Sunday, September 28, 2008

Rhonda Byrne's “The Secret” : Book Review

Recently I’ve come to know about a book called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. A friend of mine gave me the book and asked my opinion about it. This book topped the charts and soon became the bestseller. A Hollywood movie is also being made based on this book.

The book tells about the power of thoughts. It says that the universe works on the basis of certain laws like gravity etc. One of such laws is the law of attraction i.e. “like attracts like” in the field of thoughts. If one has the positive mind frame and keeps thinking about what one wants, he/she will get it for sure. If one wants to be rich, one should think of money in affirmative way all the time. The book says that negative words or thoughts shouldn’t be used as whoever applying this law doesn’t accept negative thoughts. If you’d say I don’t want to get poor, it would be interpreted as I want to get poor and the universal law of attraction will make you poor.

This is one of the most absurd books I have ever read in my life. Leave the content aside, it isn’t even original. There are several books written on this so called “law of attraction” before. And some of these books became quite famous too, like Napoleon Hills bestselling “Think & Grow Rich”. Both of these books are same, similar level of absurdity has been displayed in both.

A mediocre mind always craves that its desires come true. And cunning people encash their mediocrity. First of all, this is one of the biggest fallacies that thinking can get you anything. Sit and keep thinking about an ice-cream all the day, but you won’t get one. No law whatsoever, including this foolish law of attractiion, can get you even an ice-cream. But to deceive others, cunning people device imaginary laws like this and fools fall in trap. The author says that thoughts, as explained in the book, can solve all the problems one has. But the reality is – thoughts cannot solve any problem. Thoughts themselves are the cause of problem or to put it more clearly, thoughts are the only problem. No matter you think positive thoughts or negative thoughts; you dissipate your energy that can be used in doing something creative. One cannot be creative if one imagines something before doing as imagination is outcome of thoughts, of past and hence it cannot be new i.e. creative.

The best things in the world are unknown. The real secrets are unknown. You’ve never came in contact with those secrets ever before. So you cannot think of them because only that thing can be imagined which you already know. Therefore, to discover the immensity and the beauty of life, you must surpass the realm of thoughts, you must go beyond it. Be intelligent, leave mediocrity and take a leap into unknown.

3 comments:

The Ui Guy said...

Although I couldn't agree more with your skepticism, I do think that this rather negative world could use some positive uplifting, and you have to remember that this is geared towards the average joe.


So you ask yourself, could a little happiness be bad for the world? Thats all this is... just a little tiny slice of happiness when all we get from being born is suffering and loss and pain. Is that too much to ask?


My answer to that is yes, for some people. Yes, its dangerous... because "the secret" only asks you to continue being the greedy, consuming product-whores we already are in the western world. It is asking us to continually dream of objects and accumulations which do not enrich us one bit. Note how often they cite the need to wish for money of all things - as if we don't already do this!


My real, core issue with The secret is that it does not teach anyone the laws of karma - that we must take personal responsibility for our actions - and that wealth and treasures can be obtained without poisoning the environment or burning bridges to those that helped us.


The ends do not justify the means if you caused more karmic damage that you believe you are achieving. For the average joe, it would be better if "the secret" told us that yes, the law of attraction matches your positive energy with "things" but at a price. Nothing is free - and the wealth comes not from the genie, but your own energy, brought on by the inner workings of your own body and spirit.

John Curtis said...

Amen, think about it. First of all, IF the law of attraction were true then cancer researchers would have higher rates of cancer since all they thinking about is cancer. Tellers in banks would be millionaires cause all day long they think about money. Gravity happens all the time to everything... it is a LAW.

The law of attraction, instead, is the latest and by far the highest profile example of the trend of self-help gurus making a living by offering their philosophies, concepts and strategies to help us, our marriages and our families.

However, by deferring to authorities may diminish our own critical thinking skills to grow and evolve on our own. In addition we run the risk of given up the freedom to build healthy lives, marriages and families based on our unique history and life experience. If we are not careful, we may overlook the value of our own life experiences along with the advice of friends, family and especially the elders among us.

Instead of looking outside ourselves for answers, one alternative may be a return to our (common) senses! Begin, to reclaim your natural ability to think for yourself. The common sense that was once readily available to all of us is still there free of charge and waiting to be applied to just about any challenge we might face in life… all you have to do is use it.

Tantra for Beginners said...

You are both right and wrong. Thoughts do matter and do create reality -- but only when followed by actions. For example the thought to enjoy ice cream occurs first, and if then followed with the action of either buying or making ice cream--actually result in real ice cream to eat.

On the negative side, confusing mere thoughts with reality is indeed an energy drain.