The Secret
I watched the movie, The Secret, last night. www.thesecret.tv I have been hearing about it for months. It talks about the “Law of Attraction” - that we attract in life what we think and feel about internally. At City House, we often make the case that none of us, suburban or poor, can take advantage of our resources unless we experience an internal transformation first. My experience tells me there is some truth in this law.
My objection is that it lacks the dialectic. It seems to ignore the issue of human limitation and weakness. Carried to an extreme, it leads to blaming the victim, or telling a poverty stricken child in Bangladesh that if they just thought and felt differently about their situation, they wouldn’t be in poverty.
One of my favorite authors, Rev Barbara Brown Taylor, www.barbarabrowntaylor.com says it quite eloquently. Our mind boggling technology and national wealth have allowed us to relieve so much suffering that we have begun to believe it should not exist at all. Where it persists, we work hard for awhile. We employ experts, allocate resources. We bring all our own best values to bear and are shocked that they are not welcomed. Then to tell you the truth, most of us withdraw, walling ourselves off from those who cannot be fixed and suggesting in one way or another that it is their own damned fault. To help us feel safe from what has heppened to them, we conform to an unwritten code - live in the right neighborhood, eat the right food, make good investments, be a good person - and tragedy, like a tornado, should skip right over you. Teaching Sermons on Suffering; God In Pain - page 121.
While the addicts and criminals I encounter are certainly at least partially responsible for their situation, somewhere between a third and a half are mentally ill. Somewhere between a third and a half are multiple generational poverty. Their “stinking thinking”, as many of them will acknowledge has contributed to their life situation. But there is a lot about which “they” are not in control, no matter how they think or feel about it.
Your thoughts?
October 15th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I work with literally thousands of strangers in my profession, what I’ve noticed most is: people are so hungry for tools, a practice, techniques and resources to help make sense of life and its complexities, to help them grow and feel supported. They are looking for answers to help deal with the inevitable disasters, disappointments and struggles that make up every human life. Life does not tell us that you can have anything, be anything, do anything, without limit.
A spiritual practice, or spiritual recovery requires that you turn to face situations. That you get real about your conditioning, the distinction between what you have power over, and what has power over you.
Understanding the complexities of life requires that we ask questions, and ultimately integrate negative emotions through a process that takes us beneath the surface into the actual meaning of what emotional triggers are saying to us. Understanding what triggers you is the way toward ending self-sabotage, not just trying desperately to impose a junta of “good thoughts” into your mind from the outside in. Imposing a remedy of “good thoughts” or stating “we’ve somehow created our own reality surrounding a horrific trauma”, is so insulting to the true nature of suffering, so ignorant of the realities of privilege and oppression, so authoritative in judgment of those who are not creating their own reality the right way. I would feel horrible if I had to suggest this approach to a wonderful family that had just lost a child to grips of death.
Negative emotions have value and meaning. They are communications from deep inside us. We should all be curious about them; and profoundly compassionate. The way to be free of these is to embrace them and listen to what they might be telling us about ourselves - the part of us that we have given up on, disowned and disconnected from.
The Law of Attraction is not the only rule of life, its one of the many rules of life upon this earth. Our job is to attempt assimilation of them all, to the very best of our ability.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Well said Susanne. I particulary resonated with you comment about the true nature of suffering. I don’t think as a culture that we know how to “suffer well.”
As a Christian, I believe we are weak on understanding the theology of the cross. It is very countercultural.
Thanks for your comments. Please visit often!!
October 20th, 2007 at 5:55 am
I too watched The Secret. It strikes me that, like so many so called messages, we like to classify them as either good or bad and in fact they are probably better classified as good and bad. I share the concern that The Secret, initially came across as unrealistic and self indulgent. However, when it had finished I was pleased that it had reminded me of how important our thoughts and mind are as resources as we journey through this broken world.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Hi Bert,
Thanks for responding. I like your use of the word “broken”. It seemd to me that the movie ignores or denies the existence of limits and evil in life. But I also agree that our thoughts and feelings do in fact create our world. It it is a “both / and”