INDIA. Mumbai: 2006, Australian-American pseudoscientific documentary film, “The Secret,” released in March, exemplifies the popular belief that everything one desires is available through the “Law of Attraction”. A burning desire, coupled with the ability to show gratitude and visualization through intuitiveness can lead to manifestations of all one truly desires.
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The Secret was released later in Nov.2006 as a self-help-spiritual book by Rhonda Byrne that delved into the realm of possibility thinking. It turned out to be a Worldwide Bestseller. The Secret had appeared to have been kept under the carpet, but known already to a few individuals, who have used the knowledge for growth and abundance. The knowledge was hidden in oral traditions, literature, religions, and philosophies.
The book based on 1910 Wallace Wattles, “The Science of Getting Rich.”
It appears that Rhonda Byrne recovered from her personal trauma in 2004 and was influenced by reading the works of Wallace Wattles. This book teaches about the method one can adopt to overcome mental barriers and how creation is the key to attracting wealth and happiness. Wattles has adopted these techniques from the Hindu philosophies, ” One is All, and that All is One.”
It meant “thinking in a Certain Way,” meaning, creating a state of positivity and self-affirmation model. And these techniques could be applied to everything that one necessarily desired in the material sphere of human activity. It appears that Wattles’s work began as a “New American Thought Movement.” Ironically these were succeeded by two other works, viz; “The Master Key System,” by Charles F.Haanel (1912) and Napolean Hill’s (1932) Best-selling book “Think and Grow Rich.”
“The Secret,” assembled into a single book
The author Rhonda Byrne has brought “The Secret,” assembled into a single book. A team of authors, ministers, teachers, filmmakers, designers, and publishers have been brought under one platform explaining the truth that is demystified by the author.
One infinite power and the same laws that govern the universe creates a field of all possibilities. Her’s is a three-step process, viz; ask, belief, and receive.
However, it appears that this truth was long away known to the Indian Rishis, because of the subjective analysis and searches in the self which the sages used to practice in the Vedic period in BCE. It appears that what was known by the sages, subjectively, has been recaptured objectively by the western minds.
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The secret, once revealed would mysteriously fructify experiential evidence, with life-transforming events, like, getting money, good health, relationships, and happiness for those who desire it. The greatest part of the secret is spelled out towards the end that if you are mindful and joyous, good things will flow towards you.
The book and the film has been mired in controversy. However, for Rhonda Byrne, it appears to be just a stepping stone for her future books. The Power(2009), The Magic(2010), Hero(2013), How The Secret Changed My Life(2016) and The Greatest Secret(2020).
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My take on the book is simple. Do not try to find coherence in this whole book, together. Take each chapter, at a time, and give it your best reading or re-reading. The secret is truly in understanding the deliberation of some very powerful ideas as spelled out by the author through several people from varied fields.
Very well written