4.12

1

Jul 18, 2007

this website is too kind. one star means "didn't like it". I hate, hate, hate this book with absolute passion. sorry if you like oprah but she seriously did the world a disservice by recommending this book. apparently there is a dvd also that i don't even think i could stomach. so here's the concept behind "The Secret". You can attract good things to you through your good thoughts. Ok, I'm on board with that. It has worked for me. Ooh, I already knew the Secret! too bad I didn't use it to make this website is too kind. one star means "didn't like it". I hate, hate, hate this book with absolute passion. sorry if you like oprah but she seriously did the world a disservice by recommending this book. apparently there is a dvd also that i don't even think i could stomach. so here's the concept behind "The Secret". You can attract good things to you through your good thoughts. Ok, I'm on board with that. It has worked for me. Ooh, I already knew the Secret! too bad I didn't use it to make millions like this chick! But no, it goes further. You attract bad things to you through your negative thoughts. Well, negative thoughts are pretty useless, so I can see benefit in trying to decrease or eliminate them. And one time (true story) I did get robbed while traveling after worrying about it for 3 weeks. BUT. There is no gray area with this one. According to the author, people who are raped, killed, maimed, tortured - they all bring it on themselves with their negative thoughts. The people in Darfur should be thinking "here comes the food, there go the guns". The book goes on to say that weight management is simply a matter of "thinking thin" and not looking at fat people (for real), that if you have a stack of bills to pay you should instead picture checks coming in, that you can have everything you want through visualization, such as your hands on the steering wheel of your car, and that you can cure your cancer watching funny movies. There is a weak chapter at the end about how you can use your Secret powers for the common good, like world peace, but why would you want to waste it when you can be driving your new Hummer? I would go so far as to say that this book is not only BAD but it is DANGEROUS. It promotes the self-absorbed, materialistic, shallow outlook of predominantly rich white people to the exclusion of the rest of the planet - while managing to blame them for their problems and justify those in possession of the Secret for not using their visualized wealth to promote social change. Aah, brilliant. genius. avoid this book. do not give money to this woman and her brilliant marketing pyramid! ...more

1

Mar 27, 2007

A horribly-written and assembled collection of tripe; it has no cohesive voice, no cohesive theme, and is completely facile in its analysis. I literally threw the book across the room when I read, 'Quantum Physicists will tell you the universe was created from thought!'. No, numbfucker, they won't. Not to mention the 'facts' they assert don't have citations to lend those assertions the slightest hint of credibility.

If you want me to believe that 'thinking positively will lead to success because A horribly-written and assembled collection of tripe; it has no cohesive voice, no cohesive theme, and is completely facile in its analysis. I literally threw the book across the room when I read, 'Quantum Physicists will tell you the universe was created from thought!'. No, numbfucker, they won't. Not to mention the 'facts' they assert don't have citations to lend those assertions the slightest hint of credibility.

If you want me to believe that 'thinking positively will lead to success because your energy and focus will follow and, in turn, develop into what you hope for' then fine, I'll go down that road with you but this is just shit.

This is 'What the Bleep do We Know' blended with 'The Celestine Prophecy' blended with a steaming turd. My wish, universe, is that this book be banished to Cthulu's hell-mouth and regurgitated as Kevin Trudeau's doppelgänger. Make it so! ...more

2

May 24, 2008

I had a long review and I got too many responses to it. Comments and emails, and strangers connecting with me because of this review.
So I deleted it.

Here is what I will say now
I once gave this 5 stars. I have since changed it to 2 stars.
My focus is on something else now. This book is fine but I don't recommend it any more but other books instead...
If you are looking for control over yourself and future, Its in being as close to God as possible.
How to do that and what that looks like is a much I had a long review and I got too many responses to it. Comments and emails, and strangers connecting with me because of this review.
So I deleted it.

Here is what I will say now
I once gave this 5 stars. I have since changed it to 2 stars.
My focus is on something else now. This book is fine but I don't recommend it any more but other books instead...
If you are looking for control over yourself and future, Its in being as close to God as possible.
How to do that and what that looks like is a much longer explanation and individual for everyone.
Good luck on your journey!
...more

1

Feb 05, 2009

went to dinner with the boss lady the other night. she went on and on about this wonderful book. it was truly life changing. and she was already seeing the positive results of applying principles from it in her business and personal life.

she wasn't able to really articulate any ot those principles, so she just gave me a copy. went through it the next day.




holy crap. my employer, the person that i am financially dependent on, is a fruitloop. am updating my resume now.

1

Nov 22, 2011

Should this book be classified as FICTION or NON-FICTION? I have no idea, but what I'm inclined to do is classfying it as DELUSIONAL...

The Law of Attraction. Whatever you send out of positive thoughts to the Universe comes back to you, ten fold at least. It's a bit like "karma" and positive thinking with a twist: You want to money comming to you? Just visualise it and it will happen. You want to be thinner? Just visualise that food has 0 calories!

Quote from the book:
Food cannot cause you to put Should this book be classified as FICTION or NON-FICTION? I have no idea, but what I'm inclined to do is classfying it as DELUSIONAL...

The Law of Attraction. Whatever you send out of positive thoughts to the Universe comes back to you, ten fold at least. It's a bit like "karma" and positive thinking with a twist: You want to money comming to you? Just visualise it and it will happen. You want to be thinner? Just visualise that food has 0 calories!

Quote from the book:
Food cannot cause you to put on weight, unless you think it can.
Well, I guess that's why this person is so insanely fat; she must believe that the food she eats has many calories and fat! Someone should have explained to her that it's 0 calories and good for her!

Yes, people ARE that stupid to believe in all the stupid claims that Rhonda Byrne writes.

By all means, I'm all pro positive thinking. I'll go as far as to say that: yes, negative thinking gets you nowhere and that positive thoughts healthier for you - the glass is half full and all that.... BUT..... Jeez Luise! This book is just up there next to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist: worst self-help fantasy BS ever written.

But what is even worse is that the "author" blames people for their own misfortune: you get AIDS: too bad, you were not thinking positive enough; you are a raped child: too bad, you were not thinking positively enough; you get hit by a bus: too bad, you were not thinking positively enough; your dying of starvation: too bad, you were not thinking positively enough. You ended up in the gas chamber in WWII: too bad, you were not thinking positively enough. You get the idea. Needless to say how incredibly condescending and trivializing this must appear to people who are enduring pain and distress in their lives (whether that be emotional, physical or professional is irrelevant). It's actually quite disgusting when you sit back and think about it! That ms. Byrne's getting away with it and earning millions on it at the same time is beyond me. She must be the most positive thinking person in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usbNJM...
...more

5

Aug 22, 2007

I wasn't interested in reading this book. I thought from the reviews of friends that it was pretty obvious stuff. However, I listened to the audio version. I sort of laughed at first and thought, "duh". I promised to listen to the whole book on CD, and as I listened, the connections between what the author is trying to communicate, and what many world religions try to communicate is huge. I am not a religious person. I found this book inspiring because I wasn't being told that God created the I wasn't interested in reading this book. I thought from the reviews of friends that it was pretty obvious stuff. However, I listened to the audio version. I sort of laughed at first and thought, "duh". I promised to listen to the whole book on CD, and as I listened, the connections between what the author is trying to communicate, and what many world religions try to communicate is huge. I am not a religious person. I found this book inspiring because I wasn't being told that God created the universe and that if I pray to Jesus that HE will take care of me. Finally, I was getting a confirmation that if I live a positive life, and if I really attempt to understand the connection between why I am here, and why the world is here, then I can live a better life. There are even segments of the book that answered all of my cynical questions such as, "then just focus all your thoughts on getting revenge to those you hate", "I didn't give myself this disease", and "I am a victim". Many folks think the whole book is bunk because it gives an air of personal responsibility, and I can see why they would hate that. It's so much easier to blame others. There are parts that I think are simplistic. But who says life has to be all that complicated? Why not try living this secret to life for a year and see what's possible?
I highly reccommend LISTENING to this book. I think I would have a hard time reading it. ...more

1

May 12, 2008

God, I am so sick of The Secret. I just can't understand why everyone is so enthralled with it. That book is at the top of every bestseller list and it's total crap. You're not going to get what you want by thinking about how much you want it. I mean, yes to positive thinking and all that, but the part they left out was that you actually have to DO something to make things happen. Jack Canfield (whose involvement should turn you off automatically) didn't really sit around staring at the ceiling God, I am so sick of The Secret. I just can't understand why everyone is so enthralled with it. That book is at the top of every bestseller list and it's total crap. You're not going to get what you want by thinking about how much you want it. I mean, yes to positive thinking and all that, but the part they left out was that you actually have to DO something to make things happen. Jack Canfield (whose involvement should turn you off automatically) didn't really sit around staring at the ceiling waiting for a million dollars to fall out of the sky. He sat around writing nauseating stories and then got rejected by a ton of publishers before someone who likes nauseating stories bought his book. I mean, Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul? Come on, guy. Now you're just making stuff up.
Don't get me wrong, The Secret has some valid points. You should envision your dreams. You should think about your goals constantly and imagine what you would do if you ever achieved them. But you should also think about and envision the steps you need to take to get there. Then you should act. Do something! The world is not just going to hand you what you want.

