Hicks' book is "the Bible for the Law of Attraction," says Jeannette Maw, a Law of Attraction coach who lives in Salt Lake City. Maw's journey to the Law of Attraction, however, began about seven years ago when she was browsing in a bookstore and came upon "How to Get Everything You Ever Wanted" by Adrian Calabrese.

Eventually, after reading more books, Maw began seeing an "abundance coach." In 2003 she quit her job as a retirement specialist at Wells Fargo Bank and began seeing Law of Attraction clients of her own. Because she does her coaching by e-mail and phone, those clients live as far away as India.

To understand the theory and mechanics of the Law of Attraction, the News listened in on a conference call between Maw and seven clients one evening last month. Maw calls the sessions "scripting."

At one point in the conversation, one of the women begins to describe something that happened earlier in the day — writing out a check to cover a business loan. "Today is a huge, huge, huge day for me," she tells the other women. "I can finally say I am debt-free." In the background you can hear the other women shouting "woooo" and "right on, girlfriend." Then the debt-free woman says, "I've been doing the happy dance all day."

At another point in the conversation, a different woman talks about her new boyfriend. "His name is Paul. He's, I want to say, 6-foot-3, and he has amazing blue-green eyes."

The significant point is that there is no Paul. And the woman who did the "happy dance" still has credit-card debt.

While the conversations may thus seem delusional, the Law of Attraction posits that in order to attract money or boyfriends or anything else a person might want, it's important first to let the universe know your intention. And not only to announce your want but to create the enthusiastic emotion of already having what you want.

"That's the secret: to emote, to feel as if it's already happened," explains another Salt Lake Law of Attraction coach, Roxanne Hunt. "When you desire something so strongly, and you align with it, the universe will conspire with you to bring it in."

Another way to project euphoria, the theory goes, is to be grateful for what you have now. "Gratitude begets more things to be grateful for," Hunt says.

There's no denying that gratitude changes your perception of the world. And that a person who is upbeat — who interprets and reacts to whatever life brings in a positive way — will have a more upbeat life. In this way, yes, you can "create your own reality." Does this mean, also, that whatever it is you "intend" the universe will "deliver"? And, at the risk of being a Law of Attraction party pooper, what about people, whole continents even, for whom bad things happen? Did focusing on their negative realities and fears create their famine, their cancers, their tsunami?