Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The Secret is Bullshit

The Secret is a get happy quick book.
The Secret is bullshit.
The secret is to be honest.
The secret is to acknowledge that sometimes there is pain.
That sometimes there is hurt.
That sometimes life sucks.
The Secret is to recognize that Oprah Winfrey is a rich lady who puts her own picture on the cover of every magazine she sells.
The Secret is a get happy quick book which is about as realistic as getting rich quick or losing fat by using some machine that does all the work for you while you eat cornchips sitting on your sofa watching tv.
The secret is there is no secret. Happiness that's sold is toothpaste smiles and salesperson joy, when they are selling.
Happiness is not contentedness.
The Secret suggests we look away from what makes us unhappy to ensure happiness.
So are we to look away when a family member gets deathly ill?
As a recent article noted, what should the Auschwitz survivor have done? Or the Sudan refugee? Ah yes, if they'd just looked away from the bad stuff they could have felt wonderful, right?
Are we to ignore the less fortunate in the world?
Are we to ignore our own mortality? Our health? Cause death certainly isn't fun. So should we ignore this too?
What then?
Are we to aspire to Oprah megalomania? Are we to aspire to Tom Cruise levels of depth?
Should we ignore how many thousands of years of Buddhist wisdom?
The secret is that the truly creative never hide from the dark side of life. As I recently read, it's our shadow, our darkness, that if delved into and actually considered that this is where we'll find wisdom.

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:07 p.m.

    Hey Jon! I just stopped by your blog...I think the Secret is bullsh*t, too.
    -Lara

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  2. Anonymous2:05 p.m.

    If we burned every copy of that book, annihilated that movie and hunted down and killed every person who wrote or was quoted in that book, the human race would lose nothing.

    Or is that being to cynical? Sorry. I never can tell anymore.

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  3. Anonymous5:48 a.m.

    how about burning every religious book too.... again, we would loose nothing, its the same bullshit but even more unbelievable

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  4. Anonymous6:15 p.m.

    The "secret" is .....Bullshit. I believe in sacrifice, frugal living, responsible and conscious living, and last but not least ......keeping in touch with REALITY!!

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  5. The books and movies that capture me, no matter how fantastical (Murakami) or epic (Steinbeck) are the ones that shine a truer light on reality. This is by no means to say that they have to end badly. But the escapist nature of Hollywood that has seeped into the self-help world, and most everywhere else, can be damaging, I think. This is what attracts me to the Buddah's revelation - we are all going to die, and thus life is suffering. From this standpoint, one that so many in the West find distressing but that I actually find hopeful, we can begin, I believe, to make the most of our lives.

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  6. Anonymous8:41 a.m.

    The secret is nothing more than brainwashing! It makes you temporarily forget the bullshit your going through. Then when you wake up the the real reality the secret has fucked your life up worse than before you believed it! Now Im unemployed and poor because I followed my intuition and believed this bullshit! Fuck Rhonda Byrne, someone should murder the bitch and see if she manifested her death! Fuck the secret!

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  7. Anonymous8:45 a.m.

    Anyone who is already rich and famous can say they believe in the secret! They already have the life. Im so fucking choked and suicidal cause of the bullshit I believed! It fuct my whole life up, chasing these dreams that are supposed to come true! What a fucking joke! Im embarressed for myself for being such an idiot and believing her propaganda! Fuck Im an idiot for believing!

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  8. I guess that books about actually confronting our troubles and disappointments, and figuring out how to deal with them don't sell quite as well, huh?

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  9. Anonymous1:18 p.m.

    Yes, I believe in being positive most of the time that some great things happen. But some of what they say is a down right false statements. As for getting wealthy, its thoughs whom sold the movie or book "The Secret" to suckers. Perhaps I should write a book "The Bullshit" and make my profit that way.

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  10. Anonymous4:43 p.m.

    Actually i think that the secret isnt too bullshitty, yes, the part about the universe working for you is bullcrap, but the part about feeling better is great, of course we musnt ignore bad stuff, thats not intelligent. The secret (at least my secret =3) is to change your concience in a way so that even in sucky moments you are happy, and also that you get the most of lifes opportunities, without neglecting reality.

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  11. Thanks - I needed to post something about this on FB and you saved me from composing it myself - very well said. I just shared this.

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  12. Cheers, Pancake. Amazing how much people still have a strong response to this book.

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  13. Anonymous12:26 p.m.

    I just found this book in my sister's room and was about to start reading it. Then I thought: "Why don't I just Google this "secret" instead of spending hours reading about it?". Good thing I did. This book is bullshit.

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  14. Anonymous3:44 a.m.

    Metaphysics and the law of attraction is ancient wisdom about being a good person and putting out positive energy into the world. The Secret capatalizes on greedy fools who think they can get a mansion and a million bucks by putting those thoughts out there. I can't think of a more evil and fucked up way to think.

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  15. Well put.

    Also, at the risk of sounding naive and hopeful, why can't good karma just equal good karma rather than good karma = financial gain?

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  16. Anonymous9:07 a.m.

    I know what The Secret is. It's this: Life's a crapshoot. There IS no Secret. The goals you've been starving,bleeding, and scraping to achieve may come to fruition for you; often, those same prizes go to someone else instead. Just because you "put your intentions out into the Universe", as they quaintly like to say, doesn't mean you're actually GOING to receive what you've requested. It's nice when it DOES happen...realistically, it's rare. Otherwise, we'd live in a totally different world.

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