The secret is that there is no secret.

But this has been so well hidden that many people are still looking for the secret—in vain!

I saw the DVD, but hardly remember it beause it left little impression on me.

Of course we are ultimate creators of our conceptual reality. And, if we re-create our conceptual reality, some or all of our objective reality will change along with it.

You say this can't be?

Well, take my personal example: I used to live in a mundane reality, now I live in a divine reality. Same reality—totally changed!

Actually

We did discuss The Secret  perhaps two or three times. It bombed mostly . We have very few people on the WC interested in the  New Age philosophy. The few we do have rarely post anymore. I used to read a lot of New Age and I feel that I really learned a lot from it. I lose patience when it comes to practicing. I watched Larry King etc. interviews with the authors or proponents  of the Secret.  Along with many other people I found it too materialistic and somewhat boring, so boring I never managed to watch all of it.

Very bad news lately for one of the promoters of the Secret. He held a big  sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona in Oct. '09.  There was a fire going in a tent that appears to have been too small. There were deaths due to lack of oxygen. The possibility loomed that he might be charged with murder but I haven't heard any current news about it.

Good article on how we create our own reality:

http://www.trans4mind.com/counterpoint/shamanic1.shtml

 This is funny  :

Zen:

Isn't The Secret about how if you focus on wanting something hard enough, you'll get it?

I guess those kids in Sudan just didn't want the civil war to be over quite hard enough...

The Sweat Lodge Incident in Arizona

I feel very badly about this. Something went terribly wrong.

Quote from another link:

Ray is the subject of a criminal investigation by Arizona authorities looking into the Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony at a high-priced retreat outside Sedona. Besides the three deaths, 18 others among more than 55 people inside the sweat lodge were hospitalized. No charges have been filed.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-26-sweat-lodge-self-help-James-Ray_N.htm

The secret is getting people to buy a book that tells them what they already know .....

I am going to read this book this weekend.  I will post my thoughts then.

From what I understand (not having read the book or watched more than a few clips from the movie in a discussion group a couple years ago) the secret is the power of positive thinking redux. 

It would tie in well to the prosperity gospel approach but much less so to a more traditional Christianity.  IT also doesn't tie in to an in depth review of historical or current events

Before enlightenment:

Chopping wood, carrying water.

After enlightenment:

Chopping wood, carrying water.

-Ancient Zen proverb

Seemingly, after enlightenment, nothing has changed. But, really, everything has changed! One has become at-one with the wood one chops and the water one carries. One has become at-one with everything, at-one with the creator of everything, and, most importantly, one oneself has become the creator of everything!

This is a bit of a metaphor: one really has become only the creator of one's conceptual reality. But the feeling and experience of universal at-one-ment is genuine. And creating or re-creating our conceptual reality will infuence the real, ontological, objective reality in ways we can't measure.

What is real to us is our conceptual reality. And, if it is roses, then our real, ontological, objective reality will be roses.

(but psst, don't tell anyone. It's a secret! :-)

Stardust,

That was my impression ... that the book was a rant about people getting what they thought they deserved (materialism; matter over mind). Then there is thatt old proverb about power corrupting, etc ... is this a grand vision of corrupting power that takes our sensitivity away from the less endowed?

O' th' convoluted thought ... Thoth in Egyptian fantasy ... dark ... Si?

Doesn't that fit into the  "what one sows, so shall one reap", principle?

Bolt

didn't oprah do some big series on this??

if i'm thinking of the right thing, then its odd to me that something proported to be so sacred and spiritual is all about accumulating wealth.

all the great spiritual leaders - jesus, mohammed, buddha - had no financial wealth to speak of. 

I have not read the book. I saw one of the authors or whatever on Larry King answering a question about whether a child who had been sexually assaulted had brought that on herself. If that is something someone can bring on themselves as a child then I cannot read something like that.

Also, I tend to avoid the really trendy things. It seemed that EVERYONE was reading the book last year.

Women two were arguing aboot a bit of laundry flapping in the wind.

"The wind is moving," said the first one, who had a wife with the sharpest wit.

"I beg to differ.  It is the laundry that is moving," said the second, who had 13 cats, an especially holy number.

