The secret the"secret "does not tell you.

[undergroundpanther]

> The Real Secret
> By Sankara Saranam
>
> Health and wealth never made anyone happy. That goes for Rhonda
> Byrne, Oprah,
> Jack Canfield, and the rest of ‘em.
>
> They tell you otherwise because they, like so many of us,
> desperately want to
> believe happiness can come from things as ultimately meaningless as
> possessions, a large bank account, or a whole body.
>
> They tell you otherwise because, like missionaries battling their
> own gnawing
> doubts, their belief receives cheap assurance the more nods they
> can get from
> people poorer and sicker than them.
>
> They will tell you their rags to riches life stories, leaving out
> all the
> details except that they were poor, they applied the snake oil they
> are now
> trying to sell you, and got rich.
>
> They will tell you how to brew the snake oil for yourself. They
> will hold
> snake oil seminars just in case you couldn’t figure things out or
> motivate
> yourself enough from reading their books.
>
> They will even tell you that you can scientifically test their oil,
> because
> by the time you do they will have long since cashed your check (and
> realized
> they are no more happy, and perhaps a bit more unhappy, than they
> were before
> they conned a few million people) and you will have long since sold
> their
> book on E-bay for twenty-nine cents.
>
> And just who are they, really? Through the annals of history, they
> have
> always been with us. They are not merely the authors of The Secret.
> “They” is
> another word for graft. Graft used to be the monopoly of monarchs and
> organized religions. Now, all graft masters bow to commercialism.
>
> They will tell you that happiness comes from belonging, just don’t
> be too
> critical of the beliefs of the narrow clique to which they want you
> to belong.
>
> They will tell you that happiness comes from giving your power
> away, from
> idolizing people. Masses and conferences will be instituted to give
> you a
> chance to meet your idol. And just when you were sure there’s no
> chance
> you’ll ever become an idol yourself, they’ll institute American Idol.
>
> They will describe in detail how to disempower yourself, all the while
> calling their lesson self-empowerment.
>
> They will teach you how not to look within and call it meditation,
> how not to
> think and call it mindfulness, and how to be as miserable as you
> possibly can
> be and call it joy.
>
> They will instruct in an irrational sense of personal
> responsibility because
> it places an unreasonable burden on the individual and frees their
> conscience
> of their own irresponsibility to others. They will never speak a
> peep about
> shared responsibility, because that would mean sacrificing all of
> their
> excess wealth (of which there’s billions).
>
> And all they absolutely must not do, if they want to continue being
> liked, is
> challenge our sense of self.
>
> Graft we have seen, but even Judeo-Christian graft masters never
> called their
> mythic saviors and heroes wealthy or wealth-seekers. The churches
> of the
> world certainly sought wealth, but they were far too discreet to
> say that
> serving God was about getting rich.
>
> But today’s graft masters don’t bother with a modicum of shame or
> modesty.
> They are deadly honesty. L. Ron Hubbard was an early pioneer of
> shamelessness, but not to be outdone The Secret author, in one
> stroke of her
> pen, equates herself with the founders of Western religion, whom she
> calls “prosperity teachers.”
>
> Notice how there were no female prosperity teachers back then,
> though there
> was a lot of female property? Too bad Abraham never taught his
> servants the
> secret. Anyway, when was the last time you counted a man’s
> happiness, not to
> mention godliness, in his heads of cattle, wives, sons, and slaves and
> concubines? Being hungry and thirsty is no fun, but not being
> hungry and
> thirsty is just being at zero. It’s not a fountain of bliss; it’s
> just the
> negative release from a kind of discomfort that gets worse with
> time. Thus
> poverty, while being a negative, does not mean wealth is a
> positive. Saying
> otherwise is The Lie.
>
> The Hebrew patriarchs, if they even existed, did not have running
> water,
> electricity, or pumps to get water out of the parched earth. They
> didn’t even
> have shovels, and they certainly didn’t have millions of adoring
> fans. Not
> one of the “dream team” behind The Secret would trade places with
> any of them.
>
> Especially because, last I checked, Abraham’s godliness was
> measured in what
> he was willing to sacrifice, not horde. As for Moses and Jesus being
> millionaires... sigh.
>
> Did you ever hear the story of the Mumbai family that lived in a
> shanty
> village? I’ve been to Mumbai in the summer and smelled the reek of
> shanty
> villages. They are crowded, rat infested slums that make St. Louis
> city look
> like a pleasure cruise. The head of this particular family got a
> job and was
> able to move his family to an apartment building. A few months
> later, he
> moved his family back into their leaking shanty because his wife
> missed the
> community support and kinship. Anyone could just walk into her
> shanty home,
> and she loved and missed it.
>
> One apparent secret is that the happiest people in the world are
> largely the
> people who, by the standards of a Western lifestyle, had little to
> be happy
> about. The rest of the happy people that happened to have some
> money were
> smart enough to look for their happiness in their self-knowledge - --
> a self
> that identifies with others and knows itself in everyone and
> everything. It’s
> the one place to find happiness that we all already know about,
> which is why
> we have to repeatedly pay people to help us forget it.
>
> And now we come to the real secret: the only secret is the truth we
> want to
> forget.
>
> Meanwhile, population increase mathematically means less wealth for
> everyone,
> no matter how many lies you affirm to yourself. It also means more
> war, more
> global warming, and sadly, more popularity for books that help us
> forget our
> responsibility for whatever disaster awaits us.
> ------- End of Forwarded Message -------

