The Secret (book)
The
Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book by Rhonda
Byrne, based on the earlier film
of the same name. It is based on the belief of the law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a person's life
directly.[1][2] The book has sold 30 million copies worldwide and has been
translated into 50 languages.
Background
The
Secret was released as a film in March
2006, and later the same year as a book. The book is influenced by Wallace
Wattles' 1910 book The Science of
Getting Rich,[3] which Byrne received from her daughter during a time of
personal trauma in 2004.[4] New York Times bestselling authors of The Passion
Test, Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood, are not featured in the film
or the book, but arranged 36 of the 52 interviews for the film, many of which
are referenced in the book.[5]
Synopsis
Byrne
re-introduces a notion originally popularized by persons such as Madame
Blavatsky and Norman Vincent Peale that thinking about certain things will make them appear in
one's life. Byrne provides examples of historical persons who have allegedly
achieved this. Byrne cites a three-step process: ask, believe, and receive.[6] This is based on a quotation from the Bible's Matthew
21:22: "And all things, whatsoever
ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
Byrne
highlights the importance of gratitude and visualization in achieving one's
desires, along with alleged examples. Later chapters describe how to improve
one's prosperity, relationships, and health, with more general thoughts about
the universe.The main important thing is how people manage their healthy life
along with their whole family.
Reception
Gross
The
book has been translated into 50 languages and has sold over 30 million copies.[7] Due partly to an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show,
the book and film had grossed $300 million in sales by 2009.[8] Byrne has subsequently released Secret merchandise
and several related books.
Critical response
US
TV host Oprah Winfrey
is a proponent of the book. On The Larry King Show she said that the message of The Secret is the
message she's been trying to share with the world on her show for the past 21
years.[9] Author Rhonda
Byrne was later invited to her show along
with people who swear by The Secret.[10]
Elizabeth
Scott states the pros and cons of the book in her Verywell review. The pros she points out are that it is empowering,
that even if things seem bleak it reminds you that there is a lot that you can
do to change your circumstances. It gives the reader research on optimism,
visualization, and the power of perspective, while stating that The Secret
encourages people to really visualize their goals clearly in order to attract
what they want. The cons that Scott points out are that some people believe
that it conflicts with their religious values, while others see it as a
complementary approach. The book does spend considerable time on how to use the
Law of Attraction to gain expensive material possessions, and without direct
action; many people have asserted that having such a focus on external things
and material wealth goes against the spiritual wisdom of the Law of Attraction.
Other cons that Scott points out are the criticism of the idea that we create
our own difficult circumstances in life, pointing out people born in extreme
poverty, and that The Law of Attraction is not scientifically proven, but more
of an anecdotally-observed phenomenon. Her final thoughts are: "Though
there are some hiccups to it, I would say that this book can provide some excellent
opportunities for stress relief, and a rough road map to a better life."[11]
Valerie
Frankel of Good Housekeeping wrote an article about her trying the principles of The
Secret for four weeks. While she reached some of her goals, others had
improved. Frankel's final assessment is: "Counting my blessings has been
uplifting, reminding me of what's already great about my life. Visualization
has forced me to pay attention to what I really desire. And laughing is never a
bad idea. If you ignore The Secret's far-too-simplistic maxims (no, you
will not be doomed to a miserable life for thinking negative thoughts) and the
hocus-pocus (the cosmos isn't going to deliver a new car; it's busy), there's
actually some helpful advice in the book. But it's nothing you don't already
know."[12]
In
2009, Barbara Ehrenreich
published Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking
Has Undermined America as a reaction to self-help books such as The
Secret, claiming that they promote political complacency and a failure to
engage with reality.[13][14]
Mark
Manson, author of The Subtle Art of
Not Giving a F*ck, is one of the harshest critics,
writing that the book is "full of misplaced clichés, silly quotes, and
superstitious drivel," and calls it a "playbook for entitlement and
self-absorption," which "anybody who reads it and implements its
advice ... will likely make themselves worse off in the long run."[15]
John G. Stackhouse, Jr. has provided historical context, locating Byrne's book in
the tradition of New Thought
and popular religion, and concluding that "it isn’t new, and it isn’t a
secret".[16]
Byrne's
scientific claims, in particular concerning quantum
physics, have been rejected by a range of
authors including Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons at The New York Times[17] and Harvard
physicist Lisa Randall.[18] Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford, writing for the Center for Inquiry,
have also pointed out that The Secret has no scientific foundation,
stating that Byrne's book represents: "a time-worn trick of mixing banal truisms with magical
thinking and presenting it as some sort of
hidden knowledge: basically, it’s the new New
Thought."[19]
References
· Shermer, Michael
(1 June 2007). "The
(Other) Secret". Scientific American. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
· · The Secret, p. ix.
· · The Secret, p. 47.
· · "Creative
Biography :: Official Web Site of The Secret and The Power". Thesecret.tv. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
· · LearningTheSecret
(9 May 2013). "Oprah
Winfrey speaks about The Secret - Law of Attraction and how to use it!". YouTube.
Retrieved 11 January 2018.
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