The Secret has sold 500,000 copies in 6 months....

[trekr5]

The Secret has become one of the biggest selling DVDs of 2006 with Part II to follow next year.

However Time magazine has done a hatchet job on it. Reah here:
TIME.com: The Secret of Success -- Page 1

[Markus74]

A lot of people want to believe in quick magic fixes for their problems. That's not surprising.

And though some parts of the movie are utterly ridiculous, other parts can be uplifting indeed.

[Ann]

Out of curiosity, which parts did you think were ridiculous?

I thought every bit of the movie was great!

[Markus74]

The magical parts. That you simply wish for a new bike and it falls down from the heavens just like that. Or that the Universe makes your father buy it, etc ..

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Markus74

A lot of people want to believe in quick magic fixes for their problems. That's not surprising.

And though some parts of the movie are utterly ridiculous, other parts can be uplifting indeed.

Hmm, I never found IM to be especially quick, outside of intending songs on the radio.

Some of it is a little overproduced, but all in all I think its a well done piece of work. I am really interested to see the next part.

[Ann]

Originally Posted by Markus74

The magical parts. That you simply wish for a new bike and it falls down from the heavens just like that. Or that the Universe makes your father buy it, etc ..

Oh that bit! lol, yeah it seemed like you are wishing for a bike and the next day, your grandpa has it right in your footsteps

Some people may wish for the same thing and if they don't get it after a week, they'll prove themselves it's not working lol

I agree they could have used a better example, but what example would you have demonstrated then?

[Markus74]

None. Since the world doesn't work like that.

Things don't just fall out of the sky. You have to get active yourself. Just sitting on the couch and wishing doesn't advance you.

[Maxwell]

Why don't the makers of the secret just allow people to watch the movie for free? Since they are obviously experts at I-M and masters of LoA, why do they have to charge people to know this wonderful thing? They could just manifest billions anyway right? Are they terribly greedy people? Do they not care about the rest of humanity who can't afford it the movie or won't pay for it at that price?

[Markus74]

Originally Posted by Maxwell

Why don't the makers of the secret just allow people to watch the movie for free? Since they are obviously experts at I-M and masters of LoA, why do they have to charge people to know this wonderful thing? They could just manifest billions anyway right? Are they terribly greedy people? Do they not care about the rest of humanity who can't afford it the movie or won't pay for it at that price?

The Universe manifests the money by sending them people to buy their movie ...

Apparently the Universe cannot create money out of thin air.

And they're not like some ancient prophets who just wanted their message to be known. Today buying houses and cars is as important as the message itself.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Maxwell

Why don't the makers of the secret just allow people to watch the movie for free? Since they are obviously experts at I-M and masters of LoA, why do they have to charge people to know this wonderful thing? They could just manifest billions anyway right? Are they terribly greedy people? Do they not care about the rest of humanity who can't afford it the movie or won't pay for it at that price?

Weirdly enough, you seem to know the secret and havent paid a dime to the producers of the film. The reason I would pay to watch it, is because its a focus of the concepts. The same reason I listen to audiobooks for a good portion of my week, to keep myself in a positive mindset, and keep reminding me to impliment th concepts. Plus, it took time and money to produce The Secret, so why not let the people recoup and/or make money off it, especially if it was their purpose? It has obviously provided value to half a million people. Do you say this same thing about independent movies, books, or anything else that is sold? I think you are intentionally holding practitioners of IM to a higher standard than you would anyone else because you think badly of it. Its as if you want the people who belive in it to jump through hoops to prove it to you.

[Mused]

Originally Posted by Maxwell

Why don't the makers of the secret just allow people to watch the movie for free? Since they are obviously experts at I-M and masters of LoA, why do they have to charge people to know this wonderful thing? They could just manifest billions anyway right? Are they terribly greedy people? Do they not care about the rest of humanity who can't afford it the movie or won't pay for it at that price?

The do go over why the Secret isn't free. Although technically the secret itself is free the time and energy put into sharing the secret with those not aware of existence is not free.

However...It The Secret is and has been free right here on Google Video

[cylon]

The secret is in book form now. I have it, it has all the major elements of the film, the important quotes, I like it.

