DVD: The Secret

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My mom is super, super into The Secret. What she seems to get out of it, is the same basic sprituality that I have always had, taught to me by my Baptist dad. The problem is though that she is just sold on this book as having all of the answers and needing to be followed in some exact formula. She calls me, giving me instructions on how I need to pray, like exactly what I need to pray for, and that I need to be praying in the present tense and focussing on X or Y. It really bothers me that she is kind of intruding so deeply into a sacred space.

She really pushed me to read the book and watch the DVD. I haven’t done it, because it isn’t Catholic and it isn’t Christian. She gets upset when she comes to my house and sees they are still in the plastic shrink wrap. I keep trying to hide them in a different cupboard, drawer, or shelf, but after every time she leaves, there they are sitting out on my dining room table. I know that she is hurt that I won’t spend the time to do this. However, a couple of years ago I bought her a rosary and bought her a book on praying the rosary. I left it at that. I didn’t pressure her.

You know, when I want to pick up a religious or spiritual book and stand there at the book shelves at Borders or Barnes & Noble, I always skim past all of the popular titles on the shelves and look for something that is at least a couple hundred years old and written by a saint.
 
benjoy07 said:
Hello. I don’t think this is my first post, but it might be. I am a lifelong Catholic and a newly appointed Lector. My faith and understanding has definitely grown with age. And I’m glad it has. But the main reason for this post is to ask for (name removed by moderator)ut or expertise. I have recently watched a DVD called, The Secret. Has anyone else? It seems to be more motivational in purpose, but does, in-a-way, challenge the Catholic faith and religion in general. I’ll write as if my audience has seen the movie/DVD: in the movie, it states that all things came from energy, and that all things come from energy, and that energy always existed and was never created. Does that challenge our faith? Or can it be argued that God is energy? Or God created energy? Basically, they say anything is possible, if one simply thinks it and believes—or has faith—it will come to pass. I try to see that this move/theory goes hand in hand with our faith. Can anyone speak on this? (I apologize if my post is incoherent. But I’d be glad to clarify if need be.)
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Below is a letter I had to write before The Secret was pulled from a training program at my employer.
Code: 
 "...The “power of positive thinking” has been around for a long time.  I recall reading a writer named Norman Vincent Peale when I was a kid, and I remember his message centered on the importance of attitude being the lenses through which we see our life—and also through which we are seen by those around us.  Although he wasn’t a particularly engaging writer to me, I never disagreed that attitude plays an important in both our personal and public lives.

 If you don’t mind, I’d like to express some concerns regarding the message of The Secret.  I think the problem with the message is that it goes quite a bit further than positive thinking alone.  It says that we can tap into the powers of the universe and attract good things to us.  Just from a very cursory examination of this premise, there are two problems to be considered in regards to the materials covered yesterday.

 First, the premise itself doesn’t hold up to critical thinking of its claims, and some misleading examples are used to support The Secret’s message.  A popular writer named Jimmy Akins wrote the following earlier this year in a publication called Our Sunday Visitor.
Even more problematic is Byrne’s insistence that individuals bear the blame for all the suffering that comes into their life. Pointing to the problem of unemployment, McCallion said, “The fact that the entire social system shifted and cost you your job has absolutely nothing to do with your thoughts. Leading people to think it does is irresponsible and dangerous.” McCallion also stressed that Byrne’s ideas reinforce a false idea of happiness based on material possessions and classified “The Secret” as "sociologically naive. It puts so much stress on the individual, on the self. It denies the fact that people affect you."

In a nutshell, I’d suggest that The Secret offers a religion of sorts based on simple materialism, and indirectly condemns those who suffer hardships—whether economic or physical. The fact that it uses Mother Teresa as a supposed proponent based on a simple quote taken out of context would be humorous, except that no one was joking. Few people could be stronger examples of spiritual asceticism in the pursuit of the daily care for the poorest of the poor and the desperately sick than Mother Teresa. Quite the opposite to The Secret, Mother Teresa demonstrated a “death of self” in her selfless care of others. She would have never supported this message, because it is placing self as the highest importance—instead of the least—and it turns us against the community as we live with concern only to our material needs, ignoring the suffering around us.
Code: 
 Now, I recognize and respect the differences and diversity in values and spirituality that we all hold dear, but I would respectfully suggest to the training staff that the New Age thought reflected in The Secret is neither new nor a secret.  The fact remains, though, that the class represented a religious lesson (even if it is a “religion” that purports to abandon all religions).  This makes it, in my opinion, inappropriate as course material within a state agency.  A religious perspective was taught, and the conveyed message was one that opposed my own religious beliefs and made me uncomfortable in my choice to attend."
“This Rock” editors a while ago were considering an article on “The Secret,” but I don’t know what ever became of that.
 
Writer said:
Below is a letter I had to write before The Secret was pulled from a training program at my employer.
Click to expand...
Wow, thats really a great way to put it. Good work.

I have seen the Secret quite a few times. Actually, it is part of our office culture.

Its nothing new. Dr. Wayne Dyer and Dr. Depok Chopra have been teaching this for many years. Although the Secret is wildly popular, when you get to know the bottom line, they consider Jesus " a great profit. " Michael Beckworth said so on Opera along with many other departures from our Catholic Teachings.
 
I have seen “The Secret” also but I didn’t see it as anti-Christ. My faith is still intact. It just taught me to be more positive and motivated me to success. It depends on the person actually on how he sees the movie. Sad thing though is that some people use it to influence other people to believe and follow them.
 
