The Secret
by Rhonda Byrne
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Book Reviews of The Secret
Book Review: I Preferred the DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
"The law of attraction is a law of nature. It is impersonal and it does not see good things or bad things. It is receiving your thoughts and reflecting back to you those thoughts as your life experience. The law of attraction simply gives you whatever it is you are thinking about." - From the book
Last night, my husband and I watched the DVD version of The Secret and were incredibly moved and inspired. However, I've written a separate review about The Secret DVD here at Amazon.com If you can't find my review here--it's quite buried--you can also read it at my website in the Reviews--DVDs section. THe direct URL is http://janetboyer.com/The_Secret_DVD.html.
An attractive book of 198-pages, The Secret is a deft compilation of direct quotes from the movie version, as well as some connecting thoughts provided by Ms. Byrne. The Secret, according to the author, provides the key to eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible. The Secret heralded discovery, advancement and prosperity through millennia, but was largely withheld from the public. Luminaries like Einstein, Jesus, Plato, Newton, Emerson, Lincoln, Ford--they all knew the secret and applied it accordingly.
So what's the secret? The law of attraction, which, as you probably know, is not new to anyone familiar with New Age/consciousness ideology. The Secret culls wise, practical insights from noted authors, teachers, and life-coaches that show readers how thoughts create reality. That is, what you think literally becomes your life. Every person, every disease, every relationship, every social situation--all are the result of the law of attraction. You cannot behold or experience *anything* that is not the result of your "vibration" magnetizing to a corresponding manifestation. Some of the exceptional contributors to The Secret include Michael Beckwith (founder of Agape International Spiritual Center often featured in What Is Enlightenment? Magazine), Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul series), Hale Dwoskin (The Sedona Method), John Gray (Mars and Venus), Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations With God), Fred Alan Wolf (Dr. Quantum), and many others.
Here are some compelling excerpts from The Secret:
"This is really fun. It's like having the Universe as your catalogue. You flip through it and say, `I'd like to have this experience and I'd like to have that product and I'd like to have a person like that.' It is You placing your order with the Universe. It's really that easy." - Dr. Joe Vitale
"When you visualize then you materialize. Here's an interesting thing about the mind: we took Olympic athletes and had them run their event only in their mind, and then hooked them up to sophisticated biofeedback equipment. Incredibly, the same muscles fired in the same sequence when they were running the race in their mind as when they were running it on the track. How could this be? Because the mind can't distinguish whether you're really doing it or whether it's just a practice. If you've been there in the mind, you'll go there in the body." - Dr. Dr. Denis Waitley
"There is no blackboard in the sky on which God as written your purpose, your mission in life...your purpose is what you say it is. Your mission is the mission you give yourself. Your life will be what you create it as, and no will stand in judgment of it, now or ever." - Neale Donald Walsch
Without exception, every contributor to The Secret offers transcendent yet usable wisdom for enhancing well-being. That is, except the author/editor herself. In my opinion, she basically ruined the book for me with two shallow, accusatory contributions that have no place in this incredible book. And, it's these kind of Western superficialities that have ruined law of attraction books for me in the past.
After being very "high" after watching the DVD, I decided to read the book. I was halfway through when I read this about weight loss, and received a deafening record scratch in my head:
"The most common thought that people hold, and I held it too, is that food was responsible for my weight gain. That is a belief that does not serve you, and in my mind now it is complete balderdash! Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your *thought* that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight....IF YOU SEE PEOPLE WHO ARE OVERWEIGHT, DO NOT OBSERVE THEM, BUT IMMEDIATELY SWITCH YOUR MIND TO THE PICTURE OF YOU IN YOUR PERFECT BODY AND FEEL IT" (caps mine for emphasis).
It is this kind of stupid, shallow, prejudicial comment that turns people off the law of attraction! She didn't need to include this inane section in the book, for the wisdom offered by the OTHER contributors clearly spelled out how to attract what you want, cultivate internal joy, radiate gratitude, and so on. What the author has done is what many New Agers (and religious leaders) have done: try to fault readers/disciples by throwing on some "New Age guilt" (as Joan Borysenko would say). This is not new. There were infirmed people in Jesus day and the judgmental, cruel religious leaders at the time--the Pharisees--wanted to know "Who sinned? The boy or his parents?" Jesus replied NEITHER--it was for the glory of God (because the child eventually became healed).
