Contemplating The Laws Of Attraction

When contemplating the laws of attraction, there are a number of areas to consider, including philosophy, science, sociology and metaphysics. Most individuals think of the metaphysical law of attraction, that is the subject of the book & documentary film, The Secret, but nearly 2500 years ago, the Greek philosopher, Empedocles, wrote about "philia" (attractive force) and "neikos" (repulsive force).

Empedocles said that love is related to attraction, and strife is the cause of repulsion. He said that we actively take part in creation of the world, though our perception of it, and that the physical universe is comprised of particles o fire, air, water and Earth, (which Plato later called, the four elements.) He also wrote, that everything that will ever be created, exists already among those elements.

In 391 BC, Plato built upon the work of Empedocles, by stating, what would later be called the original law of affinity: "Like tends to (attract) like, " Plato said; for instance, air to air or water to water.

More than 1600 years later, (1250), Albertus Magnus used Plato's work for the foundation for the first law of affinity of chemical systems, and added three of his own. In 1687, Isaac Newton reworked all four laws of chemical affinity, into a single law, that was related to the laws of planetary motion.

Then, in 1718, French physician and chemist Etienne Geoffroy built upon Newton's law, and proposed a second law of attraction, (or, affinity of chemical systems), that stated that one substance could repel another due to its attraction to a third substance. In 1749, another French chemist, Pierre Macquer built upon these 2 laws of affinity and added 4 more, and also added a seventh in 1766.

From the perspective of human relationships, sociologists have argued amongst themselves that likes attract, or that opposites attract. The general consensus is that people tend to marry people who share the same or similar religions, politics, social and economic status, levels of physical appeal, and education. However, keen observation readily reveals there are no shortage of exceptions to this rule.

The laws of attraction that are part of a metaphysical system of belief, tell us that humans are energy beings, living in a universe that is ultimately, nothing but energy; and, as such, we draw things into our lives, including people and events, based on the kind of energy that we are broadcasting, with our thoughts and beliefs, our fears & dreams, our emotions, and the visualizations we feed into our minds. Fear is said to create that which we are fearing, so releasing the grip of fear from ones life helps create big breakthroughs. There are large numbers of adherents to this way of thinking who share some rather dramatic success stories.