The Secret

Whyte Horse wrote: I hate to rain on everyone's parade here but the secret is the same as the placebo effect. You can give someone a pill and tell them it will make them feel better and they believe you and feel better... the pill has nothing to do with it.

I would also like to mention that what Jesus said completely contradicts 99% of Christianity and American/Western culture.

[ Mark 10:21-22] Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

[Matthew 6:24.] You cannot serve both God and Money.

The Law of Attraction when it's fully understood is not about money.

Connor Lidell wrote:

Whyte Horse wrote: I hate to rain on everyone's parade here but the secret is the same as the placebo effect.

First, I wasn't trying to compare Christianity to the Secret. Just the idea of permanent change.
Second, regarding your statement above, you can't know that. If you have scientific evidence that it's placebo, I'd love to see it. There haven't been scientific studies on my end, so I couldn't show you those... BUT, I'm not asserting that it's most definitely "not" the placebo effect.

OK so if the secret works, you can think that you will receive a check in the mail and you will receive a check. If however you receive a bill instead, then the secret doesn't work. But you can just ignore that little example and keep doing it until you do receive a check, and then the secret works!

I doubt that's truly what the secret says. Does it advocate losing one's mind? lol

Its unfortunate that money was the main focus behind the book, it turned a lot of people off, the world isn't perfect and neither is that book. I'm a huge skeptic, I don't believe it until I have proven it for myself, which I did. My older sister and I had spent YEARS not speaking to each other because of events I wont bring up here. I put the suggestions to that book to the test, obsessed over my non-existent relationship with my sister ending and actually hearing from her before the end of that month. Seven days......my older sister is knocking on my front door. Was it improbable, yeah, that's an understatement, but it wasn't impossible. The Secret is, the law of attraction works, the Force is reactive to everything one puts out whether one believes in it or not. Approach it with an open mind, and an empty cup and you might actually accomplish something...

I have not read it, but what I've heard sounds reasonable to me. Could it be related to the first Tenet at TOTJO of Focus? Perhaps the concept is a method to that point!?

Nice catch, Adder! It's definitely a part of it.

To test this theory, you would need to establish a strict methodology with well-defined time limits and standards. What I'm hearing are some common logical fallacies, such as anecdotal evidence, confirmation bias and thinking the universe revolves around you. This is also known as "magical thinking", and it was the norm for human beings for most of history before people discovered scientific reasoning. It comes very naturally to us -- we want to believe in magic -- so it's easily exploited by con men, demagogues and cult leaders. The real challenge is to not be gullible, to have the mental discipline to look at these claims with a skeptical eye and a logical mind. Remember that the author of The Secret is selling you a product, not trying to persuade you of a scientific theory.

That's true that the book is marketed to be sold. It is a product, but the message inside is a very old message and not a bogus one. There is truth in the belief that your thoughts create your reality.

Our whole worlds are in our minds...that is to say that we all view this world in a different way, from our own perspective. For me I think that wide open spaces are quite lovely, but for another, in their mind/world, open spaces and prairies could be the most horrible thing imaginable.

Now do our thoughts actually change the physical landscape? Maybe, maybe not. It changes how we see them...and maybe those thoughts are then put into action. Maybe the prairie hater decides to build on the land to remove the openness of it all...maybe they plant trees. Maybe they decide to change their thinking and look at the landscape in a different light...then it could become as pretty to them as it is to me.

The point is, most if not all of the things we do in this world have first been imagined in our minds. We imagine what we're going to eat for dinner before we have it. We imagine what our job is like, and it becomes good or bad depending on how we see it. The power of thought is powerful. It's so powerful that one can plant a seed of "You're ugly" into another persons mind and it can take over. Just think of all the people out there who think they're not good enough just because of how they think about themselves.

Even the book "The Secret" started out as thought before the author could create it.

I don't disagree with you, but what Zenchi and others are talking about seems to go beyond that, to the idea that if you think hard enough about something, it will magically manifest in your life in a way that isn't causally connected to your thinking about it. For example, how could Zenchi's thinking about his older sister cause her to appear at his door seven days later?

I know this is a very old idea, widely believed in places like India, but if you've ever been to India you'll know that it doesn't seem to be doing much to alleviate the poverty there. This kind of thinking is quite harmful if people start thinking that good things will materialize magically if they just wish hard enough for them, instead of working rationally to earn them.

Please, feel free to conduct your own tests, under whatever regime you think will prove your theory...

It seems most of us understand, and believe, what is being discussed...

We will continue to believe as we see fit, until the evidence says otherwise...

Please keep us posted on your progress...