**And just in case you don't think this kind of attitude causes guilt and suffering in others, an 18 year old girl happened to write me the day I posted this review, blaming herself for her agoraphobia because of the Law of Attraction**
But what is perhaps more disturbing is that Ms. Byrne suggests "turning away" from the overweight and implies with her other comments that "fat thoughts" make "fat people"--and that thin is the ideal. Hello?! Fat/thin is a cultural thing. Go to Mexico and you'll find that roundedness is revered. During the 16th and 17th centuries, voluptuous, curved women were seen as ideal because it represented WEALTH. (Famed painter Peter Paul Rubens created breathtaking portraits of full figured women, which is where we get the term "Rubenesque".) Ms. Byrne's ignorance is a reflection of Western pop-culture that says stick thin is ideal (she thought 143 pounds was "fat"!). One could just as easily reason "A full figured woman doesn't think FAT thoughts--she thinks thoughts of ABUNDANCE!" It's all a matter of how you look at it--and how you feel about yourself. But this kind of prejudice--the only kind that is still perfectly acceptable in Western society--has no place in this book in my opinion. One could easily argue, according to the author's logic, that heroin chic is a reflection of thoughts of depravity, scarcity, and self-hatred!
She also states that those who experience widespread calamity (tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, famine, diseases like AIDS, etc.) experience it because they are "vibrating" in exact alignment with these disasters (such as thinking they could be in the wrong place at the wrong time). I'd like to see Ms. Byrne walk amidst the AIDS suffers in Africa or those in Louisiana who survived Hurricane Katrina and say those things. Oh, wait! That's right. According to her we shouldn't OBSERVE such nasty things. PuhLEEZE! Honey, you can vibrate at a high level, with love and compassion, and NOT be "negative"--and still offer solace, encouragement and aid. Hell, even Mother Theresa and her amazing work with the lepers was featured in the film! Duh! This kind of stupidity and coldness is what turns people off to the law of attraction. Maybe THAT is why more people "don't know about it", Ms. Byrne--because The Secret has been tainted by egos like yours instead of left alone to speak for itself! Maybe The Secret has not been hidden, only ignored, because of the chilling narcissism that gets thrown in the mix--contradicting the very wisdom traditions (like the New Testament) that you conveniently hijack to prove the law of attraction!
If Ms. Byrne hadn't contributed those ten or so pages to The Secret, the book would be excellent. How she comes across in those passages--how she "vibrates"--doesn't jive with the rest of the wonderfully sage, revolutionary, and compassionate revelations offered by the other contributors. So I'd recommend--VERY HIGHLY--that you get The Secret DVD instead. It isn't marred by stupidity, and is an utterly amazing work.
However, if you saw the DVD and want a handy reminder of much of the ideas shared in the movie, the book would be a great companion.
Note: If you'd like a more scientific and compassionate take on "thoughts creating reality", try The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart. If you're going through some rough times--death of a loved one, illness, emotional upheaval, etc.--I highly recommend Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? by Robert Schwartz.
And, I've received a LOT of comments on this review, with some people misunderstanding my comments about the weight issue. In her book A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are Byron Katie writes:
"People ARE perfect just the way they are, however deeply they're suffering, but they don't realize that yet. So when I meet someone who's suffering, I don't say, 'Oh, there's no problem, everything is perfect.' Though I can see that there's never a problem, and I'm available to help him see that, telling him what I see would be unkind. That part of my body is suffering, everything is NOT perfect for him, because he believes it's not. I, too, have been trapped in the torture chamber of the mind. I hear what he thinks he needs, I hear his sadness or despair, and I'm available. That's full-blown activisim."
This, dear readers, was my point.
Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)
Book Review: Nothing New Here...
Summary: 1 Stars
The Secret is a phenomenon. Since the book debuted late in 2006 it has sold over four million copies with some thirty other translations now available or underway. It is likely to become one of the best-selling self-help books of all time and is being constantly praised and endorsed by celebrities. Venture into your local bookstore or look around you while waiting at an airport, and you're bound to see people reading it and absorbing it. They will not just be people who consult astrologers and who listen to Tony Robbins tapes, but normal, average people like the ones who live next door to you. There are almost 1400 reviews of the book printed at Amazon with an average rating of 3.5 out of 5. The breakdown of those scores is interesting: fifty-two percent of them are 5-star, thirteen percent are 4-star and twenty-one percent are 1-star (Amazon does not allow a 0 rating). This means that the majority of people, the great majority even, believe in at least some aspects of the book's premise and teaching. They believe in the law of attraction.
