Book Review: The Secret
Most people have heard of “The Secret” and as much as I hate to burst anyone’s bubble I feel honesty is always the best policy so here it is; it’s not and never has been a secret. I first heard about the “Secret” online, after the book had become a movie. The movie was getting horrible reviews so although I had tentative plans to watch it with a friend I wasn’t in any huge rush. One day, I allowed the mindset and found myself standing in front of the “New Arrival” DVD’s at the video store. Perhaps it was some sort of a sign, my manifestation; my own power of using the law of attraction, not a secret. The funny bit was that deep down I knew it wouldn’t have worked anyway since I really was never “attracted” to the idea of watching it to begin with. I had tried to get my hands on the book, I knew my local library carried it but they never had it in. After watching the movie the only thing I wanted to implement the law of attraction to manifest would be to get back the time I spent watching it.
To a Christian the secret is prayer, to a Wiccan or Pagan it is ritual, to a Buddhist it is using visualization and meditation, it’s “where there’s a will there’s a way” on steroids. Interestingly enough is that the movie is just a bunch of people vaguely yapping about how their lives sort of sucked until they figured out the secret, but none ever offer insight into how to accomplish anything. Then, at movies end they divert you to a website where you are welcome to buy products that allegedly help you to use the “secret” while ensuring their continued prosperity. Self help has become a major money making industry and it’s really unfortunate because people don’t seem to understand that what works for one person more than likely won’t work for another. Why? Because believe it or not no two people are the same, that’s no secret either.
There are self help blokes out there, psychiatrists and psychologists too, creating problems that don’t really exist and then raking it in selling people stuff to help with those problems that never existed in the first place. What got me the most about the secret was the bit at the end where they refer you to a website to go buy their fluff-stuff. They go through the whole movie talking about the law of attraction and how we can manifest the things we need into our lives and then end the movie copping out and just suggesting that you buy them instead. Did they expect us to immediately and obediently whip out our credit cards because the movie we just watched that convinced us we needed a bunch of contrived “secret” gear is also selling it. Worse yet, do they think we’re silly enough to believe it’s not a coincidence but rather proof of their alleged Secret? They sell the message first and hope they can manifest credit card numbers with the promise of imitation bobbles and books.
Here’s the secret, this is a do it yourself life we’re in, how do you want to play it? Are you going to dig in and be a doer or rush out and make someone else’s dreams of prosperity come true by purchasing the latest edition of Life for Dummies? There are many others out there peddling the age-old idea of the law of attraction and some of them actually offer insight. This movie and book don’t offer much insight all. Instead, they mostly just offer a brand. They are using the law of attraction to line their pockets and folks are handing over their credit card information so I guess it works. What a world.
