When I used Secret, I thought it was working, then things crashed to the bottom. The premise is that we attract all the things and people in our life. But let me ask you, what about victims about child abuse? Are they attracting the abuse and trauma? What about a young lady like Jaycee Duggar who was kidnapped, molested and held prisoner for almost 30 years? Did she envision this and attract this? Where is Jaycee Dugard Now? What about people in Sr Lanka? Are they attracting their circumstances? Or is Secret a re-hash of the Bible, i.e. Ask and you shall receive. Maybe people just need to pray and based on their past karma and current actions, they will get their happiness. Me, I am trying to talk to God about my problems. Sometimes I am so sad and anxious I forget that God exists. Perhaps that is why Hinduism has all these prayers. But eventually they ring hollow and lose their meaning - if you say these words without feeling. Please comment.
The Secret (Byrne book) - Wikipedia The Secret is a 2006 self-help book by Rhonda Byrne, based on the earlier film of the same name. It is based on the belief of the pseudo-scientific law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a person's life directly. The book alleges energy as assurance of its effectiveness. The book has sold 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 50 languages.
hope you can open the link. Perhaps try different browser on two occasions I tried the Secret At first everything was rosy. Then on both occasions I was made to believe that I am not good enough for a certain type of man. And on those occasions that man was a low-life, worse than an animal. Perhaps there is some relevancy to the secret, but do kidnap victims, crime victims keep imagining what will happen to them?
That answers your question, doesn't it? 'The Secret' claims that everything bad -- death, disease, trauma -- is manifested by incorrect thinking. The book literally says that victims of natural disasters, wars and genocide had thoughts that “matched the frequency of the event, and that their thoughts led to them being in the wrong place at the wrong time”. Let that sink in. An abused child, a rape victim, attracted their fates because they simply didn't think thoughts at the correct frequencies. Bob Proctor, one of the Gurus of 'The Secret', said that children in Darfur had attracted starvation to themselves. That should tell you everything you need to know about the proponents of this con. These are charlatans who never had to face a single day of genuine struggle in their privileged lives. For them starving children in Darfur and holocaust victims 'brought it upon themselves.' To suggest that a person with terminal cancer attracted it by not thinking the right thoughts is beyond disgusting. It is a vile form of victim blaming. The only kernel of truth in this garbage is that there are benefits to cultivating an optimistic mindset. Our thoughts affect our disposition. A positive outlook makes it easier to take constructive action to change our lives. That is no secret. Most religions and schools of philosophy have teachings along those lines. Have you heard of the Bhakti Saint Kabir Das? He was famous for his couplets that contained deep philosophical truths written in simple rustic language. One of his dohe (couplet) says, Man Ke Haare Haar Hai Man Ke Jeete Jeet Kahe Kabeer Hari Paiye Man Hee Kee Parateet Victory and defeat are states of mind. When the mind accepts defeat, all is lost. When the mind refuses to give up, victory is certain. To attain God you have to start by believing you can. This was hundreds of years before Rhonda Bryne btw, without any of the quantum mechanics bull-crap. I am a realist who understands the value of healthy optimism. I believe that our thoughts have the ability to affect the quality of our lives. I am all for setting positive intentions, but to think that the Universe will park a Lamborghini in my driveway because I really really want one is nonsensical. Wishing without working for it is simply magical thinking.
A vile form of victim blaming —— this is so correct. I was wondering why the people in the video aren’t rich and famous if they can manifest anything. Or why they weren’t young and virile (the men look old and worn out) I never heard of Bhakti Saint Kabir Das …But I like his quote you posted. When I am feeling unpleasant I try to remember to talk to God, just talk it all out. Perhaps that honest talking will help lift one our of their mental rut and find victory.
Dear Gauri, @Gauri03 Thank you for this passionate response. I agree with every word you have said. I have been meaning to respond and after reading you, I do feel - you better, than me. You have expressed just right! I am sure this will help many. That said, I will go ahead and ramble anyways Dear @SuiDhaaga , please read and re-read what Gauri has posted below. I feel the same way about all the positive affirmations that keep making rounds creating an impression that everything will be positive, should be positive and hunky-dory all the time. A lot of things happen in life that we never anticipate - I am only talking at personal level. When our personal lives can be so chaotic imagine the universal level! We cannot have a cocoon of idealism around us and live in it. I often feel we are not teaching our children how to deal with pain and yet develop a sense of optimism, how to take things in stride and how to make life better for self and others around us. It is important to learn to sit quiet (not literally) with our situations. One way is by being an observer, seek help from universe/god/friends but the truth is the only person who can help us is us. Unless I decide to choose, neither can I change nor the situation around me. When you change, the situation will have lesser impact on you - it wouldn't have changed but you see it differently. I do not know about manifesting material things but I can tell you that when you teach your mind to learn to come to a certain state, after going through the agitation (going through things in cycles will continue to happen), you will learn to manifest, and that will be 'just a greater sense of calm' and the world will look better and beautiful. I have read some stories of this manifesting, it may be true, may happen but the truth is that kind of material manifestation happens when the person is highly evolved and ironically does not need any of those material stuff. Eastern philosophical way of looking at all this is way different than this book. In yoga philosophy, we are taught of this concept as attaining siddhis and comes with an immediate warning that if you succumb to that, you will have a spiritual downfall and getting back up gets harder - we are taught to learn to ignore that and move beyond. And oh BTW we are also told we reach this level only after many, may, many, MANY births! The only true thing we can manifest is our own happiness so that we can bring that to the people in our lives and make their lives better, for a few moments! That's all! That is the positive outlook that will help us make constructive changes like Gauri has said. And that is the absolute truth. You don't have to read Kabir because Gauri mentioned, or yoga sutras because I mentioned or something else because you read about it somewhere else. I think it is important for you to find your own little mechanism and gain strength from it. Why just you, it is important for all of us. For example, just sitting in front of a photo of a god everyday preferably at the same time - no meditation, no asking, no prayer, nothing. Just breathing and watching it or going to a temple to do the same or taking a walk with the same purpose. You have to learn to focus on the 'little moments' of optimism and positivity you feel and hang on to those moments (not think about them) - then you learn to manifest more of those moments and it will feel better. Those moments are to be felt, not dissected. Thoughts and intentions are powerful and do affect the quality of our lives but sitting on the same thoughts positive or negative will not help us - it is all about 'moving on' yet just 'being'! Sayings like "What you seek is seeking you", "Universe knows only to say yes", or the idea of 'thathasthu devathas' are all mechanisms that are given to us so that we learn to put a stop to our negative thinking, learn to accept, move on and say "The best is yet to come" - just to find that sense of optimism not to induce fear and an overly sense of well being.
thank you for this powerful and insightful response I am re-reading what @Gauri03 said. the 3rd time I felt the need to follow the secret, it felt fake. I simply asked Gid to help me use the Secret because it felt unnatural to me. And 20 minutes later a very bad and unpleasant situation happened. Perhaps it was coincidence But now you expressed that we must understand that in life bad things happens, it is not always rainbows and unicorns . However we must rise above this and have hope that with faith and hard work, things will get better. please clarify one thing. You mentioned that after many reincarnations people attain siddhis. What are suddhis? And what does it mean to succumb to siddhis only to have a spiritual downfall that makes it harder to come up again? Twice when I thought I manifested good things from the Secret and everything in life was hunky dory I was humble. I don’t believe I was arrogant in any way. please clarify now I just turn to God. I resist asking God to help me, instead I say, either help me or show me how to help myself.