Debunking the Secret - Why You Don't Need to Waste Your Money
Secrets of the Secret Revealed
The Secret claims to reveal an age-old, and tried and true secret of how to achieve health, wealth, love, happiness, and anything and everything else you might want.
The book and the movie both claim to piece together not just the secret but "The Great Secret" that has been right before our eyes, in our literature books, our religions, our philosophies, and in our past. According to The Secret, the secret itself has beenresponsible for our cultural advancements, and was known and practiced by people like Plato, Jesus, Newton, and Einstein an many others.
Oh, and The Secret will "change your life."
The book, the DVD and the online movie all claim that The Secret was purposefully kept a secret. Until now that is.
Secrets of The Secret Revealed
# 1 Secret of The Secret Revealed: You already have this secret power.
The concept that you, as an individual, already have the power within you to create the life you want is really no secret at all. If you believe at all in yourself, your abilities, your skill, you education, or wherever your personal strengths lie, then you know that you can change your life.
Even Glenda the Good Witch told us that in The Wizard of Oz, when she told Dorothy that she always had the power in her to go home.
#2 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret is a mixed up bag of new age pop philosophies.
The Secret draws on such a broad base of philosophies, old and new, that it is no wonder it seems to ring true with people. The same concepts can be found in The Bible, in the works of Deepak Chopra, and many other new age writers and motivational speakers.
#3 Secret of The Secret Revealed: Everyone quoted in The Secret has something to sell, not to teach.
The most revealing aspect of The Secret is that most of the living people quoted all have something to sell. According to the publisher, the book draws on "wisdom from modern-day teachers." These savvy self-promoters are put behind the literal podium as teachers, but many also have products to sell you.
#4 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret is a self-help book.
The Secret is not a get rich quick business success book. It is a self-help book.
#5 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret is really about "The Law of Attraction"
The Secret is a new age philosophy that at its heart, draws on "the Law of Attraction," a New Age idea. According to "The Law of Attraction," if you think it, it will be your reality. The idea is that when you think certain thoughts, or have feelings about certain thoughts, you send out vibrations and attract those realities into your life.
This is a pretty little theory on it surface, but slips into some dangerous territory. What about the child born with a life-threatening disease? Or the teen who lives in an abusive home? The Law of Attraction would seem to blame these innocents for their situations.
The Law of Attraction does not apply to everything. Life is not that absolute. "It's absolutely your thoughts that create your reality." What about the woman who had a premature baby, and never once ever thought that could happen? How did she "attract" this event into her life when all she thought about was a happy, healthy baby?
The Law of Attraction also steps on the toes of the Buddhist teaching that says desire causes suffering. Couldn't sitting there and thinking about what you want, and visualizing what you do not have go the next level to desiring these things, and then causesuffering?
#6 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The author of The Secretdoesn't think food makes you fat.
The author of The Secret writes that if you think food will make you fat then it will make you fat. Guess what? Eating too much food will make you fat, even if you think it won't. It might not be the Law of Attraction, but is the law of calories.
#7 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret does not tell you how to actually do anything.
In the book there is something missing. A call to action. Simply thinking things will not change your reality. Starting to think about the kind of reality you want, or the life you want to live is not a secret, it is only the first step to transforming your life.
strong>#8 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret is no secret at all.
The Secret is great at constructing a pseudo-historical compilation of quotes of successful people in history, as well as amassing new age philosophies that all seem to say the same thing. The reason there aresimilarities about the concept of changing your own reality and making your own successes, whether they be financial or personal, is because it is a common ideal. It is not a secret.
Even Oprah Winfrey stated on her February 2007 broadcast, "I've always lived by the secret and didn't know it was secret." Very good, Oprah. That's because it is not a secret.
#9 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret is pure marketing genius.
The Secret is packaged in a way that conjures up a real life mystery, and you can't help but think of The da Vinci Code. An ancient secret revealed? That will get me what I want? I'm in.
#10 Secret of The Secret Revealed: The Secret appeals to our lazy side.
What other parts of us would jump at the chance to purchase a DVD that is identical to a repetitious book unless it told us something that we wanted to hear. We can have everything we want, and all we have to do is think it. No work, no action, no hard choices, just some pleasant thoughts. Of course that is appealing. Just because we want it to be true does not make it so.
#11 Secret of The Secret Revealed: Real change takes action.
The true secret of changing your life is to take action (I give that to you for free). Visualizing the life you want, and thinking about what you want to achieve is only the first step. In order to make real changes, you also need to take action and make real choices that bring you closer to what it is you do want.
