The Secret: Spiritual Cinema?
Posted on Dec 29th, 2006
by 
Julian
Julian
www.julianwalkeryoga.com
I posted this review at the end of 2006 - I am happy to finally be able to say - Yes, I do have an alternative approach available now! It's called Radical Transformation: A Map to Mind-Body Ecstasy.
In March of 2007 I had this audio dialog with Ken Wilber about The Secret for IntegralNaked.
The Introduction
OK.
So.
I just finally got around to watching the whole of this movie that has such buzz in the spiritual community. Yoga teachers are talking about. My friend is at a massage school where the teacher's are suggesting that the class watch it together. Another friend is in a graduate course for Somatic Psychology where the professors think it is an important piece of spiritual cinema......
I've held out for a while, but finally I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about.
Why have I held out you might ask? Two reasons. The first has just three words: What The Bleep. Perhaps you've heard of it? It's that popular spiritual movie funded by the female cult leader who claims to channel a 35,000 year old warrior king from Lemuria (little old red flag for ya there..) and produced by her (his?) students. This film takes bad interpretations of quantum physics, puts them alongside junk science claims of water and it's ability to retain the "energy of thoughts" and then drives towards all sorts of misguided spiritual and psychological conclusions that leave it's audience more confused and ignorant about spirituality, science and the relationship between the two than when they first sat down....presumably scratching their heads and saying "what the bleep?"
My second reason, you innocently ask?
Well that's a little more complicated and has to do with my having been around the spiritual community my entire adult life and being perennially surprised, amused and infuriated with what people call "spiritual" and with the naivete, superficiality and gullibility of most "spiritual" people, as well as the basically banal nature of the material that gets recycled and marketed to it's willing consumers year after year.
The Secret takes the cake though.
Seriously.
Let's begin at the beginning:
The Drama
The movie starts with a dramatization. A sexy/disheveled aging blonde Australian lady is clearly having a rough time - her father has died, her relationships are a mess, she has worked herself to exhaustion. Then she opens her suitcase and sees book. A post-it note on the cover says "Mom, this will help xxox..."
Whatever could it be?
It turns out (the montage tells us) that she is holding in her hands a glimpse of the ancient secret that has been passed down through secret societies along the ages, that people have persecuted and killed for, the knowledge that the power elite have used to keep the masses oppressed and that was known by everyone from Emerson to Shakespeare to Plato to Lincoln to Hugo to Newton to Beethoven! No hint as to how her daughter or son happened to slide this precious information into her suitcase...
In her mind's eye we see Romans and Egyptians, Templar Knights, priests, scheming white cigar-smoking men in boardrooms, all passing the secret document back and forth, chasing it, hiding it - presumably until one of them passed it off on the troubled Australian lady's child?
Finally, in a breathless climactic moment, she is lying on her bed, head flung back, - a tight shot of her face, eyes closed, lips glossy as she earnestly and not a little seductively asks "Why doesn't anyone know this?"
After another exhausting rapid research project, our short-lived Australian heroine has found those among us who know the secret today and leaves us now in their able hands.
Pretty exciting, huh?
What could the ancient secret knowledge be? So mysterious. So powerful.
Who are these modern teachers of the ancient mystery, the wise ones who are the contemporary bearers of the secret knowledge?
The Masters of The Secret
The set combines beautiful backdrops with state-of-the-art computer graphics, and each speaker has their name in both typeset font and signature form at the bottom of the screen, along with a title that, we assume, qualifies them to be speaking. Their titles range from "philosopher" to "author" to "quantum physicist" to "writer" to "visionary" to "entrepreneur" to my personal favorite - "feng shui consultant." Only one of the "writer/authors" is well known and has his book "Chicken Soup for the Soul" included in the computer graphic backdrop behind him. One can only assume that none of the others actually have published anything - nonetheless they are writers or authors who are in on "The Secret."
One of the speakers with the title "philosopher" appears by the letters after his name to be a chiropractor with a degree in science. OK...
But while their titles and qualifications may vary, on one thing they are all resolutely in agreement, and this is the ancient secret, shrouded in mystery, repressed, hidden, revered by the best minds of history. Finally available and delivered by this coalition of the brilliant and the brave. Are you ready?
The Secret
Your thoughts determine your experience. Shocking, isn't it?
That's right, you create your own reality. I know, I know it's complicated and deep, but we have decoded the golden thread of all the secret ancient wisdom traditions and the knowledge that made Emerson, Shakespeare, Newton et al such great men, and this is it!
The movie goes on to suggest, through well-made video dramatizations and repetitive rhetoric that "the Law of Attraction" is at work all the time responding to your thoughts and your feelings, serving up from the universe whatever you are putting out there. For example:
That parking ticket, those bills and piling up debt, your cancer, gay people who are harassed by homophobes, lonely folks who can't get a date and so on...all of these are without exception manifestations of bad thoughts.
If you are focusing on not wanting to be late as you drive to work - guess what, you will be!
If you think about your bike being stolen and are extra careful to lock it up tight - it'll be stolen. But if you visualize that rock-star parking in front of the store you need to go to - it will be there!
If you focus on how stressed out you are about your credit card bills - guess what, you'll only create more debt!
