of a new version the next year. Hicks was the only self-help presenter on The Secret who was paid for her appearance, receiving $500,000, according a New York Times interview.

 

 

According to the Abraham-Hicks official website, husband and wife team Jerry and Esther Hicks describe themselves as “living a fairy-tale life.” Jerry suffered from poor health as a child and lived in extreme poverty. His life turned around after reading Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich.

 
The former acrobat and stunt man became a very successful Amway distributor when he met Esther during one of his Amway presentations and later married. Esther spent a period of meditation for nine months, after which ‘Abraham’ appeared in Esther’s consciousness and began communicating with them. Abraham has been described as a “nebulous mist,” “a group consciousness from the non-physical dimension,” “the great masters of the universe,” and so on. The Abraham-Hicks site claims that the modern teaching of the Law of Attraction “all started here!” But various points of the Teachings of Abraham can be traced back to other sources besides those found in New Thought and Theosophy and in New Age. It’s clear that the main features of the Law of Attraction hasn’t changed much since the earlier proponents Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, Helena Blavatsky and Alice Bailey said much of the same things.

 
But as the most well-known advocates of the Law of Attraction, The Hicks have taken their Abundance message to the world while traveling in true rock star fashion in their one and a half million-dollar tour bus. Even the death of Esther Hicks’ husband, Jerry (in November, 2011) has failed to erode or tarnish the Abraham – Hicks’ popularity.

 

 

The Dark Side of The Secret

 

However, there have been a few beings who may have followed the Law of Attraction too closely, and have taken great risks in doing so. Consider the case of one of the Self-Help Gurus that appeared in The Secret, James Arthur Ray, a frequent guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Ray held a Spiritual Warrior seminar in Sedona, Arizona, charging nearly 10 thousand dollars a head to attend a “Break Your Boundaries” workshop. At the end of a physically and mentally taxing five-day regimen that included intense fasting and a “game” where Ray reportedly donned white robes and played God, Ray conducted a sweat lodge ceremony where approximately 55 people were crammed into the steaming hot for hours. Law enforcement officials say that when people became ill and began to pass out, Ray coaxed them to stay inside, apparently to move beyond their discomfort and to “break their boundaries.” As a result 3 people died and 18 were hospitalized in the sweat lodge catastrophe. Controversy ensued when it was reported that Ray fled the scene before talking to authorities.

 

Ray was later brought to trial for manslaughter, but was only convicted of felony negligent homicide. Ray served nearly two years before being released in 2013 and is presently conducting seminars on dealing with personal crisis.

 

The Law of Attraction holds out the promise of wealth, health and happiness. The message of “Creating Your Reality” and “Everything Is Yours To Have,” has given people who same sense of empowerment Attraction Magic gave the ancient Mesopotamians thousands of years ago. It’s been a very long road through the centuries and eras that we’ve traveled, but the trajectory of empowerment that is the principle of the Law of Attraction – which appeared in various forms such as the ritual magic prayed and performed to curry favor from the Gods of the ancient Sumerians  – to the postmodern proponents of the Secret, who beseech the Gods who reside within the human mind – has been completed. According to the Law of Attraction, we have finally met the Gods that we used to worship. And they were us!

 

 

Next: The Eastern Roots of the Law of Attraction 

The Human Potential Movement: Self-Help Gurus. Pt.1

The belief that human abilities are expandable is not a new idea. The Human Potential Movement as a systematic program may have first begun in the West with the Stoics, who were active at the beginning of the 3rd  Century BCE. Stoicism claimed that the quality of life of the human being could be improved by releasing anxiety (suffering) through attaining “peace of mind.” If ignorance and emotions caused suffering, reason and indifference could be used to nullify suffering. Of course, the Organized Religions have always produced literature (The Vedas, Dhrarmapada, Tao Te Ching, The Bible and Quran) which were touted as legitimate sources for self-improvement or self-transformational change. The New Thought Movement and Christian Science both focused on “mind-cures” to ease the suffering of physical illness. Theosophy claimed that there is a Divine Plan that ends with humanity evolving to a divine, posthuman state. The Integral Theorists represented by Ken Wilber and Sean Esbjörn-Hargens have updated this meme for the 21st Century.

Thus the Human Potential Movement has many dimensions – its origins stem from psychological, spiritual, existential and capitalist concerns. But while the method may differ, what they all have in common is a penchant for creating wealth for its creators by promising wealth and health for the consumers of the message.

