I just checked out the film at google, I only needed to watch about half of it to realize its BS. Or more accurately; 50% BS. Of course positive(a subjective term) thinking is necessary for achievement, and negative self-talk will produce a negative self-image, which will have a negative impact on one's(and others) life(and vice-versa).
But it seems to me that this Rhonda Byrne dogma has much in common with the Matrix. And George Orwell's 1984.
Or:
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wow! First kudos to commondreams for enlivening this living discussion. Alterjuan, you eloquently took the wind out of my literary sails by saying what I was about to say... when I got this far down the scroll of informed thoughts and opinions. A letter to the editor NOT published by Harper's in response to Barbara Ehrenreich's discussion that now courses in HAPPINESS will be taught at universities. We may not be far from a time when anyone who is cynical (i.e. informed and thus MADE skeptical by the TRUTH of what they see) will be labeled as "mentally off." How easy then for a state that abuses its citizens to merely silence those with wit and eyes to see. Everyone else is being herded into thought control, told that the qualify of their lives is ONLY their own doing. Here's the thing, LIFE IS A SHARED CREATION. Everything dances. Atoms dance, man and woman come together to jointly make life, DNA is a dancing double helix. It's all interactive! Yes. We have a measure of control and responsibility for our beliefs, along with our actions. FEELINGS and emotions are the toughest of what the mystics term "the bodies" to bring into alignment. Is there any wonder in that when we look at how fat Americans have become? How they are forced to STUFF their feelings in lives of lousy jobs, a/k/a quiet desperation? How many drink EVERY day? How many use sports as the new opiate of the peoples, or shopping as addiction, or gambling, or porn, or anti-depressant drugs? It's not just what Noam Chomsky said as per managing consent, it's now managing MOOD. The self-help gurus do their utmost to convince people it's all an inside job. When lots of us went off working on ourselves (I fell for this, too), our whole political machine got taken over. Now the more they tout freedom, or personal responsibility, or BE HAPPY... the worse things have gotten. Maybe we'll all be practicing our William Blake soon, to learn to see eternity in an hour and the world in a grain of sand. If US is unable to re-instate check-balances, I see danger to intellectuals not too far up the road. Regaining lost liberties will be one kick ass bargain. IF positive thinking alone could cut those chains, the world would not be in the mess it's in. As someone else on this site stated, that is a TOOL, but it is not the singular thing. I spent time at a Buddhist monastery in Nepal and asked the lamas whether good karma could be attributable to astrological cycles of positive import, and vice versa. They could not answer. I told them how in the West mind control is being used to leverage affects... to them, this is a dark kind of magic, for it brings to the individual (sometimes these powers DO deliver) what is NOT earned, and that carries karmic penalties, too. There is a saying, "the ill begotten wealth will be given back one way or another," and I think that spiritual mandate holds for MUCH of US capitalism, where resources have been taken at the point of one weapon system or another. In closing, we do enter bodies to gain self-mastery, that is why "He who conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city," makes sense. If only the Bush administration GOT that one down!

I think what irritates me about this line of "reason" is that it's so extreme. I do believe that you have somewhat of a hand in the energy you draw and create around you on a daily basis. But, that said, you do not have control over the rest of the world or their actions and sometimes, there will be overlap.And when that happens, there may be some kind of cosmic reason, perhaps to induce spiritual growth or something, but it is by no means the person's fault. To say somebody drew their rapist to them with their negative thoughts is ridiculous. As far as a person's reaction to trauma or hardship- whateve gets that person through, short of self-destructive behavior, is what is right for them. Positive thinking and visualization may or may not help them later down the line if and when they're more stable but going through as much grief, mourning, etc.. as they need to is essential and not to be seen as weakness or criticized.

Positive thinking and visualization is also not an excuse to dump your friends if they're going through a hard time. That is about the most selfish thing you can do. Instead, you help them however you can and try to imbue some positive energy around them and their situation when they're not able.

Positive thinking and visualization can be a good thing when tempered with compassion, common sense, and acknowledgement of the reality of being human.It can create good things out of bad emotions and situations, such as learning to channel anger into postive action for change for the better or learning to take valuable lessons away from mistakes and misfortune. But, like with anything else, it can be taken to extremes and perverted. And unfortunately, thanks to books of this ilk, that's what most people are exposed to.

The positive thinking movement is only going to get stronger as the political situation worsens. It is a natural, sad attempt by people to control something in this increasingly out of control world, where the individual has less and less real power and the corporation/state dictates more and more aspects of our life, including the right to life itself, based on the principle of maximum profit.

From a psychological point of view, negating our "negative" or "dark" side carries a penalty, as it cuts us off from ANY real feeling, as well as our source of psychic energy, creativity and even intelligence (see Jung's concept of the Shadow). It becomes increasingly easy to consider that victims deserve the situation they are in, that they "thought" themselves into it, that they are paying the price of not being "positive" enough. It also produces the still-birth of any meaningful discussion, search for real solutions or creative attempts at reaching a more balanced situation.

