Originally Posted by CharlieBrown
Thanks a lot, Giles!
Your "view" seems very much reasonable to me! However, if you read what the Author actually says, you'll see it is quite different - the next extract is taken from Book Excerpt: Rhonda Byrne's 'The Secret' | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com :
"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. Remember, thoughts are primary cause of everything, and the rest is effects from those thoughts. Think perfect thoughts and the result must be perfect weight."
Please do not take me wrong though - I am not challenging you or being picky - quite the opposite actually - I am saying that your interpretation is much more logical than the actual original text, for me! |
let's remember...
a) the Law of Attraction has been around for many decades prior to "The Secret" (which is in fact no Secret). When I saw the DVD it did make a lot of sense, but there was also a lot of ego and promotion in what was being given. It was very much a meterialistic video which is not truly what the LOA is about. You could say that their desire was to make a lot of money and they have... from good advertising and publicity about their books and DVD's (and all the other books that have been done off the back of it). Calling it a "secret" just adds to the mysteriousness that makes people want to get it and see what it's about, but as I said, it's no secret, just a very good money making business. That's not saying that what they say in it is wrong, just that it doesn't cover all aspects of LOA.
b) As for the statement about "food is not responsible for putting on weight", it's clever (and rightly positive) wording. The food itself is not responsible. How can an inert object take responsibility? You are responsible for your own health and what you eat, so therefore it
is your thoughts that are responsible.
PS: About this part of your post:
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In truth, all that we truly need is to look after our health, have a roof over our heads to keep our body safe from 'the elements' and enough food to eat. We don't "need" to go and live in the south of Italy, that is just an attachment of ego mind to the value of one thing over another.
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I am with you there, but again, this is not what "the secret" says. If you give this philosophical interpretation, then we don't really "need" anything apart from the basics for surviving. The Secret puts a lot of emphasis on how to ask everything you want to the Universe - and I agree, there is too much emphasis on material stuff there.
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Some people want material things, and "the Secret" is targetting a worldwide audience, not just those on a spiritual path who know there is no happiness from materialism. Indeed it does focus on materialistic gain, and that is one of the things I found lacking in their teaching of the LOA.
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Last point: with your interpretation, it becomes a self fulfilled profecy: if you ask and you obtain, it worked; if you ask and do not obtain, it worked anyway because you didn't ask "the right thing", so the universe did not provide. You see what I mean?
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On the contrary...
If you ask and you obtain, it worked.
If you ask and do not obtain, it's not a case that you did not ask the right thing, but more that you are likely to have missed the opportunities presented to you possibly because you were not aware/present or because of "fears" that preventing you taking up those opportunities. e.g. How many people are not happy in their work, say they want a better job, but actually "fear" going for interviews or seeking out a new one?
Hugs
Giles