Go to Barnes & Noble, and read it, for free.

[Maxwell]

I must have missed the part when they went over why it isn't free. I don't feel like watching or scanning through that again. It was too repetative to bear another view.

So basically what you people have told me is they would rather make money off people than help all of humanity. That's fine.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Maxwell

So basically what you people have told me is they would rather make money off people than help all of humanity. That's fine.

Could you quote where someone said that? Theres plenty of resources for IM without paying. Libraries, internet, people. I even learned photoreading for 30 cents in late fees (which is normally a 250 dollar course).

I know you have a burning desire to debunk IM, but why do you just ask these scathing questions of IM practitioners? Why not doctors, lawyers and others who can help humanity instead of profiting? It cost them money to create The Secret, and they did a good job and they provided value (having it all in one place), so they asked people to pay to see it. You don't have to watch it to practice IM, and in actuality there are better resources, cause The Secret is more of an introduction, imo. It isnt unreasonable at all, or at least not as unreasonable as you make it with your (horrible) attempt of a guilt trip.

[cylon]

Markus, Maxwell--there are many things that benefit my life that I am glad to pay for. I recently purchased "What the Bleep" on DVD. It wasn't free. It was at the store, and it cost money. Money I was glad to pay. I don't own the Secret DVD. I watched it online a few times, and yesterday I was able to watch it online for free. But maybe that's beside the point.

I was a flat out atheist up until I saw the secret. For a few years, I spent many many hours on atheist chat rooms, mocking people who believed in things that science couldn't explain. Magical thinking. I got way into James Randi, Penn and Teller ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, Michael Shermer, other Atheist thinkers. I had a lot of built-in anger towards "magical thinkers", especially born again christians of the judgemental variety, since that's what I grew up with. Even now, I can't wait for the movie "Jesus Camp" to become available in my Netflix cue.

Something happened to me in the last year, as I naturally got away from the skeptical obsession. I didn't stop being a skeptic, I just stopped caring about being right all the time. I spent more time creating art, and having fun, and less time watching the news, keeping up to date on church scandals, getting into online debates about Creationism. I just naturally started being more accepting of people who, to me, were living a life of fantasy. In the end, who cares? What does it have to do with me anyway? Why am I judging people for any reason? Isn't that what "they" do? I would ask you to consider this for yourself: what are you getting out of putting other people down for their beliefs? How is it benefiting YOU as an individual. Likewise, when people enjoy the Secret, how is that affecting YOU as an individual. What does it have to do with YOUR life?

So anyway. I was led to the Secret over a month ago, and have been led to other things since then. And yes I've had to rethink many of my previous assumptions. But now I'm not so attached to being "right", or having all the answers. What's the difference between a true believer and an an atheist? Nothing. They are both absolutely convinced they have all the answers and their view of reality is the only accurate one, and every other view is totally lame, misguided, and dangerous.


We use five percent of our brains they say. Maybe using the LOA pops it up to seven percent. Maybe in 500 years there will be more discoveries and people will be using 9 percent. Who knows. You bring a caveman into current times and he'll see an airplane and freak out. To him it would be a god probably, or something that scared the crap out of him. But it's just an airplane. Something that was magic for thousands and thousands of years, in the end, is really not a big deal. We just understand it now. I think the subject matter of this board is similar to that. In my opinion.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by cylon

Something happened to me in the last year, as I naturally got away from the skeptical obsession. I didn't stop being a skeptic, I just stopped caring about being right all the time. I spent more time creating art, and having fun, and less time watching the news, keeping up to date on church scandals, getting into online debates about Creationism. I just naturally started being more accepting of people who, to me, were living a life of fantasy. In the end, who cares? What does it have to do with me anyway? Why am I judging people for any reason? Isn't that what "they" do? I would ask you to consider this for yourself: what are you getting out of putting other people down for their beliefs? How is it benefiting YOU as an individual. Likewise, when people enjoy the Secret, how is that affecting YOU as an individual. What does it have to do with YOUR life?

So anyway. I was led to the Secret over a month ago, and have been led to other things since then. And yes I've had to rethink many of my previous assumptions. But now I'm not so attached to being "right", or having all the answers. What's the difference between a true believer and an an atheist? Nothing. They are both absolutely convinced they have all the answers and their view of reality is the only accurate one, and every other view is totally lame, misguided, and dangerous.

