The Secret

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ex-l

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The Secret

Post01 Jun 2008

No, not another attempt by the BKWSU ... this time the author of "The Secret" is being sued and not for the first time. Well, it has grossed $300 million US dollars so far ...

Remember the email that was circulating amongst BKs last year, "learn and enjoy" and the introduction of "The Law of Attraction" concept into teachings? Well, this is a good and interesting example of how these ideas always seem to fail. Adherents, even the author herself, no doubt putting it down to "Karma". So, the so-called 'Law of Attraction' is nullified by the 'Law of Karma'? Complex metaphysics. If it all works, why did she "attract" this? The Secret, given the authors choice of business partner, is obvious a good lawyer.

Perhaps there is a simple answer. Links to discussion of this, here, here, here and actual law suit here. The issues arose because the independent, Australian filmmaker Heriot claims he was offered a percentage of the profits for his early input.

The Secret changed the business of DVD distribution by selling and promoting mainly from a website. Now perhaps we can put into context The Tao of the Traveller, and discussion behind contracts, licensing and potential profit as it is targeted at the very similar audience.
some blogger wrote:Filmmaker Mr Heriot said, "To all who have been inspired by 'The Secret,' please know that I am not suing the universal principles of 'The Secret'" says Mr. Heriot. "Rather, I am suing the corporate principals behind 'The Secret,' who promised at the outset that profits would be shared, and who have not kept faith with 'The Secret's' tenets of gratitude and integrity."

So, Mr. Heriot: a question, please. If you indeed did not get the money you feel is due you, is that because:

    A) You weren't thinking enough positive thoughts
    B) The people denying you the money were thinking more positive thoughts about screwing you over than you were about getting said money
    or
    C) The magical elves were busy that day
Author of “The Secret” Needs to Learn to Give to Avoid Attracting Law Suits - May 13 2008

It has recently become apparent that Rhonda Byrne, the author of "The Secret," a best-selling motivational movie and book based on the "Law of Attraction," has missed an important step in the manifestation process. The process of receiving what we desire also involves giving – especially to those who help us create our desires. In this case, Byrne appears to be refusing to give the film’s co-creator, Drew Heriot profits from sales to which he says he is entitled, a fact that caused her to receive – or attract – a big, fat lawsuit.

On April 26, the New York Times reported that four days earlier attorneys for Heriot, who co-authored the screenplay and directed "The Secret" movie, had filed a federal lawsuit in the UnitedStates District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois/EasternDivision. However, Heriot didn’t file suit against the universal principles of “The Secret” but against the corporate principals behind “The Secret,” who he claims “promised at the outset that profits would be shared and who have not kept faith with 'The Secret's' tenets of gratitude and integrity."

The lawsuit alleges that Rhonda Byrne, executive producer of "The Secret," and Robert E. Rainone Jr., a Chicago businessman, conspired to deny Heriot's rights to co-ownership and profits from the movie and related works. The combined gross revenue from DVD and book sales of "The Secret" currently may exceed $300 million.

According to Heriot’s attorney, evidence exists that Byrne and Heriot collaborated and shared source materials to produce the original film and book. Heriot simply wants to be compensated for his work and creative contributions.

“I am very disappointed to hear that Ms. Byrne is not sharing her wealth with Mr. Heriot, who seems deserving enough if his claims are true,” said Nina Amir, author and maggid (Jewish inspirational speaker) who focuses her work on practical spirituality and human potential and personal growth from a Jewish perspective. “I was very excited to see ‘The Secret’ book and DVD hit the stores and to watch its ‘stars’ appear on Larry King and Oprah. I had long ago heard about combining thought and feeling to manifest desires, although I had first heard it called conscious creation and creative thought rather than the Law of Attraction, and I knew and respected many of the people Byrne chose to feature. It was wonderful to see these concepts, which really were no secret, go mainstream.”

Originally released in March of 2006 for DVD and online sales, "The Secret presents what is called the "Law of Attraction." Embraced by many self-help experts and the subject of extensive media coverage, the film and the corresponding book teach that thoughts and feelings attract real events into individuals' lives, creating a basis for a higher sense of personal and spiritual fulfillment.