Just a quick edit: I forgot to mention the absolute worst part of The Secret. It's your fault that bad things happen to you. That's right, your negative thoughts bring negativity into your life and cause horrible things to occur. Your father died in a tragic accident? Your fault. Your baby mama took off with the kids and won't let you see 'em? Your fault. Laid off and can't find work? Your fault. If you could just think positively all the time, you'd live a charmed life and trouble would never darken your doorstep.
Ugh. ...more

1

Jul 09, 2008

(Excerpted from an online essay I wrote): To be sure, the so-called Secret represents a financially viable means to wealth, obviously so, but let's be clear: only for Rhonda Byrnes, The Secret DVD's producer and book's author.

Thus, Byrnes would have you believe that the world's wealthy, distinguished and famous—every last luminous one of them—attained their high position by dint of simple adherence to a secret law: The Law of Attraction. She shits you not. Furthermore, they (the world's rich, (Excerpted from an online essay I wrote): To be sure, the so-called Secret represents a financially viable means to wealth, obviously so, but let's be clear: only for Rhonda Byrnes, The Secret DVD's producer and book's author.

Thus, Byrnes would have you believe that the world's wealthy, distinguished and famous—every last luminous one of them—attained their high position by dint of simple adherence to a secret law: The Law of Attraction. She shits you not. Furthermore, they (the world's rich, celebrated, and leisured) have all conspired to keep knowledge of this law from the rest of us. Einstein, Plato, J.P. Morgan, Mozart, Sir Isaac Newton, Beethoven, and the Rockefellers, among others, are all given as examples of this mighty (and mightily secretive) Them.

There are problems with this theory. For starters, the Law of Attraction isn't really a secret. Self-help books with a metaphysical bent have preached this stuff for centuries. I mean, just walk into your nearest New Age bookshop and pick up the first book you see; it will undoubtedly mention something about the Law.

So is Byrnes lying to us? Not exactly. Harry Frankfurt, a Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton, puts it this way in his little book On Bullshit, "[The Bullshitter:] does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose" (p. 56). A liar, you see, at least recognizes the truth enough to know that he's departing from it; a bullshitter couldn't care less—just show her the money.

The Law of Attraction, then, is the bullshitter's belief that one can change the objective world alone by the power of thought—forget action; in fact, eschew action. If your belief is strong enough, says the Law, your dreams and desires will come to you much as a steel screw hops across a tabletop and slaps into a powerful magnet. This is the "As you sow, so shall ye reap" philosophy minus any actual sowing, a fairy dust notion that we all at one point in our lives have espoused: it's called magical thinking. We're supposed to outgrow it.

When I was four years old I had an invisible friend named Kenny. His existence, such as it was, may or may not have originated in direct response to my sister Amanda's birth, an event which made me an oldest child instead of the only child in the family. Unlike my busy mother, Kenny always paid attention to me and let me have my way. I loved Kenny. My mom eventually forced me to go outside and play with real children. Predictably, Kenny soon disappeared. The Secret would explain the account thus: my early imagining of a perfect playmate eventually attracted other, more corporeal playmates into my reality. Which is true—at least to the degree that we forget about my mom forcing me to go outside.

What follows, then, is an arbitrary list of some of the "authorities" that appear on the DVD, the trained animals of the circus or the witch's evil monkeys, depending on the metaphor, waxing explanatory on the The Secret. But don't imagine the monkeys as evil; rather, picture streetwise capuchins earnestly working a cheap accordion with their tiny, hairy hands, glancing up now and then with a smile, anxious to see if you've put a coin yet in their dented tin cups:

Dr. John Demartini, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic).

Marie Diamond, internationally-known Feng Shui mistress. Diamond, a Caucasian, speaks with an inexplicably strong Asian accent, a la Seinfeld's Donna Chang.

John Assaraf, "a former street kid…who has dedicated the last twenty-five years to researching the human brain, quantum physics, and business strategies, as they relate to achieving success in business and life." In the film, John relates an account about the power of visualization whose denouement has him crumpled on the floor and weeping, the former street kid, because he found a picture of a house in a box.

Michael Bernard Beckwith, "a non-aligned trans-religious progressive"—your guess here is as good as mine. Beckwith also claims the title of doctor, although God alone knows where the title comes from. Beckwith, ever the walking conundrum, dresses in a sharp suit, speaks in patrician tones, and sports a wild head of dreadlocks.

And Ester Hicks, spokesperson for Abraham, a multifarious spiritual entity. She is the author of The Law of Attraction. (Byrnes, Rhonda, The Secret, [all presenter material from the book The Secret BIOGRAPHIES section, pp. 185-198:].)

Esther Hicks is no longer a featured presenter in The Secret "Enhanced" DVD. Why? It's hard to say. Esther's website quotes Abraham, the spiritual collective she channels, on the topic: "It is our desire that you be easy about all of this. There is nothing that has gone wrong here…." (Email communication between author and Hicks's company)

Esther is a pleasant-looking, middle-aged woman. She has a serene presence, almost comforting. She also has the most attractive voice I've ever heard—very earthy, very sexy. I find it difficult to reconcile that voice with anything close to its putative paranormal personae.

Even though the author's of The Secret (and anyone else swept into their rhetorical corner) probably aren't consciously lying to us about their great happiness at having discovered the Law, I have suspicions that somewhere deep in their hearts something like a moral question prickles and goads. For instance, how should one respond to a crisis of, say, Darfur proportions? Should the suffering of stranger Africans on a continent far, far away be of concern if, ultimately, all that matters is how I feel? Esther asked Abraham (the multifarious spiritual entity) for clarification on this very matter:

...I used to be extremely disturbed when a person's rights were violated by violence on a person, or by someone forcefully taking someone else's property....But then, after meeting you [Abraham:], I got to the point that I see all those things they're doing with others as "games" that they're playing—more or less "agreements" that they have between one another, spoken or unspoken. I've gotten somewhat better at not feeling their pain. But can I get to the point that I don’t feel anything negative when I see someone violating the rights of another? Can I just look at whatever they're doing to one another out there, and think, You're all doing to one another what you have somehow chosen to do? (Ibid, pg. 142)

That might, to some ears, sound a little cruel, this idea of blaming the victim for attracting the perpetrator. The upside, of course, is that such a belief absolves we standers-by from stepping in and offering help. Let's take as an example the recent shooting at Virginia Tech. Apparently, if the Law of Attraction holds true, those 32 men and women somehow attracted their crazy executioner to themselves. Mass homicide, in this light, is simply a game played between the shooter and his frightened victims.

Rhonda Byrnes attempted to defend this belief in a telephone conversation with Newsweek's Jerry Adler (cite link). They were speaking on the topic of Rwanda, which dwarfs Blacksburg in terms of scope but certainly not in terms of horror:

If we are in fear, if we're feeling in our lives that we're victims and feeling powerless, then we are on a frequency of attracting those things to us...totally unconsciously, totally innocently, totally all of those words that are so important.

Totally. Totally those words that are so important, whether thought or spoken consciously or not, let the victims enjoy their just deserts. It's true that any survivor of genocide or attempted homicide is responsible for picking up the various shattered pieces and attempting to make something of what's left of life. But to pretend that tragedy is nothing more than a game is to diminish its victims suffering in the cruelest possible way. The word "compassion," incidentally, comes from the Latin com + pati, to bear, suffer. If compassion would have us bear another's suffering, what then is its opposite? What is the word for ignoring or minimizing another's suffering for the primary purpose of easing the bystander's discomfort, and, as Law of Attraction espouses, the dubious secondary purpose of somehow inspiring the sufferer to quit wallowing in his own tragic juices?

Am I overreacting here? I feel like my parents yelling at me for listening to Heavy Metal music. But the question, remember, was whether one could actually reach a state of consciousness where he isn't bothered in the slightest by another's pain or suffering. Heavy Metal music, on the other hand, was meant to be a (tongue-in-cheek) solace to teenagers suffering under their parents' heavy hands. There is a difference: the Heavy Metal promise is a lie, the other is bullshit, albeit scary bullshit.

