The Secret to Making a Quick Buck

[dotinthesky]

Rhonda Byrne, The Secret, 2006
I'm sure this book only exists thanks to The Da Vinci Code. Sensing a public interest in ancient "secrets" passed down to modern times, the publishers of this awful piece of self-help decided they could market Rhonda Byrne's book and make a killing. They were not wrong. In Brasil, it's spreading like an Old World plague: the film tie-in is always rented out in videostores, and the book is in the top 10 bestseller list. Swept up by its popularity, my mom brought a copy home.

Much like George Bush Jr., this book is equal parts stupid and disturbing. The stupid part comes in its mind-boggling belief that anything you ask from the Universe will become true, that everyone deserves (and should) pursue their most selfish desires in order to be happy. Want big boobs? Ask the Universe and you will get it. Want a great parking space at the shopping mall? The Universe will help you like a genie in a bottle. Knowledge found in Eastern religions such as Buddhism (e.g. Karma) are simplified and described as a "secret" that only the elite are aware of.

The disturbing part comes in statements such as the one, early in the book, that says people killed in disasters or crimes brought it upon themselves. According to this book's reasoning, if you find yourself gassed to death with millions of other people it's because you were following negative thoughts and unable to see the Universe's path to your salvation. This is, at least, the conclusion I draw from the book's teachings. It shifts blame from other people, or life's chaos, onto yourself. Contracted cancer? Your fault. Robbed and shot in the head? Your fault. Became a millionaire? You are in tune with the Universe.

Much like The Da Vinci Code I couldn't make it past page 60. Be very wary of anyone that likes this book.

Comments

[knacker-prince.livejournal.com]

Became a millionaire? You are in tune with the Universe.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of people probably think there is some truth in this sort of bullshit. People feel validated by material success. And it's easier to think one survives life's pitfalls through the spiritual medium of deserving it for simply being one's fabulous self, as opposed to the luck of the draw.

Not that you can't or shouldn't take responsibility for your own good fortune, but foscusing on inherently selfish desires as a path to fulfilment is just mind-bogglingly facile. Capitalism thrives on inequality - so unless the underclass and disenfranchised are happiest to be so, where's the logical conclusion where everyone is self-fulfilled?

This book is clearly aimed at wishful thinkers whom the author is secretly snickering at all the way to the bank.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

These types of self-help books are like a new fad in the diet industry: the desperate go for it because they want to believe this will finally sort them out, but in the end nothing changes for them and it's only a matter of time before another fad catches their eye.

I just remembered another part of the book that annoyed me. When it came to losing weight, she said that people should ditch their "fat" friends in exchange for "thin" people, because fat friends make you have fat thoughts, and thin people encourage you to have thin thoughts and lose weight. She even says that people who are overweight thanks to gland problems are actually dillusional, that the real problem is that they are thinking "fat" thoughts. Unbelievable.

[knacker-prince.livejournal.com]

Desperate people are so easily taken in. She peddles self-delusion as wisdom. Cynical, greedy bitch.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

We won't be able to get away from people reading/watching this crap for a while. It will be just the same as walking into the Tube in London two years ago and seeing the majority of people reading a Dan Brown novel.

[rag-and-bone.livejournal.com]

you're pretty much my book review hero.

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

My dad either read this book, or heard the author speaking about it on some television program, and feels that it seems legitimate. When he was describing the concept to me, I believe my exact response was, "Sorry, but I'm too cynical for that" (a sentiment I see echoed in your "mood icon"). I was specifically irked by the notion that, when tragedy befalls a person, it's due to some fault of theirs. What about the many, many instances in which one person's suffering is due to another person's -- or, more commonly, systemic -- misdeeds. And what if the people committing said misdeeds are doing so because the universe painted that path to success for them? It's an awfully selfish, miserly little theory.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

You can take Hiroshima as an example. How could so many people, including babies, women and all sorts of other people not involved in World War II, deserve to be killed by the bomb? If we are to believe the book, they were all indulging in negative thoughts and brought about their own destruction.

This book only works as a delusional tool for the ignorant.

[vrax.livejournal.com]

That's a great review of a book that tries to dumb down href=http://vrax.livejournal.com/68468.html> Magickal thinking in order to sell it to a flock of sheep.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

The sheep are always looking for a shepherd.

[sublimevisions.livejournal.com]

i really wanted a copy of my own for the secret. so i envisioned myself having it. i then walked into the bookstore, envisioning myself having a copy of the secret for my very own. I picked it off the shelf, envisioning, and walked right out the door.... envisioning. i realized the book didn't tell me anything of worth, so i chucked it into the trash.

that's the real secret :P

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I'm asking the universe right now for you to appear naked and covered in whipped cream at my house. I demand the universe reply to my request in the next 12 hours.