From a cultural/religious perspective, it is also the natural consecuence of taking Christianity (in its present-day form) to its extreme (and illogical) conclusion. Since even THINKING about something bad or evil constitutes a sin, then bad thoughts must be the source of all bad and evil things. So, if your thoughts are positive/pure/radiant enough, a pain-free, ideal life will be manifested.

And from an ecological/global standpoint, this movement constitutes a real global menace. According to it, we're all "entitled" to everything we want, we can all have it all, we all deserve to be fabulously rich, live in mansions, have several luxury gas-guzzling cars, travel wherever we want, etc. Since nothing is as important as the happiness of the individual, other, larger considerations are not taken into account, and if they are, the solution to everything (from global warming to war to poverty to disease) is to happily think it away. It's the American dream run amok, to the Nth degree...

It's also easier and less painful to adopt some kind of blind faith, put our head in the sand and hope bad things will go away if we ignore them long enough, than to do all the work of thinking and acting upon the often hard solutions that are necessary if we are to survive as a culture and a species.

From the scientific viewpoint of Cognitive Neurophysics, there are 5 conditions that are necessary and sufficient to have our brain/neural net automatically and fully set and acheive our goals/dreams. The Secret points out the first condition, that we need to have a clear Guidance Signal (#1). If we don't have our destination clearly defined, we will not get where we want to go. However, The Secret presents inaccurate information when it tells us we need to visual and feel the goal as if it has already happened. If the brain does not perceive a difference between where you are and where you want to be, it can not engage in process of moving you toward your goal.

If you have only 1 out of 5 ingredients for a cake or 1 of of 5 instructions for making a cake, you will never make a cake. All 5 conditions are required if you want to successfuly make a cake our acheive your dreams and goals. The other 4 conditions are:

#2 Value tags (set by the brains dopamine system on every one of our thoughts, feelings and behavoirs to determine specifically which ones will move us most quickly in the direction of our goal. This happens automatically when all of the other 4 conditions are in place.)

#3 Intention (Internal tension created by perceiving the difference between where you are and where you want to be. We need a technology taht provides us with an accurate model that depicts simultaneously where we are and were we want to be.)

#4 Feedback (With a mirror, we can move our appearance from where we are in the morning when we wake up to where we want to be when we leave the house. We need an accurate model/mirror that allows us to see our mind, ie, our unique arrangement of thoughts, feelings and behaviors in its entirity.)

#5 The Most Energy Efficient Pathway (our brains repeat the same negative patterns over and over because they are the most used and take the least energy to repeat in the face of any external stimuli. To change the current neural pathways, you need a technology that allows you to create new neural pathways from debilitating emotions, self limiting thougths and self defeating behaviors to the behaviors, thoughts and emotions that will propel you towards your dreams and goals.)

If you have all five of these conditions, your brain will automatically orchestrate the most effective and efficient thoughts, feelings and behaviors required to acheive your dreams and goals.

I have been studying CNP for the past 7 months and it works like gravity. It has worked just as consistently and powerfully for every one of my friends, family and associates. Cognitive Neurophysics and Mind Imaging (MI) Technologies are the real deal, and not the pseudoscience of the Bleep, and not the philosophy of the Secret, CNP and MI are verifiable, repeatable, and measurable science.

I have spent over $50,000 on self help/development courses, I would trade it all in on the first day I spend studying Mind Imaging. http://www.mindimagingtechnologies.com If you have unfilled dreams and you want a reliable, rapid technology for acheiving your dreams and goals, check out Mind Imaging.

Cynicism is toxic.

Let me just say that of course it helps to think positive. Negativity will just destroy you from the inside. But you can't just get everything you want in life by merely thinking about it.

Eh, I'm a magical thinker too. What do I know?

Ahem. Newton was a total asshole in his private life, despite being a brilliant individual. "Breaking Lebnitz's heart" was his greatest accomplishment in life, after managing to get the Royal Society (or whatever it was at the time) side with him in his claims that Leibnitz plagiarized integral calculus, despite being a genuine co-inventor (of course the British would support their own).

Positive thoughts, those. No wonder he never married.

Positive thinking is actually derived from two things. One is the idea of win-win. You see the left is the home of zero-sum thinking. I'm not rich because he is. But if you understand that your lack of success (as you measure it) is not caused by someone else's, then you can appreciate the amount of opportunity available to you. Now of course, this is true in America and only a few other places where the zero-summers haven't taken over in their bid to take away from the successful and "give back" to the victims.