Well said. I too was a skeptic a while back, but now I believe.

One thing I've learned from this is not to try to argue with people who believe in other "magical" things that I don't. Maybe they are totally wrong, maybe they are totally right. As long as they don't affect me in any negative way, who cares what people believe in. I try to listen to what I experience directly for my current beliefs, instead of what "makes logical sense", because I have found that "what makes logical sense" is crap in most cases. We use logic to back up what we already believe, not the other way around.

Paul

[cylon]

Thanks. Sent you a PM.

[Maxwell]

Originally Posted by Lucas

Could you quote where someone said that? Theres plenty of resources for IM without paying. Libraries, internet, people. I even learned photoreading for 30 cents in late fees (which is normally a 250 dollar course).

I don't think you can dispute that. People here won't come out and say it straight but everything they are saying dances around that fact or tries to make some excuse like you do below.

Originally Posted by Lucas

I know you have a burning desire to debunk IM, but why do you just ask these scathing questions of IM practitioners? Why not doctors, lawyers and others who can help humanity instead of profiting? It cost them money to create The Secret, and they did a good job and they provided value (having it all in one place), so they asked people to pay to see it. You don't have to watch it to practice IM, and in actuality there are better resources, cause The Secret is more of an introduction, imo. It isnt unreasonable at all, or at least not as unreasonable as you make it with your (horrible) attempt of a guilt trip.

Doctors, lawyers and others do not have the option to manifest money for themselves in the ways those who produced this movie do. They chose to charge people knowing they have the option to make money very easily doing other means. Its almost in a front to the good of humanity. The fact that something costs money is very reasonable of course. You are missing my point. This costs money when it doesn't need to. The people who made it, if its true, have no need to charge for it. Yet they do, and because of that not everyone will get to experience it.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Maxwell

They chose to charge people knowing they have the option to make money very easily doing other means. Its almost in a front to the good of humanity.

There's nothing wrong with charging money for it. There are many reasons one might charge for "free advice". Some examples are:

1) People typically don't trust free advice. Most people will follow a program they paid $50 for or $500 or $5000 for more then they will a free program. For example I bought a Tony RObbins program before for like $300. I went through it and did the whole thing because after all "I paid 300 bucks for it!" so I wanted to get my money's worth. I then gave the program to a friend who wanted it, but he didn't even get past day one. Why? Cuz he didn't pay for it. Basic human psychology.

2) If 500,000 people download a movie for free skeptics will say "So what, it's free, no big deal. They know the movie is crap, that's why they can't charge for it, cuz nobody would pay for it." However if they charge for it skeptics say "They shouldn't be charging for it."

Anyway, those are just two reasons. Everyone deserves to make money. I especially like the fact that you can watch the movie for $5 online and then pay $25 for the DVD if you like the movie. That shows that they believe in their product.

I did exactly that. Paid $5, watched it, liked it, ordered the full DVD.

[Maxwell]

Originally Posted by impaul99

There's nothing wrong with charging money for it. There are many reasons one might charge for "free advice". Some examples are:

1) People typically don't trust free advice. Most people will follow a program they paid $50 for or $500 or $5000 for more then they will a free program. For example I bought a Tony RObbins program before for like $300. I went through it and did the whole thing because after all "I paid 300 bucks for it!" so I wanted to get my money's worth. I then gave the program to a friend who wanted it, but he didn't even get past day one. Why? Cuz he didn't pay for it. Basic human psychology.

2) If 500,000 people download a movie for free skeptics will say "So what, it's free, no big deal. They know the movie is crap, that's why they can't charge for it, cuz nobody would pay for it." However if they charge for it skeptics say "They shouldn't be charging for it."

Anyway, those are just two reasons. Everyone deserves to make money. I especially like the fact that you can watch the movie for $5 online and then pay $25 for the DVD if you like the movie. That shows that they believe in their product.

I did exactly that. Paid $5, watched it, liked it, ordered the full DVD.

