The Crap...I mean...Secret...

Well hello again!

Ok so after some criticism and interesting chatting in Facebook for expressing some of my anti-religious ideas, here I am again about to do the same with another "sweetheart" of many out there, I'm talking about Rhonda Byrne's (Australian writer and producer) book and movie "The Secret".

Well, where should I start from......? Really a hard task, not that there is nothing you can criticize, in fact that's the problem, that book is full of soooooo much non-sense and dangerous pseudo-science crap, yes, dangerous, that it makes it a pain in the ass to figure out where to start from. Anyway, I must do this because it's been in my system for long enough and I feel the need of spitting it out.

So let's talk about the tirelessly mentioned and main propel of the book, the "Law of Attraction". Rhonda seems to be very fond on that fancy-sounding term which is nothing else but.... how can I put it nicely?......?... bull shit!!! (that's the nicest I could do). So she says that by making use of this law, we can attract all the positive stuff that surround us only by using our positive thinking... and also the other way round with the negative stuff... right, ok, let's suppose that, as unreal and childish as this sounds, this wouldn't harm anyone, actually it might be good if people take on a positive approach to most of the things they do right? Well, this is actually true, but the problem with this crap is that its stuff gets actually more complicated and even alarming and as I said before, DANGEROUS!! Because she goes on to say that if you wish hard enough, you can actually be cured of serious illnesses such as cancer tumors or things like that.

She bases this obnoxious claims using the term "quantum physics", of which Rhonda Byrne has a Ph.D...oh no! sorry, she doesn't.... I bet almost 100% (if not that) of you who are reading my rant, don't understand a damn about quantum physics (not that I do either), because it's really a hard one to grasp. There is a saying, "if you say you understand quantum physics, that means you don't understand them" (though there are different versions of the saying). But anyway, quantum physics, as chaotic as they are, are still science, yes, science, meaning they have absolutely nothing to do with metaphysical shit, which is nothing else than an invention from philosophers and I would say nowadays an industry itself.

Quantum physics deal with the small world, the extremely small world in deed, the sub-atomic particles where everything gets really chaotic, where electrons start interfering with themselves and not making any sense, they become extremely unpredictable and governed by probability mostly, the possibility of infinite parallel universes where all the different alternatives of what happens in this one actually exist. Actually it gets much more complicated than that, imagine that we are all made out of atoms, that for some reason stay together and stable enough so that we don't suddenly become something else or just vanish in the blink of an eye. But at the same time, the smaller particles that compose those atoms, get extremely unstable, unpredictable and chaotic, now put them together and make sense out off it..

Nice try Rhonda! But now, could anybody explain me how the hell can you relate that to the "Law of Attraction"? Well, actually very easily, because since it is a branch of science (quantum physics) very few people in the World understand thoroughly, you can basically make any impressive-sounding crap up and very few will dispute it, moreover, by using that fancy word (quantum physics) you sound as you would really know your shit.

Well, she doesn't. Actually she has no fucking clue what she is talking about. Similar forces attract each other...? Like..where? I thought opposite poles are the ones that attract each other. Anyway, if that is not enough argument, I have a lot more, I'm just warming up.

So the "Law of Attraction" was mentioned for the first time (James Allen) at the beginning of the last century (1902), which take us to more meaningless claims from the book such as the important people in history who were supposed to

know (and use) this law and therefore, became crucial figures of human history. Well, the thing is, most of the people sh

e mentions were already death when the law came to existence for the first time i.e, Leonardo Da Vinci, Buddha, Aristotle, Plato, Sir Isaac Newton just to mention a few.

Nevertheless, what a crap that is, really, you wish it and you get anything you have ever dreamt about, without an effort, just ask the Universe and dara!! There you are! So the Universe is supposed to hear YOU over billions and billions of galaxies which might host billions of different intelligent lives which might be also "wishing" to it (all at the same time)..... that sounds unbearably self-centered, even megalomaniac!! Don't you think? There's by the way a similar phenomenon followed by millions which begins with "R"...

Anyway, the real danger of this crap, is that some people might actually believe that if they wish hard enough, they can be cured from dangerous illnesses, they might prefer to do that over looking for medical professional help which could in deed save their lives, once they realize that there is no magic in the Universe and look for that professional help, it might be too late!! This might sound stupid for many of you, because we are more or less educated, but think about the people who are not, who could be more vulnerable. This kind of shit shouldn't be tolerated!! I am absolutely in favor of the freedom of expression, but there should be limits,

difference should be made crystal clear about what is fantasy and what is reality to avoid putting people in danger , and that is why the skeptic community raises its voice against these charlatans, and I am not talking only about her only but about any pseudo-science form, because they put many lives in danger!! That's is why is so important to promote critical thinking, is not about you believing in me, is about you not believing in anyone, but making your own research, looking at the big picture and drawing your own conclusions. Is really not that hard.

I like how Brian Dunning (Skeptoid.com) expresses why the Secret has been a best seller, he says:

1. It's based on ancient wisdom, which is always popular
2. It sells the same motivational self-help pitches that are always popular
3. It teaches that you're already a winner because you didn't fail like those people who died in New Orleans.

And talking about that last point, Rhonda also writes that all the big sad tragedies that strike the World such as the Tsunami of 2004, are the result of massive negative thoughts........???...??...So does that mean that more than 200,000 people in 11 different countries die because of their negative thoughts and so the Universe decided to wipe them off the face of the Earth? Were the exact number of victims the exact number of negative people that deserved to die? Or were there any innocents among the victims? The great majority maybe? Well, I guess you got the point of that non-sense garbage. And if you haven't had enough, just listen to what these two clowns have to say about it.

Because of people like these, using the media to misinform others, is that pseudo-science still stands strong, but that would be another topic. Anyway, if you really need this motivational books kind of thing in your life, go ahead, but make sure you recognize between reality and fantasy, evolution has given us brains that are able to solve extremely complex problems, more than what any other animal could ever achieve, yet, sometimes it seems as if we are using them against ourselves. Just remember to follow YOUR OWN critical thinking...out of my system, time to move on..