The other is the idea of subconscious mind. It can either undermine us or work for us, depending on how it is programmed. For most of us it is programmed negatively to some degree by parents, peers, childhood experiences, etc. However, if it is programmed with positive thinking, it can create positive habits that help us actualize our desires. It doesn't make us instantly wealthy, bullet or bomb proof or master of all we see. But it can help.

Its really not that complicated or as all powerful as portrayed above and by that stupid book.

I was born in 1923. I remember:

"How doth the busy bee improve each shining hour."

"Every day in every way I am getting better and better."

It was hard to be an optimist in the 1930's, but I guess I am one. But the poison in "The Secret" is its emphasis on material wealth, and its rejection of any sense of social responsibility.

I have concluded that whatever virtue may still reside in the Left, it is the idea of "win - win", and the essential evil of the Right that everything in the world is zero-sum. "If I'm winning how come you aren't losing?"

I am concentrating on "Impeachment is ON the table!"

Siouxrose

You have mentioned some thoughtful, intelligent ideas in that email about Barbara Ehrenreich's piece. And I'm inspired to read other people's critical thinking on this thread.

I've thought about this problem since I went to a therapist several years ago and we tried some cognitive techniques. I felt like I was trying to master newthink, like Orwell's newspeak. When someone is unhappy there are often very real situations to deal with. Using congnitive techniques feels like you put your hand in a hot frying pan and when it burns up, instead of moving your hand, you learn to think differently about your hand burning. It can almost be like taking a drug that masks the symptoms of your burning hand... Problem is your hand is still burning, no matter how much you mystify it with hocus pocus. When you feel pain it is your body and mind responding and trying to tell you something is wrong. It's important to find out what it is!

When people work longer hours, pay more to live, cope with the war (maybe with knowing people directly affected by it, or by being saddened by the senseless loss of life) or things like this, the result is stress. Isn't it better to find the courage to work to directly relieve the cause of stress, rather than imagining a different reality?

I feel like I have a responsibility to the public, civic reality as well as my own.

This theory reminds me of a quote from Barbara Bush (the elder): "I don't want to clutter my beautiful mind thinking about the death and destruction in Iraq."
I'm paraphrasing but my point is that we have to think about the negative and horrific things going on in this world if we're ever going to stop them and build the kind of world we all dream about.

The Secret was recently pushed on my boyfriend and I by his sister. We immediately saw it for the repugnant ideology it was. That made us negative, pessimists of course. It's caused familial trouble.

What is horrible is that this stuff is being sucked predominantly by women... when they need to be organizing and fighting many major political crises. Not listening to Saint Oprah feeding them more bad religion. (but what religion isn't bad?)

The principle that the secret rests on ,althought heavily disguised ,is "magical thinking" . magical thinking goes way back in our thinking history . this implies if not states outright thatwith ones mind alone one can change ones circumstances and achieve ones earthly desires. similar to this is prayer ,telekinesis ,remote healing,psi, as well as a whole assortment of other thought systems that wish to dispense with cause and effect relationships as well as scientific thinking and experience and history as a whole. It is mysticism pure and simple. for more on magical thinking go to wikipedia and type in "magical thinking "

Christ said that if we but have the faith of a grain of mustard seed we can cast a mountain into the sea. Zen philosophy tells us we can create a path for our arrow with our mind to strike the target. "New Age" spirituality has called it creative visualization or instant manifestation. What the hell is secret about it? I had high hopes for "The Secret" before I saw it, and was apalled by it's focus on individual material gain. "The Secret" is just another example of a charlaton taking an element of spiritual truth and twisting it and packaging it for self-gain. What came to mind as I watched the movie was Disney's version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", where Mickey Mouse uses his master's magic to save himself the trouble of hauling water and almost drowns himself. What's missing from "The Secret" is any sense of responsibility for our actions or compassion for our fellow human beings. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees this. There is still hope, and being positive is helpful, but there's still a lot of physical work to do. Sometimes the universe seems to be randomly indifferent to our wishes, and sometimes magic just happens. We certainly can't control it all, nor should we try. Find your place, do your job in life, and get on with it.
BAHippie

Oh - the other thing I wanted to say is that I look at the stories of how someone wanted/visualized something and they got it as an allegory - I don't take it literally - it's a metaphor for the good that we want in our lives.

It's unfortunate that the Secret movie and book are so focused on money, things etc and very simplistic.

I do see that what we focus on in our lives tends to show up in some way. My concern is that people who believe in the law of attraction are doing the magical thinking thing (like the magic bullet) - "if I am just positive, then I will get everything that I want". It's just not that simple!

I found a quote that makes sense to me, that is "law of attraction"-like.. it seems to be more grounded to me:

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
~ Frank Outlaw

I really like the intention mentioned above: IMPEACH BUSH!!

She urges her readers to shun their friends if they become sick, because "you are inviting illness if you are listening to people talking about their illness".