Here's a secret: the Mother Theresas of the world will be remembered long after the Rhonda Byrneses have faded from collective memory for the same reason that generosity of spirit is appreciated so much more than selfishness. Magnanimity represents the apotheosis of human nature. Success, lasting success, takes place only when one figures out how to best serve a large number of people. Real people, real service first, the money will probably follow. Bullshit, on the other hand, bullshit sells well, for a time -- perhaps even for a long time -- but it's not exactly a worthwhile endeavor. ...more

0

Feb 12, 2015

In hindsight, I feel I was too kind with this book, it makes far more sense simply to describe it as evil.

It encourages victim blaming - since they only have themselves to blame for bringing their fates upon themselves for a lack of positiver thinking, and ultimately encourages the reader to blame themselves since when their wishes fail to become fishes there can only be one reason - the positive thinking wasn't quite positive enough, or didn't have quite the perfect tone of positivity to it. In hindsight, I feel I was too kind with this book, it makes far more sense simply to describe it as evil.

It encourages victim blaming - since they only have themselves to blame for bringing their fates upon themselves for a lack of positiver thinking, and ultimately encourages the reader to blame themselves since when their wishes fail to become fishes there can only be one reason - the positive thinking wasn't quite positive enough, or didn't have quite the perfect tone of positivity to it. And in typical dreariness it discourages through its victim blaming an understanding of yourself or of the structural disadvantages that you may contribute towards in your society though acts of commission or omission that keep the less fortunate always on the back foot.

Perhaps the most worthwhile comment I can make about The Secret is that it is fascinating as a cultural document (view spoiler)[ Barbara Ehrenreich Smile or Die How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World is very interesting on the wider phenomenon of positive thinking (hide spoiler)]. It is a book that provides an insight to the preoccupations and fears of one of the wealthiest, healthiest and long-lived societies in human history. What it evidences is an obsession with gaining even more money, having even better health, and appearing eternally youthful (view spoiler)[just like The Portrait of Dorian Grey (hide spoiler)]. Dressed in the language of Quantum physics (view spoiler)[fans of magical thinking seem to like mentioning Quantum physics I suppose because down at the quantum level things appear to be far weirder that we'd like to imagine - things can be in two different places at the same time, or have energy but no mass. At the same time I imagine the author assumes that quantum physicists are unlikely to read her book, criticise it publicly and even if they do, probably not in the kind of places that her other readers may come across it (hide spoiler)] there is an appeal to magical thinking. In The Secret God may or may not be dead, however the universe is benevolent, but stupid (view spoiler)[ the universe although capable of understanding human thought does so in a limited way understanding 'I don't want debt' and 'I want debt' to mean one and the same thing, maybe this is a hang over from Neuro-Linguistic Programming? (hide spoiler)], and functions as an infinite catalogue for the pleasure and delight of all people who can order up whatever they want from existence by simply wishing for it. However there is a catch. You have to wish for things properly, by wishing only once and visualising (view spoiler)[As with quantum physics, the concepts of visualisation and the Placebo effect are invoked to demonstrate the power of the mind. This is part of the way that The Secret functions, a stepping stone with a familiar name leads to the bizarre conclusion that the universe is a giant, friendly, mail order catalogue (hide spoiler)] what you want precisely. If you haven't got anything back from the universe this is because you plainly haven't been wishing in the proper manner.

It would be strikingly ungenerous of me to say that there is nothing of value at all in The Secret, but making much of what value there may be would be rather like pulling out a cherry from a bowl full of cockroaches. It can be done, but you wouldn't want to eat the it even if you did. This is not then a book whose contents I endorse or advise any one to take personally (view spoiler)[ not that I have anything against thinking nice thoughts, cultivating a feeling of gratitude and so on as ends in themselves, simply as a mechanistic means to material ends (hide spoiler)].

The general idea is that you wish for something, visualise it. Then the frequency you emit at the quantum level (view spoiler)[I don't know whether we emit frequencies at the quantum level, and if we did what would the implications be of changing it, they would be presumably considerably weirder than what Byrne imagines (hide spoiler)] changes, the universe then responds to that frequency. If the frequency we emit is one of mega wealth, huge houses and soul mates then that's what we get from the universe. While if it is of sinking ships, world financial disasters or war then that is what we gets back.

Perhaps you feel doubtful about all this - but fear not for here come some celebrity endorsements! According to Byrne all these people taught the same message: poets such as William Shakespeare, Robert Browning, and William Blake delivered it in their poetry. Musicians such as Ludwig van Beethoven (view spoiler)[Famous for his ability to attract soul mates to himself (hide spoiler)] expressed it through their music. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci depicted it in their paintings (view spoiler)[How else but through the power of the mind did the Lady get an Ermine? (hide spoiler)] . Great thinkers including Socrates, Plato, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Pythagoras, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Victor Hugo shared it in their writings and teachings... (p4). There's nothing like a celebrity endorsement. Particularly when the celebrity is too dead to take issue with it.

Later on we are told that Andrew Carneige, Abraham Lincoln and Henry Ford also all knew and practised The Secret (view spoiler)[ I don't know, presumably Abraham Lincoln successfully visualised the American Civil War into existence or something, and when people mention Henry Ford in this kind of context you can be pretty sure they are not thinking of his determination to set up a rubber plantation, insisting on having the rubber trees planted so close together that parasites infested the whole lot. Carneige though was successful in encouraging US Presidents to visualise a fine new fleet of battleships with the extra thick armour plating that only his steelworks could manufacture (hide spoiler)]. But I find the mention of Goethe particularly interesting since his Faust and what Byrne is presenting is a similar kind of fairy tale. Except that in the folk tale tradition the three wishes, the genie out of the bottle, or the pact with the Devil, all come with a sting in the tale. For Byrne the sting is ignored and instead we get a pure dose of wish fulfilment. Midias and his golden touch would be seen as something positive and not as frightening, alienating and eventually potentially fatal as it was.

Still, there is a sting. Firstly you have to be perpetually positive (view spoiler)[ and that's just exhausting to think about (hide spoiler)], then you have to not listen to anybody who is still than positive for fear of your thoughts being infected by theirs and thus attracting some negative outcome to yourself (view spoiler)[ so I'd say that friendship, sympathy and family relations are out, you need to surround yourself with true believers in (hide spoiler)]. Finally if you accept that you are in control of your fate and the nature of your existence by means of being able to change the world through your wish power, then it follows that all other people can do the same and have only themselves to blame for every way that their lives are less than perfect, and ultimately if you have debt, only a bare hovel to live in, are sick, or even age, then you only have yourself to blame.

This is a belief that embraces the alienating effect of modern life as its centre piece. You are alone, you can't help others, you should not even listen to them. Instead you are to focus intently on your own desires. There is no room in The Secret for collective organisation and action. No families, no joint partnerships, no professional organisations or unions to deal with the problems and difficulties that we experience in our lives. Instead there is only the atomised individual. In place of the concrete joys of conviviality and relationships with actual people there is an abstract relationship with the universe which as mentioned above has a limited understanding of language and functions purely as an unlimited catalogue.

"Everything that surrounds you right now in your life, including the things you're complaining about, you've attracted"...

Often when people first hear this part of the Secret they recall events in history where masses of lives were lost, and they find it incomprehensible that so many people could have attracted themselves to the event (view spoiler)[ if there is a Hebrew edition published in Israel is this sentence removed? The idea doesn't strike me as incomprehensible so much as repulsive (view spoiler)[but I do appreciate that she wasn't coy about her opinion and just came straight out with it (hide spoiler)]. (hide spoiler)]. By the law of attraction, they had to be on the same frequency as the event. It doesn't necessarily mean they thought of that exact event, but the frequency of their thoughts matched the frequency of the event. If people believe they can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they have no control over outside circumstances, those thoughts of fear, separation, and powerlessness, if persistent, can attract them to being in the wrong place at the wrong time

...You have a choice, and whatever you choose to think will become your life experience.

Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it though persistent thoughts.
pp27-28


If you are complaining, the law of attraction will powerfully bring into your life more situations for you to complain about. If you are listening to some one else complain and focusing on that, sympathizing with them, agreeing with them, in that moment, you are attracting more situations to yourself to complain about p17

I find the mention of events in history where masses of lives were lost a fascinating example of victim blaming - particularly in the context of Australian and American history. In the nineteenth century commentators took the view that aboriginal peoples would die out because of their inherent inferiority and ability to cope with the modern world (view spoiler)[ as opposed to the violence, warfare, and ecological disruption going on at the time (hide spoiler)]. Now when their populations have been much reduced we can blame that on their inability to think happy positive thoughts. This is a book that works to re-enforce the existing status quo. Those who are successful can only be so for their ability to think positive thought and attract good things to themselves, while those who are not successful are the victims of their own inability to properly visualise what they want as opposed to having face some structural disadvantage in the way that society is ordered.

