If somebody asked you about the laws of attraction, you would probably think about the documentary film, and book, The Secret, that talked about the metaphysical law of attraction, but laws of attraction can be found in science, sociology, as well as philosophy. Between 400 & 500 BC, Empedocles, the ancient Greek philosopher, spoke of “philia and neikos;” (attractive & repulsive forces.)
Empedocles postulated that strife brings about repulsion and love results in attraction. He said that the physical universe it comprised of varying proportions of Earth, air, fire and water, which Plato would later label, (the four elements); and that every structure that will ever come into existence, actually exists already within those elements. He also alluded to helping create the world we see, through the process of perception.
Plato continued with a good portion of Empedocles’ body of work, including the concept of the attractive force, or philia. He went on to say that, like attracts like, as in, fire to fire or water to water.
Albertus Magnus, in 1250, applied that idea, (likes attract) to chemical systems, and postulated 4 laws of affinity. Isaac Newton, in 1687, worked on the 4 laws of chemical affinity and came out with a single law that related to the laws of planetary motion.
In 1718 Etienne Geoffroy, a French doctor & chemist, read the first law of affinity of Newton and proposed a second one. He stated that a third substance that had a stronger attraction to one of two other substances that were united in attraction, could repel the weaker of the 2 substances & unite with the stronger one. The 2 laws of affinity became 6 in 1749, when another French chemist, Pierre Macquer added 4 new laws, and then seventeen years later, in 1766, he added a seventh.
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.
