The Secret

[Roseman]

It's a lost cause, man.

In an argument with a man who knows no wrong, you can either be wrong or you can be wrong.

 

[CrackerJax]

well u are on here acting like we are selling a book, we are discussing what it talks about, not the economic value of someones train of thought,

I wasn't acting LIKE that at all. You presume too much.

It's a lost cause, man.

In an argument with a man who knows no wrong, you can either be wrong or you can be wrong.

It's not a right or wrong issue. It's about seeing the manipulation. You needn't buy anything to have a positive outlook. There is no real law of attraction that can "shape" the future.

It's the same ol message in new packaging.... but inner peace is free of charge...it cannot be purchased.

Now if you told me that the authors were not making a penny, but were donating 100% to say, a charity, I would be leaning the OTHER way.

Hucksterism comes in many forms, and CJ doesn't like any of them....no matter how slick the message is.

 

[edwardtheclean]

im more of techy when i look at it i guess, you can read almost anything on the internet, free of charge, knowledge is free, i see what u r sayin, id like to just talk about the things that i can speak for, from that message, or many, however, some of it is great stuff,

people should not be sold on anything that is trying to be sold though, so there i think i understand your stand, understand your stand, ha, but remember technology is your friend

 

[edwardtheclean]

so the message i think is what u think becomes reality, and obviously there is an extent in which it goes to, but if you want to reply, you will reply and you will also become what you are, and who you are around, if you haven't already, me too

 

[klmmicro]

Ever met a person with a library of self help books they have purchased and read? That is where most of these books are aimed. One should not have to read that they should think positive, but some event, or series of events have trained them into the negative. They KNOW that they should not be thinking negative, but they still are. Hence the proliferation of self help books covering the same ground ad nauseam.

Positive thought will work in anyone's life to make them better for themselves. Once they are able to be good for themselves, then they will begin to attract others that are of like mind. Seems a lot reading is involved figuring this out for some. Help where we can. Give freely that which helps and it comes back to you. Entire worldwide organisations have been based this way

 

[Roseman]

so the message i think is what u think becomes reality, and obviously there is an extent in which it goes to, but if you want to reply, you will reply and you will also become what you are, and who you are around, if you haven't already, me too

my grown son, 35 years old, says I got him a miracle by teaching him positive imaging and how to control his destiny with positive thinking. . His 39 year old wife got pregnant and had a baby AFTER the DR told her she oculd not get pregnant.

it all goes back to the old adage,
what the mind can conceive, the man can acheive.

If you can make yourself believe it, then you can make it a reality. Plain and simple as that.

I actually teach a class on it in a woman's prison. POSTITIVE THINKING and POSITIVE IMAGING are the books we use. And of course THE SECRET.

 

[CrackerJax]

im more of techy when i look at it i guess, you can read almost anything on the internet, free of charge, knowledge is free, i see what u r sayin, id like to just talk about the things that i can speak for, from that message, or many, however, some of it is great stuff,

people should not be sold on anything that is trying to be sold though, so there i think i understand your stand, understand your stand, ha, but remember technology is your friend

No worries.... u feel passionate about it and I respect that.

I just abhor the mass marketing of happiness. True happiness comes from within.... you can't buy it.

These type of books either subtly or not, push the idea of destiny..... but there is absolutely no evidence of destiny.... just ppl filling in the gaps with hindsight.

Religion works the same way.

 

[morgentaler]

More power to anyone that would like to ignore any posts. I don't find the "La la la I can't hear you!" approach all that effective, but 9/10 four year olds would probably challenge me on that

As has been stated above, there is nothing wrong with positive thinking. It can't effect your health, your outlook on life, and your interactions with other people and situations.

But positive thinking and magical thinking are not the same thing. James Randi states it very plainly here, in a way that's easily understood:

(5) What harm does it do to simply let people believe in silly things? Why do you take away their pleasant delusions?
The potential harm is very real, and dangerous. Belief in such obvious flummeries as astrology or fortune-telling can appear — quite incorrectly — to give confirmatory results, and that can lead to the victim pursuing more dangerous, expensive, and often health-related scams. Blind belief can be comforting, but it can easily cripple reason and productivity, and stop intellectual progress. We at JREF never try to impose our beliefs or philosophies on others; we only try to inform them, and suggest that there are alternate choices to be made. Examples of personal tragedies resulting from an uncritical embrace of supernatural claims, are plentiful.

As Dawkins said, "It's good to have an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out."

When you get down to it, "The Secret" is psychic power silliness, and being featured on Ophrah does not give it credence.

