"The Secret" - Movie

by Bstndance 28 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Satanus

  The thing is, for several yrs, i have watched this type of thing working in my life. It's a tug of war for me between positive thinking/attracting the positive and abundance and negative/self destructive thoughts and attracting negative. It's about undoing the negative programs that were instilled (thank the wt for that word) into me, not just from the wt, but also from my parents. Comparing my own life w those of my sisters and brothers, i must say that i have done better.

  Anyway, this thing works through the subconscious. We (or other people, media, or whatever) program our subconscious w expectations. People around us subconsciously pick up on our expectations and endeavor to deliver to fulfill our expectations. Of course the reciprocal is at work too, ie, they have their desires which we endevor to meet, to an extent.

  All the aids in africa doesn't make the principle. First of all, africa is a place of a lot of negativity, ie, bad is what is popularly expected, and so they get it and do it. If more people thought positive, they would do positive things and attract positive.

  S
• 

  Shakita

  I too don't have a problem with the power of positive thinking. There is something to be said about tossing out negative thoughts and being an optimist. However, I have a serious problem with the law of attraction. It basically states that if we desire something, we will eventually get what we desire. On the other hand, if we dwell on something negative, something that we don't want, we will receive that rather than the positive thing. How about the one million or so persons that doe each year due to malaria. I suppose those persons "attracted" that parasite and they died. If they just thought good thoughts those malarial mosquitos would have left them alone and gone off to bite all the negative ones. Mr. Shakita
• 

  daystar

  Oprah's Dirty Little Secret - http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/03/05/the_secret/index.html

  After describing the "Secret" ernterprise as venal, this article goes on:

  Why "venality"? Because, with survivors of Auschwitz still alive, Oprah writes this about "The Secret" on her Web site, "the energy you put into the world -- both good and bad -- is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day." "Venality," because Oprah, in the age of AIDS, is advertising a book that says, "You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought." "Venality," because Oprah, from a studio within walking distance of Chicago's notorious Cabrini Green Projects, pitches a book that says, "The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts."

  Worse than "The Secret's" blame-the-victim idiocy is its baldfaced bullshitting. The titular "secret" of the book is something the authors call the Law of Attraction. They maintain that the universe is governed by the principle that "like attracts like" and that our thoughts are like magnets: Positive thoughts attract positive events and negative thoughts attract negative events. Of course, magnets do exactly the opposite -- positively charged magnets attract negatively charged particles -- and the rest of "The Secret" has a similar relationship to the truth. Here it is on biblical history: "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus were not only prosperity teachers, but also millionaires themselves, with more affluent lifestyles than many present-day millionaires could conceive of." And worse than the idiocy and the bullshitting is its anti-intellectualism, because that's at the root of the other two. Here's "The Secret" on reading and, um, electricity: "When I discovered 'The Secret' I made a decision that I would not watch the news or read newspapers anymore, because it did not make me feel good," and, "How does it work? Nobody knows. Just like nobody knows how electricity works. I don't, do you?" And worst of all is the craven consumerist worldview at the heart of "The Secret," because it's why the book exists: "[The Secret] is like having the Universe as your catalogue. You flip through it and say, 'I'd like to have this experience and I'd like to have that product and I'd like to have a person like that.' It is you placing your order with the Universe. It's really that easy." That's from Dr. Joe Vitale, former Amway executive and contributor to "The Secret," on Oprah.com.

  I have access to a copy of the Secret, but have only watched the first few minutes, so I can't give a truly informed opinion. However, in talking about the film with others, I get the idea that beyond breaking the news that ideas and thoughts influence the material world (duh!), there is not much to it.
• 

  Bstndance

  Woo!! I think this is my first topic over 2 pages. :-)
• 

  daystar

  Woo!! I think this is my first topic over 2 pages. :-)

  ROFL!!! And you killed it!!!
• 

  Balsam

  Bstndance,

  Well people either seem to love it or hate it and think it is baloney. I have the DVD and personally I like it very much. We are affected by other people's intentions and bad thing do happen to us because of that. To say we can avoid all negative everything is only partially true. We die, our family dies and it is up to us how we deal with those loses. I have been putting positive thinking principles to work now for about 9 years and have found my life totally improved. I can say I am honestly the happiest I've ever been in my life.

  My son has totally turned his life around after watching THE SECRET. So if it helps someone gets out of their gloomy outlook on life that JW seem to embrace can only be good. My son after leaving the JW's got into drugs, selling them, hating himself, hating everyone around him and feeling life life was not worth living. After watching THE SECRET and putting the principles to work he has got off drugs, stopped selling, gotten a job, bought a car and has made new friends and planning for the future. He is considering going into the Navy to further get the discipline he needs to live a productive life. I'm proud of him but it took that movie for him to see he was inviting 99% of the bad stuff into his life every single day.

  So people can blow it off if they want but it has some very positive affects on people and I'm not talking about getting rich.

  Balsam
• 

  Billzfan23

  I think visualization is important, but only in a couple of things. Here are my areas:

  Setting goals: Visualization is the key to setting realistic and reachable goals. For example, if you can't picture yourself as a college grad with a house on the water chances are good that you won't ever do it.

  Playing golf: Shot visualization - picking the exact trajectory, height, ball flight, spin, distance, etc should all be "pictured" or visualized before you hit each shot!
• 

  rebel8

  Bstn, I totally agree with you. I am all for positive thinking but it is not magic.
  
  Boo to the people who say, "If you can dream it, you can achieve it." What a load of nonsense.
  
  /off to dream I can fly, and try to achieve it *not*
• 

  Paralipomenon

  Self help programs are like a shot of adrenaline.
  
  You get a boost to your self esteem and start in earnest, but eventually if you didn't have the will power to do it yourself, the adrenaline will wear off and you'll be back to square one.
  
  It will work for some people and change their lives, but only if they are ready to have their life changed. Chances are they would have made the change anyways.
  
  Positive affirmation helps, but it won't give you will power. That, you can only give yourself. You'll never find it in a book or DVD.