There had to be a “change in spiritual and intellectual values from an emphasis on such values as thrift, modesty, and moderation, toward a value system that encouraged spending and ostentatious display.” (p.21)

* This was seen especially from 1880 to 1930.
* Robbins further details how religious movements, which became known as “mind cure religions”, became (quoting research from William Leach) “wish-oriented, optimistic, sunny, the epitome of cheer and self-confidence, and completely lacking in anything resembling a tragic view of life.”


http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Consumption/Rise.asp

[Connie_Corleone]

1. I just love the story about the little boy who used the law of attraction

to get a bike he wanted so badly. Presto! The bike just magically appeared at his front door! I guess they left out the part where he asked his parents to buy the bike for him and they told him to get a paper route so he could pay for it himself.

[KG]

4. I just love the story about the little iraqi boy who tried to use the law of attraction

to get some peace, and food, and clean water. but fighter-jet dropped a bomb on his house, anyway.

see, a bunch of spoiled americans used 'the secret' to get SUVs, so the US had to use 'the secret' to win a war to get the oil to fuel the hummers. and the spoiled americans wanted their escalades more than the iraqi child wanted to live, it seems.

[undergroundpanther]

5. Ha! Law of attraction at work

Here. See it's REAL!!

[Lilith Velkor]

19. !

:spray: :yourock:

[KG]

2. there is no 'secret'

just a large steaming pile of poo.

[undergroundpanther]

3. Stinks too

But alot of people will insist it's really shine-ola you know.And we are ruining their hope if we disbelieve and they won't get what they want if the doubt...

[Mojorabbit]

7. If people want to follow the premises

in the secret and it makes them happy I say go for it. Whatever floats one's boat.

[undergroundpanther]

8. Happy until

Reality hits they have been fooling themselves that is.

I have been HURT by beliefs like the secret which is the same stuff as the word/faith of the CHristians,Difference is
Word Faith sez
Positive confession :you say what you want and never confess negative or god will hurt you.Have FAITH(believe) or it won't work.

"Secret Sez" And the"course in Miracles etc"
Positive thinking :you think what you want and banish negative thoughts or you wont get good stuff attracted to you..BELIEVE or it won't work.

This kind of belief system is a cultural engineering project BTW.
To encourage more consumerism.
Read what I linked to at the bottom of the OP.
Pronoia feels Good but like all delusions under the strain of reality they fall apart.And it HURTS.

[Quantess]

36. "seed prayers" or whatever the TV evangelists call them,

revolve around the idea that if you offer God some money (in care of the TV preacher, who will make sure that God gets it) as a "seed". This cash offering, or "seed", will convince God to answer your prayer.

It's like the consideration in a contract. For a contract to be valid, something of value must be offered in exchange for an item or service promised. This is the same idea. A ridiculous idea. We all know God won't see a dime of that money!
As if God even wants your money... :crazy:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. Opening Line Kinda Showed The Ignorance Of The Author To Be Honest.

"Health and wealth never made anyone happy."