Imagine if doctors, nurses or anyone who works in the social services felt that way.

Maybe she should read "Many Lives, Many Masters" by Brain Weiss. Here's an excerpt from his book:

"Our task here is to become more Godlike, to recognize the divine and spiritual nature of our soul. To do that, we need to unlearn fear, violence, greed, ego, and power; then kindness, joy, love and spiritual wisdom are all there."

Does anyone remember Jesus shunning or abandoning the sick or poor? As I recall, he was a man of great compassion, courage and humbleness who gravitated toward people in need.

You are, she says, like a giant transponder, sending signals out into the universe. "Thoughts are magnetic, and thoughts have a frequency."

Yes, we are transponders. Do you think you could share some of those "cosmic bread crumbs" (Scott Peck) with other members of the human community instead of using them to find a parking space or to build a superficial mansion?

We divide and separate ourselves from other humans through our ego and fears. She is a Bushite!

Just another example of people's -all or nothing- inability to see the complexity of things. Yes, positive thinking and visualization is an important and powerful tool for navigating through this world which has the potential to heap some massive crap on us, but it is just that- a tool for digging out.

Huckleberry --

"Optimism is just another way for people to lie to themselves"

Truly if Edison has been a "pessimist" we'd still be in the dark! When asked, "how did it feel to fail 999 times in your effort to develop the lightbulb?" Edison replied, "I didn't "fail" 999 times, I found 999 ways that didn't work." Was he "lying" to himself when he kept believing that his idea had merit?

"Those of us with a knack for identifying and analyzing problems are often mistaken for pessimists."

True, but only when they analyze the problem and say, "I've identified & analyzed and my conclusion is.....it can't be done". Edison did analyze and identify and did NOT accept the status quo.. nor have other trailblazers that have improved our lives. If anything, they're the eternal optimists, because they keep believing & keep trying, DESPITE initial failure. They know that there must be a solution and they won't rest until they've found it.

Positive change is always preceded by positive actions whose genesis reside in positive thought.

It's EXACTLY about not accepting the status quo (I guess that, technically, would be a negative thought!) and - optimistically - believing that you can do something about it and taking action to achieve that goal.

It has always amazed me that you can ask just about anybody, regardless of their belief system, if they know a person who has a consistently negative outlook on life and how bad luck always seems to come their way -- and invariably they'll answer "yes, they know somebody just like that" and they'll support the idea that chronic negative thinking seems awfully closely associated with chronic bad luck........but, when you flip the coin and ask them to consider the reverse -- that positive thinking could be linked to positive results, they'll reject it out of hand. Why??? If one could be and seems true......why not the other?

Johann, you are right on the money about the social and economic factors underpinning the growth in the self-help industry. Great stuff!

I hate these schmalz-mongering fraudsters with a passion. The world is being buried under a deluge of their saccharine sweet shite. Our only defense is to cultivate a relentlessly negative and gloomy outlook. At least it makes one more interesting.

Anything designed to oversell the idea of improving your life to make it seem easy and natural is disingenous. Most self-help Gurus know that the majority of sales end up being used as door stoppers and when used, are quickly forgotten.

Self-help is big business and as long as Gurus feel good about sending positive messages, they don't feel so guilty about making millions from unsatisfied customers.

Many business "self-help" books make sense ("Good to Great" is one).

The problem is, in looking for a magic bullet people take the advertising literally (what kind of ads don't oversell?), and then wonder why their not rich and famous after reading it twice.

This has got to be the worst article I have seen posted at Common Dreams, which I otherwise LOVE. I haven't read The Secret but I have read better, earlier items like Florence Scovel Shinn's The Game of Life and How to Play It. Johann Hari makes a few reasonable statements about materialism but her most of her comments seem way overboard and simplistic and the hate talk makes me sick.

Optimism is important but it doesn't by itself solve everything. It is a key, not necessarily the key. We have sacred contracts, all of us. We are spiritual creatures having human existences and are meant to have challenges, yes, even George W. Bush. Personally, I think he is God-awful and a scourge on humankind -- but he and his administration is certainly a challenge. Yes we have to be positive that we can meet the challenge and impeach the son of a Bush. But my God created solutions in part by creating activists such as I and others who read the articles at Common Dreams to learn and then act on them.

I don't care to be rich, but I will work for real peace and true justice and I will have a smile on my face as much as possible because I believe, indeed know, that it is better to walk in the light, even as I recognize that there is darkness. Darkness is fed by hate and I do not choose to add to that. Hari's article is a disservice to the left. Listen to Thom Hartmann (http://thomhartmann.com/) and learn how to talk to those on the right. We don't have to trust them, but we have to deal with them. And hate is violence that adds to the darkness so it is better to love one's enemies, even the Bushies. I will grant you that it is not easy to do but it drives the rightists nuts when you sweetly tell them when they mock your peace signs that you will pray for them. But I do pray for them -- they need the prayers perhaps more than anybody.