Those two numbered reasons are much better than the common cliche, "everyone deserves to make money," though they are actually one reason repeated. Everyone does deserve to make money but do they deserve to make money if they could do it in other ways with ease and doing it this way prevents billions of people from happiness? Personally, I think no.

[cylon]

Maxwell, at the end of the day, the Secret costs what it costs, for whatever reason. This is something outside of your control. If you are truly concerned about the billions of people in the world, there is always a way for you to be the one to provide this knowledge free of cost. You could write an ebook and post it online for free. You could simplify it and maybe put it into an email, and then people could forward it, it would start a chain reaction. The knowledge would get out there if you were passionate enough about it. If that's what you're being called to do, I say go for it.

If that's not your calling, or you'd rather do something else, that's cool too. The cost of the Secret has no immediate effect on your life. You are focusing your energy on, what to me, is trivial. If it's not trivial to you, I would say again, do something about it. YOU be the one to give stuff away for free. You can't control the cost of the Secret. But you can control what you spend your time thinking about, and the things that happen in your life. You can make a difference. I can too, so I'll stop responding to the negativity. Just my perspective, and other people may benefit from it as well: focusing on what you don't want gets you more of what you don't want.

[Mused]

Originally Posted by cylon

...you can control what you spend your time thinking about, and the things that happen in your life. You can make a difference. I can too, so I'll stop responding to the negativity. Just my perspective, and other people may benefit from it as well: focusing on what you don't want gets you more of what you don't want.

Very well put

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Maxwell

I don't think you can dispute that. People here won't come out and say it straight but everything they are saying dances around that fact or tries to make some excuse like you do below.

I am not making excuses, but this information is widely availible for free. You are proof of that since you know the secret and havent paid anything for it. However, they gathered the information on the subject, compiled it and made a production from it, I see no foul for charging it. You dont get pissed off when you buy a dictionary, do you? You could look on the web, go to the library or ask people til you got the definition of a word...but I don't see you harping on Webster because he is charging for his dictionaries rather than helping all of humanity expand their vocabularies. Its the double standard you are holding IM pratitioners to, plain and simple.

Doctors, lawyers and others do not have the option to manifest money for themselves in the ways those who produced this movie do. They chose to charge people knowing they have the option to make money very easily doing other means. Its almost in a front to the good of humanity. The fact that something costs money is very reasonable of course. You are missing my point. This costs money when it doesn't need to. The people who made it, if its true, have no need to charge for it. Yet they do, and because of that not everyone will get to experience it.

This doesnt make any sense. Under your logic, Doctors and Lawyers choose to charge outrageous prices, instead of bettering humanity. You are holding the producers of the documentary to a completely different scale than you are holding everyone else. Maybe you arent getting the way IM works or something, it is my thought that they chose to manifest money for themselves and they took action on the opportunities that the universe opened up for them, and they are now recieving money, by way of their production selling extremely well.

[Akashic_Librarian]

The only problem I have with The Secret is the way they say that you shouldn't feel Anger. This is rubbish in my opinion. The other bad feelings are rightfully wrong (lol) but Anger is a GOOD feeling when used in the right context, but it should be USED, you should not allow anger to control you, you should control anger. All emotions are tools and should be delt with as such, you are not a passive observer of your emotions anymore than you are a passive observer on your life. Anger, happiness, love, you can control them and when you can create them at will then you have true contro. Anger is good if you find yourself in a fight, Happiness is good at a party, Love is great when your getting married, but Anger isn't good at a wedding, anymore than love is good in a fight.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Lucas

This doesnt make any sense. Under your logic, Doctors and Lawyers choose to charge outrageous prices, instead of bettering humanity. You are holding the producers of the documentary to a completely different scale than you are holding everyone else. Maybe you arent getting the way IM works or something, it is my thought that they chose to manifest money for themselves and they took action on the opportunities that the universe opened up for them, and they are now recieving money, by way of their production selling extremely well.

What it is, is that people think that it's ok for every profession in the world to make money, except for what Steve calls "Lightworkers". People who teach things like Intention Manifestation, Self Development, Subjective Reality, etc. are expected to give away their advice for free, otherwise people automatically judge them as "The only real way they make their money is selling the very advice we're supposed to follow."