One can see here how this approach makes life easy in a way. One doesn't have to understand or appreciate the world and the circumstances of other's lives. One can straight away be judgemental: they brought it on themselves, whether it is cancer, war, contagious disease, or bad architecture. (view spoiler)[ But of course the something like the boom in London property prices or the Wall street crash and subsequent Great Depression do indeed demonstrate the power of positive thinking. The first could be nothing other than millions of people thinking positive thoughts in concentric rings and the other was the result of millions of people thinking negative thoughts - and what a hero Herbert Hoover was in his one man attempt to try and turn round the thought patterns of a nation by telling everybody that the economy was on the turn. (hide spoiler)]

Victim blaming fits well with The Secret's role as a cultural document. Although it does seem to refine the concept. The good news is that if I punch you it is your fault. I am innocent, you attracted that punch to yourself through your lack of positive thoughts. Indeed it I seize you, carry you off to a offshore enclave, hold you in captivity for over ten years, torture you from time to time, without any legal process this is also something you attracted to yourself through negative thoughts and quite rightly I will be well paid for doing so because I think only positive, nice, thoughts and therefore attract as a modern Midas glittering palaces, big cars and multiple soul mates to myself (view spoiler)[ I find the business of soul mates interesting, does the soul mate you draw to yourself have no agency or independent will? In the world of the secret a soul mate is the equivalent of a big house or a pile of banknotes. Its simply another acquisition rather as one might buy a Ken doll to sit alongside Barbie in her dream car (hide spoiler)].

It strikes me that The Secret will appeal to people who are intimidated by evidence of the world's complexity and feel out of control. The Secret says very firmly that you can, indeed should be, in control. However since sickness, old age and death exist wouldn't belief in this book give rise to anxiety (view spoiler)[ reading this book sparked off memories of those Calvinists anxious over whether they were part of the elect or not - are you wishing correctly or are you allowing negative thoughts to leak into your consciousness causing disaster throughout your life! (hide spoiler)]? Every time you have a cold or find a grey hair you are confronted with evidence of your own inability to think insufficiently positively!



You don't have to mad to live this life, but if you are...
In a newspaper article I read a journalist interviewed the psychologist who wrote the second report on Anders Brevik - the one which found him sane. In response to the journalist's question about how appropriate his finding was the psychologist responded that hundreds of people have written to Brevik in prison all praising him for his actions - are they all insane too, he asked rhetorically.

My response would be yes. But then perhaps to be sane in the world would be the most insane reaction one could have (view spoiler)[there was a nice short story I once read about a psychiatrist returning to his home town after a distinguished career in Europe to open an insane asylum. As the story progresses he finds grounds to incarcerate more and more of the town's population in his asylum until everybody has been finally committed. Then he realises that what he has done is also completely insane so he has himself locked up to. And then everybody lives happily ever after (view spoiler)[ the story is O Alienista by Machado de Assis (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]. We don't for the most part notice the amount of insanity around us because on the whole it doesn't cause that much friction. It's only in books like The Secret that the inner craziness of people's private lives gets laid out in public:

The law of attraction states that what you focus on you will get, so I got a bank statement, I whited out the total, and I put a new total in there. I put exactly how much I wanted to see in the bank (p104)

A game I created that help shift my feelings about my pile of bills was to pretend that the bills were actually checks. I would jump for joy as I opened them and say, "more money for me! Thank you. Thank you." I took each bill, imagined it was a check, and then I added a zero to it in my mind to make it even more. I got a notepad and wrote at the top of each page "I have received," and then I would list all the amounts of the bills with an added zero. Next to each amount I would write "Thank you," and feel the feelings of gratitude for receiving it - to the point where I had tears in my eyes. Then I would take each bill, which looked very small compared to what I had received, and I would pay it with gratitude! (p105)

Still my favourite part of this book is a fine example of how irrational the rational world of business can be.
The true story of a Belize oil team is an inspiring example of the power of the human mind to bring forth resources (view spoiler)[ What quantum physicists and Einstein tell us is that everything is happening simultaneously...whatever you want in the future already exists (p62) it seems that Byrne believes this applies to the past too - that through positive thinking the team altered the geological processes that occurred in the region. This probably also explains why Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's burial to be so rich (hide spoiler)] The directors of Belize Natural Energy Limited were trained by the eminent Dr. Tony Quinn, who specialises in Humanistic Physiology training. With Dr. Quinn's mind power training, the directors were confident that their mental picture of Belize being a successful oil producing country would be achieved...and in one short year their dream and vision became a reality. Belize Natural Energy Limited discovered oil of the highest quality, in abundant flows...Belize has become an oil-producing country because an extraordinary team of people believed in the unlimited power of their mind.

Nothing is unlimited-not resources or anything else. It is only limited in the human mind... (pp148-9)

Oil production in Belize took off in late 2006, peaked in 2010 and remains in steady decline.



Probably not my final thoughts
If the idea of the universe as a complex place that requires understanding makes you uncomfortable, if the idea of bad things happening to good people is a problem for you, then books like The Secret hold the solution. It's offer is that life is simple. Everybody gets exactly what they are due to get, everything works fine just as it is, and you can be in control.

This could be a reassuring message for some, particularly since it relives you of the exhausting work of having to appreciate the world, all its interactions and how we are all implicated and bound up with one another - allowing you to get on with the business of being judgemental instead.

It doesn't work for me because it requires a pretty contorted view on existence as far as I can tell and its focus on material goods leaves me cold. It also doesn't just recommend ignoring a good chunk of the normal experience of human life but recommends vigorous self censorship to achieve a kind of cargo cult effect - only through the thorough imitation of the assumed thought habits of the rich and famous can one achieve the unlimited power to alter the geology of Belize.

I'm left with the odd feeling that the author read Foucault's Pendulum and thought that those guys were really on to something with "The Plan".

Is it is surprise that our society throws up a book like The Secret from time to time, and it is apt that it appeared on the eve of a financial crash, a clear and vigorous trumpet blast at odds with complex and shifting reality. ...more

1

Nov 26, 2007

I'm sure this book only exists thanks to The Da Vinci Code. Sensing a public interest in ancient "secrets" passed down to modern times, the publishers of this awful piece of self-help decided they could market Rhonda Byrne's book and make a killing. They were not wrong. In Brasil, it's spreading like an Old World plague: the film tie-in is always rented out in videostores, and the book is in the top 10 bestseller list. Swept up by its popularity, my mom brought a copy home.

Much like George Bush I'm sure this book only exists thanks to The Da Vinci Code. Sensing a public interest in ancient "secrets" passed down to modern times, the publishers of this awful piece of self-help decided they could market Rhonda Byrne's book and make a killing. They were not wrong. In Brasil, it's spreading like an Old World plague: the film tie-in is always rented out in videostores, and the book is in the top 10 bestseller list. Swept up by its popularity, my mom brought a copy home.

Much like George Bush Jr., this book is equal parts stupid and disturbing. The stupid part comes in its mind-boggling belief that anything you ask from the Universe will become true, that everyone deserves (and should) pursue their most selfish desires in order to be happy. Want big boobs? Ask the Universe and you will get it. Want a great parking space at the shopping mall? The Universe will help you like a genie in a bottle. Knowledge found in Eastern religions such as Buddhism (e.g. Karma) are simplified and described as a "secret" that only the elite are aware of.

The disturbing part comes in statements such as the one, early in the book, that says people killed in disasters or crimes brought it upon themselves. According to this book's reasoning, if you find yourself gassed to death with millions of other people it's because you were following negative thoughts and unable to see the Universe's path to your salvation. This is, at least, the conclusion I draw from the book's teachings. It shifts blame from other people, or life's chaos, onto yourself. Contracted cancer? Your fault. Robbed and shot in the head? Your fault. Became a millionaire? You are in tune with the Universe.

Much like The Da Vinci Code I couldn't make it past page 60. Be very wary of anyone that likes this book. ...more

5

Jul 27, 2017

"You are the masterpiece
of your own life.
You are the Michelangelo
of your own life."

I believe!
Thank you!

1

Aug 10, 2007

Ick. This book was just. So. Not believable. At the beginning, the author writes about the law of attraction, specifically that if you believe in something, it can happen - like, if you believe you will one day fall in love, marry, and have a family or if you believe you will succeed in education and earn your PhD, than, doggonit, you can.