That's a blatantly ignorant statement. The author has no power to know such things. Just because the author doesn't believe happiness can come in such ways doesn't mean that their opinion applies on a global all or nothing scale. Happiness is a personal perception that ranges immensely from person to person. Undoubtedly in this world of over 6 billion people there are those who have absolutely found happiness from health and wealth. People can find happiness in ANYTHING. Nothing is off limits. It is up to each individual person to define. So just the opening premise from the author was enough for me to question the authors credibility in writing things meant to be of deep wisdom.

[kitty1]

9. I think people who don't know what they're missing.....

tend to be at a happier place than people who have a storehouse of stuff.
If you look at the some of the children that are shown in an African vllage.
They just seem to radiate joy. They know how to express love and contentment even amid horrible poverty. They're happy to just be.
They don't know that they're missing out on Nike and PS3, because they've never seen it. Yet they still manage to find excitement in the life and people around them. I know there is real misery too, we've all seen that. But their outlook as a whole is so much more hopeful.
Our ancestors didn't have much, and yet they we're likely more at peace than we are because they didn't feel the need to aspire to expensive things like we do now. They had a spirit filled life that sustained them. There was no media like there is now to deluge them with ads.
There is so much consumerism in our time. Corporations subtly make people feel like they'll be left out of the good life if they don't snatch up the next hi tech gadget or anti-aging treatment out there.
There is also so much competition when it comes to attaining wealth and therefore being "successful"
Not that there's anything wrong with being rich. But it shouldn't be your highest or only goal in life.
People are going into debt to try and fulfill themselves.
We should all try to be more positive and give back. It's all about priorities.

[AZBlue]

10. Hey, if you're not going to take the time to understand it & would rather regurgitate misinformation

and false statements, then have at it. There are so many untrue and deceiving statements in your post, I would need one doubly long to point them all out. Interestingly, it's not even your post - you just quoted someone else who's misrepresenting the information. And even more interestingly, the original author is a person who wants others to pay him for information yoga breathing techniques - "hey pot, this is kettle, you're black!".

Thankfully, your negativity and close-mindedness doesn't stop me from obtaining a greater understanding of myself and the universe.

Oh, but I will say this: I've attended lectures, read books, saw the DVD and received video and audio pieces - all for $32. No, I'm not kidding, I've spent $32 total. So much for the idea of it just being a big money-making scam. Yes, you can spend more than that, but you don't have to if you don't want to or can't afford it. And, since what is taught in all these books, DVDs and lectures actually helps people, why shouldn't they get paid for it? What's wrong with making money??

[Cetacea]

17. Jesus didn't charge admission, neither did Buddha

or any of the other great Teachers the planet has known. Actually, Jesus told anyone who was interested in attaining "the Kingdom" should leave their possessions behind, not hand them over to Christ.
I've seen this bit before in many New Age (and fake Christian) circles and it's all about the money, and as the OP stated, dis empowering yourself as you are being led to believe the contrary.
But if it worked for you, AZblue, that's cool.:hippie:

[AZBlue]

18. I would never compare any of the people associated with The Secret to Jesus, Buddha, Allah, or

similar variation. They may be intelligent but they just have wisdom to share one certain aspects of life, that's all. You pay for higher education - this is just education of another kind.

[Miss Chybil]

11. People want to be happy.

Other people think they know how. So, they write a book, make a movie, paint a picture, put on a play, build a castle or a church, get married, have babies, get divorced, raise a puppy, eat certain kinds of food, live in certain neighborhoods, put on seminars, take drugs, drink liquor, smoke cigarettes, build retreats, etc., etc., etc., and this is what makes the world go round. It's not a conspiracy. It's humanity. Even your own post, is in some way motivated by helping others find the "truth" and therefore, "happiness." Or, maybe it's really to make us all feel bad for finding pleasure in things less admirable than the pleasures people from poorer cultures find pleasure in? Problem with the theory that other poor people are more happy without all the "things" we have is that when you transplant members of those cultures to our culture they want all the same things we do. We're all the same. Some of us have stuff and some of us don't. Happiness is not dependent on those things, true. Therefore, not having things does not make one any happier than having things does.

My favorite quote: "The mind is of its own place. It can make a hell of heaven and a heaven of hell." ~ Unknown

[undergroundpanther]

12. Agreed

People want to be happy ..But people exploiting that sadness inside them for cash or ego need a swift kick in the ass for it and their lies exposed. Like I said before ideas expressed by the secret have caused me pain and I would rather say something than not as if the secret is harmless. Because for me it was harmful. People will do whatever they do regardless of what I say anyway .At least I can rest knowing I said something,I warned. I wasn't a damn bystander to this fad.

