My comments on criticism of The Secret

I wrote this initially as a comment to a criticism of The Secret on a website -

http://www.gay.com/news/roundups/package.html?sernum=3874&navpath=/channels/news/opinion/

But then I sort of decided to make it my next blog (smile), since many people are asking me about MY OWN beliefs related to the Secret and Law of Attraction.


I would begin my addition to this article by asking a question.

Everything we had and use as consumers and human, (televisions, clothing, IPODs, PCs, microwave ovens, cupcakes, toothpaste, planes, cars, skateboards, cartoons, etc. . . all began where?

Answer: as a thought in someone's mind.

What the people who criticize "The secret" have overlooked is that the secret does in fact endorse more than just thinking... there is ACTION also required.

For example from the book and DVD:
Jack Canefield, the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, said that he wanted to make more money but had no idea how. So he employed the secret's techniques and had a "million dollar" idea.

He had the idea to sell his book which had been sitting there unpublished. So he had an idea that if he could get "x" number of people to buy it, he would have his desired income increase. As a result of having that idea, he then had a second idea to get the Enquirer to advertise his book. Again he did not know how but he went about his regular activities. He gave a lecture at a college in New York and was approached by a reporter who worked freelance for the Enquirer. So it began as an idea (thought) and had he not sought for more ideas (the Enquirer) and had he not taken opportunities (the lecture) he would not have had secondary opportunities (the interview) which then connected him to the right avenues to manifest his initial goal.
Had he not ACTED upon the initial idea of sell the book, he would not have had a best selling
book on the shelves.


Everything we do begins as a thought first...

The clothing you put on and buy started as a thought, you decided to buy them.
The food you buy and eat, started as a thought in your mind that you then acted upon and bought and ate.

The thing is most of us are so unaware of what we are thinking that we do not realize the power of our thoughts.

Many people do not get promotions at work because in their mind they have already said some negative comment such as, "I know I won't get the promotion."

Our minds are filled with so much negative self talk it is amazing we ever get out of bed.

We talk about how we look and act and we are good at criticizing others looks and actions.

How can you honestly be moving in a direction of abundance when you are thinking lack?
How can you honestly get thin if you constantly think fat?
How can you honestly be free when you think victim?
Let me go on a tangent for a sec. based on the comment from the criticism about "simplistic" thought.

While there is a lot of stuff in the Secret that comes across simplistic, what each of us must understand is that there are things that work for one person that will not work for another in the exact same way.

And most importantly the ideas behind the Secret really are that simple to use.
Yes that one woman in the film talked about curing cancer by thinking healed and by filling her being with joy and laughter (similar to what the AATH - The Association for Applied and
Therapeutic Humor advise. Think Norman Cousins and Patch Adams and read "Good Health is a Laughing Matter by Patty Wooten, RN, BSN in the book HUMOR US) however the film does NOT say that is what all of us should do.
It is telling us about HER particular level of healing. The medical research is filled with a plethora of "miracles."

Let's look at a more "common" miracle that you may relate to better.

A young man falls in horse riding accident and is paralyzed. Initially, he goes through the gamut of why me, I don't want to live any more, and several other self pitying commentaries. However, at one point he "changed his mind" and decided to stop "thinking" like a victim.
Once he made that conscious choice to change how he thought about being paralyzed, he began to ACT.

From his actions, he became a national spokesperson, he returned to acting, wrote a book and became a role model for millions of paralyzed AND able-bodied humans worldwide!
Christopher Reeve, changed not only his world by changing his perceptions, changing his attitude, changing his mind, through his thoughts OUR world also changed. . .The is a MIRACLE!


Gandhi, through his choice, decision (that is a thought) to liberate a nation decided to have a non-violent protest. Through his attitude which then became action as he went on a hunger strike, eventually brought about what he sought to bring about. As did Martin Luther King Jr.'s involvement in the civil rights movement, starting with a woman's decision not to sit in the back of the bus, a bus boycott, a march, etc. A world was changed. (note: the civil right movement was the predecessor to all other civil rights movements - women's rights, gay rights, animal rights, and more)

But all of that began as a thought and idea in someone's mind, who then took action.
What is a victim mentality?

We have heard the phrase and even used the phrase. But how many of us have really thought about what it means - It is carrying yourself as a victim; to present yourself as a victim.
When thieves, rapists, muggers, and the like are looking for easy marks, they look for the ones that carry themselves as victims.

