The Secret craze
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93 everyone,
Has anyone noticed the recent craze over the movie "The Secret"? If you haven't heard about the movie, basically a bunch of people came together to talk about the Law of Attraction, which is "like attracts like". The premise of this movement is to get people to realize that they can have whatever they want, and all they have to do is find out what it is they want, visualize themselves as already having whatever it is that they want, and allowing the universe to manifest their desire. In a sense, this is kinda like chaos magick, except there's no sigil magick or anything like that. I'm intrigued by this whole fad because I think this movie is introducing mass amounts of people to a magickal mind-set at a very rapid rate. Everytime I run into someone who's come across the movie or knows what the law of attraction is, I think to myself "Abrahadabra: The reward of Ra-Hoor-Khuit"93 93/93
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93
Yes, I have watched it. It is interesting to note how closely Law of Attraction resembles, at least in my mind, "Love is the law, love under will."
I also recall a certain brother mentioning the 'visualizing technique' in a different context, and how similar it was to what the movie was proposing.
93,93/93
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"It is interesting to note how closely Law of Attraction resembles, at least in my mind, "Love is the law, love under will." "
That's exactly what I was thinking. In fact, I read a book written by one of the people in the movie and he made a statement in his book along the lines of "What makes you happy, makes the Universe happy." and after reading that I immediately thought about Liber L I:13 "I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy."
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But what does the film portray as that which makes people happy? It seems to me that they present American middle-class aspirations and lifestyles as spirituality.
At his public lecture in New York a few months ago, Jim said that "Do what thou want" is at least a good start, because it forces people to consider what they actually want. But the Secret doesn't go beyond that. It doesn't suggest that we may want to understand why we want certain things. It certainly doesn't take us to the point of moving towards doing what we Will - not that we should expect it to, since it isn't a Thelemic film.
I don't expect anything revolutionary from this film. In fact, I see it as reinforcing the dominant culture while making people feel like they're obtaining great spiritual insight.
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This has been a fundamental magical/mystical formula of many traditions, long before there was anything called Chaos Magick! They teach this in the B.O.T.A. correspondance course for instance.
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That's right. I signed up for their correspondance courses over a year ago and this was the first thing that they taught. I never completed the course but its interesting to see this stuff going mainstream.
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I feel silly and embarrassed to say that I heard about The Secret about 2 years ago and thought, "man, how lame!" but it wasn't until I actually bought it last month out of curiosity (and intent to resell on Amazon) that I had a serious breakthrough in understanding.
While The Secret basically says the same old stuff we already know, somehow the way it was presented made my history open up like a book. The HGA has always been there as both my guiding intuition ("heart-mind" of Dzogchen tradition) and my "genie in a bottle" creating whatever reality I happen to focus my attention on.
This experience I call "the view from Tiphareth" even if others would disagree. I also call it "skylike awareness" and "Rig Pa" even if others would disagree. I don't care if people disagree because, having seen the view, I know that it is beyond words. Having heard these same terms from other people previously, I always wondered what the hell they mean and how one would know if he experienced "the view from Tiphareth" or not. I expected to literally see something, like an angel, or like LSD hallucinations. But, what I saw instead was an incredible view from "high above" that showed the emptiness of my True Nature and the interconnectedness of everything. Much better than seeing angels, in my opinion!
I wrote a little (okay, a lot) about my experience here.
It makes the symbolism of the oroborus, the Star Sponge, the Buddha Pure Land and the "full circle" of Zen realization make a lot more sense.
And... have you ever noticed that the Unicursal Hexagram is basically an Infinite Knot?
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And even though it still irks me that they're making a $KILLING$ off The Secret, after having watched it, I give them credit and say they probably deserve it.
BUT... www.eastwestnyc.com/emailblasts/demartinievent.jpg
$50 for a one-day workshop guaranteed to teach you what the DVD, book and CD couldn't ... or already did?
• How to know your purpose and make an impact in the world
True Will?
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They did a good job marketing it to the masses. They purposefully gave it a materialistic overtone while subtly pushing a spiritual principle. Perhaps this is going to play a role in the mass consciousness shift that is supposed to occur in a few years.
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I just started reading THE SECRET and I will quote a page below because it appears to relate somewhat with the HGA:
After explaining the story of Alladin and the Genie, they go on to say:
"Now, take this metaphor and apply it to your life. Remember Aladin in the one who always asks for what he wans. Then you've got the Universe at large, which is the Genie. Traditions have called it so many things - your Holy Guardian Angel, your higher self.