"Neither the laundry or the wind is moving," said Niels Bohr, Father of Quantum Mechanics.  "It is the mind that moves..."

Just a Self-writing poem,

Inannawhimsey

Hi Inanna:

And there was a cat owner named Schrödinger who said that the mind determines whether or not anything moves.

Yes, Bolt, "As you sow, you shall reap" is The Secret in Christian terms.

(But in Christianity it's an open secret, eh? :-)

The trouble with so-called "spirituality" is that so often it is incomprehensible nonsense with pretensions of "holy wisdom". 

But, of course, it's all metaphor, and when someone uses metaphors then words mean whatever you want them to mean, and reality is whatever you want to believe.

"The Secret" is absurd nonsense that encourages people to believe that everybody deserves what they get in this life.  If you're a millionaire, the Universe made it so because you deserve it.  If you are in poverty, the Universe sez you deserve it.

I have no time for people who promote this repugnant bullshit.

And I wonder Arm ... Did Schrodinger ever manage to get the cat out of the cubit (Box, bag, sac) or whatever containment seems to fearfully confine the mind .... terre aura isms? Mortals seem to be good at that fractal of the infinite way of observation.

Yes, WaterBuoy, Schrödinger let his cat out of the bag, and ever since she's been running loose, wreaking havoc, tearing our certainties to shreds with her sharp claws.

Yes I agree.

I do however support a principle to which one can help develop a standard within, to which God can fulfill in a way He has done through His Son Jesus the Christ.

I solely believe this is accomplishable, & is the whole designing factor to our creation as we were, are, & yet to become. 

Our Godly instruction is perfected in Christ.

Bolt

Indeed! great call!

Bolt

He wrote that the sum total of all minds is one.  When someone digs deep into the fundamental nature of reality, they can't help but become mystickal.

He was also able to figure out, starting from basic Quantum Mechanical principles, how disorder led to order and aboot Genes and DNA (before they were discovered).

Quantum Mechanics, mystickal science.  Not "everything is true," but in the sense of lets see where the experiential evidence leads us, no matter how uncomfortable or nonsensical it may sound.

His musings on what life is and isn't I have found very illuminating as well.  He points to our involvement in the notions of what is organic and inorganic and that made me think of the strangness of Christianity that seems to take most of universe as inorganic...

Here is a fun comic with Heisenberg, another QM Father:

http://dresdencodak.com/2005/06/14/lil-werner/

Just a Self-writing poem,

Inannawhimsey

Pardon me, this is another version of me that was created the moment I made the previous post.  In that fraction of time, before I entered another universe, to be forever cut off from the one you are in right now, I leave you with this one notion:

"Laugh often."

Just a Self-writing poem,

Inannawhimsey

LOL!!!!

Bolt

True, reality is deeply weird.

We watched the documentary last year. It was all so much hype. I had a problem with the "raped women bring it on themselves" hypothesis. It all sounded very wicca to me, all this about creating your reality using... magic, basically. Tie a green ribbon onto a green candle annointed with a certain oil and visualize money and it will come to be. SO mote it be! Nevertheless, we gave it a shot, taped a cheque for $30,000. to the kitchen wall. But I supose we weren't believing in it enough cause it didn't come to us! Shock horror! Yeah right. I'm not into that nonsence.

But at the same time, I know that the nature of existence is not completely explainable.

I enjoyed "What the Bleep Do We Know" much more, and found it much more interesting.

Really?  I took the moral not to be that people in bad situations brought it upon themselves, but that to try your best to concentrate on making positive changes.   For example, the comment:

 "raped women bring it on themselves"

could be looked as, that happened, but know that every man will not rape you, but regain hope.

There are also 'Christian' versions of The Secret. No wonder Joel Osteen's church is the largest in the United States! It is in much popular demand. The 'word of faith' doctrine, which works when the 'children of the most high God' realize their place and priviledge before God, are able to just speak the word, and God, cosmic vending machine of sorts that he is, is obligated to grant them their desires! No more debt! No more empty hands!

Hi Actually!

I read The Secret some time ago.  It deals with the Universal Law of Attraction.  Pffftt  - there are certainly better books out there to learn about the Universal Laws.  Did not like the book at all.  No mention of God.  Just treating the universe like basically a giant slot machine ready to spit out your heart's desire if you just follow our protocol.  No regard for your fellow man, the planet or the other kingdoms that share this planet with us, let alone setting goals and then working towards them.

