Was this in VT by any chance?
My wife read half the book based on a constant, and recurring request from one of her clients. And in order to help her cope she read a lot of the bits to me. The “science” is ridiculous. Our thoughts are magnetic, they travel outward from you into the universe and attract whatever it is you are wishing for, always. Like Jessica Alba for me (hasn’t happened yet), the Holocaust for Jews and other minorities in WWII, Rawandan Genocide etc. It’s a really heartwarming idea once you contemplate all the real consequences of it.
About the only good that book has you’ve likely learned from your mother or your grade three teacher. That is, think positively. Other than that it is clap-trap for those that want to think they are thinking but are not really.
Unless, of course, the last few chapters had something wizz bang but I never heard.
I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but it seems like a spin on the concept, self-fulfilling prophesy.
That’s basically the long & short of it. Wishful thinking is nice, but actions and words are what count. If you’re not willing to perform the words & actions required to get what you want, no amount of wishful thinking will help you.
For instance, let’s say you want to have sex with Jessica Alba. That’s easy – you just have to become the type of person Jessica Alba wants to have sex with. The best way to accomplish this is to become a famous Hollywood actor. Therefore…become a famous Hollywood actor. Gain enough fame & clout until you land a starring role in a movie with Jessica Alba cast as your love interest. It’s simple as that. 
But if you’re not willing to follow that path, don’t expect it to happen all on its own, “Secret” or no “Secret”.
Do people really say that? Yikes.
I would think an adequate response to something like that might run to “Thanks! Your nose is broken because you wanted me to punch you”
These publications and all of the associated fuss are essentially concerned with one concept: if you want something, wish for it and you’ll get it.
Whatever else this is, it’s not a new idea. People have been promoting this idea pretty much ever since there have been people. However, these days it’s easier than ever before to dress the old idea in new clothes, sell it and promote it.
It is possible to place many different interpretations on the basic idea. The most literal and superificial interpretation is plainly wrong, and the fact that even very fervent and sincere wishing doesn’t in and of itself make anything happen is proved on a daily basis by millions of people, in particular by those facing starvation, war, disease, violence, oppression, injustice, abject poverty or faulty cable TV service.
One can devise slightly more refined interpretations that are not inherently nonsensical, and that might even be granted to have a grain of truth to them. For example, it is possible to interpret the kind of advice offered in these publications as a way of saying ‘prioritise your goals, focus on one goal in particular, work towards it methodically, think what you could do to acheive it, don’t get distracted’. These are good suggestions, can’t hurt, and will usually help. It’s also possible to take the view that the ‘wishing’ ritual is just a way to trigger and steer one’s inherent sense of motivation, leading (as others have noted) to a self-fulfillng prophecy; in essence this amounts to no more than: ‘I wish to have a cup of tea, and since I don’t want the wish to fail, I go and make myself a cup of tea.’
The fact that one can devise ways to accommodate these books that put a faintly rational feel-good ‘think positive’ gloss on them should never obscure the fact that they are peddling silly, trite nonsense. The only real wish that’s going to come true is the author’s and the publisher’s wish to make a lot of money from gullible people. Then again, they can’t really be blamed for tapping in to the fact that at any given time, there are countless dreamers willing to believe it’s possible to get whatever you want just by wishing for it. This isn’t true, but it is self-evidently a very seductive message.
I don’t know that they say it in so many words (although I’m sure the book has some adherents who actually would say that), but that’s what the book implies. It basically says that you get what you want, so if you get bad things, it’s your own bad thinking and wishing that attracts the bad things.
I’ve wondered about this book, and in an internet perusing, am pretty “meh” on it. I’ll add with a Buddhist perspective, as much as my rather small mind can add.
Buddhist development of a better mindset is working towards a more positive state of mind, and working to overcome negativity. Many methods are used, and, I do trust the previous path of teachers to lead the way, and try to follow those teachings, best of my ability. Creating a positive state of mind is a good part of that effort.
In looking at what was available on the web, in a thoughtful reading of “the Secret”,
is that it seemed very self-centered to me. It was all about furthering "your"needs, and no mention of including others in that effort. This puts me ill at ease, with any sort of spiritual development. The traditions that I find as more knowledgeable teach that enlightenment comes best with including others in the larger scope, and that when you truly “get” that generousity, and loss of ego driven need, a wider scope of being is opened.
In other words, the lack of compassion with The Secret is driven in the same way that causes so many problems in the first place, self above others. I haven’t read the book, so am really talking a streak out my wazoo, I guess, but did try to suss the important parts from what I saw online. Please correct me if wrong.
There’s me two bits.
‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ comes out every ten years packaged in another format. It really works. I’ve seen it work plenty of times, but of course people will tell you its entirely BS.
If you want something go for it try and get it. If you think positively your chances of getting it are increased significantly.
Otherwise there is nothing special about this format, it’s just a self-help meme that recycles over and over.
After seeing the link to the thread “Fuck Oprah: The Secret,” I ran an SD search on “Fuck Oprah.” I got 42 hits! Lots of people want to fuck Oprah, apparently. Surely, that is a great comfort to her.
Where “positive thinking” is an inspiration to seek out that which one wishes to acquire or accomplish, or to become more motivated overall, or just to be more pleasant to be around than a “negative thinker” and thereby more likely to make more of the sort of interpersonal connections that create opportunity, I would tend to agree; that much seems obvious, and not really much of a “secret.”
