The purpose of this article is to explain some of the ideas used by people who have read The Secret. You may find it difficult to understand parts of what everyone is saying. People thought and talked in a different way back then, and often you have to give them credit that when they said for example “men” what they really meant was “humanity”.
Things were different back then. The discoveries of science were causing people to re-think their relationship with life, the universe and everything. Charles and Myrtle Filmore were creating study groups that eventually became Unity Church; Ernest Holmes founded Religious Science and Edgar Cayce was giving psychic readings that were eerily accurate.
A new world of creativity was opening up before people. Science was moving inexorably into the realm of spirituality. We learned that we had an effect on the universe in which we found ouselves.
Based on this information people began to consider the nature of the universe as something pliable; something we could shape with the power of our will. The idea of Positive Mental Attitude, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, the fields of art, literature, music and many others were strongly influenced by this shift in consciousness.
Some say this sounds like Jedi mind tricks, like The Force of Star Wars fame, which “surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” This view of a universal substance that is omnipresent is described in many of the world’s great religions and is referenced by Wallace Wattles as “a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.”
The idea was born that we had a say in the unfolding of our lives. No more pleading for the mercy of something higher than ourselves! Needless to say, this was a very liberating concept for people to consider.
I like the way one person put it when saying “It gives us more power over our lives.” How can we know the unknowable? It makes sense to this writer that we are free to live our own lives and to make our own choices.
Do you believe in past lives? You can embrace any belief you want, but I hope your fate doesn’t depend on it! If the universe is as big as scientists tell us, there should be room for a lot of diversity.
“Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind”. This is something we’ve heard for years and often never see the meaning. The Secret is a secret because we don’t see it right in front of us!
It really makes for an interesting study. The name of the book is titled The Science of Getting Rich. Published over 100 years ago, it is in the public domain today. Look for more information in the Resource Box.
Adam Dillinger owns the Holistic Health Hotline and has been involved in metaphysics and New Age thinking since childhood. He is happy to offer a free copy of the book that inspired The Secret. You can learn more about it here.