Library.

“The modern concept known as the Law of Attraction is a rebranding that draws heavily from older philosophical and spiritual traditions, including Ancient Greek philosophy, Hinduism and Buddhism, Hermetic philosophy, and the 19th-century New Thought movement, and it became mainstream in the 2000s partly through the 2006 book The Secret.”

The claim gets the big picture right: today’s Law of Attraction repackages older spiritual and philosophical ideas, and The Secret helped push it into mainstream culture in the 2000s. The strongest evidence ties it directly to New Thought and Western esoteric/Hermetic traditions. Links to Ancient Greek philosophy and Buddhism are plausible and commonly cited, but they are less firmly documented as direct lineages.

“The 19th-century New Thought movement, including Phineas Parkhurst Quimby and Mary Baker Eddy, influenced modern Law of Attraction teachings that the mind can affect health, wealth, and happiness.”

The core historical connection is well supported. New Thought figures, especially Quimby, helped popularize the idea that mental states can affect health and life outcomes, and later Law of Attraction teachings draw on that tradition. The main caveat is that Mary Baker Eddy's link to the specific Law of Attraction lineage is more indirect than the claim suggests.

“The Law of Attraction became widely popular in the 2000s partly due to the 2006 book "The Secret."”

Available evidence shows The Secret was a major force in bringing the Law of Attraction into mainstream 2000s culture. Multiple reliable sources describe the 2006 book and related film/media exposure as driving a broad resurgence in public attention. The wording is also cautious: it says "partly due to," not that the book was the only cause.

“Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize karma, intention, and mindfulness in ways that resemble the Law of Attraction idea that thoughts and actions shape future circumstances.”

The evidence supports a high-level similarity, not a doctrinal match. Hindu and Buddhist teachings broadly hold that intentions and actions have consequences and that mental cultivation matters, which resembles the Law of Attraction idea that inner states can shape later outcomes. But karma is a moral and spiritual framework, not the same thing as modern manifesting.

“Hermetic texts include the principle "As above, so below" and related formulations that connect inner mental states with outer reality in a way that parallels Law of Attraction claims.”

The Hermetic phrase itself is genuine, but the Law of Attraction comparison rests mostly on later interpretation. Classical Hermetic sources support a correspondence between higher and lower realms, not a clear doctrine that thoughts manifest external reality. Later Hermeticist and occult texts do draw stronger inner-outer links, so the claim contains a real basis but overstates what the original Hermetic texts say.