The Secret began as a DVD. Rhonda Byrne had faced a particularly difficult time in life and came out of it only after she learned The Secret, which is her term for what is commonly known as the law of attraction. In gratitude she created a DVD presentation to share this knowledge and, having seen the remarkable success of this DVD (which has sold in excess of 1.5 million copies), she created a book by the same name. The claims are lofty: "There isn't a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, The Secret can give you whatever you want." Imagine that: the power to get absolutely anything. Who can resist that claim?
The law of attraction, which Byrne says is the most powerful law in the universe, states that people experience the logical manifestations of their predominant thoughts, feelings, and words. This gives people direct control over their lives. A person's thoughts (whether conscious or unconscious) and feelings bring about corresponding positive or negative manifestations. Positive thoughts bring about positive manifestations while negative thoughts bring about negative manifestations. The theory is very simple. Because it is an absolute law, the law of attraction will always respond to your thoughts no matter what they are. Thus your thoughts become things. You are the most powerful power in the universe simply because whatever you think about will come to be. You shape the world that exists around you. You shape your own life and destiny through the power of your mind.
The steps to utilizing this law in life are simple and supposedly founded upon the wisdom of Jesus as we read it in Matthew 21:22. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." The law of attraction demands only this:
1. Know what you want and ask the universe for it.
2. Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is on its way.
3. Be open to receiving it.
There are aspects of this law that are clearly attractive to the human heart. We all like to think that we have ultimate control over our lives and that we can have anything we want. We all want to control our destinies and to feel that the universe is at our beck and call--that it is a friendly force working with and not against us. This is, I am convinced, what draws people to the law of attraction.
But there are many areas in which The Secret has nothing to offer--in which the law of attraction as the most powerful law in the universe is simply an incomplete, irrational and even depressing answer. Allow me to suggest a few.
First, The Secret has no real ability to respond to the problem of human evil--surely the greatest problem anyone can face. Byrne admits that people's first thoughts, when they hear of the law, is to think of times where masses of people lost their lives. According to the law of attraction, these people were necessarily on the same frequency as the event that took their lives. They may not have had thoughts of the event, but somehow their negative thoughts drew them into it. But this simply does not prove a satisfying answer to the world's problems. Does this not mean that the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust were ultimately responsible for thinking negative thoughts that summoned this even to them? Does it not force us to believe that the people who died when the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11 were responsible for calling this negative situation to themselves? Does it not mean that a young girl is ultimately responsible for the years of sexual abuse her father imposed upon her? The Secret offers nothing to these people but the understanding that their suffering is somehow their own fault. When we look at The Secret as the law that can bring you anything you want it has a clear attraction; when we look at it from the perspective of one who has suffered, it is clearly flawed.
Second, the law works itself out in ways that are breathtaking for their selfishness. For example, Byrne warns against listening to people speak about their illnesses or problems lest you begin to think negative thoughts and begin to manifest the negative consequences in your own life. She warns against sacrifice, either financial or personal, saying that sacrifice makes you prove your belief in lack rather than in abundance. She tells you to always place yourself first and to always look out for your own interests ahead of anyone else's. She puts you in the place of God, as the one who stands at the center of the universe. The law of attraction continues in logical progression until it arrives at the inevitable end result of ascribing divinity to humanity.
The earth turns on its orbit for You. The oceans ebb and flow for You. The birds sing for You. The sun rises and it sets for You. The stars come out for You. Every beautiful thing you see, every wondrous thing you experience, is all there, for You. Take a look around. None of it can exist, without You. No matter who you thought you were, now you know the Truth of Who You Really Are. You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life. And now you know The Secret.
She goes on: "You are God in 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." The law offers no higher power than yourself. This makes me wonder: what would the world look like if everyone followed The Secret and devoted themselves primarily to their own interests, forsaking compassion and sacrifice and other "negative" elements of life?
