People have been asking for scientific evidence for the Law of Attraction ever since the movie The Secret hit the Internet four years ago last month.
I’m excited to report it’s here in the form of a readable book.
I was in Utah last week visiting my Miracles Coaching team when I decided to walk off dinner by going to a bookstore. There I found the brand new book, The Science Behind the Secret: Decoding the Law of Attraction, by Travis S. Taylor, Ph.D.
That book kept me up all night. It’s riveting. Taylor is a physics, aerospace and electrical engineer. He worked for the Department of Defense and NASA. He also writes sci-fi books. After he saw the movie The Secret, he began exploring the history and evidence for the Law of Attraction.
According to Taylor, the Law of Attraction is not new. He can trace it all the way back to Jainism in ancient India, about four thousand years ago. He follows its development through Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) on to around the mid-1800s, when people such as Helena Blavatsky, James Allen, and William Walker Atkinson specifically used the term “Law of Attraction” in their books. Taylor continues his historic overview right through the 1980s, with books by Jerry and Esther Hicks.
Also according to Taylor, the Law of Attraction is not a law. He declares that the “law” is more an adage; a philosophical or psychological maxim. He doesn’t dismiss it; he simply says it’s not a law by strict scientific proof. There’s no empirical evidence for it.
But Dr. Taylor doesn’t stop there.
Turns out he’s a fan of The Secret. He calls the teachers in it (apparently even me) “Yoda’s.” He really likes Louise Hay (who isn’t in the movie). He says you can influence reality by how you think. His entire book is a respected scientist’s view of how the Law of Attraction (law, maxim, or adage) actually works.
He goes on to explain new theories of the brain, and of reality, and states you can influence reality by holding a thought with emotion and imagery. In essence what you are doing is sending a “qwiff” into the energy field we’re all in. That qwiff (a quantum wave function) goes out and gets “attracted” to (or seeks and finds) other similar qwiffs. The result is often a new reality.
Stop and think about this…
Stating there are new theories of the brain, as well as of human experience, reveals that “reality” must be a construct that matches whatever we say.
In other words, if you believe that the brain is like a computer (called a Turing Machine), you look at it as you do your Mac or PC. It’s a mechanical device that works in a linear way.
But if you trash that model of reality and say the brain is more like what physicist Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff say, that human consciousness is a Orchestrated Objective Reduction (a type of quantum computer), then you now have a new, empowering theory: that the human mind impacts reality.
Again, please note that these scientists are all trying to figure out how the world works. Also note that they are creating theories and then testing them. Further note that as long as they believe in their theories, they can find proof for them.
Doesn’t that in itself prove what you think is what you create?
According to Dr. Taylor, who prefers the quantum brain theory of everything, you can create a new reality for yourself by imagining it’s already fulfilled. This creates an energy field that gets launched into the Universe, on a mission to find whatever it needs to become your new reality.
This fits with the concept that photons and other particles don’t organize until they are observed. It appears that when you state an intention, you help organize them. This is what I called “Nevillizing” (named after author Neville Goddard) in my book, The Attractor Factor. This is what gets everyone excited, including me.
Want a new car?
Imagine you already have it.
Want more money now?
Imagine you already have it.
What a new job?
Imagine you are already working it.
Want better health?
Imagine it’s already here.
Want a new bike?
Dr. Taylor writes —
“The right way to use your quantum brain is to set up the thought pattern of the reality that you actually have that new bicycle. You must envision yourself riding that new bicycle. You just fantasize how it feels to ride the new bicycle…This is how you set up a qwiff to get a response from the universe in a positive manner.”
By focusing your energized thought on the finished goal of what you desire, you send a type of cosmic order into the Universe. As you act on the ideas and opportunities that come to you, after you place this focused intention into the world, you tend to attract what you desire into your reality.
Of course, this is nothing new. Here’s what the mystic Neville wrote in his 1944 book, Feeling Is The Secret:
“To impress the subconscious with the desirable state you must assume the feeling that would be yours had you already realized your wish.”
Or, as Neville hand signed in one of his books: “Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.”
All of this is to say the Law of Attraction is real.
It may not be considered a law (yet) by strict scientific experiment, but it definitely works.
This is why you must monitor your thoughts and choose the ones you prefer. Those thoughts – especially when combined with emotion and image and focused on – tend to go out into the world as “qwiffs” and attract a match to create a physical new reality.
This is why new tools such as Mindy Audlin’s “What if UP” thinking are so important. What you focus your thoughts on with emotion tends to come to pass. This is why you tend to attract what you love, fear, or hate. There’s raw emotion behind those thoughts. Since you have a choice, why not choose the high road?
In fact, it’s so important to keep “upping” your thoughts to better feeling ones that I saw this sign on the sales floor of my Miracles Coaches offices:
Again, the Law of Attraction is real.
