The Secret: Part Three - An Antidote
Posted on Jan 20th, 2007
by 
Julian
Julian
Introduction
In response to the wonderful dialog about The Secret, I thought it might be interesting to do a slightly less polemical step-back here and talk about what I think healthy stage appropriate spiritual practice and philosophy can and should be for people likely to be taken in by The Secret, What the Bleep and the New Age paradigm they represent.
This is, of course, the basis for 90% of what you will find on my Zaadz pages, the website for my work ( www.julianwalkeryoga.com ), and this blog. Here too is an introduction to my Open Sky body of work, integrating yoga, meditation, hands-on bodywork, ecstatic dance and dialog in private sessions, group classes, workshops, trainings and retreats.
Some felt that I was unfairly slamming The Secret and it's adherents for what is a well-intentioned, stage-appropriate spirituality with training wheels - that ultimately the movie is positive and empowering and so what if it doesn't live up to some advanced spiritual or intellectual ideal, it's a good first step.
In my previous blog post I dismissed this position pretty strongly with the assertion that the Secret was stage appropriate for no-one, that in fact it represents a spiritual pathology rampant in the broad, popular and influential New Age movement that actually distorts reality, mixes junk science with superficial philosophy, and effectively limits healthy stage-wise spiritual growth.
Some felt that my critique and Part Two: Wilber, Gebser and New Age Pathology was not making enough room for whatever their favorite New Age idea was, be it the power of intention, the universe's benevolent creative generosity, or the reality of synchronicity. What was interesting to me about this position is that it came off not so much as a defense of The Secret (because the movie is relentlessly about one single oversimplified incorrect idea presented as an ancient universal truth in laughable and indefensible ways) but more of whatever New Age particulars still held a revered place in their heart or mind.
The Power of Intention
Perhaps the most common response to my criticism of the Secret, What the Bleep and the New Age worldview in general over the years has been this:
"But the power of intention is so important and people need to hear that message."
Let's use this well-meaning assertion as a starting point.
The central difficulty I have with the pop spirituality phenomenon of the New Age is it's unfortunate lack of depth. I know, I know I said I'd be less polemical, but I don't actually mean that as an insult. It's a simple fact.
The New Age worldview suffers from a basic lack of depth, even a lack of awareness that there is such a thing as depth. The popularity of "intention" as an all-powerful spiritual tool is a perfect case in point. Intention, in and of itself, is of little value. What matters is what the intention helps to reveal and how the intention is, in turn, shaped by an interactive relationship to the process.
Intention can be an entry point into an inquiry process that allows for insight and healing. Intention can also be used to take those process-generated insights and apply them with some discipline to one's life. But there has to be insight first. Without a relationship to depth, intention remains superficial and empty. Without a way of interpreting meaning intention can be rigid and ineffective. Inquiry and depth makes the difference between the intention of a Martin Luther King Jnr. and the intention of an Adolf Hitler.
What most New Agers mean by "intention" is some combination of faith and determination. This can be useful, but like all forms of faith and determination it benefits immensely from, and is directed more efectively by, a relationship to the depth discovered through a genuine process of inquiry.
Spiritual practice and philosophy should be a sequential process of initiation into successive layers of depth, complexity, nuance and, yes, truth. I am going to use two approaches that I feel are legitimate spiritual practices that succeed in this duty, one from the East - Vipassana Meditation, and one from the West, Psychotherapy.
Two Spiritual Practices
In Vipassana Meditation practice, one sequentially learns several different skills that allow one first to concentrate a strong conscious intention to stabilize in the present and then to gain entry into one's own inner world with that concentrated awareness. The purpose of learning to concentrate on the breath (the "apana" stage of the work) is not merely an end in itself, it allows one to cross a threshold into depth. This meditation technique then allows the practitioner to become more and more familiar with first their sensations and then with the next layer of depth, which is the emotional and mental dimension of their embodied experience, this evokes yet another layer of depth which has to do with gradually becoming more and more stabilized in the observing or witnessing awareness that remains as the constant as the sensations, emotions, thoughts and even sense of self keep going through their ever-changing cycles.
Each of these deepening movements, from surface level concentration which calms the static of the mind, to focused awareness of the sensations as they arise, intensify, fade and pass, to the inquiry into one's emotional/psychological experience, to the deepening sense of one's witnessing consciousness, is a stage in a process that takes many years. The word "Vipassana" means "insight", and the assertion is that through this gradually deepening path, one gains insight into not only one's own being, but also the nature of the human condition itself.
Along the way one will have to sit through many sessions of boredom, physical discomfort, emotional anguish, and psychological torment, alongside (and often transitioning into) periods of deep gratitude, bliss, release and clarity. Along the way one may find that several different belief systems, defense structures, and habit patterns come up for reconsideration. This is quintessential spiritual practice. It's inquiry-based, not faith-based, and it is as rewarding and transformational as it is gruelingly difficult. No short cuts.
In psychotherapy one goes through a deepening process of relating with a therapist who is there to be present and support your inquiry. initially, one usually brings in a some difficulty that is present and asks for help. That is the doorway. Through the process of sitting, talking, (and various other techniques depending on the therapists training), discussing dreams, expressing emotions, analyzing and attempting new strategies outside of the office, one goes on a deepening journey into self-discovery. Why do we feel the way we feel? What are the beliefs and expectations we hold? What do we really want out of life?
The most valuable part of a psychotherapeutic process is this initiation into depth, the fact that it asks us to consider what is beneath the surface. We pay attention and inquire and through that process we gain insight into the patterns, fears, defenses, beliefs and traumas that underlie the way we structure our present experience. Often there is deep healing work that is needed, intense unresolved emotions, fearful associations, unmet needs and longings that are almost unbearable to touch, but over time this gets easier and our surface ego gets more related to the authentic self that dwells in the depths of the psyche.
Just like in Vipassana Meditation, the Psychotherapeutic process takes us through stages of gradual deepening that allow us to become more honest with ourselves and to see reality, both internally and externally, more clearly. The wishful thinking, fantasy, projections, defenses and reactions become less powerful. As with Vipassana, this increase in clarity allows us to see ourselves and others with more compassion.
Both Vipassana and Psychotherapy are powerful spiritual practices that facilitate what Joseph Campbell calls The Hero's Journey. Here is the inner world and it's monsters and treasures as described by the world's rich mythological traditions.These practices take us into the unknown, into the depths of the psyche, into places where before the light of consciousness has not shone, and create a more open and vital channel of communication between the inner/depth world of the soul or Self and the outer/surface world of the ego. In Jungian terms this channel is called the ego/Self axis and strengthening it is the central purpose of the analysis.
