Do you want to know The Secret?
Do you really want to know?
Can you handle it?
Then I’ll tell you: The Secret is to compile recycled (and often insightful) wisdom from a number of traditions (religion, psychology, philosophy, and physics) and packaging it into a visually beautiful film that people will gladly buy for $30. The Secret, my friends, is marketing.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I jumped onto the bandwagon and we watched “The Secret” last night. I don’t want to be too negative because I do think there are some valuable insights in it, but nothing you can’t get from other sources, like yoga or Buddhism or quantum physics. What I think is absolutely brilliant is how these producers managed to compile and package these ideas (your thoughts create your reality, etc.) into a film that has become a marketing phenomenon. It’s no coincidence that Jack Canfield, creator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series (apparently now a billion-dollar enterprise) is one of the “teachers.” His books rely entirely on compiling and editing other people’s stories, packaging them into a nice feel-good book, and mass-marketing them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. We all love inspirational stories and obviously there is a market for that sort of thing.
The other thing that kind of bugged me about “The Secret” is how every “teacher” had their title and credentials laid out with their name at the bottom of the screen. I was under the impression that it was incorrect to say, “Dr. Yogamum, Ph.d.” Either you are “Dr. Yogamum,” or “Yogamum, Ph.D.” I was also under the impression that if you have say, a B.A. and an M.A., you only list the M.A., thus, “Yogamum, M.A.,” NOT “Yogamum, B.A., M.A.” A bachelor’s degree is not a title! Also, if you get an M.A. or M.S. on the way to the Ph. D., it is not considered a “terminal degree” and thus is not listed. In “The Secret,” however, several of the contributors seem to be double-dipping — “Dr. Michael Beckwith, D.D.,” “Dr. So-and-So, M.A., Ph.D” and someone was “A.B., M.A., Ph.D.” or something like that. It was just such a blatant attempt to legitimize these people and make them appear more scholarly. Hey, we’re smart, listen to us, we have LOTS of letters after our names!
Again, I do think there are some valuable reminders in the film. My kids actually really enjoyed it, especially FreckleBoy who, at age nearly 11, is quite the philosopher. I think the message of positive visualization is important for him and I’m glad he seemed to “get” the ideas in the film. He said that lately, he had started thinking about becoming an Olympic fencing and that as soon as he started envisioning that, his fencing started to improve.
I think everyone probably has a story about how once they changed their attitude to be more positive about something, opportunities and coincidences started to appear. For me, in the past couple of months I decided that I needed to be less rigid about scheduling and keeping appointments. There have been times in my life that I’ve really needed to change an appointment or cancel a commitment, but I haven’t done so because I was afraid of inconveniencing other people, or that I wouldn’t be able to reschedule at a convenient time. Lately, I just decided to let go of that and assume that time is abundant and everything will work out. Well, what do you know? Every single time I’ve needed an appointment on a certain day (haircut, acupuncture, etc.) it has been available. The other day I called for an orthodontic consultation for FreckleBoy, assuming a convenient time would be months away (as has been my experience in the past) and the receptionist said, “How about 4 pm today?” Perfect. So has the universe changed, or simply my perspective? I think these opportunities were always there, but I was not open to them. Ask, and you shall receive.
Well, that is a lot of philosophizing for a Sunday morning and I haven’t even finished my coffee yet! For the moment, I shall sign off:
Yours truly,
Yogamum, A. B., M. A., M. A., C. Phil.*, A. B. D**, C. D. E.***
*Candidate of Philosophy, what you get when you don’t finish your Ph.D. dissertation, hey, it came with a REAL diploma and everything!
** All But Dissertation, a redundant colloquial name for C. Phil.
***Chief Domestic Engineer, my job title for the past 11 years!
February 25, 2007 at 10:58 am
Oh, I’m definitely going to start using all of the letters of my degrees! So what if you’re not supposed to use your bachelor’s degree? So what if your first Masters is not relevant to the job title on your business card? Extra degrees mean I’m smarter and more credible! Nice. It used to mean that I switched careers.
February 25, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I will now go on and be negative since you didn’t want to delve deeply into it:)
The secret my friends is- Bathroom reading!
No, it’s a refrigerator magnet or a bumper-sticker!
It new age feel goodie freak show. I can get what I want(possessions, happiness) just by thinking good thoughts!
The basis of true happiness has nothing to do with either of those things! Welcome to America’s new brand of spirituality!
Welcome All! Make me a million!
Manifest! Manifest.
February 25, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Nice synopsis yogamum!
The secret leaves me with the vague feeling of nauseau and impending vomit. It is spiritual materialism at its best.
Can’t write more now…I’m going to change my bank statment from reading .001 cents to $10,0000, 0000,00000 and hang it over my bed. I will then manifest it for tomorrow morning so I don’t need to go to work.
February 25, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Ah, the secret! Why be a candidate for a phd when you can just boogie on over to the University of Liverpool (or wherever else) and buy one?
Nice summary – chicken philosophy for the soul, eh? And I’m sure years of consistent yoga practice (more so than I can ever dream of, that’s for sure) has more to do with your positivism than a 30 minute video.