What this does is it makes people think that those people couldn't make money any other way except to sell their advice via books, seminars, movies etc. which isn't true. For example, most of the people in the movie (if not all) were already wealthy before making The Secret. Canfield for example made money from his "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series which has nothing to do with IM or LoA. He just used IM and LoA to make the series successful. He was an author no different from the lady who writes Harry Potter.

It is true that some people like Anthony Robbins make money selling "How to make money" advice, but so what? The point is to take the advice and apply it to your own world, your own job/career. It's like when I read a book by Michael Jordan and he talks about things related to basketball. I don't sit there and say "Oh, well he plays basketball, so this is useless advice.", I realize that I have to take the lessons he teaches and translate them into my own line of work.

The best way to look at it, in my opinion is this. Everyone in the world deserves to be a multi-millionaire regardless of their job, whether it be soccer players, or doctors, or lawyers, or firemen, or authors, or self development coaches, or baseball coaches etc. Whether they are millionaires or just barely scraping by should be in direct proportion to how WELL they do their job, not WHICH job they do. For example, there are many self development coaches and teachers and they bring results to their clients with varying degrees. A lot of them don't make a lot of money. The reason someone like Tony RObbins makes millions is because he's the best of the best in his line of work. For every 1 Tony Robbins there are thousands and thousands of people making 30k/year, or 50k/year etc. Just because you get into self development and teach it doesn't mean you automatically become a millionaire.

It's the same thing with LoA and IM. THere are countless of resources and teachers which teach LoA and IM out there. For example you can get a FREE copy of the book "The Science of Getting Rich" here ( The Original and Only Science of Getting Rich Network! ) which has been available for years and was my introduction to "The Secret" way of thinking. However, even though it's free, whenever I ask people "Have you heard of this book?" almost everyone I know says "Nope.", so even though it's free for humanity, it doesn't mean it spreads. Why? Because most people are too lazy to read a book.

The makers of "The Secret" decided to make a movie out of it since most people are lazy and they'd rather sit and watch the boob tube instead of reading a book. So what's wrong with that? Nothing, it spreads the word out there. Anyway, all I'm saying is that everyone deserves to make money and people who are into learning and teaching self-development stuff shouldn't be forced to go and work with "normal jobs" just so people don't think there is a conflict of interest because the advice is free. If that's the way you think , than we would have to re-think every profession in the world along the same standards like doctors etc.

I personally have no problem for example with the sponsors on Steve's website paying him the money he makes every month which allows him to write articles full time. If Steve didn't monetize his site he would have to go and get a full time job doing something else and then he wouldn't write as many articles. In fact, the beauty of this system is that the advertisers pay his wage, not even the readers. As a reader all you do is click on an ad if it interests you, and the advertiser pays him, not you. Clicking costs you nothing. Even so, we've already seen some people here complaining about Steve making money with this site. I think a big part of that is the inherent jealousy people have for anyone making more money then them, especially if they think that person "doesn't work as hard" as them. It's like when people say "Do you know how much money Jordan makes? He's filthy rich!", and they don't realize that for every 1 dollar he makes he adds like a million dollars to the economy with his line of products, the NBA etc. I can't remember the exact numbers but I heard somewhere that he used to add like billions of dollars to the economy for every 1 million they paid him. Meaning, if he died in a car crash before he became big, there would have been billiions of dollars less in the US economy due to lost jobs of all the people who his brand employs etc. Same with Bill Gates, etc. I think before people go and judge people for how much money they make they should ask themselves just how much value THEY bring to the economy.

[Tom_Chambers]

I think that the issue that Maxwell and others have with the producers of The Secret is not their ethics in not sharing their wealth with others, but the underlying flaw in IM that charging for the film appears to expose: the fact that they choose to take money from people rather than intending for the universe to take care of them.

This is difficulty I have in accepting the law of attraction. While I see many examples of people having better lives through it, I haven't heard any convincing stories of people recieving anything extraordinary. I can't see much evidence against, but then again I can't see any evidence for it. To me it seems simply another way for people to defer responsibility for their own lives, and hand it over to a 'supreme force'. But then again, I'd be interested to hear precisely what piece of evidence or personal experience that convinced them.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Tom_Chambers

I think that the issue that Maxwell and others have with the producers of The Secret is not their ethics in not sharing their wealth with others, but the underlying flaw in IM that charging for the film appears to expose: the fact that they choose to take money from people rather than intending for the universe to take care of them.

