The Secret

Anybody read this? I've heard the SGU podcast decry it a few times as total crap, so I wasn't too keen on reading it, but my mother-in-law bought it for me and my wife insisted I read it. On the one hand, it kind of makes sense on some level. If you have a positive attitude, this affects your actions and how others perceive you, thus you are more likely to have positive experiences. That's kind of what it was saying to me, but it's pretty stupid to write an entire book to say something that can be summed up in one sentence.

But it talks a lot about the "energy of the Universe" and how when you have positive thoughts it "broadcasts" those positive wavelengths to the Universe, which in turn gives you good fortune. Is that a metaphor, or would the author actually have us believe in some mystical, genie-like force that grants our wishes if only we wish hard enough? How stupid is that? The book says the law never fails, so what if everyone on earth wished really hard for a Ferrari? Would 6 billion Ferraris just appear out of thin air?

It seems so convoluted and downright stupid. If these people believe it so much, why aren't they wishing for a cure for AIDS, or world peace, or the stabilization of earth's climate?

NedStark wrote:Anybody read this? I've heard the SGU podcast decry it a few times as total crap, so I wasn't too keen on reading it, but my mother-in-law bought it for me and my wife insisted I read it. On the one hand, it kind of makes sense on some level. If you have a positive attitude, this affects your actions and how others perceive you, thus you are more likely to have positive experiences. That's kind of what it was saying to me, but it's pretty stupid to write an entire book to say something that can be summed up in one sentence.

But it talks a lot about the "energy of the Universe" and how when you have positive thoughts it "broadcasts" those positive wavelengths to the Universe, which in turn gives you good fortune. Is that a metaphor, or would the author actually have us believe in some mystical, genie-like force that grants our wishes if only we wish hard enough? How stupid is that? The book says the law never fails, so what if everyone on earth wished really hard for a Ferrari? Would 6 billion Ferraris just appear out of thin air?

It seems so convoluted and downright stupid. If these people believe it so much, why aren't they wishing for a cure for AIDS, or world peace, or the stabilization of earth's climate?

It's f**king goofy.

I only wish I had the moral wherewithal (or lack thereof) to dream up crap like this and sell it to the fatuous without feeling guilty for pulling the wool over their eyes. I'd be a rich closet atheist putting on mock piety for the money.

It just astonishes me every time I hear of this, or the Purpose-Driven Life, or the megachurches, and wonder how people can't see they're being sold a bill of goods.

I think it starts off reasonably enough, act nicely towards everyone and they will act nicely towards you. But it quickly gets into the wacky idea of the law of attraction, which is just utter BS. Everybody already knows the first point, so what they've packed up and sold is new age nonsense.

Btw, Ned Stark is that your real name or favourite character from a fantasy series?

Aught3 wrote:Btw, Ned Stark is that your real name or favourite character from a fantasy series?

The latter

I actually bought this book about a year ago, without knowing anything about it. I started reading it - and stopped reading it almost at once. I couldn't stand it. My entire body just tensed up with a mix of anger, disbelief and revulsion when I read it, and I can't understand what it is about it that so many people are attracted to.

Isn't The Secret basically just New Age televangelism? I mean like they have the same basic concept expect instead of "God wants to give until it hurts and he'll bless you with riches", it's New Age positive thinking instead or something.

To tell you that "you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar"