RE: The "Law" of Attraction Is ... Misleading
Great post, I agree with self help books on positivity not being the end all absolute key to success. I think their are way too many variables (especially critical thinking) that lead to success that are outside the realm of any self help book. Although speaking of critical thinking and skepticism- I don't think a lack of scientific evidence or consistency, makes something completely invalid. The sheer lack of what science understands vs what is out there makes me wonder about it all (and skeptical). I personally found the law of attraction misleading in many ways too and found misleading things in bad science. Maybe in some people it's natural to believe in a 'mystical force' that leads them to hard work which I don't see anything wrong with when done with humility. Maybe critical thinking can play the balancing act without completely disposing either side.
I agree that there is nothing wrong with believing something without applying critical tests. If something works for you, then feel free to believe in it. If it was called the Principle of Attraction, I would have less of a problem with it. Things become misleading when you have people tell others that they have a one size fits all solution, when what they really are doing is marketing to as many people as possible.
I terms of what science understands, it understands very little. But when something is not completely explainable by science we should make a hypothesis and explore it. What we should not do is begin marketing our solution before we verify it is true. Critical thinking, indeed, must be applied to guide us to the truth.
Very well said. Things are far too dynamic to have a 1 size fits all. Cheers!