Third, the law, at least insofar as it is described in this book, makes no allowance for what happens when desires clash. What happens when two people set their thoughts on the same thing? While I understand that the universe offers infinite opportunities, can two people equally have the same thing? What happens when what one person wants is harmful to another person? What if one person's pleasure is another person's pain? If the law of attraction is the highest law in the universe, it must be that there is nothing to govern such cases.
Finally, the law also works in ways that defy both common sense and human experience. For example, when considering weight loss Byrne makes the unbelievable claim that food can only make you fat if you think it can make you fat. If you determine that food is unable to make you gain weight, you can eat as much as you want and never gain wait or suffer any ill effects. When considering health she suggests that we can heal ourselves of any affliction simply through the power of our minds. Interestingly, The Secret has been championed by Oprah Winfrey who offers her own life as testimony to the power of the law of attraction. The week after Oprah's endorsement sales of The Secret jumped from 18,000 to 101,000. The week after a second endorsement sales rose to 190,000. Winfrey has since had to soften her enthusiasm as people were following the book's advice to the extent that they were forgoing medical treatment, believing in the power of their thoughts to heal themselves. Doctors were unimpressed, as were the diseases and disorders which did not respond to the mind's attempts to destroy them. Byrne even says that the law of attraction can grant immortality. Yet the people who teach this law seem to be aging at the same rate as the rest of us.
As I read The Secret it occurred to me that if the Bible were a product of human minds it would undoubtedly resemble something like this: a celebration of humanity, a portrayal of humans as divine, and probably the most idolatrous thing I've ever read. Within the Bible, in the first chapter of the book of Romans, God addresses this desperate desire to rid ourselves of God's claim to our lives. "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts...because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." And amen. The Secret claims to be able to give us everything we could ever want. Yet it can't even address the fundamental problems of human nature. It represents only the latest in a long line of attempts to revoke God that has continued since the first man turned his back on His Creator. There's nothing new here but the fancy, twenty-first century packaging.
Book Review: Another perspective.....
Summary: 2 Stars
Undoubtedly according to the world's wisdom traditions there is a lot to be said for the power of positive thinking. Indeed, according to the Dhammapada (ancient Buddhist text), everything arises with intention and thought. However.... I think that reality might be a bit more complex than the way it is presented in this book. Ditto... for the nature of the self as presented in the text I just quoted.
While I agree that positive thinking and taking responsibility for our feelings, thoughts and outcomes is wise and largely validated by the effectiveness of such things as cognitive therapy, it doesn't take into account other people's free will, random happenings, etc. In short, I find this to be an overly simplistic, but perhaps well-intentioned guide to manifesting various realities (e.g. money) in your life.
I think something that would be more credible is a theory that takes into account the possiblity that reality might be "co-created." For example, did my personal thinking cause the war in Iraq. No, I believe this resulted from the sum of the intentions of many people all in very complex types of interrelationship. Also, what about intersubjectivity? Clearly, for love to be, there must be an "other" and somehow something new arises in an intersubjective relationship that is more than the sum of the parts. If this is the case, then it would seem that this book and its concepts leans very heavily toward a narcisstic self-importance sometimes bordering on magical or at least mythical thinking.
It is clear enough that positive expectations, loving thoughts, taking on multiple perspectives and keeping a positive attitude even in adversity is good for health, stress relief, etc. However, it doesn't logically follow that this ALONE is sufficient to bring about whatever you want to make happen. If this is so, then there would be many grateful overnight millionaires writing to endorse this book. The point I'm making is that MANY things are under our control, but some things clearly are not. For example, did a newborn who contracted AIDS or a crack addiction cause that via their negative thinking? Perhaps, if you extrapolate the concepts presented here to a past life. However, what if this isn't true?!
On the other hand, I do believe that we all participate in reality. We individually and collectively create or at least shape reality. Also, any theory or idea exists in someone's mind or consciousness first. Even observations effect experiments as we know from quantum physics. There is also an interior to a society i.e. its values and culture. Certainly, this collective has an influence on the external world. I think we saw this with the rise of patriarchy and the steps forward with the feminist movement, civils rights movement, etc.