We are all looking for a comfortable state of mind..That IS what happiness is the best definition I have seen yet.

[hfojvt]

34. I have a secret

your unknown quote is from John Milton. I believe the Devil said it in Paradise Lost
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_hell.html

right after he said "'tis better to reign in hell than serve in heaven"
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnmilton137251.html

[Miss Chybil]

40. Ah... thanks for that.

I used to have a plaque hanging in my bathroom with that quote on it and I could swear it said it was some kind of a Zen, or Sanskrit, proverb. I couldn't remember for sure, so I put "unknown." Seems the devil was a pretty smart guy, anyway! ;-) (I don't know about the reigning in hell part...)

[hfojvt]

44. I had to google it

English lit being so long ago, I was like 'I know that quote, was it Shakespeare, Thoreau, Twain?' I have alot of unsourced quotes in my collection too :blush: As for Satan (and I may be wrong about that part) I think there is some truth to that, but that it is harder to create a heaven from hell than it is to create a hell from heaven. It's like pushing a rock uphill versus pushing a rock downhill. Many times, however, we lack the perspective to see how close we are to the top of the hill and also how small the rock we are pushing is.

[Miss Chybil]

45. I think, as human beings, we have a tendency to turn heaven into hell

whether we know we're doing it, or not. So, yes, it is much easier to do as it seems to come naturally. It would take a lot more effort to sit in a jail cell, perhaps being tortured, to make yourself to believe all is well - to turn your circumstances into heaven. If you could, all would be well but, only a true "master" of the mind could pull off such a stunt. The rest of us, would more than likely just suffer through it and probably pretty loudly, too!

[ComerPerro]

13. the "mind cure religion" sounds a lot like fundie bornagain religion today

[spoony]

27. I think any ideology that makes demands

of the universe/God/whatever is laughably silly, including those you're talking about. But, there have always been people who want to control or persuade a higher power for personal gain than simply try to be at peace with it.

[ComerPerro]

28. but, now espeically, pastors preach about how God can fulfill your dreams

and make your rich

[spoony]

30. Yep, it's sickening

It's disheartening enough that we live in such a materialistic, shallow world. But to see sharkskin-suited charlatans on early morning television peddling get-rich miracle water and prayer cloths and on and on, just turns my stomach. In some sense I think removing tax exemption from religion would help stem that.

[ComerPerro]

31. its the biggest reason the religious networks don't want a la carte cable programming

interesting sidebar:

Some of the largest and loudes opponents of a la carte cablevision, or cable that would allow you to pick and choose individual channels in your lineup and package, are Christian networks. They contend that this is because people won't subscribe to their networks, and therefore cannot stumble across the message to be saved. So even in their marketing stragety, they admit openly and proudly that they lure the weak and vulnerable at their lowest points with empty promises of material wealth.

[Ino]

14. Good grief

"They are crowded, rat infested slums that make St. Louis city look like a pleasure cruise."

I live in St. Louis City -- nice house, nice neighborhood. Thanks for the slur, Saranam!

And I have used visualization techniques to good effect. They make a lot more sense to me than this mumbo-jumbo from Saranam's website:
http://www.pranayama.org/

The human emotive heart naturally yields an expansive feeling if sufficient awareness is directed toward it. The best way to experience this phenomenon is by magnetizing the heart-directing nervous energy toward the spine's dorsal plexus behind the heart. Awareness then shifts to intuitive understandings decreasingly bound by sensory ambitions associated with the lower plexuses. As a result, the societal sense of self becomes defined less by reactive impulses and more by transpersonal values. Whereas prayer uses an image of God to move one's attention up the spine to the heart, this technique primarily uses the breath. Most children, through imitating their parents, can safely begin employing this technique at age three, provided they practice it daily before eating....

The website says his techniques are free, but there is a suggested donation. You have to give your name, address, phone, email in order to get the technique. If it's free, why not just publish the technique on the webpage with a button to donate if the spirit moves you?

So he trashes visualization techniques, all religions, all paths except his. He's selling books, CDs, tshirts, baseball caps, tote bags, bumper stickers on his website. What's new?

[CJCRANE]

15. I don't much know about

"The Secret" but I'm guessing it's the usual NLP type stuff of Affirmations, Visualizations, Modelling etc.

