The Secret

I'm glad I saw the movie *before* I read all these comments.

I greatly appreciate the words of GreySphinx, japonaliya, alunde-1, robschmidt, and the like. I have read comments of the "haters" very closely, and their tone is so acerbic that leads me to ask them the following: who hurt you? The irony is that I don't have a problem with what they said, it doesn't bother me they reject the message of the movie - however, I do believe their critical words make the best case for the premise of the movie.

I consider myself an intelligent man with better than average critical thinking skills (and I know my employer does as well); and I do not believe that this movie insulted my intelligence. But if you believe that this movie was suppose to tell you *everything* you need to know about how to transform their life in 90 minutes, then I completely understand the source of your upset. But consider the following: this movie is only the "tip of the iceberg" (I intentionally chose that that metaphor because the tip of the iceberg only shows one about 10% of itself above the surface – I'll leave it to you to figure out how much of this philosophy is left for the interested party to discover ;-) ). Hence I respectfully disagree with vuduzombie – I believe one of the points of this movie is to inspire intellectual evolution.

I also respectfully disagree with OnlyPassingBy's assessment that this movie promotes "victim-blaming." I believe it's quite the opposite. I believe that the movie is asking the viewer to consider the radical concept that one is 100% responsible for anything that happens in their life. So if we are 100% responsible, then by definition we cannot blame anyone else. And from there we have the opportunity to realize that we are solely responsible to change whatever it is we want, if for no other reason than the fact that we are not wasting any of our precious time/energy/effort blaming someone else, not even 1%. (Even though I wholly believe in the principle of "100% responsibility," I wish I could say that I were talented enough to accomplish it all the time, but I do stumble and find myself "partially" blaming someone else. At least now I realize when I'm stumbling and that gives me the opportunity to right myself.)

What I find interested about hazzard_hotel's beer-theory is that he is so close to "getting" the Law of Attraction. Unfortunately I believe he is confusing the Law of Attraction with the Magic of Manifestation. Consider that the point of the Law of Attraction is that before you can have something, you must want it first. So yes, if you want a cold beer, you "imagine" having a cold beer (and where does one "imagine" but in their mind). And then you do what it takes to get yourself a cold beer – go to a bar, go the fridge, go to the store, whatever it takes (even asking someone to get it for you)…and voilà, you've got yourself the cold beer that you wanted – in other words, "thoughts become things." And yes, if you have ever listened to Bill Gates talk about his life before Microsoft, he has said "I imagined myself being rich." But then he follows up with "And this is what I did to make that happen." (Consider that JFK's "positive thinking" in fact did put a rocket on the moon and that this weekend there are 32 men, who as boys, imagined themselves as NFL starting quarterbacks. Of course there was a lot of hard work between the initial desire and the final achievement.)

So I get how to some this movie can be seen as a tease. The movie does not tell you in precise words that the road to what you imagine is paved with action. Ultimately it's up to you to do and realize the remaining 90% of the iceberg…but that's just "common sense," right? Actually, no, this level of sense is not common – if it were, then Dr.Phil would be out of a job. Even the smartest of us need help and occasional reminders (especially me).

I believe this movie is intended to be provocative, and the "haters" demonstrate that the movie meets its intent. If one thinks that this movie will be a one shot panacea, then you're in for a big disappointment. But if one is ready to do the rigorous work and take personal responsibility to do what it takes to transform their lives, then by all means see this movie.

Honestly, this makes the lowest grade of pornography look like Shakespeare. Just believe and the Universe will do exactly as you command! Hey positive thinking and belief are incredibly important, if they stopped there it would be fine. I'm all for a near-spiritual support for positive thinking. But don't believe you command the world! Believe what you like, and respect the beliefs of others. But here they make the case that your (subjective) beliefs drive the (objective) realities of the universe. They present it as though its a scientific fact. And they imply that this is the true secret of the ages, that all the greats possessed this precious knowledge, and that an evil conspiracy subdues it. That is patently false. It is truly a demented, grade school pseudoscience wrapped in an infomercial. At least Jerry Springer doesn't pretend his show is Cosmos!