If you spend time thinking about your cancer it will be more likely to kill you and even better, if you just focus on good things, watch funny movies and feel good after your diagnosis, it could take just three months to completely destroy the tumor - hey it did for this lady...
then there's the little boy dying of a rare form of hepatitis. Full recovery because his family ordered up some extra special "gratitude rocks" from one of our "writers....."
What's more all of this has been proven by science.
Cool, huh?
Not really.
The Problems
The film uses authoritative names, meaningless titles/qualifications, very badly constructed arguments, category errors, logical fallacies etc.. scientific seeming images that then never go anywhere to strengthen it's points, and examples/case histories that are anecdotal at best.
And the matter-of-fact "scientific proof" is alluded to by various graphics, impressive looking images of experimental scenarios, and vague verbal references, but never really appears.
What you may ask could be wrong with a hopeful, inspiring film that empowers people to use their minds?
Well how about the little boy who focuses hard enough on the bicycle so that he gets it? Or the young woman who gazes with just the right combination of longing and belief through the jewelry store window until a man magically appears to give it to her? How about that woman who cured her breast cancer by laughing? Or the little boy in South Africa who magically recovered from near fatal rare hepatitis because his father had gratitude rocks from California delivered to the door? How about Jack Canfield implying that he made a million dollars on his first book because he used the Law of Attraction - ie he thought about it a lot? How about the assertion that by protesting, say, the war in Iraq, you only perpetuate it by giving it your focus?
We see a "case history" of a young gay man who is depressed, picked on, constantly humiliated by homophobic co-workers and street thugs. No more once he applies the secret. Done.
In fact the audience at a comedy club cheers his proclamation of being "such an incredibly gay man..." Nice. He is happy and everyone magically either accepts and supports his homosexuality or, - get this - transfers out of his office - so strong is his intention!
You see the makers of The Secret want us to believe that if your mental focus is strong enough and the intentional "joy" in your being is brimming over enough, everything will happen as you want it too. That's the highest spiritual truth and the secret to life.
We see scenes from a brutally dysfunctional relationship. Shoving, yelling, faces contorted in anger and hurt. The solution? Write down what you appreciate about your abusive partner and watch them transform before your eyes to match the energy you are magnetizing them with!
They assure us that the reason a tiny percentage of the world's population has so much of the wealth is because they know this secret.
Never mind social conditions. Never mind racism, homophobia, colonialism, world history, psychology, trauma, economic oppression. Everyone, absolutely everyone could be wealthy, happy and in love if they just knew how to use the Law of Attraction. Um, what does that mean for people who are not happy, wealthy or in the perfect relationship? Well, for lesson number two - see lesson number one. You're just not doing it right, silly.
Of course we never hear about the implied (and clearly flimsy) connection to the list of historical luminaries. You should have seen Shakespeare park that horse exactly where he wanted to on opening night....Beethoven - died in the black. Deaf, but solvent - right? Newton - never got sick.
Friends, this is not a recipe for anything but a frontal lobotomy. This is not high spiritual truth passed down through the ages, it's narcissistic delusion, bordering on the psychotic, plugged into the akashic records by a tinfoil hat.
It is a complete abdication of depth in favor of a supremely superficial analysis of life.
It is a marvelous example of everything wrong with the new age movement and is so insulting of the true nature of suffering, so ignorant of the realities of privilege and oppression, so authoritative in it's endorsement magical thinking and judgment of those who are not doing it right as to set any nascent spiritual development and self-awareness back a good 5 to 10 years.
So what is the real secret?
An Intelligent Path
Well there are really three broad areas that need attention, and this movie beautifully illustrates why:
1) Critical Thinking
Gotta have it. Without it spirituality is filled with the unicorns of childhood fantasy and the poison kool-aid of manipulation and dishonesty. In order to have critical thinking one needs healthy rational development. Educating the mind by studying actual philosophy, psychology, literature and art that grapples with the universal spiritual themes that great minds have been expressing since at least the ancient Greeks.
A healthy dose of critical thinking will cut through the kind of nonsense these kinds of popular spiritual vehicles are selling. It will also allow one to side step the very real suffering and delusion that comes from buying into very, very poor interpretations of spiritual reality like these.
Rest assured, if The Secret and What The Bleep sound like deep truth to you, there is either a complete lack of critical thinking, or you have become convinced of the fallacious spiritual argument which says that critical thinking is the enemy of spirituality. Not so. Critical thinking is the enemy of false spirituality. It is the trusted ally of authentic adult spirituality. Use it!
2) Your Shadow is your Friend
Contrary to superficial and fragmenting prescriptions like those offered by What the Bleep and The Secret, the instruction here is to actually work with your shadow material and learn from it.
Your so called "negative emotions" have value and meaning. They are communications from your psyche. Be curious about them. Compassionate. Follow a path of inquiry into what lies beneath the surface of your reactions, fears, anger-triggers, unsatisfied feelings, sadness etc. The way to be free of these is to embrace them and listen to what they might be telling you about your shadow - the part of you that you have disowned and disconnected from.
Working with and ultimately integrating shadow material through a process that takes you beneath the surface into the actual meaning that your triggers have for you is the way toward ending self-sabotage, not just trying desperately to impose a junta of "good thoughts" on your mind from the outside in...