These techniques can be useful but I've found that for some it does become a kind of trap. The tendency is to want to become a millionaire thinking that this will solve all your problems. I had a friend who went too deep into this and used to spend his spare time trying to visualise winning lottery numbers!

My advice to someone who doesn't want to totally reboot their personality is to look for more practical methods of self-improvement if they can. For instance, if you lack confidence try doing a class in public speaking. If you want to be creative try a bit of web design or read up on art etc. etc

[enki23]

16. a load of horseshit to counter a load of horseshit

neato.

i want wealth and happiness for everyone. i note that this will require (among other things) redistributing a great deal of the world's wealth away from those who currently control it, as they clearly cannot be trusted to wisely apply the world's resources.

neither can anyone else, of course, so we're all pretty much doomed. but we may as well go down swinging.

[hfojvt]

37. does it take wealth to create happiness

or is that just a necessary condition?
I think it's kinda hard to be happy living out in the cold and rain and constantly searching for food, but squirrels seem to manage it. Even if wealth was evenly distributed, would it be enough? What about in 40 years when the population is 12 billion?

[Beaverhausen]

20. What works for some people doesn't work for others

It's simple, really.

Each of us has our own set of beliefs, our own faith, and our own set of tools to get through the day.

The set of tools I use may not work for you, but it sure does work for me.

I am still a work in progress, but I do know that the principles taught in The Secret work FOR ME. I have been using them for almost 10 years now.

But it may not work FOR YOU. YOU have your own path to take, your own methods to use to create the life you want. I would never criticize the path you choose. I would appreciate it if you had the consideration to do the same for the path I choose.

[a kennedy]

21. Well said Beaverhausen

Bravo. :toast: :applause: :patriot:

[symbolman]

22. Odd, isn't it?

That this secret is all about GETTING STUFF? Might as well be hawking Sugar Coated cereal to starving children..

It' the AMERICAN WAY, get more STUFF.

Buddha's first Noble Truth is that Life is Suffering, Pain, Disappointment, etc.

Only by SEEING such things do we acquire Compassion within ourselves, and identify a problem that can potentially be solved.

There is a growing NEED in this country for Spirituality, watch as it hits it's growth spurt, esp since we see Death and Destruction all day long. I think that something CLICKS in Human Beings when they see nothing but death, a Compassion Gene, and then comes the realization that we all NEED each other's Humanity to get along - the Love Surge, just like in the 60's..

Also whenever facist creatures take the reins of power, not only does Love rear it's Head, but massive creativity, in music, inventions, but also the urge to help those who have less than us.

I've been thinking about all of this a lot lately, because of a Book I'm writing, very near to finishing, that I hope will MOve people to CARE more, about not only each other, but the Environment, and ecosystems, etc.

Called "The Jesus Bolt", that single Bolt which holds all of the blades together on a Helicopter, when that comes out, as the old saw goes, "The next person you'll be talking to, will be Jesus.." as the Chopper will drop like a Rock.

I spent two summers in Alaska, flying all over the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, in the late 70's, looking for Uranium of all things - with Vietnam Vet doing the chopper piloting.. had plenty of wild adventures, and am using those as a vehicle for touting the Spiritualization of the Environment.. Sort of met a 'Shaman of the Tundra' a Nam pilot who practiced yoga and meditation in the mountain tops, who taught me plenty.

As a matter of fact Global warming might have saved my life when we crashed in one chopper, the permafrost had melted and cushioned our fall.. I saw plenty of Oil Company malfeasance at the same time..

I've got some Hollywood interest in this already and am only a few weeks from sending it out to many people in that business, my aim is to SAVE that part of the Last Frontier, and illuminating folks at the same time with a little comparative religion thrown in the mix.

With any luck it will be well received, and beat the pants off of this phony ass excuse for acquiring STUFF, instead of PEACE and Security for people and the Planet :)

[Beaverhausen]

23. PSST! "The Secret" isn't all about getting "stuff"

That is just the misinformation that is going around.

The Secret is about creating the life that you want, and the WORLD that you want.

Not everyone wants "stuff." Everyone has different wants and needs in their lives.

[symbolman]

24. Let me make myself clearer

It's HORSESHIT.

More fake Spirituality New Age Crap, like the Da Vinci code, easily disproven, a charade for the soul..

