The Secret - A Critique and a Solution

As you are no doubt aware, "The Secret" is a popular metaphysical video that is sweeping this nation. It has been featured on CNN and twice on Oprah. It’s not-so-secret "secret" is that you create your own reality and you can, therefore, call forth from the "field of infinite possibility" anything you desire, using the law of attraction.

This important message is so powerfully presented in the video that I have included it as part of the resource materials for my Radical Manifestation Workshop and I strongly suggest that participants watch it prior to attending. The video also supports the message of my book, Radical Manifestation, The Fine Art of Creating the Life You Want, so I am happy that is getting so much attention.

However, as you might expect, it is receiving some criticism. Most notably among the mainstream print media. Newsweek ran a four-page article pouring scorn and ridicule upon it. This was to be expected, of course, but one that did catch my interest was a stinging critique by Greg Mackie who is a teacher with The Circle of Atonement and a teacher of A Course in Miracles.

His main complaint, separate from some of the more esoteric and extremely interesting ACIM related distinctions that he makes between the two thought systems, is that The Secret is totally materialistic and entirely self-centered in its focus. Mackie points out that, "..every example given in The Secret, without exception, depicts using the law of attraction to achieve worldly goals......Virtually absent from all this is the idea of a larger mission that transcends personal goals. It’s all about us.... Without there being anything approaching a self-transcending mission there is complete a lack of any real notion of helping others."

I would add that there is a notable lack of any strong advocacy for using the law of attraction to create large-scale, collectively-enhanced intentions that would serve humanity as a whole, like, for instance, a solution to global warming, freedom for the oppressed, or even world peace. You would think that with so many top-tier spiritual leaders featured on the video there might have been a strong emphasis on using the law of attraction to create for the greater good of humanity and for the planet, especially bearing in mind how both are threatened. (To be fair to them, this may have gotten lost in the editing, but the video is highly repetitive and overly extended so it could not have been through the lack of time or space that such content was omitted. Marketing is more likely the answer.) Jo Vitale, who was featured in the video has since commented, "I love The Secret, but if I had been producing it, I would have added something more about serving others."

Appealing to our cultural norm that glorifies conspicuous consumption, the video also promotes the idea that getting the ‘things’ you want will make you happy and fulfilled. The idea that we can simply create unlimited goodies for ourselves, now that we know "the secret," is indeed very seductive. But, if our spiritual learning has taught us anything, we know that ‘things’ don’t necessarily bring happiness.

Now, there is nothing wrong in wanting to use the law of attraction to bring material things to us, including unlimited supplies of money. It is a question of both balance and vibration. In my book, Radical Manifestation: The Fine Art of Creating the Life You Want, which was written some months prior to The Secret being released, I anticipated these very objections by suggesting that we reference our intentions and goals to a heirachy of values. I suggested three levels of intention as follows:

1. Spiritual Intentions

These are for attracting peace, happiness, oneness, abundance, joy of giving and receiving, freedom, justice and opportunities to be of service to others. The attributes they would lead you to have are things such as unconditionality, non-attachment, surrender, gratitude, generosity, love and joy. The end state that such goals lead to is Divine consciousness and a desire to connect to Source.

2. Transformational Intentions

These arise out of a desire for personal transformation and growth to reach the state of awakening consciousness. Examples might be to attract circumstances that would help us to awaken, to know our purpose and mission, and to find a level of real appreciation and acceptance of what is. Others might be to develop the willingness to forgive and let go, desire to serve others and to connect with Spirit. We would also include goals of a more collective nature that might contribute to the transformation of all of humanity and the planet. The attributes these goals would lead you towards would be compassion, trust, forgiveness, humility, openness and conviction. In meeting these goals you would experience synchronicity, insight, epiphanies, and heightened awareness.

3. Baseline Intentions or Materialistic Goals

These are desires rooted in the material world. Examples might be physical comfort, wealth, material goods, freedom to act, good health, respect, status, success, power, control, recognition, etc. The attributes these lead to are material success, pride, practical knowledge, groundedness and health. The values at this baseline level are likely to be physical survival, comfort, recognition and material success.

The point I was making was each level should reference the one above it. In other words, when you give a reason why you wish to manifest something material, the reason should come at least from the transformational level, or even the inspirational level, rather than just from the baseline level. In that way, you invoke the values of those higher levels to drive the practical or materialistic goals, thereby giving your goals a higher vibration and your life more meaning. Bear in mind too, that it takes quite a lot of energy to create through the law of attraction. What people often find is that when they question the value, beyond the baseline level, that a goal might have, they find it to be less important than they first thought and give it up.

There is no doubt that The Secret and the "secret" it reveals is over-marketed and overhyped — even dangerously so. It will create a lot of false expectations and cause a lot of disappointment, not to mention self-induced guilt about not being "spiritual enough" to make it work in the ways depicted in the video. But it has done a great service in opening the conversation about what many people throughout the ages have known to be true in their own lives — that thought and feelings, if properly channeled and focused, can have precise effects on the physical world.

What is required now, as a follow-on from The Secret, is a technology that ordinary people can realistically use to make it work in their everyday lives. That is precisely what we have begun creating in our Radical Manifestation programs. For more information go to www.radicalmanifestation.com.

Blessings,

Colin