"The Secret"

[MaddLlama]

I don't know how many of you have heard about this new book and DVD "phenomenon", but for those of you that have I would like some opinons (if you don't know what I'm talking about, go here http://www.thesecret.tv/ ).

Now, admittedly I haven't seen the DVD or read the book, but from what I have seen and heard about this new self help program, it sounds like nothing more than "the power of positive thinking" coupled with the prosperity gospel, and a little dash of Pagan magic/creative visualization thrown in for seasoning. Apparently a lot of the book misquotes, or quotes out of context famous dead people of science and the arts to bolster its claims.

Does anyone have anything positive to say about it?

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Does anyone have anything positive to say about it?

Not me.:slap:

 

[Sunstone]

Now, admittedly I haven't seen the DVD or read the book, but from what I have seen and heard about this new self help program, it sounds like nothing more than "the power of positive thinking" coupled with the prosperity gospel, and a little dash of Pagan magic/creative visualization thrown in for seasoning.

Frubals for an excellent analysis!

Does anyone have anything positive to say about it?

Who says adults don't believe in Santa Claus?

 

[MaddLlama]

Frubals for an excellent analysis!

Who says adults don't believe in Santa Claus?

Actually, I had only vaugely heard about it until this morning while watching VH1. They featured it on thier "Best Week Ever" show, and showed clips from the DVD. My analysis is really based on that, and some of the comic commentary from the show =)

But, anyway, I'll expand on my critique even though I haven't seen the whole thing.

I think that the idea of "the power of positive thinking" is a good one, and I think that the basis of magic and creative visualization is also a good idea, and one that works if you do it properly. However, to combine these things with the idea behind the "prosperity gospel". This "secret" has the right idea, but it misses the mark - it advocates the power of wishing and positive thinking as if that is all it takes to change your life. It's illustrations seem to promote the idea that if you wish for something hard enough, you'll get it. This is missing an important idea - positive thinking is not wish fulfillment, it is the motivation to help you put in the work you need to do to reach your goal. This doesn't seem to be advocating working at all, but rather seems to be saying "ask, and it will be given to you without effort". Not only that, but what little I have seen seems to focus heavily on material things.

The power of positive thinking is nice, but to believe that you can cure breast cancer by watching funny movies....well, that's just false hope and a waste of $35.

 

[Sunstone]

I think we should all get together, create a RF scam video, sell it for $35 a pop to the masses, and use the money to throw a huge member's party. But that's just me. Others might have silly qualms about scamming people to throw a party.

 

[gnomon]

It's another hack, pop philosophy similar in vein to the "What the Bleep..." movie from a few years ago. I shouldn't be negative because the popularity of the book and DVD translates to sales for the bookstore I work at but it is disheartening to see yet another book along fluffy New Age lines completely dominate the market for a short time. Now there has been an increase in the sales of books by New Age writers such as Gary Zukav, Sylvia Browne, Esther and Jerry Hicks, etcetera and so on.

I would posit that if this Secret were true, or rather, the Law of Attraction, then people would no longer die of starvation. But it isn't true. Most of these philosophies focus on the gain of material wealth as much as they do about spiritual well being. There is the issue of how well do these philosophies work for people with different mental disorders.

And as I type I see MaddLlama has already posted an excellent response above about the "power of positive thinking" which has practical applications as opposed to the concept of wish fulfillment. Good post.

I'm almost opposed to selling the book since it's along the lines of the "Law of Attraction" by Esther and Jerry Hicks who promote a rather harmful concept on their website. The concept that smoking does not cause illness and that through the power of thought alone smokers can basically make themselves immune to any harmful effects from the drug they consume.

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/journal.php?eid=806

So what we encourage you to do is, rather than saying, "I want to stop smoking," we would encourage you to begin saying, "I want to allow the Energy to flow. What I'd really like is to find a way to let the Energy flow -- I'd like to have my flow and smoking too. I'd like to be able to smoke and have Energy flow through me at the same time." The advocates against smoking would not be very happy to hear us, but they are wrong. They misunderstand. It is not a disease that kills you; it's resistance that kills you. It's not smoking that kills you; it's resistance that kills you. It's not a disease that makes you unhappy; it's resistance. In other words, you have been misinformed. So if you believe, as we do, that smoking is not inherently bad for your health, would you want to stop?

It's their own disallowance of the Energy. And to just play into that by standing on your head only perpetuates this myth about conditional love, you see. And so, what you're wanting to say to those who love you who say, "I don't want you to smoke because I don't want you to be sick," say to them, from your place of knowing, "Hey, I'm strong and well. Everything's all right here. Actually, this smoking soothes me. I'm a lot less likely to die of a heart attack when I smoke than if I were to quit. If I stopped smoking now it would aggravate me."

edit:When you log in to post a reply I've learned you have to type quick. Advice if anyone else tries this and suddenly find themselves logging in again after trying to submit your reply. Copy your reply in case you took to long to type your response so you can easily paste it back in once you have logged in again.

 

[MaddLlama]

I remember reading somewhere that "The Secret" was based in part on the "law of attraction". However, I didn't know that was another already established new-age theory.

 

[gnomon]

I remember reading somewhere that "The Secret" was based in part on the "law of attraction". However, I didn't know that was another already established new-age theory.

It's not as secret as many people think.

 

[religion-science]

i agree, thinking about somethign isn't going to get it for you. I think if you focus on a object which you want or somthign like wealth then obviouly you are goign to be more likly to get it that some one who dosn't give it a second though because you will put more of your resources into obtaining it. Seem like common sence dressed up into some easy magic to make people buy it.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Not sure if I agree with it or not, not having seen the video. A few tv news snippets have summarized it as 'the power of positive thinking'.

