First, let me write that I am a firm believer in the power of visualization. I’ve read that it can have effects on your body and I believe it can help people to mentally prepare themselves to achieve their goals.
However, there is a tired ages old recycled idea going around now under a new coat of paint, a new name, called “The Secret”.
In a nutshell, it is the idea that your thoughts create your reality, literally. That is, your thoughts will act directly on reality. If you believe in a red bicycle being yours hard enough, it will appear in your life.
I guess I can’t be too critical, because when I was a teenager I was heavily into Jane Robert’s “Seth” series of books, which pretty much said the same thing. If you believe something, it will be so.
I am disgusted with the hucksters for recycling this very old bogus idea and exploiting people with it. It is right up there the no money down real estate scams and people who have no other talents selling their services as personal development coaches.
I am also disgusted with otherwise intelligent people ignoring their intelligence so they can indulge themselves by believing what they want to hear.
A few months back I read a web board run by a self improvement expert who went full hilt on “The Secrect”, “intention manifestation”, and “the law of attraction”. Before I quit the site I read an amusing post by a young disgruntled 20 something student.
He complained that he bought a copy of the movie “The Secrect”, far too many ancillary books on the subject, and threw himself into visualizing what he wanted for several months only to get no results ( surprise! ). He still had trouble paying his rent, his grades sucked, he put on weight, and he still did not have a girlfriend.
The self improvement expert who owned the forum quickly chimed in on the thread informing the student that he had made a terrible mistake in misinterpreting “The Secrect”. The self improvement expert said that visualizations and changing your beliefs was not enough. A person also had to do concrete work toward achieving his/her goals. You know, good old fashioned efforts like getting a job, studying, working out and making an effort to meet people.
Work? Effort?
There used to be a fad diet called “The Grapefruit Diet”. By eating lots of grapefruit you would get some magical chemical which would help you lose fat. When I was a teenager I walked into a GNC in my local mall and bought a bottle of grapefruit pills. The pills came with a little booklet. In the booklet was a two week menu of reasonable foods, in reasonable portions. The booklet stated that in order to maximize the results of the grapefruit pills that the consumer should use the pills with the diet in the booklet and do regular exercise.
I see “The Secret” as being a bottle of grapefruit pills.
I hate this because it blames people when their lives suck. You can have bad things happen for no reason, just really bad luck, like being in an accident that isn’t your fault. But these people who are really into “positive thinking” will actually say “you can not get sick if you have the right mind set” or “you won’t have bad luck.” This means if you do get sick you weren’t thinking the right thoughts. It’s better to say that it’s really helpful to have a positive outlook and do the hard work to get things done but sometimes bad things happen.
Last year, one of my collegues tried to get me to watch this film. It looked like a load of crap, so I just smiled and nodded politely till I got out of his office.
PW
Makes you wonder. If this guy has just been given “The Secret” to get whatever he wants, why is he bothering trying to get you to watch the film?
IMHO, believing in things that can’t be proven is sort of like a pyramid scheme, you have to keep pulling other people in. Your unsubstantiated belief feels more real when you hear yourself talk about it and if it looks like other people are convinced.
The power of your mind is the energy that creates all works and “diets”. You seem to have a problem with the reality of creation. I find it odd you would believe in a grapefruit pill that promises no effort and reject your ability to create your own health by eating well and exercising. I have enjoyed the positive effect that the secret has had on me and my life. Yes it is old and repackaged like many things that people forget about in this world. How many movies, songs, television shows and other forms of art have been remade? It is a brilliant work of successful marketing; although so was the “Blair Witch Projectâ€. However one sought to gain wealth by using all of that energy to open a window of fear and evil in the lives of as many as it could touch. “The Secret†has opened a window of positive energy and given access to the ability to inspire people to become a power of creation in there own lives. Does it work? Is there really a Blair Witch? Some people believe and that is what makes it real! If I had bought the diet pills they would have worked for me because I would have followed the directions and believed that they work and I would have been right. I don’t believe in the Blair Witch how about you?
believer wrote:
I find it odd you would believe in a grapefruit pill that promises no effort and reject your ability to create your own health by eating well and exercising.
That isn’t what I wrote. You are not understanding my message.