Again... I think a highly realized being has the power to lift those around them. However, even Gandhi didn't stop what was happening in India around the time and immediately after his death. He certainly had a powerful influence, but not an absolute one. For someone like Jesus, maybe this control is absolute, but I don't believe it is for the majority of us. If it is, then perhaps the author would like to stand on some train tracks and see if they could will the train to stop or to walk away without injury.
While I see a lot of merit in promoting positive thinking, I think this book represents a naive oversimplification as I asserted above. At the same time, I can see where its concepts would be beneficial to many readers as a good starting point for changing their lives. However, a more comprehensive model such as Ken Wilber's might be even more useful as described in Kosmic Consciousness or a A Brief History of Everything.
Some of the editorial reviews pointed out that this is a New Age type of book. I certainly agree with this point, but what do we mean by New Age. What I mean by New Age in this review is an attempt to reduce and ineffable reality to something that could be comprehended and completely controlled by the human mind. I also consider in SOME CASES to be reduction of interiors or subjectivity to the deepest levels of physical reality i.e. quantum physics, depth ecology, etc. This is still just the study of ever smaller and more complex surfaces, often without any recognition of the possiblity of something higher in an ontological sense e.g. soul, spirit or whatever. (I also acknowledge that there are many excellent New Age publications that are much more thoughtful, better written and more sophisticated.)
Lots of New Age material is spiritual and recognizes spirit, but some does not. Others identify the highest reaches of spirit with nature mysticism, shamanism, etc. Could really be more complex? Many philosophers, theologians and poets certainly seem to think so. Is it possible that a human being contemplating the way things work is somewhat like an ant contemplating the complexity of the human nervous system?
I am also suspicious of a book that focuses heavily on material success as a major handbook on the nature of reality. I would suspect that someone that had the "secret" would be occupied with more elevated concerns such as stopping wars, ending poverty, etc. While I do feel thinking, visualizing and having meaningful goals you believe in will carry you far toward your goals... chance and other people may play a role too. I don't really think other people are simply pawns that are moved by our will into place almost like characters on a stage.
On the other hand, I think it is possible to transcend relative reality (the world we see) to various degrees depending upon our development and ability to love. This appears to be in contradiction with the strong emphasis on wealth creation and accumulating "stuff" whether of a material, special realtionship or even spiritual nature. Yes... I believe there is such a thing as spiritual materialism and I think some people bypass necessary growth of consciousness and transfer their ego attachment with possessions to non-material possessions. I also believe that highly realized being can influence reality more than the rest of us.
I rated the book a two because it's somewhat entertaining and food for thought. For people who are not primarily oriented toward philosophy, it can certainly prompt them to think deeply about the important questions of life.
One of the spotlight reviews mentioned Man's Search for Meaning as a more in-depth look at the human condition. I agree with this recommendation and I would also suggest the other book mentioned by this reviewer.
A last point I would like to "call out" is what do we mean by the "I" that is manifesting all of this stuff? Is it the ego or something else? If it is something else, is it part of a larger whole perhaps connected to it by love? Again... the world's wisdom traditions seem to think this is the case. If so, then it would appear a surrendering to something larger than our immediate wants, gratification of our ego desires and that transcends the boundaries of the everyday self may have more explanatory power and be a more accurate reflection of reality. Aren't we all connected in some way? Many philosophers/theologians/sages seem to think we are part of a larger whole as a wave is part of the ocean or an eddy is part of a whole stream. If this is true, then aligning with the movement of the whole and not identifying so strongly with the part would make more sense to me than what is presented here. In this book, it seems like the logic is reversed i.e. the whole will align or should align with my ego. Again... very narcisstic.
Finally, I think Rhonda Byrne should have manifested a better developmental editor or helper in terms of organization, careful research, etc. It is bad enough that the content has many shortcoming and blindspots, at minimum I think it could have been written and organized much better. I suppose the author was more interested in manifesting $$$$ than a quality piece of work, but that is just an assumption. If the examples given in the book are an indication, I think that they speak volumes about her intentions in writing it. It would be interesting to do a count of the sentences that reference power, money, sex or other superficial topics against meaty content and more elevated outcomes of her approach such as ending the War in Iraq, feeding the poor, etc. With respect to illness, even great sages died of cancer, horrible diseases, etc. Is it possible that Rhonda has a deeper understanding than these folks who have said some similar things in a meaningful context that allowed them to be interpreted as all languages are correctly? This book lifts many good ideas out of context and seems to take moving water and try to put it in a bucket. It just doesn't hang together.... but I think it did manifest a good stream of revenue for the author and publisher. I seriously doubt, however, if it will replace good planning, hard work, loving-kindness, equanimity and a deep understanding of a reality that is beyond words and concepts.