Many people have criticized “The Secret” for being too ego-centered, never mentioned God, and failing to tell people how to use its “secret” to help others and or heal the world of its problems. “The fact that Ms. Byrne has attracted these legal issues despite her knowledge of the Law of Attraction does seem to indicate that some element is missing in her teaching. I would agree that she needs to add in a spiritual focus that makes her want to give as well as to receive,” said Amir.

jann

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Re: The Secret is being sued

Post01 Jun 2008

You can try for yourself.

Print out the check, address it to yourself write down the amount of money you would like to receive. Hang it somewhere were you can see it everyday ... all day ... (I suggest right in between a Dadi or your Dada) and wait ... :D.

Good luck!!!! Thoughts become things ... does it not??????

The movie was shown in the BK center here BTW ...

the-secret-check1.jpg
the-secret-check1.jpg (105.22 KiB) Viewed 15611 times

bkti-pit

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Re: The Secret is being sued

Post01 Jun 2008

jannisder wrote:The movie was shown in the BK center here BTW ...

It was shown here too. I am the only one who was not enthused by it. I thought it was egoistic and selfish.

Well ... nothing has changed around here since. I guess no one has been practicing hard enough.
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ex-l

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Re: The Secret is being sued

Post01 Jun 2008

bkti-pit wrote:It was shown here too. I am the only one who was not enthused by it. I thought it was egoistic and selfish.

Me too. I can see how any skepticism might be easily disarmed by adherents but it all smacked to me of the same "chant and you too can have a Porsche" or other prosperity driven faiths which, ultimately, fail in the face of basic physics, i.e. we live in a finite financial and material world seemingly bound to multi-level pyramidic hierarchies. See a recent post on "false confidence syndrome" for how they primarily work ... the founder is generally the only person making the mint.

There is a BK Brahmanic critique to offer too, which makes me surprised that BKs watched and promoted this ... "new souls". Generally delivered with a sniff of condescension. "New souls experiencing their Golden Age power in Kali Yuga generally experiencing a crash quickly (their Copper Age) and imminent decline". But I make no claims over that either.

How did Janki find herself in the similar territory "Be the Change" conference? No mention of visualising "Destruction" and Nuclear Holocaust for 70 years then?

john morgan

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Re: The Secret is being sued

Post01 Jun 2008

One size fits all.

No matter how tall short fat or thin.

Waterless washing, great for travellers.

angelwings

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The Secret - a must for all recovering souls

Post12 Feb 2009

Hi everyone,

I just watched a documentary film called The Secret which I thought I would recommend you watch if you are really going through a hard time after leaving the BKs.

I am going to watch it over and over again and try and apply some of the tools it recommends during the next 6 months to a year and see if helps me in anyway. I have to say I do feel quite uplifted after watching it and it gives me a glimmer of hope in my recovery process as i've been feeling quite lousy for the past few years.

You can download it from this website or buy a dvd from http://www.thesecret.tv/

I hope that you do make an effort to watch it and I wish and hope that it may be of some help to all of us as it may create a good energy, love and happiness in our lives that we can all share and spread with the universe.

May god bless you all with a good life be it in the present or in the future but especially in The Now.

Luv, Angelwings

Terry

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Re: The Secret-a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

I hope it works well for you. If it doesn't, don't blame yourself. The way it worked for the author was to reveal the secret. Where does that leave everyone else?

May you discover your own secret.
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ex-l

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Re: The Secret - a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

Yes, its funny. It was popular amongst the BKs too and rattled around their gossip vine/network trees. So perhaps it is good for 'exiting', rather than just ex-BKs, too.

Did it not start off as a vehicle for the teachings of an another channeled entity called Abraham, channeled by Esther Hicks (and involving husband Jerry)? There are two versions of the movie ... and an interesting Youtube video about why, here; Abraham: The Secret Behind "The Secret" - Esther & Jerry Hicks.

