Positive
·
I
noticed within the film that the
speakers consisted of authors, writers, philosophers, a visionary, a
therapist,
a metaphysician, successful entrepreneurs, and a Quantum Physicist. In
terms of
the writers, authors, philosophers, visionary and therapist, I believe
these
career titles seem to indicate that the speakers are open minded,
creative and
intelligent individuals. In terms of the successful entrepreneurs, the
Quantum
Physicist, and the Metaphysician, the viewer may automatically believe
that
these individuals are highly intelligent and therefore know what they
are
talking about. AS a result of the perceived level of knowledge and
intelligence
that the viewer may view of all of these speakers, I feel as though
they are
able to present a more convincing arguement.
·
The
concept though is fairly
simple...Ask, Believe and Receive - three steps to creating your
reality.
Believe me, it does take a lot of hard work and a lot of patience, but
using
these steps has worked for me. I cannot remember who, but someone
previously
had mentioned in his/her response that you just sit back and
wait...that is not
the idea at all. You put your thoughts out there,
however still need to do the work to go after what it is you want.
·
When
I periodically go back and look at
it, I often find that although i may not
be right on
target of timing, a lot of it has come true. Don`t get me wrong, there
have
been many hard times I have gone through and often thought, that the
secret is
`bull shit` but once you recognize the state you`re in and change your
thought
frequencies, things do turn around. Currently im
going through a lot of stress in my life, and i
firmly believe that watching The Secret this week was for a reason...it
was to
reaffirm to me that I need to change things...I am the creator of my
life and
that my current thoughts are creating the space I am in. For those that
are
interested I have created a Gratitude Journal on Facebook
(Gratitude Journal - picture of a red flower)...it`s here that anyone
and
everyone can express gratitude. I encourage you to join the group, or
start
your own personal Gratitude Journal. There will be of course resistance
to this
phenomenon, but as anything else (different religions, faiths, beliefs)
of
course there will be.
·
In
addition, the people in the
movie represent various professions, which lead me to believe that the
secret
is universal. For me, the secret is a form of spirituality, which
guides your
life through certain principles. What makes the secret so beautiful is
that it
links religion and science together. Doctors and physicians mention
that the
body responds to thoughts. Even more scientific is the fact thoughts
are
actually measurable, and that they send out frequencies that are then
rearranged by the universe. Therefore, I think that religion and
science can
co-exist, in contrast to what I wrote in my response to “By Design”.
·
The
secret is the law of attraction
and this makes a lot of sense. I have always felt that if I put
positive vibes
onto others that I will have positive vibes put onto me. I also feel
that
people do not take the time to understand what they really want in
life. I feel
that what they are saying is that when you really focus on what you
want in
life you are more likely going to achieve your goals.
Negative
·
I
first read The Secret years ago
when it first came out. I had to hear what all the fuss was about. It
didn't
take me long to realize that the secret really isin't
a secret at all. It goes without saying that if you think positively,
positive
things and effects will come your way. This simply draws the line
between being
pessimistic and being optimistic. I'm sure everyone knows someone who
is always
having a bad day, who's back is always sore, who's
car
just got dented and scratched AGAIN... these people, I believe, draw
these
things to them. And if you don't know anyone like that, I sure do
·
I
find that the way the video is projected
it makes the viewer feel as though “The Secret” is something never
heard of
before. For instance, positive happy circumstances attract positive
happy
people and negative angry circumstances attract negative people. Oh,
really, I
never put that together. Ha.HA. All of
these thoughts
are brought about by seemingly educated people including, a Reverend, a
Meta
Physician, Philosophers, Authors, Therapists, Psychologists, Teachers,
an
investment trainer and even a person healed from cancer(Cathy Goodman).
Does
just because these people are well educated mean that their opinion is
not
swayed by their experiences along the way?
·
The
reason they do this is to
legitimize their theory, and it is a theory not a law, the fact they
call it a
law is miss leading. The documentary explained how to apply the “Law of
Attraction”, it is a three step process that
basically
boils down to visualization and positive thinking. Although I am
skeptical of
the so called “Secret” I do believe there may be a little bit of truth
to it,
not a lot, but maybe a little.
· The Secret "works" on a discursive level because it's structured like an infomercial/documentary. The people selling us the message are all (or are said to be) educated, attractive, wealthy people. They are legitimate; we can recognise and understand them. They could be our professors, our neighbours, or our parents. They make references to things we recognise, like for example, the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The movie has an introduction, a body, a step-by-step plan, and (I'm assuming) a conclusion. It also has success stories-- happy endings. It's what we're used to. The message of the movie relies on its audience having a mediocre knowledge of physics. Using the Law of Attraction, it becomes more legitimate to us than if we were just asked to dream things into existence. The actors/narrators/"experts" are very careful not to step over the line of "reality"/"fantasy".