Don’t call it a law if that makes you feel better.
But the operating principle behind The Secret works.
Taylor’s book is a fun, fast read. He’s a friendly, conversational writer. He knows his readers are not physicists. He’s patient. He’s kind. He’s wise.
I love his book. It’s the best one I’ve seen yet explaining the science behind how your thinking creates your reality.
I also like that he included a chapter about skeptics. He urges you to ignore them. They aren’t helping anyone. They are very often sinister, anecdotal, and without logic.
Instead, Dr. Taylor advises to “…focus our efforts on the brighter , happier side of things and simply test our theories. The outcome will shine light on the darker corners of humanity and wash them out.”
Einstein put it this way in 1954 –
“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
You can help yourself break free with Dr. Taylor’s book. If you’ve been looking for scientific evidence for the Law of Attraction or the movie The Secret, you’ll find it in the pages of The Science Behind the Secret.
You’ll find the book in book stores and of course online at Amazon.
Meanwhile, watch the thoughts you “qwiff” into the world.
What you think does make a difference.
And that’s no secret.
Ao Akua,
PS — Pictured below with me is Janeen Detrick, voted Coach of the Year in 2009. She’s one of my Miracles Coaches. Hear me interview her by clicking right here. 
39 Comments
Hi Joe – Thanks for the great resources – and for sharing the power of “What If Upping”! I love seeing how science backs up what the mystics have been teaching for thousands of years. Thank you for contributing your cool Russia story in “What If It All Goes RIGHT?”… And for What If Upping your teams so they can help others ATTRACT MIRACLES!
Do we need a coach or not? In “Attractor Factor” you write that “you don’t need anyone to get clear. You don’t need someone to help you. You simply need to help yourself”
Those are my thoughts too but in one of your audios you say that we need others in order to create something new and if we want to do it alone then it’s a very egotistical way of doing things.
Is there a contradiction there?
You’re asking for an absolute answer to a relative question. Sometimes you need a coach; sometimes you don’t. Personally I feel the goal is to not need one, but along the way to achieving that goal, a coach will be very handy. I still use them today.
Thank you very much for this article. I just ordered my own copy of The Science Behind The Secret: Decoding the Law of Attraction. I just can’t wait to hold it in my hand and read it .
This is what I tell my patients every time. They don’t know, or can’t get, the idea that they have the powers of create worlds, joy, experience, healthy, freedom and happiness. The curious thing is the same thing that says a scientist is the same thing that Angels tells me all the time. “Doesn’t exist a Universe without a watcher”
Alexandra Navarro
The Blue Leaf founder
Joe: I first found out about you by reading Zero Limits and that changed my life by adding a new element I use moment by moment. This is a nice blog you have and I like the recommendations for books and positive thought. Like you said – this ain’t a new concept – but it is always good to hear it again in a new format. I’ve added “qwiff” to my thought patterns and vocabulary now. Thanks and may you continue to live in peace that passes all understanding, Lorita
hi i have one questio what do U think about Poland plane crash ?
I love Poland. It’s a terrible, sad event.
could u tell what to do if U had 26 years live with parents have no job, only 2 $ feel ugly in your town U don’t get any job, your father is unemploed;/
I would like to add ‘Creative Visualization’ by Shakthi Gwain to this list. I have the paper back version. The word order in the affirmations are effective. Its a channeled book.
Thanks for sharing Joe.
Indeed the mind has power to create. All the great creations we see are all started as a thought impulse, in nature they are from the great universal mind, they are then individualised by our consciousness as thoughts from our personal minds. When they are mixed with faith and feeling they become powerful to create any objective intended.
Binney
I am now part of your Miracles Coaching program, and boy is it working! 🙂
Maybe the reason is that I am ready now, or just maybe your coahing program is the real deal. I know many of the subjects being presented to me already – I have done other programs – but I now feel they are understandable and easy to work with. Your personalized message makes it simple like a formula.
Your enthusiasm and energy really makes a difference – thanks.
Hi
I’m writing from Poland – i need help – is it possible to win money when You have that feeling ? I have it but nothing happend – i have big plans – open my company and be decorator , buy big apartment but – now i’m struggle with credit … pls write something to make me feel that my belives and hope are real …
So true, I always look for absolute answers! You are the only one who managed to answer most of them within couple of days only. Thank you.
Dear Joe, have you read work of Jasmuheen? I wonder what you think about it. She often quotes Deepak Chopra in her books.Perhaps you could meet her and write a book about her? It would be so interesting to see what you think about ….all those different kinds of lifestyles 🙂
Joe – You (and your readers) should realize that Dr. Taylor is offering his theory, based upon his own studies, but not upon empirical evidence. As such, his treatise – while it might resonate with those who choose to agree with it – falls far short of providing actual proof that the supposed Law of Attraction is actually a documented phenomenon.
