The Law of Attraction and the Law of Assumption are often used as if they mean the same thing. They are related, but they ask you to do different things, and knowing the difference can save a lot of effort.

The short answer

The Law of Attraction says like attracts like: your thoughts and feelings draw matching experiences to you. The Law of Assumption says you experience what you assume to be true of yourself: change who you are being, and your world reflects it.

Side by side

  • Where the power is. Attraction: in your vibration, which draws things from outside. Assumption: in your own awareness of being, with nothing outside to persuade.
  • The main practice. Attraction: raise your vibration, think positively, ask and receive. Assumption: assume the feeling of the wish already fulfilled and live from it.
  • The role of the outside world. Attraction: the universe responds to you. Assumption: the world is yourself pushed out, a reflection of your state.
  • Unwanted thoughts. Attraction: often treated as something to avoid. Assumption: noticed, then replaced by returning to the chosen state.
  • Best known teachers. Attraction: the New Thought writers and, more recently, The Secret. Assumption: Neville Goddard.

Why the difference matters

People who practise the Law of Attraction sometimes end up policing every thought, afraid that one bad mood will ruin everything. The Law of Assumption is gentler on this point. A passing thought is not an assumption. What matters is the state you return to, the one you live in most of the time.

The second difference is direction. With attraction you are here, wanting, and the thing is over there, coming. With assumption you start from the end. You ask, "what would I feel if this were already so?" and you let yourself feel that now. Neville called this living from the end. There is a full guide in How to Live From the End.

Which one should you use?

Use what works for you. Many people find the Law of Assumption simpler, because there is only one thing to do: notice what you are assuming and choose again. If positive thinking has left you tired, or you feel you are always chasing, it is worth trying.

A one minute comparison you can feel

  • Think of something you want. Say to yourself, "I want this, and I am trying to attract it." Notice how your body feels.
  • Now say, "It is done. This is simply how my life is." Stay with that for a few breaths. Notice the difference.

Most people feel reaching in the first and rest in the second. That rest is the state the Law of Assumption asks you to live from.

Learn more

Start with What Is the Law of Assumption?, or read the longer guide to conscious manifesting. If you would like help applying it to your own life, you can book a session.