The Secret

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Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - NLPBoard.com on May 17, 2011 at 12:20pm

Is it a marketing scam?    I don't know if scam is the way I would phrase it.   It is one ladys (and her business associates) viewpoint and spin on the Law of Attraction. 

The law of attraction is of course thousands of years old, and anyone who would despute the validity in the concept of "like attracts like" has not lived life.

That being said, the belief as put forth in the secret is that this "law" is an undeniable metaphysical truth (kind of oxymoronic) and that it "works" if you just "put it out there".   

To argue this is like arguing did Jesus rise form the dead.  Or that mesmerism is valid in 2011.   Or the same as arguing that Mohommad really is Gods prophet, or that Republicans are correct.  or that past life regression is "real".   It is a belief system.  Esentially religious belief.

And there are many rational people with irrational religious belief.   Take Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck for example.   They like other people, believe jesus came to America and revealed another testament to the Bible.   Have you ever tried arguing rational thought with a Mormon?

I think They are rational guys, but for some reason it seems every one of us has a part of us with wackey beliefs.

And so The Secret is not a scam. but rather one groups interpretation of a well documented principle many people have experienced.

Many of the ideas for the Secret came from Charles Hannel, and his orgiginal writings (whcih are very useful to hypnotists) can be found at my website www.SubliminalScience.com in the free download section if you are curious about the source of much of the movies ideas.

 While it is my personal opion that the "law" is not balck and white, the basic concept of like attracts like has been summed up in many ways, most noteably "Birds of a feather flock together."

 

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Permalink Reply by Maciej Kaliski on May 17, 2011 at 12:28pm

Thanks for the reply Richard!

That got me thinking can you attract relationships? Or is that something that's totally independent from the Universe? 

I also got another question I want to ask but I'll start another discussion for that.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - NLPBoard.com on May 17, 2011 at 1:37pm

A person who thinks they are worthwile, who is happy, who is upbeat and intrested in others and thinks they will meet someone wonedful- is a person who will be looking for that opportunity and more importantly, will be attractive to others.

A person who is depressed, who sends out the vibe, "nobody will date me" or "meaningful realtionships never materialize" will send out those vibes and will have a much harder time attracting a healthy relationship.

The basic concept in therapy is that if a client is having problem with others, - then change oneself - this will in turn change others (the applied law of attraction).  This is also the concept of the serenity prayer; and the law of attraction as well.

 

If one wants to attract a romantic partner, be the person you want to attract- that is a basic principle of human relaitonships that is part of "The Secret" -

 

When I was dating I met a girl on match.com.   She had a lot going for her, but she was so miserable depressed and lonely that that is what she permeated every moment with.   It took me one meeting and one phone call to figure out I would not want to see hear again, despite the fact that "on paper" she was awesome.

I also dated many who had much less going for them, and was attracted to them becasue despite various issues, they were psotive, uplifting and motivational.  They didin;t appear desprate, but rather attracted me becasue they were attractive in MIND and body....   in fact for some of them the inner attraction made outward appearance much less important.

 

The law of attraction "like attracts like" is probaly most apparent in the world of dating.   It really is a case of "you reap what you sow."

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Permalink Reply by CindyLou on May 17, 2011 at 2:48pm

Without a political slant, I'll chime in here.  I think the intent was pure, to get the information out there in a manner that the public can understand. I also believe that the "scams" came afterward by some of the presenters capitalizing on their new fame. There are IMO flaws to The Secret--and to LOA. As in all information, take what resonates with you and leave the rest. Trust self on what is truth, as truth is individual.

Cindy

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Permalink Reply by Kim Robert English, CHt on May 17, 2011 at 6:09pm

I thought Richard's points were well made. I don't believe that Rhonda Byrne set out to scam anyone. She found answers to her questions about how life works from Haanel's book (The Master Key System), applied them and got remarkable results and then wanted to share what she had discovered with everyone she could. She had the good fortune to be a tv producer with the resources to tell the story to a large number of people. The same principles are found in Think and Grow Rich and no one seems to object to their validity. These principles have been the mainstay of esoteric metaphysical thought for eons. Most people on the planet seem to not know them or ignore them. When boiled down to their essence it's all about changing your thinking and believing with conviction in the application of your thought. The misinterpretation many seem to make is that the Law of Attraction will bend to your will. In essence you are the one that makes the change in your thinking and the "Law" corresponds to those changes and brings about those results.The missing parts of the manifestation "formula" in The Secret is that the Law of Attraction corresponds to the mental equivalents you hold in your mind (the law reflects back to you "what" you believe) and that it corresponds to the amount, quantity, and quality you expect (law of correspondence). If you believe the Universe is a random happening with odds working in certain ways, then that's what you'll experience. Hypnosis for changing one's perception or belief or expectation is one way of producing different results from the ones that one has been getting.The Law of Attraction is one way of explaining this mechanism. As Henry Ford said: "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." That's the Law of Attraction at work.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Baboch on May 17, 2011 at 11:18pm

If you think positively, you will of course start to see life in a brighter way and feel better about what's going on in your life. But our perception is something, but reality is something different. The same situation can be seen as being awful by one person, or as being incredibly helpful and good by someone else. But our perception is something, and reality is something else. I agree that those people are starting to see some changes in their lives, and the issue is not how they perceive them, but it's about what's actually going on. Maybe this kind of "amazing changes" was already happening in their lives without being aware of it because they simply had the wrong mindset.

 

I can't deny that the intent of this book is good and sincere, and i also can't deny that they base their theory on premises that are not true. They are simply pseudo-scientific rubbish.

 

Chris

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Permalink Reply by tc_Burt on May 18, 2011 at 6:12am

I've brought my children up with the notion that you get back what you put out.  I can see no harm in reframing experiences and finding the positive learnings in them.  For every negative situation, there is a positive, it's just at the time you are within it, it is hard to see.  It is all too easy to attach yourself to a negative spiral and descend from there.  I'm not talking about fooling one's self but rather stepping back and saying to yourself "so what has this taught me?"  "Could it have been worse?", "of course it could have been, but it wasnt"

Now I'm not saying the Secret should be taken as verbatim, but taken as a concept, you could do far worse.

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