It's for those lazy people who don't want to DO THE WORK it takes to become enlightened. More California FLAKYNESS. (And I've lived there many times, in the land of "Tell me about ME, THAT'S what I want to HEAR ABOUT..")

FAST FOOD RELIGION. Meaningless information for the Mindless MASSES..

Clear enough for you?

Gobble it up, and when the Next SOUL DIET comes out in a year or two, defend that one too.. :)

[SemperEadem]

25. I take issue with one thing, which to me negates this whole essay

"They are crowded, rat infested slums that make St. Louis city look like a pleasure cruise."

Excuse me? St. Louis city is not a rat infested slum nor can it even credibly be compared to one.

[MindBoggles]

26. My first post: a blog I wrote this morning about Oprah and "The Secret"

"The Secret"


"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24)

"And again I saw under the sun that the reward goes not to him who is quick, or the fruits of war to the strong; and there is no bread for the wise, or wealth for men of learning, or respect for those who have knowledge; but time and chance come to all." (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

Think about it.

* * * * *

So last night Samantha and I were talking about "The Secret," and that reminded me that I never finished reading this article from Salon.com.



I enjoy Oprah's show, and, yes, she does a lot of good in the world. But Oprah has been selling snake oil for a long, long time, folks. It's like she's just determined to be the first one on the bandwagon for each new self-help, mind-body-spirit, New Age nonsense that hits the shelves/airwaves. And this is no exception.

Both reason-devoted atheists and genuine followers of various religions and philsophies should be appalled by this latest incarnation of spiritual Amway. Here are a few choice quotes from "The Secret":

"A number of exceptional men and women discovered The Secret, and went on to become known as the greatest people who ever lived. Among them: Plato, Leonardo, Galileo, Napoleon, Hugo, Beethoven, Lincoln, Edison, Einstein and Carnegie, to name but a few..."

""'How does it work? Nobody knows. Just like nobody knows how electricity works. I don't, do you?"

"The most common thought that people hold, and I held it too, is that food was responsible for my weight gain. That is a belief that does not serve you, and in my mind now it is complete balderdash! Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight... If you see people who are overweight, do not observe them, but immediately switch your mind to the picture of you in your perfect body and feel it."

"' is like having the Universe as your catalogue. You flip through it and say, 'I'd like to have this experience and I'd like to have that product and I'd like to have a person like that.' It is you placing your order with the Universe. It's really that easy.' That's from Dr. Joe Vitale, former Amway executive and contributor to 'The Secret,' on Oprah.com."

"Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus were not only prosperity teachers, but also millionaires themselves, with more affluent lifestyles than many present-day millionaires could conceive of."

This is the worst type of Joel Osteen-style "prosperity preaching" - and makes me, an atheist, want to vomit. While one can certainly make the argument that various religious teachers throughout history have had a whiff of the snake oil about them, I am offended at this new trend in American "spirituality" that suggests Christianty - or any other religion - is all about attracting material wealth. As much as I think it is a superstitious, largely intellectually surpassed, anthropological artifact, the Bible does contain a lot of - at least - interesting and, dare I say it, deep thoughts about the nature of the Universe and humanity. Struggling with one's personal values, failures, and beliefs is about more than "attracting prosperity" and "feeling good". Finding meaning in life and growing as a person requires effort, struggle, and pain. "Believing" something makes no difference one way or the other. Honest inquiry is an entirely different matter. Trouble is, honest inquiry and real self-actualization require time, work, and thinking.

And the fact that so many people (this crap is outselling the new Harry Potter) can read this transparent, derivative mishmash and not laugh out loud, but, rather, buy into it, leaves me scratching my head.

To quote the Salon article: 'And at what point do we stop feeling like we have to take the good with the craven when it comes to Oprah, and the culture she's helped to create? I get nauseated when I think of people in South Africa being taught they don't have enough money because they're "blocking it with their thoughts." I'm already sickened by an American culture that teaches people, as "The Secret" does, that they "create the circumstances of their lives with the choices they make every day," a culture that elected a president who cried tears of self-congratulation at his inauguration, rejects intellectualism, and believes he can intuit the trustworthiness of world leaders by looking into their eyes. I'm sickened by a culture in which the tenets of the Oprah philosophy have become conventional wisdom, in which genuine self-actualization has been confused with self-aggrandizement, reality is whatever you want it to be, and mammon is queen.'