Self defense classes teach people several things but one is to end the victim mentality.

"Victims" think and thus act in ways that non-victims think and act.

Now I can hear you already commenting about people attracting attacks.
Like one person mentioned the slaves, the Jews, 9-11, even the war in Iraq.
You ask how could someone attract that to themselves?

Let's look at it on the most base level. . .(as I understand it)

We are at war because we "think" of them as the enemy.
We "think" the enemy needs to be eradicated.
We "think" we must help the people there establish democracy.
We "think" all sorts of things... including we at one time "thought" weapons of mass destruction were going to be found.

Based upon all of those thoughts.. we ACTED in a particular manner. Those actions then precipitated more thoughts and more actions that lead to war.

But it started as a thought.

Men and women join the military for various reasons, but all of those reasons are in their minds.
So in some respect they DID in fact attract the situation that placed them in a war.
Now this is very touchy grounds, I have lost friends in the war and have family and other friends there now but that does not change the fact that on some level they are there due to their thoughts, their choices and decisions.

Ok so what about the African slaves and Jews?

Mass or group consciousness exists. We in the present day cannot suppose / presuppose the exact mental states of those people however, based upon the group consciousness we as Americans have today in terms of our fear of terrorism we make ourselves more vulnerably by giving thoughts of attack so much power. We have a victim mentality when it comes to terrorism, the economy, and more.

The person who buys extra locks for the doors, security windows, and alarm systems, is setting themselves up for invasion. It is only a matter of time before the very thing they fear presents itself at the door.

I would venture to say that the Africans who became slaves as well as the Jews, gypsies, blacks, and homosexuals who were victims of the holocaust on some level were thinking victims. If nothing else due to fear, they were victims. Why would people "willingly" allow themselves to be uprooted and killed, except by their fears?

Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D, famous psychologist and survivor of the Holocaust created logotherapy and in his book "man's search for meaning" talks bout how he one day changed his mind and in changing his mind, changed his entire holocaust experience. He was no longer the victim he was when he went in.

He realized that even in the most horrific, painful, and dehumanizing of situations, life has potential meaning and that therefore even suffering is meaningful. But you have to change your mind about the situation.

So you see I am not making this up because I support or believe in the Secret. People who have themselves lived through these events have themselves said, the change of mind changed their lives, their experiences.

Rather than seeing the Secret as magic, witchcraft, hocus pocus, wishful thinking, or other simplistic points of view.. see it for what it is.

Your thoughts are the seeds you plant in the garden of your life.

If you plant apple seeds, do you grow oranges? No!

Therefore, if you want to grow oranges, you must plant orange seeds.

In life if you want to be healthy (or as healthy as you possibly can) you have to think of health and then act on those thoughts.

If you want to be wealthy, then think of abundance and act in ways that will acknowledge the abundance you already have and you will attract more.

Many of us have become so lazy and apathetic that we cannot see how blessed and fortunate we are.

If you look at people in several other countries who do not have clean water to drink, why do we feel poor and begin complaining because we can't buy a plasma TV?

We complain about the food we have when we throw away more in a day than some countries have to eat in a year.


Focus on what you HAVE, focus on what you WANT, focus on GRATITUDE and by default you will grow in the garden of your life the very things you have planted.


Last note:
Like any good farmer or gardener will also tell you, you do not simply toss the seeds to the ground.

You must till the soil, plant the seeds and then care for them.

That is part of the action many seem to miss.

Once you have thought the thought, you must tend to it, nurture it, and as a result of that it will grow.

You do not plant a seed for grapes and see a fully producing grape vine the next day, do you?
You plant, tend, wait, and keep tending UNTIL the vines begin to grow.

Once they begin to grow, you don't stop tending; you prune as needed and you begin to put up a structure upon which the vines will grow. Then in due time the grapes grow and ripen and are ready to be eaten.

HOWEVER, if your goal is a fine wine. . . the process is still just beginning!

"ASK" for/ Think about / Say what you WANT
"BELIEVE" that you can get it, have it, do it
"RECEIVE" the plant even before it grows

Farmers do not plant crops all the while thinking and saying, this will never grow otherwise whey would they even be planting them?

They plant "KNOWING" crops WILL come.


Be the change you want to see happen in the world.
**Gandhi

http://www.whatisthesecret.tv