The Secret

Assignment no 1

Submitted by:
Name: Abdul Haseeb
Class no: 160648
Semester: 5th
Department: English

Topic:
“The Secret” by “Rhoda Byrne”
Subject:
Prose
Submitted to:
Sir Asghar
Dated:
Sunday, November 4, 2018

Department of English, Islamia College, Peshawar

The Secret

Table of Contents

Abstract: ................................................................................................. 3
Introduction: ........................................................................................... 4
What is the Secret? ................................................................................. 4
Thoughts become Things: .................................................................... 4
The Secret made simple: ...................................................................... 5
How to use the Secret? ........................................................................ 6
Powerful processes: ............................................................................. 6
The secret to money, health, and relationships: .................................. 6
The secret to you, world and life: ......................................................... 7
Criticism: ................................................................................................. 8
Poem: ................................................................................................... 8
The Secret

Abstract:

“Rhonda Byrne” is an Australian television writer, she is best known for this self-
help book “The Secret”. This book was published in 2006, translated into more
than fifty languages and instantly became best seller: for the universal theme it
portrays.
This assignment will focus on pseudoscientific belief, “The Secret”, which is the
law of attraction; the revelation of hidden secret; its simplicity, and way of using
it; in earning money, achieving health and mending relationships, the secret’s
powerful processes and its spiritual side. The notion of thoughts attracting things,
attitude roles in shaping our future and reality, like attracts like, the mind is a
magnet and a tower emitting waves; thoughts attracting thoughts, and
metaphysical of thoughts.
What can we achieve through it, and how can it be achieved? How to use the
secret? Its steps, its role in our life, health, and wealth. the criticism and response
to the book and the poem at the end is its summary in few lines.
The Secret

Introduction:
“The Secret” by “Rhonda Byrne” is an inspiring self-help book, and it focuses on “The law of
attraction”, which is the secret, being revealed; it explicitly deals with positive thoughts and its
power on human future and events. This omniscient law is considered to be the best tool: anyone
can change his or her life, from being poor to rich, from sickness to health, from a broken hearted
to an optimistic empath.
“Rhonda” along with many teachers, wrote this book. The teachers, most of them by profession,
are: authors, teachers, ministers, philosophers, filmmakers, and designers, who were practicing the
secret, revealed it. However, the mean of communicating this idea of “the secret” was primarily in
form of a movie, later the book was penned down the same year as movie was released in 2006.
The intention of this book, according to the authoress, was and is to bring joy to billions around
the world.
“The law of attraction” is considered “pseudoscientific theory”, for the “law of attraction” is
compared with “scientific law of universal gravitation” and it is claimed to be metaphysical in
nature (doesn’t deviate the rules of metaphysics).
This book claims that myriad witty people knew this secret, and taught it to others as "secret
teachers". It included Aristotle, Beethoven, Buddha, Plato, Sir Isaac Newton, Martin Luther King
Jr., Carl Jung, Henry Ford, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Edison, Buddha, Winston Churchill,
Andrew Carnegie, Joseph Campbell, Alexander Graham Bell, and even Beethoven.
The book is divided into 10 chapters; each of the chapters deals with a different aspect of the secret;
the secret revealed, its simplicity, how to use it, and its purpose in different sections.
This is can change your life, if properly understood and applied in your life; it is harbinger of
success, the seed to happiness, and a realm of practicing the change in your destiny which shed
light on one of universal law which, according to the book, shape our reality.

What is the Secret?

Thoughts become Things:
In simple possible words, “The Secret”, is the law of attraction, which means that what you think
you become that; your thoughts are attracting your reality. In a profound metaphysical sense, your
mind is a magnet which is emitting and receiving waves, in form of thoughts, to and from the
universe, and it resonates and you get what you have thought. Law of attraction denies the concept
of bad lucks and coincidences, for what happens to you is a reflection of your thoughts in past.
The secret let you get what’s in your mind and heart. The Secret unable you to acquire whatever
you desire: whether that be happiness, health, or wealth. It has brought many miracles in people’s
lives.” Everything that’s coming into your life is attracted into your life, via thoughts; the images
you are holding in your mind. It’s what you’re thinking manifests.
The Secret

