Cosmic ordering

Setting yourself achievable goals is a sensible step on the way to getting what you want in life.

So why, in the twenty-first century, do people have to dress up such a simple idea with kookie language and daft explanations?

TV presenter Noel Edmunds said his successful return to primetime TV was thanks to ‘cosmic ordering’. He apparently wrote on a piece of paper what he wanted, before putting it under his pillow. He thinks he told the cosmos what he wanted and the cosmos duly granted it. There’s even a book on it at the top of the Amazon best-seller list.

Thankfully, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning, psychologist Prof. Richard Wiseman debunked the idea that the cosmos really does listen out for everyone’s private requests before granting them. It has far more to do with the fact that ‘lucky’ people “know what they want in life and recognise opportunities when they come along”.

Unfortunately, the editors of the programme gave equal weight to the opinions of astrologer Jonathan Cainer – “you decide what you want…you announce to the universe that it’s your intention to get it…and it works, without a shadow of a doubt it works…And in my column I tell you when the best time is to put your order in”, he said. Later he added “you can wish for harm to others and there’s a strong chance it will happen”. None of which was challenged by the interviewer.

OK, I’ll have a go: “Dear Cosmos, please shut down the BBC Today programme for broadcasting absolute piffle”.

Link to audio of the interview with Wiseman and Cainer.