Unsurprisingly, the drive for wealth, fame and power has caused more than a few to fall from grace. James Arthur Ray, a prominent self-help guru made famous by his appearances on Oprah and “The Secret” film, promised his followers, “harmonic wealth in all areas of your life.” Charging $10,000 a head to attend a “Spiritual Warrior” sweat lodge ceremony, catastrophe ensued, resulting in 3 deaths and a conviction for Ray on charges of negligent homicide. Ray was sentenced to two years in prison in 2011. While Ray claimed he had no excuses on what transpired at the sweat lodge in Sedona, he is now appealing the conviction on a technicality. [1]

Dale Carnegie (Dale Carnegay)

Dale Carnegie began a path to teaching public speaking which eventually led to the Dale Carnegie course, which promised to increase confidence in men, which made a healthy profit for Carnegie in the 1930s. Napoleon Hill taught that people could change their reality through positive thinking. By the end of the 20th Century, the New Age’s mantra that one could create their own reality, effectively made the New Age Capitalism’s Religion. Carnegie’s teaching did not go unnoticed by future self-help gurus like L.Ron Hubbard, Werner Erhard and Anthony Robbins.

Wilhelm Reich

Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) , a brilliant pupil and colleague of Sigmund Freud, was the first to predict and describe the sexual revolution in a work published in 1936. Acknowledged as the Father of the Sexual Revolution, Reich believed that the sexual liberation of the human being would bring about a healthier, happier and advanced human being. Although Reich was scorned and humiliated by the psychiatric community, his ideas were embraced by the emerging counterculture of the 1950’s.

“Orgone” was what Reich called the principal “life force” of the universe. By freeing the constrictions of orgone within the body through orgasms, or time spent in one of Reich’s Orgone Acculmulator, could one become more sexually free and mentally fit. Of course, liberation of sexual energy was heresy according to the Freudians, and Reich was drummed out of Freud’s circle, ruining his career. Although reviled and rejected by the psychiatric community, Reich’s idea’s would live on within his colleagues and followers, which were destined to challenge the psychiatric establishment after his death when they were deployed to inspire what would become known as the Human Potential Movement.

 Dianetics and Scientology

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986) was an accomplished, but poorly paid pulp fiction writer before his fortune changed with the publication of Dianetics:The Modern Science Of Mental Health in 1950. Hubbard claimed that all diseases of the mind and body were caused by “engrams”[2] lodged in the subconscious mind. These engrams were allegedly formed through dramatic events. Well-being could only occur after one was made to relive the situation that created the engram which then could be “cleared” with the help of a Dianetics “auditor.” The psychiatric community denounced Dianteics and Hubbard, claiming that Dianetics was not proper psychological treatment and that Hubbard fabricated case histories where he showed how Dianetics cured physical and mental illnesses. Internal conflicts, money problems and criticism from the medical community helped cause Dianetics to go bankrupt in 1952. Undeterred, Hubbard created Scientology, which essentially recast Dianetics as a religion. Scientology became an even greater success than Dianetics. Scientology went further than the everyday self-help tactics of Dianetics; it proposed to deal with spiritual problems that human being have to deal with, as well. Scientology still dealt with questions on why we do not reach our full potential, and apparently Scientology provided the answers people wanted to hear because Scientology became a world-wide religious institution despite the widely advertised legal problems that perpetually hounded Hubbard.

Hubbard, an acknowledged master of science fiction (indeed, the first publishing of Dianetics appeared in Astounding Science Fiction  is said to have created a world religion entirely from his imagination and cunning. Critics accused Hubbard of being a charlatan and a criminal. Constant troubles and never-ending controversy finally drove Hubbard in seclusion where he lived out his last days before dying alone in a remote ranch in California

Humanistic psychology

Psychoanalysis and behaviorism were the two main forces in psychology during the fist half of the 20th Century. The philosophy of humanism is a dominant thread within the HPM, as well. At the center of Humanistic psychology is the idea that human beings are capable of fulfilling their potential. Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987) contended that humans have a capacity for actualizing themselves and fulfill their potential. Rogers sought to treat patients in a way that they would be able to solve their own problems in the future.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) constructed a map of a “hierarchy of needs” It was Maslow’s theory that once these needs were met, then the person would be capable to realize their full potential. The problem with both theories is that they do not explain why more people in affluent societies don’t “self-actualize.”

Existentialism

The Human Potential Movement was also influenced by European existentialism. Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1946 essay, “Existentialism Is A Humanism, had this to say:

 “Atheistic existentialism, of which I am a representative, declares with greater consistency that if God does not exist there is at least one being whose existence comes before its essence, a being which exists before it can be defined by any conception of it. That being is man or, as Heidegger has it, the human reality.”