In poetry, such as William Shakespeare, Robert Browning, and William Blake delivered it. In
music such as Ludwig van Beethoven expressed it, in art, Leonardo da Vinci depicted it. in
philosophy, including Socrates, Plato, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Pythagoras, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir
Isaac Newton, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Victor Hugo shared it in their writings. In many
Religions, like Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and many civilizations,
such as the old Babylonians and Egyptians, delivered it through their writings and stories. The
mystic Rumi spoke of it “what you seek is seeking you”1. The secret is the main theme of “The
Alchemist” by “Paulo Coelho”, “when you truly want something, the whole universe conspires
you in achieving that.”2 One percent of the world owns the ninety-six percent of the money is not
an accident, but they know law of attraction, they think of wealth, their thoughts bring them wealth.
In simple words, think of yourself as a powerful magnet, attracting positive things into your life.
Humans mind, like a television station, is a transmission tower, the thoughts are magnetic signals
attracting the parallel back to you. “Like Attracts Like” has two meanings; one, what you think,
you attract that, second, it also means that the type of thoughts you think attracts the same thoughts
in more quantity. The major problem with the world is that they think about things they do not
want, which maybe is the same thing as what you want, but not for the law of attraction; when you
think of ‘not wanting unhappiness’ unhappiness will appear again and again. If you are looking at
a mountain of debt, feeling worse about it, you are going to get it more. The law of attraction is
working if you believe it or not, or understand it or not. Every individual is in process of creating
something, what you are creating now, depends on what you are thinking. Quantum physics really
begin to understand that you can’t have a universe without your mind entering into it.3
If your mind can see it, your hands can hold it.

The Secret made simple:

The universe is full of laws, as there is the law of gravity, which doesn’t care if you are a good
person or bad person, it will be applied to you. Therefore, if you know about it or not, you are a
good person or bad, the law of attraction is active in universe. “Our thoughts and feelings are on
automatic, and it brings us everything to us by default.”4. No one wants to attract something
unwanted but we have certain thoughts at times which also don’t want. How to monitor your
thoughts? According to the research, we have sixty thousand thoughts a day. Fortunately, our
feelings can tell us what we are thinking. Emotions are a gift, that help us to understand our
thoughts. “feelings are divided into two categories: good feelings and bad feelings. the difference
between the two is simple, one makes you feel good, while another makes stinks the heart. It’s the
depression, it’s the anger, it’s the resentment, it’s the guilt. It’s those feelings that don’t make you
feel empowered. .”5 know your thoughts, but how? what are your feelings? That’s it. If you are
feeling good, you are on track with your desires. Your feelings and thoughts create your life. “you

1
Rumi
2
The alchemist, Paulo Coelho
3
Dr. Fred Alan Wolf
4
Bob Doyle
5
Lisa Nicholas
The Secret

are the creator of your own universe”6 if you are feeling bad, you can change that in an instant.
Secret shifters, which are things that might help you in changing your feelings, can be of great help
in changing your thoughts from negative to positive.

How to use the Secret?

you are the creator of your own thoughts. How to use the secret can be understood by the simple
story of Aladdin and his lamp, Aladdin picks up the lamp, and the Genie comes out; Genie always
says one thing: “Your wish is my command!” Now, let’s take this and apply it to your life. Aladdin
is the one who is always conscious of his wants. Then you’ve got the Universe, which is the Genie.
Make a wish, think about it.
The creative process is in three simple steps: ask, believe and receive. Let universe know what you
want from it, believe that it is already yours, believing in the unseen, at last, begin to feel wonderful
about it. Feel it in your heart. it’s crucial to feel good, to be happy because when you are feeling
good you are resonating good frequency. “whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive”7 Get clear of what you want, have its picture in your mind, believe and have faith in it,
you must see yourself as receiving it.

Powerful processes:
The reality of your present is the effect of past thoughts, you can change it by beginning to change
your thoughts; expectations and desires; which are powerful attractive forces which draw things
to you. “All that we are is a result of what we have thought.”8 Gratitude is something very positive
by which more will come to you. Visualization, the process of creating pictures in your mind of
what you want, is very powerful, you are emitting powerful frequency out into the universe. “When
you’re visualizing, when you’ve got that picture playing out in your mind, always and only dwell
upon the end result.”9 All of us visualize, whether we know it or not. Imagination is everything,
the harbinger of life’s coming events.