That being said, I’m dedicated reader of the daily horoscope in the free Metro paper one can pick up on the Tube on the way into work. It’s nonsense but I still pay a sneaky little bit of attention to the ones that tell me how great I’m going to be today (and ignore the ones tell me to go home and stay in bed).
February 25, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Actually the best quote was in the outtakes, where one guy is going on about how “failure is the best fertilizer and you need lots of ‘Chicken Poop for the Soil.’” Heh. I liked that part a lot.
Yeah, if I’d known I could just buy a Ph.D. I probably would’ve spared myself a lot of angst
February 25, 2007 at 4:13 pm
No, it’s nothing new. The principles ARE eons old and they ARE compiled from various sources that, anyone willing to take the time, could find themselves. And, the people behind it ARE cashing in.
However, if there are those who find it and it really helps them to see life in a more positive and optimistic way – especially if they are at a point in life where they really need that – then that is great. No matter the packaging, no matter the venue, no matter who might be cashing in, no matter how old or new it is… if it helps one person or ten thousand people to have a more fulfilled and productive life, then that, to me, is a wonderful thing.
Positive thinking is positive thinking, no matter where it comes from. And sometimes, people are at such a low point that they can’t see something so clear, so obvious, so practical, unless it is put right in front of their faces in a pretty package or whopped upside their heads.
Different strokes for different folks, as always.
February 25, 2007 at 4:52 pm
this is great
February 25, 2007 at 8:43 pm
That Chicken Soup guy has always made me chuckle. In his books, he has a message, “We NEED your stories. Please send them to us.” Does he spread abundance to them? Do they receive royalties from their stories? I hope so. But I agree with zazazu. Postive thinking, is positive thinking, no matter where it comes from.
February 25, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I agree with that, Zazazu — it’s not a bad thing to make a positive message available to the masses! Like I said, I think “The Secret” is brilliantly packaged and I have no doubt it will inspire people in their lives. If I can give up being the oh-so-cool enlightened yogi for a minute, I’ll admit that it has reaffirmed my focus on positive thinking!
February 25, 2007 at 10:10 pm
You are absolutely right- the marketing for this film is brilliant. I think I heard about it 2 years ago, but I think that was just people talking about it. I did see it and I have to admit that I was truly motivated by it, but I had some religious questions about it and such.
One thing that I did see in it was thae fact that they would talk about how positive you have to be in your everyday thoughts. My husband blows it off and everytime it comes up he laughs and says that he is going to “visualize” himself to be sick every time he hears about it. I did try to get him to sit down and watch it, but after seeing all the teachers talk, he would just comment on how ridiculous this was and I just lost 5.00.
I really think that its all about what you want to see out of this movie versus how open minded you are.
Veronica
February 26, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Wow. I’m really surprized at all the judgement calls and negativity, especially in the comments section. I usually really enjoy reading the posts here but I authentically got a sort of sinking feeling after reading through all this today.
I hope we can all stay focused on nurturing ourselves and one another rather than cutting other people and their beleifs down.
February 26, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I guess that the sinking feeling is because when I sat down to read your blog, I’d just finished doing Yoga and was feeling healthy and expansive vibrations richochete throughout my being. So, when I read the comments for this post, I literally felt my own vibrational levels sinking onto a different level.
What’s kewl though is that after just four days of practicing Yoga, I’ve already begun to feel a new vibrational energy level. I don’t think I would have noticed it without coming here today so, thank you! How exciting….
February 26, 2007 at 4:58 pm
What a great way to look at it, LitBo!
While, as I said, I do think “The Secret” has a valuable, positive message to contribute, I also think it is absolutely appropriate to try to examine a few questions — Who is profiting? How are they creating the impression of authority? Who is their target audience and who is left out? Just good old cultural critique…
February 27, 2007 at 12:49 am
YogaMum— I understand the appropriateness of of questioning authority and who profits (although I saw the Secret for free on YouTube). It wasn’t your post that bothered me so much as some of the comments made afterwards. But, as I said, it allowed me to notice a distinct energy movement from the high of yoga to something heavier. Pretty kewl. Have you ever noticed anything like that in your Yoga practice?
February 27, 2007 at 8:01 am
LitBo — Absolutely! I think I noticed most the first few years I was practicing, when I would come home from a class to the hectic energy of a home with two small kids. I could just feel my energy struggling to stay with that yoga “high” and getting dragged into something else — not that the energy at home was “bad,” just different from what I’d stirred up doing yoga. The good news is as you continue to practice, the yoga energy stays with you longer and longer and the transitions become easier, you’re not affected as much by the negative stuff. In my experience, anyway.
February 27, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Yogamum– Kewl. Thank you for sharing that with me. There’s nothing quite like the kind of vibrations I get from doing Yoga. I knew there would be many benefits from this daily practice, but I suppose a person never really knows how it FEELS until they start.
I’m so happy I’ve found your blog so I can talk to someone about Yoga. no one else I know does it, sadly.
September 12, 2007 at 1:21 pm
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