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Responses to The Secret We received more than 100 letters in response to Rabbi Rami Shapiro and Steve Kiesling's comments about The Secret. Following are a sampling of edited excerpts. To voice your opinions, join “The Secret Discussion Group” on our community page. To me The Secret movie and books are brilliant marketing. The movie has motivated a lot of people. It has got some unstuck and moving. It was brilliant marketing to claim this was some secret being suppressed and hidden so only these few could magically have whatever they wanted. I find the author of this article to be an egocentric bigot. Comparing "Opposites Attract" to the universal law of attraction totally misses the point. In the context of opposites attract, this world consists of direct opposites — Yin/Yang. In a human way we all need to learn something from our direct opposite, good and bad. I find the book does not go into enough detail or explanation, a much better book on the subject is Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks. In my opinion, you would do well to employ a more humble spiritual teacher for your articles. Well, Thank God — I thought it was just me. I began reading The Secret yesterday. Now I'm an open minded kind of gal — I’m 50 years old, have an MA in holistic psychology and am presently in a doctoral program for modern psychoanalysis. I am a practicing Roman Catholic, and love the mysticism of my church, yet I hold my nose sometimes when I listen to the priest go on about . . . well you know what they go on about. . . . I respect all other religions and have experienced wonderful insight from many other spiritual disciplines. I felt actual panic while reading The Secret. It’s not that I believe the Universe desires us to live in poverty, suffering, and without the latest iPod or 48-inch digital flat screen television set, but wow . . . I never got past page 40 of The Secret. Jack Canfield tells us that since he learned The Secret his life has become truly magical. The kind of life that everybody dreams of is the one he lives on a day to day basis. "I live in a four-and-a-half-million-dollar mansion. I have a wife to die for." I never thought I'd find the perfect place to use my teenage daughter's saying — "gag me with a spoon," but I did — right there at the bottom of page 40. And I said it loud, slowly, with feeling, and in a very public place. This may come as a shock to Mr. Canfield, but some of us might find his "dream life" a nightmare — a shallow, meaningless existence. I hope the wife likes being referred to as a "to die for" objectified manifestation of his fantasy request to the Genie of the Universe. I was horrified by this book. Rabbi Rami said it perfectly — this is not just bogus science, its immorality and pure baby-boomer narcissism. OK — I feel better knowing I’m not alone with my thoughts, but what do we do about the fact that I happened to pick up this book, read till page 40, put out lots of thoughts and feelings to the Universe about the book, and then, ah, your magazine arrived and confirmed my thoughts, same day. Actually, in this case, like did attract like. And quite timely, as promised. I think the Universe has a good sense of humor, that’s what I think. And that’s as much of a nod as I'm going to give Ms. Byrne. Thank you again for articulating so well the potential dangers of this philosophy and book. Well done, Rabbi. —Denise A little too judgmental. It may take a person's greed to get them thinking...but then they are thinking. This may even raise them above the plant level of consciousness in which most people operate. I came away from watching the movie (I haven't read the book) with a much different take on it. The message I received over and over again wasn't that just thinking about something would produce it. What I took from the various speakers was, focus your attention on what you hope to gain and take the opportunities that present themselves in your life to make that happen. I felt the message was, "be the change you want to see," just see it in your mind first. If people watching the film or reading the book think they can have anything they want just by thinking about it, yes, they will be disappointed to find it doesn't work. But if you take away the message that you have the power within you to create, then some wonderful creations will ensue. I realize there is a difference in desiring an SUV and desiring to find a way to help the homeless children down the street. But as Thomas Moore puts it a couple pages before you quoting Blake, “The road of excess leads to the place of wisdom.” After enough SUVS and Mega Dollars, a person is still feeling a void, he/she may begin to use that new-found power of intention on more meaning pursuits that feed the soul. —GG It sounds (and feels) like you've both had quite visceral reactions. I am always curious about what lies beneath these types of experiences for viewers. Is it that it feels like some kind of fantastical marketing geared to a consumerist driven world or is there something deeper that is ignited by the ideas generated in The Secret? It was interesting that only a few pages away there is an article titled "Getting the Most from Placebo Workouts." People are excited to come into their own and start steering and righting their own ship. The Secret most definitely appeals to people's materialistic