The Secret - Scam of the Century?
A movie and book is out titled The Secret. It focuses on using the law of attraction to gain all your desires and live a happy, warm, fuzzy life like you always wanted. Sounds appealing right? I mean, who wouldn’t want those things? If I told you that all you had to do was think positive and you can become rich, why not do it? Wasted time, effort, and looking like an ass are three good reasons.
The law of attraction says that you attract things and people of like minds and attitudes. Think positive, get positive things. On the surface, it sounds great and to some extent, it’s absolutely true. But look into the whys and hows of it being true and you will find that The Secret is nothing more than spewing self righteous crap out into the world. First, let’s look at how the law of attraction is true. Well, we surround ourselves by like minded people. My friends all share similar ideas and ethics. Everyone does this. Why? I don’t know, maybe because it’s easier to get along with someone who agrees with you. Perhaps you just don’t want to have to argue about everything all the time. My guess though, is that it was not some cosmic effect of the universe.
Now, think about other situations. That’s right, think OUTSIDE your little box of new age ideas and be impartial (if you can) for 5 minutes. Since I can’t think of a better example, I’m going to cite http://skepdic.com/lawofattraction.html. “Lazy dreamers don’t attract lazy dreamers. They attract con artists with big smiles and lots of promises. Grieving vulnerable people don’t attract vulnerable people; they attract vultures and vampires who take advantage of their grief. If you say that grief and greed are both negative so this example supports the law of attraction, then this law is impossible to test. It’s too slippery to have any meaningful content if obvious contradictions to it are said to support it. When kindness begets not more kindness but resentment, a New (Dark) Age defender of this “law” can always claim that the kindness wasn’t genuine.”
It’s impossible to test. The believers say you can test it by doing so, yet if you fail, it’s because you “weren’t positive enough” or you “had too much doubt”. Thus, impossible to test. Some of you might be saying “this sounds familiar” and it should. It’s a common argument against God and religion. It’s impossible to test. You cannot prove nor disprove God, just as you cannot prove nor disprove The Secret. In religion, replace “not enough positive thoughts” with “not enough faith”. The irony is many followers of The Secret are not religious people, yet every aspect of following The Secret can be side by side compared to religion.
I’ll explain another example. Have you ever been flicking through the channels on TV and saw one of those faith healing shows? You know what I’m talking about. The guy stands there, preaches to an audience, and then takes the faithful up on stage, lays his hands on them, and heals them. When people aren’t healed, or still can’t walk, it’s because they didn’t have enough faith. Now, a follower of The Secret sits there and thinks positive thoughts, visioning their success for a business proposal. The day comes to give the proposal and they freeze up a little, stumble on some words, and in the end do not make the deal. They go home and say “I wasn’t being positive enough”.
The proof that is offered by these followers is that “I thought about getting a new house and I did! So it works!” Well my friends, I’ve heard the same story from people of faith. They prayed and prayed for a new home and they got one. My point? If you can only back up your claims of blind faith with situations that work only under your rules, then you need to acknowledge that religions may be true, and a God may exist because both are backed up by the same exact types of claims. Now, if you want to take a $400 watch that I picked out in some store at the mall and make it manifest on my desk, then I promise you I will give you credibility and back up your positive brain waves claims. Until then, save your new age hocus pocus for someone else.
Now let’s go to something I mentioned earlier. What about the whys and hows of The Secret, or positive thinking? The Secret tries to explain things using quantum physics. First of all, we do not have a full grasp on quantum physics, and by “we” I mean people who devote their entire lives to its study. Yet, the author of the book claims to use it as a basis for The Secret. Are you kidding me? An author has discovered hidden truths in quantum physics that physicists have not? Impossible? No. Unlikely? Hell yes! Ok, so what about just positive thinking? Well, I actually believe this to be helpful. Is it an unlocked secret of the universe? No, I’m sorry but it’s much less glamorous than that. When you think positive, you gain confidence. Confidence is always a good thing to have. By being confident, you might put forth more effort into a project or task. You will probably try harder than you would have otherwise. In the end, if you did this for everything in your life, you would end up with more positive results than negative. Will you have 100% positive results? No. Will you have MORE positive results? I’m sure you would. Thinking positive causes you to take actions that give better results. So, the cause isn’t your positive brain waves, it’s the actions you took to be successful. I’m sorry, but all the positive thinking in the world isn’t going to make a mute person win on American Idol.
So listen, keep being positive, stay focused, and take action. You will end up with more positive results than negative. But you actually need to get off your ass and do something about it. Wishing it, or thinking it, will not make it so.
In the end, The Secret does nothing but promote selfishness and narcissism. You will end up with the “it’s all about me” and “I can do everything” attitude. Your own blindness will be your biggest failure. Just because you don’t recognize negative things, does not mean they won’t happen to you. You will still slip on ice even if you refuse to believe it’s there.
Don’t fall into the trap of being confirmation bias or selection biased. You need to remain impartial when learning new things. Always ask why and how things are done. If the answers are “because that is the way of the universe” then you may want to question the credibility. I mean, look at the author of the book for instance. They used viral marketing and focused on wealth so they could sell many copies. Their actions dictated how much money their book made, not their thoughts. They didn’t attract people like them, they attracted people who want to be what they think these people are. Nothing in life is free. Take responsibility for yourself, and go make yourself successful. Sitting around all day thinking about it isn’t going to do shit for you in the long run.
So, in closing, I agree with two things from The Secret. The first, is positive thinking will net better results more often than negative thinking. The second, is to use your brain, but do it to think for yourself, be smart, make good decisions, and minimize your risks. Life isn’t perfect and anyone saying it “could be” is selling something (like a book or a movie about an unlocked secret to the universe).
