# I put the author of "The Secret" and everyone who quotes it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183 "2012-04-08T16:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/121 "2012-04-10T16:50:19Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > If any of those were responding to emotions, like you said the universe does, then you might have a point. A car doesn’t give a fuck when you turn the key, but if you just got in your car and thought really positive thoughts until it turned on, then yeah, I’d say it was giving a fuck. Another thought. If the universe is neutral and does not give a fuck, and attracting things into your life is as cause-and-effect an activity as turning a car key and having the engine turn on, isn’t it amazingly fortuitous for us that positive thinking and emotions attract positive things, and negative thinking and emotions attract negative things! What if the neutrality and give-a-fuck-lessness of the universe meant that negative thoughts attracted positive things, and positive thoughts brought all sorts of tragedy! It’s just as likely a proposition in a truly neutral universe. Like the way north and south poles of magnets attract each other. In order to be happy, we’d have to be miserable. Then as soon as we were happy from all the positive stuff we’d attracted, we’d be attracting misery, and lather, rinse, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/122 "2012-04-10T16:51:22Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > A lot, I guess. \ Does it really matter to you? Check out the stuff I linked, boatloads of information there that will make it clearer for you, since I’ve failed. That’s because you wanted to fail. Same as in your court cases. You wanted to fail so you did. Seems to me like the law of attraction works perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/123 "2012-04-10T16:53:42Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > In order to be happy, we’d have to be miserable. Then as soon as we were happy from all the positive stuff we’d attracted, we’d be attracting misery, and lather, rinse, repeat. Well it does go a long way toward explaining gas prices versus the stock market lately. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/124 "2012-04-10T16:58:33Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Another thought. If the universe is neutral and does not give a fuck, and attracting things into your life is as cause-and-effect an activity as turning a car key and having the engine turn on, isn’t it amazingly fortuitous for us that positive thinking and emotions attract positive things, and negative thinking and emotions attract negative things! What if the neutrality and give-a-fuck-lessness of the universe meant that negative thoughts attracted positive things, and positive thoughts brought all sorts of tragedy! It’s just as likely a proposition in a truly neutral universe. Like the way north and south poles of magnets attract each other. In order to be happy, we’d have to be miserable. Then as soon as we were happy from all the positive stuff we’d attracted, we’d be attracting misery, and lather, rinse, repeat. Ha! I like your line of thinking! I just don’t understand how one can say that the laws of attraction are neutral and in the next breathe mention things that are ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. Similarly I don’t see how one can say that there is no fault or blame associated with the rules, and then say that people attract negative things through their thoughts and fears. How is that not assigning fault? It’s all so contradictory. It doesn’t make me angry or anything, I just don’t think it makes much sense. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/125 "2012-04-10T17:05:49Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > Ha! I like your line of thinking! > > I just don’t understand how one can say that the laws of attraction are neutral and in the next breathe mention things that are ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. Similarly I don’t see how one can say that there is no fault or blame associated with the rules, and then say that people attract negative things through their thoughts and fears. How is that not assigning fault? It’s all so contradictory. It doesn’t make me angry or anything, I just don’t think it makes much sense. I pity you, I really, really do. And I mean that genuinely and not sarcastically, because [the Laws of Attraction say that “Sarcasm is bitter, caustic irony that sees the bad in others good.”](http://www.theinnercoach.eu/spiritual-development/sarcasm-criticism-cynicism) Clearly, a follower of LoA would never, not even once for a second, invoke sarcastic mockery, because that would go against their basic beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/126 "2012-04-10T17:12:42Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > My guess? It’s because people want to take credit for the good that happens in their life while pretending the bad isn’t their fault or problem at all, regardless of how much personal control one has over any individual situation. > > People who like The Secret aren’t full-faith adherents to its philosophy and stick to it good or bad; they rely on it for good and discard it when it doesn’t