The Intention Project

The Law of Attraction states in a nutshell that "like attracts like" and therefore, if you feel positive emotions then you will attract positive experiences into your life. Conversely, if you are feeling negative emotions towards something, then you are "attracting" negative experiences into your life.

Critics of Law of Attraction often point out that it tends to "blame the victim," and the more stringent adherents of the Law of Attraction can go so far as to blame the victims of rape and violence for "attracting" such horrors to them.

The Law of Attraction is actually an overly simplified way to discuss the concepts of energy and intention. It tells part of the picture but not the whole picture.

Yes, of course, if you are in a positive space with positive energy, you will be more empowered and in control to create more positive things in your life.

However, it does not automatically follow (nor is it true) that if you are feeling sad or down for a day or a week that you will "attract" some horrible event to befall upon you.

Sometimes, shit just happens.

Proponents of strict black-and-white interpretations of the Law of Attraction are actually falling prey to a common psychological coping mechanism called the "Just World Phenomenon." The idea at a most basic level is that people "get what they deserve."

The psychological need to believe that people deserve to have bad things happen to them, or "attract" them, is based on a need to control the world around us. To believe that sometimes bad things happen to good people for no good reason can be a scary idea for many people.

A related concept is the idea of "illusion of control." Of course, those who believe in the power of intention do share some illusion of control. It does not stand to reason, however, that just because we can positively affect our lives through intention, that we are all-powerful and affect every aspect our lives through intention or emotion.

Sometimes, people get lucky or unlucky. Sometimes, people are positively or negatively affected by those around them. Sometimes, grace comes into play. And sometimes, maybe it's just karma.

As explained in the section The Premise, individual intention is often overridden by group intention. Sometimes, the negative intention of another can conflict with your positive intention, thus thwarting the results (at least in that particular form).

But the best explanation on this comes from Master Co who teaches pranic healing: There are "multiple causal factors" in life. Maybe part of it is attraction, part of it is karma, part of it is that someone else is being a jerk through no fault of your own, and part of it is that you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time that day. Or maybe it's just one of those things or none of the above.

For this reason, it is not fair to simply ignore those folks who are struggling in life and blame them for their own predicament. We are all co-creators of this world. In fact, in some spiritual traditions, we all need to take ultimate responsibility for everyone.

In that theory, if there is a homeless person living in your neighborhood, you are just as much responsible for their predicament as they are. Karmically, it is then your duty to make amends to them through prayer or charity.

The good news about all this is that you can let yourself and others off the hook. Be compassionate to yourself and others, and don't blame the victim. It may really be not their fault.