3) Spiritual Practice
Spiritual practice is absolutely distinct from spiritual beliefs or ideas.
Spiritual ideas might give you a map of the territory in preparation for and in analyzing the experience of spiritual practice.
Spiritual beliefs are usually best left alone as they tend to hinder authentic inquiry which is at the heart of spiritual practice.
Spiritual practices actually require that you do the work. That you sit down and meditate. That you start a yoga practice. That you journal. That you dance your demons and shake your Buddha. That you be present to your emotions, your body, your mental patterns and learn the art of self observation, introspection and that most harrowing of skills - honest communication.
Spiritual practice requires that you turn to face your shadow. That you get real about your social conditioning, your political situation, the distinction between what you have power over and what has power over you.
Spiritual practice is inspiring, but it's also deeply humbling. It does not tell you that you can have anything, be anything, do anything, without limit.
Sorry. That's the kind of fantasy high the Secret promises - and the hangover is a real drag.
But real practice does give you tools and resources to deal with the inevitable disasters, disappointments and struggles that make up every human life.
And this is perhaps what is most problematic about the ideas promoted by movies like The Secret. Most likely the audience is looking for some real tools, looking for some real practices, techniques and resources to help make sense of life and it's complexities, to help them to grow and feel supported. Yet what these ideas offer is a short lived illusory hope that fades to reveal only one area of deepening - that of denial, fragmentation and self-judgment.
The Ethical Problem
Not too much searching online reveals that the movie is part of an elaborate advertising campaign to get people interested in working with the various "teachers" it features. Just like What the Bleep is a recruitment vehicle for Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, The Secret is an infomercial for it's talking heads. On a purely business level - brilliant. Too bad this is the last thing it's target audience actually needs.
1) The movie suggests something impossible - not only are there millions of other people out there with their own agendas/intentions, but there are also multiple variables that are not even remotely influence-able at the level of conscious intention - no matter how admittedly valuable a positive attitude might be.
2) Gullible and desperate people will try really hard to apply the "Law of Attraction". They will have some success with it because intention has a certain amount of impact. They will have a lot of failure with it, because it is nonsense. I already know of a few people who are watching the movie obsessively to try and master it's bogus teachings. See here for the recent New York Times article on magical thinking, it's harmless prevalence and problematic implications as a worldview.
3) the ones with money will buy the book, attend the events, and contact the teachers for help on perfecting their skills, which of course is, by definition impossible, so they will have a captive audience.
The dynamic described by the above three points is "The Secret" to these hucksters making a mint!
***NEW*** Due to some great debate and dialog in response to this review I recently wrote and added The Secret: Part Two - Wilber, Gebser, and New Age Pathology.
***NEW*** The Secret: Part Three - The Antidote
CLICK HERE for my review of Pan's Labyrinth, The Fountain, and more recommendations for genuinely Spiritual Cinema!
*HERE is a discussion of the True Power of Intention as it relates to two actual spiritual practices.
Links:
For my integral approach to mind-body practice and healing: Ecstatic Transformation
For more on Mind Development in 21st Century Spirituality.
For info on Spiral Dynamics and Ken Wilber's Integral approach.
For Jack Kornfield's wonderful introduction to meditation and psychological awareness.
For more on Shadow Work.
www.julianwalkeryoga.com
Access: Public
agape
Great read and I tend to agree with most everything … specially point 2. The shadow self.
So many strive to ignore, reject and even assume they will be able to exist and grow by leaving parts of themselves out of the equation. In my opinion the shadow self is critical for the evolution of the soul. For the attainment of complete compassion and unconditional love for all living things. For within the void, the void of the self we are able to access the abyss - the most integral aspects of our being. From this shadow self like you said comes understanding, understanding about who we are, what makes us who we are and WHY … how can we ignore half of ourselves? Balance is the Key.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Julian.
Julian, this is brilliant…as is everything I have read by you so far….. you really must cross-post in pod-land…more people should read what you have written….thanks so much for sharing….I agree with your review of the movie; it could be considered innocuous, however is suspect since it boils down to an infomercial for the “teachers” involved and could be potentially dangerous to the good-hearted, but spiritually naive, out there….
I only watched the first 25 minutes of the film, but from what I have seen, and how whole-heartedly I have seen the film embraced, I very much appreciate your discerning review. Of coarse my mind wanders to the the ACTUAL power of intention. (and I have not yet read the book with that title) But I am thinking of how Tony Robbins gives the example of driving a race car around a track- and if you look at the wall, you crash into the wall, if you look where you want to go, and turn your wheel in that direction, that is where you will go. In these simple concepts of focus, intention, and then motivating massive action toward your desired outcome, I am a total believer. And its really pretty simple.
But there are also outside factors, that come into play, that interrupt or distract from the desired outcome and this is not one's “fault”
I say this with passion because I come from a spiritual tradition that teaches that if you focus with every fiber of your being on the absolute perfection of your nature, there is no way that you can experience other than that perfection in your experience. Now, what happens when you study and pray and focus and visualize and pray more and you are still sick, or broke or unhappy, or otherwise ungratified….
Well, that's easy!!! It's God's Will! Its the Universe sending a message! It wasn't meant to be!
