The Secret seemed to trigger lots of resentment and anger in some people. It always makes me wonder what is going on there. If it were as inaccurate and unrealistic as they say, why not just dismiss it and move on? But those who are angered by it seem to give it more attention than those who believe in it!

Some people attack ‘The Secret’ for leaving out the ‘action’ part. But even though it was not overly emphasized, it was not left out of the movie–and is not left out of the teachings of those who were in the Secret. James Ray even says that if you expect to just sit on your couch and change your thoughts, without acting, they’ll come and repossess your furniture!

The Secret was a 90 minute movie. As I’ve said before, it was an introduction. How could they cover it all, in depth, in one movie?? It’s not possible. When I first learned about this information, long ago, I didn’t expect the first book I read to tell me the whole story. I read more and more and more, until I have a whole library of books on physics, metaphysics, religion, psychology as well as the more targetted “self-help” books that deal directly with this idea. I have to believe that the makers of The Secret intended people to follow this kind of process.

I think behind the anger at this particular movie, though, there is another issue, which is the issue of “this should be free”. There is some kind of expectation or resentment against those making a lot of money “selling” the LOA. While I don’t agree with a lot of the business tactics of some of the Secret teachers, they are hardly alone in using them.

The issue of whether spiritual or metaphysical knowledge should be free or can legitimately be charged for goes far deeper than this minor controversy over the Secret. It was an issue 25 years ago when I started in with this– it was a “new age” phenomenon then, and those describing it were like Abraham or Meredith Lady Young’s Mentor, or Seth. There were those then also who resented being charged for access to these people with the claim that this kind of universally helpful knowledge “should be free”.

I have to wonder about the thinking behind this kind of claim. What do these people do for a living? Do they get paid? Do they charge for what they do? Or is it that the more helpful the knowledge is, the less should be charged? Where do you draw the line? What kinds of things “should be free”, and what charged for? Should teaching about energy work be free? Should energy work itself? Medicine? Knowing about anatomy would be immensely helpful to everyone; should anatomy classes be free? My husband is a builder/plumber– plumbing improves everyone’s life, is a health and safety issue–should that be free? Should he donate his services?

When it comes down to it, this knowledge IS free. It is freely available. I have spent a fair amount of money on books, but only because I like to have them around me. It wasn’t necessary to buy all these books. I could have used the library. With inter-library loan, in this country, you can get any book you want, for nothing. And if you wait a little while The Secret and other books will be available at every garage sale in the country!

The knowledge is free. With the internet, you can learn all about almost anything for just the cost of your ISP and your time. Just as all medical knowledge is available free, and all plumbing knowledge and all kinds of other knowledge.

What you pay for is someone to sort it out, organize it for you, guide you past the pitfalls, help you when it’s hard. That’s what you pay for. But you don’t have to! If you don’t want to pay, don’t! It’s as simple as that. Just look at all the free information (and free ebooks) you can get right here on this website!

Ultimately, though, the anger at The Secret and LOA may come done to this basic thing: if you deny that “thoughts become things” that’s a really good defense for not changing any thoughts of your own. You can stay just the way you are if you deny that thoughts create reality. You don’t have to change. How convenient is that? You get to be right.

Interesting ideas, interesting times. It’s always astonishing to me how people can get into a turmoil over just about anything.