The Secret

[Stackys]

AIBU to give “the secret” any thought?

I toyed with it years ago. Asked “the universe” for a £10 note. Walking through York the night after, found a wet soggy £10 note on the floor in a graveyard.

Played with it again a few weeks later. Asked the universe for a red balloon. Immediately afterwards I put YouTube on to listen to some music and the first recommended video was a song called something like “10 red balloons”. I’d never heard of the song before.

When I was a child, before I knew of “the secret” we were moving house and I desperately wanted a garden with steps in it. That would have been highly unusual in this area but I kept on thinking about it obsessively. The house we moved to had steps in the garden (the only house in the whole street that did).

My friend goes on about the secret all the time, I put all my “successes” down to coincidence as the alternative sounds batshit but some people truly believe it works, intelligent people!!

I watched the movie yesterday and I’ve decided I want £50k in my bank by New Year’s Eve 😂 ironically DH said to me this morning “we have nearly x amount in bank! The most we’ve ever had!” (Nowhere near £50k) ... maybe it’s already working lol

This is of course lighthearted but I’d be interested to hear other people’s experiences of it?! Please don’t turn it into a “you’re a fucking imbecile OP” type thread, it’s just for fun.

There is some truth in the fake it till you make it/ positive thinking stuff though. Or perhaps it just balances out over cautiousnesss/ lack of confidence in one self. So if you think you stand a good chance of getting a job you will do all of the things that he’ll you get it - set up alarms so you get up early, get your clothes ready beforehand, preparation stuff. You have got to believe you have a chance at the good stuff to even try and I think some people have had years of being told ‘that’s not for the likes of us’. By putting the instructions in the hands of the ‘universe’ it makes it seem as though a benign entity is in charge who doesn’t discriminate.

Serenada nothing will change my mind that book is BS.

observer-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/observer.com/2015/06/the-staggering-bullshit-of-the-secret/amp/?amp_js_v=a3&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=15980187194114&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fobserver.com%2F2015%2F06%2Fthe-staggering-bullshit-of-the-secret%2F

Sorry for being negative but in my honest opinion it's a pile of shite.

I know someone who believes in the LoA stuff. At the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis she posted something on Facebook like (I'm paraphrasing) "Is it any wonder Covid cases are rocketing? It's because everyone's been thinking and talking about it so much! Well guess what, you manifest the things you think about!"

I was really . What did she expect us to do? Not research this new virus or educate ourselves about it, just stick our heads in the sand and hope it'd go away?

Actually hang on a minute... Is Boris a follower of The Secret??!

@BilboBercow

Sorry for being negative but in my honest opinion it's a pile of shite.

Don't apologise it is a pile of shite.

@ZaraW very good article. I agree with him it’s confirmation bias.

So you put success down to money, Red? Nothing else? No personal talent or effort required. There are plenty of people with money not making a success of life, it's not a given by any means.

@ChiefClerkDrumknott

At least one of the ‘teachers’ involved in the original The Secret doc, James Arthur Ray, was imprisoned due to negligent homicide of 3 of his followers. Other cases came to light where participants in his seminars were badly injured and one committed suicide. There’s a good podcast about it called Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment. Safe to say, I think he was full of shit and only in it for the money...

Oh my! That is properly dark.

This article sums it up well.

Training yourself to have a more positive mindset by repeatedly visualising success can you achieve your goals. Throw some confirmation bias in and you’ve got a pretty convincing “law”.

It’s absolutely nothing to do with vibrations, energy, quantum physics, frequency etc. That’s badly applied pseudoscience, invented by con artists as a means of throwing in a few fancy concepts to convince the gullible.

www.jonathanfields.com/ive-got-a-secret-the-law-of-attraction-is-a-lie/

Humans have a capacity to make links where there are none. Jung talks about meaningful coincidences in his concept of synchronicity and psychologists recognise humans’ fallibility to our own bias which we may not even recognise but which we all have. The confirmation bias mentioned upthread is absolutely right.

I would take this a step further - I would say that the thing that makes people different from other animals is that we are a meaning-creating animal.

Two things happen at the same time - they MUST be connected!

One thing happens after another - the first MUST have caused the second!

Personally I think it's superstitious twaddle, but as long as it doesn't harm anybody, knock yourself out.

Unfortunately, it often harms a lot of people.

I have only ever used cosmic ordering on finding a parking space

Excellent use of the awesome power of an infinite universe.