Gandhi said that we must be the change we wish to see in the world. That means that we should be peace and be love and eventually good WILL win out. The Hari artilce does not contribute to good albeit it contributes to the discussion. Materialism NO. Optimism and positive thinking -- ABSOLUTELY YES.

Peace hugs!

Funny, I always assumed the Secret was figuring out the way to get born into a wealthy and politically-well-connected family.

We live in interesting times, or as Dickens said, "the best of times and the worst of times".

Diseases have decimated a part of the world I truly adore, southern Africa. Bird flu could spur devastation upon all of us. Many Americans have no medical insurance. At the same time, more and more people have discovered healing, by focusing their thoughts.

Polar ice sheets are melting, hurricane intensity is growing, and forests and species are disappearing. On the other hand, more and more people are demanding organic food, preservation of wild areas, and action on climate change.

We have a president who has tested the patience of people worldwide. The abuses of power we read about daily, however, spurred many voters to end one party rule.

Interesting times. I'm sure injustice and indignation have helped motivate us to work for change. We can be thankful, however, that our nation's founders, while they offered their grievances to the monarchy in the Declaration of Independence, they also affirmed a positive vision about equality and human rights. Though steeped in 18th century prejudices, this was the voice heard round the world.

While awareness of our individual or collective circumstances is important, we harness a lot more power when we keep our eyes on the prize. You can motivate some with stories of outrage, but more often people tune it out, and feel dis-empowered. As one involved in environmental education and at-risk teens, I get much better results by offering reasons for hope and constructive action.

My favorite message in The Secret was about affirming your vision for the greater good. Mother Teresa would not attend an anti-war rally, but throw a peace rally, and she'd be there.

On a separate note, I realize a lot of people are drawn to The Secret for the material stuff. While their scenes of mansions and fancy cars don't appeal to me, it is marketing to a society obsessed with money. The people I've met who promote this area of positive thinking generally note that once this urge for $$$ is dealt with, many people move on to more noble goals. I can say I have seen this happen to several friends and associates.

Tiny footprint,

Positive thinking does work, it seems it is bound by certain conditions. On one hand I can't imagine any situation getting better without increasing the positive thinking, but on the other there are limits. What this book seems to be telling people is to put their blinders on, always have a smile on their face and be motivated, and essentially forget everyone else.

Of all the highly successful people I have dealt with, they won't openly admit to things that are perhaps negative AND truthful. The economy is always generally good, peak oil doesn't exist, this or that really isn't as bad as it seems. This positive thinking is like opium and people flock to them. They calm peoples' anxieties and concerns. In return doors are opened, raises are given, friends are made. The hard truth is people generally have a low tolerance of bad news, and too much of it scares people.

The flip side is these highly successful people are probably repressing tons of frustration, a lot of them probably aren't as happy with their lives as they proclaim and feel obligated to be overly positive to everything since this is what provides their lifestyles. Many are up to their eyeballs in medication for their stress, anxiety and possibly depression. I've seen lots of them get the new car, house, stereo equipment, stuff piled to the ceiling; only to have a "help me!" look on their face when they aren't smiling for the sake of smiling.

To top it off all they have to say is "You should have tried harder", or "You should have researched this on top of everything else you need to do", information or know-how only an insider can comfortably master.

Let's face it, people are more and more frustrated simply because they feel they have less control over thier lives. Less control over your life usually means less time to comfort and console others, even when you would want to if you had the time. Perhaps the common knee-jerk reaction to feeling atomized is to celebrate it and go in the other direction, to exploit it. And this country loves knee-jerk reactions.

Oh! If we had known this earlier, we could won the war in Iraq easily. Quick, let's all visualize for America's success in Iraq!

If only things were that easy. I was sucked into this whole self-help thing as I was about to enter university, and gradually came out of it through increased spirituality. Yes, positive thinking is important, but that doesn't control the outcome of events. "To Action alone has thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive..." - Bhagavad Gita

Here's what turned me off from the Self-help bandwagon - it always revolves around materialism - attaining great wealth, a brand new Mercedes, a yacht, successful career, etc. Whereas all spiritual texts talk about the folly of pursuing wealth.

In conclusion: Think positive, and accept whatever the outcome is.

Wow! So much negativity!

How can anyone go wrong thinking positively? Even when we are challenged in our lives, looking at the challenge as something helpful that will show us an aspect of ourselves or strength we never new we had seems more attractive than letting our opportunities beat us up?

