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JWRed
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07 Aug 2008, 7:57 pm

Seeing how everyone on this board can use some self help, I posted this in the main forum.

I heard from one person that it is helpful to read.



anbuend
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07 Aug 2008, 9:33 pm

Heard from someone who's studying it as part of a larger look at various culture.s... that basically it's one of those things that encourages privileged people to imagine that various things they get because f that privilege, are actually things they get for having sufficient virtue. Meanwhile, people who are not as lucky, are encouraged to believe that if they thought differently, then they would get all the advantages of the more privileged people.

The person I know who's writing about this, said it's actually probably very heavily influenced by the caste system in India, and the things parts of their religion came up with to justify it. (Similar things have happened worldwide with all religions having at least some branch of them that comes up with upside-down set of values that upholds the status quo..)


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07 Aug 2008, 10:02 pm

The Secret is a load of bollocks, ->---------->-------->-------> 8O negative thoughts at who ever brings this load of garbage up again!

JWRed wrote:
Seeing how everyone on this board can use some self help, I posted this in the main forum.

I heard from one person that it is helpful to read.

This is not self help it is a scam, it was made by scam artists, to scam people out of their money. It won't cure autism, acne, or an itchy bum, because it is a scam, it is for people stupid enough to believe anything, including projecting positive thoughts will bring you unlimited wealth. Avarice and greed are not positive thoughts.
This belongs on the PP&R board, since the secret is more of a cultist load of crap.



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08 Aug 2008, 4:30 am

I've seen the movie. It's about positive thoughts and expectations. Another one (Part II) is apparently coming out teaching you how to ACT to make the universe respond to your desires.

On the one hand I think its just a break down of "be positive and work hard", no real Secret there, but I think it can be dangerous if a malignant narcissist graps hold of this "manifesting" tool...


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drobert
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08 Aug 2008, 5:17 am

But I read the original version when I was a kid: "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale. Or "Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion " by Émile Coué...

It's a REALLY old idea, and no "Secret" at all. It's also BS.



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08 Aug 2008, 5:25 am

I have that book called The Secret; its happy and positive; an enabling kind of book - whether people can make it work or not is the question in my own head.



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08 Aug 2008, 6:08 am

I think there was a thread about it some time ago here, I think I started it when I mentioned how The Secret had become my friend's obsession and how weird she was acting due to it.


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08 Aug 2008, 12:16 pm

Premium blend, high-quality refined BS. That's 'The Secret' for me.

http://eng.ohmynews.com/articleview/art ... 2&rel_no=1



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08 Aug 2008, 1:09 pm

Sounds like The Power of Now and various other New Age BS. Some people must be really desperate to need such nonsense to feel good about themselves.

Thoughts alone cannot change anything, they need to cause actions so any change can occur. Encouraging people to subserviently "wait" for something good to happen is irresponsible and potentially harmful to large groups of people whether aspies, the disabled, the mentally ill or the terminally ill.

I haven't read the book in question but it sounds like BS.



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08 Aug 2008, 1:36 pm

The ebonmuse has reviewed it: http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/04/the-secret.html

Quote:
A related and obvious issue which The Secret never even touches on is this: what happens if two people desire contradictory things? What if one person wills a particular political candidate to be elected, for example, while another wills their opponent to be elected? What if one person wills there to be war and another wills peace? What if one person tries to use the "law of attraction" to get to work quickly and with no traffic, while another person using the same road tells themself, "I hope I don't get stuck in a traffic jam" and thereby unknowingly attracts that very thing?


This is the best part of it, IMHO.


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mysterious_misfit
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08 Aug 2008, 1:46 pm

Like anything, it is neither wholly good or wholly bad. Yes, it is BS to believe that if you want something bad enough and think about it hard enough, that thing will just appear on your doorstep. But The Secret also encourages you to have a positive attitude, and I know a lot of people who could use an attitude adjustment.



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08 Aug 2008, 2:12 pm

I am all for positive attitude's, I just think the movie confuses greed with a positive thought, the movie is more of a cheesy infomercial made by real estate agents, who are selling swamp land in Florida. There is no such thing as gaining wealth by wishful thoughts, but if people want to believe in The Secret, they will have to learn the hard way, because there is no magical way to attain wealth, unless you win the lottery, but thats just the luck of the draw like everyone else has to take.
If you want to know what The Secret is, PT Barnum is often misquoted with, "There's a sucker born every minute".



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08 Aug 2008, 2:15 pm

I've read it...I found it interesting.


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08 Aug 2008, 2:18 pm

I prefer "I stole your Cheese!"


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09 Aug 2008, 5:33 pm

I read the book and I, for one, think it is a positive way to lead your life. I myself totally got into it, because it kind of gives me the feeling that the entire universe is at my command. You get out of it what you put into it. Thanks to The Secret, I feel a lot better about myself.



corroonb
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09 Aug 2008, 6:05 pm

KyleTheGhost wrote:
I read the book and I, for one, think it is a positive way to lead your life. I myself totally got into it, because it kind of gives me the feeling that the entire universe is at my command. You get out of it what you put into it. Thanks to The Secret, I feel a lot better about myself.


That's why it's popular. It gives people a false sense of power.

I find being utterly powerless in the face of the cosmos to be a liberating feeling. I try to comprehend the enormity of the universe and it relaxes me.