You'll notice in both of these processes intention plays a part. It is the firm resolve that gets us started and keeps us going. Intention is a function of the surface mind. As such, intention needs direction and content from the depths if it is to serve it's function well. During the course of one's inquiry-based spiritual practice, one may have insights and set new intentions about how one wants to bring those insights into lived reality. It is also sometimes useful (and sometimes not) to enter the inquiry-based practice with an intention, to help direct the process towards discovering a particular hidden truth, feeling or motivation.
Through this kind of practice, one gets to be in a feedback loop with reality, with one's lived experience. It is not a guarantee of success or a strategy for happiness or wealth, rather it is a method for discovering meaning, for being in relationship to one's inner and outer life with more consciousness.
This awakens an unfolding freedom, but it is freedom from the need to control everything, freedom from the fear of life and death and feelings, freedom from the obsessive conditioned response to acquire money and power and possessions at all costs, - not freedom to have some kind of magical power in these domains.
The Magical Defense
In fact, from a psychological perspective the desire spoken to by The Secret to find the magic trick that gives one power over the unknown and makes the universe unconditionally grant whatever you wish is understood as a very immature need that comes from childhood and is incongruous with an adult relationship to reality. It's called magical thinking and belongs to a narcissistic stage of development appropriate to a young child but problematic and even, depending on the severity, quite pathological in adults .
From a Buddhist perspective that same longing to have magical power and limitless manifestation would be seen in terms of the never-ending reflexive grasping and pushing away of pleasant and unpleasant experience that creates suffering in the first place.
Now Buddhist philosophy and practice and Psychotherapy do not match up entirely. In fact there are areas of difference and disagreement that are fascinating and important for the serious student of either, and especially of both, - but my point here is that both are methods of self-inquiry that allow us to enter a process that leads us though stages of deepening awareness.
The New Age in general and movies like The Secret , in particular, do not.
The idea that through merely focusing one's intention, one can have and do anything without limit, while inspiring-sounding is actually delusional, regressive and perpetuating of what both Buddhism and Psychotherapy see as an unhealthy relationship to reality.
The failure to include a discussion of the limits of intention and to introduce people to the concept of depth, of practice, of being in the kind of feedback loop with reality, is disastrous. It ends up unwittingly pinning adherents between the rock of surface level intention and the hard place of a world that actually doesn't work that way. Without a methodology for interpreting meaning and assessing depth, for coming to terms with feelings, disappointments and bringing expectations down to earth, one is left with a vicious cycle:misplaced faith in a grandiose, but erroneous magical belief coupled with a self-blaming response when it turns out, time and time again, not to work.
This does not generate insight, nor will it cultivate compassion. It also fails to initiate a relationship to depth. In fact the central idea of The Secret decreases ones compassionate and curious relationship to oneself, other people and the world at large, by reducing everything to the magical relationship between thoughts and "the universe."
Beginning Spiritual Practice
My sense is that there are three broad areas that contemporary spirituality should address: cognitive development, psychological awareness, and spiritual practice.
A beginning practice is only worthwhile if it serves as a genuine bridge into more advanced practice. As such, one should enter the domain of spirituality with a healthy sense of respect for depth and for the amount of work one has to put in to get anything meaningful out.
Movies and books like The Secret are mere entertainment, worse, they are a kind of drug that creates a false sense of depth, meaning and power and leaves one in a confused hangover once the high fades. They perpetuate the very defense-structure that real spiritual practice helps one to dismantle. Beginning practice should be clear on this point, not as a way to demand that people be advanced right away, but so as to appropriately begin the process of turning towards the depths and doing the first layers of work with one's delusions and defenses. The Secret dresses up the defensive delusions and grandiose fantasies as if they were themselves the higher truths.
So instead I suggest reading philosophy, literature, poetry and watching great artistic cinema, as well as reading current events/politics and watching documentary films. One will gain far more spiritually from attending to great art, literature and analysis of the day than from superficial opiated entertainments like The Secret. This will also deepen critical thinking and develop cognition in ways that equip us to be in relationship to depth.
For the beginner I recommend starting to engage genuine spiritual practice by reading Jack Kornfield's classic synthesis of Buddhist meditation and psychological awareness - A Path with Heart.
If you are really interested in spirituality, begin meditating and avail yourself of the plethora of incredible books by people like Kornfield, John Welwood, Pema Chodron, Ken Wilber and Stan Grof. Explore the myriad of experiential psychological awareness processes from certain forms of yoga, to bodywork, to holotropic breathwork, to ecstatic dance to straight -up talk therapy.
There is a real path and The Secret ain't it.
Please browse through the rest of my blog to see more on this subject and go to my website at www.julianwalkeryoga.com if you are interested in coming on my three-day Open Sky Retreat to Ojai, California, where we practice yoga, meditation, noble silence, ecstatic dance, Core Sequencing Bodywork and supportive joyful community in absolutely beautiful surroundings.
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Julian. Keep up the criticism and making things very clear.
I am in full agreement that the purpose of anaylisis is to replace the irrational with reason.
As Erich Fromm says,
“Psychoanalysis has tremendously increased our knowledge of man; it has not increased our knowledge of how man ought to live and what he ought to do. It’s main function has been that of “debunking,” of demonstrating that value judgments and ethical norms are the rationalized expressions of irrational – and often unconscious – desires and fears, and that they therefore have no claim to objective validity,”
I believe it is crucial in talking on these things to realize we suppress our intense emotional pressures, like beach balls being held under water. We stress and exert our energies in an attempt to keep them down, to hide them deep within our very being. As Julian points out, it is only by taking the heroes journey that we summon up the courage to lay our eyes on the dragon that guards the cave of our interior space. There, metaphorically, he stands with golden treasure and young virgin, the lust and greed of the ego, in an attempt to keep you from going inside yourself to observe who you really are, or what you have become.
If we slay that dragon we can go inside the black dark cave of ourselves and discover a host of personal demons that hold us hostage and keep us from realizing our full potential. We face fear in this darkness and shine the light on our past experiences. We look objectively at that which imprisons us and by the very act of viewing it in the light, we release our fears. The subjective experience has now become the object of the observer, and what was once suppressed by fear is released through love an understanding.
We learn that all that has happened to us, all that was taught us, the social mores, the cultural conditioning, the religious upbringing, is all just one big wall that must be broken down brick by brick. Julian is so right, this is work. A deep interior realization that I believe is fundamentally an effort to recognize within oneself the moral conflicts that are bound up by moral failure. It is the inability of man to govern himself and be free from the passions and desires of irrational expressions that leads to neurosis, the symptom of moral failure.
The cure is to remove these obstacles and learn to live with dignity, to be alive with the power of our unfolding nature with all its potential to recognize the Good, the Beautiful and the True. The expression of which calls every man if he will listen and discern from the stirrings within his heart. He will know these to be universally true.
