"The Secret" of the Bull Shit

Brother Greg Stewart just made a post over at the Masonic Traveler Blog on this topic. I enjoyed his post but I believe Greg was a bit too kind. So, here is my own take on the topic.

Like Brother Stewart, I don't feel there is necessarily a whole lot wrong with the message in 'The Secret' but what pisses me off is the bullshit they spew to market it.

The thing that hacks me off the most is the notion that, somehow or another, *ANYTHING* in 'The Secret' is secret! Moreover, the idea that so called secret societies have 'conspired' to keep it secret is so absurd that it is infuriating.

For those who are unaware, 'The Secret' is some New Age, Quantum Physics psychobabble, that leverages against DaVinci Code style conspiracy garbage to peddle it’s well worn tale.

Now, the fact that a book like this is out in the public eye is no big deal. New Age books are sold all of the time and make no great stir in the world. Where things get weird is when Oprah Winfrey starts doing special shows promoting this nonsense into the mainstream. She even goes so far as to attempt to explain how these New Age concepts are compatible with Christianity; Gnostic Christianity, perhaps, but certainly not the mainstream flavor that most fundamentalist Americans are accustomed to.

In general I feel no need to argue the validity of the message that 'The Secret' presents. It is your standard New Age psychobabble about the power of positive thinking. Since I happen to believe, fairly strongly, there is almost never anything 'wrong' with positive thinking I make no great objection. Of course, if you think positive thinking, by itself and without action, is sufficient; well let's just say I have a lot of lottery tickets to sell you.

The general concept in 'The Secret' is the observation that we are each a seething field of energy in hyperspace. Our senses convince us, usually with much clarity, that we are solid objects. A sudden high-speed impact in a sports car will usually confirm this assumption. All that said, when you get down the nitty gritty, matter is simply interacting probability waves in hyperspace. That's the quantum physics part which is pretty much a mainstream and generally accepted concept. Just because we may intellectually 'know' that we are waves of probability in hyperspace interacting with the implicate order of Universe, doesn't mean we can do anything miraculous about it. Miracles, afterall, are still quite infrequent occurrences.

Where 'The Secret' goes further is by postulating the concept that our 'thoughts', and 'intentions' literally alter the implicate order in Universe, causing it to unfold changes in situations and behaviors in conformance to our will. Of course, anyone, and I mean absolutely *anyone* who has ever studied ritual magick already knows all of this stuff.

Whether or not 'positive thinking' is capable of producing literal magickal changes in the implicate order of Universe is somewhat beside the point. Common sense says that if you maintain a positive attitude and optimistic outlook your life will, in general, be more pleasant and satisfying. People will want to be your friends and hang around with you, since pleasant and optimistic people are a lot more fun than negative pessimists who are always complaining, bitching, and moaning.

To me it is clear that, whether or not there actually is any metaphysical basis for these actions, it is always a distinct benefit to ACT AS IF it were true.

My biggest pet peeve with 'The Secret' is the notion that it is a secret at all. I'm pretty sure the only people who think it is a 'secret' are the masses that were spoon fed a theology since birth and have never given one thought or interest in theology, metaphysics, magick, the New Age, or quantum physics the rest of their lives.

Meanwhile, I have stacks of books that fill rows of bookshelfs ALL OF WHICH contain this same, desperate, 'S-E-K-R-I-T'.

In reality this 'secret' was kept for a long time in many cultures. It was a secret that was readily available but only to those who were qualified to understand and receive it. We are talking about ideas and concepts that go far beyond what the average person is usually interested in pursuing. I know a lot of people, but relatively few who think talking metaphysics is a good way to spend an evening.

The term for this 'secret' is called 'The Mysteries'. It begins, as far was we know, in Egypt with the teachings of Hermes (some New Agers will tell you with a straight face that it originated in Atlantis and was passed down by the survivors after the Great Flood). It was passed on over the millennia through numerous 'mystery schools' each of which conducted initiation ceremonies and made heavy use of symbols to imprint the mind of the seeker of light.

It has continued on to the present day and the mysteries are still espoused within Freemasonry. For a great deal of the history of Western Civilization these mystery schools *had* to stay secret simply to avoid the persecution of the 'Holy' Inquisition. If you have any doubts, simply ask the Knights Templar how that worked out for them...

The veil of these 'mysteries' began to be revealed during the theosophy movement at the turn of the century. It was best revealed when the New Age movement took hold in the early 1970s. This was largely fueled by the incredible material which was channeled by Jane Roberts and attributed to a personality named 'Seth'.

There is nothing, and I mean *nothing*, in 'The Secret' that is not covered in the Seth Material a hundred fold better. Remember, 'The Seth Material' has been in every book store in the country for over 25 years!! So much for any of this being 'secret'!

With the advent of the Internet the average person can hop over to the Internet Sacred Text Archive and read something about nearly any religion or philosophy. You will find 'The Secret' revealed there a thousand times over.

Now go to Amazon.com and you can buy pretty much any religious document in human and, once again, 'The Secret' is contained in thousands of books.

For being such a great 'Secret' it seems to me the only people who don't know about it are fundamentalist Christians who were born into a church, forced to attend cult indoctrination (ahem I mean Sunday School) and no matter what happens to them in their life they won't even once bother to read anything on comparative religion, philosophy, or physics since (don't you know) they have had all of the correct answers their whole life.

Meanwhile, only with the stupid new 'packaging' of 'The Secret' and the Oprahization of the event, does it get exposed to the general masses who are about as equipped to deal with these concepts as a frog is to operate a jack hammer; or some analogy like that.

What is even more ironic is that there actually is a form of Christianity which *did* try to keep the mysteries alive. These teachings can be found in the 'Gnostic Gospels', you know, the ones the Roman Catholic Church threw out because the couldn't allow any heresy that might suggest that each individual human being possess power of their own; independent of priest, pope, or potentate.

Well, I'm finished ranting I think. I hope I have made my point that none of this New Age, quantum physics, magickal thinking is by any stretch of the imagination 'new'. Nor, is it particularly secret. All mystery schools have always been open to candidates. The candidate simply needed to worthy and well qualified, well recommended, and *ASK* for it of their own free will!

As well, the establishment religions of the day were usually busy hanging, burning, and in all other ways possible, trying to suppress, kill, and annihilate anything that would approximate 'free thought' in the world.

I am suspecting that no particular good is going to come out of this 'Secret' nonsense. I suggest anyone interested in learning something more start by picking up a copy of 'Seth Speaks' or 'The Nature of Personal Reality' instead.