The "Secret " DVD And Other Views

Imagine the next time you join a discussion about The "Secret" DVD. When you start sharing other views about the Secret DVD below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.


The real "Secret" is why people continue to fall for it

By Grant LaFleche

There are just some things I cannot understand, no matter how hard I try. And I do try. Hard. But then I have to stop because of the headache.

Like I don't understand how Peter Popoff - one-time televangelist and publically exposed con-man - has made a comeback.

You might remember Popoff as the 1980s faith healer who claimed God would tell him about people in his audience in need a good ol' fashion healin'. It turned out that "God" was really his wife relaying information previously collected from parishioners through a radio transmitter in Popoff's ear.

He went bankrupt in 1987 after being exposed, but now he's back selling vials of "miracle spring water" on TV. If you drink it, he says, "God is going to supernaturally put money into your account." He never tells you where the spring is. I suspect he just fills those vials up every morning in the shower.

I don't want to start venting about this, but do people not have a skeptical bone in their bodies?

The craziness is all over the place. Like the ridiculous Q-ray "ionized" bracelets. Health Canada ruled the makers could not make any health claims on their commercials. Why? Because scientific studies showed the bracelets had no detectable health effects at all.


Far more ubiquitous than holy water or magical wristbands is an Oprah Winfrey-endorsed, top-selling DVD and companion book called The Secret.

Next month, it's author Rhonda Byrne will make Time Magazine's list of the world's most influential women of 2007.

In a nutshell, The Secret claims that you can actually change the physical universe purely through your own wishful thinking. You want a new car? A hot partner? A better job? You don't have to actually do anything. You just have to THINK about it and the cosmos will provide.

Armed with an old new-age canard called the "Law of Attraction," I suppose to make it sound vaguely scientific, The Secret isn't preaching the old power of positive thinking routine the self-help book industry has been on about for years.

The Secret goes one step further than the usual, don't-sweat-the-small-stuff-chicken-soup-for-the-credulous-soul junk. It claims your thoughts can become things.


You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about The Secret DVD. But don't be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.

Apparently, the universe is like Aladdin's genie. Wish really hard and Shazam! it will come true. "Ask, believe, receive," is the mantra of The Secret.

Of course, what you want to receive are material things for yourself. The Secret doesn't suggest wishing for food for starving children - I guess that would be just crazy.

And it doesn't stop there. On The Secret's website you can download a cheque from the "Bank of the Universe." Hold it and say "I believe I can afford that," and whatever you ever wanted to buy will appear. Of course, you have to be careful. If you think bad thoughts, the cosmos will stomp on you. Just Like in the movie Ghostbusters, your mind better not dwell on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

But if you think happy thoughts, Byrne says the universe will "give you whatever you want."

Yeah well, I wished and wished for Byrne to send me a dollar for every copy of The Secret sold, but all I got was a migraine.

You want to know the secret of The Secret? It's nothing but saccharine, pseudoscientific, sycophantic babble designed to prey on the gullable, the lazy and the desperate.

It's so dishonest that professional con-artists must be saying, "Wow, why didn't I think of that? I'm so stupid."

The Secret exists in the tradition of hucksters going back to the middle ages when you could buy indulgences, a kind of "get out of purgatory free card," from the church.

Its vapid message sums up the quick-fix, seven easy steps to make it rich, I-don't-gotta-lift-a-finger-to-accomplish-anything, prosperity theology nonsense far too many people buy into.

Byrne's wild success and influence does not bode well for us as we face a complex and often bewildering world that requires rational solutions.

The bottom line is, we all have a choice. We can sit in the dark, wearing our magical wristbands, drinking our holy water and praying to the universe to grant our every desire.

Or, we can step into the light, feel the ground beneath our feet, embrace rationality, and face the world for what it is.

Yeah, that means taking some punches along the way and getting knocked down. We are measured by how often we get up, not by what we wish for. We don't always get what we want, no matter how much we want it.

It's not pretty, but that's life. And at least it's real. glafleche@stcatharinesstandard.ca

If you've picked some pointers about The Secret DVD that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won't really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don't use it.