But we cripple ourselves with vice, we act irresponsibly and we suffer the consequences. Till one day, we awaken and say “Enough! I’ve had it with the demoralization of my own soul,” and we learn to take responsibility toward our own existence.
I believe you are describing that very process Julian. Though there be many methods, or many paths to this “Way” I am in agreement that spiritual practice, meditation and psychoanalysis are a powerful elixir for the alchemical truths contained within us. That to preserve our own being is to become what potentially is and that happiness will flow from the experience and powers of our self inquiry.
Right on Julian, right on!
I enjoyed this posts intentions immensely.
DEOJulian.
I agree wholeheartedly with your points. From a psychological perspective, though, I think The Secret might have some merit.
To my mind, some of of the most endemic problems of our society stem from rampant, fear based thinking, a constant message of inadequacy and insecurity, and the overwhelming belief that the world is a dangerous, threatening, and traumatic place. Compound with this is a tendency toward blame and learned helplessness, and you have a culture set up for psychological damage. Healthy development - speaking from the limited standpoint of child-rearing - is tremendously enhanced by that sense of unconditional positive regard and love we get (or ought to get) from our parents. One of the most basic lessons of psychology consists in modeling that sense of unconditional positive regard for one's clients, and providing that mirror of compassion and acceptance for them until they're capable of internalizing it for themselves.
(I won't go into the “why” of this, although I daresay it's a simple matter to understand that happy, well-adjusted people who have an internal sense of self-worth, and who don't stake their egos on the perceived attitudes of those around them, are much more enjoyable to be around, much more likely to take responsibility for their lives, and are on the whole better candidates for healthy, rather than pathological, spiritual development.)
To my mind, the set of beliefs that comprise The Secret and other Law of Attraction paradigms set the stage for developing that sense of trust in the universe (and the corollary sense of trust and love in oneself). Realizing that changing one's attitude can have a profound difference on the way we experience the world, and the way the world responds to us, is a profound lesson, and one that many people can spend years in psychotherapy to learn. If experimenting with the message of The Secret can shake people out of their own perspective just enough to get that natural process of development going again (and I've said more about this elsewhere), that's a good thing. I'd rather that than more stagnation.
siona - you make an excellent point about internalizing self-worth and a core confidence that is not so easily overwhelmed by the chaos and suffering of the world.
it is a key piece of psychological development to internalize these feelings/experiences.
from kohut's perspective, we go through a “primary narcissism” as children that is healthy and appropriate, in which we get to feel that we are the center of the universe, all powerful, all important, that our feelings and needs are of prime importance to our care givers etc…. if this supportive age-appropriate mirroring goes well we internalize the feelings and become more and more secure - and are thus able to relinquish the primary narcissistic stage and start to TOLERATE the realilty of other people's needs, the unpredictable world, dissapointments etc….
if this internalization does not happen, we end up in a “secondary narcissism” as adults, in which we are trying to get those needs met, usually in unconscious ways - to shore up a weak sense of self-worth and personal power. this often results in prerational spirituality - see here for a more in depth look at what i mean (with references kohut and piaget.)
the above is the case (i assert) for a lot of us, but especially for spiritual seekers.
the remedy is NOT the kind of unrealistic, regressive magical thinking that the secret instills - this would keep one stubbornly stuck in the narcissism - which has incorrectly been given a new stamp of spiritual approval.
instead, through the process of good psychological and spiritual work, one can go into a depth oriented process of inquiry and come to terms with what didnt happen i the earlier stages, mourn it, vent it, get those needs met in healthy realistic ways from teachers, friends, therapists etc, and then make the all-important transition into relinquishing the narcissism and tolerationg REALITY - in which, unfortunately you cant always get what you want and you are not the center of the universe!
it may seem from this perspective that the secret then is stage appropiate for people going through secondary narcissism, but this would only be the case if the teaching (and the new age paradigm in general) included a way to make the all-important transition out of magoical thinking - but it cant do that because all of it it is based in the idea that the narcissistic magical regressive defense is a high spiritual truth and that anything that says otherwise is negative or wrong - this is a big problem and why i characterize the whole paradigm and the secret as pathological….
see here for some of my writing on making the transition from prerational to transrational spirirtuality.
best
~julian
Thank you for the response, Julian, and the link. I love your writing.
I'm curious, though, about what to do about those millions who cannot afford a psychologist? I'm well aware of the luxury status of my field; I know that there's a reason that psychotherapy is the privilege of the elite. The soothing balm of channeled entities like Abraham Hicks, say, or even Ramtha, provide that mirror of unconditional positive regard that otherwise must be bought (at no small cost) from a human being willing to play the role. The visualization groups that programs like The Secret endorse provide, in essence, a healthy and leader-less form of group therapy in which everyone in the room is committed to taking responsibility for their reactions to what happens (because “they create their own reality”). I think this is an reasonable stepping-stone toward a more healthy psychological state.
(Because something that troubles me about Integral is the notion of class, and of socioeconomic standing, and of access. America alone is filled with middle-and-low income families who can't possibly afford a psychologist, much less the hours necessary to maintain a sitting practice. What does integral theory have to say to that world? How are our intellectual peregrinations, promising to lay out a map of *all* perspectives, any less “pathologically” narcissistic than Wayne Dwyer's crowds of “manifesting” middle Americans? But I digress.)
Also, to my mind, there's little anyone on the outside can to do force or create a transition. Development can't be hammered out of something, and doing so can itself be downright damaging (evidence the number of psychologically fucked-up child prodigies whose parents tried to fast-track their growth). All we can really do is provide the right environment for the process to occur, and let the evolution happen. Even the most practiced teacher can't do your work for you. So what, given this, does “a way to make the all-important transition” even mean? No one sits down and explains to a child how reason works … it happens. And I have a certain amount of trust that the same 'happens' at a spiritual level as well.
thanks Julian. glad that you went deeply on this issue and provided a clear alternative and authentic path on spirituality.
