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 Bullshit, 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.