Yes the "moral" was on making positive changes, but the theory included that everything that happens to you is your own doing, that we put requests out there and each thought becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. With that I disagree. However, I agree that thinking positively brings about positive changes in one's life. And acting positively draws people and oportunities to you.

Hi Innana:

Nazi physics, eh?

Too bad those Nazis didn't realize what their foremost thinkers were up to. 

Don't waste your money on the secret - read it - it blames the poor for one thing being poor.  Brought it on themselves - just as living in the Sudan is your fault.  

Of course we all remember the time we created the parking space when needed...

I have no time for The Secret. I try (with varying degrees of success) to be open-minded, but The Secret is so much garbage. There are so many better ways to deliver what is positive and hopeful in this message (e.g., what goes around comes around, good things come to those who wait, etc.) that all that is left for me is a marketing money grab. This I object to, on principle.

Rich Secrets ...

But if you can believe them ... can you make money on the same scheme ... or do they already know how to get around that rule? What is the underlying Roue' ... under standing? But sweet J'sous ... I don't want to know is the favoured response. It'll strain my soul ... being ignorant of the other is a grand covenant prepared by des Ires ... without a clue ... conspiracy of ignorance?

It is said that the way to salvation is through Light! Is that an empty heart, or mind where necessity makes the demand that you take something from the tree ... that Love wasn't enough when in physical best form? Then and old word for "form" is homoe ... an empty pool ... without a shadow of doubt! Then there are alternatives to that understanding so that we might jump around a lot and get to know the other (aether)  ... like light on the waters ... creating a whine. Wouldn't that be a shame, disgusting in chirch with all those stoics looking down on us ... then ther are always that few ... a remenant ... flot-Sam and Jet Sam that you can cling to ... wee branches?

the secret claims the universe exists to give you what you want.

all you have to do is want it, because you are the center of the universe.

it shows the narcissism of self-help spirituality.

it is norman vincent peale's 'the power of positive thinking' recycled.

And thus everything is in a stir of chaos over such a proverbial failure to know what th'Ire talking about ...

In the infinite sense ... Amon knows nothing in relative proportion ... an impossible dream? It gives an idiom some sense of Eumerus ... great things being created from vast errors or is that the ephemeral flaw ... space for delite? That was illegal, immorl and fattneing under Roman Roue ... perhaps only the last held true for those who were no aware of what they were getting into ...

And Man love dite, but would never admit such a thing to thy's elphe ... chill'd wren of the lie? Just burred under the hypotenous if you get the drift ... ova a well-worded mind! There's just no end to such a field of creations in black exposing light even when education of the common folk (Pagans) is denied by the ignorant Empire that doesn't realize such a roue's would bite them in their as's ... fixation in time, presently!

It takes a biblical principle, & corrupts it to suit a standard of which is far from it's initial motivation.

Nothing new here.

Bolt

Bolt,

Love thyself in balance with the other ... the neighbour ...

For if you are no in good shape, or your neighbour is not in good shape ...

Wiil yee be much good to one another? Modern networking to the extremes ...

WB

the biggest part of the secret is , that ther is no secret

The cat said: "Hmm. Interesting. As far as I can tell, I'll live forever."

Blind leading the blind?

One must first know from Where Love comes.

Bolt

Ah,

But is that not understanding? It all comes from outside thyself according to old wisdom and modern neuroscience. Check WEBSTER for definition of intellect.

If we cannot see ... is it because we wish not to look? Common falacy known commonly as a secret ... self-sustaining!

Man (isolated bit) wishes to conquer and destroy the surroundings ... is this wise? Yet such is self perpetuating because we will not think for a bit. We are supposed to do as we're told according to authority ... even though authority is corrupt. This is good logic for thinking God is a hidden virtue ... very humble ... and mankind isn't much of a lover or a thinker .... a flawed vessel ... like a ship of phoels?