The secret to money, health, and relationships:

It is not an incident that one percent of the world population owns 96 percent of money; to attract
money into your life, focus on thoughts of wealth. It is very impossible to have more money into
your life when you focus on the lack of it. First have the abundance of visualization about wealth,
imaginations and then believe. Let there be wealth in your mind and you must feel better about
money; as you feel better about it, more will flow into your life. The fastest way to bring money
into your life is to feel happy and merry. Let it be your intention to seek for everything and believe,
“It is affordable.” shift your thoughts and begin to have a positive concept of money. To get money
in abundance, one must also give it in charity. When you are kind enough to give money and

6
Winston Churchill
7
Matthew21:22
8
Buddha
9
Mike Dooley
The Secret

sharing it, you are saying, “I have plenty.” When it comes to creating wealth, wealth is a mindset.
It’s all about how you think. Giving is a powerful action to bring more money into your life,
because when you are giving you are saying, “I have plenty.”
The role of the law of attraction in relationships is also of great importance. You cannot expect
anyone else to enjoy your company if you do not enjoy your own company. How you treat yourself
is important in order to be treated the same the way “in order to be loved, first let your body is
stream of love, you are full of love … fill yourself up with love until you become a love attracting
magnet.” Focus on the qualities you love about yourself and the law of attraction will show you
more great things about you. For a successful relationship, learn how to appreciate, focus and
appreciate in other persons, for qualities you want to be appreciated in you. When you focus on
the strength, love and kindness you will get more of them.
Our body has a great connection with our thoughts; our health, good or bad, is product of our
thoughts. The placebo effect is great example of the law of attraction in action. When a patient
starts to believe in the medicines, that’s where the medicines start working, and it cure, he receives
what he was believing all the time, and then cure is inevitable. One must think of a perfect health
and focus on it, and let outside world do not control the inside. Laughing is the great medicine and
curer, it releases negative energy, and attract more joy and merriness. If you are not feeling well,
do not talk about it, change the conversation to good things. Think of youth, and beauty, forget
about aging.

The secret to you, world and life:

When we try to see ourselves, to look at us, we see the tip of iceberg; to examine us through
microscope, we see we vibrating energy. Everything is energy. You are an energy magnet, so you
electrically energize everything to you and electrically energize yourself to everything you want,
and you receive what you transform through thoughts. The thought is product of universe; we are
the creators of our destiny. You hold everything in your consciousness. The power lies in your
thoughts, in other words, know that.
What we are resisting is persisting; anti-war movements create more war, anti-drug movement
have actually created more drugs. “I will never attend an anti-war rally, if you have a peace rally,
invite me”10. To change anything, go within and emit a new signal with your thoughts and feelings;
to help the world you must not focus on the negative things. Do not focus on the world’s negativity,
you will bring the same into your own life. Do not focus on the problems of the world, think and
believe in trust, love, abundance, education, and peace. There will be so much good things in life
for everyone Life is abundant. use the unlimited power of the law of attraction. The time to
embrace your magnificence is now. Do what you love. That’s it, that’s the secret which now is
revealed to you, use it for your good. The Secret, what you do with it is up to you. Whatever you
choose is right. The power is all yours. “The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is,
and all that will ever be.”

10
Mother Teresa
The Secret

Criticism:
The function of a critic is to judge the book; as “The Secret” is a postmodern book, so little can is
written about it. One of the main criticism is on its main premise, that what is happening to us
right now is product of our thoughts, it utterly ignores the few years old kids been victim of rape
or other traumas, of which they have never known leading to blame-the-victim scenario. we
should not focus on negative things like for doctors they should not focus on diseases? To find
cure, one must focus on disease, its harmful impacts etc. The secret claims to be scientific and
doesn’t defy quantum physics laws, but Quantum Physics is different from real physics, most of
its concepts are unproven. The claims of the book about Quantum Physics is denied by many
writers like Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons and Lisa Randall. “ ‘The Secret’ has earned my
antipathy for its outrageous, unproven assertions that I believe go beyond the ordinary over
promises of most self-help books into a dangerous realm”11 said a psychologist and professor.
Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford claimed that The Secret has no scientific foundation.
To sum up, “The Secret” is a great and inspiring book that focus on positive thought’s importance
in our life. Our attitude to life is the crux of the matter, no matter what happen to our lives, we
must focus on the positive aspect of that. That’s the secret to our life’s happiness, to think well
of ourselves, to think well for ourselves and others.

Poem:
Shooting the Stars
What within, cause to spin;

The Universe windmill's machinery

Tis crux of wit; sages’ melody of violin:

Wooing magnet to attract eternity

What without, the slave of soul!

The solemn secret is a fair trade;

Takes no risk! nor Narcissistic Mohl

Winter or summer, choose! Death or aid?

The ancients were wise! Seeds heaved;

Seekers always kissed the lips of sought!

What sowed, reaped! What thought, achieved.

Bliss was Rumi! Weaved life's plot and knot!

Adieu! No more words to say but feel!

To desire, to think, to receive; with zeal! By Abdul Haseeb

11
John Norcross, psychologist and professor, university of Scranton
The Secret