Do You Want To Know a Secret?
My friend Greg at Greg's Random Bits blog jumped into the fray over the #1 book phenomenon, The Secret last week. Not to let him hang out there on his own, I thought I would add some of my own thoughts.

The Secret is the latest New Age Self-Help approach that purports to give you the truth behind this secret that has been hidden for ages by many people. It is something called The Law of Attraction which, if I can keep it simple, is just a version of the Gospel of Wealth (New Age Version). All you have to do is want something bad enough and just think positive thoughts about it, focusing intently on getting it, claiming it as your own and the universe will literally bend to your wishes. No. I am not exaggerating. They actually say some of those things that specifically in the video. And they use their own experiences as examples.

The guy who put a picture of a multi-million dollar on his bulletin board- then four years later, when moving into a multi-million dollar home discovers it is the same one. On and on it goes. Just think good thoughts, wish for the best for yourself- and you will get it. Don't let those negative things keep you from getting what the Universe wants you to have. Wealth and comfort and fame and fortune. Don't get bogged down in your poverty. Look at the wealth you want and focus on it and you will leave poverty behind.

Whether it is from a Christian preacher, a popular writer, or a New Age guru, this approach to spiritual power and understanding borders on spiritual abuse and spiritual fraud. It is not a new secret recently discovered. It is not some new manipulative way to get the powers of the Universe (or God or anyone else) to give you what you want in your selfish greedy approach to life. Sorry. It doesn't work that way. If it did there would be no poverty, no illness, no one would ever die.

Yes, "positive thinking" is important. I agree with that. In the section of the video where they finally get to dealing with the "world" they say that the biggest reason we don't have peace is because we focus on the negative- stopping war. We can't win peace by fighting - even fighting war. Sounds like Gandhi to me. But wait, he was willing to live a life of poverty. I guess he didn't have it right. Or, they say, rightly so, I think, that we can't stop drug abuse by mounting a "war on drugs" since "war" is by nature a negative. No wonder the drug concerns have only gotten worse. There is no "peaceful" alternative that is being imagined or presented.

In that they are right. Just like the Gospel is right as the Word of God. Just like the teachings of Buddhism are right as a Way to deeper spirituality. But take those and use them, any of them for your own selfish ways and you have lost the message. You are not following the ways of the great religious and spiritual teachers who have shown us a better way.

The Secret has become controversial in the Christian press because it isn't Christianity. But to attack it like that is to give in to the negative. Like anything based on selfishness and a desire for overwhelming wealth, it will fall under its own weight. In fact I have probably given it more press than it deserves.

Professor John Stackhouse gives it a thoughtful challenge at his blog. One of the things he says is worth repeating as he talks about setting a victim mentality:

But this teaching basically says that your problems are your fault as the flip side to its message of hope. And that teaching is just disgusting when one considers the cases of so many people who have been damaged and oppressed and who still are–and can do little about it. How do you preach The Secret to young, addicted prostitutes in East Vancouver or Bangkok? How do you preach it to widows and orphans in Darfur refugee camps?

It all boils down, I think, to the old desire to get something for nothing. If it sounds too good to be true- you can bet it is!

And if it truly worked why are they fighting over it. (NYT Story about some of the wrangling behind the scenes is here.)