We are all responsible for ourselves and what we believe creates our lives, our society, and if we beleive in poverty, murder, muggings, evil people that want to do us harm we will attract that to us. There is no doubt in my mind about that. Why do you suppose that people that claim they are possessed by the devil are only ever people that believe in the devil? If you don't believe in the devil it's highly unlikely you'll be possessed by it.

History shows that political "solutions", unless they are informed with love and spirituality are doomed to repeat the same patterns of old systems replaced with ones just as bad if not worse.
The Secret is hardly one at all, as people like Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer have written about this idea in depth.
My problem with The Secret is that it seems like an attempt to blend mysticism and consumerism--it just don't work that way.

It's all just used as an excuse to justify the elite's war on poor and working people. They want us to think that poor people are poor because they're lazy and stupid. The guy who drives a bus 12 hours a day and still can't make ends meet for himself or his family is just not ambitious or smart enough. The woman who got raped just brought it upon herself. The black guy who was beaten to death by cops just should have stayed in his own neighborhood. Everyone who is disenfranchised brought it on themselves.

On the other hand, rich people are just wonderful. They "earned" it. They had goals. They "worked hard". Self-made they are. God loves them.

What I love most about these self-help clowns is that they all act as if there's nothing at all wrong with the world except ourselves.

PBS is another party guilty of this kind of tripe. Whenever they have their fund-raising drives, they have all these snake-oil salesmen and women like Suzy Orman, Wayne Dwyer(?) and others trying to convince us that all we need to do is "visualize" success and we'll all become rich and attractive! I guess they figure we'll all be so grateful, we'll donate huge sums to PBS, but I usually just turn it off!

Amway has been using these very techniques of +ve progaganda for quite while now. They used to congregate large groups of ambitous, wanna-be-rich-quick folks together & ask them to shout in chorus inane things like - "I will be the next millionnaire in the USA" or some such. The more fortunate in the Amwway empire had to convince a large group of underlings who would be ready to pay commissions to their higher up in their belief of making free money some day.

There are a whole bunch of self-help charlatans out there, who keep proclaiming: "if I can do it, you can do it too". All these self-help Gurus have to their credit is a high volume sale & propaganda of their self-help crap. These are typically people who have no other achievement in life besides the sales of their make-believe philosophies. They are not high achievers in any other sense of the word: great leaders, teachers, artists, communal or social activists, or policy changers, business leaders, coaches, ...none of these. Their only claim to fame is getting to be rich through the sales of their books and cassettes preaching whatever. Also, all those get-rich-quick philosophies have one thing in common. As more people start following the philosophy, a great many will start to find themselves at the hard-working end with little in return.

The "positive thinking" argument sounds a lot like the chief arguments of Social Darwinism, Manifest Destiny, and the Caste System. They are all modeled in the prevailing philosophy of the day or the culture to justify the status quo.

With better and more thorough access to resources throughout the world, we can all visualize a better reality. On the other hand, I'm not so crazy about what the 1% of the population are visualizing, because their vision threatens the well-being of the entire planet. It isn't what I call positive thinking if it ends up killing us all.

What a welcome and oddly comforting article! As a grief support group facilitator, I have heard far too many times the outrage of grieving people who had been "preached to" about being positive and creating their own realities. Over and over, grieving people have cried how isolated they felt,deemed too "negative" or too "fear-based" by those people stridently promoting this self-help mentality. These grieving people, some traumatized, have been devastated by those self-help remarks, and I know of one woman who attempted suicide after being told she had "attracted" her rapist who sodomized her at gunpoint. I have wanted to come after these writers and these self-helpers for a long time. Actually I have started a book about restoring the lost art of comforting, which I believe is needed in this society now, to help prevent grieving and traumatized peopel from suffering more insults to their injuries. I deeply appreciate this article and it's high time folks started coming out with indignation and good old fashioned human kindness.

This discussion reminds me of the difference between the pessimist and the optimist.

Pessimist: Things couldn't get any worse.

Optimist: Yes they can!

i believe i am rich and my sugar-daddy makes all my dreams come true.

There is a book that predates all of this. Published in 1917, "The Master Key System" by Charles F. Haanel is a much deeper, richer and perhaps more accurate source for the ideas that are coming out in "The Secret" now.

BTW I wish they had spell check on this!!

I also hate Dr. Phil. I once turned on that show and witnessed a woman with several children, I can't remember how many, asking him for advice on how to get help from her husband. She said he refused to babysit or help with the house and kids. They both worked full-time and he would get home and relax or go out with friends while she always took care of everything. Dr. Phil's brilliant conclusion was it was that she needed to focus more on herself and forget about her husband! Very practical. What was she supposed to do with her kids during her new voyage of self-discovery?

I completely agree - we can join together and create a better world. I didn't mean the focus should be on getting more stuff. I meant creating a world with peace and justice for all.

