Attracting The Secret
Hi Persuader,
How do you know if something has really made it into the collective consciousness?
Well, I’ll tell you one way… it’s on Oprah. Oprah features it.
I want to talk with you a little bit about the movie The Secret. I imagine you’ve probably seen it, or have heard about it. Maybe you even own it.
Let me give you a few thoughts:
I absolutely love it. It’s phenomenal. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it and here’s why I think it can have a significant impact on your life…
The Law of Attraction is absolutely at work in my life and in the lives of everyone who has the ability or inclination to pay attention. (Obviously that’s you, since you had the good sense to subscribe to this newsletter and learn more about persuading the affluent.)
What is the Law of Attraction?
Basically, it says whatever you concentrate on, you’ll get more of in return. If you concentrate on your lack of money and worry about paying bills, you’re going to get more ‘need’.
On the other hand, if you concentrate on drawing money to you, becoming a money magnet, you will attract affluence.
And this isn’t just about money. It’s about every single thing that you think about. This includes influence, sales and conversion, as well as more personal aspects of life like health and wellness, relationships and spirituality in such concepts as gratitude.
I’m sad to tell you that there are a number of people that, in an attempt to make a name for themselves and parlay off the success of it, have decided that it’s appropriate to tear this movie down.
Why? You may ask. And you’re probably also thinking, “what does this have to do with persuasion?”
So why would people want to put this movie down?
Well, a typical way of trying to promote oneself these days is to piggyback what you’re doing along with something else that’s happening in the news.
The Secret is certainly in the news and I have no issue with doing that. In fact, I love to use the piggybacking strategy myself when I get a chance. And I guess you have to take a stand one way or another on things, so this group of people chose to take a negative stand.
Do you agree with everything that you hear from any source? I don’t, and I doubt you do either.
So I guess we could then turn and ask, do you agree with everything that you’ve heard about The Secret, or as a result of watching The Secret? I can tell you that I don’t.
But disregarding the entire movie just because there are a few things I disagree with would be like saying, “Money can be used wrongly so I’m going to do the right thing and never try to earn another dime as long as I live. I’ll make sure that if ever anyone gives me money, I’m going to give it away because, after all, I don’t want to be involved with something bad.”
That is definitely throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
If a person objects to positive mental thinking, positive mental attitudes, and the sage advice that has shaped our nation and most all of the successful people in the world today that have followed along the footsteps of great thinkers of our time, then I guess someone could genuinely be upset with The Secret.
But in particular, what did the naysayers pick on? One is that The Secret talks about being responsible in every way. The movie says something to the order of, “We all choose our own reality. Even the people of Darfur consciously chose their plight in life.”
Alright, so the people that stood against this movie basically said, “That’s nonsense. The Secret is a cult and so it’s saying things that are blatantly untrue.” They are framing the creators of this movie as a cult.
Do I believe that the people in Darfur (or anywhere else in for that matter who are having horrible problems) consciously choose to be there? No, of course not. And I think in the attempt to entertain and be dramatic, The Secret went a bit too far.
However, do you know that there are many, many millions of people that actually believe along those lines?
I don’t think anyone would say someone would consciously choose that kind of life, but let’s say that you believed that we are here on planet earth for a reason: to learn. Life is a school and we’re trying to learn all the lessons this school has to offer.
Were all of the lessons you learned in high school positive? Probably not.
Some of them were very difficult. Some of them hurt a lot. Maybe you broke up with a special boyfriend or girlfriend during that time and it was quite devastating. Maybe you thought your whole life was coming to an end and then all of the sudden you were saved by something else going well for you.
Alright, so you learned the lessons of your schooling, good and bad.
Well, there are a lot of people out there who believe in reincarnation. Now once again, I’m not going to ask you to believe in this, not for a second. I’m not going to ask you not to believe in it, not for a second.
Through the perspective of reincarnation they might believe that we choose our parents, we choose the country we’re going to be born in, and we choose to live the lessons that earth has to give us such that one day we don’t need to come back anymore and we can evolve to a higher level.
With this belief as the basis for this premise, then would it be reasonable if you were the creator of the movie The Secret and you believed in these things, that you would make a statement such as, “The people in Africa who are starving have chose their plight in life so that they could experience these difficulties to learn how to overcome them or simply experience a life of poverty”?
I think the answer is absolutely yes. They didn’t choose them consciously; they chose them before they came into this earthly experience.
The big question I have for you is: why should we knock it?
I have my own beliefs and thoughts. I believe we need to be responsible. I believe we need to be careful, but to throw the baby out with the bathwater, I just can’t fathom.
What do you think?
Until Next Time,
Kenrick E. Cleveland