suit them. Like most humans do with most philosophies, really. True enough. > [@Jenaroph](#): > > I’m just saying that if you can’t distinguish a system of laws so subtle and complex that they look like random chance, _from actual random chance,_ then perhaps, y’know, Occam’s Razor applies. Certainly possible. > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > why it is consistently unsuccessful for you. If it were, I would, but it isn’t, so I don’t. But thanks for thinking of me. > [@Meyer6](#): > > If any of those were responding to emotions, like you said the universe does, then you might have a point. If it were my point. It’s not my point. I’m just sharing what those who believe actually believe. > [@Meyer6](#): > > I just don’t understand how one can say that the laws of attraction are neutral and in the next breathe mention things that are ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. Exactly the same way the laws of nature are neutral until we layer on our value judgments of what is positive or negative. It’s just perspective that makes it one or the other in any case, they aren’t independent, fixed realties. A positive for you is a negative for someone or something else; none of it is “real” outside of our perceptions to begin with, the law of attraction completely aside. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/127 "2012-04-10T17:22:55Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > If it were, I would, but it isn’t, so I don’t. But thanks for thinking of me. Careful, friend! I’d hate for you to put evil out into your universe like that, because as all devout LoAttractioners know, [Sarcasm Is The Enemy of Pure Intentions](http://www.loablog.com/sarcasm-is-the-enemy-of-pure-intentions/) ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/128 "2012-04-10T17:39:31Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Careful, friend! I’d hate for you to put evil out into your universe like that, because as all devout LoAttractioners know, [Sarcasm Is The Enemy of Pure Intentions](http://www.loablog.com/sarcasm-is-the-enemy-of-pure-intentions/) Dude, the last line of that blog post is just DARING hackers to take the site down. And now that I’ve brought it up, they will! Thank you, neutral universe! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/129 "2012-04-10T17:42:20Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Dude, the last line of that blog post is just DARING hackers to take the site down. And now that I’ve brought it up, they will! Thank you, neutral universe! Excuse you, but that page will live FOREVER. Every time a poster says, ‘I don’t believe in websites,’ there is a website somewhere that falls down dead. EVERY TIME, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/130 "2012-04-10T17:47:38Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Excuse you, but that page will live FOREVER. Every time a poster says, ‘I don’t believe in websites,’ there is a website somewhere that falls down dead. EVERY TIME, OK? I don’t believe in Facebook! I don’t believe in Facebook! I don’t believe in Facebook! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/131 "2012-04-10T17:53:25Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I don’t believe in Facebook! I don’t believe in Facebook! I don’t believe in Facebook! . . . you sick fuck. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/132 "2012-04-10T17:56:07Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Careful, friend! I’d hate for you to put evil out into your universe like that, because as all devout LoAttractioners know, [Sarcasm Is The Enemy of Pure Intentions](http://www.loablog.com/sarcasm-is-the-enemy-of-pure-intentions/) Did you think me sarcastic? Not a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/133 "2012-04-10T17:57:14Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Excuse you, but that page will live FOREVER. Every time a poster says, ‘I don’t believe in websites,’ there is a website somewhere that falls down dead. EVERY TIME, OK? Sure, they said “This website will live forever” but right before that they were saying stuff like “I will never die” and “never say never” so that’s a lot of uses of the negative word “never” and how’s the universe supposed to know they don’t really mean it? They’re sending out all sorts of bad vibes! That brings up another question: what about actors who play villains? Is the universe too neutral to know that they’re just playacting and don’t really mean it when they say things like “Now you will see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.”? ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/134 "2012-04-10T18:06:05Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > That brings up another question: what about actors who play villains? Is the universe too neutral to know that they’re just playacting and don’t really mean it when they say things like “Now you will see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.”? Good point, maybe it is actors who have unwittingly brought all of the evil into the world. Them, and the damn play writers they rode in on. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/135 "2012-04-10T18:07:27Z")
> [@florez](#): > > Good point, maybe it is actors who have unwittingly brought all of the evil into the world. Them, and the damn play writers they rode in on. This is why I’ve been trying to ban all art and literature for years. ---