side, but creation is creation and if people wake up to their creative power via what they want instead of what they don't want, that means we can transform the world as a collective consciousness. Watch people’s excitement as they watch The Secret. It’s something like I've never experienced before — people have epiphanies and gigantic spiritual openings. I invite you to watch the film again maybe with someone for the first time and try to suspend your judgment and feel the energy that is created. We can always find things intellectually wrong with anything (especially when we're trying), but if you simply feel into the energetic of the film I think you may have another experience of it. —Kent I wanted to thank you for putting on paper the very thoughts I have entertained about the recent release of The Secret. As a former longtime student of metaphysics and convert to Christianity, I see the danger in these teachings as they mislead people into thinking they can create their own reality simply by sitting in an armchair visualizing their desired outcome and ‘feeling’ their way to abundance. I enjoyed your article. This issue of your magazine was the first that I have read, and I would buy it again. Having seen a borrowed copy of The Secret, and having read the article I agree with your viewpoint largely. Narcissistic, thinking that by thought alone we can change our world. Self-centeredness is not, to my thinking anything like a spiritual principal. I know another master who spends so much of his time saying that "I just need to change my thinking in order to be successful." Frankly the secret, taken without a grain of salt, really ends up being more mental masturbation
than anything else. The Secret makes us more aware of what we DO have, and aware of the seemingly serendipitous opportunities that come our way. When we are thinking about what we want, we are focusing on how to go about achieving it and we see the opportunities as they present themselves. My take is that The Secret just makes us more present and focused. Like Rabbi Shapiro, I noticed the obvious commercial implications of The Secret.” That speaks nothing about the “law of Attraction,” however. One tires of reading (or hearing) phrases such as the Rabbi’s “pure baby-boomer narcissism” in regard something that he hasn’t looked at carefully enough to be passing such judgments. He has apparently read the book, re his parenthetical comments, e.g., “(page 7 of book),” and, “(page 47),” but I can assure you, as one who passed calculus with very good grades and very minimal understanding, that reading the book (even studying the subject) and understanding are not the same thing. Nor does not understanding a subject invalidate it. And the fact that the universe is vast, should hardly means that human desires are insignificant and would be ignored by the universe. This is a man of God talking here! What about God loving us as we are for no good reason that I can see? Manna from heaven and all that. I don’t want to disrespect the Rabbi, anyone who is a Rabbi gets my respect unless they prove that it is unwarranted — which is not the case here. (OK, maybe I’m a little miffed at his tactics — of course Coulomb’s Law of Attraction and The Secret’s” Law of Attraction are different — but I’m a only little miffed, that’s all.) Rather, I would say that there are some subtleties crucial to making the thing work that one misses if one is not willing to whole-heartedly embrace the subject, really try it out as prescribed, and one wouldn’t be able to do that in a couple of hours of reading. When I saw the Secret, I felt that it wasn’t a secret and that everyone knew what it revealed, but alas I see I am mistaken. I wondered why, if this is the opinion of the editor [he wished The Secret would go away] the magazine would allow the advertisement on page 24 which states that wearing a pendant will automatically make you able to meditate like a master (you don't need to practice or learn to do it), or the article on placebo workouts would be allowed in the magazine, as this would seem to present the same message — you don't have to have an exercise program, just go about your normal routine and think about it, and you will have the same result. It is a proven fact that you can't take the "placebo" out of anything in our lives. If you believe it will cure you, it can. Whether it is medicine or so called "snake oil". The message in this movie is no different than praying to God or creating a spell, or making a prayer wheel. Asking the universe is just another way of saying, asking God. Like everything you read or listen to, you need to take what you see or hear, and compare it against what you know is true. You separate the wheat from the chaff and take the wheat away with you. Thank you for your column. I agree with you in many ways, especially when you say that people are exhausted by suffering and tragedy and want it to go away. The Secret is way too simplistic and materialistic for me, and the concepts are not new or revolutionary, but they have struck a chord with many people who I’m guessing will do their best to practice the three simple steps and then realize it’s not that simple. However, there is a baby with this bathwater, and I don’t want to throw it out too. In the Newsweek piece, “Decoding the Secret,” the authors make similar points that you do, except that in one segment they say, “You