February 16, 2007
Is “The Secret” really the key to happiness?
The now well-known book and DVD series called The Secret has been on Oprah (which makes any book a blockbuster), Ellen DeGeneres and even on Larry King Live. Ultimately, The Secret claims to be a simple secret that can lead to happiness, wealth, and even good health for you and anyone else who knows it. What is The Secret? I’ll let the author explain:
Author Rhonda Byrne says the secret is the law of attraction: If you think positively, you become a magnet that pulls everything you want toward you. - - USA Today
So is this simple plan real? Is it True?
The Secret is deceptively simple
I think one reason for the popularity of The Secret is it’s apparent simplicity. Just believe as Disney has told us over the years. But is this something new? Not really. The Secret in simple terms is another shot at New Age mysticism. On the Oprah show, Jack Canfield (co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul) explained it in terms of physics: thought is energy so positive thoughts are positive energy that attracts other positive energy. This is very theoretical, to say the least, but is it practical? Let’s examine a couple of cases . . .
The Secret in practice
If something works, it must be true, correct? In other words, if the Law of Gravity is real then it affects everyone. On Oprah the practitioners (so to speak) of The Secret pointed out that if you are negative, you attract negative things. Just to take one disaster – the New Orleans Hurricane – and try to explain it using The Secret: those people were thinking too negatively. If they were positive, it would not have happened.
Okay that’s a negative viewpoint, but you suggest it might work in the positive. Again referencing Oprah, they actually pointed out that someone who wants to be a great singer should just decide it was going to happen and think positive. It would then happen. That simple. But when I watch American Idol I notice that there are a lot of extremely bad singers that really believe they are good. Unfortunately they just don’t have the talent. In other words, they have faith in their singing ability and are positive enough to believe that the American Idol judges will select them. But they aren’t selected because their faith is misplaced: despite the claims of The Secret you can’t just wish to have a great singing voice (Lord knows I’ve tried).
Reality versus The Secret
The Secret is great as a motivational tool. It does encourage positive thinking and outlook, which is excellent. But the reality is that we live in a fallen world and suffering is a regular part of our world. The biggest error of The Secret is that it doesn’t reflect this reality and tries to suggest that suffering is somehow your fault:
Susan Folkman, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, says she worries about The Secret's suggestion that "people can cure themselves and that if they don't, they are somehow to blame." - - USA Today
In fact, as Christians we believe that our suffering has value that can’t simply be wished away. With St. Paul our sufferings “make up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings.” No amount of positive or wishful thinking will remove pain, sickness, and suffering from our lives. And it should be this way: perfection can only be attained in heaven.
The real Secret
The real secret for all of us is that Jesus Christ could have stayed in heaven as God and enjoyed eternity. But instead He decided to come to earth and die in order to that we might live forever with Him. Despite our own little secrets hidden in closets everywhere. The real secret is that God loves you and cares when you suffer. Every hidden pain and injustices is felt by God who remembers and loves you for trying.
Positive thoughts? Good. The love of God? Much, much better. That secret is all too hidden today and provides a lot more value than any book, even if it were a secret.
God bless,
Jay
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Not all Christians believe that suffering is noble or required. As a matter of fact, The Secret made the gospel of Christ clearer for me than years of Sunday school. Jesus' message was one of personal power. He said that the kingdom of God was NOW. He referred to himself as our brother which made him equal to mankind. He tried to tell us that we had the same power that he had. The Secret IS the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christianity for the most part has missed this.
Posted by: Sharee at February 16, 2007 11:26 AMJay,
In general, Americans are very positive people. This is a part of our DNA that makes us attractive to others in the world, whether they complain about us or not. The "think positive" approach has served us well assisting the world's many political and economic issues, such as Microsoft in India, Peace Corp in Africa, and peace negotiations in Northern Ireland.
However, the "think positive" coin has a flip-side. The determination to think positively has gotten us into a huge mess in Iraq. Our president was idealistic in his thinking concerning Iraqis and their society. He assumes Arab dictators breed the troubled, Arab societies, not the reverse. Many times American positivism should be turned off in order to deal with realities here on earth, otherwise our national security will melt away with each idealistism pushed by inexperienced politicians.
Just a side note.
Michael O.
Posted by: Michael O. at February 17, 2007 12:21 PMSharee,
The gospel of Jesus Christ reaches its climax in His suffering and death on the Cross and His Resurrection. All roads to everlasting life lead through the way of the cross. Since we are His brothers (and sisters) we travel that same path which is narrow and hard and few find it.
In Christ,
Joe
Consciously or subconsciously we all knew the secret & we have been living with it for all our lives. However what Rhonda & her team have done is that, they have made all of us aware of this fact. I don’t know if the secret will help me achieve all the things that I desire but yes since I have watched the movie I am feeling good & it seems like everything happening around me is great & it will be so for the rest of my life.
I work with a non-profit organization Blog The Bible, where we discuss all the things which can make you happy & also relate to Jesus & Bible at the same time. I think if The Secret can generate the same happiness within all of us then there is no harm in believing the Law of Attraction.
We all have experienced it, whenever we feel good & happy we think of god, we think of Jesus, we think of Bible. So I would say that no matter what everybody thinks but this DVD has surely brought me close Jesus, Bible & at last Happiness.
Sydney Jones
www.blogthebible.com
I think the Secret has some serious errors. It is very attractive (no pun intended), because all of us long for happiness. One error I see is that we want to be in control, versus having God be in control. We want to be the masters of our universe. This was a pretty big problem for Adam and Eve. While there is a lot of truth in The Secret, it is not THE TRUTH. It really does not take into account the problem of suffering. Satan likes to use truth to lead us into error. THe father of all lies is pretty slick. I beleive that one can benifit by taking some of the ideas promoted in The Secret and using them in their lives. But if your faith is not well formed, this DVD can lead one into serious error.
Sincerely,
Leslie
