Letters to the Editor
-
How Creative!
Anyone can misunderstand Einstein.
You could read him for yourself, you know.
First of all, he said "perspective", not "perception." Or "belief". Important distinction, that.
Here is what he was saying. If I choose to only talk about the room in which I am standing, than it is true that the temperature is 72 degrees. If, however, I choose to talk about the entire city, than it is not true that the temperature is 72 degrees.
Obviously, only looking at temperature from the perspective of the room from which I am writing this doesn't change the temperature outside.
It would be absurd to think so. Therefore, my "perspective" doesn't change "reality." It only changes what reality I'm looking at or talking about.
See?
-
Thank you
I am so glad to see this article, and I am equally glad to see so many women who are like myself, disagreeing to The Secret and seeing it rationally for what it is. A huge scam.
Online, I have seen nothing but praise by women who worship the almighty Oprah and are swallowing everything she says as gospel. I used to like Oprah - she HAS done many good things in the past - I cannot argue with that - so why is she doing such a smarmy thing now?
Some of the members (like myself) on YouTube who have commented on various 'praise the Secret to the skies' have been either blocked from having our say or have been accused of being negative and worthless people by these (dis)enchanted followers. I do not believe that a person is negative and - in their words - 'on the path to nowhere' just because they disagree in a logical and rational fashion.
It is very disturbing watching some of the videos of people giving this farce so much credit. They appear to disregard or disrespect anybody who has any intellectual opinion on this subject.
Thank you so much for this article. It is a breath of fresh air amid a sea of bullshit.
-
if these letters are any sample
Those who have experienced the LOA, for the most part, just sound joyful.
Actually, while the tone of the anti-Secret letters range all over the map including mocking, rageful, calm, analytical, and funny, the pro-Secret letters have this weird sameness about them: a humorless sanctimony, with just a tinge of martyrdom.
-
Let me see if I've got this straight
Start with a couple of harmless nostrums: think positive, if you want to achieve something then you should actually take steps to achieve it.
So far so good.
Add in a bunch of people who have tried this for the first time and think that they have cracked the secret of the universe.
Okay, fair enough, surprised it never occurred to you before.
Add in a proselytizing effort to suggest that people in failed circumstances (whatever failure is) are bringing it on themselves, especially when it's about material issues.
I call bullshit.
The course of any one person's life is complex and influenced by many factors, so perhaps the claim might be true for one individual. But it cannot be true for everyone. There are always going to be constraints on people's material well-being.
People have cited extreme constraints like genocide, but you don't have to go that far. Patchy bus schedules for poor people without a car are a constraint to the kind of job that you can get. Getting fired for missing work to look after your sick child is a constraint. What's the common thread here? These are external constraints and you can't always visualize your way around them.
The problem with taking some kind of half-baked process of self-actualization and applying it to material progress is that you get judged by empirical standards - things that are provable.
So, if you take into consideration the general rule of thumb that a functioning American economy requires 4 - 6% unemployment, that you get paid less than the full economic value of your labor (because that's how companies make money), and that capital and credit are not equally available for individual enterprise, then you cannot take LOA for economic success at all seriously.
If it helps you get through the day, great. If it helps you stop being miserable with your circumstances, fine. If you've discovered that the best way to be happy with your friends and family is to cheer the fuck up, amen brothers and sisters.
Just don't claim that the results in the aggregate will overturn math, they won't.
-
"Those who have experienced the LOA, for the most part, just sound joyful."
Sirena: To me, those who have "experienced" the LOA actually sound condescending, ignorant, rude, and jaw-droppingly insensitive.
For instance, I can no longer even address Sam if he's actually convinced that people give themselves cancer.
But hey...I guess that's subjective interpretation for you!
Valid, but non-transferrable.
Now, perhaps you can give me your subjective, personal take on why the LOA'ers are so dead-set on insulting the skeptics.
I mean, why do we upset you so much?
For instance, you ask me what I'm doing for Darfur, as though there must be some direct correlation between indigance at ignorance and "doing nothing."
That hurts my felings, Sirena.
I've dedicated large chunks of my life to service.
I really, REALLY care about people who are suffering, and I am often in the trenches doing something about it.
That's WHY I'm so offended by patronizing, hippy-trippy bullshit that just adds to people's misery.
If I wanted to achieve "joy" by simply altering my perspective, I'd take medication...ecstasy & Vicodin would probably do it.
But I'd rather experience my life, and that includes outrage at injustice. I'm not going to insult "The Universe" by attempting to hand-select my feelings.
I mean, have you watched someone you loved dying of cancer, day in & day out?
I have.
Have you physically restained a meth-addicted teenaged girl who is hallucinating that you're trying to kill her? More than once?
I have.
Have you spent much time in Hospice facilities?
Hung out with your local homelss?
Etc.
I really have no desire to make this into a competition, but if you think that all of us who are outraged at "The Secret" are simply sniping at Oprah from our armchairs, you're just plain wrong.
Like you, I've done a lot of meditation, grieved, healed, followed spiritual paths...and in the end I've come to understand that suffering is actually NOT perfect: it actually sucks. We should try to relieve it where we can.
I've also come to understand that prescribing the "Law of Attraction" to people with REAL problems simply panders to humanity's desperate craving to achieve the illusion of control.
I'm sure that within the closed system of your solipsistic self-regard, the LOA has "worked" for you.
If one's problems are psychological, one's soutions certainly can be.
But it's simply irresponsible to tell others that subjective conclusions that cannot hold up to the scientific method will change their lives, and if it doesn't work...well, they didn't "visualize" well enough.