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 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.

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.

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.

What about human relationships? Do opposites really attract, or do likes attract? Most sociologists say that this argument is overwhelming slanted in favor of likes attract, especially in terms of marriage. Most couples, at the time of marriage, share similar levels of attractiveness or sex appeal, education, social status, religious and political views and economic status, but this is not complete, by any means. One can always find exceptions.

Metaphysically speaking, the laws of attraction, deal with the principle that everything is energy, including human beings, and that we draw events and other people into our lives based on the type of energy we produce, in our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and visualizations. There are countless stories of people who turned their lives around completely by taking charge what they were feeding their minds. Letting go of inappropriate fear is said to be among the most powerful things one can do.

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