can change your life by consciously directing your thoughts in a positive direction,” and quote Harvard psychologist Carol Kauffman, who says, “I don’t think you can actually attract things to you. But if you’re profoundly open to opportunity, then when ambiguous events occur, you notice them. I think what positive thinking does is raise your consciousness to possibilities so they can snag your attention. We’re starting to see some empirical studies on that now.” That’s the part I wish The Secret had focused on more, as it has more scientific validity and supports the work of pioneers like Martin Seligman in the Positive Psychology field. I was thankful that you mentioned an “antidote” to The Secret, as I was not familiar with Constructive Living. I’m thankful you didn’t like The Secret because I would have never learned about this philosophy, and in that, you’ve made a positive difference for me. I just picked up a copy of your awesome magazine and low and behold an article by Rabbi Rami Shapiro and your editor's note. I couldn't agree more. I recently became a Christian and within the last two months received the Book and DVD of The Secret as gifts from two different people. I questioned immediately the integrity, the morality of this pop/new age/hocus pocus stuff. ( I wanted to use another word for stuff). I believe that this is preying on folks who have no spiritual compass and it saddens me. It was refreshing to read this article because I was beginning to feel like an island. Even though I enjoy Rabbi Shapiro's work I am often skittish when someone completely rejects something that is not, nor can be fully understood. I found the movie a bit over the top and commercialized (everyone who presents a point in the movie has something they will sell you if you go to the website) and I am sure there are many people who saw it and are out trying to use The Secret to accumulate more "stuff." I certainly understand his criticisms but who is to say that the many great movements and achievements in history did not start with a thought. Rabbi Shapiro makes a reference to Gandhi in his article. Are any of us sure his great movement was not first realized in his deep thought? I do believe we are what we do, but we are human and wired to think. Most people, who are doing "good" work, think of good work and I am sure the opposite is true. There are elements of truth in both the movie and Rabbi Shapiro’s article. As always, the real truth probably lies somewhere in between. Come on you guys! Haven't you got bigger fish to fry? The Secret is not a lie. You may be what you do, but according to my psych professors some time ago, and thousands of folks in counseling, you are also what you think. It's called "stinkin' thinkin'". And that's exactly what came to my mind as I read Rabbi Shapiro's article. As far as Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler, this one blew my transmission and all four tires. The Rabbi is correct in stating that the Law of Attraction, (like attracts like) does not apply to magnets, but it certainly does apply to human relations. The article on page 28 (“Why the World Will Laugh With You”), proves why other peoples’ laughter makes us laugh. In fact all happy or sad sounds create corresponding responses in the brain. Positive sounds create a greater response than negative sounds. People who think kind, loving, compassionate thoughts show this by their actions and are more attractive than complaining, irritable, angry people. I just finished reading Rabbi Shapiro's must needed, reality-grounded, and pithy response to the "bogus science" in the The Secret. After struggling for most of my life trying to find some sort of metaphysical explanation for that which had none, specifically a childhood riddled with physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, The Secret seemed to finally offer the answers I had been searching for. I wanted some "lesson" or spiritual justification for the abuses that I and too many other children endure. Was it kharma? Had I created my life even before my conception? Surely someone had been blessed to have these elusive answers. I have a friend that refers to writings such as Rhonda Byrne's as "spiritual malpractice," whose book was deceptively manipulative and misleading. Having not one person, but a whole panel of "experts" in the field contribute; taking quotes from great historical thinkers out of context; appealing to an individual's desire for happiness (however one defines it) through superficiality; treating fiction as nonfiction; its widespread and almost instantaneous popularity among the public and self-proclaimed progressives such as Oprah. The very calculated and innovative marketing vehicle that put The Secret"on the map" made it easy to confuse validity and substance with the economics of capitalism. Instead for me, The Secret helped me justify, yet again, the self-loathing and blame that I had punished myself with for so many years, because according to the book I had intrinsically attracted undesirable events to my life. Finally, an intelligent voice speaks about the not-so-secret baloney. While I do believe that affirmations, visualization, and positive thinking are valuable tools for achieving goals, your point is so well taken. God feeds every bird but he doesn’t throw it into the nest. We must work for what we want. The Secret “movie” with its emphasis on material “goodies” just confirmed, once again, that we are a self-centered, in-it-for-only-me culture. I wanted to gag. Thanks for being a voice of reason. I was very gratified to find another person who wishes The Secret would go away. I do not like it. I have seen it 3 times at my friends behest and I cannot stand it. I just think it is all wrong for the very reasons that Rabbi Shapiro says so and more. It particularly scared me when a friend of mine whose daughter at 34 with 3 young children has recurring breast cancer metastasized into her bones bought it to help her bring abundant health into her life. I have had breast cancer myself at age 65 and don't like the implications made about my complicity in inviting such a painful experience in my life while others somehow fly free. I hope she doesn't hear what I did from it. It could have serious consequences. Where did we ever get the idea that our human thoughts were so powerful that we had such control over our lives? I guess God can take a rest from creation from here on in. We don't need her/him anymore. We can do and have all that we want and not have what we don't want just by putting our attention to it. Now that is ludicrous! Positive thinking is one thing — playing Satya Sai Baba is another! Lighten up. We all travel different roads to get to the same place. But if you don't have a starting point, the journey will never begin. The Secret is a beginning of the journey, not at end. Thank you both for a supportive intelligent stand on this movement. When I was invited to view the DVD, I went, trusting the judgment of those who invited me that this was a "quantum leap" in spiritual development. The first five minutes, I had a fight or flight reaction in my whole body, then settled down into the intellectual argument of "what's new about this?" What is new is the repackaging of old material to pander to the material society we have created by saying we can harness these skills, energies, emotions and power that accompanied us here to get more "stuff." I was relieved to read Rabbi Shapiro’s comments on The Secret. I saw the DVD and thought, “What a selfish, materialistic message!” It’s just another form of magical thinking, another “easy way out” of the human condition of suffering (dukkha). Rabbi Shapiro is correct to direct the reader to the Eightfold Path. Only through awareness and hard work do we escape attachment to desires. The Secret only makes people want more, and care less about others. Thank you for the wisdom of this commentary. I could hardly believe what I was reading, not because of the content but because the vehicle delivering it was your magazine. What I find so distasteful is the name calling. Your author calls the authors of The Secret snake oil salesmen and liars. He seems to have forgotten that everything is an interpretation, and his opinion is just that, not “the truth.” Not once does your author state that it is his opinion or say that “this is how I interpret the situation.” Warning flags went up for me when I read “you are not what you think, you are what you do.” In my exploration of spirituality I recognize that Being comes first, then doing, and lastly having. Your author has the equation reversed. I appreciated Rabbi Rami Shapiro's article. Like The Secret, it contained provocative thought. I understand the concern about our Narcissist society but in a culture that rewards the victim to stay poor and sick I think The Secret offers a balance. I have seen the DVD 8 times and enjoy it over and over. I never thought as Rabbi Shapiro presented that it was portrayed as hard science. The movie was not submitted for scholarly review. A question to ask a viewer of the movie could be "Did you consider thinking more positive about your life and your relationships and did you feel inspired to practice more gratitude for the blessings you have all ready?" My answer is "YES". Do your comments represent perhaps a personal bias, not only about the film, but about science as somehow “superior” to other ways of knowing? Are you missing that this film also is about faith and trust in one’s connection with the Divine and in one’s potential to partner with that energy? I agree that it is long on how to how to work with the principles presented to benefit one’s individual life and short on how to work with the principles to manifest a better world for all. I also don’t see it as a very well made film. Yet I also personally have experienced, in the past 17 years of my life — and carried it on out into my service in the world — the positive results the film points towards. So from that context, to me, it provides territory worth exploring rather than dismissing. Thank you so much for your insightful and pointed article exposing the Gnostic errors of The Secret. You put into words many of my feelings, thoughts and intuitions. I often quote others to better express myself. You helped me immensely.Some of my friends and acquaintances are making an idol of that book. I am in the Judeo-Christian Tradition, and you reached deeply into that well for wisdom and guidance for us all. The Secret may be bogus and completely valid at the same time. Sometimes what is touted as New Age snake-oil is really a fresh way of looking at age old wisdom. Thank you for publishing this article. It's not just that this book is unscientific, it's also that the book promotes feel-good do-nothing selfishness and greed