I don't care if the people with their (figurative) fingers in their ears ever see this. If you can't rationalize out that you're being sold a fake bill of goods, you're probably unreachable until your wallet is empty. But if someone else comes along and sees the thread and says, "My money is better spent elsewhere, and maybe I should think more on things like this before falling for them." then mission accomplished.

Keep thinking positively, but not magically.

 

[jfgordon1]

La la la I can't hear you!

 

[morgentaler]

La la la I can't hear you!

That's a shame. I was going to tell you that your avatar has caught fire.

 

[jfgordon1]

That's a shame. I was going to tell you that your avatar has caught fire.

haha i tried to rep you on that , but it appears i can't do so.

funny shit!

 

[edwardtheclean]

More power to anyone that would like to ignore any posts. I don't find the "La la la I can't hear you!" approach all that effective, but 9/10 four year olds would probably challenge me on that

As has been stated above, there is nothing wrong with positive thinking. It can't effect your health, your outlook on life, and your interactions with other people and situations.

But positive thinking and magical thinking are not the same thing. James Randi states it very plainly here, in a way that's easily understood:
As Dawkins said, "It's good to have an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out."

When you get down to it, "The Secret" is psychic power silliness, and being featured on Ophrah does not give it credence.

I don't care if the people with their (figurative) fingers in their ears ever see this. If you can't rationalize out that you're being sold a fake bill of goods, you're probably unreachable until your wallet is empty. But if someone else comes along and sees the thread and says, "My money is better spent elsewhere, and maybe I should think more on things like this before falling for them." then mission accomplished.

Keep thinking positively, but not magically.

ok guys again, we r not sellin anything, are you guys here trying to buy something? or get people not to buy? any how, for the last time, its free, for you guys that are so smart and spend time tellin people what not to do or buy or listen to or whatever, cool, but please remember, i started this thread to talk about how cool it would be to live a negative free life, and how you can go through life never being positive and all that, know one here is getting sold a fake bag of goods or however you said it, no one is buying anything, knowledge is free, THE SECRET is free fellas, u kee talkin about spending money elsewere, wtf?

 

[CrackerJax]

The selling is inside the book..... no?

 

[edwardtheclean]

negative people live a negative life, wouldnt it be awesome if someone figured out that the mood they are in will actually affect their day? that when they choose to be angry, nothing good will come out of it? people choose to worry, worry about bills for example, people stress over their bills every month but in reality nothing has changed in a year, so what would be the point of worrying and stressing out over them? shit, thats a secret to some people, money in, money out, not enough, have enough, you see what im sayin?

 

[edwardtheclean]

The selling is inside the book..... no?

well yea, but im sayin that no one is wasting money buying a book to get a better life, thats stupid,

 

[edwardtheclean]

if you live a stress free life, then you will be happier, people choose what mood they are in, unless they need medicine or whtever, like my girl could wake up and be in a pissy mood, i bet money nothing good will happen while she is in a pissy mood,

 

[Stgeneziz]

So let me get this straight... Just because somebody somewhere marketed this Idea for a profit it makes the Idea or thought invalid?
While I agree that some ppl have waayyy too many self help books, I also think that some people do need a reminder from time to time... just to "be a good person", for some ppl that reminder can be a book, or a charm, or a tattoo, it really doesn't matter. We all have our own ways...

 

[morgentaler]

oops. above when i said it "can't affect your outlook", that was a typo. I meant to say that positive thinking "can affect your health, life, and interactions with others."

It's the magical thinking aspect that is all wonky. The Secret sells magical thinking. And the issue with things like magical thinking and astrology and all that is that if a person buys into one, it's all too easy to buy into the others.

The fuss about Oprah was that she preached The Secret as the answer to all life's problems, and one of her worshippers took that literally and gave up cancer treatment.

If our rational negation of it stops one person from putting money in the hands of the hucksters, that's cool with me. But don't stop thinking positively, even if you're positive that we're spoilsports

 

[morgentaler]

oh well, who cares? Are they both females? I wonder why they have females on their Avatars made me think? maybe they are just.....well, females. LOL you know how females are and can be more often? Negative as the dark.

Wow, I didn't know badly rendered neon signs could type...
Does this mean that all the users with pot plants for their avatars are sentient plants? Amazing!

As for the commentary on women... misogynist much? That's certainly not a product of "positive thinking".

 

[krustofskie]

Are you saying that people's avatars are not themselves because I am a pot smoking orangutan, got good IT skills too.