**Author:** ![poker\_in\_the\_rear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dc4da7/32.png) [@poker\_in\_the\_rear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poker_in_the_rear)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/136 "2012-04-10T18:11:04Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Big “if” there at the beginning, and I disagree that The Secret failed to properly explain the laws. It failed to be very effective at helping people understand how they can take more control of their random thoughts, but as far as how it works, I don’t think it got it wrong. > > And so far, have we heard from anyone who > > [ul] > [li] actually read the book[/li][li] embraced the ideas as true[/li][li] ended up feeling shitty for being so terrible and creating such terrible things?[/li][/ul] > > I assume there are such people, many people in this thread seem pretty convinced they exist, but so far I don’t think we’ve heard from _them_. > > Who we have heard from are people who heard half-assed regurgitations from _other_ people, rejected it as bullshit out the gate, and then got angry anyway. > > They’re certainly entitled, but it hardly seems fair to bitch out \*the book \*for that. I read the first half of the book. I believe that makes me an authority on the subject. No? ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/137 "2012-04-10T18:28:26Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I pity you, I really, really do. Isn’t pity negative? Are you sending that negative energy to me? Damn you! > [@Stoid](#): > > Exactly the same way the laws of nature are neutral until we layer on our value judgments of what is positive or negative. It’s just perspective that makes it one or the other in any case, they aren’t independent, fixed realties. A positive for you is a negative for someone or something else; none of it is “real” outside of our perceptions to begin with, the law of attraction completely aside. But you’re not saying ‘something random happens and we as humans interpret meaning into it’, you’re saying ‘something happens and it’s not random at all because we as humans made it happen with our thoughts and fears’. If your only point is that ones perspective can change their experience of the world, I can get behind that. But it’s not - you’re trying to say that ones perspective can _cause_ all kinds of good and bad things to happen, and in fact everything that happens to a person is due to their desires and fears. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/138 "2012-04-10T18:39:04Z")
> [@poker\_in\_the\_rear](#): > > I read the first half of the book. I believe that makes me an authority on the subject. No? I wish to be an authority on the subject; I believe that makes me an authority on the subject, no? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/139 "2012-04-10T18:55:24Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > \ > People who like The Secret aren’t full-faith adherents to its philosophy and stick to it good or bad; they rely on it for good and discard it when it doesn’t suit them. Like most humans do with most philosophies, really. Don’t forget religions, too - when something good happens, they praise God. When something bad happens, well, they don’t praise God. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I wish to be an authority on the subject; I believe that makes me an authority on the subject, no? I think you have to _believe_ that you’re an authority on the subject. I’m kind of annoyed at things like “The Secret” because they take a good thing and distort it. Having a positive outlook on life is a good thing, and would benefit most people (so they see all the good in their lives, instead of focusing on the negative). It doesn’t hand you everything you want just because you want it; it just helps you appreciate what you’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183/140 "2012-04-10T19:07:07Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > But you’re not saying ‘something random happens and we as humans interpret meaning into it’, you’re saying ‘something happens and it’s not random at all because we as humans made it happen with our thoughts and fears’. You seem to feel that a value judgment automatically attaches to this. I don’t understand why you would think that, I only understand that it doesn’t. > [@](#): > > If your only point is that ones perspective can change their experience of the world, I can get behind that. But it’s not - you’re trying to say that ones perspective can _cause_ all kinds of good and bad things to happen, and in fact everything that happens to a person is due to their desires and fears. I have no point, I am not saying anything. I am not promoting or defending, remember? I am reporting what I understand to be true of it. What you think of it is entirely your business and you’re welcome to it, honestly, I have absolutely no investment in whether you believe or accept or “get behind” it at all. Just sharing what I know about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-put-the-author-of-the-secret-and-everyone-who-quotes-it/618183.md?page=8)