and not caring about things that seem too overwhelming to deal with, but which we can do our part. I appreciate the fact that you wrote an article critiquing The Secret. I was surprised to find the content of the article to be so disingenuous. Rabbi Shapiro re-defines "the actual Law of Attraction" as something which has nothing to do with human life. He seems to say that in actual practice, opposites attract best. Why, then, are the articles in this magazine all related to spirituality and health? Wouldn't you attract more people to your magazine if you printed it in Hindi and had articles about Hollywood romances? Wouldn't that be more opposite to the title of the magazine? Based on this article, I recognize that some people strongly dislike The Secret. I think that it is only fair to give it an honest critique. Don't write about it if you cannot articulate your actual discomfort with the content. My wish for you, your magazine, and your contributing writers is that you would model more respect, and an attitude of nonjudgment when speaking in your official capacities for Spirituality and Health magazine. I hope you would model a more neutral, tolerant tone, whether talking about differing countries, cultures, religions, or any beliefs held by fellow humans. I believe the call of the day is tolerance for differences of opinion, and respect. I found neither of these in your handling of the subject you were entrusted with. Otherwise, you become just another brand of cynical and fear-based Bill O'Reilly, or Rush Limbaugh, judging and criticizing on your soap box. And then there is this essay (reprinted with permission from Center for Intentional Living) which was sent to the editors shortly after publication of the May/June issue: The Secret: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly ”Why, what’s up?” ”Well, it is exactly the kind of thinking that broke my heart in the 70s and I so wish people did not have to go through that kind of omnipotence again. I know each generation has to discover things for itself, but it is really heart-breaking.” It took me many months to get around to seeing it. Watching it I was enticed (could it all be this easy?) and immensely irritated by what seems to be to be a tangled web of truths and half-truths. The Good Yes, there is certainly some good in the message of The Secret. Its basic premise is simple: like attracts like. The spiritual teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (not on the DVD) would certainly agree to that fundamental principal on a spiritual level. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches a meditation that ends with a smile — a smile for yourself, a smile for the day, a smile for the people who you will meet in the day. A smile will bring you smiles back, a smile changes your biochemistry, a smile will give you a better day. It is clearly true that the positive is contagious, expansive and life-enhancing. It also says stay on the positive side of each issue. Be for something, not against something. It quotes from Mother Teresa saying she would not go to an anti-war rally, but would always be available for a peace rally. Good advice I say. It is always better to find the positive expression of any issue, particularly one you are passionate about. Several of the talking heads mention the importance of feeling and expressing gratitude. They teach that if we can deeply feel gratitude it will shift our thinking and bring us more into the life enhancing possibilities of life. I think most spiritual teachers and religious thinkers would agree; I certainly do. The Secret also values the imagination. It mentions Einstein’s devotion to the imagination calling it everything. Using the imagination to dream, to visualize, even to daydream are wonderful human capacities and much that is good in the world has come from someone imagining it first. The Secret is very optimistic. You can change. You can have what you want. You can create abundance for yourself and those around you. When I sit with very despairing clients, or people lost in a clinical depression or self-hate, I so wish for them some of this optimism, this faith in the positive. The Bad and the Ugly When I saw the DVD, I thought much of it was merely bad and some seriously ugly. All of the truths mentioned above are interwoven within some half-truths and non-truths. However, when I write about it, my words can’t untangle those two strands of emotional response so I will share these aspects together. Unfortunately, most of The Secret is upsettingly flawed both because of its main focus: financial success — and its on-going distortions of spiritual truths. It is certainly true that our thoughts matter and we do attract in some sense according to those thoughts. It is also true that our feelings matter and it is only by knowing our feelings that we have our integrity and inner ground to stand on. But it is NOT true that the universe will shape our immediate personal reality to accommodate our needs and desires of the moment, no matter how hard we focus or how pure our intentions are. That kind of thinking is magical, inflated and narcissistic. I recently heard a story of a gay man using the public baths to find sexual partners. He reported he had no fear of getting AIDS has he always carried crystals that would protect him! His belief was strong, unwavering and positive and purely magical. A major problem is