Listen to all the stuff about the intellectual property rights and lawyer talk, and do a search for some of the other legal controversies involved. If you are interested in following up on the more spiritual aspects, see also, here; Home of Abraham-Hicks Law of Attraction -- It All Started Here! I have not seen it. I am afraid it might be Yankee-style spirituality and so, consequently, I am not going to be able to afford it. I am strictly third-class enlightenment.

The big joke is that to "do the business" the people who made it allegedly removed the non-spiritual source of it and are "keeping it a secret" ... but always remember, as Vinny Verelli says, when you are falling out an airplane, "The Law of Gravity trumps the Law of Attraction".

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paulkershaw

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Re: The Secret - a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

Incidentally, for those interested, one can download an audio file from Abraham-hicks.com that explains Esther and Jerry's introduction to channeling and she gives a delightful class (Intro to Abraham) that explains her unwillingness and feelings in the beginning of their association with Abraham.
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tom

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Re: The Secret-a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

angelwings wrote:I just watched a documentary film called The Secret which I thought I would recommend you watch if you are really going through a hard time after leaving the BKs.

Hi, angelwings,

I would like to say welcome to you, then I looked in the members list and saw that you are here in this forum longer than me.

What a shame that you are not reading the forum. You would be long ago relieved from all of the "hard time" symptoms. Catch up now, for God's sake, and start reading the previous posts for your own goodness. Also please find a good therapist who is an expert in helping ex-Cult members. There is no need to suffer. The aim of live is finding contentment, not pain.

Actually, I had no hard time after leaving the BKs with my own decision. Lucky me, I found this forum and started reading the posts as a guest. After silently reading all posts for a relative long time, one day I jumped into the forum. This reading period opened my eyes, I woke up from my Kumbakarna sleep about what was going on in the BK world and how we were deceived. During this time I worked harder than usual, I traveled whenever I could, swam, climbed the mountains, read books, watched films, spent time in the nature longer, and called my relatives and old friends, whom I had neglected so long. It was easier than I thought to heal the relations with our beloved ones.

With all my respect, I do not agree with the title of your new topic."The Secret" is not a must for all recovering souls. Just the opposite. It is like a pseudo drug, prepared from greedy moneymakers and sold with great PR work to the drug addicted, you can have an idea of their income from the articles, linked below.

I must say, without wanting to hurt your feelings, it is a must for all "The Secret" lovers to read the post of ex-l from 1st of June 2008 in the thread Anything Goes forum, The Secret is being sued.

I found two interesting articles revealing the secret behind "The Secret", one of them is from research magazine SKEPTIC, from Ingrid Hansen Symthe with the title "The Secret Behind The Secret, What is Attracting Millions to the Law of Attraction."

The other article is from the FORBES.com, written by Micheal Shermer, with the title "The American Dream - The Real Secret" which I am attaching below.

Hoping with all my heart that you make some reading and research for your relief. Please don't leave us again.

The Real Secret.pdf
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angelwings

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Re: The Secret-a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

What a shame that you are not reading the forum. You would be long ago relieved from all of the "hard time" symptoms. Catch up now, for God's sake, and start reading the previous posts for your own goodness. Also please find a good therapist who is an expert in helping ex-Cult members. There is no need to suffer. The aim of live is finding contentment, not pain.

Dear Tom

Thanks for your comments. What makes you think that i had left the forum or assume that I have not been reading the forum? I don't have time to read this forum everyday or to read every single thing here. In fact, I think that there's only a small percentage of articles or discussion on this forum that I find useful. I have tried everything under the sun to get a glimmer of hope in my life including some fo the things you mention above, however, I am still feeling depressed, low, lonely etc and waiting for some magical answer to get out of this mess.
Actually, I had no hard time after leaving the BKs with my own decision.

If you had no hard times after leaving the BKs then I am just wondering why you need to read or participate in this forum
With all my respect, I do not agree with the title of your new topic."The Secret" is not a must for all recovering souls. Just the opposite. It is like a pseudo drug, prepared from greedy moneymakers and sold with great PR work to the drug addicted, you can have an idea of their income from the articles, linked below.

