Coming out on July 11 will be “The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth about the Law of Attraction” by Jim Garlow and Rick Marschall. I had Garlow on my show recently and we talked at length about the dangers of The Secret. Author Rhonda Byrne, an Australian TV producer with a background in marketing, “discovered” the secret of The Secret back in 2004 while reading Wallace Wattles’ 1910 book “The Science of Getting Rich.” (You don’t need to waste any money on The Secret book or DVD, you can download Wattles’ book for free here.)
According to Byrne, everything is essentially energy, including us, and if we can just learn to vibrate at the right frequency, we can, according to the Law of Attraction, learn to attract desirable things from the Universe. Want a new house, a new car, more money, great health or even romantic partners? Then just emit the right frequency to the Universe and like a mirror, it will bounce back whatever you want. You emit the right frequency when you feel happy and think the right thoughts. Fail to do so, and you attract bad things. Good things happen to those vibrating properly, and bad things to those who don’t vibrate so well.
In other words, it’s the power of positive thinking meets reincarnation and karma. And, like most Eastern religions and their New Age spin offs, The Secret denies the existence of a personal Creator-God, the reality of good and the reality of evil. It offers no solution to the problems of sin, pain, failure and suffering—beyond learning to vibrate at a better pitch.
A very similar criticism goes for “The Power of Now.”
“The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment,” was written by Eckhart Tolle back in 1999. His central thesis is that being fully “in the now,” in this present moment, will allow you to transcend the “pain-body” and reach a heightened sense of peace and aliveness beyond the mind. In fact, thoughts about the past or the future are the source of most of our difficulties. Since only the now exists, it is better to be fully present here than distracted by memories of the past or thoughts about the future. As he says, “True salvation is freedom from negativity, and above all from past and future as a psychological need.”
Exactly wrong.
Paris, you need to remember the past mistakes you made that put you in prison, and to think about how you will live differently once you get out. You won’t ever become that person you long to be by wasting your time learning to vibrate at a higher frequency or by attempting to transcend your conscious mind. You will only become that person when you see yourself through the eyes of Christ who died that you might have life to the fullest, both in the here and now—and on the other side of the veil.
Throw away The Secret and The Power of Now, and read the all-time best-seller—even if Oprah doesn’t have it on her Favorite Book list.
P.S.: Oh, and Paris, when you get out, call me, I’d love to have you on the show to chat! 888-995-KKLA, M-F 4-7pm in Los Angeles. You can call collect.