The Secret is a much-hyped film (and now a best-selling book) by Australian filmmaker Rhonda Byrne, based on a loose, new-age interpretation of the Law of Attraction which basically says that you have the power to bring love, wealth, movie stars and even thin thighs into your life. All you have to do is ask the Universe for what you want. And be ready.
The Law of Attraction, simply stated, is "Like Attracts Like." With regard to romantic relationships, if you believe most women are gold-diggers or that men are chronic cheaters, you'll find yourself attracting more gold diggers and chronic cheaters. On the flip side, if you truly believe that you deserve to be in a great relationship, and that a fantastic person will come along, they will.
According to the movie, all you need to do is this:
- Ask the Universe for what you want
- Believe that it is already yours
- Be ready to receive
Online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org states, "The Law of Attraction simply says that people attract and manifest into their lives whatever they think about."
Byrne was inspired to produce the film after reading The Science of Getting Rich, a book written in 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles. I heard about it from the guy who does my highlights. And from Oprah.
I must admit, The Secret was not a secret to me. I'd heard variations on this stuff since I was old enough to form words. My mother is a woo-woo person from way back who carried rocks in her pocket for energy, practiced Reike on me when I had strep throat, and said daily affirmations in the mirror as she smoothed on her Oil of Olay.
Not surprisingly, given its grandiose claims and the quick-fix society we live in, The Secret has received a ton of media attention, some good, some skeptical. Most of the people I interviewed on the topic fell into two distinct camps: those who think The Secret works, and those who think it's a bunch of baloney.
Karin Klein, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, says The Secret is "just a new spin on the very old" and decidedly not secret 1952 title The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale which posited the credo "ask and you shall receive." Says Klein, Secret creator Rhonda Byrne "took the well-worn ideas of some self-help gurus, customized them for the profoundly lazy, [and] gave them a veneer of mysticism..."
A Newsweek article criticizes The Secret for its shallowness. "On an ethical level, The Secret appears deplorable. It concerns itself almost entirely with a narrow range of middle-class concerns -- houses, cars and vacations, followed by health and relationships, with the rest of humanity a very distant sixth. Even some of the major figures in the film confess to uneasiness with its relentless materialism."
But thousands, maybe millions of believers disagree.
John Assaraf, founder of OneCoach and one of the teachers featured in The Secret, says using it helped him meet his wife. "I wrote exactly what I wanted in a partner on a piece of paper -- all of the attributes, all of the compatibility factors: personality, likes, sex, everything. Within one week of moving to San Diego, I met my wife at the local gym. That was eight years ago. I used visualization and then I did one of the most important parts -- I let it go to the Universe."
Does The Secret actually work? And can it work to help you find love?
