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ON2 LF
The Secret held no appeal to me whatsoever, it just reeked of everything that creates such a hunger in people that they sell their souls to reach it.

Well said! The only thing saving my friend from being sucked into an LGAT that sells these beliefs that will fix your life is that she doesn't have the money. And, that is a damn good thing!

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The only thing saving my friend from being sucked into an LGAT that sells these beliefs that will fix your life is that she doesn't have the money. And, that is a damn good thing!

it seems ironic that the very thing that drives LGATS ($$$), is also the very thing that will prevent some people from getting caught in the claws of the deceivers. If a person has $$$, they are fair game, if a person has no $$$, they get to keep their life in reality. I hope, in a kind way, that your friend doesn't come up with money any time soon.

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skeptic
Anyone hear of it, know anything?

A friend told me about it today, it was on Oprah. Sounds like "you create your reality". This crap is EVERYWHERE!!!!

skeptic

There are threads on this already. I'm surpised you haven't seen them yet. Check the Abraham-Hicks thread in the MLM forum. I believe it's also mentioned in the Millionnaire Minds thread in this LGAT forum. We've been posting about it for several months, so there may be more than those 2.

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upsidedownnewspaper
Oh yes! The rock bizo. That's right. There was this cheesy reconstruction in the movie to justify the selling of ordinary rocks for $40 a piece. You've just got to believe, remember.

I didn't get that from the movie AT ALL. As I remember, they were actually joking about the fact that the guy wanted to buy an ordinary rock that had come from a creek. The point of the rock story was that the belief and intention was what made the rock special, not where it came from or whether or not it cost money.

If you want to experience some true horror, then go and read some of the Oprah message boards about The Secret. There are hundreds of literally hysterical posts there, about how The Secret is THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSE, and how it cannot fail, etc.
[boards.oprah.com]

Some of those posting are surely there to shill and promote The Secret and related products, but most of them are sincere. Oprah just dumps this stuff out there on people, and I guess doesn't think it through? Oprah is probably so busy she spends just a few minutes approving each show, but it would be nice if she had some people on a show like this, who could point out some of the problems. But that's not the way she does business. To be clear, I saw the Oprah show on this, and she supported The Secret 100%, without any questions or doubt at all.

The Secret has a good idea at its core, but it takes it way to far, as its based on some of the extremists ideas of New Thought, which is a specific set of beliefs which started in the 1800's.

I think what makes people so excited, is the idea that they can have a wonderful life simply by changing their thinking, setting goals, visualize, etc.

The irony is that this is partially true. If we modify our beliefs and cognitions, we can improve our lives...sometimes. BUT BUT BUT, The Secret goes 100x farther than that, and claims you ATTRACT EVERYTHING in your life. There are posts on the Oprah forum, where some of The Secret fanatics are literally telling people in wheelchairs, that they ATTRACTED the accident that put them there. Some of the wheelchair folks were getting very angry and hurt, understandably. Its nuts.

Again, talk about Mind Control. The idea behind The Secret, New Thought, claims that if you are having any bad experiences in life, you created them through your Consciousness. So to stop them, you have to stop thinking about them completely, and they will vanish.
They say, if you have doubt, you create doubt. So you are not allowed to doubt, and must only try to Believe 100%.
This is a mental Catch-22 mindf*ck of the highest order, as it disallows any critical thinking whatsoever.

It also creates depression in people, as after a while, when their life does not change much...then guess what? IT YOUR FAULT, because of your Stinkin Thinkin.

so its just the same old You Create Your Reality stuff, taken to the extreme. They soft-peddle it on TV, and don't explain it, to draw people into buying more products, and seminars, tapes, books, etc. Same old sales method.

What is funny is that Abraham-Hicks was in the movie, but they had a dispute with Rhonda Byrne, probably over money over the book, so Rhonda cut them out of the movie. A few months later, this movie becomes the #1 New Age movie of all time, and Abraham-Hicks has lost millions! Hah! So much for their Divine Entity knowing the future and reality. They cut themselves out of the movie, and out of Oprah...smart!!

But seriously, this is just another in a long line of these things. It will be hyped for a few months, Oprah will sell millions of books, most people won't even really read it, or "get it", and will go back to eating Doritoes, and wait for the next Hype-Train.

But sadly, lots of vulberable people will be scooped off by Rhonda Byrne, and the other promoters of this. Lots of money will be wasted, and many will be hurt by the flawed ideology.

There is no end to this stuff, it seems every week there is some new hysterical sales-pitch. Critical Thinking seems to not exist in popular culture.

Credulity and Magical Thinking are the rule.

As far as the Gratitude Rocks, they were actually selling those in Australia.

The message of the common rock in The Secret was outrageous.
Some guy claimed he CURED a child of Hepatitis in Africa with a common rock!! Then the other guy SOLD more rocks for $10 each in Africa! They are bragging about that?!
First off, that is health fraud.
Second where is the PROOF? Was the child in a hospital?
Isn't it more realistic to thank the DOCTOR for saving the kids life, and not a ROCK?