Not in the divine plan,
Oh wait? Does the divine plan have veto power over my desires?
Or no, It must have been my fault, I'm not doing it right. I'm not praying enough, spiritual enough….
Did not see the movie yet, so not sure if I can comment. But would like to comment on the notion of creating our reality. Been there done that, ouch what a headache.
Seeking the secret is just Peace pretending to be you, pretending its not Peace seeking itself.
Hi and thanks Julian.
The attached is my own Critical Review of cult movie, “The Secret” which was written by request, when I said that I could not help to promote this movie through my network.
The Secret: A Critical Review
By Ronda LaRue, http://www.rondalarue.com/
Quickly first: I have studied physics, bio-energetics, wisdom traditions and depth psychology my whole adult life. Inquiry has been (and is) my portal on the path of “re-membering”. In observing myself over the course of maturing and in others who have come to work with me later as my own depth has matured, I have watched this play out:
There are indeed universal laws of mystical Truths (lets call them “the Secret”). They are not actually “secret” so much as they are continually misused though misunderstanding and spiritual immaturity. That's why religions and belief systems molded from the founding wisdom of those who have understood Truth become so contorted and misguided.
Whenever we strive to “take, have, control, manipulate” universal laws and “use them” in order to “get, have, own”….then we are still operating (if you really look at it) from fear, from superstition, and from an ego-centric need. All belief systems are fear—self—separate needs to try and control vs. open to Life.
It is a tricky business, the truth of energy, intention and co-creative power. It's been secret not because it is a secret but because it takes a certain depth and fluidity with paradox (as Chopra would say) to not be actually a dangerous mis-service in immature hands of self seeking, needing, desiring.
Outwardly this “secret” seems like it is empowering and of service to people to help them manifest great things. But underneath (unless the person has a deep reaching conscious awareness) it insidiously can breed greater belief systems (always counter to true universal law which is steeped in paradox and fluidity).
I found the movie The Secret to be a very sad misuse of universal principles that seem like they are of service to “the masses” ..but really only prepare the unprepared to want more and to use it to bolster up their props of “getting, having, controlling” vs. the deeper call of Life to open into the Divine Mystery by shedding fear and the beliefs it engenders…and thereby come to be true a -creative partner in the miraculous dance of the Lover and the Beloved.
The real secret of universal law is that it calls us to actually shed all of our fear-control-selves to find our true power that rests in a much deeper pool of listening and stillness from which “spontaneous right action” (thanks Deepak) occurs. Always the paradox is the deeper truth. Those not ready to see this, can only use a tool to try and bolster the mind-self need. Wrong direction by a subtle mis-take.
So I consider the Secret a real disservice to those seeking. It actually leads the unprepared farther away from true universal truth in a positionality that promises self-fulfillment.
Most bluntly, I'm afraid I found The Secret to be a poorly conceived and irresponsibly delivered hype geared to take advantage of the $-bandwagon of selling the “millionaire secrets” and used to further bolster a cultural appetite for using what can't be used. It lacks integrity on both the deepest and most common meaning of that word.
Hope this makes some sense. A challenging vision to quickly let emerge into word on a busy Friday morning. Thanks for asking..The question is where we really live the answer ever unfolding and revealing itself…
What say you my e-friend?
Ronda
–
Ronda LaRue, M.S. - Ceremonial Arts
author: Remembering Who You Really Are
http://www.rondalarue.com/
http://www.ojaisoularts.com/- Your Private Artisan Retreat
805-746-1657
Thanks Julian for such an elegant review~ I have been procrastinating in seeing this movie and now I know why. I certainly don’t need any saccharin spirituality at this point in my life, I’m in a vortex, Living la vida Rita, practicing presence, calm, witnessing, creativity and action (oh yes and dancing ;-)
Cheers to you!
Julian: finally read this. It rocks. Well done.
My requests:
Integrate an analysis of the pre/trans fallacy. I think this is the *perfect* context to distill/apply an often complex/hard to grasp concept which so PERFECTLY aids in describing the root of what's going on here.
Also, I'd like to see you spend a little more time pointing out the partial truth of the power of visualization. (Christiana touches on this point well.) I was going to say that by addressing the partial truth a bit more, you might win more to your view, but then I realized I kinda like my philosophers to deliver the truth with a hammer. :)
and, you might dig this: Dan Millman's Thoughts on The Secret
Now I've gotta start manifesting a parking spot for lunch in Westwood…
also, rondalarue: brilliant.
So…
I guess I should take off my tinfoil hat now. Bummer! Oh, the pre-trans fallacy of it all…
How silly of me to think I could change the world. Dang magical thinking! Oh well back to doubt and self-loathing. Only the Shadow Knows!!!
Anybody ever read Dan's Numerology book called The Life You Were Born to Live. Man, those doggone paradoxes are everywhere. I bet there's no real money in the esoteric relationship between numbers. He probably donated the meager profits from the book's sales to charity.
But seriously I appreciate the blue and orange take on this.