·
The
Secret is promoting a capitalist,
Western (by Western, I am referring to Canada, United States,
Australia,
Western Europe, and anywhere else we consider "First World")
lifestyle, while presenting racist images of the non-American
"other". This is the American dream -- draw a bike, picture a bike,
and maybe your parents/grandparents will feel guilty enough to find a
way to
buy you a bike. Maybe not. Maybe you can envision yourself living in a
multi-million dollar mansion, taking trips to warm, exotic
destinations. Do you
also envision the wait-staff who will clean your mansion, or the people
living
in poverty who will serve you drinks at your resort? The Secret,
directly or
indirectly, tells us to forget about everyone else and follow our
individual
dreams. This is a starkly Western, post-industrial concept, spawned out
of the
capitalist revolution.
·
However,the
film states that anything bad that
happens to you is really your own fault for attracting these things to
yourself. That makes me ask, what about genocide? Were they attracting
genocide
to themselves? I sincerely doubt that.
My
Response
After reading all of these responses it really opened up my mind to see that not everyone feels the same on this and that for some it can be a touchy subject. This is something that some people take very seriously and seem to hit a nerve. The people who didn’t like the movie or the ideas that came with the movie were very strong in their thoughts and stated it clearly and when I was reading them I couldn’t help but agree with them and I seemed to change my mind on what I thought of the movie and the ideas. There was the topic of wealth brought up in a lot of people responses and I didn’t even think of that before. This movie did show a lot of rich people getting what they wanted. I do have to say thought that I do agree with the if you think positive then positive things will happen to you but that is because it is common sense and I think a lot if not all picked that up. After reading these responses I change my mind. I used to just be neutral on this subject but not I think it is kind of ridiculous.
Positive
Although it seemed a little far fetched at times it did makes some good points. They talked about taking care of the inner needs before the outer and about being grateful and happy with what you do have before you try to pursue more. I think whether you believe in The Secret or not, this is still good advice.Something that really stood out was the part about what we actually think and feel creates our future. I suppose in one sense that seems quite normal and realistic, it just wasn't something I really thought of. Ask, believe and receive. Three terms that seem to be very basic. Yet have a very strong importance to self discovery. Anyone who ever did what they wanted, just wanted to do it they didn't know how to go about it, they just did it. I think that stands to be a strong line in this whole movie. Technically we all want to be someone, we want to go somewhere, we want something bigger than what we can reach. We will never be given a map or some video saying you are here, and you have to do this, this, this, this and some of that to reach that goal. I think that is what makes life so intriguing. You don't know what is going to happen, you just live and learn. You make mistakes, you do incredible things, I think those things make life worth while. "It's like driving and only seeing two hundred feet ahead if you". I thought that was the perfect example.
While I really like the concept of positive energy and feelings of already having received what you want, I find that that could be a difficult task always. In conclusion I truly am attracted to many of these concepts and ideas I just find that there seem to be many complications and it seems extremely difficult. Which of course makes sense or else everyone would have everything they want.
Negative
With this in mind it is obvious that if positive thoughts actually possess more power, how then does so much suffering exist in the world? Is it actually being argued then that if the people lined up being forced to get on to trains to Auschwitz would have formed a conga line and proclaimed how wonderful the day was that the Holocaust would have been completely interrupted? It is quite telling that "The Secret" never considers such historical events, or anything even remotely dark in its implications. One can not make victims responsible for what happened to them because they were not thinking or feeling positive things. That is inhuman.At least failure teaches us something. This could be part of the rhetoric for trying the Secret if someone were undecided, and the same for religion. They have the same persuasion techniques: present all the advantages and let people assume there are no "real" disadvantages.
However, there doesn't seem to be much proof either, and if you think about what you don't want with enough emotion you will get that instead of its opposite. As with much of Western culture, the Secret is based on Individualism –as in "it's all your fault and only you can fix it." It is an impulsive system that relies on passion and desire instead of logic and progress.
Humans- Human robots, People we are now being programmed to think- our thoughts are going to be monitored by us, to think about wanting money, love, and material, and if we feel the feelings of what it is like to not worry about debt and health nothing bad will happen. You know what the secret is? It's a program for humans to think about the up and coming apocalypse in 2012. (Sarcasm)
Accidents happen, people are injured, people are downright cruel and malicious but that's just this crazy world we live in and not because people are focussed on the bad and it occurs because they have willed it. What about the millions and millions and millions suffering from poverty and malnourishment? Are they willing this on themselves? Do they all honestly have the ability to rise up and create something from nothing? I don't think so. I live in the real world.