It's as the book continues and the words change from "can" to "will definitely" that the author lost me. For example, if you want a certain amount of money, Ick. This book was just. So. Not believable. At the beginning, the author writes about the law of attraction, specifically that if you believe in something, it can happen - like, if you believe you will one day fall in love, marry, and have a family or if you believe you will succeed in education and earn your PhD, than, doggonit, you can.

It's as the book continues and the words change from "can" to "will definitely" that the author lost me. For example, if you want a certain amount of money, say $100,000 for a down payment on a home, and if you think about it totally positively, and mentally stamp out any negative thoughts, like, "Who am I kidding? I'll never have that money," then you WILL DEFINITELY get that money. And in a timely fashion. With no strings attached. Like magic.

The author lost me mid-book and I never finished. I want my money back. Oprah, I love ya, but this was a BAD recommendation. Even the biggest optimist has to get REAL at some point. (Easy for one of the richest, most powerful women in the world to fall for!) Come on, I say - COME the HECK ON! ...more

1

Nov 21, 2011

This book is so inspirational! It turns out that by just believing and wanting really hard you can get whatever you want out of life! And if that doesn't work you can write a vacuous self help book full of profound sounding but utterly meaningless tripe and there are enough stupid people in the world to make you rich! This book has also taught me that I don't need to care about other people; if they don't get what they want it isn't anything to with me or anything to do with society being fair This book is so inspirational! It turns out that by just believing and wanting really hard you can get whatever you want out of life! And if that doesn't work you can write a vacuous self help book full of profound sounding but utterly meaningless tripe and there are enough stupid people in the world to make you rich! This book has also taught me that I don't need to care about other people; if they don't get what they want it isn't anything to with me or anything to do with society being fair or equal, it's because they didn't wish hard enough or learn to visualise what they want! I used to give a lot of money to various charities – cancer research, rape support groups, third world aid – but I've stopped that now because I realise that the problems people have are because they secretly, deep down, wish them upon themselves, and only they can make their lives better! It's sad if a child dies of leukaemia or lots of people are killed by a tsunami or a train crash but something in them brought it on themselves, and anyway they'll get another chance in the great circle of life and they should try harder next time. And by 'try harder', I don't mean actually work to achieve anything but just wish really hard, because it turns out that all sorts of brilliant people like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Mozart, Beethoven, Plato and John D Rockefeller were successful not because they worked hard or were particularly smart or talented but JUST BECAUSE THEY KNEW THE SECRET!!!!!


NOTE: Just in case there is anyone who is especially slow on the uptake, this is sarcasm. I'm not that shocked that this book exists but that it has apparently sold somewhere in the region of 21 million copies really does make me worry for humanity. Does the author (and her contributors, the most qualified of whom are described as “a doctor of Chiropractic” and another “an internationally known feng-shui mistress”) actually believe this bollocks, or are just using it to milk the stupid. And if you believe in this book there's no sugaring the pill; you are a moron. A shallow, self centred, vacuous moron. I would happily spit in the face of Ms Byrne, any of her contributors or people who worked on the DVD. Yes, there is a lot to be said for the power of positive thought – because it can change your own attitude and behaviour! There's a whole field of psychology based on that idea called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. There is nothing mystical about it. You know the old saying, "the universe doesn't owe you a living"?

Some of my favourite quotes:

“Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it thought persistent thoughts.” Damn, those Jews were pretty careless before WW2, weren't they?

“Quantum Physicists will tell you the universe was created from thought!” Really? Truly? Okay, NAME ONE. Seriously, just one published quantum physicist who is taken seriously by the scientific community.

“Our feelings let us know what we’re thinking.” What? What does that actually mean?

And the best, from Ester Hicks, conduit for a spirit called Abraham (seriously):
“...I used to be extremely disturbed when a person's rights were violated by violence on a person, or by someone forcefully taking someone else's property....But then, after meeting you [Abraham:], I got to the point that I see all those things they're doing with others as "games" that they're playing—more or less "agreements" that they have between one another, spoken or unspoken. I've gotten somewhat better at not feeling their pain. But can I get to the point that I don’t feel anything negative when I see someone violating the rights of another? Can I just look at whatever they're doing to one another out there, and think, You're all doing to one another what you have somehow chosen to do? “ ...more

5

Jun 27, 2007

I love The Secret. I watch the DVD whenever I need a shot of happiness. It's basically pretty common sense, what you think about and talk about the most is what you get more of. Where the attention goes, the energy flows. If you constantly talk about being broke, or sick, or depressed, then that's what you will get. Even if you're bank account, health, or mental disposition is not currently where you'd like for it to be, you completely have the power to take one little step at a time in the I love The Secret. I watch the DVD whenever I need a shot of happiness. It's basically pretty common sense, what you think about and talk about the most is what you get more of. Where the attention goes, the energy flows. If you constantly talk about being broke, or sick, or depressed, then that's what you will get. Even if you're bank account, health, or mental disposition is not currently where you'd like for it to be, you completely have the power to take one little step at a time in the right direction. No matter how adverse a sitation gets, surely there must be something that makes you happy, something that you are essentially grateful for -- Awesome friends and family, loving pets, a roof over your head, a kick ass music collection, etc. Maybe you can't control everything that others do or say, but you really truly can choose your reaction, you really truly can choose how you want to feel and even though we all face challenges, we can decide to do the best we can with what we've got at any given moment. The secret kind of distills a lot of really heavy but totally useful info compiled from esoteric spiritual and scientific texts into a simplified, easy to practice formula. You get what you think about! ...more

1

Apr 29, 2017

Sometimes my curiosity really does me a great disservice!

It led me to pick up this book, check it out from the library, carry it home, and open it and start reading! That is far too much energy and thought spent on something absolutely, hopelessly, horribly BAD!

Whatever happens to you, I learn, is your own fault for unconsciously wishing it. Well, let me tell you: I apparently wished to get into a state of complete rage while reading this book, for that is what happened.

Thousands of grateful Sometimes my curiosity really does me a great disservice!

It led me to pick up this book, check it out from the library, carry it home, and open it and start reading! That is far too much energy and thought spent on something absolutely, hopelessly, horribly BAD!

Whatever happens to you, I learn, is your own fault for unconsciously wishing it. Well, let me tell you: I apparently wished to get into a state of complete rage while reading this book, for that is what happened.

Thousands of grateful people, the foreword states, write to the author to express the life-changing JOY the book has given them. Well, let me chime in. It gave me joy as well when I finished reading, in the sense that you feel joy when you stop deliberately banging a hammer on your thumb and the pain slowly fades and leaves you numb, asking yourself why on earth you did that stupid thing to yourself.

If I wish strongly enough for something, it will happen - that I learn as well. Well, dear Mrs Byrne, I wish this book to be unread by those millions of naive sheep in the mindset of The Alchemist, I wish the millions of dollars you received for this evil, self-serving book to disappear, and I wish it to be unwritten and forever unthought of. I wish that from the bottom of my heart, and I believe all those brilliant writers you claim were in possession of THE SECRET, from Shakespeare on, wish the same thing, whatever their new incarnation in the circle of life at the moment!

I wish that strongly. And I know THE SECRET! HA! My librarian better hide when I return this piece of ... [insert favourite curse]. ...more

1

Jan 22, 2008

In a weak moment I succumbed! It was on sale and I too wanted to know "the secret" Now I know-I just think about checks every day and voila-my mailman will bring them to me! C'mon people, positive thinking has been written about in dozens if not hundreds of books and they were much better written than this drivel!

Honestly, the idea that children with cancer bring it upon themselves because they did not envision themselves as healthy or that people who experience earthquakes, famine and flood In a weak moment I succumbed! It was on sale and I too wanted to know "the secret" Now I know-I just think about checks every day and voila-my mailman will bring them to me! C'mon people, positive thinking has been written about in dozens if not hundreds of books and they were much better written than this drivel!

Honestly, the idea that children with cancer bring it upon themselves because they did not envision themselves as healthy or that people who experience earthquakes, famine and flood bring it on themselves is just a bunch of hooey!

I guess that is about it. I have to go envision my dinner now cause I don't want to actually have to work on making some-YUK, throw this book in the fireplace so you can get something out of it! ...more

5

Feb 13, 2008

The Secret is perhaps best summarized in an entirely separate work, the Strangest Secret, which is an audio presentation by Earl Nightingale where he demands “you must control your thoughts.” Rhonda Byrne then explains by controlling your thoughts and ensuring that they are of a positive nature, anything, in any aspect of life, is achievable. More specifically, The Secret explains that like things attract, so positive, can do thoughts create positive outcomes while negative thoughts would create The Secret is perhaps best summarized in an entirely separate work, the Strangest Secret, which is an audio presentation by Earl Nightingale where he demands “you must control your thoughts.” Rhonda Byrne then explains by controlling your thoughts and ensuring that they are of a positive nature, anything, in any aspect of life, is achievable. More specifically, The Secret explains that like things attract, so positive, can do thoughts create positive outcomes while negative thoughts would create that negative reality.