P.S. speaking of the Law of Attraction, here's an example of how this concept can be translated into a more embracing and transformative perspective: see Steve Pavlina on Gratitude. a cool example of how a “New Age” idea can be trancended and included :)again, while i agree with all your criticisms so far, what i've been trying to do is point out whyThe Secret (and other New Age ideas) are so popular instead of focusing on why it is “wrong” – because it reflects the psychological development (or make it psychological yearnings) of the people who are embracing those ideas. just because people reach the age of adulthood doesn't mean that their psychological development should follow. let's just say that some people are still catching up on the spiritual line of development :)
i'm sure you're familiar with the Spiral Dynamics concept of entering and exiting on value memes (aka transitional stages between memes).
my point: your criticisms of New Age ideas also apply to religion (specifically mythic religion, as well as GREEN religion and spirituality in general). yes, the Law of Attraction is a very simplistic concept, but so is the virgin birth, rapture, (insert your favorite holy book propaganda here).
so here's my question to you: from a developmental perspective, is the New Age mentality (in general) a step better than religious mythic thinking?
if no. then i would like you to expound on why do you think so.
if yes, then that's the point i'm making. it's a stepping stone for a lot of people, including you (as you've previously hinted) and me (and i think a lot of us). remember that even Ken Wilber was once a romantic who embraced perennial philosophy/great chain of being before coming up with his own integral theory of subtle energy.
but all in all, i very much commend your (non-idiot) compassionate criticism. i just like to offer a reminder that not everyone can be at the same depth. there will always be “greater span than depth”, as KDub would say. so we still need to meet people where they're at if we are to embody our integral perspectives. and therein lies the rub :)
keep on criticizing with compassion.
~C
i am filled with gratitude at the generous and thoughtful engagement being offered here….
siona:
absolutely! big problem. how much of the world can really put in the time and money do these sorts of practices? a small percentage….agreed.
but my conclusion is not that therefore the new age is a good stepping stone, as i have already gone into - i think it is a very poor alternative and creates delusion rather than healing/growth. people do feel better, but i think this is more a function of regression and dissociation than anything else, - plus it creates insufferably superficial condescension, as well as a real hardening against the genuine compassion that comes from legitimate practice and more accurate maps of reality - such as would include the socioeconomic piece you are referencing - which is nowhere in the new age paradigm - mostly the domain of upper middle class folks who want to be wealthier and more checked-out by thinking good thoughts and feeling supported by “the universe”.. :O)
i think a better alternative is really good grounded spiritual books, audio and video programs that are straightforward, progress through appropriate stages and teach the beginning steps of spiritual practice without delusion and unhealthy regression. this meme is not yet out there. the closest is soomeone like jack kornfield.
in my eyes this would include encouraging people to:
1) cultivate critical thinking, to develop solid rational and then nuanced formal operational cognition,
2) to develop honest shadow awareness and learn to be in touch with the layers beneath the persona/ego/defense structure,
3) to encouarage some kind of inquiry-based spiritual practice - emphasizing that this is a process of self-discovery not indoctrination……all of this can be done without recourse to faith or magical thinking but woith plenty of sexy mythopoetic/archetypal/hero's journey oomph….
the more these memes get out there and people get more familiar with the importance of certain distinctions and skills, the less it will be only the province of those who have the time and money.
c4chaos:
yeah i hear you. i actually feel that the new age is a mix of myth and magic dressed up in more exotic hip clothes. i think that when green regresses in search of spirituality instead of doing the work necessary to engage transrational development it actually goes prerational and even premythic religion into magical participation mystique, voodoo, infantile omnipotence land - it's the curse of misapplied pluralism that sees everything as relative and thinks that tribal magic is the lost link to transrational consciousness…
then it combines the magical thinking stuff with a sort of smorgasboard of overly-literalized mythic stuff from mostly eastern religion and throws in jesus as one of the “ascended master avatars/reincarnated saviors” and tries to incorporate (in it's oh so inclusive relativist way) some quasi orange junk science to back it all up and - voila! le age nouveau….
i think it is a step forward in terms of being more inclusive (to a fault) and less fundamentalist, but it is a pretty weird and wonderful mish-mash lacking in depth and critical thinking and filled with magical and mythic fantasies…..
as i keep stating i see it more as a dead-end pathology than a stage appropriate healthy phase a la spiral dynamics. i think wilber agrees in his boomeritis/MGM rants…
part of why i see it this way is that in 17 years of being around the spiritual community, i have seen very, very few people move beyond the new age who were deeply into it - in fact i know a lot of folks in thenir 40s and 50s whove been around the block more than once still pretty invested in new age spirituality.
it's just not structured to graduate people upward - becuase there is so little actual practice, so little critical thinking, mostly folks get caught in a double bind between spiritual faith in magical thinking, being positive and trusting the universe on the one hand and going into the kind of authentic emotional awareness, existential crisis, intellectual learning curve kinda process that would initiate them into the next level.
my point is the new age actively prevents any further growth for the bulk of it's followers and i think it imight be fun, challenging and a great service to come up with an alternative healthy and authentically green stage that doesnt have those limitations….
Julian. Agreed agreed agreed. I do want to point to a link that ~C4 included above, though. This is from Steve Pavlina:
“When you feel grateful for existence itself, you move from *doing* grateful to *being* grateful. At this level you finally activate the Law of Attraction because you're broadcasting gratitude all the time. It become part of your identity. Ultimately you attract circumstances that resonate with who you are.
When your feelings of gratitude are conditional upon temporary circumstances like your stuff, your job, and your relationships, your base identity doesn't change. But when you root your gratitude in something permanent, it becomes a permanent part of you. Instead of saying, “I am grateful for…” you just say, “I am grateful.””
I think this is a wonderful meme, regardless at the level at which it's adopted. Some of us might need the elaborate rationality of Wilber's system; I certainly find it compelling. Others might find that same cognitive obsession off-putting and alienating. What I'm more concerned about it whether we can live comfortably together regardless, and encouraging people to cultivate this attitude of appreciation is beautifully instrumental toward that goal.
So, for me, in the same way that traditional church communities can provide healthy support for people and ease their existence in the world, helping them become more compassionate and less acquisitive and lost and wounded, these New Age groups can serve similar roles. (And in the same way that traditional church communities can be abusive and divisive and injurious, so can certain proponents of New Age thought get warped. I'm just not inclined to paint the whole with one tarry brush.)
In any case, I'm more inclined to look at WHY people might feel drawn to the palliative of New Age thinking. What's really behind our need to avoid going deeper? Why are we so depth adverse? Is it, perhaps, an unwillingness to examine why we're spiritually and personally unfulfilled? And why is that? Could it be, perhaps, that we don't want to look at the systems on which our suburban lives depend? Might we not want to think too hard about the role our lifestyles play in both the bloodshed going on in Iraq and the environmental destruction of the planet? If we really start thinking critically about the world, we'll have to start questioning what we see on television each night. We'll have to start wondering about the news we read. We'll have to start being aware of our history, of the thousands of civilians killed by our US military, of the collateral damage going on today. We'll have to wonder about a nation that imprisons so many of its citizens. We'll have to think a bit about who sews the clothes we wear, and about where our food really comes from. Coming to terms with our cultural shadow - which, to my mind, is necessary for real spiritual development; we cannot separate ourselves from our roots, nor our humanity - is a much vaster operation than the mere introduction of a Kornfield-esque mindfulness practice. It's the systems we have in place to prevent this are heavily overdetermined … and waking up can be painful.