Remember the grist of the Torah ... you can't tell a man T'Ruth ... he'll blow his cool ... then fall from theat hea'venly state ... of phoqah up above! Now above is just a metaphor for myth ... something beyond the physical ... metaphysical like Light and darkness ... a word on a page of flat out imagination to a' meuse th' Gods in unison ... integral?

Were we given two gifts in creation: motivation (desire) and thought (Theo) and man refuses to learn to utilize them in tandum ... that's balance ... phi-Loe-Sophie? It is a slippery virtue right out of the Greek Isles ... O' live oiell ... if only a man could see in the darkness of a word ... a deep shadowy pool ... that scares the Chi-ite out of most if you ask them to read a story in a communal gathering. Why?

Someone must get a giggle ... Eumerus? Lords above'iD-all chuckle ... then the flood ... of sensibilities? Oh, we must a missed that past in the translation ... transcendance--- old Sufi Scholar!

    The Secret is not all garbage according to The Bible --put first things first

Proverbs 4 v 7 : Get wisdom (skillful and godly wisdom) and with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment ,comprehension and interpretation)

 The problem I personally found is the fact that they make it seem so easy and accessible to get what you want ,when in fact it takes much work to get that kind of faith and it takes endurance to wait till you actually manifest what you want . Most of us humans have no patiences or endurance to wait we want it now and when we don't get it in a day we quit and say it doesn't work and it's garbage.

   We all have our own views on this CD but what does scripture say :   

Do we or can we bring on our own car accidents,rapes,robberies to our homes etc

The Bible says we can -how ? by our own fear of the thing --there are many scriptures on fear and having fear .

God clearly states that He has not given us the spirit of fear but of love ,power and sound mind    2 Tim 1 V7.

Isaiah 41 v 10 : Fear not (there is nothing to fear) for I am with you ;do not look around you in terror and be dismayed,for I am your God .I will strengthen you to difficulties.

Job 3v 25: For the thing I greatly fear comes upon me ,and that of which I am afraid befalls me.  So Job lost his faith and fear took over and disaster struck.

We are all energy and if you are putting out bad -fearful energy you will or can attract another bad-fearful energy to you ---just like you can attract positive energy to you when your confident and positive yourself.

Getting what we want --Bible says we can but there are rules --follow the rules get what you want .

John 14 v 14: I will grant ( I Myself will grant) whatever you shall  ask in My Name. 

      That's what it says --I will grant whatever you ask. 

The Secret is not all wrong. It is only wrong to us because we are ignorant to God's word and we don't believe in an unseen realm bringing anything into existence .

The Bible is not a magic book it tells us what to do to live in this world  and it is up to us ourselves to do what it suggests. Most of us think its all hogwash and refuse to even acknowledge its contents .

    I leave with this :  Romans 4 v 17 : Call those things that be not as though they were.  

                 Blessings 

unsafe

Good post! I'm thinking much the same thing. There is truth in the law of attraction. If I go around crying and moaning in self pity all the time I will attract the same kind of people.  My thoughts will never move up higher or progress towards making my life better. As you say it isn't superficial but rather too deep and it requires a lot of work to teach ourselves how to think properly. Most people can't be bothered with it. I don't know about material success or aquiring things. I was never too interested in that end of it. 

I do strongly believe that changing your thoughts can change your life.

My mantra: Mind is the builder. What you feed grows.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not here to rain on a positive note.

I understand what you mean by fear & how we can become slaves to it.

The thing also to mention that, all things being permissable here on this earth, are not always profitable, or to our better blessings, if this makes sense.

We will not always get what we claim is ours, even if it is scripturally sound, until close inspection of the standards required to obtain them is found to be revealed in us.

Some may find that our standards  Gods standards, differ.

As long as it is well established within one personally, that wisom is every part of God, because of the nature of it.

We realy should consider giving credit to where or Whom credit is always due.

Or else it is no longer "wisdom".

Bolt

Stardust & Bolt ...

Have you ever struck a chord across the circle (Lute in old linguistics)!

The bible speaks of many things, but did creation (God in some terms) give us the ability to discern the positives and negatives and what was good for all the fabric that supports us? Give a man power of this sort and a good change ... IT will be corrupted.

So in turn we must investigate what seems not to be as it appears. House that for an enigma? Good exercise for the spirit of the brae'n ... the pits, or recesses of the mind!