Bringing ___(?) To Billions?
Our first thought was to just ask you to read what the ever-so-out-of-touch The Secret founder wrote below, and then just write:
“Any Questions?”
You know, like that old commercial: “This is your brain on drugs…”
The idea was to provide an element of rhetorical energy around why we do we what we do… which is: purposely spin a little critical-thinking and common sense around Manifestation/LOA precepts and practices.
But then, it hit us that some of our NEW LWL subsribers would probably misinterpret that by thinking that we’re saying we actually agree with the nonsense below.
First, we’ll re-post the nonsense, which was disguised, of course (as always) with a dash of “lofty-head-in-the-clouds-feel-good” energy:
Entertaining and Amusing thoughts from…
The Secret Daily Teachings
“Whatever feelings you have within you are attracting your tomorrow.
“Worry attracts more worry. Anxiety attracts more anxiety. Unhappiness attracts more unhappiness. Dissatisfaction attracts more dissatisfaction.
“AND . . .
“Joy attracts more joy. Happiness attracts more happiness. Peace attracts more peace. Gratitude attracts more gratitude. Kindness attracts more kindness. Love attracts more love.
“Your job is an inside one. To change your world, all you have to do is change the way you feel inside. How easy is that?
May the joy be with you,”
Rhonda Byrne
The Secret… bringing joy to billions
Now, for our take on her surface-level, non-intellectual drivel…
– Cont’d –
>> Feelings are only one aspect — one component — of being a person of accomplishment; a person who has the power to experience a different future, including a short-term (tomorrow) future. In other words, what you feel AT THIS MOMENT not only may change in three minutes, but it certainly doesn’t take control of your body and make you into an automatron who can ONLY experience that SAME feeling tomorrow. More…
>> No, Rhonda’s frightful so-called “bad” feelings, listed above, don’t attract more of the same. What they DO is snowball, if you let them, but again… that’s your choice. You’re not a mindless robot. If you worry about something in the moment when the worry is warranted, and then move on once you’ve solved what you’re worried about, you’ll be fine. More…
>> No, Rhonda’s delightful so-called “good” feelings, listed above, don’t attract more of the same. They may attract more opportunities to feel that feeling again… but it’s up to you to let that happen, and follow through on the experience. On the other hand, if you think clinging to “happiness” or “joy” will make your life perfect, you’re going to end up acting like the classic alcoholic, which is usually in denial of reality. More…
>> Your job is to blend and adapt your inner — your thinking, your belief systems, your discovery of self — to your outer. The human brain doesn’t operate in a vaccum. Nor do you live in one. You are exposed to “outside” stimuli — people, events, situations, scenery, etc. — that also plays a part in the reality you experience. While “change” and experiencing bigger and better “results” STARTS with proper mindset, conscious awareness, and metaphysical conditioning, that activity, by itself, does NOT produce it. More…
>> “How easy is that?” What is this, an ad for Staples? We all know that even getting office supplies is NOT as simple as banging on a big red button, OR working up a FEELING of joy.
And, the whole elitist “bringing joy to billions” tagline just doesn’t do it for us. Not only does it reek of “delusions of grandeur,” but it stinks of a McDonald’s commercial (how many billions have you served, Rhonda?) Hmm… do we see a trend here? Is The Secret just empty commercialism taken to the extreme?
Anyhow, the point here is this: even if there is SOME truth to what Rhonda wrote, we don’t think (or feel) that the current trend of putting out little feel-good soundbites, with no explanation of deeper meaning, is doing anybody any good.
That shallow one-dimensional type of thinking (“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!”) is fine for preschoolers, but we’re all adults here. We can’t just go around clapping our hands all day, every day, and chanting, “If I’m happy, I’ll be happy… because I’m happy… and that’ll make me happy!”
Rhonda’s email is the equivalent of spiritual junk food. Ahh… now THAT’S why she’s trying to sound like McDonald’s!
If you’re tired of the junk and want some REAL results in your life — the financial kind, which more people struggle with than anything else — we have the solution for you…
Your Partners in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,
P.S. By the way, our Wealth Vault Charter offer ends tonight at midnight (EST)
Filed under: Self Help Nonsense
YOU ALL NEED TO READ “INFINITE MIND”
BY DR. VALERIE V. HUNT
[Heather’s Reply]:
APPARENTLY IT DIDN’T GIVE YOU THE ABILITY TO ARTICULATE YOURSELF IN ANY SORT OF INTELLIGENT WAY BESIDES YELLING IN ALL CAPS!!!
And that, dear Bill, is the whole point… talking about, or reading about, vibrational energy is one thing. Great, wow, whoopee!!!
But what does it DO FOR YOU, and what you experience and achieve, in your everyday life?
Talk is cheap, but the buck stops where the REAL living begins.
The Rhonda Bryne excerpt is definitely a bunch of crap and I’ll prove it.
Right here… Right NOW.
