The Secret

The Secret has many parallels with Buddhist teachings. Sold initially as an MLM product in Malaysia, it received a non too perfect score as a teaching manual for handling, well Life! Whatever their reasons for selling this book via the MLM path, it is a great book if we can understand its meaning.

What is the secret of the Secret? In summary, Life on Earth, at least until we leave the planet and populate somewhere outside possibly a light hour from this planet, is based on what they call the Law of Attraction. In my readings, this is a subset of what Buddhist call the Dharma. This Law of Attraction simply brings into your life the dominant thoughts that play out in ones mind, your mind. Therefore in order to receive what you seek, whether it be love, wealth, money and so on, one has to maintain a state of positive thinking. And how does one begin to think positive, a simple prospect if only understood superficially. Well it requires meditation and seeing the good in all the gifts of life, in all things that you experience. Negative or bad thoughts are there and exist, but these are there to show us the path. Cultivate and build on the good that life offers, even in the most trying of times. And help others, especially the meek (this means the children), for they are just beginning on the path.

For the followers of the teachings of Buddha, this can mean to be mindful and concentrate on loving kindness. Or in other words, understand what the Dharma is. By the way, the Dharma has no equivalent English word. It has a set of meanings in English. My grasp of this is that our actions, thoughts and life itself and the actions, thoughts and life of others, including the fauna and the flora, make up the Dharma. It is like the field in the Secret, but its meaning is more lively, living, than just that. It is dynamic and alive in every way we are, and greater as it encompasses everything. I am still contemplating it. Anyway, the word Dharma is or should be a part of the English vocabulary, so rich a meaning it holds.

I will leave the rest of the Secret to its owner, and may they live the prosperity it brings.