Its just a ploy to take advantage of human's primitive propensity to Magical and Wishful Thinking.
And it does look like they are trying to create a craze called Gratitude Rocks, where they can SELL these rocks. I think its a bit of a joke to Rhonda Byrne and her team, they want to create a craze like Pet Rocks, and make a fortune.
Sell people rocks.

It looks like there might even be some MLM around these Gratitude Rocks...I don't have time now, but will look into that later...

[www.google.com]

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Gulab Jamon
There are threads on this already. I'm surpised you haven't seen them yet. Check the Abraham-Hicks thread in the MLM forum. I believe it's also mentioned in the Millionnaire Minds thread in this LGAT forum. We've been posting about it for several months, so there may be more than those 2.

I thought it sounded familiar. I don't read the MLM forum nor have I read all of the Millionnaire Minds thread. Before inquiring, I checked back over the last dozen or so topics and didn't see it. I will look for it, so thanks.

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ON2 LF

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The only thing saving my friend from being sucked into an LGAT that sells these beliefs that will fix your life is that she doesn't have the money. And, that is a damn good thing!

it seems ironic that the very thing that drives LGATS ($$$), is also the very thing that will prevent some people from getting caught in the claws of the deceivers. If a person has $$$, they are fair game, if a person has no $$$, they get to keep their life in reality. I hope, in a kind way, that your friend doesn't come up with money any time soon.

Hi ON2 LF,
She won't come up with the money any time soon, so she's safe. Except she was seduced by The Secret on Oprah (ugh). We had a brief discussion about the unreality of The Secret's ideology and she knows it's true. She said, though, that she wants to keep her high (high on positivity) as long as she can; she didn't want to hear my critique right now.

skeptic

There's a lot to be said for 'staying positive'. I don't think anyone in their 'right mind' can deny it. But, and this is a big BUT, anyone in their 'right mind' can see that single-minded postive thinking/feeling will either lead to single-minded depression or a need to refill that Prozac prescription.

The Secret, like What The Bleep?, is being hailed by some Landmarkians as their core material: the media they can share with their 'lost' friends that's not usually available through their organisation, ie LEC. Because they have little more than a clumsy language and course brochures to take out into the world, The Secret and What The Bleep? are 'required' viewing. I know of a Lekkie or two that have watched these programs a dozen times!

What a depressing lot we must be. What a lazy, stupid species we must be to think that we can just meditate on the Laws of Attraction and Presto! acquire everything we desire. Okay, so it's not usually Presto! and one must be patient. And a little more patient. Get your list on the fridge door, go and get a rock and imbue it with positivity and wait. That's it. Wait.

Are we obsessed by Instant Gratification? It seems we're like children screaming, 'Now, now, now. I want it NOW.'

PS: The topic of The Secret does exist as another topic here.

What they have done with The Secret, is that Rhonda Byrne, and her sisters/partners, decided to make a movie that was a cross between What The Bleep and the DaVinci Code conspiracy thingy.

They had made other movies about the World's Greatest Commercials, so they know all about marketing.

So they made this film, and planned the marketing.

But what are they selling?
They are selling the "Ultimate Product", which is the same thing Tony Robbins, and many others, try to sell. They are telling you, "if you know The Secret" than you can have ANYTHING you want.
Here is the best part.
You can have it all, EFFORTLESSLY, by simply changing your thinking. They say "the universe" is like Aladdin's Genie, and all you have to do is ASK the magical genie to give you what you want, and if you do it right, then it works! You get all the money, houses, sex, cars, skinny body, dissolving of cancer, eye repair, hepatitis curing, and more money, rocks, anything that you want!
Cool! 8)
Right?
No.

So, Rhonda Byrne is marketing the exact same thing lotteries market. Lottery commercials tell you, "one scratch of the card and YOU HAVE IT ALL", and they show people dancing around, etc. For 2 bucks, you can change your life.

What The Secret is saying, is all you have to do is effortlessly change your Thinking and you get everything easily and effortlessly by Mystical Magic!
Just BUY the DVD, buy the book, buy the CD's, etc.
[b:0f2429c6ed]$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$[/color:0f2429c6ed][/b:0f2429c6ed]

And people are going nuts for it, and buying it all, and getting referred to cultish type people for "coaching".

And if its not working? That YOUR fault, as you are not Thinking positive enough, you dumbass! Buy more tapes, books, and DVD's.

Also, Rhonda Byrne had a person on Oprah who had watched the DVD 62 times. 62 times.
In her book, she tells you to watch the DVD EVERYDAY.

So guess what? Rhonda Byrne is using this DVD as a Thought Reform tool. I guess this is the new frontier. Make a fancy movie, and then tell people to watch the movie EVERY DAY. That is voluntary brainwashing and Thought Reform.

Watch the movie everyday, listen to the CD's everyday, read the book everyday.
Welcome to the consumer brainwashing of the 21'st century.

Rhonda Byrne and her partners planned this from the very beginning, and they got lucky and got on Oprah, and they are making millions.