Why “The Secret” Is Mistrusted

Given my current status, there is a lot to swallow in terms of trying to understand what best defines the Law of Attraction. During the past several days, I’ve been on a real Law of Attraction kick, and while I have been experimenting with it, perhaps some of the best results it has seemingly gotten me are the little things. For instance, my cell phone would not connect a call, so I simply visualized the cell phone connected a call, and voila – it would finally dial. The Law of Attraction, for those who may just be joining the idea, is a concept that says that your thoughts create your entire reality, and that whatever you think about is essentially attracted to you.

It is an interesting idea, and the movie The Secret tends to try and make it out to be something that has always been known as being a piece of knowledge that all of the world’s great leaders have known about for ages. For me, this is definitely not something I think I may buy into. A lot of the world’s great leaders were often just as lost as any one of us. Many of Einstein’s quotes are quoting a very small portion of his life, and however brilliant the man may have been – he was also a dyslexic, a high school drop out, a guy who was unstable with the women he was with, and even saw himself as a person who was not nearly as valuable as society later has made him out to be under a common perception. Henry Ford, who is known for the creation of the Ford automobile, and the invention of the assembly line – did not have a whole lot of confidence throughout the terms of his existence either. It is interesting to also note that with what the general message of Law of Attraction seems to be is that other people do factor into the equation. Leaders supposedly knew this idea, this idea of the Law of Attraction, without of course, knowing that it was named the Law of Attraction.

Many people over at IMDB.com, or Internet Movie Database, in discussion of The Secret, knock it down claiming that the Law of Attraction sounds like some sort of “cult” following marketing scheme, or a strange bizarre religious initiation to get people to convert to this ‘religion.’ Well, the Law of Attraction, in how it is taught and preached, does have some things that are wrong with it. For one thing, the marketing on it is just all wrong, but then again – the public does let the marketers get away with marketing it this way. Again, to use The Secret as an example, it uses one of the most common marketing gimmicks known to man. Act like you have a critical piece of knowledge that the customer doesn’t, and of course people are going to want to know! They even went so far with the marketing of this as to call it: THE SECRET! Really, can we be a little more open about this whole thing?

And that is really the big concern about the film’s intentions. Do the marketers who are marketing the film want to make money, or do they want to spread this “wonderful knowledge” about positive thinking, the like-attract-like mentality, and so on? The answer, I think, is both! A problem with that part of it, too, though is – if they want to do both, why bother making money at all that way when the Law of Attraction can supposedly make them money some other way? Why give people the shaft? The answer to that, is that they probably figure if people can shell out the bucks for the DVD, then they can probably learn to use the Law themselves and then attract all the money they need. Why not sell it when it seems like the simple solution? At least, that is how I would interpret it if I were examining it from their shoes. Another problem is that sometimes the Law of Attraction is bottled up in blatant “infomercial marketing.”

Perhaps the biggest problem of all in how this film presents its information, is in its emphasis of intention without quite so much emphasis on the journey to manifestation itself. To some, the idea that you can be a couch potato who watches movies all day and focuses on his intentions is really all it takes. Sometimes yes, most of the time – probably not. For many, the journey to success involves an active process with their involvement in the aspect of inspired action. Inspired action, and creative observation, are two of the most critical elements in understanding the Law of Attraction. In order to succeed, you must take ACTION! Sometimes it may not even matter initially what the action is, so long as you’re taking it, and overtime your intention will lead you to find the path that will get you to the level of success you desire.

Overall, this film is well done, however, and it has very important lessons to many that are highly valuable to all. The things that, to my own baffling, people do not like about the film, are some of the very best things about it. This film does a wonderful job of explaining the entire intention-manifestation principle overall, and the quality of the product is something that the personal development community has been wanting to see for a long time. We have all had a desire to see feature length movies be made about some of these ridiculously powerful ideas. In addition, The Secret provides a positive platform for the Law of Attraction to be taught, with some of the most talented and experienced self development gurus alive today, as well as some generally successful people.