The Secret “A triumph of marketing and magic”

on Monday, 01 September 2008. Posted in New Age

A woman with long black hair looks through the window of a jeweler's store, she desires to have the gold necklace that she sees there. She fixes her gaze on the subject of her desire, then something happens in the atmosphere and suddenly the necklace appears around her neck, as if by magic.

The scenes in "The Secret", a movie that is 90 minutes long, teaches the power of positive thinking and has sold more than 2 million copies. More than 5.2 million copies of the book have been printed. "The Secret" has led several medical professionals to say that it may lead to confusion and could be dangerous for those who suffer from diseases or serious mental disorders. "It's a triumph of marketing and magic," says John Norcross, a psychologist and professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. He conducts research in self-help books. "The Secret" has won my antipathy for its incredible and improbable assertions. I think that they go beyond the excessive promises that we find regularly in self-help books." he said. "The Secret" is the work of Rhonda Byrne, an Australian television and stage writer, whose central argument is that the "law of attraction" governs the universe. There is nothing like a secret and Rhonda knew that when she re-packaged the book by Wallace Wattle and called it "The Secret".

She told The Associated Press that she had personal and professional problems for many years, and then someone gave her a book that was nearly 100 years old entitled "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattle. In this book readers are guaranteed to become millionaires if they follow "certain laws which govern the process to get rich."

Inspired to broaden her search, she decided to create a movie to let the world know what she had learned about the "law of the attraction." The film is a series of interviews and drama featuring commentators who have titles like Quantum Physics, philosopher and visionary. Her breakthrough film has mysterious pictures; hidden, yellow music rolls that present a mystique which reminds us of the other advertising hit, "The Da Vinci Code."

However, the fear is that "The Secret" is giving a dysfunctional and unrealistic attitude to many people and it should seriously be looked at; it has the potential to cause problems for many Catholics.

Psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser said that after reading "The Secret" many of her patients feared that it was their fault if they were abused or laid off from work. Others appeared to be hoping that everything would change in their lives overnight. Several others expressed that they do not longer need their free will, that they do not have to choose.

What does "The Secret" tell us?

The book tells us that: "The Secret" gives you all you want: happiness, health and wealth." But what is the focus of "The Secret"? A deeper look reveals answers that are not new or secret. In essence, it emphasizes the "law of the attraction" that the author says is supported by geniuses such as Buddha, Plato, Jesus, Beethoven, Einstein and many other "great masters of the past" (p. 14) "like many religions including Buddhism, Islam and Christianity" (p. 4).

"You are God in a physical body. You are an Incarnate Spirit. You are speaking as eternal life. You are a cosmic being. You are omnipotent. You are omniscient. You are pure intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator and you are creating your creation on this planet.

"All the traditions have said you've been created in the image and likeness of the creative source. That means that you have the potential of a god and have the power to create the world. Maybe you created wonderful things, and perhaps not. What I would like you to ask yourself is: Are the results you have received in your life what you really wanted? Are they worthy of you? If they are not, then would not now be the best time to change them? Because you have the power to do so!

"You can have, do or be anything you want. No matter what the scope of your desire is. "The Secret" was only for a few. We are all guided by the same laws. The great masters of all time have taught that the law of attraction is the most powerful law of the universe. This law has existed since the dawn of time. People who have accumulated wealth have used "The Secret" consciously or unconsciously. Thoughts are magnetic and have a frequency.

"You're the most powerful transmission tower of the universe. The law of attraction is the law of the creation. It never fails. Some great thinkers of the past related the law of attraction to the law of love.

"Everything is energy. You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit Incarnated. You are a cosmic being. You are omniscient. Knowing this, don't you think it is a good idea to use these two powerful words; I AM. Your mission is the mission that you yourself create. "The Secret" is inside you. You are the heir to the kingdom!" – (These are quotes from "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne).

These phrases from "The Secret" reflect the living portrait of millions of people who no longer read the Scriptures and Catholic doctrine, but who instead seek to fill the void with the emptiness of a New Age philosophy called "The Secret".

In addition to the notion that human beings create their own reality, "The Secret" presents ideas of a monistic pantheism (everything is one, everything is divine). "The Secret" states that everything is one and everything is energy. Bertley gives us a typical pantheistic conclusion: "You are god in a physical body... You are a cosmic being and creator..." (p. 164; see also 155, 156, 159, 160 and 162.)

"The Secret" denies the entire Christian doctrine implicitly and explicitly. Its content is not religion, but carries a menu of false ecumenism. It misuses the words "law of attraction," which are placed in all its teachings and affirmations.

In like manner it uses previous concepts and others in line with a new paradigm, a new way of perceiving reality. Byrne and her "amazing teachers" who are the "stars" in her book, takes and adapts an innumerable amount of keyword phrases from them and from testimonials from real life, in this way indicating their eclecticism.

Another feature of "The Secret" is its syncretism and multiform character that is demonstrated in several of its chapters: The Secret Revealed, The Secret Simplified, The Secret and Money, The Secret Relations, The Secret and Health, The Secret World, The Secret and You, and The Secret Life with all its Processes, which makes the task of making a serious critic of all its parts difficult. Furthermore "The Secret" presents aspects which in themselves are not negative but attractive and positive.

As we have seen in the above paragraphs, "The Secret" is one of the latest world best-sellers and we could say, another virus that seeks to infect the spiritual life of the baptized, conducting them to a possibility of eternal damnation. "The Secret" clearly discloses the incompatibility of the philosophy of "New Age" with Catholic Dogma, and reveals the materialistic character of today's world.

"The Secret" denies the personal God and gives vision to the egocentric "I Am". It promotes a living "Light" filled with a vain joy and triumph. It is a copy of the Luciferian initiation of the Iluminati.

Thus "The Secret" is presented this way as a new challenge to Christians in the Third Millennium, it uses for the third time the seal of heresy that Lucifer used during his two minutes of universal rebellion and pride: with his falling from heaven and with the fall of Adam and Eve (original sin) telling us again: you will be like God!

Lets us remember that our Lord Jesus Christ never said that we are beings of divine energy, capable of dominating man and nature, but taught that we are all sinners in need of redemption. Far from promising a perfect life, Jesus said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mt 16:24-34; Luke 8; Mk 9:23. Jesus never taught hidden truths. Jesus Himself said: "I have spoken openly to the world, I always taught in the synagogue and the Temple, where all the Jews meet and I have never spoken anything in secret."

In the Gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 16, Jesus said: "What does it serve you to win the whole world if you lose your soul in the process?" "The Secret" causes us to believe that we must acquire health, property, pleasures and money to be happy according to the "law of attraction" and to basically get everything we want. But Christ teaches us that life is not about winning the world. Our eternal destiny is at stake.

"The Secret" is a production of pernicious marketing and the occult. The real secret is not a secret, it is God himself who became incarnate in Holy Mary, Who died for our sins and was resurrected in glory. And God, the "Great Secret" has revealed himself in Jesus Christ where all the Treasure of Wisdom and Knowledge is hidden (Ch. Colossians 2:3). And Jesus Christ in our day remains an unknown secret for many people who do not wish to know Him or His Church.

By Carlos Reyes

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