The secret is powerful and if one were to incorporate these ideas into everyday life it would indeed be an unstoppable force. The reality is obvious; if you’re feeling happy you are thinking happy thoughts. What is exciting is to realize that one can use one’s feelings to understand what one is thinking. Further, one can use ones more readily controllable thoughts to affect ones feelings.

The Secret teaches us to understand today, create tomorrow, but allow the universe to positively influence us as we project positive energy. My favorite line was likening life to a road trip, at night, from San Fran to New York City. You know where you’re going, but you can only see 200 ft in front of you. Life must be taken as it comes though we can provide it direction. You must stay on track, but deal, positively, with the bumps that come along the way. We must be thankful for all that is presented to us because it defines us.

The book goes on to apply the concept of positivity to health, relationships, abundance, thankfulness, and ultimately life. Indeed the point is to be happy now, feel good now.

Notes:
On Thoughts and Creation:
• Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it thought persistent thoughts.
o What are you summoning?
• Careful, the thoughts of doubt are powerful too.
• Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions
• Use Vision boards as ways to visualize your goals
• Your power is in your thoughts, “Remember to Remember,” live in the present
On Feelings and their power:
• Our feelings let us know what we’re thinking
• Our feelings are feedback mechanisms to us about whether we’re on track or not, whether we’re on course or off course
• Bad feelings are a warning from the universe
• You’re getting exactly what you’re feeling about, not so much what you’re thinking about
• Make a list of Secret Shifters, things to employ when you’re not feeling good or the way you want to
How to live the secret:
• What do you want; take time to write that down, you must be clear about what you want.
1. Ask, once, than listen
2. Believe you’ll get it, know that – Most of us have never allowed ourselves to want what we truly want because we can’t see how it’s going to manifest
3. Receive
On moving towards a secret centric lifestyle:
Most profound reality about living life, knowing where you’re going, but unable to see exactly how it turns out:
Driving a car at night, life is SFO to NYC, but you can only really see 200 ft ahead, be ok with that.
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“All that we are is a result of what we have thought” – Buddha
“Pruning shears of revision” –Neville Goddard, 1954—“Each night replay the events of the day; if they didn’t go the way you wanted replay them in a way that thrills you.” --- This cleans up the frequency
On Thankfulness and gratitude
• Know gratitude, be grateful
• Praise and bless the things around you
On Relationships:
For relationships to really work we need to focus on what we appreciate about the other person, not what we’re complaining about
On Health:
Laughter attracts joy, rejects negativity and leads to miraculous cures
On Positivity:
o “I will never attend an anti-war rally. If you have a peace rally, invite me” – Mother Terresa
o Use I AM. I am received every good thing, I am happy, I am abundant, I am healthy, I am love, I am always on time, I am eternal youth, I am filled with energy every single day.
On life:
Joy, love, freedom, happiness, laughter. That’s what it is.
Be Happy now, fell good now.
...more

2

Aug 26, 2013

My review in English first and then in Arabic-مراجعتى للكتاب بالانجليزي و بعدها مراجعتى بالعربي
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said: ( expect a good, find a good)
So this book talk about what we call :
(the law of expectation of good !), so what is the new here !?
New here those claims in this book about the ability of humans to control them life, and only ..
Without the expense of God and his ability and his will and his control of the volcanoes, rain and the sky and the earth .....!
Well, My review in English first and then in Arabic-مراجعتى للكتاب بالانجليزي و بعدها مراجعتى بالعربي
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said: ( expect a good, find a good)
So this book talk about what we call :
(the law of expectation of good !), so what is the new here !?
New here those claims in this book about the ability of humans to control them life, and only ..
Without the expense of God and his ability and his will and his control of the volcanoes, rain and the sky and the earth .....!
Well, what it says in the Koran, there is what it says that God created man to be his successor in universe , and with the faith in God can control the volcanoes, earthquakes and rain, and the earth and the sky and more !, but with the faith in God Almighty and all. , By GOD will, GOD ability not by ourselves or our ability only ,not with out (God)
This myth, and the man is not the Lord here anyway
God is not relevant to human , God direct the universe, man is not God, or a part of God, or like God !
*****
الرسول صلى الله عليه السلام قال تفاءلوا بالخير تجدوه
يبقى ايه الجديد هنا فى الكتاب دا ؟؟ الجديد هنا و الخطير ارجاعهم القوة و السيطرة و الارادة الى الانسان و بس ، انهم مخليين الانسان و بس سيد مصيره دون عمل حساب لله عز و جل و لارادته و كأن دا فعلا حقيقي !
كأن الانسان اله نفسه و المسيطر الأول على حياته ! ، في القرآن الكريم بيقول ان ربنا خلقنا لنكون خليفته عز و جل في الأرض و فى حديث قدسي لله عز و جل قال عز عز من قائل : يا ابن آدم .. خلقت كل شئ من اجلك .. فسر في طاعتي يطعك كل شئ
الانسان فعلا يقدر يسيطر على حياته و يسيطر على اللى ابعد و اكتر من كده بس بارادة ربنا و بقدره و بحكمته ، و دا اللى اصحاب الكتاب دول موش عاملين حسابه و قاعدين يروجوا للخرافه بتاعة الطاقه الكونيه اللي بيظنوا انها اله ما !
...more

2

Jul 31, 2007

Call me jaded, but these people have been drinking the kool aid. Don’t get me wrong- I embrace and appreciate the power of positive thinking and believe that an optimistic frame of mind can go a long way. But, The Secret is a bit extreme. The core of The Secret is the law of attraction, which basically says you attract what you think- think it and it will come. It says that you simply need to ask, believe, and receive whatever you want from the catalog of the universe. One part says, “It is as Call me jaded, but these people have been drinking the kool aid. Don’t get me wrong- I embrace and appreciate the power of positive thinking and believe that an optimistic frame of mind can go a long way. But, The Secret is a bit extreme. The core of The Secret is the law of attraction, which basically says you attract what you think- think it and it will come. It says that you simply need to ask, believe, and receive whatever you want from the catalog of the universe. One part says, “It is as easy to manifest one dollar as it is to manifest one million dollars.” What?! I could find one dollar from the change that has fallen into my couch cushions. I am hard-pressed to believe that there is one million dollars floating around in there. The Secret would tell me that the million dollars is not in there because I don’t think it is possible for it to be there. My frame of mind is inhibiting me from finding that million dollars. Even the biggest optimist has to get real somewhere along the line.

The positive messages of the book really do hold some water. However, what I really didn’t like was that The Secret also says that the tragedies you suffer- a car accident or cancer or a genocide- are because you brought that energy into your life just by thinking about it. You summoned that into your life, the same way you ordered up that new house or that million dollars from the magic catalog of the universe.

It is a quick read and the positive messages from it- being grateful for each day, praising yourself & others, filling yourself with love- certainly can contribute to a better world. And that part is something I’ll support.
...more

3

Feb 02, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Overall, the Secret, aka, the Law of Atttraction has a great message: like attracts like. This is of course very true in most cases. However, implicit in the teachings of the Secret is the idea that our current place in life is not good enough, that we need to create something in the future that will in turn complete us (better job, more money, new relationship, etc), and make us feel whole.

Herein lies the fallacy of the book. For in the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, "Peace exists in the present Overall, the Secret, aka, the Law of Atttraction has a great message: like attracts like. This is of course very true in most cases. However, implicit in the teachings of the Secret is the idea that our current place in life is not good enough, that we need to create something in the future that will in turn complete us (better job, more money, new relationship, etc), and make us feel whole.

Herein lies the fallacy of the book. For in the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, "Peace exists in the present moment, if you cant find it here, you wont find it anywhere."

There is nothing we can do that will "complete" us in the future. Why? Because we are already complete. So it's a fine and wonderful thing to have fun with the LOA, and create the life you want, just don't expect to be satisfied with whatever you create in the future if you are not satisfied Now. ...more

0

Jan 23, 2016

Read this book, they said. It'll change your life, they said. No, I said. I don't want to change my life, I said. You're too cynical, they said. You need more optimism in your life, they said. Fuck you, I said. I wouldn't read this if you paid me to, I said.

