[Dialogue] {Spam?} The Real “Secret” is a Dark One

[Lifeline248 at aol.com]

Three times a year I receive a newsletter from Bo and Sita Lozoff of the 
North Carolina-based (outside Durham) Human Kindness Foundation.    Their 
Prison-Ashram Project began in 1973; its goal:   to inspire and encourage prisoners 
and prison staff to recognize their depth as human beings, and to behave 
accordingly...with a balance between "Communion" and "Community."   They have led 
thousands of workshops in over 500 prisons.   Their spring newsletter arrived 
today (as did Stan Crow's wonderful Rite of Passage Journeys), and this is what 
Bo has to say about The Secret.   I've copied it here, from their website:  
http://humankindness.org/spring07.html    
Lucille Chagnon

The Real “Secret” is a Dark One

In the past several months as I’ve been speaking across the country, many 
people have approached me and asked with some degree of excitement in their 
voices, “Bo, have you seen The Secret yet? Oh, you’ll love it! It will change the 
world! Let people know about this!”
 So I did watch The Secret, as well as an Oprah show that featured its “
teachers,” and I think we all need to reflect very deeply on the message that is 
passing for wisdom these days. “New Age” centers, “New Thought” Churches, the 
Christian “prosperity” movements personified by the likes of Joel Osteen, and 
now Oprah’s enormous fan base, are really falling off the deep end into a 
pseudo-spirituality that is not just a little self-indulgent, it is primarily 
about selfishness and materialism.
 The Secret itself is a childish exaggeration of a minor energetic principle 
- “The Law of Attraction” - which simply means what most of our grandmothers 
have said to us at one time or another: “If you think negative things, your 
life will be negative. Keep your mind on positive things, and you’ll attract 
more positive things and people into your life.” That’s pretty basic stuff, who 
could argue with that? It’s true. Got it? Be positive!
 But to frame this as The Secret, as the “greatest power in the universe;” 
to open the film with suspense-movie scenes of scholars and monks throughout 
history desperately trying to hide this “secret” for future generations while 
they are being pursued by armies and assassins; to claim that every great man 
or woman from Jesus to Thomas Edison knew this specific “Secret” and now you 
and I are finally going to be let in on it, oh, pleeease!! It’s a minor part of 
life; nothing profound about it. Both teams in the Superbowl should “think 
positive” and visualize winning, but only one is going to win, because being 
positive is not everything!
 The way we think factors into our lives along with many other realities such 
as our past karma, genetic and acquired strengths and weaknesses, the needs 
of our family or society, the politics of the age we live in, our willingness 
to work hard, and of course, God’s plan for us.
 And maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I thought God was the greatest power in the 
Universe. I thought the best things in life are free. I thought we’re 
supposed to dedicate our lives to the greatest good. I thought God gives us a Peace 
that worldly riches can never give. Not so in The Secret. This film and a lot 
of the pop-spirituality I see these days has become so self-centered that the 
religion it most closely exemplifies is... Satanism. I’m not being sarcastic. It
’s true.
 I know the word “Satanism” conjures up images of abusing children and 
sacrificing animals, but the actual Church of Satan has never endorsed that stuff. 
In fact, two of the “Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth” are:
     •      Do not harm little children.
     •      Do not kill animals unless attacked or for your food.
 So suspend your media images of Satanism. The biggest difference between 
Satanism and other religons is simple: Classic religions put God at the center, 
and Satanism puts the self at the center. The Great Religions share a theme of 
unselfishness. Satanism’s theme is selfishness. The Great Faiths say we are 
here to love our neighbor and serve God’s creation. Satanism says we are here to 
please ourselves, and creation is here to serve us - exactly what is 
emphasized in The Secret. All of you who have seen The Secret and have jumped on the 
bandwagon about how wonderful it is, please take this comparison seriously. You 
are unknowingly leaning toward Satanism.
 “The Secret” and Satanism
 Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, wrote: Satanism is the only 
religion which serves to encourage and enhance one’s individual preferences. 
Since Satanism is essentially a religion of the self, it holds that the 
individual and his personal needs come first.
 Now read an exchange on Oprah between Lisa Nichols, one of The Secret “
Teachers,” and an audience member:
 Nichols: So, you serve everyone else, don’t you?
Audience member: You got that right.
Nichols: So, make 2007 the year that you show up in the now for YOU! 
(thunderous applause) Now repeat after me: I choose today, to give myself, the best 
life ever!!
Audience member: (repeats it, to cheers and applause)
 Honestly, that would qualify as a nice Satanic initiation. The following (in 
blue) are principles of the Church of Satan, followed by teachings from The 
Secret:
 Satanists do not worship a living deity.
The Secret makes it clear that the Law of Attraction (not God) is the most 
powerful force in the Universe, and it is amoral and “scientific.” One man in 
the film says he wants lots of women, three or four a week, and is shown how to 
attract them into his life, and he succeeds. When he decides he wants one 
lasting relationship, he changes his thoughts and again attracts what he wants. 
No higher or lower desires, just whatever we want. If there is any object of 
worship implied in The Secret, it is personal success. Big houses, lots of 
money, fame, glory. There is no greater God to worship, no sanctity in serving the 
poor, the unfortunate, the sick. Just have a good time. That’s the lure of 
Satanism.
 Major emphasis is placed on the power and authority of the individual… 
rather than on a god or goddess.
One so-called “metaphysician” of The Secret, Joe Vitale, tells us “The 
universe is merely your CATALOG.” You just “shop” for whatever income, product, 
person or experience that you may want by thinking and visualizing constantly of 
it. Cut out pictures of a car, a house, whatever you want, and post them on a 
“vision board,” do rituals to affirm that you will receive it. Satanists do 
a lot of this kind of stuff. They call it Ritual Magic. Please don’t do this.
 Satanists believe that "no redeemer liveth" - that each person is their own 
redeemer, fully responsible for the direction of their own life.
Just to make sure we know there is no need for God in this new theology, 
Neale Donald Walsch, of “Conversations With God,” appears in The Secret to tell 
us there is no such thing as God’s Will for you - You are entirely in charge of 
whatever you want to do. That’s exactly what Anton LaVey says! No God to 
surrender to, no God of Love, no God to guide us or to humble ourselves before.
 Another “Teacher,” Esther Hicks, tells us we entirely create our own 
reality. That exceeds even Anton LaVey’s view. I guess our young men and women dying 
in Iraq, and all the Iraqi victims of this crazy war, are just creating their 
deaths with negative thoughts? Along with all those hungry kids in India, 
millions dying of AIDS in Africa? Nothing more complex about Life than to “ask, 
believe, and receive”? How dare you be so arrogant, Ms. Hicks? How dare you!