Love One Another
(this is my trans-mission but I haven't done enough critical thinking about it based on my pre-college high school education to understand how to make it a second tier reality.
hey Julian, took me a while to see this post. awesome. right through the heart of narcissistic spirituality :)
i haven't seen The Secret yet, but based on your review, here's my two cents:
let me tell you a story before i encountered the integral perspective:
– read Celestine Prophecy, opened up my mind to new possibilities
– read Edgar Cayce's books, opened up my mind to esoteric possibilities
– read Dancing Wu Li Masters and Tao of Physics, opened my mind to the possibility of integrating science and religion
– encountered Buddhism, opened me up to spiritual possibilities beyond my Christian upbringing
– got confused with all the information i've learned because they were all conflicting.
– read A Brief History of Everything, floored me and gave me a more inclusive map of reality where everything has their place in the Kosmos
– learning will always be ongoing…
The Secret is actually no secret, the Law of Attraction has been there since time immemorial. it's the essence of Napolean Hill's classic Think and Grow Rich. it's one of the main ingredients of the “think positive” mentality. The Secret is a “repackaging” of ancient knowledge handed down from generation to generation.
my point: The Secret is still valuable for those people who are at THAT stage of their journey/development. but it would be a tragedy if people would get stuck by the perspective that it teaches. yes, its perspective is limited but if it inspires people to go out of their shadowy comfort zones and consider other possibilities beyond their fundamentalistic views and use their new perspectives for good, then The Secret has done its job. so i would thank it. apply the positive things i've learned from it, throw out the B.S., then move on.
as for your “real secret” for the intelligent path, i would add one more:
4) Life Condition (aka serendipity) – this includes the culture you're in, your genetic makeup (e.g. being born with a functioning brain), and yes, luck, chance, karma, chaos, or call it whatever. case in point: people don't become recognized as Dalai Lamas just by spiritual practice or critical thinking or shadow work, they are first chosen, then groomed to be Dalai Lamas. one can argue that this is the result of their spiritual practice in their past lives, but let's not go there :)
psychological/spiritual transformation is still a mystery. there are people who dedicate their lives to spiritual practice yet never go through radical transformation, and there are people who have no practice at all but suddenly transform almost overnight.
to make the long story short: to me, it's serendipity all the way up, all the way down…
love your review. and go easy on the coffee ;)
~C
I really enjoyed this review. (found your blog through Brian) I wonder from which rungs of the spiral what perspectives people will have about this film and its effects on those belief systems?
Friends, this is not a recipe for anything but a frontal lobotomy. This is not high spiritual truth passed down through the ages, it's narcissistic delusion, bordering on the psychotic, plugged into the akashic records by a tinfoil hat.
It is a complete abdication of depth in favor of a supremely superficial analysis of life.
That pretty well sums it up for me! Terrific review. Thanks…
Excellent review, thanks for the clarity. I found the idea disturbing, too, since my teachings warned against using thought energy for purely personal gain, which this movie had no problem with doing. I think it is basically one of the last traps of the ego, to want to use new spiritual power to manifest more of the same thing instead of moving to the next level.
No one can do it for us and nothing can make it easier…it's all up to each one of us taking one step at a time together yet seperate as we embrace all that life has to offer, not just the shiny things that give us comfort.
I did think it had some interwoven moments of clarity, though, such as the analogy of driving from Florida to California in the dark. It is important to remember that the road rolls out before you effortlessly, you just have to keep moving towards your destination!
Ditto what Happiness said above. Your review was refreshing.
crow
Fantastic insightful review ;o)
Left my comment on part 2! :)
I'm quite far removed from any spiritual community and I tend to read/watch things with a health dose of skepticism. My chiropractor and friend had seen the Secret and begged me to borrow it and watch it for myself. She felt it was incredibly powerful for her.
So I did. I watched it with my partner. We giggled at the dramatics, but we both left with this feeling:
Why waste our time and energy focused on the negative. Stay focused on what we can do and acheive and we will find the path to get us there.
The movie did use visuals that I felt were unrealistic to the message. You don't just manifest jewlery around your neck, but if that is your goal - owning that - you will be open to the multitudes of ways you can achieve that goal and follow the right path to get there. Maybe it means you take a promotion, with a raise, change your spending habits and save some money and are able to buy that necklace.
So if nothing else, I got a good reminder to stay focused on what it is I want out of my life and not to dwell in what I think I don't have or can't have.
The movie has a good message in there for the general public (like me), it's just hidden behind too much smoke.
The Secret is not only irrational and inconsistent with science etc. but it also contradicts itself, in places. For example, at one point one the expert says something like “It doesn't matter if you are thinking 'I really want X' or the opposite 'I really don't want X', makes NO DIFFERENCE, as you are thinking about X you get X just the same in either case'. Yet in another place they emphasize that “positive” thoughts” are many times more powerful than negative thoughts. This is almost, or entirely, a contradiction.
Also, what is “positive” thinking? Suppose I want a new car. I think positive and I get it. Yet how much of the earth has been destroyed to create and deliver my car to me? So that is positive for me but negative for all kinds of ecosystems. It's always this way.
I have however read interesting and thoughtful ideas about “affirmations” (more or less The Secret type of method) by Scott Adams (Dilbert). You may wish to check that out at:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/affirmations.html
For now even though I'm not a Christian I resonate with the Biblical remark:
'Which of you by taking thought can add a cubit to your stature?”
