Few years back Oprah Winfrey promoted a book and a movie as the best self motivating tool created in years. Many articles were written on " The Secret"; a book and documentary which encouraged people to claim their wishes and goals, believe that it had already happened, and they would come true."The world is your wishing well" as one author on a similar topic wrote, "Like attracts like" or "Your feelings are vibrations which attract those things to you, which you focus on."
What few people know or realize is the The Secret is sort of an introduction into the principles of Magick.
If only it were so simple. Well it is, and it is not.
The Secret holds that anything you have in your life has been manifested by your past thinking, and anything you want for the future will be manifested by your current thinking. This is not as simple as "positive thinking" as many people have dismissed the lessons in the book as. In order to truly manifest all the things you deem positive in your life, you need to undergo serious analysis of your beliefs and what you think is really possible. And it doesn’t hurt to know that this thinking has scientific eveidence to back it up. Recent studies ( last twenty years or so )in Quantum Physics have shown that this sort of phenomena is possible.
On the simpliest level of matter known…the Quantum Level, quantum particles float around us and everything in the universe. They are even able to pass through objects, and were previously though not to exist. In pre-Christian history, this matter was called ether and was considered the working force behind the prayers and rituals of "magicians." These quantum particles, it has been discovered and tested, respond to human observation in a way that was previously thought impossible.
Quantum Physics has found out that matter and energy have wave-particle properties. This has implications for quantum particles such as electrons, photons and bosons. In the bare basic nutshell, the findings have been that these particles exist in a state of all possibility until the observer (you and me) decide what the particle is and where it is.
Five findings of Quantum Physics are:
Any object which obeys quantum theory can be in more than one place at one time. Its position is smeared out into a probability function.
The act of measuring or observing the quantum object pins it down into a particle state. (ie it existed in a state of all possibility, until it was observed by a human mind and became what that human mind expected)
There is; on the quantum level, an observer-dependent universe.
Quantum objects have the ability to disappear from one place and reappear in another place without crossing the intervening distance. (Electrons jumping from one orbital in an atom to another)
If two quantum particles interact, they remain connected, and re-act to each other’s stimulus even when they are apart.
What do these findings mean for "THE SECRET"?
On the bare basic level of existence, all matter remains in a state of all possibliltiy until we decide what that possibility is. This expectation is limited by what we believe is possible, and in making that decision, we draw upon statements of "belief" which have been drilled into our psyche from day one of our existence, whether they have been true or not. In some cases, we send out mixed vibrations even though we want to believe that it would be the other way around. One example is the wish for doubling our income. For some people, the thought of a monetary increase instantly brings up the other thought "Money is the root of all evil", and they equate wanting more money as something negative.
We also cause indecisive action on the quantum level by our thinking. One example is, on the conscious level, we may be thinking "I really want that new job, the salary and perks are great!" but on the unconscious level we are thinking "..but the responsibility, and the work load are too much for me." This kind of dual thinking causes indecision even at the quantum level.
For Quantum Point number four, we find that things we thought were impossible, can indeed become possible. On the material level, these things manifest themselves through natural channels which we have created through our generations of collective conciousness. Let’s take the wish for a computer, for example, which suddenly comes from a friend who has bought a new one, and offers you their old one. Or the need for a new car, which comes a while later from winning a raffle. These wishes manifest themselves through channels which we believe are possible, because we have mentally created these channels through our beliefs or expectations. Things do not pop out of thin air, or drop from the sky, because we do not believe that way.
Point number five speaks to the transfer of emotional vibrational energy. Everyone we interact with, becomes affected by our stimulus, and in turn can affect others. In some religions, this has been refered to as "transference of spirit." We have all noticed that interaction with one angry person can upset our day. If we are not aware of the source of our upset, it is possible to transfer the angry feeling to the next person we interact with. Whether it comes back to us has not been proven by science as yet, but believers in the "Six degrees of Separation Theory" will conclude that the anger will return at some point. We really need to watch the emotions we share with people and how we share them.
For the purpose of this article, quite a few things have been left out. There is much more to be said about "The Secret" which has not been said. There are indeed further aspects of thought which needs to be analyzed on an individual level in order to make the principles work for us.
For one thing, we are limited by our beliefs and expectations. This statement calls to mind that famous song, "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind." We need to realize that our own minds prevent us from achieveing what we want, and if you just snckered thought this whole article; you have already closed off your mind to the possibilities. There is another famous quotation that comes to mind, "Faith can move mountains." Except the mountains which we need to move are the ones that instantly grow up as reasons why we cannot achieve what we want.
If you saw "The Secret" and were skeptical, your mind has already decided that it cannot work. If there was an inkling of belief in the message, then it helps to find where the doubt is and eradicate it through analysis of the negative feeling. This is no small task. Undoing years of belief in one statement requires sometimes going beyond ones beliefs and seeking for other points of view from people who believe quite the opposite. Just making that step fills people with fear. There are too, a whole host of reasons why people cannot make that mental jump. Some people don’t think that they are deserving of happiness. Some people are unable to analyze what is truly important to them.
If you are giving the book a second chance, please also remember to start small. After watching "The Secret" the impulse is always to think big. "I will win the LOTTO!" is the first thing that comes to mind for most people. And then right after declaring that goal, there is a small seed of doubt that we try to toss into our mental wasteland and ignore its presence. If the doubt is there, that’s not the first thing to try. You need to pick goals, small at first, which would help you to build up your belief in the system. If you are going for a big goal, then you need to analyse where that seed of doubt is coming from and work at eradicating it. This is a harder task than the previous suggestion. But the Secret works for many, and it can work for you….if you believe……
I always try to resolve the temperate zone's interpretation of the Wheel of the Year and our tropical experience. In my need to create a Craft with Caribbean traditions, I sometimes reflect on the great waking up of this land we live on at this time. It seems that we have a creative waking up as our artists and creators prepare for the most creative time of the year.