Anyway. To my mind, hand-waving about regressing and magical thinking is useless unless the deeper systemic issues of what might be driving this “pathology” are examined. And unless - or until - that's addressed, I don't see the trouble with a practice that'll help (even a small number of) people take responsibility for their reactions, and to feel grateful for what it means to be alive.
Siona,
Wow, I have the exact concerns in regards to Integral especially looking at those high prices for those weekend seminars and Deepak's package spa weekends. Yeeks!
I wonder how these Integral ideas can be more accessible as well as what Julian mentions as an alternative path which is excellent.
I still agree with Julian that New Age spirituality that “The Secret” supports is not beneficial at all. Well, ok maybe provide some dessert for the narcissit in me. (I have to admit “What The Bleep?” sounded good for a few days and then rational kicked in along with my “power of now” mantra.)
I guess I'm also noticing how we are sort of resistant to say that “The Secret” is completely wrong as if we are making some sort of holy trespass on those who got some benefit out of it.
I don't think that I would personally exclude anyone who thought it was beneficial for them or have some sort of evil eye on people because they thought it was one of the best films of the year. There's some level of taking things personally and not personally.
I just want to throw it out there that I don't think any less of someone just because they think that the movie was “great”. Although, I have a feeling that some people are turning away assuming that what we are discussing is how valuable this movie is and that equates to the value of the person's opinion of it or where they are ranked on the integral ladder to greatness.
:O) last try: what is wrong with making those communities better by introducing a meme that values critical thinking, psychological introspection (to your question about what makes people attracted to the new age stuff), and actual practices that cultivate insight and compassin trhough inquiry instead of blind belief?
this is not about hand waving and nastiness- it's about making distinctions that then allow for better evolutions of the existing memes…. but it's only through a sometimes polemical dissection that those distinctions and that creative evolution can occur……
Absolutely nothing, Julian. I completely concur. And I think there's already some amazing stuff happening with dharma practice in prisons, with the use of mindfulness techniques in cognitive therapy, with the gentle nudging toward meditation in the recommendation of nearly every self-help and stress-relief tome on the market, and even behind the walls of humble-seeming little churches.
I'm agnostic on the value of polemical dissections; I'm far more an advocate of investigative inquiry practices like Bohmian dialogue or other discussion / dialogue-based interactions (inquiry need not be done alone and it's something that can be entered into with anyone who can speak), if only because I do think debate tends to threaten people into shutting down even further, and I do know, from all manner of psychological studies, that arguing points leads to people becoming more deeply attached to the point of view they're defending, whereas dialgoue leads to a better potential understanding of the other's side. But I'll agree, withouth a doubt, that creative evolution is worth striving for … ;)
Julian,
I have a much greater understanding of you today, and more compassion for you too. ( I read and watched your intro page today ~ funny thing that with everyone else here I do that first). I also appreciate that you sent me a friend invitation today too. Now for sure I won't miss any of your Integresting perspectives. I have to say that I appreciate your mind as viewed through the pages of your posts. It is obvious that you are quite adept at expressing your point of view and I can think of a few things I'd love to hear your point of view on.
I also appreciate your point of view on the necessity of applying critical thinking. “However even with the use of critical thinking, mistakes can happen due to the thinker not being in possession of the full facts. Plus there is always the possibility of Human error ” which could include cognative bias and false consensus effect. But maybe not.
I think that my previous comments were misunderstood in that my point was not as much to defend The Secret, as I have some issues with it myself ( mainly have to do with the marketing and who's all jumped on the band wagon). I do realize that it is …just a movie. Yet I also see a perspective where there is value. Even if it serves only as an introductive value, a stepping on to the path, a value no less.
I realize that you don't know me personally enough to determine whether or not I have the ability to use critical thinking or to presume that I don't. But I assure you, I am well versed in critical thinking. Or so I think. : )It was that process which wouldn't let me “let it go” without commenting in the first place.
I would like to clarify that my real issue with your posts and many of the comments that followed was that they didn't really allow me to feel the respect for all spiritual traditions that was stated in the Zaadz terms.
In fact, I actually went to both the Zaadz terms page as well as the Zaadz Home page and re-read to see if I had missed the part about this community being solely of a one flavored mindset.
You see, your diatribe hits on a lot of bases that are evident in the midst of this awesome community.
For example there are 664 people who have listed The Secret in their Favorite Movie, and 994 for What the Bleep (and 527 for What the bleep do we know). As for Law of Attraction there's 94 people who list it in interests category, and a whoppin 221 for Integral Theory. See where I am going with this. With the 1457 who list Spirituality, I am certain you would find 1457 individual descriptions to go along with them. And these numbers are not taking in to account those who have this interests but haven't added their data.
There are numerous coaches who use law of attraction as a basis for their coaching who are here on Zaadz, some of them with very active pods. There is also a large community that came here to Zaadz from the Zaadz Ad that is in every issue of their magazine. A magazine who's founder might surely have been offended by your blog. (But he's gone to the other side.)
See for some, the issues that you so creatively or should I say critically invalidate are part of what others may consider their flavor of Spirituality. And who is to judge what constitutes one's Spirituality. This is one area where the concept of oneness doesn't fly.
And that is what bothered me. I appreciate your opinion as you are intitled to it. I just think that from your position you may have missed a few critical facts.
I hope that you can at least consider what I am saying. I truly appreciate what your trying to do, and I see the value in your point of view. I just think that maybe you aren't being very tolerant of others beliefs in the process, nor allowing them to travel their own path with dignity.
There are so many points where I can really understand where you are coming from. That doesn't dismiss the fact that you may have trampled on a whole bunch of individual's beliefs in the process. Yet I don't believe that that was your intention.
~C - I still appreciate you.
Siona - Thank you for the kind words, and your perspective. I want to comment, and will but I have to run.
&:D~~<
Laura
“A highly critical, occasionally skeptical, and sometimes even polemical attitude must be our constant companion on the road to any sort of truth. The commodity most lacking in spiritual circles seems to be, indeed, a healthy skepticism, possibly because it is confused with lack of faith, a stance which, if understandable, is deeply misguided.”
wilber
hi laura - i wonder if i am hearing the classic performative contradiction here..
sounds like you are taking a didactic stance against me taking a didactic stance?
or perhaps you are claiming some moral high ground against my claiming of moral high ground?
or could it be you are criticizing me for being critical?
