Where does The Secret get it right? Part 4

I’ve heard it said different in different ways: The person you become is easily predicted by the books you read, the people you associate with, the media you consume. The sources we allow access to our minds without the filters up (should we ever allow uncritical access?) shape us.

Why does a book, highlighted by Oprah, become a best seller? Because she is an influencer, second to pretty well no one in the world today. People respect her, and believe that her opinion is right. Whether you and I agree with her or not is irrelevant; many do, and so her opinions become their opinions.

Whose opinion do you believe is right, just because it’s their opinion? Your parent’s? Best friend’s? Some spiritual leader’s or author’s, your horoscope, a celebrity’s? What if they’re wrong? What you and I think is the result of who and what we have allowed in. And what we think is a huge piece of who we are.
It takes a lot of mental energy to dig in and develop our own opinions rather than just uncritically adopting the opinions and convictions of others. In fact, to be honest, all of us have synthesized opinions which are based on our life context, including the views of others, with greater or lesser portions of original thought injected into the mix.

So, again, I agree with The Secret that what we think is huge. But ironically, many have adopted the book wholesale without actually thinking for themselves.

Where does The Secret get it right? Part 3

While I don't buy the idea that your thoughts explain everything about you and that they bring every good or bad event into your life, which is what The Secret teaches, who can help but agree with the idea that what we think is very, very important?

Your thinking doesn’t explain everything that goes on in your life or in the world- even if your thoughts affect things, hopefully there’s someone else out there thinking besides you and also affecting reality, so it's not all you- but your thinking does explain a lot about you and me and it truly shapes us in some measure.

What you believe affects the decisions you make, which brings about the outcomes you experience. It is not 100% cause and effect, there are other factors besides your thinking, but there is a link between our thoughts and our experiences. Even the Big Black Book says that transformation takes place via the renewing of your mind.

So, Secret people, I agree, what you think is important. It’s not the whole deal, but it is a big part of our lives.

Where does The Secret get it right? Part 2

In addition to gratitude, there is an emphasis on giving and generosity in The Secret. I have no problem affirming those ideas!

However, the motive for both giving and gratitude is that you send out positive vibes into the universe so that you attract more of those things for which you are grateful.

Sounds kinda familiar...

Oh yeah! "Send me your $100 and I'll pray for you and God will give you ten times as much!" TV preacher, circa 1987, 1997, 2007. We refer to them as "health and wealth" preachers, or "name it and claim it."

Soooo, The Secret is kinda like health and wealth, without Jesus or the church...?

Oh yeah, I'm writing about things I can affirm.

There are other little things I like such as focusing on the good in others and praising others. Parents and workplace supervisors could benefit from that advice to catch people doing things right.

But The Secret is ultimately about a way of thinking... Stay tuned.

Where does The Secret get it right?

As I said last time, when I read something I look for things I can affirm, things I need to challenge, and things I need to research more.

I found surprisingly little in The Secret that I could affirm, but I did find a bit.

First of all, there is an emphasis on the importance of gratitude. I've often suggested that we cancel Christmas every second year and just focus on Thanksgiving because gratitude is one of the world's great needs. Some overly religious, sentimental types wail and gnash their teeth at the suggestion, but I think we might be better off for it, though every two years there would be a rash of retail stores going out of business.

Anyway, gratitude is presented as the most important part of The Secret. It says “love and gratitude can dissolve any disease.” Well, I don’t know about "any disease," but there is strong evidence that gratitude strengthens us physically, much like humour.

There are a couple glitches in the teaching on gratitude in The Secret: It’s not really clear who you are supposed to be grateful to. Everything is supposedly the result of your thoughts. So if things are good, well then, you are the one you should be grateful to. Kinda arrogant. Unless of course you really are God.

What's the Big Secret?!?

Earlier this year, when The Secret was all over the place, I went down to Chapters to pick up a copy. They were all out. The clerk said that every time it hit Oprah there was a rush at the store within an hour and it sold out every time. So I grabbed the DVD, watched, then later read the book and realized the two overlapped 90% or more.

As I began to dig into The Secret I expected that I would have to filter out some things, that there would be the usual mix of truth and falsehood and speculation that are found in most books. In fact, when I read a book, any book, my pattern to is to look for 1) things to affirm, 2) things to challenge, and 3) things to research further. Because The Secret was so big, so popular among people I know and respect, I was especially interested in finding things to affirm, things I could agree with as a means of dialogue and building our relationship.

But when I viewed the DVD and read the book I was shocked. And what shocked me was how little I could affirm. I was stunned by the generalizations, half truths, outright untruths. I was surprised at the audacity of pretending it simply summarized what all the great religions and all the great teachers have always taught. (Did you catch the triple generalization?)

I'll begin to unpack my reactions more fully in the next post.