"The Secret": A Model for Cornucopians?

americandream

[quote="katkinkate"]Want more money? then change what you focus on. Instead of seeing the world as lacking in opportunity and feeling stuck in a dead end job, do the research to see more options and change your life by changing what you do. Get more training/education, move to a town with better job prospects, apply for better jobs where you are or start up a small business parttime to earn more./quote]

Expand the small business, float it on the stock exchange, set up factory in China, strike a deal with Mali for a cheap supply of widgetonium, discover a new found love for neo-conservative market politics, enthuse at the joys of spreading democracy to outer wogtonia!

It's all there...in The Secret!
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Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!

Baldwin · Intermediate Crude Joined: Feb 05, 2007 Posts: 552

The Secret almost makes me want to propose book burnings. That is so dangerous if people truly internalize that thinking positively will solve all problems, bar none.
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Only a city man would carry a bag of iron instead of a bag of rice.

-Ling Tan, from the movie Dragon Seed, 1944 (more wisdom from Turner Classic Movies)

Jellric

Yep. These are the same sort of people who will probably start their own version of a cargo cult in the Post-peak future. They will sit for hours in lawn chairs in front of Wal Mart in a vain attempt to entice the magic trucks laden with oil and goodies to pull in once again as in the days of Yore..

frankthetank

Oprah is making this book sell? Oh god help us! Coming from a billionaire who i believe has a bunker? under her mansion in CA...

If i found a copy i'd wipe my ass with the pages and compost them in my garden...
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"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

auscanman

I don't underestimate the danger that filth such as 'The Secret' will pose in an increasingly resource scarce and desperate world.

Last time I went to the barber, the woman who cuts my hair was raving on about this book. The basic idea is correct to the extent that whatever job you have in life, you're more likely to be successful if you approach it in a positive, determined fashion- provided you're willing to work hard at it.

The real danger comes when the idea from the secret is claimed to apply outside of the work sphere. No matter how hard you might want it, that big house ain't going to come without money from somewhere, and it won't prevent you from catching a contagious disease.

During that same haircut, the hairdresser claimed that the Secret even applies to winning the lottery! Very dangerous and deluded thinking... Overall, in a world where there is virtually no hope or comfort for the masses, I can see the appeal of a book like this as flawed as it is. The fact that it's been so widely acclaimed goes to show how people no longer care about our collective well-being and that materialism truly does rule all.

Heineken

http://letters.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/03/05/the_secret/view/index29.html?show=all

killJOY · Fission Joined: Feb 21, 2005 Posts: 2481 Location: ^NNE^

I hate commenting on something I haven't read, but this is just an internet forum...

This book, which I'm seeing referenced everywhere, permeating the air like a fart-smell, sounds like the very thing I LOATHE: PSYCHOTHERAPY.

If we just think the right thoughts, we cure ourselves.

If we just "create the correct legend of our childhoods," we " " " heal " " " our " "dysfunctional" " upbringings.

If we talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk (as only apes can do), about anything whatsoever that is bothering/paining/killing us, we can """CURE""" it . For a price, of course.

Heineken

There is a place for self-help books, and I've read some good ones (e.g., "Your Erroneous Zones," "The Road Less Traveled"), and they've helped me quite a lot at low spots in my life.

How you think can certainly affect how you feel, but it can't by itself create a conveyer belt of riches flowing into your bank account.

As usual in America, we take a basically healthy concept and inflate it, distort it, greedify it, jazzify it beyond all recognition, until it becomes hopelessly sick.

Lighthouse · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 1458

Heineken

It all depends on one's point of view, Lighthouse. If "The Road Less Traveled" helped me, then it had value to me.

some_guy282 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 18, 2004 Posts: 691

BILL_THA_PHARMACIZT · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 17, 2004 Posts: 126

instructor of 'The Secret' conned people into investing money in him and his schemes under seminars and instructions using 'Law Of Attraction' and 'The Secret'.

Link

{Replaced extra long link with a short one - TheTurtle}
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people are going to persue whatever they percieve to be in their own interests and thats always changing because everything in life is in constant motion

some_guy282 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 18, 2004 Posts: 691

Wish I could look at that video but it wont let me. Says I need at least Internet Explorer 6. I switched from Firefox over to IE 7 and it still wont work....
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In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. – Nietzsche

Time makes more converts than reason. – Thomas Paine

History is a set of lies agreed upon. – Napoleon Bonaparte

entropyfails · Moderator Joined: Jun 30, 2004 Posts: 607

The biggest secret about "The Secret" is that it is not a secret at all. It is a often stated assumption of our culture, namely,

"The world was made for man to rule over."

"The Secret" implores you to think endlessly about your wants so that you go out and achieve goals society indoctrinated you to want.

The other great secret of "The Secret" is that it works. Obviously, we are sitting here at the culmination of 10,000 years of people's blind hope.

Do with that information what you will.
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EntropyFails
"Little prigs and three-quarter madmen may have the conceit that the laws of nature are constantly broken for their sakes." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

some_guy282 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 18, 2004 Posts: 691

Seems like The Secret is getting some mainstream criticism.

Yahoo - Critics of 'The Secret' bemoan claims

SNL Spoof of The Secret
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In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. – Nietzsche

Time makes more converts than reason. – Thomas Paine

History is a set of lies agreed upon. – Napoleon Bonaparte