I was at work one day and this woman was telling another woman that The Secret is awesome! All ya have to do is put out positive energy and you get it back. The other lady said, "no kidding, you need a book for that? I could do that now wihout reading that book, but I sometimes I just dont want to be positive. And even if I’m negative I still get what I want. 😃
 
The whole thing about The Secret is that it was channelled by a spriit called Abraham. Is this the Abraham we know/ I think not.

This is all coming from the dark side. You get caught up with this and you’re dealing with a spiritual world that you just may not be able to handle.

My brother has found himself with a lot of money…a lot! He has the book the Secret standing as a icon or something or as a protection for the ‘positive energy’ to be attracted to their household. There is nothign positive about it. They are using the psychological mode of being positive in life…And it is working!

Ask me if I am happy!:mad:
 
Yeah, they are using the psychological mode and I agree it could work. The thing though is that some people would like to worship the book as if it is their only way. The book actually teaches us to be positive and stuff but it doesn’t mean it is the only WAY. Those people has so little faith in God that they were tempted that easily. When I read the book, it never came into my mind that this is the one and only way to success. For me, God is my guide to wherever I go and that being positive helps me work with Him better to achieve my goals.
 
There a lot of scientific, theological and philosophical misleads in it that it becomes a dangerous way of coping with life’s challenges, let alone pursuing wealth.
Half truths combined with other half truths don’t add up to any truth at all. All it does is mislead people (gullible ones) and entertain others (who know better).
 
Hi All! I’m brand new and just wanted to comment on The Secret. I probably shouldn’t because I have not read the book or seen the movie however, I am familiar. But I believe this book can be dangerous if not fully inderstood. I understand what the fuss is about and I’m sure people want to know if it’s true, if it’s moral to tap into this “energy”, if it comes from God or if it may even come from an evil source.

First, let’s look at the title, it’s “The Secret” and this secret supposedly has been hidden from the masses by secret society’s so these select few individuals could attain personal power, wealth etc. while the rest of the world worked for them. Ladies and gentlemen this is not a good start! While I do believe God selects certain poeple to reveal information to i.e. prophets (not profits), I also believe that they are to share the knowledge gained for the good of all. Look at the “Marian” visionaries, the don’t keep secrets do they, and the messages are not that positive sometimes.

Next, whenever a book talks about energy and abundance, I always cringe. Tell that to all the starving children in the world and all those affected by war etc.
Any “Law of Attraction” I believe, is in essence a prayer that is being answered by God. Regardless of your religious views, God made us all and if He put something in your heart or on your mind or you are using your free will and want something, then He can make it happen. The Secret is God and He is POWERFUL!!!

Now, on the subject of positive thinking, this is nothing new, God wants us to be happy even in our suffering, where we find tremendous growth and maturing…hopefully as we are further prepared to meet Him. Noone escapes suffering, at least not the ones He loves. If a book doesn’t address suffering or says there doesn’t need to be any suffering and it is brought on by attracting it, watch out.

My impression is that the book is New Age, oversimplistic, and cowers by calling God “energy”. Stand up for your faith and call it like you see it! This book is dangerous because it tells half trues which is what our enemy wants us to believe, that we can have anything we want if we ask, look at what satan promised Jesus in the desert. That’s why it’s called “the Temptation of Christ”. This book has the ablilty to tempt us into belivieving that. Just read with your faith and I think the holes will be filled!

God Bless you all and say a quick prayer for me if you would.
 
I agree. I’ve read a little bit about it, and it seems to stem from Gnosticism (if I remember correctly). I have friends who are keen on this, and have tried to convince us of its rightness, but to me, their arguments sound incredibly selfish an very illogical.

One of these friends used an example for us of how she would use the power of thought to change the traffic lights to green for her. She said for ages she couldn’t understand why they kept going red as she approached. Eventually she figured out that she was saying “don’t go red!”, and she should have been saying “stay green!”. My husband and I joke about what would happen if two secret disciples were coming in alternate directions.

What I believe is that it takes the focus away from God and puts trust in the power of self. And no good can come of that.
 
I’ve seen the DVD and read the book (which many posters on this thread admittedly have not) and I’ve seen and heard all the hype about the “philosophy” behind The Secret. I agree that it is a poorly-written and clumsy presentation of a pseudo-scientific premise and that most of its success has been based on media response and marketing.

However…

All it is is a restatement of some very old (not New Age) principles that, like it or not and believe it or not, can work for you by focusing your own energy toward a problem, a desire, a situation.

If you can ignore all the flamboyant drama and discard the patently false claims of “I got rich, rich, rich over a weekend,” there are some basic truths about human ability and our power to achieve whatever we want to achieve.

If you listen and read carefully – the proponents of these methods don’t promise any kind of magic results. They stress that what makes this work is focusing and investing your own time, attention, money to achieve what you hope. There’s nothing evil in that – there’s nothing subversive or “wrong.” It’s what we all do, if you think about it, whether we are aware we do it or not.

For example, If you really, really want to go on a particular vacation (even a lavish one)-- you can decide to do it, focus on the idea, then plan, budget, coordinate schedules, pray about it, etc., and sooner or later end up on that vacation, even though it once seemed unlikely. The same thing can occur with almost anything in life – it requires those same elements, which is all The Secret is saying.

The WAY they explain these principles is way over the top and done for dramatic purposes – some elements are plain stupid, religiously offensive and geared to the gullible, but the premise is nothing more than positive thinking, which is a proven tool for success in many areas.

You might also notice – the writers, producers and marketers of The Secret have made their fortunes (manifested their desires) using the very principles they speak about.

I very honestly can’t think of one important thing in my own life that I’ve wanted and NOT achieved, simply by using these methods – and I’m a whole lot older than The Secret DVD.
 
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