If you recall your heated debate with Skeptico some time back, you were very insistent that LOA is, indeed, a scientifically provable law, yet in response to Taylor’s comments, you seem less certain. That, at least, is encouraging.
What is less encouraging is the admonition to simply ignore skeptics. By definition, a skeptic refrains from accepting an hypothesis until there exists clear data to support its premise. Thankfully, history has been blessed by many skeptics, who were willing to resist going along with ideas that ran contrary to common sense and provable science. Were it not for skeptics, we might still believe that the Earth is at the center of the universe, and that virtually any disease could be remedied by the proper application of leeches.
Blessings
Joe, re-read my post. I agree with you. I said right in it what Dr. Taylor was offering.
Joe
You were absolutely on the money then when you spoke about creation as being in language.
I am autistic and have never had any trouble with creative visualisation. I literally think in pictures and think very literally.
If I created everything I pictured in my mind the world would be chaos.
Of course, what transcends time itself, is this, there is only now. There is only here. And the future you are creating has already happened.
The way to have ‘already happened’ show up as your creation is to share the possibility. And you do this so well.
There is a magical quality to this post Joe. You clearly understood something new about our world from reading the book. And as you so rightly said “What the thinker thinks, the prover proves”.
Finally, the skeptics need a voice in the world. Their words are a reflection of the way that it is not. The way that it is cannot exist without the way that it is not. Without something to reflect there can be no reflection. Without a barrier, there can be no space.
Kind regards
Anurajyati
Hello
And nobody write me back 🙁 i’m reading Your coments and thaks to that i have book Gawain Shakti – I hope that will work 🙂 if anybody could write me back and give pls do it 🙂
I read (and comprehended) the post the first time, thank you. But at your recommendation, I did go back and read it again, just to be sure I didn’t miss something. You might want to re-read my comment…
You began with, “People have been asking for scientific evidence for the Law of Attraction ever since the movie The Secret hit the Internet four years ago last month.
I’m excited to report it’s here in the form of a readable book.”
Sounds pretty clear to me; you plainly state that Taylor’s book does indeed provide “scientific evidence,” yet in your response to my comment, you claim to agree with my contention that an individual’s (even a scientist’s) *opinion* – unsupported by empirical data – does not constitute scientific evidence. Can’t have it both ways, Joe.
And before you dismiss this as just one of those pesky “skeptics,” I acknowledge that I do believe some things that have yet to be qualified according to scientific method. The difference is, I don’t try to pass those beliefs off as incontrovertible truths. Of course, my livelihood doesn’t depend upon my doing so.
Blessings.
Joe, here’s the line you seem to keep missing:
“His entire book is a respected scientist’s view of how the Law of Attraction (law, maxim, or adage) actually works.”
Again, note it says “his view”.
If you re-read the post again, you’ll also see what I say about the “law.”
Be well,
joe
The universal law of attraction is to learn how to begin manifesting more money in their life. We are bombarded with news on the television of just how bad the economy is and how there are fewer and fewer opportunities to make more money, yet this is not the case for everyone.
Joe, your attempts at condescension notwithstanding, I *have* read and fully comprehended the post, and have not missed anything. What *you* seem to be missing is that in your opening, you claim the book offers proof. And if one bothers to read the metatag you have placed, and which appears at the top of the browser window, it reads,”Science Proves The Secret’s Law of Attraction.”
Perhaps you mistakenly made these claims, or perhaps you’re counting on your readers to either overlook them or blindly accept your dismissal of the incongruity between your claims (past and present). Either way, it’s either sloppy or disingenuous reporting , both of which depend upon readers’ laziness and/or gullibility. I would think you would have more respect for your followers.
Very interesting post!
Thanks, Joe! 😀
Very interesting post!
Thanks, Joe! 😀
Hi Joe – Thank you so much for BEE-ing one who raises the Law of Attraction flag so high.
I have to laugh at some of the skeptics. It reminds me of a story about Albert Einstein when his assistant found a letter from Edington that Dr. Einstein had not opened. In the letter Edington informed Dr. Einstein that his theory that light bends in space was correct. When the assistant asked Dr. Einstein, “What if Edington had proved your theory incorrect?” Einstein answered, “Then I should feel sorry for the dear Lord. The theory is correct.”
Attractively, with LOVE and GRATITUDE,
Alan Hickman
Thank you for sharing, Joe 🙂 That would be a very good read for me, since I’m too analytical… LOL
PS – why don’t I ever get a reply from you on any of my emails? 🙁
Hey Big Joe Fire Starter!
