Personal Development, Tibetan Buddhism, and Neuroscience: The Law of Attraction in Action Pubblico
Karur, Prasanna (Spring 2021)
Abstract
Personal development and the self-help industry have evolved over the past century for different purposes and intended audiences. The core principles for success, nonetheless, remain largely the same. In today’s popular culture, personal development and the principles attached to it originate heavily from Napoleon Hill’s 1937 Think and Grow Rich. Most current readers of Hill’s seminal book believe it discusses the Law of Attraction, which states that when we visualize the future through a positive mindset, we “attract” positive experiences to our lives, and when we visualize the future through a negative mindset, we “attract” negative experiences to our lives. The Law of Attraction has had many critics over the years who believe the idea stems from a flawed and illogical origin. They point out the lack of scholarly evidence and its appeal to those who desperately want to use it to become wealthy. My interdisciplinary honors thesis navigates this intersection of popular culture and scholarly concerns by examining the convergence of revealed truths in Tibetan Buddhism and observable truths in neuroscience in the context of how Hill’s Think and Grow Rich defines the Law of Attraction. My hypothesis states that Tibetan Buddhism, with revealed truths, and neuroscience, with observable truths, do provide evidence for aspects of the Law of Attraction and the principles in Think and Grow Rich through Buddhism philosophy that originated in the late 6th century BCE and groundbreaking neuroscience research from the 21stcentury. Thus, I intend to provide scholarly evidence that will support the Law of Attraction from two distinct disciplines in a novel and academically sound interdisciplinary manner, establishing a claim that this law can be studied in an academic context.
Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….................01
Chapter I: An Introduction to Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill……………………...........11
Chapter II: The Ripples of Think and Grow Rich Throughout the Years…………………….........20
Chapter III: Tibetan Buddhism and the Law of Attraction…………………………………….......…24
Figure 1: A visual depiction of karma…………………………………...…………............……30
Figure 2: A visual depiction of the Law of Attraction………………………………...........…32
Figure 3: A chart comparing karma and the Law of Attraction……………………..….....…34
Figure 4: A visual depiction of dependent origination…………………………….….....…...35
Figure 5: A visual depiction of dependent origination…………………………….….......….35
Figure 6: A visual depiction of the Law of Vibration………………………………….........…37
Figure 7: A chart comparing dependent origination and the Law of Vibration…….….…40
Figure 8: A chart comparing Vipassana Meditation and Visualization Meditation……...42
Chapter IV: Neuroscience and the Law of Attraction…………………………………………...........45
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….................….....61
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………..................….….63
About this Honors Thesis
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