[ to any LWL reader ]: Look back on your life and find almost any defining moment. You’ll discover that usually a period of negative thoughts and emotions (adversity) triggered you to change.
Maybe you were in a bad relationship, a bad job or some bad decisions… either way, you “woke up” and “felt the pain” and MADE A DECISION to change things.
Well… if the above horse crap Rhonda Byrne is spewing were true, you wouldn’t have grown from your experience.
After all, anger attracts anger, anxiety attracts anxiety…
What a crock of rooster poop!
I remember all these people at my friends office got so wrapped up into “The Secret” when the movie came out… then the OPRAH THING with that “Little Elf” looking Dude Eckhart Tolle.
I was laughing my ass off at all these people while they’d scoff at me “You’re just so negative”. I’d reply…
Negative? Me?
You gals are making me laugh! I’m being entertained!
Keep it going!
Well, that was some time ago and they don’t scoff at me anymore. Most of them just conclude they were looking for something to “get excited” about.
I think a good title for a book about self-help mumbo jumbo and the people who push it would be
“Why Self-Help Books AREN’T Working and What You Can Do About It…”
Oh, and the “Bringing Joy to Billions” thing had me rolling…
God I love this site!
Whoa Heather… No offense, but I felt that was perhaps a bit harsh to say Bill couldn’t articulate himself “in any sort of intelligent way”. How could one tell from just two lines… Do subscribers now have to fear being insulted or attacked for adding our two cents? Or is it just “NO CAPS ALLOWED”?
I use caps to EMPHASIZE something, not to yell, maybe Bill does too.
I love your work nevertheless 🙂 Just thought I’d speak up
Best wishes,
Mona
[Heather’s Reply]:
Mona, nearly everybody uses caps SOMETIMES to emphasize things… as illustrated right there.
The key is that they’re used sparingly… typing in ALL caps is the equivalent of yelling, and writing “YOU ALL NEED TO…” is just offensive.
Do you call that two cents? I think it’s worth less than that…
And I stand by the sentiment that there’s no intelligent articulation in what Bill posted. Why do we “all need to” read it? What did Bill get out of it? What did he learn? How has he used that information to affect his life? What’s the value in the book? What are the key points? How does it relate to the post?
He has said NOTHING to support his statement — or, rather, his order.
Intelligent commenters have nothing to fear… people that are just trying to force an agenda with no thought behind it do (if getting a straightforward reply from us is something worth fearing).
cheers
Heather
Have any of you read “The Answer” by John Assaraf and Murray Smith? It goes far beyond The Secret and explains the neuroscience behind The Law of Attraction. Then it does what The Secret never explains…That you must TAKE ACTION on your thoughts. You cannot just sit there and think. You must go out and work toward your goals, purpose or mission. I found a great amount useful information in growing my passion and purpose. I would love anyone’s take on this book. Thanks!
[Barry’s Reply]:
Wow, Suzanne, I’m in total awe… you mean to tell that it took another self-styled metaphysical book to counter the supposed notion that in order to for us humans actually experience what we say we want, or walk our talk, that we just can’t “sit there and think.” Ooooo mamaaaaaa, I do believe nirvana for us all can now be achieved.
Okay, look, let’s get real here. And let’s give credit where credit’s due. Actually, several key teachers in ‘The Secret’ did talk about movement, action, inertia, etc. But, come on, why do you feel that having a book that may FOCUS on that aspect of achievement is so revealing?
I can tell you with 100% conviction, by the way, that high-achievers in society don’t need a book to tell them to “take action.” Not only is it inherent in the fabric of their common sense, it’s not something they need to study. It’s just so obvious that it’s a given.
[Heather’s Reply]:
It’s almost like the people who didn’t understand that ‘The Secret’ said anything about taking action are just looking for a magic pill. They want to believe that it’s possible to “Think… and Grow Rich” rather than “Think and Grow… Rich,” the latter interpretation emphasizing that there’s some physicality to it all.
Could ‘The Secret’ have made it more clear? Sure. Does the movie have other shortcomings? Of course, all movies do (there’s our ever-present yin-yang again).
Glad you found your “Answer”… we just find it highly amusing that people continue to bring this up as if hearing “take action” is some big revealing a-ha moment! 😉
The articles on this web site are very realistic and I’ve learned a lot.
I hope other people get as much out of it as I have.
You did observe that there is Some truth in what Rhonda wrote, and this is what the majority of people react on – thus she keep making sales no matter the hype (“bringing joy to billions”) in this message of hers.
.-= TatianaV´s last blog ..Happy Valentines Day to the readers of Totally-Useless.com =-.
I think you’re a little harsh on Rhonda from the standpoint that “The Secret” was a very important, eye opening experience for me!
I had gotten SO upset with the christian version of God (the separate entity who watched from afar, playing hide-and-seek with my “purpose”, too busy causing tsunamis to even hear me swearing my fool head at “him”, blah blah blah…) that I gave up the whole ball of wax. I wasn’t the least bit interested in religion, “God” or spirituality at all. Screw the whole mess!
