My Response to 'The Secret'

I have not read the bestseller: The Secret, nor have I viewed the subsequent movie. I've been fairly well acquainted with such ideas for some time, however, and because of that felt little compunction to read or see this new spin on such an old idea. I've dealt with this within Christian circles: "Name it, claim it. Believe it, receive it."

One of my Tulane student friends has gotten into The Secret, and we've chatted about it a couple of times. Below is a message he sent me listing out his notes from the movie version, and then my responses in red.

I'm trying to do more writing this summer, as I think it's a gift from God that I do too little with. So, in that vein, I thought I'd write a serious response, and then share it around.

Grace and Peace,

*md

Jie: here is some points from the movie "the secret"

  The LAW OF ATTRACTION: YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND---Universe

3 Processes to Be Creative:

1, Ask (Whatever you want)
2, Believe (Firmly)
3, Receive (Gratefully)


1, Grateful. ----At least you are alive, and you still have the rock in your pocket.

Gratitude is absolutely essential to happiness and joy and fulfillment in life. It is the start of humility, which is the start of true wisdom. The Bible teaches this plainly. 

2,When you visualize , then you materialize.

Visualization is powerful, but it is not magic. I visualize success that never comes on a regular basis. Maybe I am not very good at visualization, but I have experienced its power. It is only a help, though, not a fool-proof plan. 

3. Always positve words filled in your mind!

 

While positivity is better than negativity, sometimes it is more important to deal with reality. I believe that honesty is far more important than happiness or success. Without honesty, we will fail to address real problems, pain, and evil in our world. Without honesty, all of our happiness and success is illusion. 

4. Surrounded by successful people, get into them, become part of them and lead the other people also join them!

This is interesting: it is true that successful people can rub off on you, and help make you more successful. It is wise to associate with those who are positive and full of life. Yet, Jesus teaches the absurd notion of befriending your enemies, and the lowest people on the social ladder, the people who are poor, broken, despised, and ugly. Why would he teach something so contrary to practical wisdom for success? 

5. Act NOW! the Universe likes intuition, likes the speed!

Who is the universe? How does the universe like anything?

Unless there is a Person back of the universe, the universe is dead matter with no life, no preferences. 

6. Firstly, fall in love with yourself.

 

Jesus and the Prophets preach that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we do not love ourselves, we cannot love anyone. This is true, but easily misapplied toward self-centered living. 

7. Appreciate!

Everything! Always! 

8. Energy flows where attention goes.

Obviously, our energies flow to where we fix our attention. What other energy is there?

9. Don't apologize easily, do it when it's necssary. i.e. you will feel good after you saying "sorry".

I believe this one is 100% wrong. We all do wrong and hurt others on a regular basis, and we do well to acknowledge our errors and ask forgiveness. If we do not apologize easily, we have become full of pride and arrogance. I do not know what 'the universe' thinks about pride and arrogance, but God hates it, and destroys it.

Also, saying 'sorry' is an action directed toward another person, a person that one has injured in some way - knowingly or accidentally. Saying 'sorry' may be very painful, and may leave one feeling empty and broken afterwards. The injured party may decided to reject the apology, and this does not feel good. 

10. Believe in that the power within you is GREATER than the power within the world.

This sounds like a quotation from the Bible, which teaches that "He [Jesus] who is in you is great than he [the devil, the power of the world] who is in the world." 

11. No Ceilings for us.

The one ceiling we all share is called death. 

12. If it is not fun, then don't do that.

I agree with this to some extent. However, there are a great many things that are necessary for life and are not fun. Also, acting in compassion, honesty, etc... is often very difficult. It is much more fun to play video games than to do right deeds, or even to develop oneself. 

13. When you say you CAN or CAN'T , either way you are right.

This is always true for 'can't', though sometimes circumstances bigger than ourselves interfere with our 'can'. But, I do agree with this one, mostly. 

14. FEEL GOOD.

Feel bad: more than 30,000 have been crushed to death in China, maybe 100,000 or more have been killed or will die in Myanmar/Burma from the Cyclone.

Our world is full of pain and misery, and it is foolish to set the goal of feeling good in such a world. Some misery is beyond our control; some misery can be alleviated by our compassion; some misery can be ended or prevented by our action and faith; some misery can be comforted if we will enter into it with the miserable.