I am so glad someone wrote an artcle dealing with this subject. It has irked me for years.

gmkaake: Having studies the lives and teachings of many mystics, in previous times metaphysical teachings (that could empower individuals) were released when the student showed the moral maturity to use the info for the highest good and purposes. To allot a power to persons who have earned no spiritual merits, invites abuse. To provide a spiritual technology (focused intention) in this phase of gross materiality and focus on getting more STUFF when earth mother can't bear the pressure AS IS, is so morally reprehensible, it truly is a recipe for mass suicide, or expedited extinction of species. Keep in mind sometimes the loss of one member of an ecosystem takes it down, the way one strand ripped from the weave of an intricate fabric unravels the entire garment.

Auspicious bunny: This is why I hate Dr. Phil, that football coach crossed with a Baptist Minister's insistence, whatever the vicissitudes the person faces, that there is ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY to live, conduct a life, express one's energy. Wow. And I'm on for 6. I wrote a fiction where a renegade Buddhist monk and his group of meditation students does exactly THIS... it may be our only remaining power to extract the rot from the cavity that's set into our national psyche.

MLK and Ghandi are wonderful examples. They did resist the system, which goes against what the Secret talks about. What the Secret misses is that MLK and Ghandi aligned themselves with the greater good for all. There is great power in joining our intentions together in this way.

ps. I like the idea if we all really really focus our minds on impeachment tonight...

After reading Barbara Ehrenreich's piece in Harper's, what astounded me was her citing that now universities are using these tactics and offering courses on happiness. Here is another rovian-Orwellian twist on modern US reality. The worse things get for unions, the economy, social justice, the more make the problem about the individual's sphere of thought, or conscious reference system. I noticed this trend beginning about 10-15 years ago when none of what I was writing was getting published, agents said what sold were "the 7 recipes of success" or other feel-good formulaic self-help books. The more people went inward to focus on self-improvement, the more the rightwing took over the various structures of government and media. In fact, just as Calvinism, a core value of the faith-based that back Bush, is that IF you are prosperous, that's proof God is smiling on you. In their literature, it's all about prosperity as if THAT constitutes the Deity's will at a time when EARTH as living being with finite resources, is showing paroxysms of overload and overkill. These beliefs put the onus for change on the individual and effectively KILL the urge for social change done at the group level. I have seen lots of intelligent people fall for this tripe, and it's been demoralizing to watch. Generally Oprah is a symbol of conspicuous consumption, a cornucopia of endless having at a time when the natural world is like a broken mother asking, "haven't you had enough?" The Indigenous considered the impact their usage patterns would have upon future generations, our nation, led by corporations, only translates nature into temporal profits to serve the quarterly profit lust of the already wealthy. It's a more modern version of cannibalism...

I think this is the issue with the cognitive therapy thing right now. It's not that cognitive therapy doesn't have some good, practical ideas. But it consistently seems to throw all the responsibility on the individual without considering the many forces outside of an individual that affect someone's life. One person (as others have said here) can get together with others and try to make things better for people. But cognitive therapy doesn't generally inspire this, because it focuses all the responsibility on the individual. However we have some really great examples to look at, such as Martin Luther King and Gandhi who were quite positive!

I don't know if it will work, but nothing else has worked so far.

I pledge that tonight at 6:00pm EST I will close my eyes and visualize IMPEACHMENT really hard.

This precedes the 50's. Napoleon Hill wrote much of the same during the Depression of the 30's (which, when I think of it fits quite nicely with this Hari's premise).

I started the book, and tried hard to ignore or replace the words money and wealth (not an easy task) which, it was assumed, could be the only things people ought to desire.

I think there is a lot of merit to having a positive outlook, and to trying to cultivate good characteristics on a personal level. The sad thing is that this is contrasted with collective action, or solidarity with those who suffer, as though it has to be one extreme or the other.

The concepts that we have no control over our lives, or that we have complete control over our lives, are equally ridiculous (with notable exceptions, such as infant mortality among others). It's a continuum, not an on/off switch.

Everything in the universe is energy and your intention influences energy. This is a fact, whether you believe it or not. And if you don't believe it, it would be well worth your time to try out some experiences in this area. It might open up a whole new reality for you. Here is a very simple experiment you can try with a few friends at home (I dare you). Join hands in a circle, then have everyone intend energy to move to the left. Then stop, then try reversing the direction. The more poeple in the circle, the more intense it will feel. You will feel the energy moving, especially in your wrists and forearms. There are many, many poeple who can not only feel the energy but also see the energy. Everyone has the potential ability, all it takes is focus and practice. If you really want to delve deeper into first hand experiences, try an introductory course at Wakepoint:
http://www.wakepoint.com/energyhealing.php

This is what the Secret is all about - using your intention to create something in your life. And the more people who join their intention together the greater the impact. Obviously it doesn't mean action isn't required. That's just silly. We need to focus our intention and organize our action together to create a better world. So why isn't the world a better place? Well - we don't all agree about that do we?

