But that is exactly what James Allen did with is very popular little book, As a Man Thinketh which came out in the early 1900′s and as is stated in the opening paragraph of the book, “The aphorism, ‘As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,’ not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life.  A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” 

It is possibly from this same idea that Earl Nightingale, often considered to be the founder of modern day personal development, recorded in 1957 the message, The Strangest Secret, which became the most frequently played audio message of its time.  The secret of that time was “you become what you think about” and was considered strange based on Earl’s title.

Now 50 years later we have from the movie and book The Secret which is the Law of Attraction = ‘whatever is going on in your mind is what you are attracting’ = ‘thoughts become things’ = ‘All that we are is a result of what we have thought.’  and many other similar phrases are used by the various teachers that appear as weel as the other luminaries that are quoted in the movie.  These are all further restatements or refinements of this same idea.   

Some of these teachers in the movie The Secret make a special point of mentioning specifically that what they are saying is not simply positive thinking – that it is far more than that.  James Ray, one of the teachers make a special point of saying that the Law of Attraction is much more than simply “thinking”.  He states for the results mentioned in the movie to happen one must go three for three.  By that he means that thoughts are only one third of the “formula” and that ones feelings must also be aligned with the thoughts; that still nothing happens until proper action that is also alignedoccurs.  It is also important to point out that there are other factors also involved in this whole process.

The principle of sowing and reaping is something ever farmer is well aware of and is mentioned in the Bible and referenced in the movie The Secret.  

Almost all of the teachers in the movie make specific mention about the importance of gratitude.  In fact one segment of the movie goes into this in depth.  Similarly, gratitude or being thankful is mentioned many many times in scripture and is very important.

There are also ideas regarding money, prosperity, abundance, healing and relationships that are mentioned in the movie and which have considerable scriptural references concerning in the Bible.  Interestingly enough, money is one of the most frequent subjects found in scripture and the Bible has far more to say than the frequently misquoted verse found in I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” and the verse goes on to say, ”which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”(KJV)  

To be continued.

Norman Vincent Peale said, “I found the solution in simple techniques of faith taught in the Bible.  These principles are scientific and can heal any personality of inferiority feelings…which is another term for self-doubt…”    And the underlying assumption of his teaching was that nearly all basic problems were personal.

 Even though he was extemely popular, Norman Vincent Peale had his critics, who claimed that his message was dangerous and he was a con mand and a fraud.  They went on to say his books were full of anecdotes and were hard to substantiate, that many experts and testimonies he cited were unnamed or unverifiable.  Another criticism given was that his “techniques” or “formulas” were actually self-hypnosis and that that self-hypnosis doesn’t work and may even be dangerous.  The critics went on to say that these auto-suggestions repeated over and over interfere with true thinking and may even destroy self-knowledge and religious growth in the process…that this black and white view of life is distorted and unrealistic and is similar to the view of  borderline personality disorder patients.  They go on to say that in the long run these views will only lead to disillusionment and failure and will boomerang back upon them so that they will prejudice them against effective therapy. 

That was said over 40 years ago.  More recently, Psychologist Martin Seligman, the originator of “positive psychology,” and one of the world’s leading experts on the scientific study of happiness, says “positive thinking” is unproven and dangerous, and he cautions readers not to confuse “positive thinking” with positive psychology. Speaking specifically about Peale, Seligman wrote “First, positive thinking is an armchair activity. Positive psychology, on the other hand, is tied to a program of empirical and replicable scientific activity…. Where accuracy is tied to potentially catastrophic outcomes (for example, when an airline pilot is deciding whether to de-ice the wings of her airplane) we should all be pessimists…. Positive psychology is a supplement to negative psychology, not a substitute.” (Authentic Happiness, Free Press, 2002, pp. 288-299)

This are the same type of cricisms leveled today about The Secret and its teachers. 

