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Beyond The Secret, Alexandra Bruce, 2007, ISBN 9781932857931
Who here has not read the book or seen the movie "The Secret?" (Raise your hands.) This book attempts to bring some perspective to "The Secret," so as to better understand what seems to be its message of materialism gone wild.
The philosophy behind "The Secret" is nothing new. The New Thought movement was popular in America from the 1850s to the 1950s. It was an offshoot of the Age of Enlightenment, which swept through Europe in the 1700s, and led to advances in law and science. New Thought asserts a monistic theory of the universe; One is All, and All is One. It is still as heretical to established religion as it was 300 years ago. The book that started it all and is a New Thought classic is called "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles (a complete copy is included in this book). The ideas in "The Secret" are generally those of the Unity Church, which today has about 2 million members.
There are short profiles of many of the teachers featured in "The Secret." Some of them are more oriented toward science and technology, others are more corporate-oriented, and one embraces the occult.
A big controversy involved the appearance in the film of Esther Hicks, channeler for a group consciousness named Abraham. She was to appear in the film, but ended up on the cutting room floor, due to a dispute with Rhonda Byrne, the brains behind "The Secret." A person might wonder what the reaction would be if a major inspiration for "The Secret" came from a disembodied consciousness.
This book is well worth reading for skeptics and true believers. It doesn't attempt to prove or disprove The Law of Attraction, but it will give the reader a lot to think about.
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