Hergest Ridge

Brief annotation for the reader not familiar with The Secret: Early on in the movie we learn that the secret is the law of attraction. The law is the central piece of the movie, and by proxy my main theme.

Newton’s law, Boyle’s law, electromagnetic law, the law of gravity, and the law of attraction. Without digging too deep, science is what the average reader may be forgiven for thinking. That being the case I recommend a quick Google search, specifically on the law of attraction. If you feel that I’m a trustworthy source I’ll save you the trouble of a search by pointing out that scientifically no such law exists.

The law of attraction falls into the pseudoscience category. The classification might be misconstrued for a type of science, and I’d like to assure you that it is not. Simply, pseudoscience is any kind of belief, or practice that claims to be scientific but does not follow the scientific method. Pseudosciences may appear scientific, but they do not adhere to the basic requirements of the scientific method (Wikipedia: Pseudoscience).

Analytic statements that are true or false by logic alone are not laws. The evidence offered by The Secret is both anecdotal and highly susceptible to misinterpretations like confirmation bias (Wikipedia: Law of Attraction). To put it mildly, the Law of Attraction is an unscientific claim in a lab coat - a masquerade of sorts.

Through the likening of law of gravity with the law of attraction, The Secret disguises itself as a factual account of our universe. It often achieves its goal by using credible science as a Trojan Horse to get past our built-in censors.

Other pseudoscience and supernatural examples abound. Brain functions can indeed be measured and are a form of energy, but no evidence exists that this energy exists outside of the brain where it was generated. To claim that it impresses and changes the universe is a leap of faith at par with that required of religious faith.

The most preposterous suggestion of all came in the form of a personal anecdote, in that a link was suggested between ‘gratitude rocks’ and the curing of a disease. Clearly, this is a leap into the world of supernatural right along with voodoo dolls.

Overlooking the lack of scientific credibility in the claims, literal belief in “man becomes what he thinks about” is dangerous. I shudder to think of the rape survivor, or parent that lost a child. Does anyone really believe that they alone are responsible for the events in their life, that somehow they brought this onto themselves? Our thoughts have bearing on the final outcome in the form of self fulfilling prophecies, but are not the sole causation of anything.

There is so much wrong with The Secret, further analysis would be a waste of space, not to mention your and my time. The story is dramatized early on with comments like “The Leaders in the past who had the secret wanted to keep the power and not share the power so they kept people ignorant to the secret” - everyone loves a conspiracy theory - and then proceeds to deliver a fairy tale based on placebo and self fulfilling prophecy effects blown way out of proportion. If you value facts and evidence, stay clear of The Secret.

Follow Up

Chasers view on The Secret has been brought to my attention, and I’m passing it your way in the form of a 7 minute video. My original article included references to Scientology, but I opted to omit the comparison due to limited Scientology knowledge on my part. Glad to hear these guys going for it!