Enough, Bo! What’s the point?
 But The Secret did not arise in a vacuum. It's just the latest descent of 
pop-spirituality into a materialistic, self-centered new theology truly similar 
to Satanism, that seems to be taking hold in many churches, spiritual centers 
and households. It’s a theology of “Me First;” a theology of entitlement (“I 
deserve everything good in life and I should not have to struggle for it); a 
theology of disconnection from our influence on others and their influence on 
us; a theology where modesty and sacrifice are seen as unhealthy and pride and 
vanity are seen as essential.
 Most of all, it is a theology of “prosperity and abundance” where lip 
service is paid to words like peace and joy, but the bottom line is GETTING RICH, 
no two ways about it. In fact, even gratitude and forgiveness are explained 
merely as strategies to attract more success into your life. It’s always about 
you. I’m sorry, that’s just not deep religion.
 And neither is it responsible politics. At a time when the world is at war 
over oil, clean air and clean water are fading memories, and Al Gore’s 
Inconvenient Truth begs us to take seriously the jeopardy our planet is in, this new 
theology says not a word about living more simply or about wanting less 
consumer wealth. It does exactly the opposite, and encourages us to think and get 
rich. This theology of the self cuts us off from any sense of responsibility for 
ecology or conservation. None of that is our problem, it is just “scarcity 
consciousness.” These “teachers” actually say with a tone of scientific 
authority “The universe has plenty of resources for everyone to have everything they 
want!”
 Well, maybe the universe has unlimited resources, but the Earth clearly does 
NOT. Many species are already extinct, rainforests already damaged beyond 
repair, icecaps already melting, from our relentless consumption of resources. It 
is more than immature; it is viciously irresponsible to entice us to want 
more luxury and wealth instead of encouraging deeper happiness from living more 
sustainably and simply.
 One of The Secret’s “master” teachers, Jack Canfield, shows off photos of 
his $4Ũ million-dollar house, his “wife to die for,” and his exotic 
vacations. That’s a “master!”? A rich guy who brags about his life? How much petroleum 
does it take to sustain Canfield’s mansion? How many little brown kids around 
the world work like slaves to produce the products such a household consumes? 
How many maids and gardeners take care of his estate? Why doesn’t he tell 
them The Secret so they can get rich? It’s all just so sad…..
 The biggest sorrow about this new theology is not just that it echoes 
Satanism, but that it robs us of the greatness of our Spiritual Adventure. If life 
is just a catalog of our petty worldly desires, then where is higher 
consciousness? Where is holiness? Where is the “dark night of the soul” and our 
subsequent transformation? Is there truly no spiritual journey? Just a shopping spree 
to get the stupid external props that we think will make us happy?
 Do use the “Law of Attraction” in your daily life - pray first thing every 
day to be less selfish, to love thy neighbor, to be humble, to keep God in 
mind all day, to have constant faith in Life’s ultimate Goodness. We can use a 
hammer to build a house or to beat someone to death. The “Law of Attraction” is 
just a hammer. Please don’t use it to beat God to death in this weird age 
when the tiny egoic self’s worldly desires become your god. This is no “Secret” 
at all. It is the classic road to Hell.






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