Book Review: Wise Words - But Use Wisely
Summary: 4 Stars
I have very mixed feelings about The Secret. I think this book can be an amazing catalyst for change and growth for certain people. I also think it can spell huge disaster for others.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. The book uses quotes from many famous people throughout history to say that if you want something - just BELIEVE you have it with all your heart and you will get it. Don't "want" it or dream about someday having it - instead, believe with every fiber of your being that it already is yours. If you want to go on a cruise, act as if you already have the tickets. Don't go around saying "I can't afford that" - believe in your heart that you can afford it.
I think most of us can see the problem here. If you have an instant gratification personality, you will easily believe these things - and go max out your credit card. You will honestly believe you CAN afford these things, that you WILL have money soon to cover all your bills, then bankrupt yourself and destroy your life. I know people who have done that.
Rhonda applies the Secret to health and weather too. So if you simply believe your cancer is going away, it will. I am ALL for positive attitude (and I'll get into that later) but what if your chosen belief is "I will beat this cancer completely naturally, without medicine"? We have seen in the news families who believed 100% with all their heart that God would heal them - and the child died. Someone who believes with all their heart "My ex will come back to me!" might waste their life away - bypassing wonderful men - because of that incorrect belief.
So yes, this book can certainly be mis-used by people who do not apply its words wisely. But you could probably say that about anything. People out there lose lots of weight on low carb diets - and then some people think it means "eat only steak and nothing else" and do poorly. Any system can be followed properly or badly.
What is the GOOD about this book? There is a lot of good in here. Many of the basics of other books and religions are covered. To summarize - start with a quiet mind, meditation and calmness to think about what you want. "You must feel good about You. This is important." Really focus on what you have now and honestly enjoy it - feel gratitude for the good things already in your life. Focus on positive goals - instead of thinking "I have to get out of this debt" focus on "I will be financially stable." Help out others around you - not as a "sacrifice" of your time and money, but because you honestly enjoy doing it. Learn to enjoy your own company, to be happy with who you are. Only you can make yourself happy - not others, not possessions. As for the past, "Let it all go no matter what it is. Do it for you."
You might think some of these things are cliche, but they are all SO true. There's a reason the concepts show up in book after book. They are critical to long term contentment. Maybe it takes some people 4 or 5 readings before it starts to sink in. If that's the case, The Secret does its job to help keep emphasizing these points.
To remind people that this wisdom is ancient, Rhonda adds in quotes from many well known personalities.
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right." -- Henry Ford.
"All that we are is a result of what we have thought." -- Buddha
Rhonda talks about the placebo effect - something we all know about. In studies, lots of people react just as well to a sugar pill as they do to real medicine! They believe so strongly that they are going to get better that they really do. Our bodies are rather powerful healing machines. If we honestly believe a bracelet will reduce our stress, we will begin to relax - and our stress really will lessen!
So I do believe wholeheartedly in the underlying message of this book. It is important to appreciate what you have in life, and to find contentment in it before you start reaching for your goals. It is important to have goals, and to focus and strive towards them with healthy energy. Rather than being jealous of others, realize how many others don't have what you do now. Rather than live your life full of stress - which causes numerous health problems - find a way to lead it as relaxed and content as you can.
The Chicken Soup author explains succinctly how this all helps. When he first wrote his book, he was stuck on what to do with it - and he was extremely poor. But he made it his focus to get the book to sell. Once he was focused, he started noticing things around him that he might otherwise have not paid attention to. Because he was actively thinking all the time about selling the book, and talking about it, he was able to make contacts and arrangements and the book became a top seller. If instead he had just sat in his house, watching TV, never thinking about his book, it's unlikely it would have gone anywhere.