This is difficulty I have in accepting the law of attraction. While I see many examples of people having better lives through it, I haven't heard any convincing stories of people recieving anything extraordinary. I can't see much evidence against, but then again I can't see any evidence for it. To me it seems simply another way for people to defer responsibility for their own lives, and hand it over to a 'supreme force'. But then again, I'd be interested to hear precisely what piece of evidence or personal experience that convinced them.

I dont see how the producers of the Secret are "taking money" from people. They didnt force anyone to buy it, its your free will that lets you purchase or not purchase. As for an intention for the universe to take care of them, I think The Secret finding its way into half a million peoples hands (and counting) is enough for them to still believe in IM. I think again, that the dubunkers want to hold the producers to a huge standard, while letting everyone else in the world slide by that standard, in order to fuel their persecution.

Strangely, I see IM as the complete opposite of what you do, I see it as taking absolute responsibility for your thoughts and actions. If you don't see the universe as completely connected on all levels, then I can see you not believing in it. As for evidence, you arent going to see something you dont want to see, no matter how hard you look.

[moviestar]

The Universe manifests the money by sending them people to buy their movie ...

Apparently the Universe cannot create money out of thin air.

It's the same as with God. I'll just quote George Carlin:

"He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!"

[Maxwell]

Originally Posted by cylon

Maxwell, at the end of the day, the Secret costs what it costs, for whatever reason. This is something outside of your control. If you are truly concerned about the billions of people in the world, there is always a way for you to be the one to provide this knowledge free of cost. You could write an ebook and post it online for free. You could simplify it and maybe put it into an email, and then people could forward it, it would start a chain reaction. The knowledge would get out there if you were passionate enough about it. If that's what you're being called to do, I say go for it.

If that's not your calling, or you'd rather do something else, that's cool too. The cost of the Secret has no immediate effect on your life. You are focusing your energy on, what to me, is trivial. If it's not trivial to you, I would say again, do something about it. YOU be the one to give stuff away for free. You can't control the cost of the Secret. But you can control what you spend your time thinking about, and the things that happen in your life. You can make a difference. I can too, so I'll stop responding to the negativity. Just my perspective, and other people may benefit from it as well: focusing on what you don't want gets you more of what you don't want.

I am giving plenty away for free. This isn't about me, though. I hate to repeat myself but you guys keep saying the same things to me. There is only one logical response. Like Tom said, "I think that the issue that Maxwell and others have with the producers of The Secret is not their ethics in not sharing their wealth with others, but the underlying flaw in IM that charging for the film appears to expose: the fact that they choose to take money from people rather than intending for the universe to take care of them."

Its very contradictory. Trivial? Is trying to understand why I should believe something so significant to you and many others trivial?

[cylon]

Maxwell,

I just don't see the point of crying over spilled milk. They won this round. The Secret has been produced and it costs money and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Sounds so tragic, lol.

I don't apply the motivations of selfish greed and charlatanism that you seem to apply. I have absolutely no problem with the free market system. The only thing I would have a problem is when you say they are "taking money" from people. That's illegal. They are offering a product, and accepting money for that product.

I get your overall impression, that since the Secret costs money, the LOA is somehow bogus. You are certainly entitled to your opinion.

I suppose my point is, you complaining about the the secret costing money, is most likely not going to change anything. It's about you in the sense that it's your post I'm responding to, and this is your personal opinion we are discussing. If your goal is to get the world to NOT embrace the message of the Secret, I would suggest picking it apart on its merits, not the assumed motivation of the producers. It's like there's a bomb in a cardboard box and you're mad at the company that creates the cardboard.

Anyhow this reminds me of my debates with theists in the past. And I had the same opinion, "those people are just stealing the people's money because they are selfish and greedy and they're feeding people false hope while living the high life". The message they are selling that is the issue, not the messengers themselves. It feels good to take it out on the "bad people", but you are not hurting the bad people, just yourself, by giving them your energy. If that makes sense.