Books : The Secret

Rating: - Hedonism or Spirituality?
"The Secret" offers a beautifully designed hardcover book and a polished DVD with high production values. If you want a lovely product on your bookshelf or DVD collection, then "The Secret" in either format is a perfect addition. But if you're looking for depth, spiritual understanding and ethical values, "The Secret" might leave you unsatisfied. Why?

The values presented in "The Secret" are narrow with a focus on materialistic gain. A holistic framework of wealth while occasionally hinted at by contributors is mostly left out of the discussion. This creates an unbalanced perspective where happiness can be equated with acquiring things outside of us instead of recognizing that the source of happiness is inside of us.

The discussion focuses on the basic mantra of "think and feel happy thoughts." So a wider discussion on spiritual issues is neglected. A conscious decision was made to focus on materialism for profit than true spiritual growth and understanding. I hope people reading the book or watching the DVD will recognize the limitations inherent in this approach.

Certainly a material foundation based on abundance of money, relationship and health are important aspects of a good life. Nevertheless happiness is still possible even without these things. My fondest memories are when I grew up in a loving home. We didn't have a lot then but we had sincere love....And isn't that what is most important in life?

I found some parts of "The Secret" offensive because it lacked spiritual understanding for people who suffer. This wasn't communicated in a direct way, expect Rhonda Byrne's suggestion to avoid looking at fat people in order to keep our mind free of "fat thoughts." The inference throughout the book is that people create their own suffering. While this assertion is difficult to prove or disprove, our compassion for those who suffer is integral part of our spiritual maturity and growth.

I recommend "The Secret" as an attractive gift item or as a basic introduction to positive thinking. For spiritual growth, I'd suggest reading books by Thomas Merton, Chogyam Trungpa or Eckhart Tolle. Also try "NEXUS: A Neo Novel" by Morrison and Singh. It's an inspiring contemporary novel dealing with spiritual growth.

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Rating: - Hedonism or Spirituality?
"The Secret" offers a beautifully designed hardcover book and a polished DVD with high production values. If you want a lovely product on your bookshelf or DVD collection, then "The Secret" in either format is a perfect addition. But if you're looking for depth, spiritual understanding and ethical values, "The Secret" might leave you unsatisfied. Why?

The values presented in "The Secret" are narrow with a focus on materialistic gain. A holistic framework of wealth while occasionally hinted at by contributors is mostly left out of the discussion. This creates an unbalanced perspective where happiness can be equated with acquiring things outside of us instead of recognizing that the source of happiness is inside of us.

The discussion focuses on the basic mantra of "think and feel happy thoughts." So a wider discussion on spiritual issues is neglected. A conscious decision was made to focus on materialism for profit than true spiritual growth and understanding. I hope people reading the book or watching the DVD will recognize the limitations inherent in this approach.

Certainly a material foundation based on abundance of money, relationship and health are important aspects of a good life. Nevertheless happiness is still possible even without these things. My fondest memories are when I grew up in a loving home. We didn't have a lot then but we had sincere love....And isn't that what is most important in life?

I found some parts of "The Secret" offensive because it lacked spiritual understanding for people who suffer. This wasn't communicated in a direct way, expect Rhonda Byrne's suggestion to avoid looking at fat people in order to keep our mind free of "fat thoughts." The inference throughout the book is that people create their own suffering. While this assertion is difficult to prove or disprove, our compassion for those who suffer is integral part of our spiritual maturity and growth.

I recommend "The Secret" as an attractive gift item or as a basic introduction to positive thinking. For spiritual growth, I'd suggest reading books by Thomas Merton, Chogyam Trungpa or Eckhart Tolle. Also try "NEXUS: A Neo Novel" by Morrison and Singh. It's an inspiring contemporary novel dealing with spiritual growth.

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Rating: - All style - very little substance!
The Secret is a great marketing success story, but really contains no real meat. It just markets one of the Hermetic principles which on it's own merely gives a small part of the real deal. The Kybalion contains all the principles but maybe because the language is more dense it isn't as marketable. I wouldn't be without my copy of the Kybalion. Another option is a simple version of The Kybalion produced by Doreen Virtue that is a very nice starter for anyone a bit put off by the density of the original text. However my real favorite for actually understanding how to live and apply the principles is a little book called Dance with Life by JM Hurley. It's a deceptively simple but totally life changing book that operates a bit like The Prophet. Without even mentioning Hermetic philosophy, it totally encapsulates how to live it and make it a real life experience. There's nothing wrong with The Secret, but it's a bit like reading a menu when there are much better but maybe less well known options out there that offer the full meal.

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Rating: - try reading this .....
the secret really is an updated polished version of the work of wallace d. wattles book the science of getting rich, this book was given to the author of the secret.

take out of it what you want, anything about thinking positive and the law of attraction can only be good ,try another book the game of life and how to play it .. you need to believe in the laws of attraction and the thought process .i haven't read the secret because i have the science of getting rich... great positive books and yes they do help

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Rating: - A mish-mash of quotes
I agree with the review "The Wisdom of Homer - Simpson, that is!!", as that all what it is - random quotes and lots of smiling faces. Am I only one, along with the other 31 one star reviews, to see the king is actually naked? I too bought the book, and now it is displayed in my local Oxfam shop after I donated it to them. Hopefully it will make them rich. I fought my way through Barbel Mohr's book, God forgive, and I wrestled my way through this one in search of The Secret ... what secret? I definitely rank this book alongside the awfully written book by Esther and Jerry Hicks' book "Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires". I am sorry if all what I am giving are negative reviews, but I do seek help in gaining a life of wealth and none of these books are doing it for me.