The Law of Attraction was brought to hundreds of thousands of people for the first time by Rhonda Byrne through the film The Secret (2006) which includes many experts in the field of personal excellence, such as Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Joe Vitale, John Grey and Marci Schimoff as well as quantum physicists John Hagelin and Fred Alan Wolf.

The Secret was developed into a book of the same title in 2007. The movie and book gained widespread attention in the U.S. media, from Saturday Night Live to The Oprah Winfrey Show. The same year, Esther and Jerry Hicks (who provided much of the original source material for The Secret) released the bestseller, The Law of Attraction.

The modern interpretation of The Law of Attraction, as presented in The Secret, is that physical reality is a reflection of inner (subjective) reality. This is summarized in the quote from The Secret, “your thoughts and your feelings create your life.”

The success of the film led to increased media coverage, both positive and negative. Oprah Winfrey devoted two episodes of her show to discuss the film and the Law of Attraction. Talk show host Larry King also discussed it on his show with Bob Solis but criticized it for several reasons. He pointed to the sufferings in the world and asked: “If the Universe manifests abundance at a mere thought, why is there so much poverty, starvation, and death?”

A common response to this question from those who subscribe to the Law of Attraction’s philosophy is that one’s unconscious thoughts (which are more difficult to control) are attracting as well as one’s conscious thoughts