It's this feel-goodism of the Oprah cult that really bothers me. It's great that Oprah does a lot of shows about giving, often spotlighting her Angel Network and encouraging people to be more charitable. But, often, it seems the real motivation behind this kind of giving is the truism that doing it makes you feel good.

And, again from Salon: "The titular 'secret' of the book is something the authors call the Law of Attraction. They maintain that the universe is governed by the principle that 'like attracts like' and that our thoughts are like magnets: Positive thoughts attract positive events and negative thoughts attract negative events. Of course, magnets do exactly the opposite -- positively charged magnets attract negatively charged particles -- and the rest of 'The Secret' has a similar relationship to the truth."

This, to me, is emblematic of our fundamental problem in this country; why we are so inexplicably "religious" while our cultural cousins in Canada and Europe are not; why people enthusiastically voted for Bushco; why the quality of our television programming is so abysmal. And I wonder what Dawkins would say! This reminds me of how he answers when people accuse him of "hating" religion. He says something along the lines of, "I don't think of it so much as hating religion - I just care about the truth." Only in America could the author of "The Secret" say something so blatantly idiotic as reversing the actual Law of Attraction and, as a result, have legions of people lining up to buy her "truth." Saying things - and believing things - does not make it so.

Speaking of Bush, this philosophy seems perfect for his era. I mean, if we just think positively and don't listen to any of the negative-minded "experts," then the Iraq war will turn itself around. ...Right?

Anyway, this latest phenomenon seems to be approaching the final fruits of American-style "spirituality." The need for the search - the journey - has been excised. Spend $4.95 watching "The Secret" on the web, and, hey, presto!, you're spiritual. The real meaning of life cannot be bought, and certainly cannot be absorbed through a two-hour streaming Internet broadcast, no matter how many times it arbitrarily references Napoleon. Which, incidentally, should reveal the true nature of this scheme to anyone with basic sense. How can one base a religious movement on on both Jesus and Napoleon? There's the lie. Jesus and Napoleon were both at the top of their fields - is that what we're supposed to glean? Yes, it's all about success (which, to us, today, means, at its most stripped, $$$, and perhaps, at a deeper pyschological level, "fulfillment" as evidenced by one's sense of living in a state of impenetrable self-esteem, surrounded by lovely things, in a world straight out of the pages of O Magazine).

Speaking of which, even the Catholic Church, that famous seller of indulgences, does not prominently display a link to a "Catholic Superstore" on their web page. Though, interestingly, both sites share a love of olde worlde parchment paper backgrounds, presumably to add an air of unassailable antiquity to their respective products. But, really, it's just another vehicle to sell crappy self-books with titles like "The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out." How can people look at this, and not think, Wow, there sure are a lot of ways this site is trying to get my money. Maybe they're not all about enlightment... Hmm... I wonder if there's a link to any L. Ron Hubbard books on there.

I shouldn't have to say this, but in today's Oprah-worshipping, post-Dubya http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html">New Gilded Age (no coincidence that "The Secret" name-drops both Plato and Andrew Carnegie), in which the most emulated Americans seem to be the totally morally bankrupt and intellectually hollow (and thus, to many of us, boring) Paris Hilton and Donald Trump, it seems necessary to belabor the obvious: real success, and real spirituality (which, personally, I define simply as philosophical depth), is none of these things. It is something come by the hard way, the old-fashioned way. Through choosing, consciously, to Do the Right Thing, even when it's more difficult. Through pain and suffering and heartbreak and hard work and learning what hope really is. Through long nights spent in tortured thought. Real personal growth, not the stuff of cheesy corporate posters, is hard. It's not pretty. It doesn't make you feel good. And there is no "secret."

[Lilith Velkor]

29. Welcome and thanks

:loveya:

This crap is everywhere, and clinical depression is hard enough as it is without daily further evidence that most of my fellow Americans are criminally stupid...

[yurbud]

32. Oprah convinced everyone a mongoloid gym teacher from Texas was an insightful counselor too

[GoneOffShore]

43. Now I'm going to see those horrible

staring eyes in my dreams.

Thanks.

[GoneOffShore]

42. "Spiritual Amway"

I love it!

