The Secret

I've recently saw The Secret documentary where a few people in the fields of quantum physics, psychology, metaphysics, theology, philosophy, finance, medicine, etc talk about 'the laws of attraction' and they basically state that our feelings and thoughts attract real events in the world into our lives, that we are the creators of our own lives, and so on.

I was curious if any of you saw the documentary and would like to comment on it.

I personally think that there is nothing wrong with teaching people the importance of positive thinking but watching the documentary and hearing the huge success it had it really took me by surprise because in the end it's just bla bla ..........

What is The Secret?

'JOHN ASSARAF, FOUNDER, "ONECOACH," FEATURED IN "THE SECRET": The Secret is really based on something called the law of attraction. And we can go to science to understand that everything in the universe has a frequency. Everything vibrates.

And The Secret is all about making sure that you're thinking the right thoughts so that your body vibrates in the right way and so you attract what you want into your life. '
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...08/lkl.01.html



Sorry if this subject has been discussed before.

I watched the documentary. I'm in agreement with you, I get the whole thinking positive thing as well, but I'm not sure if I'm buying all those fantastic stories.

However, It occurred to me (while watching) that I tend to dwell on the negative aspects or issues that I may be facing. That is something that hadn't occurred to me previously and is now something I try to squelch.

Quote:

---

...And The Secret is all about making sure that you're thinking the right thoughts so that your body vibrates in the right way and so you attract what you want into your life.

---

Absolutely the worst kind of egregiously pseudo-scientific horse waste: the kind that preys on ignorance and wishful thinking. Let's get one thing straight: there is no such thing as a self-help book. If you're helping yourself, what do you need the book for?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cuppajoe_9

Absolutely the worst kind of egregiously pseudo-scientific horse waste: the kind that preys on ignorance and wishful thinking. Let's get one thing straight: there is no such thing as a self-help book. If you're helping yourself, what do you need the book for?

---

I agree with you there is no such thing as a self- help book and i already said it's mostly bla bla in that documentary. It's just that i don't like to dismiss it entirely without looking deeper ........

I've been reading your posts in different threads and i really appreciate what you usually say and find it very plausibile and well put so my question to you is do you find it possible for a human being to influence things that happen in one's life by means of thoughts and feelings or is it all just a lotery?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moira

I agree with you there is no such thing as a self- help book and i already said it's mostly bla bla in that documentary. It's just that i don't like to dismiss it entirely without looking deeper ........

I've been reading your posts in different threads and i really appreciate what you usually say and find it very plausibile and well put so my question to you is do you find it possible for a human being to influence things that happen in one's life by means of thoughts and feelings or is it all just a lotery?

---

It's not that positive thinking is absolutely useless. There's a lot to be said for focusing on the good things that happen to you and coming to terms with the bad things. That's a healthy outlook and it will probably make you happier; but telling people that thinking a certain way will cause their molecules to vibrate in harmony with the position of Rigel in the third house of Taurus (or whatever) is not only nonsense, it's dangerous nonsense. There is, of course, a degree to which one can influence the course of one's life by remaining optimistic and confident, not letting oportunities pass by, actively persuing one's goals, &c. There's nothing magical about that, and you probably don't need John Assaraf to tell it to you. But sometimes bad things happen for no very good reason, and no amount of changing the way your molecules vibrate (even if it was possibile, which it isn't) is going to change that. Again, it's good to know how not to dwell on such things, but mystifying it isn't going to help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cuppajoe_9

It's not that positive thinking is absolutely useless. There's a lot to be said for focusing on the good things that happen to you and coming to terms with the bad things. That's a healthy outlook and it will probably make you happier; but telling people that thinking a certain way will cause their molecules to vibrate in harmony with the position of Rigel in the third house of Taurus (or whatever) is not only nonsense, it's dangerous nonsense. There is, of course, a degree to which one can influence the course of one's life by remaining optimistic and confident, not letting oportunities pass by, actively persuing one's goals, &c. There's nothing magical about that, and you probably don't need John Assaraf to tell it to you. But sometimes bad things happen for no very good reason, and no amount of changing the way your molecules vibrate (even if it was possibile, which it isn't) is going to change that. Again, it's good to know how not to dwell on such things, but mystifying it isn't going to help.

---

I agree, on one hand it is a healthy outlook to focus on the good things one already has and not take them for granted than to focus on the things one doesn't have and feel miserable becase of that.

The molecules, vibrations and laws of attraction bla bla was probably introduced to try to give a tentative of a scientific explanation that people without much education would buy.