that The Secret does not differentiate between self (that egoic part of myself that I create to get along in the world) and Self (that given part of myself that unfolds and guides the journey). Most of the stories are around financial successes and material abundance. This is clearly the domain of the self. There is certainly nothing wrong in wanting abundance — especially in extreme material poverty — but it is hardly the whole purpose of life! To watch The Secret is to believe that by visualizing unlimited wealth, I will create unlimited wealth and that material wealth will give me a totally fulfilled life. There are at least two errors in that thinking: 1) thinking and feeling I can create wealth, will create wealth and 2) financial wealth will totally fulfill me on all levels of my being. When we think about what we want, of course we “want” health and wealth and loving relationships. While the majority of the DVD is on gaining financial well-being, The Secret does give a moment or two to health and a brief vignette on love. As long as we are in a body, we want and need enough of those things to enjoy the life we are given. But wanting them, visualizing them, believing in my right to have them, does NOT mean they will materialize. There is so much more to us than this “little self” wanting every thing it wants. Remember the Buddha: enlightenment involves freedom from clinging and acquisitions. Enlightenment involves a state of being that is at one with all — but does not confuse itself with the All! Enlightenment involves accepting suffering and finding a place beyond words and feelings but including words and feelings -non-dual reality. I sit with several clients each week who are struggling with realities of this world they certainly did not create and do not want: the sudden death of a beloved spouse, a chronic illness, an ill child. These are not creations of an individual; these are sufferings to be endured and lived through. Life on this planet is ultimately a gift given to us, to be lived in both joy and suffering. The journey of consciousness must include everything, my shadow, my helplessness, my despair, my joy, awe and delight. While it is true that thoughts and feelings can influence my reality, that is not the same as my thoughts and feelings create my reality. Thinking that I create my reality is the magical thinking of a very young child. If we take that distortion to its logical conclusions, then the people of Dafur are thinking and feeling lots of very bad thoughts in order to create the reality they are living in. All the mono-theistic religious traditions have to struggle with the dilemma of either an omnipotent god that creates bad things, or a non-omnipotent, positive god who help us deal with bad things. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote When Bad Things Happen to Good People to bring a human face to this very dilemma. He tells story after story of people having to come to terms with loss and grief, things they in no way “deserved” or ultimately created. Part of the mystery of life is coming to terms with unfairness and the realities we are confronted with. To be personally responsible means finding my best response to what I am given, not to believe that I created everything around me both good and bad. It is true that Self is at one with the Universe, with the All, but that is not the same as self has godlike creative power. There are certainly moments of transcendence in any creative act, in meditation, in music, in lovemaking and these connect us with something much bigger than ourselves. Eckhart Tolle writes that this experience of total oneness simply came upon him, he was not particularly looking for it. But it certainly does not make him omnipotent and nor does he claim omnipotence. His writings and teachings are on the steps necessary to find the Now, the Power of the Present Moment. He teaches that you will find peace in those moments of transcendence, but not omnipotence to create and get everything your “little self” wants. Another distortion within The Secret is the lack of discernment between when to use my will and when to accept the reality that is given to me. AA has made the dictum of Reinhold Niebuhr famous: Lord grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t, and the wisdom to know the difference. There is tremendous grace and human dignity in accepting that which I cannot change. It is even true, that sometimes with deep acceptance change does happen, but what change in what direction, is not in my control. A part of me wishes there were more “good” than “bad and ugly” in The Secret but I don’t find it so. I am left with my dismay at its seductive half-truths and some incredulity at its popularity. I find myself in complete alignment with my client: a lot of hearts are going to be broken once again. Your comments and responses to these ideas are welcome. If you are interested in ideas like this, please go to our website and look at other articles, our up-coming summer retreat, or our three year professional enrichment program. To voice your opinions, go to the community page. To read the article everyone is talking about, see the May/June issue of Spirituality & Health, on newsstands now (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Wall-Mart, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, etc.). |
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