Thoughts do not create realities. Thoughts and feelings also do not create realities. Actions and choices, which may be based in those thoughts and feelings, create realities.
A great man once said, "It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices" - spoken by Dumbledore.
While The Secret may help people to define and visualize what they really and truly want in life, it will not create it for them. Only you can create you own life, and life does come with some limitations, that is the reality.
Published by Pam Gaulin - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment and Lifestyle
Pam Gaulin is a freelance writer, journalist (B.A., Journalism), new (and next!) media writer and artist. Associated Content named her 2007 Content Producer of the Year. "First for Women" magazine featured... View profile
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15 Comments
Post a CommentThat's a great article. This is just about a marketing scheme that connects the dots with history (kind of like a cult of personality) to give the illusion of something that doesn't exist. Sure, everyone wants to feel uplifted. But even the most uplifted persons can have personal failures. I lived in a very poor country at the end of a war and in it's aftermath. There were some "postive thinking" people there who attracted nothing but the disease and death that hit everyone else. The secret is not just a fraud, it's outright dangerous and the secret itself attracts some of the most unhappy and vulnerable members of society. It is not religion but as you noted, it tries to pull in certain things from religion to give it that flair of appearing true.
Great article! You really covered this subject accurately because the "big secret" is really just a collection of long used strategies for a successful life. It makes me sad when companies take advantage of desperate people, offering to quickly solve all of their problems by selling them information they could get for free. Thanks for writing this, hopefully there are a few less desperate people who will not be taken in now.
here is my 10 minute mini debunking of The Secret
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4yHNSX0QR0&feature=channel_page
Jack Canfield and others who appeared in The Secret DVD now sell products with the tag line: Why The Secret DOESN'T Work. Rhonda Byrne and the Law of Attraction industry are Snake oil salesmen of the 21st century (and the 20th and the 19th).
It's true that "The Secret" is essentially a rehash of existing notions, such as Wallace Wattles's "The Power of Getting Rich" from 1907 and Jung's concept of synchronicity from the 1940s. And yet, without the success of "The Secret," scarcely anyone would ever have heard of these ideas. So, all the silliness and crass materialism aside, the book and DVD are to be welcomed.
The underlying premise that you can create your own reality is extremely empowering, and clearly has long been suppressed by religious and government authorities intent on keeping the people under their control in a mentality of scarcity. Yes, "The Secret" can be dangerous when put in the hands of hopelessly stupid people. But the same can be said for champagne, automobiles, knitting needles etc. And if "The Secret" gives lazy people another reason to remain lazy, I don't see how it changes anything for the worse.
After spending a lot of time working through these concepts and trying to get them to work for me
I do agree with the statement that "The Secret" is basically something that certain people live already. But even in the DVD itself (which I didn't pay a cent for), they do say that you need to take action in order to make your dreams happen (obviously), and that thinking alone won't do it. However, I will say that in a sense, it's working for me. Awhile back, I thought I had no outlet for my writing, when I found a little site called AC. Since then, I've received offers from magazines, and have had a chance to interview people I admire! Was it a secret? I don't know.
"It might not be the Law of Attraction, but is the law of calories." Loved this sentence! Great article. I have tried the laws of attraction experiment and that was when I found AC and discovered people would actually pay me to write. Does "the secret" deserve all the credit or did I just happen to find AC just as I was trying it out? Don't know but I figure, it couldn't hurt. It would have hurt had I have forked out the cash for the book or the movie!
Excellent article, Pam. There are tons of these self-help books composed of visualization and self-affirmation strategies. "The Secret" is simply a rehashed version of "secrets" revealed before. Only with one hell of a marketing campaign. You want a better, happier, more productive life? Get the hell up off that sofa, put down the book, and make it happen. Inspiration can only go so far...
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I think "the secret" is dangerous for debt-a-holics in search of what they perceive to be an easy quick fix to their problems. Forget paying the bills, just ask the universe to grant you the money and you won't have to worry anymore.
maybe I can get the universe to do my laundry, wash the dishes and clean the litter box! Now that's a secret I would pay money for!
One positive thing about the Secret is that it may actually inspire some people to start thinking about their dreams and desires. Just look at the people around you, at work, at schools, grocery stores - how many people are living the lives of quiet desparation, basically living on auto-pilot, no dreams, no passion, angry, frustrated, tired and resigned on life in general.
That inspiration alone may well overshadow all the other stuff mentioned in the article.