There is nothing magical about that and probably i don't need someone to tell me that and most of us don't but there are people who are not so confident and i am sure they were the the target and that is why it had such a great impact. Is that bad?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moira

There is nothing magical about that and probably i don't need someone to tell me that and most of us don't but there are people who are not so confident and i am sure they were the the target and that is why it had such a great impact. Is that bad?

---

Yes, it is bad. It's bad because Mr. Assarf isn't at all interested in solving these people's confidence problems. More likely, he's interested in exacerbating them. The self-help scam works like this:

1. Customer lacks confidence, and buys Mr. Assarf's book.
2. Book gives senseible advice along the lines of focusing on the positive.
3. Customer follows advice and confidence grows. Customer learns to trust Mr. Assarf's methods.
4. Book asserts quantum balderdash.
5. Customer grows concerned when quantum balderdash fails to produce promised results.
6. Customer concludes that the problem must be on his or her end. Confidence falls.
7. Customer buys another of Mr. Assarf's books.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

And I'll tell you how I know this is what Mr. Assarf was up to. Suppose he was genuinely interested in helping people build confidence. If this was the case, he would presumeably realize that there is no one solution to the problems of "millions of people". People can have negative outlooks on life or a lack of confidence for any number of reasons, and there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Presumeably, Mr. Assarf also realizes that feeding people lies dressed up in quantum mechanical suits isn't going to help anybody. If he genuinely wanted to help people out, he would do so on a one-on-one basis, helping individual people come to terms with the origins of their negativity and suggesting realistic, individual solutions to the specific problems of the person in question. He would, in other words, be a Rogerian therapist.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cuppajoe_9

It's not that positive thinking is absolutely useless. There's a lot to be said for focusing on the good things that happen to you and coming to terms with the bad things. That's a healthy outlook and it will probably make you happier; but telling people that thinking a certain way will cause their molecules to vibrate in harmony with the position of Rigel in the third house of Taurus (or whatever) is not only nonsense, it's dangerous nonsense. There is, of course, a degree to which one can influence the course of one's life by remaining optimistic and confident, not letting oportunities pass by, actively persuing one's goals, &c. There's nothing magical about that, and you probably don't need John Assaraf to tell it to you. But sometimes bad things happen for no very good reason, and no amount of changing the way your molecules vibrate (even if it was possibile, which it isn't) is going to change that. Again, it's good to know how not to dwell on such things, but mystifying it isn't going to help.

---

I agree with what you say. Having read a lot of books about 'metaphysics' (i am not aware if this is the proper english term) such as 'telekinisis', 'presentiments' the transfer of thought from one individual to another e.t.c i have concluded that these are all a piece of crap. I am not refering to the film you've seen, since i haven't seen it, but merely to the books i've read which seem to be to the same effect. I believe that possitive thinking does a lot of good to an individual, but that can be explained with hormones. Doctors also believe that some inconveniences in human beings are both connected to the body and soul (which means that every tendency for melancholy makes matters worse, or even can be the cause for a serious illness). It is known that human brain is an uncharted territory and the average human being uses only a small percentage of it's faculties. Nobody can dispute that, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there are powers hidden inside it, that can account for all the above.
Recently i have watched a tv show here on our network, where there were scientists disputing over these things. There was one who claimed that human mood can influence the weather :lol: . When people congregate in a place and they are displeased, it rains. ( I wonder why there isn't a cataclysm every time i go to the public services-so many people displeased there every day). I don't mean to say that the film you've seen was anytyhing like the tv show i mentioned above (i am sure it was much better, but reading to the posts i remembered it as well).
I am sorry if i went off topic and this wasn't what the film depicted.

PS Self help books suck.

I was not familiar with the Rogerian therapist issue, but i did googled a bit and i think i managed to understand what you are talking about.
Of course helping people on a one-on-one basis is the best idea because what 'works' for me may not 'work' for you (as therapy) and without an individual aproach you don't get very far. But on a one-on-one therapy you manage to help few ..............
I am not arguing against your opinion, i just want to clarify for my self where we should draw the line between something harmful and something inofensive for people, something that evidently brought a huge wealth to the person/s who came up with this idea and maybe helped a few persons along the way ..... Because in the end it doesn't say anything else than be happy, feel gratitude for what you have and dwell on the good parts of your live not the bad ones..... it's like a placebo effect, positive thinking, autosuggestion, call it the way you would like to.