SeeOtter: that Adams link is genius. Perhaps the best description of what's going on yet. And certainly the most fun. :)
My favorite quote there: “When I started Dilbert, I didn’t take a day off for ten years. You only work that hard if you fully expect something good to come from it. I did.”
This was fascinating! Thanks for the wonderful insight.
Hugs
Hey Julian!
Nice review, except…there's even more going on with this film than you suspected. I'll try to make this as brief (and hopefully coherent) as possible. The hucksterism and naked greed of the folks behind this project don't really explain the other forces at work here. As you indicate, Julian, there is a strong connection between this one and that other piece of psychic psycho-babble, What the Bleep. and those forces are…(drum-roll, please!): cover-up, modified limited hang out and outright conspiracy.
As some of the Zaadz readership know, there has been a quiet revolution happening for the last quarter-century at the intersection of physics & consciousness. It actually goes back quite a bit further, touching the lives and work of David Bohm, John Wheeler, John Bell, the great Einstein himself, along with Schröinger and all those quantum cats. Once you stop and think about it, you'd have to extend the line back further still, through Jung to Goethe, Kant…all the way to Plato, Pythagorus. Okay, far enough. what am I talking about? Why, the fact that, contrary to the fundamental materialist foundation of modern science and the elite-dominated scarcity economics and the brutally aggressive imperialism which that peculiar brand of science serves, we do not live in a mechanistic universe and this knowledge, if widely known, would spell big trouble for those who profit from this sad state of affairs.
As Wm H. Kötke beautifully describes it in his fearless Final Empire:
In a social sense, maturity is seen as self-regulation, that point at which we are not dependent upon parents or others to conduct our affairs. In the organic world beings also exhibit self-regulation. It is the self-regulation of each species that gives the eco-system its balance. Because each being lives according to its nature, the whole functions in resonance. The balance of the human population in a forager/hunter band is self-regulating. This ecological maturity is fundamental. The cosmos exists in balance; the life of the earth exists in balance. Within this we see by contrast that the theorists of empire culture invented ideologies of linear increase, ideologies of imbalance. When the new edition of the myth of linear increase was being formulated in Darwin's time, the rationalist philosophers searched for a motivating dynamic in the natural world. They looked for a cause of change, which they could hold up as the force for linear increase. Darwin and Malthus found the motor in population increase. For Darwin, the balance of species is maintained mechanically by predators and starvation. As this flood of population continues it is the “survival of the fittest” that culls out the weak and selects the strong, whose descendants then become the new “evolutionary waves.” Imbedded in this perspective is a total irresponsibility, a complete immaturity. No being is responsible to the whole. Each being is only obligated to fight others for its own survival. This pattern is in fact reflected in the culture in which we live. This is why we face planetary suicide. No one is responsible for the life of the earth. One simply struggles for the “individualist” power and wealth held out by the culture.
Mechanistic theories such as Darwin's gradualism or the doctrine of uniformitarianism (slow earth changes over long periods of time) in geology, have endured not so much because of the logic of the theory but that they fit the prevailing social ideology so well. The increasingly “powerful” civilized human, “man the toolmaker,” acting on inert, mindless matter is a welcomed image. The conscious power of an intelligent and balanced earth that creates the forms of life, in which the human is one, is not welcome news. To think that all of the life forms are part of the whole intelligent life of Earth like all of the forms in a cell are part of a cell's life, would frame a new ethical view. That image would come dangerously near causing us and the empire to question our way of life.
This is why What the Bleep and The Secret were made, folks. To discredit any notion, (specifically any new science) that viewed reality as a complex interaction between consciousness and matter. Obviously, it's not individual, narcissistic consciousness, the kind on display in these stupid movies wishing for a new BMW, but rather the one consciousness in which we all participate. Jung's collective, Bohm's implicate order, Sheldrake's formative causation, even poor, swindled Amit Goswami's self-aware universe.
Did you notice, Julian, the sneering derision in that NY Times article for any sort of science that wasn't firmly rooted in the mechanist/materialist foundation for life as we know it? Sure, these movies are crap, but to declare, loud & proud, that any other view of reality is magical thinking, well, that's just fundamentalism, when you peek behind the curtain at the real issue, wouldn't you say? As you know, things are not always as they first seem…
Even if you do believe that thoughts create our reality 100% of the time…
WHY THE EXCESSIVE FOCUS ON MATERIALISM?
It's childish, if you ask me.
Jullian. Brilliant. I am so relieved and inspired to see some clarity coming forth on this frothy fad of fallacies. I salute you my brother! Absolutely loved this blog…
Sending Kosmic hugs!
stuart
Hi Julian,
I have to say I'm so grateful to you for your blog and your insights. As someone who is training to be a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner I have been somewhat alarmed by how often people within the spiritual community (practitioners and clients alike) cannot seem to locate a comprehensive spirituality. Often it's not for lack of trying, but unfortunately the model most are presented with is chock-full of “spiritual bypassing.”
Peter Levine's work was some of the first I found that allowed for the full spectrum of healing to occur within the body itself, and that this healing process alone was in its way a powerful spiritual practice. It is more than understandable that people desperately hunger for the realm of transcendence, beauty and magic. My hope is that the more the body is presented as a vehicle of healing, the more substantial the public model of such a spirituality will become, and the less it will seem like distasteful hyper-intellectual garbage to do a little critical thinking now and then.
