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| Photo by Joel Dietle |
More Insight on “The Secret”
By Joslyn Sindelar, 04.25.07
By now most everyone has heard Rhonda Byrnes’ secret. Since the DVD’s release nearly a year ago and the book’s release in November, “The Secret” has continued to accumulate attention and controversy. Byrnes’ message is still being discussed on talk shows, in articles and in the blogosphere, and it seems that people either love it or hate it.
The secret, as it turns out, is nothing new. It is based on the law of attraction, a principle traced back to ancient Hindu tradition. In modern times, the secret was the subject of a 1910 Wallace D. Wattles book titled “The Science of Getting Rich.” According to Byrnes, Wattles’ book was her inspiration to share the secret with the world.
Cleverly packaged in ancient scroll style on high-quality paper, the book exudes the aura of mysticism. The format of both the book and the DVD include interviews and testimonies from over 25 speakers, life coaches and individuals claiming to have benefited from the law of attraction. Marketed in what a recent ABC news article dubbed an “ingenious viral video marketing campaign, using grassroots, word of mouth and the Internet,” it isn’t difficult to understand its great success.
Some of the contributors attest that the law of attraction is more than just fluff and hype though. They claim it is solidly grounded in quantum mechanics.
"Science tells us that everything is energy, and so your thoughts are energy,” said contributor James Arthur Ray, founder of The Science of Success and Harmonic Health and teacher of the book’s principles. “Your body, your cash, your car - everything you think is solid, if you put it under a high-powered microscope, it's just a field of energy and a rate of vibration."
However, psychiatrist Stephen Barrett counters this theory in a comment on WebMD: "The energy involved in physics can be measured in a number of different ways. There is nothing real about what they are talking about. They are talking about imaginary energy. The idea of a secret remedy is a classic quack claim."
In addition, Ray Pierson, biblical correspondent for Back to the Bible Ministries said any notion that assumes the law of attraction has spiritual significance comes only from the metaphysical.
“[It] makes humans feel they are gods who control their own destiny, wealth and health,” Pierson said.
So what should the general public think about “The Secret”? Perhaps there is a third way to approach the book’s message. Dr. Denis Waitley, a productivity consultant and contributor to “The Secret,” said detractors may be misplacing their criticism. Waitley, who has deliberately not profited in any way from the secret, stated that too much emphasis was placed on the concept of visualizing health. While he says there is documented evidence that proves “what the mind harbors the body manifests in some way,” the aid of reputable medical practices is critical for health and longevity.
“To me, the law of attraction is the law of cause and effect,” Waitley said. “Every good seed I have planted has returned me a harvest that I do not realize at the time. Every bad seed I have planted has grown without cultivation and watering into a thorny weed.”
