The problem with the
"The Secret"
Any time people start talking about the need to take responsibility for our own lives, that's a good thing. But...
The first test of a philosophy of life is that it has to work just as well when life is going well and when life is going really bad. Through out the ages there have been many "The Next New Thing" movements that start out promising hope and meaning and a better life, but end in guilt and despair. They are ideas that sound so liberating at first but actually are a new form of bondage in a shiny package. "The Secret" is the latest example. It is true that our attitudes matter, that how we view the world and each other effects to some degree our own actions and the actions of others. That is good so far as it goes, but that is as far as it goes. We are not God. We can have some impact on our lives but we can never fully control them. We certainly cannot control reality. Believe you are in control of reality the next time you suddenly get hit in the back of the head by a rock someone threw (oh, and by the way, they didn't mean to hit you, they didn't see you, they did it by mistake.)
The bottom line is that the idea that
you can manifest your own reality necessarily implies that every thing
that
happens to you is your own fault. It's your fault you got
cancer because you weren't viewing the world the right way. The
people (and infants) who were slaughtered by machetes in Rwanda - well, its
really their own fault - it wouldn't have happened that way if they had been
seeing the world the right way. Promising the freedom of the Gods,
"The Secret" quickly shows me what a lousy God I make. If only I worked
harder, if only I was better and thinking the right, positive thoughts.
Talk about shame and guilt. I have been down this road and I have seen
where it has led. I have sat in a hospital room with a man that almost
died of a simple sinus infection because he was convinced if he just held onto
the right thoughts, if he just had enough faith, he would be healed.
Finally, with great shame, he let the doctors heal him. Others have not
been so lucky with their sincerity.
No, when I have doubted everything, when I have been skeptical of every proposition, I still know one thing for sure. The one thing I know for sure is this - I am not God. I have two choices. I can either try to be the brave stoic, or I can admit I need a savior. How ironic, that this old-fashioned, out of date thing called Christianity is actually the one place where hope, doubt, free will, sorrow, joy, my limited but real ability to act, in short, all of reality meet in a way that makes sense.
An ancient psalm says
Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. (Psalm 85:10)
And where do all these things come together ? Where can I find answers that make sense at the best AND the worst of times?
