I was on the fence about the book/movie/phenomenon The Secret. I just reread the book & I’m still conflicted about it. On one hand, it motivates me. It gives me hope & a sense of power over my life. I even think it’s effective. Granted, when I tried to follow The Secret my stocks fell drastically, & I didn’t get a new house, Branson lots, or meet a guy like Luke from Gilmore Girls. I did seem to manifest a new living room set.
However, I have a huge problem with The Secret that makes me a little scared to follow it. My problem is that I can pick out people who have recently read the Secret. How do I know? Frankly, these people seem to be the biggest jerks I’ve ever met, especially to sick people. When I did the experiment last year I got a lot of comments such as “if you aren’t healthy yet, you aren’t doing it right”. On the health front, I have really believed in the treatments I’ve been given. I’ve had faith. I’ve thought wellness thoughts. Nothing changed. Eventually, I had to give up on all of that because it was just wearing me out. I had to deal with reality which is something I always argue about with The Secret Keepers. It’s so easy to say “Just stop being sick.” Whether it works is an entirely different story. I think it’s the hardest part of being chronically ill, dealing with people who think you are controlling it.
Last year, I only saw the video & I was shocked to read the book. It said if you want to lose weight to think thin thoughts & be around thin people & to even avoid being around overweight people. It also says a lot of things about people in mass tragedies that I don’t agree with, or about listening to other people’s problems. The biggest problem with The Secret is that you can’t argue with it or people will say that you aren’t doing it right just because you see a problem with it. They just say that’s the reality that I just created with my negative thoughts about The Secret, I made it not work. I really do believe in the law of attraction, but I also believe in being compassionate. I want to be able to listen to & help people & not blame them for their problems. I don’t see how that hurts me. What do you think?
You are not alone in your concerns about the Law of Attraction and related concepts. However, there are a couple of misconceptions that fuel these concerns, and they are easily clarified. First, each of us lives in our own personal reality. We have unlimited power in our own private universe, but not in anyone else’s. The only harm we can contribute to others is if they invite us in (by attracting us), and then acquiesce to our negative actions or suggestions once we’re there. So we are as safe as we allow ourselves to be.
The other personal belief that gets in the way is that the universe is fundamentally competitive. In other words, dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, etc. But what if it’s more of a dog-eat-dog-food universe? What if what is really best for me is also automatically best for everything and everyone else? What if anything that fails that test isn’t really best for me in the first place?
Granted, we are quite capable of thinking and doing things that we believe to be in our best interest, but are actually not. It happens to most of us. But the error is not due to the adversarial nature of reality, but to the acceptance of a belief that misinforms one as to what is really most beneficial.
Anyone can espouse their enthusiasm about the Law of Attraction, or anything else for that matter. But that may or may not have anything to do with their actually living it out. The “jerks” you refer to are just like everyone else–somewhere on their own path to wisdom. The real question we should ask when they show up on our doorstep is, “What was I thinking that drew them to me?” And in answering that question, you take the power right back into your own hands.
I hope this helps clarify some of these very valid questions. If you’d like to read more, I invite you to visit my blog at http://spaciouspresent.com/blog
Cool blog. I haven’t read the secret but I think you may have a pretty valid criticism if it has a flip side of blaming people for their misfortunes, illness, or tragedy. I do believe in positive thinking, but I don’t need to pay that lady any money to do it.