[sublimevisions.livejournal.com]

did you envision it or just demand it?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Just demanded it. I thought there was a danger of me combusting if I tried to envision it.

[sublimevisions.livejournal.com]

*makes a mental note*

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

What fascinates me in a "That really bugs me" sort of way is that there's little to nothing in this book that a church called Unity hasn't already been teaching for decades (as I know, because I went to the one in Roanoke for my first 24 years). The only difference is the motivation--Unity teaches the "tell the universe what you want" idea without the selfishness...which is probably why this book has caught on so much more than Unity's version has.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the church of Unity, but I'm not surprised to hear that they have similar teachings. I found the book took some of the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhists, in particular the idea of gratitude as a form of creating good karma. What bugs me is that it's passed as a "secret", some kind of easy revelation for the masses. I imagine only people who haven't studied history buy into it.

[amberholic.livejournal.com]

I think my boss read this book and we were having a conversation about the concept behind it. Although she agrees that being positive can help you get further than being negative, she thinks the idea that people are responsible for all the bad things that happen to them is rubbish.

I agree with that to some extent. If you focus on the positive then you're less likely to notice the negative and you're also more likely to be motivated and willing to work harder for the things that make you happy.

This book takes a very simple and somewhat logical concept and exaggerates it to ridiculous proportions. It's amazing the stuff that gets published these days... and that people buy into this crap.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

To be positive in life is just common sense. All the major religions preach it in some form or other, either by encouraging good deeds or good thoughts. People who buy into this crap are people lacking in knowledge about the religions of the world.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I wonder what will be the next fad to sweep the bestseller list?

[live-life-like.livejournal.com]

as pessoas onde trabalho- maily my bosses - vivem em função desse livro idiota e dessas bobagens que lêem em self-help books.............eu queria queimar todos eles juntos!!!!


ah, estou indo pra Londrina esse final de semana.
é aniversário do meu sobrino e resolveram fazer uma festinha!!
:(
too late, eh?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Que pena que nao vou te ver! Desta vez nao deu para ir a Londrina...

Queria que voce me mandasse seu post address para te mandar uma coisa pelo correio. ♥

[deathrockboy.livejournal.com]

the davinci code was fiction, and even though i never read it, i am pretty sure the people that took it so seriously are quite bored with the reality that is fed to them and cling to any idea, no matter how far-fetched, just as long as it has a certain aspect of plausiblity and excitement. nothing so wrong with that, per se. good fiction does that, though from what i've read of that silly book, "good" doesn't have much to do with this bit of fiction.

the secret, however, is just a hodgepodge mishmash of every new age wish and dream. the idea that we make our own reality with our own conscious thought isn't a new one, but when marketed correctly, any sad piece of shit can latch on to it and rediscover the parade of delusion via expensive seminars and week long workshops.

this is the same sort of thing ritual magick teaches, and i find it totally ironic that something aleister crowley preached is being eaten up like candy my the mainstream in a watered down fashion. easier to drink. especially when oprah winfrey suggests you drink it. you tell those same people to read anything by terrence mckenna however, and everyone looks at you like you're invoking the dark lord in their living room.

there is something to the idea of mind over matter, and i think any personal experience with hallucinogenics can prove this to anyone. however, there is a lot more to it than simple thought.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

The Da Vinci Code is anything but good fiction. You are lucky to not have read it. :-)

[phyrephly.livejournal.com]

i saw some television special on it, and the same thought came to mind. i just can't believe how successful it is to refurbish the same old trash with some completely nonsensical fad. i mean, it basically says what any and every self-help book does without any other gimmick than its spooky cover.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Not only does it combine other self-help books, but she quotes extensively from other self-help authors. They are all patting each other on the back.

[phyrephly.livejournal.com]

it's so shameless, and yet people dive right for it! in times like these, i don't know who to be more disgusted about: the people who made it, or the people who like it.

ha

[vespatine78.livejournal.com]

the best thearapist I have ever had reccomend that I read this book. Not to buy into it persay but to learn to practice positive thinking. I for one would never believe that basically hoping something good would happen will make it so, if that was true there would be no poverty because you don't think those people imagine themselves being rich or having enough to eat everyday? I mean seriously. Anyway I think the idea of positive thinking is a good one and on my trip when everything kept going wrong I did keep thinking positive thoughts and the trip ended up going very well. If I would have allowed myself to be upset and start dwelling on all the problems I was having it would hve been a complete disaster and I am sure I wouldn't be getting married in march. lol

Re: ha

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I also use positive thinking a lot, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night, cant fall back asleep, and my brain starts playing worse-case-scenario. I just think that what this book gives for positive thinking theory is not a match to what can be found in Buddhist texts, or any other religion for example. Its a watered down version of better thought out theories.

[public-life.livejournal.com]

;____;
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I kinda... believe IT.