At least one of the ‘teachers’ involved in the original The Secret doc, James Arthur Ray, was imprisoned due to negligent homicide of 3 of his followers. Other cases came to light where participants in his seminars were badly injured and one committed suicide. There’s a good podcast about it called Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment. Safe to say, I think he was full of shit and only in it for the money...

Of course he was but that doesn’t mean positive thinking and visualisation or the theory itself is dodgy. Those people died in a “sweat lodge” which is a sacred Native American ritual and part of traditional NA way of life. The fact he conducted it fraudulently and dangerously (and wasn’t even NA) doesn’t mean the NA practice itself is “wrong” per se, it’s safe when practiced properly. You can find con men adopting all sorts of practices and misinterpreting them for their own gain.

I would take this a step further - I would say that the thing that makes people different from other animals is that we are a meaning-creating animal. Two things happen at the same time - they MUST be connected! One thing happens after another - the first MUST have caused the second!

I am really tired of people saying, 'the thing that makes us different from the other animals..' and then talk about something which is a characteristc found in other animals. I have seen the studies that show other animals making connections between two events. It's quite a basic tool to understand and learn about food sources/ dangers. And like humans, animals will often keep on repeating a behaviour that caused food, even after that behaviour stopped causing food.

Here's my own ' only humans'.. Only humans seem to have this incessant need to think they are completely unlike other animals In fact, it is this need to feel special that probably feeds into gullibility to fall for things like the 'secret' - as it relies on a belief that one is so special that the universe will contrive to give you what you want.

‘ gumbalina01

I want to bring something in to my life so I started reading my copy again yesterday, I am taking this thread as affirmation that I am on the right track. Thank you’

^
If you want to take dangerous risks, victim blame or get yourself into debt whilst living in a delusional fantasy land I bet there’s better ways to do it than the secret.
No one likes a narcissist.

Why don’t you do what the author did?

Take advantage of the gullible of society.

Of course he was but that doesn’t mean positive thinking and visualisation or the theory itself is dodgy. Those people died in a “sweat lodge” which is a sacred Native American ritual and part of traditional NA way of life. The fact he conducted it fraudulently and dangerously (and wasn’t even NA) doesn’t mean the NA practice itself is “wrong” per se, it’s safe when practiced properly. You can find con men adopting all sorts of practices and misinterpreting them for their own gain.

Of course you can, which is why following the way in which he interprets it in the doc is not a very good idea. I don’t know much about the rest of the theory or the book, just pointing out that this particular conman was indeed full of shite and not to be listened to

Furthermore, if it worked that well, he wouldn't have needed to write a book about it to sell to make his fortune, or even tell other people about it at all.

I believe in consciousness being beyond our mind and that we are all interconnected. I believe that like attracts like and that your vibe or attitude impacts on your outcomes.
As a child growing up I had a very shit shut and the power of belief and affirmation was incredibly important to my survival mentally and physically. I don’t think loa saves abused kids but I do believe their mindset is crucial to their resilience and outcomes.
I think high levels of stress leave our bodies more vulnerable to disease so it stands to reason that cancer snd heart disease are more prevalent in people who are unhappy.
I think all of the LoA peddlers who sell crap making or weight loss coffee are full of it though, obviously

Sorry for being negative but in my honest opinion it's a pile of shite.

I think high levels of stress leave our bodies more vulnerable to disease so it stands to reason that cancer snd heart disease are more prevalent in people who are unhappy

Actually they are most prevalent in people who have a higher genetic risk.

As for how to help people's mental wellbeing we have a strong evidence base for what actually works.

Most stress is environmental though. Having a low paid job, having adverse childhood experiences, chronic stress from difficult circumstances.

That is not to say that people can’t be agents of change however it does, like many have said, tend to ‘blame’ people for their own stress or bad circumstance. When all the evidence and facts point to your background and genetics, the nature and nurture, being hugely influential.

This thread demonstrates a key problem in the A-level system. Kids specialise too young, end up with zero scientific education from 14 or 15, and bob up in adulthood on threads like this entirely ignorant of scientific laws, practices and theories, but wittering on about ‘energy’ and ‘vibrations’ because they can’t distinguish between Einstein and Rhonda Byrne.

I think high levels of stress leave our bodies more vulnerable to disease so it stands to reason that cancer snd heart disease are more prevalent in people who are unhappy.

I have a rare gene mutation that caused cancer. Reading in that crap book I bought it on myself is insulting and the person who wrote it is a moron.

@AdobeWanKenobi
I'm not sure anyone has answered yet. The Secret is by Rhonda Byrne.