But, in my own life, I have experinced the idea of 'thinking more positively leads to a better outcomes' and have found it to be accurate. (Again, only saying from my own life.) I could be just affecting how one percieves the same result, though.

 

[MaddLlama]

Not sure if I agree with it or not, not having seen the video. A few tv news snippets have summarized it as 'the power of positive thinking'.

But, in my own life, I have experinced the idea of 'thinking more positively leads to a better outcomes' and have found it to be accurate. (Again, only saying from my own life.) I could be just affecting how one percieves the same result, though.

The effect of positive thinking can be real, however just saying "I am wealthy and happy" over and over again in front of the mirror doesn't make it so if you don't actually make any changes in your life. Positive thinking is motivation, not wish fulfillment. The issue is that the video/book seems to be advocating the latter.

 

[TehuTi]

I don't know how many of you have heard about this new book and DVD "phenomenon", but for those of you that have I would like some opinons (if you don't know what I'm talking about, go here http://www.thesecret.tv/ ).

Now, admittedly I haven't seen the DVD or read the book, but from what I have seen and heard about this new self help program, it sounds like nothing more than "the power of positive thinking" coupled with the prosperity gospel, and a little dash of Pagan magic/creative visualization thrown in for seasoning. Apparently a lot of the book misquotes, or quotes out of context famous dead people of science and the arts to bolster its claims.

Does anyone have anything positive to say about it?

So You Believe In Fairy-Tail ( Yes )

 

[MaddLlama]

So You Believe In Fairy-Tail ( Yes )

No, fairies don't have tails. And, that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China.

 

[David40]

Does anyone have anything positive to say about it?

Movies, for me, tend to fall into one of three categories:

1. Movies I can't stand.
2. Movies I thoroughly enjoy watching once but that I have no particular desire to see again.
3. Movies I just want to watch over and over again.

The Secret, for me, falls into the second category. I enjoyed it but I think I get the basic point after one viewing and I see no reason to see it again. The difficulty, for me, is that all of my friends seem to think in falls into the third category and seem hooked on seeing it again and again. And they want me to join them in watching it again and again. As such, it has gotten a bit irritating hearing about this movie so much. Seeing it once was enjoyable. Hearing about it over and over again has gotten tiresome.

The Secret seems to have appealed to the same group of people as liked What the Bleep do we Know? The latter movie, though, IS the kind I want to see again and again. The Secret, for me, simply isn't in the same league.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

The effect of positive thinking can be real, however just saying "I am wealthy and happy" over and over again in front of the mirror doesn't make it so if you don't actually make any changes in your life. Positive thinking is motivation, not wish fulfillment. The issue is that the video/book seems to be advocating the latter.

Ahhhh, I see. I respectfully will say "What she said!" and be quiet, then.

TehuTi, in the future, it might be helpful to read what a person has written entirely before replying. (I sometimes forget to, myself, I'm afraid.) Otherwise, one winds up assuming that someone believes something that they have stated they don't.

 

[TehuTi]

No, fairies don't have tails. And, that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China.

So Now You See My Point I Was Making About Adam Rib's . Owell

 

[yuvgotmel]

I was obligated to sit and watch it last summer. The entire movie could be understood in the first 10 to 20 minutes. Even though my friend wanted me to continue to sit through it, near the very end, I finally got up and walked out.

The basic gist was sadly overwhelmed with get-rich-quick thinking, whereby miracles happen simply by believing they will. Not that those things are not possible...And not to discount the power of positive thinking or the law of attraction (both of which are real phenomena)...But the movie concentrated on money, money, money. Some of the miraculous tales of wealth in the movie were downright incredible, as in not very believable.

The movie made me mad. However, my friends thought that I was being "negative" and I was not really "giving it a chance." Well...here is my rebuttal...

It is an excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" where he quotes Howard W. Campbell, Jr.:

"Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue, the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times."
​

Furthermore, on the topic of "miracles", here are a few words from Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason":

Excerpts from Chapter XVII--Of the Means Employed in all Time, and Almost Universally, to Deceive the Peoples.:

Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never invelops itself in mystery; and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped, is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.

...If we are to suppose a miracle to be something so entirely out of the course of what is called nature, that she must go out of that course to accomplish it, and we see an account given of such a miracle by the person who said he saw it, it raises a question in the mind very easily decided, which is,--Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time; it is, therefore, at least millions to one, that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie.
​

 

[darkpenguin]

Sounds to me alot like the new trend of cosmic ordering:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Ordering

Now don't get me wrong possitive thinking can go a heck of a long way but unless you act on that motivation then you aint getting nothing!
Just my 2 pennys worth!

 

[Issabella]

The Secret teaches that God is in everyone; actually it teaches that we are all God. Look at a few things here that it teaches:

" We are the creators not only of our own destiny but also of the Universe ... We are all connected, and we are all One(p. 175).

No matter who you thought you were, now you know the Truth of Who You Really Are. You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life( p. 183).

You are God in a physical body ... You are all power ... You are all intelligence ... You are the creator( p. 164).​

Any Christian can see after reading these statements, that the The Secret is pure occultism.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (I Timothy 4:1)

 

[MaddLlama]

The Secret seems to have appealed to the same group of people as liked What the Bleep do we Know? The latter movie, though, IS the kind I want to see again and again. The Secret, for me, simply isn't in the same league.

I've never actually heard of that one, can you tell me how they are similar?