From the February 13, 2007 column of The Los Angeles Times article talking about The Secret by Karin Klein states, ”Near as I can tell, the whole idea is just a new spin on the very old (and decidedly not secret) “The Power of Positive Thinking” wedded to “ask and you shall receive.” So it’s not surprising that its author, Australian TV producer Rhonda Byrne, is best known for a show called “The World’s Greatest Commercials.” Warming over others’ old work appears to be her area of expertise. She took the well-worn ideas of some self-help gurus, customized them for the profoundly lazy, gave them a veneer of mysticism — and she tapped right into that wealth frequency. What a pro.”

Is it bane or boon?  What do you think?

One of Peale’s supporters is the Rev. Billy Graham who said at the National Council of Churches on June 12, 1966 “I don’t know of anyone who had done more for the kingdom of God than Norman and Ruth Peale or have meant anymore in my life for the encouragement they have given me. (Hayes Minnick, BFT Report #565 p. 28).

There was actually a movie, One Man’s Way that came out in 1963 about the life of Norman Vincent Peale.  And in 1984 President Ronald Reagan awarded Norman Vincent Peale the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The choice is yours.

People are talking about it.

But what does it really mean to you? 

Its been 12 months since the movie, The Secret, has first appeared.  Quite a following has developed after major TV appearances by “the teachers” of the secret which is the law of attraction, beginning in November on Larry King.   There has been 2 followups shows on Larry King and an all time record setting appearance for feedback on Oprah with an encore one week later.  The national print media along with other TV and talk shows all across the country have picked this up and some controversy has resulted.  Critics are saying it doesn’t work or its a rehash of positive thinking or its dangerous because some may rely on this as a “cure” without seeking proper medical attention for severe health challenges, or they are in for a big let down when they don’t get the results they are desirous.

Others want to know where is God in all this?  They are concerned about bypassing God’s will or getting involved in some ungodly practice.  Some hear mention of “you are god” and “we create our own reality”  and this sounds like very dangerous thinking…wanting to be like God.  

The movie, The Secret, is like many other things that have come along as a challenge to the statue quo.  The movie proposes a new way of looking at and evaluating things in our lives – in fact everything about our lives.  In some ways we “resonate” with the message and in other ways we stop and say, “wait, a minute, it can’t be like that” or “it can’t be that easy, can it?”  For some they desperately want it to be true while for others it’s an obvious pipe dream, a scheme, a new age lie or equivalent.  For those that have been exposed to eastern thought or what are familiar with what is known as the “prosperity gospel” or have seen the movie, What the Bleep Do I know?, probably had an easy time with the movie, gravitated to its message and may have even re-focused some of their activities relative to what was said.   From a more fundamentalist Christian viewpoint there are several things that are said in the movie that may cause a mental red flag to go up or the hair on the back of your neck to raise or a sudden tightening in the pit of one’s stomach or whatever ‘early warning system’ is working for you to tell you, “something’s wrong here”.  Although each of the “teachers” have their own unique perspectives and do not agree with all the different points espoused by the other “teachers” there is some common ground.  Science has been discovering many new things many of which were dramatically shown in the movie, What the Bleep Do I Know?, and have been alluded to, mentioned or referenced in many books, periodicals, newspapers, conferences and on talk shows.  One of the most startling to me that was also highlighted in that movie, was The Message from Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto.  A similar awakening was reading the books The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton and The Divine Matrix  by Greg Braden.  Now one doesn’t have to agree with the conclusions made relative to the various experiments documented in these two books which are representative of scores of books, papers and reports, but one may want to consider that there are new “things”  out there being discovered and not be as many in the past who dogmatically held on to beliefs such as the world is flat or the earth is the center of the universe which dominated society to such a degree that those that challenged such beliefs were tortured and burned at the stake.  We as human beings have definite limitations in our knowledge, our understanding and just because something does not make sense today to our finite minds does not mean that 5, 10 or 50 years from now, it will not be clearly understood by the masses at a future date. 

So today what is The Secret or the Law of Attraction doing for you?

What concerns about what is being said do you have?