The ‘Secret’ of achieving Success, Happiness and Health

Dr. Ruwantissa ABEYRATNE

One of the most talked about books in recent times is “”The Secret”” (Beyond Words Publishing: New York, 2006) by Rhonda Byrne. The author claims that “The Secret” came to her at a difficult time in her life when she had experienced bereavement in the family and mental depression.

She reveals in her Foreword that “The Secret” was revealed to her through a hundred year old book of wisdom presented to her by her daughter.

Intrigued by the book’s wisdom, the author traced back into history and found that among those who knew “The Secret” were geniuses such as Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, Victor Hugo, Beethoven, Lincoln, Emerson, Edison and Einstein.

According to Byrne, “The Secret” can help one to achieve happiness, wealth, and health. She reports in her book stories of those who did just that and eradicated disease, acquired massive wealth and overcame obstacles in life. The author assures the reader that “The Secret” will bring joy to billions of people on earth.

However, apparently, the leaders of the past who had “The Secret” never shared its power with others so that the common man routinely went to work, came home, had his supper and went to bed, never knowing how to achieve stupendous success, happiness and health.

Law of Attraction

So what is “The Secret”? Bob Proctor, one of the proponents of “The Secret” gives his point of view: “we all work with one infinite power, guiding ourselves by exactly the same laws”.

He says that the natural laws of the Universe are so precise that we don’t have difficulty in doing complex things such as building spaceships and sending people to the moon within a fraction of a calculated second.

Therefore “The Secret” is the Law of Attraction, which simply stated, is a natural universal process in which one attracts everything that is coming to his life. According to this law you get what you think about and your thoughts determine your existence. Wikipedia reports that the Law of Attraction is commonly associated with New Age and New Thought theories.

It states that people experience the corresponding manifestations of their predominant thoughts, feelings, words, and actions and that people therefore have direct control over reality and their lives through thought alone.

A person’s thoughts (conscious and unconscious), emotions, beliefs and actions are said to attract corresponding positive and negative experiences through “harmonious vibrations of the Law of Attraction”.

These things are attracted to a person by the images that one is holding in one’s mind. As Prentice Mulford (1834-1891) said: “Every thought of yours is a real thing - a force”. This view is seemingly consistent with the teachings of the Buddha, that, mental volition is the will to live, to exist, to re-exist, to continue, to become more and more. Volition or Chetana is karma as the Buddha himself defined it.

Proponents of “The Secret” believe that mental volition, the Law of Attraction and quantum physics are closely related. The Law of Attraction governs the Universe and is known as a universal principle.

All human beings are governed by and live by this law even if we are not fully aware that we are. The law says that through our feelings, positive or negative, we are sending a message that says: “give me more of it”.

We sow the seeds of thought, and in time reap the harvest thereof. Attention to something is attraction of that something. The more attention you pay to something, the more attention it pays to you.

Quantum Physics

Quantum physics is an outstandingly successful mathematical description of the behaviour of matter and energy at the level of fundamental particles.

No discrepancy of any kind between the predictions of quantum theory and experimental observation has ever been found The role played by quantum physics in supplementing the Law of Attraction is significant.

Whereas the Law of Attraction makes us attract into our lives whatever we focus on, quantum physics is based on the principle that nothing is fixed, and therefore there are no constrains or limitations, and everything is vibrating with energy.

The synergy between this vibrating energy and the attraction with which we are drawn to what we focus on enables us to be whatever we like to be and achieve whatever we wish.

Quantum theory has changed everything, in that what was earlier a mechanical, external universe has now become a web of intelligence.

Science now admits that the simple act of observing changes the result of any experiment, as well as establishing that the observer and the observed are not separate.

What follows from this new understanding is a completely new way of how we have to deal with the world we perceive. Our old model of an objective world view has to be replaced with a new model that states that everything is subjective, as the observer influences the observed.

In other words, we create our own Universe. Whereas classical Newtonian physics presents a material perspective in which the Universe is composed of discrete building blocks, solid and unchangeable, quantum physics attenuates a spiritual perspective in which there are no separate parts and in which everything is fluid and is always changing.

The physical world we inhabit is an ocean of energy constantly flashing into and out of existence. We transform this ever-changing energy into observable reality. Therefore, we can create our reality with our thoughts. Of relevance here is Einstein’s theory of relativity which posits that matter and energy are really different forms of the same thing.

With quantum physics, science leaves behind the notion that human beings are powerless victims of their own selves and forges us toward an understanding that we are fully empowered creators of our lives and of our world.

One of the best examples that can be cited from the entertainment world in this regard is The popular movie, What the Bleep Do We Know!? which unequivocally represents quantum physics as the physics of possibility.