And I sure as hell don't pay money for this tripe. I mean, come on, do we really need a book to tell us, "hey, guess what? If you do good stuff, good stuff will happen to you?" This woman is making millions off of selling things like this! Read this book, they said. It'll change your life, they said. No, I said. I don't want to change my life, I said. You're too cynical, they said. You need more optimism in your life, they said. Fuck you, I said. I wouldn't read this if you paid me to, I said.

And I sure as hell don't pay money for this tripe. I mean, come on, do we really need a book to tell us, "hey, guess what? If you do good stuff, good stuff will happen to you?" This woman is making millions off of selling things like this! And people are lapping it all up. There's a movie about this? And it spawned sequels? Three sequels? That people fucking bought? What? Wow! Really, humanity? You disappoint me more and more every day.

I hate the whole self-help gimmick that people have on going these days. There's the monk who sells his Ferrari. There's the shepherd who travels all the way across the word to realise his destiny was to be a fucking shepherd in the first place. I wanted to rip both those books off from end to end. And then there's this. Thanks, but no thanks. If I had my way, I would burn every single copy of this book in the world. Call me an asshole, call me a bitch, call me whatever the fuck you want, but some books make my blood boil, and this is one of them.

Self -help literature, it seems. *rolls eyes and drops mic* ...more

1

Aug 22, 2010

Oh dear, yet again I have fallen prey to my rule that if I begin to spout opinions about a book on the basis of what other people have said, I have to read it. It's a very inconvenient rule, but I believe it's intellectually dishonest to do otherwise; hence, The Secret. And now I have to think very hard about how to phrase this review without actually saying "steaming pile of New Age BS." Oops.

The Secret says this: if you think positive thoughts, positive things will be attracted to you from the Oh dear, yet again I have fallen prey to my rule that if I begin to spout opinions about a book on the basis of what other people have said, I have to read it. It's a very inconvenient rule, but I believe it's intellectually dishonest to do otherwise; hence, The Secret. And now I have to think very hard about how to phrase this review without actually saying "steaming pile of New Age BS." Oops.

The Secret says this: if you think positive thoughts, positive things will be attracted to you from the Universe. If you think negative thoughts, you--frequently known as You--will attract negative things. And--get this--it says it over and over again, for 184 pages. I waited in vain for a deep thought, but all I got was this:

"You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet."

Gosh, I feel so powerful and... validated. The Secret is larded with quotes from a variety of gurus, or as Byrne would say, "teachers and avatars." Because they are never just one thing. The Secret is, above all, a wonderful example of how never to use one word when two will do just fine.

I could go on and on... probably for 184 pages. But the sum total of this book is "think positive." I have nothing against positive thinking; I'm a glass-half-full person myself, and it serves me well. But elevating positive thinking into a Great Secret of the Universe, without giving the reader any clue as to what to do next (other than watch The Secret DVD, which is plugged several times, and no doubt buy all the other The Secret merchandise) is snake oil, dear friends, and nothing more.

That, of course, is just the opinion of this humble reviewer, and you are free to differ. The only thing that got me seriously worried was the idea that if you want to be rich, you should act like you're already rich. Isn't that why we have a debt crisis? Otherwise, read it and enjoy. Maybe it will make you wealthy, healthy and eternally young (it promises all those things; I should make a note to check on how Byrne looks when she's 70). OK, I'll stop now ...more

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Jun 12, 2008

The Oprah phenomenon amazes me sometimes. Whatever she picks up and claims to be genius sells hundreds of millions of copies. Even if it is a patronizingly simple text like The Secret. I waited over a year after the first wave of zealous preaching about this book took over the nation to sit down and read it. At first I was a bit intrigued; honestly, it's "philosophy" is basic common sense: whatever energy you put out, you receive, good or bad. I've known that since I was a child. Think bad The Oprah phenomenon amazes me sometimes. Whatever she picks up and claims to be genius sells hundreds of millions of copies. Even if it is a patronizingly simple text like The Secret. I waited over a year after the first wave of zealous preaching about this book took over the nation to sit down and read it. At first I was a bit intrigued; honestly, it's "philosophy" is basic common sense: whatever energy you put out, you receive, good or bad. I've known that since I was a child. Think bad thoughts and you attract negative energy and vice versa. But the way The Secret delivers this idea is as if the author Rhonda Byrne is talking to a 4 year old. It is so simple and so crudely written that I found not in the least bit inspiring and, in fact, I found it to be one of the biggest money-making scams I've ever seen. There is very little actual text that Byrne has written herself; instead, she has filled the pages of the book with quotes from other people. Hundreds and hundreds of quotes that loosely back the statements she makes. I suppose I should say "good for her" for creating such an elaborate smoke screen that has made her millions of dollars. And perhaps, what is common sense to me, is a completely novel idea to mainstream America? True, the average Oprah-watching housewife in this country wasn't raised by a Taoist Tai Chi instructor and grew up reading Kerouac and Kant. Personally, I do know people whom have read this book and swear that it has changed their lives dramatically. Good for them! I'm always for positive thought and action. However, for this particular reader, The Secret was not the philosophical powerhouse that sensationalism has made it out to be. In fact, I would have to believe that the great philosophers of history are rolling over in their graves as we speak.

Ah, Oprah! How can I get my book on your show? ;)

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Feb 17, 2015

I'm listening to this on audio because my daughter insists I need it in my life. I love her so I am subjecting myself to this for the third or fourth time. It has some good advice but is basically one note and focuses way too much on materialism for my liking.

Be gracious, be thankful for what you have, think good thoughts and change your state of mind when you find yourself dwelling on negative things. That's what I'm taking away from it at any rate. I don't buy into everything it's selling, I'm listening to this on audio because my daughter insists I need it in my life. I love her so I am subjecting myself to this for the third or fourth time. It has some good advice but is basically one note and focuses way too much on materialism for my liking.

Be gracious, be thankful for what you have, think good thoughts and change your state of mind when you find yourself dwelling on negative things. That's what I'm taking away from it at any rate. I don't buy into everything it's selling, especially the points that say negative attracts negative and you basically dump life's shit on yourself by thinking bad thoughts. Uh, no. I did not bring my horrid childhood upon myself by thinking negatively. Nope, I was lucky enough to be born into that. No thinking necessary.

Seriously though, this book can't hurt if you take away the good and take action to change things and don't focus or take too seriously the ridiculously bad advice including "don't look at fat people" and other crap that it spews. It never hurts to focus on a better life for yourself and improving your health & surroundings but it does hurt to allow yourself to wallow in a pit of self-pity and negativity. Focusing on getting more "things" isn't my thing and isn't all there is to life and this book preaches too much on that. I'd rather visualize good experiences I'd like to have instead and when life leaves a big ol' pile of dung in my path, I won't allow it to drag me down for too long because crap is going to happen.

Also, in order to change your life YOU need to take ACTION (this can't be stressed enough). Thinking all the happy thoughts in the world won't get you out of a craptastic job or relationship and make your debt go poof. There's your secret and I gave it to you for free. You are so welcome.

Also, that parking lot magical visualization thing? It works. Every time. But I'm still waiting for some sucker to buy me a free Starbucks overpriced frappe when I summon it ;) Hasn't happened yet.
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Jul 09, 2014

I know what you're thinking. Which book isn't like the others? And so it would seem a preface is very much in order.

It all started with a lighthearted conversation with a family friend that morphed spontaneously into a much deeper and more philosophically tinted exchange, touching upon everything from karma to palmistry (palm-reading) and eventually to something called 'the secret'. Now, I believe it my rational duty to adopt a posture of skepticism when anyone claims to have the secret to I know what you're thinking. Which book isn't like the others? And so it would seem a preface is very much in order.

It all started with a lighthearted conversation with a family friend that morphed spontaneously into a much deeper and more philosophically tinted exchange, touching upon everything from karma to palmistry (palm-reading) and eventually to something called 'the secret'. Now, I believe it my rational duty to adopt a posture of skepticism when anyone claims to have the secret to success and the workings of the universe, especially when said person is not a scientist and has no formal scientific training.

I had heard only vague murmurings about Rhonda Byrne's 2006 book (and film of the same name) prior to this conversation and knew only of its fashionable reputation in the self-help genre. Previous associations notwithstanding, when her "Law of Attraction" was verbalized over the course of this conversation, all of my antennae were telling me to doubt, doubt, doubt. But in a gesture of acte gratuit I accepted the invitation to read the book that had just been placed in my hands.

