Its out, the secret is out. All those years of protecting the most powerful piece of occult knowledge known to man, gone to waste. The founders of the Order of the Golden Dawn must be turning in their grave. Even Alistair Crowley feels vindicated. All those rituals and initiations to gain entry to the inner sanctum where the secret is finally revealed must have been a waste of time. Or maybe not! Maybe those old lodges had it right; test the integrity and commitment of their initiates, and put them through some ego dissolving experiences where they learn appropriate ethics and values.

Its a simple idea; “energy follows thought.” We receive exactly what we put out. Whoa! The Law of Attraction. (Spooky music to follow)

OK! Is there a touch of sarcasm weaving its way through the writers mind?

Last night I watched the highly touted DVD, “The Secret” It was well produced and directed with high production values throughout. It’s wonderful that folks are putting resources into broadcast-quality media that is meant to inform, inspire and entertain. Yea, for that initiative! I didn’t miss rape, pillage and villainy one bit.

I did, however, have serious concerns about the content. Now, I certainly understand the point of view that believes that somewhere out there the audience will be inspired by this little idea for the first time, or be reminded of this fundamental universal truth, or hear it in a new way so that it impacts their lives in a positive way; however I am personally becoming intolerant of the constant outpouring of New Age pablum perpetrated by suntanned “jargonistas” (Michael Beckwith is excused) that skates across the surface of the human experience and denies the deeper realities of life as an experience of wholeness.

Taken at face value, the Secret promotes the idea that all painful, uncomfortable and unpleasant feelings are negative and all happy, joyful feelings are positive. If we allow ourselves to experience “negative” feelings then we will attract negative experiences. Excuse me, what a load of nonsense! Certainly there are some thought patterns that will attract difficult consequences and many of us have worked very hard to free ourselves from the grip of old habitual thinking. Isn’t that why we went into therapy and practice meditation and other self reflective disciplines? The movie skims over the reality that suffering and painful experiences are part of our human condition and they are our greatest teachers. It is through these uncomfortable moments that we learn to develop compassion, for ourselves and for our fellow man. Furthermore, it completely ignores the power of the unconscious; those unresolved patterns, individual and cultural that have the power to manifest experiences that we would prefer not deal with. Our karma falls into this category.

The premise promoted by the Secret is that by putting out positive thoughts we can instantly overcome these “negative” patterns because positive thoughts are so much more powerful than rotten eggs. Certainly a positive frame of mind is a vital part of a functional healthy person; it is what supports us in navigating challenging territory with optimism, but the notion that we should counter all the “negative feelings” with good old fashioned positive thinking leaves no space for inquiry or reality?.

The viewer sees all these suntanned motivational teachers with their multi million dollar lifestyles and statements attributing it all to the Law of Attraction and positive thinking. Well, yes, this is partially true, however I happen to know a couple of these dudes and that they have been through hellfire in chasing their own demons and clearing out their own crap. As a result of hard labor they have reclaimed much of their attention consciously and are therefore able to manifest much more clearly.

Sogyal Rimpoche in his book, “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” references the western culture of New Age Spirituality as a culture of “demigods.” This is exactly what he was speaking to; self satisfied, self indulgent and narcissistic values.

Given the sophistication of many of the presenters in this piece of wishful thinking, I am surprised that they were willing to compromise their reputations as sober guides to a “whole life” by lending their names to this piece of New Age fluff.