Existentialism denies the universalism of human nature, or at the very least, denies that human nature is meaningful. The acceptance of free will is central to existential philosophy. Although no hope was given for any human transcendence or finding anything of value in an empty, indifferent universe, existentialism does acknowledge freedom of choice and finding value within self. In fact, the self is the only value that exists since only the self can give definition to existence. Existential philosophy claims that the human being exists in a state of freedom (Sarte claims humans are “condemned to freedom”), and cannot help but to impose meaning onto a meaningless existence.

Esalen  Institute

Michael Murphy studied at Sri Aurobino’s ashram where he was introduced to the ideas of human and spiritual evolution. Aurobindo authored The Life Divine, a text that expounded on Aurobindo’s theories of spiritual evolution of humanity, “infinite consciousness” and various theories of existence. Murphy later met Dick Price in San Franscisco and soon founded the Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California in 1960 on the property owned by Murphy’s family. At Esalen, they would explore human potentiality. Authors and proponents of “human potentialities,” such as Aldous Huxley[2], Jean Houston and Paul Tillich. The term Human Potential Movement is said to have been coined by George Leonard in 1962, and Leonard is acknowledged as being one of the principal intellectual forces of the HPM.

Esalen exerted a gigantic influence in the political, spiritual and philosophical shape of the counterculture of the 1960’s and 70’s. Alternative psychology was also featured, particularly the work of psychologist Fritz Perls (1893–1970) who once worked with Wilhelm Reich, first developed his brand of “gestalt psychotherapy”[4] in the 1940s before taking residence at Esalen where he led therapy group sessions. Encounter groups, meditation and psychedelics were used to liberate the potentials in the mind and body.

 Werner Erhard (John Paul Rosenberg )

Erhard was a businessman, so it’s not surprising that he would be influenced by the ideas of Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie and L. Ron Hubbard. Erhard became interested in human potential theories of Rogers and Maslow and studied with Alan Watts. Erhard began his program of self-transformation in 1971,which he called, “est” (Erhard Seminars Training) after experiencing what he called a “peak experience” while driving. Erhard’s message was simple. The world can work for you.”At all times and under all circumstances, we have the power to transform the quality of our lives.”

During the 1970s, est and Werner Erhard was a worldwide phenomenon, which reportedly did not go unnoticed by a furious L. Ron Hubbard, who was incensed that Erhard had “stolen” Scientology ideas, prompting Hubbard to allegedly command his followers to harass and destroy Erhard. (LA Times article.) Erhard closed est in 1984 and ended up selling the business to employees in 1991.

 Osho (Chandra Mohan Jain)

Chandra Mohan Jain (1931-1990), better known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and later as “Osho,” was a provincial college lecturer of philosophy in India during the 1960’s before becoming a controversial guru with a worldwide following before his death in 1990. There is no overarching principle to Osho’s teaching although he issued a torrent of books that were mainly transcriptions of him speaking about various topics. Freedom, love and self-responsibility were often subjects of his discourses. Mediation should be diligently practiced. Osho also taught that enlightenment was potentially available for all of humanity, and was also a very big proponent of capitalism and sexual liberty (the latter left Osho with the sobriquet of the “sex guru”). Unfortunately for Osho, his predilection for rebelling against authority along with the resentment caused by his flamboyant lifestyle (it is said he owned 93 Rolls Royces at his commune in Oregon) landed Osho in a federal prison where he served two years for immigration fraud and fined $400,000. Osho died at his commune in India after being deported to India.

Next: The Human Potential Movement Part 2. The New Age Gurus.

Notes

[1] Scott, Orr. James Arthur Ray appeals sweat lodge conviction. Prescott, Arizona: The Daily Courier, 2012.

[2] The term, engram, was first coined by the German biologist Richard Wolfgang Semon (1859-1918), who theorized that memories traces were stored in “engrams” inthe brain.

[3] Badliner, Alan Hunt. Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2002. Print.  Michael Murphy: “I was not impelled by any knowledge of or interest in psychedelics, but once we started, there it was. It was there, first of all, among the first famous figures who came here – like Aldous Huxley. In Mexico, he gave me Sandoz laboratory LSD and his wife Laura was my sitter.”

[4] Gestalt therapy directs the client toward appreciating the form, meaning, and value of his perceptions and actions. http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Gestalt

2009/12/15 – The Secret History of the Law of Attraction Part 9