:O)
what is it about religion/spirituality that it is taboo to have honest critical debate about the truthfulness or usefulness of certain ideas?
we have suffered under this misperception for too long.
yes a lot of people who use zaadz love the secret. it sounds like you are suggesting therefore that it is not OK to critique the secret because they might be offended?
so the point of zaadz (and i assume of spirituality) is to be very careful not to offend people, especially if you have a good argument as to why something they believe might not be true?
sounds too like you are asserting that in spirituality all “flavors” are relative, except of course the flavor that says it's all relative - which you happenn to judge as higher, more compassionate, more morally correct than the flavor that says - “actually, truth is important, spirituality should help us to discover truth, and delusions serve no-one, in fact they are the antithesis of my flavor of spirituality…”
seriously though, do you hear the performative contradiction?
have you come across chogyam trungpa's concept of idiot compassion?
here is pema chodron on the same theme.
it sounds like you feel i have commited some offense against the unwritten law of spiritual people and against the written pledge of zaadz as you interpret it…….
well, i think that pieces like the secret commit an offense against depth, meaning, healing, truth, wisdom, insight, compassion and reality itself and i feel a moral obligation to point that out! - especially because so many in my community are taken in by it…..especially because it is being touted as the way, the truth and the light by much of the new age movement..
do we ask that political candidates be careful not to offend, or philosophers, op-ed columnists, reporters, or reviewers of regular movies that don't pretend to be revealing the ancient mysterious “law” of the universe?
i am sure you heard about the recent conference in iran in which “academics” presented their “research” and theories on how the nazi holocaust of the jews never occured. i hope it is permitted to maybe offend those people and write serious critiques of their incorrect and damaging perceptions and proselytizing about reality?
though the subject matter is of course vastly different - my critique of what the bleep's junk science and the secret's very bad psycho-spiritual magical superficiality is in the same spirit. these are people claiming to be experts about science, spirituality, nay the laws of the universe itself as it relates to human happiness and suffering. and they are dead wrong.
i don't care if 100% of zaadz or the population fo china all love this stuff and think it is their flavor of spirituality - it's still complete and utter nonsense and creates very damaging mispercetions about reality, the psyche, spirituality, cause and effect, the power of the mind etc….
more from wilber:
“And we have to look no further than the general New Age movement to find abundant evidence of preconventional impulse being confused with postconventional liberation; prerational self-absorption being confused with postrational freedom; preverbal hedonism confused with transverbal wisdom. Alas, it is almost always the Romantic orientation, with its sincere but deeply confused elevationism, that drives the entire display, with self-obsession elevated to Self-realization, divine egoism exalted as divine liberation, and rampant narcissism paraded as transcendental freedom.”
i know it can feel unpleasant and tense to debate things, to disagree, but i still appreciate you taking the time to share your point of view and i still bow deeply to you and to all beings, while reserving the right to express opinions and disagree with anyone's ideas or beliefs, as they are free to do with mine - i should hope that this is part of the we-space at zaadz - otherwise we are in for the creeping unspoken orthodoxy of new age politeness and changing the world by believing really strongly in angels….. which is to say not changing the world at all.
all the best
~julian
Julian,
Compassion without tolerance is not compassion ~ to me.
In my opinion, any opinion needs to be viewed through a perspective which includes a degree of peripheral vision.
Thanks for your opinion and for expressing your beliefs. I appreciate you!
In Joy,
Laura
i think perhaps you confuse tolerance with never diagreeing about what is true?
i am tolerant of people who say the earth is flat - they are still saying something that is not true.
If it is their belief that the earth is flat, and are they not intitled to that belief.
and your belief that it is not flat, you are intitled to that belief.
Tolerence allows for both to have their belief. who's belief constitutes the truth?
The truth to whom?
Oh, Julian.
Why all this rhetoric? I wholeheartedly endorse the nurturing of a healthy skepticism. But has Integral theory taught you nothing? ;) To my mind, one of the most powerful potential lessons in Wilber's books involves cultivating the ability to meet people where they are. It's thanks to the Spiral that we can better learn to step inside the value system of another human being, to see the world through their eyes, and to nurture them along, with compassion and love, toward health and growth and development. Running out with slinging words and failing logical arguments will only cause people to grab tighter to their own cherished belief system; that which resists, persists, no?
Wouldn't it be far more effective to ask, with deep compassion and curiosity and sincere interest, what it's like being in that state? And why The Secret is so compelling? Wouldn't it be more useful - for both you and the person you're attempting to enlighten - to find out why it is they believe what they do, and why they might be scared to apply reason's flame? Wouldn't it be more kind to invite them, gently, to step cautiously on to the platform of rationality and to show them that, yes, the world still holds, and that, in fact, it's all the more mysterious and amazing and beautiful from there?
I don't know … just a few thoughts. And I would say more but I'm running late to class. So for now, a deep thank you to the both of you for continuing to write. You're incredible. Truly.
:)
Siona,
You really brought up a very excellent point. If rationality and critical thinking isn't going to work for some people. I wonder what remedies would be to get “unstuck” in narcissism.
I mean we are all narcissistic to some degree and isn't there such a thing as “healthy narcissism”? I would be very interested in hearing from a psychology stand point.
nicely said siona and i agree completely. :O)
the rhetoric is in response to something else. it is also quite sincere.
and yup integral theory has taught me thing or two!
thanks for asking.. :OP
in a therapeutic/healing space i would be more apt to engage in the kind of cautious and considerate space-holding inquiry you are suggesting. in fact i do this just about everyday.
in my online blog persona, and in the realm of theory/brainstorming i am being a lot more direct and intellectual about it - there are many ways to engage and explore this material and this is a subject that very few people in the spiritual community are addressing with what i think is the appropriate critical thinking and honest debunking.
anyway, i have thoroughly enjoyed your jousting and perspective
gracias
~j
Fantastic to see such passion about such a silly movie.
Perhaps it has its utility after all….
(indeed, it has prompted some deep reflection in the individuals who engage in these exchanges)
Julian, your fundamentalist skepticism is quite fan(t)a(s)tic…
I hope that you will consider to agree that the premises put forth by the Secret are provacative… which is far more relevant than your OPINION about what is TRUE or UNtrue, right, wrong, or whateva.