Out of that, and after a brief cool down period, the universe saw fit to finally put something worth chewing on in front of me by my seeing some of the teachers from “The Secret” as well as others of the ilk on the Larry King Show before the dvd hit it big. I was immediately hooked! A hell of a shiny carrot had just been dangled in front of this boy!
I got the dvd and was reduced to tears (and I still can be when I watch it) by the concepts presented. Yes, it’s a sort of Pablum approach, but that’s what I needed, as I think many of us do in the beginning! If it laid out all the difficulty I was about to encounter, I might never have given it a decent shot.
That got me started on a course of study that’s still in full swing to this day and will continue for the rest of my life. That was in 2006 and I’ve amassed an impressing little library of literature and dvds as well as lots of pdfs examining all aspects of the LOA, and not just the easy stuff! I particularly love that science and spirituality are finally shaking hands!
Not only that, but in digesting this material, I HAD to go through an at times VERY painful series of examinations and deconstructions of my belief systems, but I was willing to do the work, and still am, in order to continue to feel the joy of the journey!
As an artist and musician, I’ve never been one to shy away from serious pain such as marital separation and such because I know that’s where the richest soil is! When the Frankenstein monster said to VanHelsing “I am accustomed to pain, sir.”, VH’s reply is PERFECT when he says “It lets you know you’re alive!” INDEED!! Heart wrenching, soul searing pain doesn’t attract more of the same to the wise man. It attracts clarity, wisdom, freedom and opens the door to such amazing growth!!!
Although Byrne’s parting message in the film is inscribed in the sand “FEEL GOOD” and that certainly may be simplistic, it’s still exactly what I needed at the exact time I was ready (“when the student is ready…”) to get me on my way towards a much more amazing existence! So hats off to Miss Rhonda for putting out a positive consistent message to a world that needs to be shaken awake to it’s true nature! The true seekers will look further on their own, so be nice.
Love and blessings to you both!
Mike
[Barry’s Reply]:
Mike, we’re just gonna have to agree to disagree on how “harsh” Heather and I were on Rhonda, or whether her views about what constitutes making a difference in the world are grounded in substantive measure. And, by the way, neither what Rhonda said in her email, nor how she consistently speaks/writes from a very lofty, ascension-based, rainbow-in-her-head sort of way, has anything to do with the multi-mentor teachings that make up the movie called ‘The Secret.’
(Note: If anybody can be confident in saying that, we can, as we’ve had intimate, long-format, conversational interviews with 10 of the teachers, and more than 190 other personal peak-performance teachers).
But Rhonda’s “positive consistent message”, as you call it, is not necessarily what the masses need. Life’s not meant to be 100% positive, as your Frankenstein example illustrates — and yet, she would have us believe it is.
( we’ve addressed this many, many times on this blog, by the way. While there’s many post that give some deeper thoughts around it, one such easy-read that comes to mind is this one HERE )
And, yes, I can relate to how it would allow you to break free of stifling and restrictive fundamentalist-Christian teachings and belief systems. The idea of visualization and basic inner-world spiritual concepts did that for me many years ago.
Yet, keep something very IMPORTANT always in the back of your mind. The more enamored you attempt to be with a NEW, seemingly much-more-expansive ideology, the more potential you have to be sucked into doing, saying, and believing what new extremists bring your way. In other words, be careful not to let ‘The Secret’ (or its equivalent LOA/Manifestation/Conscious-Living gurus) be your GOD.
The Secret did a good job in bringing all this metaphysical stuff into the mainstream. People who were so inclined could then investigate some of the teachers involved and find out what they really have to say.
But I thought Rhonda herself would move on from just skimming the surface. If anything, she has gone the other way, with her head firmly in the clouds.
If she is going to send out this nonesense, she could learn from Mike Dooley and at least make it fun.
Rich
.-= Rich Russell´s last blog ..Mike Dooley – Playing The Matrix =-.
Hey guys,
I enjoyed your posts and your responses to the comments. Let me add what I think is missing from the current law of attraction movement, which started with the release of “the secret.”
I think it overemphasizes shallow techniques over substance, which produces very little change, if at all. To really be true to the law of attraction, you need to “trully” change your character.
“Feeling good” and “positive thoughts” just aren’t capable of producing the kind of change that would make you a magnet for what you want.
Short-term techniques produce short-term insignificant manifestations. That is why I’m not a “law of attraction” coach, but rather a “transformation” because you have to be transformed before you can attract.
Barry and Heather had to change from the people they were before they could attract the lifestyle they now live, right guys?
I had to change!
Oprah Winfrey had to be transformed from the shy girl who was afraid to interview Hollywood stars on the red carpet to the billionaire mogul she is today.
Thats all for today.
Cheers!