We can put any label on it, and you choose the one that works best for you, but every tradition has told us there's something bigger than us. And the Genie always says one thing: Your wish is my command."
..."You think it and the Genie immediatey begins to leverage the Universe, through people, circumstances, and events, to fullfill your wish."
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It seems that The Secret misses a big part of the Real Secret. They talk constantly about forming images and visualizing and thoughts. This is all creation on the Yetzirahic level, but in Magick, that is carried down to materialize in Assiah. From what I can tell, they don't ever go this far in the Secret. You can visualize yourself all day long winning the lottery, but if you don't get your butt down to the store and buy a ticket, you forgot a big step!
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Good point. Also, the subconscious manifests. There are a lot of things planted in the subconscious. Some cancel one another out. Like, you want change, but you want security. Can't have the change without taking a risk. So, you make the attempt, but fail because success would entail change over which you have no control and are not familiar with. You choose safety with the same situation because that is a deeper motivator,since the roots are deeper. Easier to let go of the dream than the safety.
Well, lots of words. Guess it really means that the conscious mind is so very small compared to the subconscious. Takes a trained mind to get reliable results. Skill, persistence, talent, experience.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
@Ra-Imhotep said
"93 everyone,
Has anyone noticed the recent craze over the movie "The Secret"? "I saw it just a few weeks ago and I was also very interested in how understanding of Magick pours into every day life.
This law corresponds to Anahata in my opinion.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Through a curious circumstance I got the chance to examine one of the authors of "The Secret" and some of his most ardent followers up close at a retreat.
Cult-like symptoms abounded, but the experiences and results of those involved seemed genuine.
My opinion is that getting what you want without any spiritual work may seriously inflate the ego. Such was observed with this group. (Though my own ego contributes to this observation.)
Love is the law, love under will.
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In that movie the secret,
as wikipedia says it has a subliminal message in certain scenes saying the word "Rosicrucian."
The teachers of the secret implies that the Rosicrucians are the only ones who can truly teach and truly possesses the secret..
The secret is a scam.. a hype to distract people from the truth and free will..
The Rosicrucians. Is a good organization, however.
93 93/93
King Solomon -
I've been lightly studying thelema for just a few weeks now, reading what I can her and there within the confines of a busy schedule. There many teachings that are similar to thelema and or vice versa. It seems to suggest what it suggest, and that is WE ARE ALL ONE MIND! We may use different shoes to run a marathon but are goal is one in the same. My main concern is the PRETTY PACKAGE."the answer to nine out of ten questions...MONEY"(Vanilla Sky)this is in part why I avoid joining any org.
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@metus said
"I've been lightly studying thelema for just a few weeks now, reading what I can her and there within the confines of a busy schedule. There many teachings that are similar to thelema and or vice versa. It seems to suggest what it suggest, and that is WE ARE ALL ONE MIND! We may use different shoes to run a marathon but are goal is one in the same. My main concern is the PRETTY PACKAGE."the answer to nine out of ten questions...MONEY"(Vanilla Sky)this is in part why I avoid joining any org."
In philosophy, that is a specific type of 'monism' called 'idealism,' the most sound form of which was espoused by George Berkeley in Three Dialogues between Hylad and Philonous (except for the part about when you aren't looking)... with a more Hermetic bent, I would recommend The Kybalion which is also a more neoplatonist form of idealism common to qabalah, chaldean oracles, gnosticism, neoplatonist, emanationist, etc.
IAO131
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93
I did find some of the visuals helpful for preventing pissy attitudes and moods that can feed on their own negativity although usually when frustrating occurrences start to perpetuate themselves it always escalates to a point where it breaks into the absurd and I just gotta laugh at myself...
If you've seen The Secret movie watch this:
www.youtube.com/v/Et_jG58qg1k&rel=1 -
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In philosophy, that is a specific type of 'monism' called 'idealism,' the most sound form of which was espoused by George Berkeley in Three Dialogues between Hylad and Philonous (except for the part about when you aren't looking)... with a more Hermetic bent, I would recommend The Kybalion which is also a more neoplatonist form of idealism common to qabalah, chaldean oracles, gnosticism, neoplatonist, emanationist, etc.IAO131"
Do you suggest that there is more than one truth? The Kybalion is just what I was looking for... THNAKS!