I have not read the whole stream of comments, yet i cherish the comment by C4chaos: “and therein lies the rub”… i assume it is an allusion to Beckwith's statement in the secret :: in my opinion a nearly universal disclaimer to all of the busy finger work on these pages… It is both the conscious and sub conscious thoughts that affect our “reality”… “thats the rub” (please forgive me if i am bringing back something that has been elsewhere hashed rehashed fultilized or otherwise addressed - i hope this formulation adds something tasty to the soup)
i imagine that this can be taken in many ways, and lead to many lines of thinking and behaving… including and most certainly not limited to:
– i judge myself because i don't have control over my sub conscious thoughts and doubts and they are sabotaging my attempts at attracting what i WANT
– i feel there may be something causally significant embedded in that “rub” and i am motivated to more closely observe and steer both my conscious and subconscious thoughts (a significant goal of a vast majority of serious, relevant and valuable “spiritual” disciplines)
Perhaps a golden rule in spirituality: if someone puts something in your mouth and expects you to swallow without chewing a bit… spit and run….
and likewise: if one is foolish enough to swallow a consumer oriented inspirational doctrine, without chewing, perhaps one deserves the fate that follows…
selv tak,
~another j
there seems to be a few schools of thought going on here because from my perspective, you are all right…my critical thinking skills take me to a place where i see how what is the truth to you all individually, is the truth…if we are talking Truth with a capital T, The Secret is not on point…Truth with a capital T lies in a dimension beyond words and i think what julian is suggesting here is to go there and find it….it is not doing anyone a service to make them think that watching some movie will take you there, and there are far more effective ways to experience the transcendent…but many people are just looking for some fluffiness in this harsh world and that is fine too…let them drown in fluff…after all, these are the ones to whom ignorance is bliss (we won't tell 'em what Bliss really feels like though…ok?)…but to call it Truth would be a definite mistake, but it can be the truth for those who need it to be..and at the same time, it will delay their experience of the transcendental Truth…but what is better or worse for an individual is not a judgement i am prepared or qualified to make and would only be projecting, as julian might be doing…but knowing julian personally, i would have to say that it comes from the place of compassion that some comments above seem to assume he is lacking…and i can say definitively that he is one of the most compassionate people i have ever had the honor of interacting with…blessings to all you overwhelmingly intelligent people…S.
OK, Julian. Time for me to play devil's advocate.
How certain are you that your antidote is going to work? Do you have a scientific way of proving that it's going to work? I need your brain scans. I need proof, DUDE!
Have you tried it yourself? and Are you enlightened?
What is it like from your perspective on the spiral?
Has it brought you fame and fortune?
If not I'm not buying it. hehehe :-P
nicely said sister sa’rah!
too funny klare!
to answer:
yes. no. frustrating but beautiful. sort of but not really…..
:O)
Julian,
I'm coming in late, but just wanted to thank you for your series of posts on the god-awful movie The Secret. These are the first intelligent reviews I've read of the movie. You should seriously consider getting them published in WIE or Utne or the like. I worked for I-I so possibly have some contacts if you are interested.
I posted a while back on the Secret/WTB pod here a short critique that was completely rejected with ad hominem attacks for not thinking positively enough. Sheesh. I've read more books on positive thinking than anyone I've met! And have practiced it too–helped a ton with depression–but with critical thinking, awareness, and discipline.
For those interested in positive thinking that's also rational, may I suggest Feeling Good by David D. Burns. It's not transrational, but at least cognitive therapy is healthy rational, and proven to work with actual science for depression, anxiety, etc.
Of course positive thinking and the law of attraction contain straw man arguments, since nobody ever consciously chooses negative thinking as far as I can tell, when negative thinking is implicitly defined as “destructive thinking that won't get you your outcome.” The cure isn't necessarily positive thinking, but thinking, period! Good ole' fashioned reason. And go far enough with your reason and it goes trans-reason.
On my own path, I completely rejected myth, metaphor, magic, “spirituality” and everything smelling of it, went completely for pure reason, and am now coming out the other side. When you go far enough with reason it starts re-incorporating all these things in a real adult way.
And thank god for hard work and discipline, the real secret. I love Vipassana! Of course there's no money in donation-based Vipassana, so hence no slick marketing campaign.
And speaking of slick marketing, Joe Vitale, one of the main “experts” in The Secret, is one of the sleasiest of the sleasy copywriters and marketers. Check out his website and ask yourself “is this an authentic spritual teacher or a used car salesman?”
And I'm a marketer and copywriter (among other things), and no I don't believe all copywriting and marketing is hype and manipulative BS (only bad marketing/copywriting). Read Seth Godin for another perspective (Godin is the only marketer I know of to strongly emphasize responsibility in marketing, and to consistenly support non-profits in their marketing efforts).
The other tipoff to why The Secret ain't spiritual is the goal of most of the Law of Attraction intentions in the movie–parking spaces, money, healing MY illness, money, jewelry, money, did I mention money? Serving one's self is ok, money is good in context, but in The Secret it reeks of materialism and voracious ego lust. There is no focus on the highest possible desires or any emphasis on freedom from desire, nor any mention of greed, lust, pride, or any other way things could go wrong. (There I go with my negative thinking again!)
And I've experienced many sychronicities, especially as my spiritual development unfolds due to diligent practice and study. And all are siddhis, to be seen as neat little things but ultimately obstacles to the real goals–liberation, compassion, freedom, helping OTHERS.
And I tend to agree with your strong position that this stuff is disfunctional crap and is not useful for anyone at any stage. I would also say that eating McDonalds is total crap and not healthy for anyone at any stage of their “nutritional development.” Contrast McDonalds with many conventional foods–home-cooked italian meals, authentic mexican food, traditional Japanese, etc. McDonalds, like the Secret, is junk (or even poison) for everyone no matter where their level of consciousness or development. Which is not to say that we didn't all have poison in our past (or even in our present!) that we loved to consume–but it did in fact hinder our development and cause harm.
Watch Disney movies or sci-fi for healthy pre-rational cinema with magical themes that doesn't pretend to be authentic spirituality.
couldnt have said any of it better duff! thanks…
Thank you Julian for your convictions in writing about these topics. Myself having disagreed with Rainer Maria Rilke and Malcolm Gladwell all within the same week, I respect what you're doing by writing and having an open discussion here.
So why would anyone settle for the conditioned and conditional happiness as espoused in The Secret ?At first I hadn't really given The Secret much thought before, until I saw the discussions on Zaadz (ie. over at Siona's). It appeared fairly benign.
Yet if people really come away thinking these are the HIGHEST spiritual teachings, well, perhaps it is doing a great disservice.
In your first post on The Secret you said some people insisted that this is a good spiritual primer, a good training wheels film to whet someone's appetite.
I disagree as well. I was a spiritual neophyte not so long ago (more clueless than anyone in the movie!!), what got me on any path whatsoever (well, aren't we always anyhow) was that everything fell apart. The Anti-Secret writ large. The beautiful house with the redwood siding and sauna, gone. The great executive management position, gone (plus the company shut its door and dot-com industry went bust too). The athletic husband, gone. Well, you get the gist, not meant to be a sob story.
I think this is a point where I became teachable.