This brings up one of my concerns again. Much of the book talks about the process "working itself" without ANY input from you. The book talks about simply "placing an order" with the Universe and then waiting for it to happen. That reminds me of the Joplin song "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedez Benz? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends!" There's also the classic joke of a devout parishioner who prays every day to win the lottery. Finally God's voice booms out, saying "buy a lottery ticket!!"
Now, I realize WHY Rhonda wrote it this way. People really do honestly need to believe their goal is achievable. If they get stressed out and wound up in the "How"s, they might never start. They just need to believe they WILL get a better job and then start working on the task every day. They can figure it out as they go. There are one or two SMALL comments in the book about "Inspired action will not feel like work at all". The point is when you're working towards a goal you honestly love and adore, anything you do towards that path will be thrilling. Sort of like working in a Broadway Theater as an understudy - this might be a fantastically amazing experience for someone who has always dreamed of being a Broadway star. Yes, they are "just" an understudy and not the star, but this is a step on the path and inherently fantastic in and of itself.
So I agree with her that getting people to focus on their goal is a good thing. I wish there had been more caveats of "you need to work on it every day, not just lounge on your couch watching TV and eating bon-bons and waiting for the world to give you millions". But I also understand that many people have to start slowly. They have to even acknowledge that there is a chance for them, to have the ability to dream. The Secret gets them started.
This brings me to another point. Nowhere in The Secret does she talk at all about priorities. Deciding your priorities is SO important before you start heading towards goals. What if your goal is a big house - when really what you want is a happy family? What if you get that big house and now you never see your family members because they're all off in a different part of the house, and you're sad and miserable? Goals should *always* spring from core priorities in your life. The book almost drives home a message of "be a millionaire with a mansion and a yacht! Grab grab grab!" That concerns me a lot. Again, maybe if she "cluttered" up the message with priorities and planning a lot of people would think it was too much work and not bother. But I really wish she had a chapter on healthy priorities, all the same.
So The Secret should be taken in conjunction with other books that DO go into priority setting and non-complaining, to help provide the tools to achieve your dreams. I do think The Secret is a valuable part of that library, though. Its core message is straightforward and completely true. Wake up each morning feeling grateful for what you have, and positive about your opportunities for the day. Help out others around you, and focus on your goals. Feel good about yourself. Instead of complaining about your past and problems, be enthusiastic about your dreams and future. It really can make a HUGE difference in your life, one step at a time.
Book Review: A book for losers
Summary: 1 Stars
1. Bogus metaphysics, bogus science:
The Secret pretends it's a book about winners and how they win. It isn't. That's just the come-on. It's actually a happy make-believe feelgood book for losers.
Positive thinking is a powerful force, but it isn't magic. It's more like a necessary precondition to success: people who believe they can succeed are far more likely to succeed than people who are sure they'll fail.
For instance, say they're starting a new business, and they run into some big problem. The person who thinks in terms of success will say "Gosh, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get around this problem if I'm going to be successful." Then they get to work on figuring it out. The person who thinks in terms of failure will say, "I knew it was only a matter of time before the universe screwed me over -- I can never catch a break," and gives up trying.
Very important point: in both cases, positive or negative thinking didn't affect the universe. What it did was affect the way the people made decisions and addressed their problems in the real world.
That's the difference between a genuinely useful and valuable book like Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking, and the pile of steaming tripe that is The Secret. Peale's book tells you that positive thinking is the best starting point for getting what you want. The Secret says that positive thinking is enough all by itself. It dresses its idea up in bogus pseudo-scientific language, but essentially what it's saying is that positive thinking is magic.
That's premium-grade hogwash. Positive thinking isn't magic. Thoughts are not magnets. There is no Law of Attraction, no primal universal force that makes the events in our lives match the way we think about our lives. Positive thinking is a good mindset for making good decisions about the actions we take, but it's the actions that have the effect, not the thoughts.
That's why The Secret is a feelgood book for losers.
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2. Some real-world implications:
If Rhonda Byrne's advice were any good, neither she nor her publisher would have to publicize her book. They'd just think the right thoughts, and readers everywhere would automatically be moved to pick up a copy.
People cycling through the manic phase of manic-depressive bipolar disorder would be such a nexus of inventiveness, serendipitous insight, and luck, that major corporations would bid on their services.
No baseball game could ever end as long as the fans on both sides believed victory was possible.
We'd never run out of petroleum.