You know, the sad thing is that I understand enough about people to see why this happens, that people long for a place in themselves that feels “divine.” I really believe that when the wary population begins to see that the pain in the body (or in some cases, even identifying with the body) is not such a gruesome thing, the rational brain in our country especially will allow itself freer rein. That is my hope anyway. I have also long believed that the answer, at its most fundamental core, is that people are understandably deeply afraid to sit with themselves, hang out with pain, and hang out with the possible terror of acknowledging that we don't know why some things happen. It simply feels better to do the alternative. But, again, I believe it is because there is very little model for hanging out with our own pain consciously, and with acknowledging reality consciously. My mother is German and I grew up with German stories. Aside from the Struwwelpeter and the Brothers Grimm, there are plenty of more mainstream German picture books which acquaint children with reality and its myriad experiences and emotions in a much more substantial way than those I have seen here. There is not the same terror concerning hanging out with pain—it is more of a fully integrated aspect of life.
In a way, then, our new age spirituality is a bit like the thriving porn industry in America—the upwelling and result of a sort of spiritual drought that fails to integrate and include, and therefore its shadowy elements bubble up.
But I thank you for being such a conscious, compassionate advocate for the fact that something needs to be done and for showing the faith that if a more comprehensive spiritual model is established, people will be drawn to it. I thank you on behalf of many of those I have known who are deeply traumatized, afraid to live in their bodies, and leap at the chance (again, understandably) for even more of a way out. Thank you for knowing that with somatic practice, that terror can be integrated, tolerated, and healed.
–Daate
beautifully said daate - thank you!
peter levine's work is incredbly useful and should i think be part of any integral healing approach.
I really enjoyed your words… We have a family friend who defends the “SSSSHHHHHH Secret ” with her whole heart and soul… Whatever to whomever but her main point was the movie needed to be made to get the message out there because it had never been done before… What had never been done before???? I found the “Secret” in the following mass media movies without the brain damage caused by hearing all the “experts'…. Winnie the Pooh for one, James and the Giant Peach and lo and behold the biggest money maker in movie history…. Harry Potter…. Oh and New Age Porn.. Awsome lets get it on!
I enjoyed your writing on this topic. It was clear and well-reasoned. I am glad that there are so many people here who do NOT get caught up in the latest 'New-Age-Craze-of-the-Month.” As long as people like you continue to write so clearly and with such order and concision of thought, the Human Intellect will not perish.
simple terms: Dude, You Rock!
Thank you for starting to think about the ways people have appropriated the ancient wisdom but “new packaged” into their life. I noticed a general lack of compassion towards beings who don't make it. I also noticed anger whenever I questioned how in the world of “the Secret” things revolve only around the small ego self.
It occurred to me also that we are 7 Billion people on the planet. These days more people are alive than ever in history. More people are incarnated who in human form than ever in the history of planet earth. That would theoretically mean, of one believes are somewhat understands spiritual evolution from the Samkya philosophical point of view, that many people are in their first incarnation. Now, we have animal dharma all within us which is sleep, hunger, thirst, far, and procreation. We human evolve in our dharma spiritual longing or spiritual growth as well. So we have fear naturally within us.
The point I want to make is that many philosophers of various spiritual schools argue that only humans create karmic reactive momenta, whereas animals react instinctively. That means that millions of humans, those humans who are in their first incarnation, could not possibly set up a conscious choice about what lessons their encounter in their first incarnation anyway. There would be a lack of karmic reactive momentum and possibly a lack of awareness anyway.
Now when it comes to the instinctual dharma of fear, which we share with animals, and which is an important survival tool, imagine that if we drive defensively in traffic to avoid accidents, we attract more accidents, because part of our action would be the concern of
possibly causing an accident.
Also, have you ever studied a subject in school you did not like. Maybe it was math. You failed and cried tears getting back bad grades. One could say that math is not for you. But with the help of patient teachers you suddenly get A's. One could say that our fear of math creates even more bad grades and give up. What about facing the fear and have the courage to fight through (even with the help of tutors) what is hard to understand? Don't we all feel great when we overcome some difficulties and the outcome is positive?
What concerned me about the movie was the idea that activism creates problems because many activists are “angry” (which is nonsense). Well, sometimes people have a right to be angry and there meybe something like “rightful anger” - if people's health insurance is cut or the water (see Ganges River) is “stolen” by coca cola. We do not know how many people die due to the effects of globalization but it could be millions (who choose that fate).
I think it's a positive thing to be proactive and have the courage to face problems, not with anger maybe, but some problems got to be solved. Imagine we don nothing about global warming… Would global warming even increase if we pay attention to it?
Also, what concerned me is how victims are being somewhat blamed for choosing their fate.
Cum' on… there are victims and there are victims. Some victims of violence and rape should be allowed to be victims and get all the sympathy they need (and often the abuser actually chose to abuse… so there are two people in the picture). There is another victimhood scenario which maybe termend 'learned helplessness.” Now, I do know some people who fall into that category and it's certainly difficult to be around people who don't want to change their situation even though they have the mind to do just that.