At the beginning of this movie, one person says that we know, "like, attracts like." One person mentions magnets as a paradigm. The other man says it's a law of attraction. But we all know that with magnets, we are given the universal belief that it's opposites that attract. So, right away, I was a skeptic. And whenever I see pyramids in a film like this, I'm even more skeptical.

You'll have to watch this to see if it "attracts" you.

As a student of metaphysics, and as one who has practiced the Law of Attraction successfully for many years, I heard The Secret talked about on Oprah and purchased it. I'm always looking for new "takes" on the concept, if you will. If this has helped some people change their lives, that's great, and for that I will give it a 4. However, for anyone who has studied and practiced metaphysics, it's not really quite there, and I would urge people truly interested in the law of attraction, the one universe-one mind theory, etc., to go well beyond this CD.

Oprah says she practices The Secret, and she does, but not in the way it's practiced here. Oprah comes from a much more spiritual mindset, and that's what The Secret is missing. It's not about getting stuff. It's about developing a sense of true identity and being unafraid to go after what you feel you are meant to do in life and being open to many possible ways of achieving it. This idea is much better stated by Tracy Goss in "The Last Word on Power," by "The Science of Mind," the works of John Randolph Price, by "In Tune with the Infinite," by Ralph Waldo Trine, and by any number of other books.

One of the more vicious comments on the board said if Bill Gates told him that he got rich by imagining it, he'd believe in The Secret. It doesn't quite work that way. Jim Carey is a great believer in metaphysics and the law of attraction, and he did more than imagine his way out of living in a van with his family. Oprah is a great believer in this philosophy as well. So in fact was movie star Ginger Rogers, Georgia Engel from "Mary Tyler Moore" who is now on Broadway, actor Val Kilmer, Broadway star Carol Channing, Carol Burnett, actress Angela Lansbury, the current Miss USA, and more than likely Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and millions of other people. And millions more practice this philosophy every day without realizing it.

The problem with a DVD like this is that this is not a concept that people can decipher easily. How do I know that? I've read the comments here. People think it's about positive thinking and visualizing, which is a pity. Instead of helping an age-old theory, I think The Secret has set back a powerful philosophy thousands of years.

I encourage anyone who sees a grain of something salvageable in this DVD to carry your studies a little further.

This little movie has three parts. Two are suicide-inducingly depressing.

But before we get to that, there's always at the beginning the adjustment; you have to know what you are entering.

I'm particularly fond of Christian movies. The very idea of them is so intriguing, quite apart from the fact that they are dreadful movies and full of repellent ideas. What makes them so seductive is that they usually depict some fight with the devil, and they are made with the intent of fighting the devil. Its my favorite narrative fold. Entering it is entering an adventure on perhaps the wrong side.

Documentaries are boring in this regard: they present, you receive. I like to stay away from them because a large part of the experience for me is the engagement with the weaver of the narrative. Fiction is where it is at. So there's a sort of intrigue with this because it is in a sense an engagement of wills, where they try to convince you that convincing isn't the way of the world.

The three threads of this are:

— Some business about "attraction" as the way the world works and how you can use it. More about this spread in future comments. Its a good notion if you ignore how it is presented.

— Some significantly worse, even smarmy business where they try to make this sound scientific. Its such a depressing enterprise. Its not just that they get the science all wrong, so twisted and goofy. Or that the peddlers of this are so soft you want to cry. But why? Why should it be important to take something that if it works, it works outside of the logical tools we have. Its a bit like explaining with a lawnmower why a house feels good. Quantum mechanics is the current bucket that hacks like to carry their notions in. And its so entirely inappropriate it makes one cry. Why? Why, try this?

— But the third part is perhaps the most discouraging. I think it is possible to build a notion that works; you'll have to do it by weaving in and around the knuckleheads of various stripes. Its fairly easy to filter out the pseudoscience. But then they pile on a conspiracy theory. You see: not only is there a simple law, and not only is it manifest science, but it has been known for thousands of years by a select few and kept secret!

Never mind that we've been told it isn't a zero sum game and people have to lose for others to win. And that selfishness fights the law. And that good results cannot be bounded. There is only one reason to have this notion here, and that is to create a more intriguing story, to make us more likely to buy the "law." But if the law works, they wouldn't need such tricks. Would they?

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.