The Secret of The Secret
By Ron Hunninghake, M.D.
The Secret is a best-selling book about the law of attraction. This law is not written in any physics book nor did any governmental body ever vote on it. The law of attraction is simply a principle of human consciousness: that which we focus on tends to be attracted to us.
The Secret is a kind of prescription for the many maladies of life.
It is a truism that a thought precedes an action. If I am hungry, the quick thought of going to the pantry for food precedes my act of going to the pantry. My intention to write this article preceded
the focusing of my attention on that result, which led me here to my computer where I came and sat and began typing into the word processor.
In a very real sense, we create things twice: first in our mind’s eye; then in the real world.
The key is attention. Whatever we focus on, we tend to get. Ironically, focusing on the avoidance of something tends to attract it to us just as surely as if we actually wanted it instead. We implore the child to not spill their milk…Spill! We try not to make a mistake…Mistake! It is best to focus on what you want, not what you don’t want.
Attention is a function of consciousness. It is an adaptive function meant to help us satisfy our needs. We naturally attend to our needs. We look out to our environment to find what we need and
want. We choose actions we believe will result in getting what we want. Consciousness is fundamentally creative in this respect. If we don’t have what we need or want, we act to create it, or a
pathway to it.
So why does someone write a book about this law of attraction and call it The Secret?
The law of attraction is all about getting what we want. To the contrary, it is a common belief that life is difficult; that it is hard to get what we want; that dreams really don’t come true; that we are unworthy or some how undeserving of “true happiness” (having the life we really want).
The Secret refers to these sabotaging beliefs as stories. What’s your story? I was abandoned as a child. My mother really didn’t love me. My father wanted a son. I could never trust anyone. I was the black sheep of the family. I was a failure from the beginning. I was a high school dropout. People have always taken advantage of my naiveté. I’m basically a coward. I never get what I truly deserve. Life is unfair! I’m a victim of
__________.
These stories form the underlying concepts, beliefs, attitudes, and thought patterns that can adversely shape both our character and life events. The Secret boldly states that there is a secret antidote to all these troubling stories: ignore them and focus on the result you want. Carefully visualize, enumerate, and state (preferably in written form) exactly what you want…WITHFEELING…and it will happen! Why? “Because the law of attraction is a universal law.”
The Secret provides many titillating case histories of reputable people who used this wish-fulfilling formula with incredible success. The secret is you have to believe in the result you want with a strong and true feeling. If you didn’t get what you wanted, then you must not have truly believed! Or, you were focusing too much attention on what you didn’t want…and that’s what showed up.
The Secret is a kind of prescription for the many maladies of life: poverty, debt, disease, broken relationships, failure, and depression. When faced with these adversities, The Secret reader is advised to 1.Ask 2. Believe 3. Receive 4. Give thanks. The healing of the malady should then be forthcoming… if you believe.
Prescriptions can have side effects, however. If the desired result does not manifest, your faith was weak…you really didn’t want what you thought you wanted…you weren’t specific enough… etc. When The Secret fails…serious self doubts resurface. You are once again “a failure” or “a victim” or “a fraud.” Your sabotaging stories get reinforced rather than healed.
This phenomenon can be especially devastating when it comes to a serious illness. The western health care system is really a sickness care system. Allopathic medicine focuses on treating undesirable symptoms(such as pain or high cholesterol) while often neglecting the underlying causes of the symptoms. The law of attraction states that you will get what you focus upon.
Consequently, sickness care breeds more sickness. America currently has the most expensive health care system in the world…while ranking 37th in the World Health Organization’s assessment of national health care systems’ effectiveness.
Robert Fritz, the author of The Path of Least Resistance, believes that The Secret contains a partial truth: the power of focusing on the result you truly desire. As a contemporary expert on the
creative process, Fritz has taught that structural tension is crucial for bringing into existence a desired result. Structural tension requires two elements: a desired result and an accurate knowledge of your current reality.
If you want to go to the Grand Canyon(desired result), you must know where you are starting from (current reality) in order to ascertain the path you must traverse to get there.
The secret of The Secret is that belief is NOT necessary. Structural tension is. This tension is not emotionally stressful. The “tension” is created by having a desire for something…anything that matters to you, the creator. You want X. Visualize it, enumerate it, contemplate it, and size it up. Do you want it? Yes! Okay, what resources do you now have or do you need to get it?
Don’t expect a magical handout from the Universe. It is true that in the process of creating a result, the Universe will often hand out unexpected favors, coincidences, and gifts that will assist you in your quest…regardless of your concepts or beliefs. We live in a creative universe. It is already just that way. Your belief system does not make it so.
Creating results often requires that you start with a clean slate. Drop any beliefs, stories, doubts, or other mental concepts you have about the result you want. Take careful stock of your abilities, current resources, skills, and obstacles…then, as the Nike ad says: “Just do it.”
If the desired result doesn’t happen, it wasn’t because your faith was weak. Perhaps some element is missing; some skill is needed; or some obstacle needs clearing. A clear, honest, open and objective assessment of your current reality (free of restrictive concepts) is the best prescription for success.
Without a doubt, focusing on what you truly want (instead of avoiding what you don’t want) is a powerful secret. The real magic, however, occurs when we are true to our current reality. That’s when, as Thoreau so beautifully stated, we put foundations under those “castles in the air.”
