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

[Jim Rippey]

Thank you, thank you, Lucille.  I have been dismayed by all the attention
and enthusiasm on Dialogue centered around “The Secret.”  For me, this is a
tremendous breath of fresh air.

 

Jim Rippey, in Bellevue, NE, where the spring flowers are reviving after a
four day freeze.

 

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Lifeline248 at aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 1:33 PM
To: dialogue at wedgeblade.net
Subject: [Dialogue] {Spam?} The Real “Secret” is a Dark One

 

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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