Man, I’m so glad that you write these amazing blogs. You know, I consider myself to be an expert on manifestation and mind/body practices, however I’m excited to say that I learn something new every time I read one of your blogs.
Inspirational, motivational, outstanding.
Thank you Big Joe!
Joe,
Check out this news article on FOX NEWS : http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/05/freaky-physics-proves-parallel-universes/?test=faces
It makes sense to me that manifesting might be simply learning to control which state you wish to observe, focusing on that reality (a la Neville Goddard) and seeing it come to be part of your reality.
Remember, “the universe is not only stranger than we suppose, it’s stranger than we CAN suppose.”
It’s only metaphysicsal until we all experience it together and it becomes physical!
Hello mr Joe
i know a little english only
so i say i’m happy u are in poland in warsaw
it cost 1200 zl almoust its very expensive … i have only 10 zl…
maby some day ill get a job and earn 1200
now im unemployed live in bialystok and have no feith …
maby saomeday i meet u …
love beata
Hi Joe! Can I date you out one day?…
I have been reading alot about the book you wrote and it would be great if i can meet u up. Ive got loads to ask (haha) 🙂
I’ll use the law of attraction to attract u 🙂
See You!
Pashia-Malaysia
Joe,
Thank you for the wonderous and kind review of my book. I came across your review quite by happenstance (which I don’t believe in). I also read through the comments and noted the discussion with one fellow about skeptics and proof and such. Well, if this person would read the book he would see that I clearly deliniate “scientific skepticism” from “skepticism for skepticism’s sake”. I also suggest of various experiments that might be done to lead to actual empirical evidence. You correctly stated that our modern theories led me to this scientificly derived opinion and theory but as of yet there is no tangible evidence other than a lot of anectdotal evidence and what skeptics would call coincidence or happenstance. Let them call it what they wish. But from a proven scientific standpoint we do know that qwiffs are real and I demonstrate them in my lab every day.
And yes, I did mean to imply that you are indeed a Yoda.
Regards,
Dr. Travis S. Taylor
Hi Joe,
Thanks very much indeed for the post! It’s really encouraged me a lot! So, with this ‘law’, can I just say that anything obeying Nature’s laws is possible, no matter how human power acts on it?
Best wishes,
Susan
Hey Joe,
Great to be on here and thanks for sharing.
I LOVE the ‘Secret’ and the Law of Attraction and all the work that you and all of the wonderful teachers do. Understanding the Law of Attraction has helped me in life. I am still learning how to use it, but it has given me cause for hope and optimism. Some people I have shared it with have really been uplifted by this knowledge too.
Anyway, I read a couple of books by a lady called Lynne McTaggart. They are 1) The Field and 2) The Intention Experiment. Ms McTaggart is a journalist but she has met with and interviewed many scientist whose work suggests that all of this is very real. They are pioneers in many ways and the shift has yet to occur among mainstream science, but I feel it is happening. You can check out the work carried out by the Princeton Engineering Anamalies Reasearch (PEAR) project for some exciting ‘evidence’. I also like Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work with applying intention to water and then freezing the molecutes and photographing the resulting crystals ( as featured in the moview ‘What the Bleep do we know’. I can understand how it must be difficult for some scientists etc to come out and boldly declare that the Law of Attraction is real and works, but I am convinced that we bring about our own reality.
Thank you for your work and for helping people like me.
May love and success be yours, and the same goes to all of your readers,
Indika
You say that people have been asking for scientific evidence for the law of attraction and say that this book is it. You then say there is no empirical evidence.
Empirical evidence is evidence that is based on trial and experiment and means the outcome can be predicted. It can’t be scientific if it’s not empiric: it’s anecdotal.
Example: I’m thinking of a friends name and the phone rings and it’s him.
Test: sit by a phone, think of a person you know. If the phone rings and its him or her tick box.
Repeat with different person. If the phone rings with the right person on the end 4/5 it might be your thoughts that are causing it.
Next: sit by phone concentrating on something unrelated. If the phone rings the same amount of times as before it may be coincidence.
I hope you won’t call me a sceptic for pointing out that one contributor to “The Secret” is a conman and another organised a sweat lodge in which a number of people died. As I know you believe in truth and honesty, I have faith that you won’t delete this post:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/spiritual-leader-james-ray-arrested-sweat-lodge-deaths/story?id=9741781#.T9mxPxdYvdM
http://www.feelgoodgirl.com/node/126
Old news. Plus you need to think this through. You might be discovered to be a criminal in the future, or have a mental illness, or any number of possible outcomes; does that mean we shouldn’t listen to you today?
I tried to order “Attract Money Now” and the link would not work. I have read so many of your books and really enjoy them. Thank you for your help.
Very helpful post. Balancing the chakras is also a great way to balance