Author: Rhonda Byrne
I’ve heard about The Secret on Oprah. After some time I received it as a gift… Must be the “law of attraction”.
I must admit that the book looks very attractive. The Da Vinci style paper, the cursive font for the title, and the glossiness… It just looks gorgeous!
Within hours after being featured on Oprah, The Secret became a best-seller.
The book is based on The Law of Attraction; which states that your thoughts become things, whether they’re good thoughts or bad thoughts. That is why you should only think positively, because if you think negatively, you will be attracting the negative things that you’re thinking about.
By The Law of Attraction, you can get whatever you want in life: wealth, perfect health and weight, that car you dreamed of, a new home, friends.. anything… The 3 steps you have to follow are:
1) Ask for what you want
2) Believe that the thing is already yours
3) Receive: Pretend it’s in your hands right now. Feel about it the way you’d feel once it arrives
According to the book, legendary scientists and inventors such as Einstein, Shakespeare, Galileo, and Beethoven knew The Secret, which has been passed on through ages.
The author of the book, Rhonda Byrne, says she has found the century-old scraps of The Secret and with a group of experts, gathered and summarized them into this book.
The book includes quotes from experts and well-known people and miraculous stories regarding The Secret.
What I learned from this book was positive-thinking.
Most of the content of the book was unrealistic. It visualized the universe as a wonderful world and as if life’s so great and that you could “experience heaven in the world”. All you have to do is ask, and “your wish is under I-don’t-know-who’s command”.
In the book, the author stated that after discovering The Secret, she didn’t need to read any Newspapers or know what’s going on around the World.
The Secret gives you the impression that you can get whatever you want, even a million-dollar check, by just asking and imagining it’s there. And if you don’t get what you want, YOU are the one who’s doing something wrong.
I disagree with the statement that said you shouldn’t sacrifice anything and just put yourself first – ok - I do agree with “put yourself first”, but sacrificing is a personal value. Maybe you did it to save a life, like this story. You should think of others, and not only of yourself. The book also states that all you have to do is live the good joyous life and have nothing to worry about. You should do something to save some people that don’t get to live a great life.
The book states that you are actually God and you’ve created the Universe and you have the power to do anything to it…
I came across weird unbecoming things, like sticking a million dollar check that you made yourself on the ceiling and staring at it every day and saying “Thank you” a dozen times. This story reminded me of the Pet Rock. It’s something that you know isn’t realistic and you just insist on believing in it and if it happens you say it’s the Law of Attraction method.
Some of the stories were inspiring, but some were awkward… like this guy who visualized a feather with all its details in his head, then as he was walking he saw the exact same feather that was on his head in the street.
I think this book is kind if spiritual, not practical, and the method is not very convincing.
If you’d love to own an iphone, instead of visualizing yourself feeling one and pretending you already own one, as it’s going to appear in your mailbox tomorrow, save some money and go buy it.
I can’t even imagine why this book is called “The Secret”. It’s as if when you read this book, it’s a tablet to paradise or something similar…
I don’t think this book is a must-read. You really aren’t missing anything grand if you don’t read it.
The Secret is also available on DVD.
Reviews:
http://butyoudontlooksick.com/2007/05/book_review_the_secret_by_rhon.php
http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2007/05/24/a-review-of-the-secret-by-rhonda-byrne/
image credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/TheSecretLogo.jpg
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2 comments:
The Secret is the latest and by far the worst example of a HIGHLY profitable trend where self-help gurus with fabricated new age titles and little relevant education, credentials or legitimate expertise brainwash us into believing that they know what is best for us, our marriages and our families.
Often their only contribution to society is introducing some exotic sounding, new age philosophy. However, they often cleverly form an incestuous group of like-minded “experts” who cross-promote each other by swearing their success is due to following the beliefs of another member of their “cult!” All the while, they ply the airwaves jockeying for an ever-larger audience by appearing in the national media to garner third-party endorsements.
The Self-Help Movement has become the Self-Destruct Movement by diminishing or destroying our critical thinking skills to choose and evolve on our own. We have given up the freedom to build healthy lives, marriages and families based on our unique history and life experience. Instead many victims, blinded to the value of their own life experiences, are attracted to the latest secret in self-help, in an attempt to find out what they should think, feel and how they should act... this is the definition of a cult.
The solution is a return to our (common) senses! The best way out of this learned “self-helplessness” is to go cold turkey. Stop following ALL self-help gurus now. Begin, instead, to reclaim your natural, God-given ability to think for yourself. The common sense that was once readily available to all of us is still there free of charge and waiting to be applied to just about any challenge we might face in life… all you have to do is use it.
Please, let's all work together to stop the flock of "sheepeople" who blindly move from one UNPROVEN concept to the next, looking for the answers to life's challenges that you already possess and that is the OBVIOUS!
I totally agree.
use you common senses!
Rare miracles do happen, but not by doing that wierdo method of theirs.
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