Average global income would be far more evenly distributed than it is. After all, anyone can hope. Anyone anywhere can think good thoughts.
Alternately, there could be Third World sweatshops available to do our believing for us.
Finally, if Rhonda Byrne's advice were any good, the Evil Overlord list wouldn't include the observation that an Evil Overlord who shouts "I AM INVINCIBLE!" is a sure bet to die almost immediately afterward.
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3. Fraudulent provenance:
If thinking the right thoughts really could do what The Secret claims, that fact could never stay a secret. Everyone has people they love; and because they love them, they want them to be happy and successful. If they learned an infallible secret for attaining power, wealth, and success, they'd pass it on to those they loved so that they could be happy too. Those people would tell others, and so the knowledge would spread. Soon it wouldn't be a secret any more. After that, people would start preaching it from the rooftops, and carving it into the sides of buildings.
Let's limit it to children. Can you imagine withholding such a secret from your own children? Could you keep silent while you watched them lead frustrated and impoverished lives, or died from conditions you knew how to cure? That's not believable.
Now, genealogists will tell you as a rule of thumb that everyone with European ancestry is descended from Charlemagne, who lived from 742 to 814 AD. That is: if Charlemagne knew this secret knowledge, and he only told his children about it, and they only told their children, and so forth and so on, by now half the world would know it. Yet author Rhonda Byrne says the Greek Philosophers and the Ancient Egyptians had this knowledge. The Greek Philosophers lived about 1,100 years earlier than Charlemagne, and the Ancient Egyptians lived more than three thousand years earlier. It's ridiculous to imagine that a simple, basic, easy-to-apply, and yet overwhelmingly powerful universal principle could stay a secret for even a fraction of that time.
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4. Further real-world implications:
If what Rhonda Byrne says in The Secret were true, Las Vegas wouldn't exist. People don't place bets they think are going to lose. Gamblers are powerfully into positive thinking. Someone who's betting heavily while drawing to an inside straight is unquestionably visualizing success, and they're telling the universe exactly what form they want it to take. They nevertheless fail to fill their straights at exactly the rate predicted by plain old statistical probability -- that is, most of the time.
Positive thinking is all around us. New restaurants, new breakfast cereals, new television shows, and new political candidacies expect success. No one throws their heart into studying ballet from age six onward because they envision themselves having the wrong adult body type and winding up teaching tap and jazz to children in some dull but affluent suburb. The world is full of unemployed theatre majors, unpublished writers, unsuccessful beauty pageant contestants, unheard-of musical acts, and college athletes who never make the big time. None of them got there by thinking they wouldn't succeed.
If Rhonda Byrne's advice were any good, no singer would ever hit a wrong note. That goes double for singers who are drunk.
I know other reviewers have already covered the implications of The Secret's suggestion that misfortunes are caused by our own negative thoughts. Still, I have to say: NO KIDDING? SOMEBODY PHONE DARFUR NOW!
And while we're waiting for that phone connection: no kidding? Insanely bad high-level decisionmaking, failures of oversight, and a grossly irresponsible pursuit of deregulation for its own sake had nothing to do with our lives getting zapped by a collapsing economy? Look at Enron's employees and stockholders. They didn't expect to get screwed. New Orleans residents who didn't have cars never envisioned themselves drowning in their own attics. Homeowners with subprime mortgages never imagined they'd wind up in foreclosure.
Are we to understand that some families have an inexplicable tendency to attract the same ailment, generation after generation? How is it possible for devout Christian Scientists to die of cancer or eclampsia or ketoacidosis? If a guy in his late 50s has been in denial about his radiating chest pains for the last ten or twelve hours, and the first thing he says when the EMTs come through his door is "I'm not having a heart attack," has his attitude improved or decreased his chances of surviving the episode?
If I worry about drunk drivers, and then some night I get t-boned at 60 mph by an irresponsible lush with a DUI record as long as my arm, is the accident actually my fault because I had all those negative worries? If I've got a cheerful toddler with me, who's responsible for her death? If I kneecap Rhonda Byrne, and set fire to the warehouse where her books are waiting to ship, will she apologize to me for thinking thoughts that obliged me to do it?
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5. In conclusion:
I swear, I've never had any thoughts that warranted the existence of this book.