When I brought it home, I quite honestly did not intend to read it. There are just too many other books peering out from my shelf and vying for attention. But curiosity won out and I found myself leafing through it a little every day. Oy vey. For someone allegiant to the scientific method, slogging through The Secret is what I imagine Ayn Rand must have felt like reading the New Testament gospels. I now understand why the self-help market is such a target of high dudgeon. With insufferable twaddle like this clogging the shelves, is it worth our time sifting through the dunghills to see if any gems might be buried there? Not sure I wish to find out.

Page after page I encountered something guaranteed to set off alarm bells in the skeptic's acropolis. Between the abortive attempts at profundity and middle-school metaphysics, a central message began to emerge. It is this: that one's thoughts directly affect one's success (or lack thereof) in life. See for yourself:

“You will attract everything that you require. If it’s money you need you will attract it. If it’s people you need you’ll attract it. You've got to pay attention to what you’re attracted to, because as you hold images of what you want, you’re going to be attracted to things and they’re going to be attracted to you. But it literally moves into physical reality with and through you. And it does that by law."

“Thoughts are magnetic, and thoughts have a frequency. As you think thoughts, they are sent out into the Universe, and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency. Everything sent out returns to the source - you.”

“Don’t become mesmerized by the pictures that have appeared if they are not what you want. Take responsibility for them, make light of them if you can, and let them go. Then think new thoughts of what you want, feel them, and be grateful that it is done.”

“Thought = creation. If these thoughts are attached to powerful emotions (good or bad) that speeds the creation."

“The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is as impartial and impersonal as the law of gravity is. It is precise, and it is exact.”

“Remember that your thoughts are the primary cause of everything.”

"Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts."

“You cannot “catch” anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought. You are also inviting illness if you are listening to people talking about their illness. As you listen, you are giving all your thought and focus to illness, and when you give all of your thought to something, you are asking for it.”

“Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity, and leads to miraculous cures.”

“Ask once, believe you have received, and all you have to do to receive is feel good.”

“Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.”

“The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts.”

“Food cannot cause you to put on weight, unless you think it can.”

Bonus: In this interview, Byrne told ABC that she wouldn't even get a flu shot because, "If you're feeling good, how can you attract any illness to you?"

If you're still with me, that means you haven't croaked from exasperation. Were I able to scribble in the margins I'd have copy-pasted the below meme ad infinitum.



See I have a fundamental problem with every single one of the messages above: they are a castle of lies based on no evidence at all. Thoughts are not "magnetic"; they don't "move into physical reality"; the "law of attraction" is not a "law of nature"; our thoughts do not "invite illness"; laughter does not "lead to miraculous cures"; people are not kept in poverty because of "their lack of gratitude"; and thoughts by themselves cannot "cause you to put on weight" because our thoughts are not "the primary cause of everything." (Tell that last one to the Jews. Better yet, don't.)

A reasonable question at this juncture might be to inquire of Byrne's background. I am actually unable to find any record of her educational history or, indeed, whether she even attended college. It is as though the internet has been suspiciously wiped of anything prior to her jaunts with Australian television. Regardless, the preceding excerpts practically drip of science illiteracy. I knew I was in for some unsolicited arrhythmia when I read the following just minutes after picking it up: "Quantum physicists tell us that the entire Universe emerged from thought" (p. 15). No, they don't—they really don't. Whether she has a formal education or not, it is clearly not in STEM (as if titles like The Magic and The Power didn't tip you off already).

Take a look once more at her first quote above, if you dare. To speak about phenomena that "literally moves into physical reality" is to speak about scientific phenomena. Byrne's "Law of Attraction," carried to its logical conclusion, is the idea that thoughts bend nature to their will—that renovating one's inner state of mind feeds into tangible effects outside of that mind. In case it needed spelling out, there is no known physical mechanism by which this can occur. This is rubbish mixed with high-octane nonsense. Are we to suppose Byrne has stumbled onto something hitherto uncharted by the communities of academics who have made careers out of studying nature? Her infirm speculations do not belong in an analogy with the law of gravity any more than screen doors belong in submarines.

And so here I am, forced to parade a criticism I've leveled at no other book to date. As emotionally appealing though they may be, there is not a shred of support for any of the grandiose claims in The Secret. As I wrote in my review of Carl Sagan's penultimate tome, science relies on the principles of skepticism and trained observation fueled by an overarching preference for the truth, however inconvenient, over the psychologically comfortable. These may indeed be comforting, compelling messages Byrne is putting out there. But the more we want something to be true the greater skepticism we should wield in its vicinity.

Mentality and Meditation

So what can be said about the ground Byrne covers in The Secret? As psychologist Christopher Chabris notes in his dual review in the NY Times, the "Law of Attraction" isn't novel. Some pre-Socratics meddled in it, it's what some medieval natural philosophers thought, and indeed, Byrne cites several of these figures in between her scattered logical dead ends. But that was then and this is now. We've learned much since Plato.

We wouldn't, by analogy, adopt a particular view of cosmology because elements of it are found in Giordano Bruno's musings on nature. In science, the litmus test is evidence, not ancient writings or naked intuition. Chabris also has some juicy bits about the web of ways our mind can deceive us into ascertaining nonexistent patterns, e.g. "illusory correlation" and the related phenomenon of "playing up the hits and downplaying the misses," all of which trespass directly on Byrne's magical mind slaughter.

Byrne cites early on the inspiration for her movement: a 100 year-old book called The Science of Getting Rich. "Wealth attraction," as the author called it, was bunk then and it's bunk now. Byrne has simply repackaged this and other superstitious fluff for the modern uncritical listener. But why entertain the fact-free notion of metaphysical causal arrows between happy thoughts and the universe when the empirical literature is brimming with data of great import for the self-help audience?

Cultivating a positive inner state can bring about very real psychological benefits, from helping you cope with difficult situations to helping you interact effectively in social environments. Byrne is also in favor of meditation. Here, too, the benefits are studied and can be palpable. Introspection in its various forms has proved effective at achieving a desired conscious state. These experiences are well-established and we've been doing it for thousands of years since the earliest Eastern contemplatives. No additional "laws of nature" required. No voodoo woo woo.

The Dangers of Self-Help "Wisdom"

It is hardly a "secret" that positive thinking can reap appreciable benefit to one's psychological well-being. But extrapolating from here by telling people that those thoughts animate and somehow reach out into the world like magic tendrils and cause physical transformation is entirely another matter. I'm all for positive thinking as a means for improving one's outlook. But I'm also for communicating accurate science rather than distorting it to prey on the needs of the under-equipped.

And this is why I think books like The Secret signal a broader cause for concern. Tied up in these messages is essentially an "easy" button to life, the idea that if we only adopt a new mindset the ship will right itself. After all, Byrne's 'law' is cast as a law of nature, and laws are nothing if not invariant. I have no doubt that these messages do prevent actual, necessary, useful action from being taken. When you are resigned to the idea that your thoughts enact change all by themselves, where is the incentive to take real action, to expend the effort necessary to achieve the things you— and society writ large—need or desire?

Victims of depression and the suicidal and clinically mentally unstable need professional attention, not self-help half-truths coated in meaningless, contextless jargon. No licensed clinician would advocate what Byrne advocates in this book. Someone overweight or obese may require a nutritional change to their diet or may benefit from medical prescription. What a doctor would absolutely not do is tell the patient they are obese because their thoughts are not in the right place.

Likewise, having a less poverty-stricken vision of reality will not return prosperity, happiness and riches to you as if the universe were some conscious gumball machine and obliging the downtrodden its dutiful occupation. So unless we're willing to say that rich white people have been in on the "secret" to the exclusion of the rest of the planet, the universe doesn't give you what you want. No amount of positive thinking can pick up the slack between coincidence and hard work.

Closing Thoughts

The oft-quoted maxim by Carl Sagan continues to hold sway: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." These are certainly some extraordinary claims being sent out by Ms. Byrne, but the only effects they are having in the real world are on her bank account. Other than false hope and dreamed-up physics, there are no secrets to be found in Byrne's self-help manifesto.

Make no mistake: this is pure, distilled pseudoscience concentrate at its most disingenuous, a manufactured word tangle that is the intellectual equivalent of canned Spam and a Jason Statham flick. She works in equivocal quotes from past intellectuals, many of whom would no doubt call high treason on their conscription here, and dresses up her conjectural detritus in sciencey-sounding language ripped straight from a Deepak Chopra meditation tape. As it turns out, weight management, food security, and global conflict and disease do not all and sundry yield before Byrne's transfinite law. Millionaires are not in tune with the universe. Negative thoughts don't land you in the unemployment line. And honesty has always been better medicine than bullshit.

Note: This review is republished from my official website. Click through for additional footnotes and imagery. ...more