Anyway, there is a story out there. People dine on a table but can't eat because the spoons are too long. What do they do? They feed each other, right? We could shoose to remember that we don't live in isolation but if we all would help one another in a rational way we would the planet and our own spiritual growth far better than trying to be this rugged individual spiritualist who is prematurely enlightened.
Thank you for letting me rant a bit but the lack of compassion in the movie “the Secret” really got to me.
Thank you for discussion that.
Ah, the secret, which in reality has never been much of a secret. Good to see some of us are seeing things for what they are. In all fairness, I never saw the movie. Not feeling a need to do it anyway.
And TAG, YOU'RE IT!!! Pls. visit my blog.
With thanks,
Nell ;-)
I JUST found this blog….The Secret lost me at the point where Jack Canfield was gloating about his life and said he “has a wife to DIE for.” Yeah Jack, nice thought. Nice reality creation. Go on wich yo bad self…
amazume and alchemystic thanks!
yea that's funny huh?
Definitely make this blog one of favorite. A small note of being inside “The Being” mainly the responsibility is to keep the elements of Air, Water, and Fire in balanced. Then you will know, hear and see with the same eyes and ears you think you have been seeing and listening with. Sorry folks no free ride, responsibility still ranks high.
Yes, thinking is important and as well all the mentioned principles. But one thing is missing: Service to generate virtue and good karma. For attracting positive things in to your life, you need an apropiate equivalent in the divine realms.
To further comprehend this please check the work of Dr. Zhi Gang Sha:
www.drsha.com
I especially want to recommend this excellent movie:
www.soulmastersmovie.com
The covered wisdom of this film has been really kept secret so far. It is not only moving and heart touching. Just watching is already a healing and very spiritual experience.
Warning: The film has the potential to lead you to a total transformation of your life.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I def. understand your ranting. However ponder the following: It's up to you if you want your cup to be half full or half empty. Simple. I take the former. The Secret the Movie has done a fantastic job. Here we are in a period where thousands if not milions of people are spiritualy STARVING and HUNGRY. Take in consideration, that we are also in a very rationalistic and materialistic society.
So, with these two premises, now do you understand why the Secret was done the way it was?
It is simple, the makers of the movie understood that if they come out with a documentary or movie that immeditately delves in to the complication and depthness of spiritual practice their message will not reach as much people.
If you want to lure someone in to a way of thinking you first have to go “down” to their level, see life through their eyes, and from that stage lure them in while subtly putting your message out there.
The Secret has done exactly that. It was marketed to RATIONAL thinking MATERIALISTIC people. And they too deserve to have a glimpse of spiritual experience. Once these people get involved, they practice, for some it works, for most it don't… and from these two groups a large majority would do further research. As they do further research, they get more and more in the deeper meaning of Spirituality.
So pretty much, think about it from a markets point of view. You do not talk to your children the same way that you do to adults. Similarily, this was marketed to “spiritual kids,” from there, these “kids” will have more interest and their interest will lead to higher levels of understanding.
The Secret is amazing in that it has got hundreds of people who would have never even had an interest whatsoever in the estoric, to build at least some interest though it still remaints egoistic. However, as that interest increases they will reach higher evolved stages.
So, relax with the one sided bias.
I saw the secret, and that led me to reading Ehckart Tole, Antero Alli, Jerry Hicks, Edgar Cayce, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Qabalah, the Zorah, Deepak Chopra, and much more. It has led me to refine my meditation, my mantras, build a PMA (postive mental attitude) as Napolean Hill writes, to taking yoga, and entering this whole new state of being i have only fantasized of before, but never been inspired to follow.
So, do you now have a glimpse of the other side of the argument?
Too many evolved spiritualist are too critical and against mass media. Mass media is wonderful and it will never go, but it can be used for a begining of higher shared/collecive consciouness. The Secret is doing just that.
The Secret was made for EGO consciouness. The EGO needs to have some form of DESIRE to engage in to an activity. So, at least they got the egoistical side of the people interested. As the EGO succeeds or fails it will be more interested in the subject.
Anywho, this is just the begining. It has got many people talking; and this is a good sign. I'd rather have a deep conversation about change than what is on the news and sports.
Julian & all you other wise & wonderful folk, I've had “the Secret”sitting waiting by my DVD player for quite a while and knowing that I can be spiritually naive, I'm happy to be forewarned & forearmed thanks to this wonderful thread here. I will watch it and make a comment after. In any case keep up the good work,
blessings to all, Mike
Julian, thank you for your caurage, honesty and clarity. Your review is brilliant. If I could have summarised this film as well as What the Bleep…, I would have written the same thing. Julian, thank you for your courage, honesty and clarity. Your review is brilliant. If I could have summarized this film as well as What the Bleep…, I would have written the same thing. I found myself one of very few that felt my intelligence insulted by some of the content. However, sadly, this is the format that appeals and delivers and important message to the masses. I just wish there was more substance and real tools given to empower people to use some of the concepts correctly. Otherwise, it is just all so primitive and simplistic and incomplete. This is how some of this knowledge is misused and abused. That's kinda scary.
Blessings to you…Keep up the good work!!!