Author: Rhonda Byrne
Genre: Self Help, Spirituality
Where to get it: Any Book Shop
Rating: (1) Green Peace should have protested more to prevent cutting trees for this book’s papers!

A friend read The Secret and raved about how great it is. Another friend went and bought copies to each member of our group. This seemed to be a must read book; Oprah after all not just endorsed The Secret but attributed her success to it. I’m not into Self Help books, but this was one came highly recommended.

Plus I wanted to know the ancient secret, hidden from most of mankind!! So I read it. Lets just say The Secret is a FARSE!!

The Secret idea is based on positive thoughts.  If you want something, think of it with loving and positive feelings and it will, voila, “manifest”. Simply, it says you can have it all without trying very hard, because you are the “most powerful transmission tower on in the world.”

It reminds of my wish of a perfect exercise: thinking of an exercise routine while lying on bed, and getting a toned body without sweating or moving a muscle. It’s a nice dream but we all know it won’t work!

I loved in particular this bit: “Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight.”  I’m eating a double chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I’m going to be thin!! Bush must know “the secret” too. His position on global warming is quite similar: worry about carbon emissions warming Earth and they will worm it!!

Funnily enough The Secret also says that NOTHING happens to people that isn’t brought to them by their own persistent thoughts. That means those killed in Kurdistan, Iraq, Palestine, The World Trade Centre and in the Asian Tsunami were killed because they were “transmitting” the wrong signals. The Africans brought hunger onto themselves too. They caused all the problems to themselves. So why should we donate to help relieve anyone in distress? Yippy, the Secret says we can keep our money and live guilt-free!! But did Oprah really endorse someone saying that molested children, rape victims & sick people have all attracted the pain with their thoughts, they “manifested” the pain??!!

I do believe that out thoughts can turn a situation around for us. When going through hard times, we can focus on the other blessings in our lives and start to feel grateful. It doesn’t mean we’ve changed our lives but rather our perception of it.

This does not mean that if I think that my credit card bill this month will be low, I would get all what I bought for free, or Aladdin’s Genie will magically pay it all! What happened to the notion of working to fulfil your dreams?

I think reading the Secret is an experience similar to attending a pagan ceremony, you know, the sort that is held under moonlight, in a secluded area, with lots of hands waving and touching others (!!), chanting of meaningless mantras, some exotic drums, maybe some face or body paints, maybe some nudity and lots of lunatics!!