I have a much harder time accepting that wishing really, really, really hard for my mailbox to become stuffed with anonymous envelopes bulging with hundred-dollar bills while I sit here on my fat ass makes it even infinitesimally more likely to occur than otherwise–which, from the portion of the video I could bear to watch, appeared quite literally to be one of the claims of “The Secret” (although, I trust, not the same claim you are making when you say you’ve “seen it work plenty of times”).
If you really want something that is reasonable but currently out of reach for you, make a list of everything that you can do to reach your goal. Include even minute details. Then begin to work the list – trying to do something on the list every day.
My goal was to go to Paris. I had no savings and a thirty year phobia of flying. It took a year and a half, but I flew to Paris with my sixteen year old granddaughter in tow. We had a blast for ten days and I returned home with a couple of thousand dollars still available to me. I was not even nervous before or during my flights.
It was a matter of determination, focusing my attention, and working the list.
Six months after watching the film version of The Secret (BTW DanBlather, it was in Indiana) and for the most part completely forgetting that it exists, I found myself thinking about it again.
This is the important part, the thinking. Reading an article brought the film to mind and, as I struggled to remember what it was, I did a lot of thinking about it.
I found reference to it on the internet and exhausted what resources I had (basically I read all the Wiki articles and The Secret website. I then turned to the SDMB to see what some other opinions (ones that I might be able to relate to on some level and respect) were. Searching did me no good so I opened this thread. All the while I was thinking about The Secret.
So, last night my wife wanted to go to Wal-Mart to get her daughter some pants. Not wishing to have a pantsless daughter I cheerfully drove the whole family down there. All the while, on some deep level, still thinking about The Secret, thinking about what types of valued opinions (and utter bullshit, but I digress) I might look forward to reading later. As we walk into the Wal-Mart our boys, age 7 and 10, decide to stop by the book section on the way to the electronic section and it’s much anticipated Guitar Hero III demo.
There it was. Six months after obscuring it from my mind the book was laid into my path like the blue van on the corner where the guy is always watching me. What does he want? Why is he always on the corner watching me? Anyway, while I was debating with myself on whether to buy this book I noticed another volume, on another shelf, at the other end of the row, titled “The Law of Attraction”. It turns out that this book was written by Michael J. Losier who, according to the liner notes, is a practicioner and teacher of NLP, which is what the article I had been reading earlier was talking about.
Things had come full circle for me so, after getting a 97% accurate score on Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll” on Guitar Hero III (totally smoking my boy’s scores, ol’ dad still has a trick or two up his sleeve), I found myself shelling out the $15 for the book.
I finished half of it last night and am a lot more informed than I was by researching it. For example, I was not aware that Einstein and other theoritical physicists hold the view that Quantim Mechanics arose from Mind. Or that the universe was created by Thought (as a Christian I always thought God said “Let there be light”, not that He mearly thought it). I am now fully aware that food does not cause me to be fat, it is the “fat thoughts”. So for breakfast this morning I ate a cheese ball and thought “thin thoughts”.
While I agree with the basic tennets of this book (we could all use a lot more positive thoughts in our lives) and understand the restatement of a time worn message, I find the method of conveying this message laughable at best and dangerous at times (I am a firm believer in that the victim is never to blame for the actions of the attacker, we are each responsible for our own actions and nothing more, you broke my nose because you chose to break my nose, you are not a puppet and I do not pull your strings). The circular logic was mind blowing, and trust me, I know circular logic.
All of this will mean very little to me soon though, there are other things on my mind. I will be receiving $1000 to spend on the kids for Christmas today (I figure if I get to make a wish I should make it count for something more than a wheatie, YMMV ;)).
I’ve seen it in religious contexts (it’s the mainstay of the prosperity doctrine preachers), I just didn’t realise it existed in nearly the same form elsewhere.
I’m really curious about this. Why the Hell were mental health professionals inflicting this bullshit on their patients?
The good part involves rearranging the world around you so you can succeed. It’s a fact that if you want to be on Broadway, you ain’t gonna do it from a couch in Montana. You have to avail yourself of all the attending necessities: acting lessons, singing lessons, dance lessons, moving to New York, auditioning, and assorted risks.
Have you ever seen “One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest”?
Let’s get 'em good and drugged up and show 'em the video with the giant genie in it.
Not to hijack, but can I ask how you overcame the flying phobia? I’m really phobic but I can force myself to fly if I need to. However, I would never say I’m not nervous when I do. I would love to be pointed down the right path!
Oh, I don’t know. The “secret” was taken out of context from Napoleon Hill’s “Law of attraction” and his “Think and Grow Rich.” Maybe it is a case of the emperors new clothes. I can only tell you that it (the secret) doesn’t come to anyone unless they are ready for it and when it does it will change your life forever. It changed mine 40 years ago and has continued to do so to this day. Joe Dudly read “Think and Grow Rich” 300 times and built a company worth 125 million dollars — Not bad for a tobacco share cropper’s son. One way to become successful isto find somebody who is successful and then do what they did. Few, if any, really successful people will tell you that “Think and grow Rich” is BS, new age thought or not. Good Luck!
In science, like does not simply always ‘attract like’ (opposites attract).
Millions of copies of these books have been sold. If it really worked reliably, I think we’d know (and there wouldn’t be so many foreclosures).
My favorite “seer” in this arena is PT Barnum…