I couldn't afford psychotherapy any longer, so I decided to practice 3 things on my own:
1. practice being curious about my reactions, emotions, judgments, feelings and thus develop a 'witness' or 'observer' approach to my own thinking
2. practice using other people's annoying habits - anything that irked or irritated or infuriated me - as a mirror into my own unresolved, unmet, unseen shadow. Be willing to be aware of my own projections. This practice was the only way I could think of that might make me aware of blind spots.
3. I became willing to be open to what I didn't know I didn't know. And so I experimented a lot. Anytime I came to a point where I thought I knew it all again, that I was too comfortably esconed in a new & improved better worldview, I asked again: What is it that I don't know I don't know. And left it an open question.
It was only later that I was willing and able to come to meditation, etc.
I suppose one of the detriments of The Secret might be that people will walk away from it believing that alchemy is actually about turning base metals to gold.
When the 'legendary' alchemist Nicholas Flamel died outside Paris they said the townspeople (and godknows villagers from miles around came) turned his house upside down looking for riches, looking for gold, and maybe the text of The Secret (known as the philosopher's stone those days). They couldn't find anything. They turned the whole town upside-down. Surely, he'd hidden the riches somewhere!?
They say that he found said philosopher's stone. But all anyone knows as it's passed down is that he never lacked for money, he was peaceably content with friends and his wife, he donated a lot of money and time to the local hospitals and causes, and he had a equanimity and imperturbability to his demeanor.
I wrote once: “The Harry Potter books brought 14th century Parisien bookseller and alchemist Nicholas Flamel back into the limelight. Legend has it, he's the only one whom ever located the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, or the secret of gold and eternal life:
I agree with your overall critique of the Secret, but I don't think depth should be pursued just for the sake of depth.
Having studied personal coaching, energy healing, and hypnosis, I have found that many deep problems and issues can be solved in a very short period of time - maybe even 10 minutes or less!
Hypnosis can root out a phobia by going to a past event and releasing it (even if the event is in a past life). I had a fear of the dark and in my past life regression course, the teacher regressed me to a past life where I was tortured and that night I was able to sleep without the light on for the first time in a while.
That regression he did took about 30 minutes.
Old emotions are stuck somehow energetically in the physical and/or energy body. If you clear out the residue, the issue will usually go away without your needing to do deep analysis of it.
That said, we all need a stronger tolerance for “what is” and should focus less on “manifesting” as a means to happiness.
amazing discussion. My experience of working with the law of attraction for myself and in support of others (yes, poorly presented in “The Secret”) is that whatever level, it always leads a person to the deeper questions, the deeper understanding, whether through grace or through the way everything falls apart when we use the law without clearing out the old garbage and without the consistent spiritual practice and service necessary. Sometimes I think that most of us are only willing to begin to open our hearts and minds when we are at the lowest points. I think the conversation about it is fabulous. I don’t believe the conversation will end with the Oprah show and I don’t believe that everyone who is inspired by the movie will leave it there either. It is only the beginning of a great conversation and a great turning. I believe that the seed of Love, Life, God is in each one of us (beyond the intellectual massage) and that presence and power is purposeful and becoming more visible if one looks with the eyes of Love. Perhaps this seems naive, new age or whatever. That’s ok with me. After 20 years of practice I feel like such a beginner. Namaste
At the risk of climbing out onto an extremely thin branch with a sharp saw………
I got all the critique, the magical filter, the horrible arguments, everything ….I got that. I've always had a critical mind. Wilber has been great to add a critical mind to eastern knowledge that us here in the west are ignornant about. I got that. Great! I will be the first to say what the bleep sent the lemmings over the cliff again.
But…..without letting go of my rational mind….I have some reservations for the brothers and sisters in arms.
AS KW has pointed out that if you want to know this then do that. We can know satori to be a figment of a crazy person's imagination and therefore we don't even inquiry any further. Because we have faith that the buddha was telling the truth we do practice, we go on retreat, we do the work. But hopefully we have results that bolster our faith. My first argument then is don't knock it unless you actually try it. Pretty lame huh?
My second argument is the PTF. Obviosly there are hucksters out there who know that people want to get rich quick, or find the love of their lives and they use that to their benefit. They exploit one of the earliest levels of development by telling people they can turn celery into candy with a word. Not so. But words do have power…so the question is what kind of power and what are the limitations of the magical worldview. What I'm getting at is I think there is a automatic reflex especially after 'What the bleep?@#$%' to dismiss everything that grossly / vaguely sounds like junk, but like Freud see all transrational events as prerartional garbarge?I'm just playing devils advocate because it's so easy to smell the bullshit….I really got that….
an example of what I'm talking about:
My wife and I were looking for a house to buy, we saved a good amount for a down payment and started looking. Not with a realtor but by looking online. So I would go out and look and see what was available. One night I was coming back from looking at a place and I went past a house two blocks from our present location. There was a moving van and people moving things out into the van. Now my rational mind said all sorts of things. It's already sold, it's not for sale, it's already rented, no dice, not going to happen. Then I heard my wife's voice in my head that said, “stop and ask” essentially stop the crap of rational thinking(the filter) and ask. Which is what the secret asks you to do. ….whatever…so anyway I stopped and asked, “Is the house for sale?” and the young woman said,” Yes, my Father owns it and is thinking about selling it.” So within three day we signed a purchase agreement and we found a house where my wife had been not hoping to find a house, but had set clear limits between these streets and these streets. She had an intention. I was… well, I hope we find something soon, I hope we find something we can afford, I hope, I hope, I hope…..now which of these two sounds more magical…..I intend or I hope? To me hoping sounds a lot more magical that intending…..Intending sort of lights a fire and says ok..now get off yr behind and make it happen, whereas hoping lets you sit back and wait for the candy to rain down from the skies…which never happens. I really hate to take sides…..I'm not behind any of these pre rational bullshit schemes, but by the same token I can't take the side which says all of this is bullshit…I guess there might be a third way, a more integrated way that uses true discrimination. A way that says this part of this is prerational, this is rational, this might be trans-rational….the jury is still out. I think the other point I would like to make is all the spiritual practice in the world won't take care of the relationship, the money, health …..including the shadow….those things have to be developed / dealt with on their own. My wife and I watched the secret last night and I could still be in a state…could be, but I do think I did something different. I said to myself, maybe I don't know it all, could this be seen as an injunction just like zazen? could I use it that way, could I distill the crap and keep the truth sincerely and not just pay it lip service?
I think it's possible for us to do either what Freud did, or conversly what Jung did, but we can do something else, the point of practice is to see clearly and the filter of this line or level of development can cloud what we think we see…..ok I'm rambling….but thank you for trying to follow the gist of a thought forming in the endless perfection.
Now go have a great day!!! (jumping wildly up and down on that damn branch that won't seem to snap)
Wow, you said it much better than I could. Thanks.