I completely agree that the Secret presents this information from a very selfish point of view and that the author and experts are primarily motivated by money.

Optimism is just another way for people to lie to themselves.

Those of us with a knack for identifying and analyzing problems are often mistaken for pessimists.

However, one might contend that dissatisfaction and discontent is the only thing that has driven humanity to change things for the better.

Had Edison or Westinghouse been content with the Status Quo, we'd all be in the dark.

Optimism and pessimism are dead words and dead philosophies, simply because each person defines them differently. They are much more than a rosy or dour outlook. But optimism will get you into a lot more trouble than pessimism will. Optimists manufacture hope when there is none. Pessimists manufacture problems where there are none. Both are dysfuctional and dangerous.

My beliefs affect my reality. But your beliefs and my boss' and my neighbor's change my reality too.

I believe that Good ultimately trumps evil. But I have found that if I set my eyes on some alternate reality, I will not make it through the pitfalls of this reality. Is that optimism or pessimism?

"I was going to join the optimist's club, but I didn't think they'd let me in" - Steven Wright

Okay everybody, tonight at 6:00pm EST close your eyes and visualize really hard: IMPEACHMENT

oops, more...

- blame yourself and nothing else.

- don't even THINK of organizing with others in your predicament

- Solidaridi - what?

This whole self-help philosoophy is just part of the narrative of capitalism.

- Nothing exists but the atomistic individual.

- Ther is no society (Thatcher)

Typographical error:

"This review view, such as it is, tends to get me just as irked."

That should read "This reverse view..."

Thanks. And I promise to proof read better next time.

Of course, we all do realize, I hope, that there is some vague degree of reality to thinking positively instead of negatively.

NOT in the way NOR to the extent, that Byrne puts it! We would have to be idiots to believe that "if we believe" then we can "have" (A) a mansion, (B) be rich, etc.

Come to think of it, isn't this just the SECULAR version of that "seed faith" preaching that Oral Robert, Jimmy Swaggart, and several others did a few years ago? (And apparently is still around, too, to a smaller degree)

There people were "taught" to "seed" their "faith" - of course, this ALWAYS meant GIVE THEM MONEY, and by "seeding" (giving money) they would drive big cars, get rich, etc.

Some even taught if you gave $100.00 God would "give" you $1,000.00 back.

No one thought to discuss how this was teaching GREED, and the LOVE OF MONEY, which are TWO things the Bible is distinctly against.

So...now we have the secular version.

Oye Vey, and a few other words.....

When I say "...that there is some vague degree of reality to thinking positively instead of negatively..." I want to make myself clear. I speak on the basic. Not with intent of monetary or wealth-endowed results.

Case in point: one of my friends gets morbid every now and then. Not thrilled with her marriage (many aren't), kids drive her crazy (they often do), and the drudgery of financial strain, from month to month, wear her down.

All well and good in that I can accept that.

But what I cannot accept is when she starts to (literally) WHINE and say "I've come to the conclusion that I was just meant to be unhappy in life."

The idea being that God forced a life "of unhappiness" on her.

This review view, such as it is, tends to get me just as irked.

There are things you can do, limitedly.

There are changes you can make, to a degree.

But to do nothing, make no changes, and announce that you are "meant" to be unhappy (by God doing it to you), is IMHO just as incorrect as any of the rest of this is.

To that end, I DO say that you CAN have a positive outlook, if you want to, most of the time, and it DOES make things better.

But still, this GREAT SECRET we all heard about is.....nothing but pandering for money from the foolhardy.

Oh, and I am sorely disappointed with Opra. Of course, we never see eye to eye, but I would have liked to have thought she might have thought twice about such a scheme.

After all, she already has her wealth. Why deceive others?

Johan, I've been thinking very much the same thing about "The Secret" since it was first pushed at me by rich-but-socially-and-politically-inactive people I'm acquainted with. I even posted a picture of a starving child in Darfur to them and asked if the child was guilty of negative thinking. So I put my thoughts out there at that frequency and voila-- the next thing I know here's this article of yours! You said it better than I could have, but I'll take the credit anyway because you were obviously responding to my thought ;-)

Then there was that Guru who thought we could mediate our way to peace and that German guy who thought up the "Final Solution"...-

yes indeedy the man who mugged me must have been imagining a victim and presto majesto i came along. so the true test is a....duel between a mugger and a victim at 50 paces... each imagining the other under their power . May the greatest wisher win. The true joke is that she must be imagining all the $$$$$ in the bank,counting all those zeros after the deposit sum. well Barnum got one thing right "a sucker is born every minute"

Frankly, I prefer Donald G. Smith's 1977 book "How to Cure Yourself of Positive Thinking."