I agree with you on this, yes, it's not a must for everyone if Admin wishes to change the heading, then please feel free to do so and, no, I wasn't aware that it was another moneymaking business and wasn't aware it had already been discussed on this forum.
I must say, without wanting to hurt your feelings, it is a must for all "The Secret" lovers to read the post of ex-l from 1st of June 2008 in the thread Anything Goes forum, The Secret is being sued.

My feelings are not hurt but I have to thank you for bringing the controversy to my attention.

Thanks to everyone else who have responded to this message. Do all of you think that that there could be no truth in that we attract certain things in our life without bringing the film into context? Don't you think it's sometimes better to think about the things you want in your life and give that energy rather than give energy to what you don't want in your life. I have been suffering from severe depression and am still looking for a way out of this through professional help, I am yet to find a friend or family who really can understand what I am going through and to support me through these challenging times.

My only guess is that films like The Secret possibly target vulnerable people like me, however, I shall still try and apply the basic principle for myself to see if it works. That is to give energy to what I want in my life rather than what I don't want in my life.

Regards
Angelwings

Terry

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Re: The Secret - a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

Angelwings wrote:Do all of you think that that there could be no truth in that we attract certain things in our life ...? Don't you think it's sometimes better to think about the things you want in your life and give that energy rather than give energy to what you don't want in your life.

Yes, Kind of ... one of the side effects of "false" spirituality is the notion that thoughts alone make the difference. Action is what counts. We fall into a trap of believing that action is ineffectual until we get our consciousness "in the right space"; so we sabotage ourselves, become self critics rather than self artists. We don't act until certain preconditions are met, which never are, so we don't.

The Secret, as beautifully put in the Youtube comedy standup, is a rehash and is not new (except in its modern marketing techniques). Business "coaches" and similar have hyped up sales teams with this stuff for years. I was in a session once (obliged to attend by contract) where the speaker was telling us that, if we really want the Porsche or the lifestyle, or the whatever, we have to truly believe we already have it, it is ours. Half belief would not work.

He gave me the look when I said, "If I truly believe it is mine, I have it, then I wouldn't need to go buy it! If I do shop for it, I mustn't really believe it is already mine". It's called doublethink, or self delusion. They exaggerate simple ideas (like keeping a goal in mind) so as to appeal to the emotional side, where most modern marketing is targeted. Rhonda Byrne has made a motza but having read a bit about the shenanigans behind it all. She has hurt a lot of people, ripped off others and more, for the sake of her ambition and greed.

Back to action. It is interesting that a lot of recent research is showing that, for a large proportion of sufferers, physical activity is more effective to counteract depression than antidepressant medications. If we look at our whole way of life, and compare it to what the human form is designed to do, we can often spot the source of discomfiture.

We tend to think of "psychosomatic" causes as being thought affecting body (as per "false spirituality" mentioned above), whereas more often it's the other way; wrong use of the body affecting the state of mind. That wrong use can be too much or too little activity, diet, poor biomechanics in activity, even simply posture (good posture is correct response to gravity, bad posture is incorrect response to gravity - so basic, yet we are unmindful of our basic actions. We are so disconnected from the physical that the basics of life are now the "secret"!).
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ex-l

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Re: The Secret - a must for all recovering souls

Post13 Feb 2009

So, in essence, its OK if it cheered you up and did not pay for it! If you add up 4 million copies, 2 million DVDs, 3.75 million copies of the book in the first year ... $300 million in revenue ... I think you can start to understand why BKs and the BKWSU is moving into the New Age/New Thought retail book and CD market!

And, if you did not pay for it and leap frog her marketing empire to go to the source of the teachings and inspiration ... don't feel bad about that ... its what the author "attracted".

I am sorry if I dented something that was making you feel less depressed ... cynicism is cheap and depression is a tricky one. There are so many possible causes and, yes, anything that shakes you up and gets you motivated is good. Coming out of the BKWSU, we also genuinely do need simple life skills restored again, like being open, positive and even healthily self-interested or ambitious. And in amongst the marketing in all of this motivational stuff, there are some in there.

Irreverent humour works for me too ... are you sure you read the whole book?

diwali

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Re: The Secret - a must for all recovering souls

Post14 Feb 2009

Dear Angelwings:

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
I wish you the best luck!

Diwali

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