Measuring thoughts

While it is a natural corollary to our perceptions that our external world is more real than the internal world, quantum physics does a paradigm shift to say just the opposite: that what’s happening on the inside determines what’s happening on the outside and that our world is shaped by our thoughts.

Now back to “The Secret”. John Assaraf says: “What most people don’t understand is that a thought has a frequency. We can measure a thought. And so if you’re thinking that thought over and over again, if you are imagining in your mind having that brand new car, having the money that you need, building that company, finding your soul mate, you’re emitting that frequency on a constant basis.

There are some learned physicists who have posed the theory that the fundamental postulate of quantum physics - that fundamental particles are empty of inherent existence and exist in an undefined state of potentialities and that they have no inherent existence from their own side and do not become ‘real’ until a mind interacts with them and gives them meaning - is totally consistent with the Mahayana teachings on sunyata (The teachings on emptiness. Sanskrit sunyata or shunyata).

Sean Robsville is of the view that the ultimate manifestation of quantum sunyata is when quantum theory is applied to the entire Universe. He claims that according to some cosmologists, the Universe began as a quantum fluctuation in the limitless Void (Hartle-Hawking hypothesis).

The Universe remained as a huge quantum superposition of all possible states until the first primordial mind observed it, causing it to collapse into one actuality. The shared sensibilities between quantum physics and Buddhist doctrine can only give credence to the material dimensions of the mind and its capacity to attract the Universe to it.

At this juncture, it must be emphasized that there is, however a fundamental difference between the Law of Attraction and the Buddhist doctrine. Although Quantum physics is common to both, Buddhist physics and the doctrine itself is centred around the annihilation of craving and desire and the ultimate ending of Samsara or life, whereas the Law of Attraction teaches that desire is good and wanting is good. Here, the two part ways.

The Law of Attraction also teaches us that if people keep thinking more and more of what they do not want, it will show up over and over again.

Bob Doyle states: “The Law of Attraction doesn’t care whether you perceive something to be good or bad, or whether you don’t want it or whether you want it. It’s responding to your thoughts. So if you are looking at a mountain of debt, feeling terrible about it, that’s the signal you are putting out into the Universe.”

Power of Love

Arguably, the greatest dimension of the Law of Attraction is love. There is no greater power in the Universe than the power of love and, “”The Secret”” tells us that the feeling of love is the highest frequency that we can emit. It also tells us that some of the great thinkers of the past referred to the Law of Attraction as the law of love.

The next question is: how does one use “”The Secret””? or how does one get the Law of Attraction to assist one? Lisa Nichols says: “The first step is to ask. Make a command to the Universe.

Let the Universe know what you want. The Universe responds to your thoughts”. She further suggests that the Law of Attraction is really obedient. When one thinks of the things she wants, and focuses on them with all of her intention, then the Law of Attraction will give her exactly what she wants every time.

One of the most important things that one should avoid is to think of things one does not want. This triggers a reaction in the mind because the Law of Attraction does not hear that one does not want it.

It manifests the things that one is thinking of and shows it up over and over again.

Some even suggest that sitting down and writing your wishes and intentions are a step in the right direction. Dr Joe Vitale says that the Universe will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you.

Jack Canfield, another teacher cited in the book says that most of us have never allowed ourselves to want what we truly want, because we cannot see how it is going to manifest.

There are also roadblocks to allowing the Law of Attraction to work for one. Bob Doyle says the first is to be cautious and avoid the misconception that positive thinking alone can make things happen. He says: “the reality is that many people use various forms of positive thinking on a conscious level (such as affirmations), only to cancel out those thoughts on a subconscious level.

For example, telling yourself “I am lean, healthy, and energetic” when the mirror says something different, usually results in your subconscious saying, “No you’re not!!”. Further, this subconscious rebuttal is generally highly charged with emotion, and thus a very powerful attractor.

Therefore, if left unchecked, the use of affirmations can give one a very strong opposite result of those things one is affirming, because at a much stronger level of conviction, he is cancelling the positive message with a negative one”.

Another mistake is to be impatient. The Universe does not deliver at one’s whim. Yet another point of caution is that one must make sure that one allows the Universe to enter into the process.

This could be done with positive and contrived thoughts and acts aimed at achieving the goal.

The bottom line in the Law of Attraction is that one has to make it happen. The Law of Attraction will kick in only if it is allowed to.

Neale Donald Walsch, author of “Friendship with God” says : there is no blackboard in the sky on which God has written your purpose...your purpose is what you say it is, your life will be what you create it as, and no one will stand in judgment of it, now or ever.

It will also not hurt to read the book “”The Secret”” which the author of this article has read several times over.