You have hit the nail. And Oprah is pushing this crapola? How surprising. :sarcasm:

[Beausoir]

33. I've watched the dvd. It's horse shit. More "blame the victim" crapola.

Gee...too bad you aren't rich. Too bad you don't have health-care. Too bad you have cancer.

You just didn't "attract" the right kind of happiness in your life.

Outrageous.

There really is a sucker born every minute.

[judaspriestess]

35. LOL, this thread is one big GIANT turn into

negative town. To each their own, if someone wants to be negative, pissed off, whatever then go for it but don't discredit other folks who choose to believe in the power of thinking positive. It does make for a better day.

[hfojvt]

38. Do you think people want to be pi$$ed off?

Or are they enduring situations that would pi$$ most people off? My problem with people who talk about the 'power of thinking positive' is that it only empowers them. So they are empowered, bully for them, but are they useful? Does their power help anyone else? Or do they just zip by the wounded traveller while laughing all the way to the bank, maybe stopping long enough to roll down the window of their escalade and say 'hey, think positive'? I think people should 'do positive' at least as much as they 'think positive', and in my experience, there is not a huge reward for doing positive.

[MindBoggles]

39. I never said I don't think positive

All I am saying is that this is no "secret" at all - positive thinking is obviously a good thing, but it doesn't need to be packaged and $OLD. And I have the right to say whatever I want about it. This is a discussion forum and I am discussing. I daresay my ten-minute-composed blog was better written than the book, too!

I can't believe that anyone would buy into this totally derivative (Vincent Norman Peale, anyboy?), transparent, mix-n-match, materialistic garbage.

Give the money you would've spent on this to the poor. Or put it toward your SUV payment. Or something useful.

The only "secret" here is how the author is making scads of cash off an ever-gullible public.

And all those people she refers to (Plato, etc)? They're rolling over in their graves. If you want to seriously think about the meaning of life and what happiness is, read the actual PLATO.

:eyes:

[Jim Warren]

41. Attention Spiritual SuperMarket shoppers:

Now in aisle 7, the 2 for 1 sale on "Instant Secrets", ready made higher consciousness, no muss no fuss and no pots to wash!

[renate]

46. I love this thread--so interesting

I've watched "The Secret" and read the book, and although I enjoyed them, they don't really seem to me to do more than skim the surface. The video is very slickly produced and I can see how it could turn some people off now that it's been promoted on Oprah's show, as if it had been guaranteed beforehand of her endorsement; I watched it when it first came out, when the creator had produced it not knowing how successful it would be, and was impressed by how a woman had gone from only reading one book to producing this well-made video in such a short time.

I can very easily see how the simple fact of its popularity could make this whole subject seem contrived and just a get-rich scheme for a few snake-oil salespeople. I totally respect the views of those who find it repellent, and I still have questions about it myself. I just can't bring myself to blame people who are born into a financially or emotionally impaired family for their situations, nor does it seem feasible that a quarter of a million people were somehow attracting a tsunami, or that the people of Iraq were attracting what has happened to them, or that an individual person attracts illness or tragedy, for that matter.

However, I respectfully suggest that there is something to the law of attraction. Most authors put the emphasis on feeling and emotion rather than on just visualization, which I'm not sure really came through in the video as much as it probably should have. I also think that either the video itself or the people watching it have put too much of an emphasis on material gain; I don't think the law of attraction is about that at all. What I've drawn from the books I've read is a huge focus on gratitude, as well as on giving freely without the thought of material return.

Anybody who's felt a little bit drawn to "The Secret" without quite hearing that "click" of internal recognition might like the books of Joseph Murphy, Ernest Holmes, Eric Butterworth, or Charles Fillmore if they're okay with the biblical references (which aren't preachy, just interpretations of the Bible that differ from the usual). (The thinking behind "The Secret" is at least 100 years old and there are dozens of authors who've written similar books.) If not, I suggest the books by Jerry and Esther Hicks. I also like Wayne Dyer's and Deepak Chopra's recent books--good marketing maybe, but there's also a reason they're as popular as they are.

These books have definitely made a difference in my life... I don't think I would be as happy as I am right now without them, and I was pretty happy beforehard. The gains haven't been so much material (although that's happened) as spiritual and emotional.

And as for the fact that the authors have made money sharing their ideas... um, how is that different from any other author going on speaking tours and selling their books? This is how these folks make a living, and I'm happy for them that they can make a buck and improve some people's lives while they do so.