i've got a secret for you: no truths

This was originally posted on Kwoon Talk, for posterity's sake I'm putting it up here as well. A movie came out in 2006 called "The Secret". It's a lazy piece of filmmaking that teaches further laziness. Here's why.

This purported 'secret', the 'Law of Attraction'
that has been kicking around for the past 30 years or so, is nothing
more than the quick-fix material culture packaged as spiritual
wisdom. For those of you who haven't watched the movie, the tenet is
that 'like attracts like'--if you think positive, good things will
happen to you. You want that promotion? Visualize it, believe it
will happen, and poof! There you are. The movie even claims it will
cure serious illness. The three steps are "ask, believe, receive".
In other words if you want something: wish for it, believe it will
happen, and then it will.

First off, if you have cancer, chemotherapy will do much more for it.
All the evidence around this 'law' is anecdotal, which means that even
if it were true, due to the positive self-selection effect this method
is on par with random chance. There is also some pseudo-scientific
mumbo jumbo about how it is based on quantum physics. This is so far
off base it makes my head hurt.

In addition, the movie puts forward that the law of attraction has
been suppressed by those in power (hence the movie title) , but there
have been 'secret teachers' throughout the ages who have achieved
success and in fact taught this. Some examples are Plato, Carl Jung,
Siddhartha Buddha, Issac Newton and Aristotle--who did not teach this
in any way, shape or form. They also take a Winston Churchill quote
out of context which makes him look like he supports such theories,
when in fact he's calling it nonsense. Oh, and apparently Beethoven--
an incredibly short tempered man who battled depression for most of
his life--was all about the positive thinking.

Like I said, I have no problem with positive thinking. But that is a
tool to help you go about achieving your goals. What this sort of
thinking does is tries to portray everything as so easy. In doing so
it places the blame of circumstance on the person. The 2 or so
billion people who don't get enough to eat every day? Why, they're
just not wishing hard enough! I also find it curious how the film is
so focused on material goods--probably due to the target demographic.
The numerous movers and shakers in history are mentioned for a very
specific reason, to take the blame of self off the person. I'm sure all Victor Hugo did was wish hard enough and believe that it would happen, then sat back and Les Miserables just popped out of nowhere. No thousands of hours of frustration and hard work. No doubt and confusion--it just went along easily with no troubles because he assumed it would. Ridiculous.

True positive thinking is extremely important, but doesn't ignore
reality. It also isn't lazy. You can believe all you want, but don't
put the work in and don't have the conviction of purpose, it won't
happen. Anything that promises a shortcut like this is a lie. Even
worse, it's a lie that people think they can get away with because
they assume those listening aren't going to bother trying something
significant. It takes the onus off the individual to actually do
something. No wonder I gave up the cello and now can't play like Yo-
Yo Ma, some person probably said to themselves, I didn't have this
secret. It had nothing to do with hard work or desire for excellence!

In life, sometimes you will be sad, other times happy. Nothing will
change that. Furthermore, if something is worth doing, it will be
hard and will take a long time. Along the way, at times, you will
have doubts and feel bad about yourself. Everyone does. But it's not
mindless, blissful ignorance of that reality that will see you
through. It is the knowledge that what you're doing is worth it and
the confidence that you can see it through. Assuming that blind hope
will make all your problems go away just sets you up for a bad fall.
Instead of believing that the cosmos will arrange everything so you
can just glide through life, believe in yourself and then prove it.