Obama's Secret

2 comments

October 30, 1:47 PM

by Ray Robison, National Defense Examiner

 

Obama is visualizing his presidency. Fair enough, it makes sense, athletes routinely practice visualizing their performance to “remind” their muscles of what they must do. But there may be something even deeper to this visualization exercise. I think he is employing tactics from a spiritual phenomenon pushed by none other than Obama's pop culture maven Oprah Winfrey. It's a self actualization program called The Secret. I find the implication here disturbing.

A friend of mine tried to get me onto The Secret. I watched part of the DVD movie described at the website for The Secret. I just couldn't stomach it to finish the entire video. I found it completely impractical and highly dubious.
 

First off, I see nothing wrong with exploring spiritual methods or theology. I am not narrow minded to the potential of the metaphysical. I was however, nearly instantaneously put of by The Secret. Because its central tenant is that if you wish for it hard enough the universe will cough it up. The Secret takes the power away from the concept of the fruits of human endeavor and puts it into the realm of “The Law of Attraction”. We are in control of our fates, it says, but by wishing for it as hard as we can, not by focus directed action to achieve. Simply put, it is metaphysical redistribution.

Wikipedia.org has a nice summation of the principles of the Law of Attraction (note: Wikipedia is a shaky source but a good place to start in research, check it out on your own):

According to proponents of this law, thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy. In order to control this energy, proponents state that people must practice four things:

1.Know what you want.

2.Ask the universe for it.

3.Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is on its way.

4.Be open to receiving it.

Thinking of what one does not have, they say, manifests itself in not having, while if one abides by these principles, and avoids "negative" thoughts, the Universe will manifest a person's desires.

Here's the problem with The Secret. Let's use a thought experiment. Say a million people buy lotto tickets. Now imagine that all of them enact the tenants of The Secret. Are all of them going to come to the same conclusion on what the winning numbers are? Are they all going to win? Unlikely.

So how does the universe decide who will win? Will the universe give the winning numbers to the person who simply wishes for it harder than the others? Taken to it's logical conclusion the principles of the Law of Attraction is absurd and many smart scientists have said so.

But it appears that the man who is inches away from running our country is a practitioner of this self actualization technique.

And I'm not the first to say so. In researching this possibility I ran across an article at Radar magazine. The writer went beyond the trappings of the campaign and compared Obama's statements to the tenants of The Secret. Here is a sample from the article:

The Secret: It's not "wishful" thinking.

Obama: Yes We Can.—"Yes We Can"

 

The Secret: You have to find a different approach to what is through a different vantage point.

Obama: "There's no shortage of anger and bluster and bitter partisanship out there. We don't need more heat. We need more light."—in Des Moines, Iowa, December 27, 2007

 

The Secret: HOW LONG??? No rules on time ... the more aligned you are with positive feelings the quicker things happen.

Obama: "We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change."—"Yes We Can"

 

The Secret: Nothing matters but this moment and what you are focusing your attention on.

Obama: "There is a moment in the life of every generation when, if we are to make our mark on history, this spirit must break through. This is the moment. This is our time."—Des Moines, Iowa, December 27, 2007

In terms of running a campaign, the practice of The Secret might strike one a fairly innocuous. My concern is what happens if Obama is a “Secret” President. Do we get policy prescriptions based on a goofy, impractical metaphysical fad? Do we visualize that the Iranians will stop developing nuclear weapons and hope the universe is pulling for us? Considering that the central theme of the Obama campaign is not “security” or “responsibility” but is instead “Hope” I think the answer is clear.

By the way, if you doubt that Obama is practicing “The Secret” it is interesting to note that his official website has a community devoted to The Secret.

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