No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. — [Mary Wollstonecraft]

For me the following is the most disturbing of all the passages in The Secret.

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I’m contemplating the above extract almost a week after a number of friends of my son’s were involved in a horrific motorcar accident. In it two teenage girls died and one was paralyzed from the neck down with 95% blood on her brain.

They were all from stable reasonably affluent families, all members of a positive Christian youth group. When waking from the coma he was in and hearing of the paralysis of his younger sister and the death of his girlfriend, one of the accident survivors expressed extreme fury at God in whom he until then had absolute faith in for allowing it to happen. And certainly in whom his parents too must’ve placed unwavering faith in to protect their beloved children.

However in Byrne saying “You’re going to immediately say, "I didn’t attract the car accident." And I'm here to be a little bit in your face and to say, you did attract it,” she’s either implying that.

These children had brought this tragedy upon themselves by the mental frequency they had transmitted to the universe at the time.

Or that.

Their parents had brought it about by their own negative frequency; thus the death of their children was their fault and reflective of their deeper thoughts which resulted in them unconsciously attracting the tragedy upon themselves.

I suppose one can also then infer that the fate of American comedian Bill Cosby’s son shot in cold-blood during a carjacking in Los Angeles, had happened because his son was a negative spirit. This must be so since it could not have been him or his wife as they are widely regarded as the quintessential examples of positivity. Or are they in fact dark negative spirits hiding under an exuberant life-affirming façade? 

And so too who do we blame for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann? The unconscious frequency of Madeleine’s? Or that of her parents’?

And what about Nate Henn, an American who had moved to Uganda to work with former child soldiers who was one of many victims of an Al Qaida bombing in the country. And to compound the tragedy for his grief stricken family, his brother Kyle died in a plane crash on his way home.

What did this poor family do to deserve this? Was their aid not worthy of the Universe? Or did they not provide their good with the required vibrations? Or maybe, it happened because he did not unconsciously apply the law as correctly as Byrne does?

And of course, what about those who do these despicable bombings, also unequivocally believing, that they will be met by 72 black eyed virgins in heaven? By doing so, making up for their largely unfulfilled earthly lives by having made the ultimate humanly sacrifice.

This of course must’ve been the case since it is based on the “hard science” of The Secret: that one only attracts events based on the thoughts one holds.

However when considering the examples it must be born in mind that, deduced from her remarks, Byrne once again is preying on our most primal fear: the potential loss of a child or dear loved one.

While she may not have said so directly what one must appreciate is that the message is subliminal, and that most who read it tend to make emotional inferences from their personal situations. Specifically, we all would like to be able to control as many variables as we possibly can to minimize impending loss or danger for ourselves and those dear to us. But the reality in spite of this wish is that, beyond what we can do within our physical power to affect events, the rest is very much left to chance. Implying we do have such a magical power, simply is malicious and opportunistic. 

What Byrne is actually suggesting is that, if such a parent could acquire her magic formula in advance to protect their child against all that potentially can go wrong, such a most awful of specter would be an eventuality they never would have to concern themselves over ever again.

One then simply can let one’s hair down and throw caution to the wind as the universe will be taking care of the details of how one’s child will forever be protected.

And so we can continue with this logic infinatum. For instance this logical scientific explanation certainly must also account for the'accidental' death of Princess Diana. Though it is evident that the universe must have overlooked her contributions to charities as well as her warm and charming disposition. So it too must apply to the six million Jews who died at the hands of Hitler, as they, logically speaking that is, must’ve attracted their despicable death and indignity unto themselves.

And what about those who died on the Titanic? I suppose the most negative souls alive at the time just so happened to have found themselves on that fateful voyage. So too this logic would account for those hundreds of thousands who died in the South East Asian Tsunami where only those with positive vibrations must’ve been the only one’s who survived.

The same argument certainly would also apply to the three thousand who just so happened to have been negative enough to have woken up for work on the fateful day the World Trade Centre was attacked. Logically speaking then using Byrne’s argument, they and the firemen and women who came to their rescue must’ve been the most negative New Yorkers alive at the time, hence their fate. 

When looking at the logic of the above it in fact is tantamount to asking a rape victim what they had done to have caused their violation.

But why are many not similarly revolted by the former assertions?

At this point it is important to reflect on what Byrne is actually implying with her reference to “by the law of attraction, they had to be on the same frequency as the event”, in other words that they emitted negative frequencies. In the three steps discussed in Counting Chickens Byrne intimated the following “…in the process it’s important to feel good, to be happy, because when you’re feeling good you’re putting yourself in the frequency of what you want…”

The logical inference one therefore must make from this is that the negative events referred to must have happened because these individuals were unhappy; and because they were unhappy they acted as a magnet which drew the resultant negative consequences unto themselves.

The association between negative frequency and unhappiness being the rational juxtaposition of the given association between positive frequency and happiness.

Quite frankly this despicable logic makes a mockery of the notion of common sense and conventional wisdom. But more crucially, of common decency for having the gall to infer that the victims are to blame for their misfortunes.

Or at least it ought to offend any half decent person’s sensibilities.

I don’t know what your reaction to this is, but for me it is the most deplorable worldview I had ever come across. Not even Satanism is as perverse for it at least is transparent about its despicable intent. As such its obvious abhorrence wards those with even a moderate inclination for the macabre from its vile shores.

For this reason the subtle spiritual innuendos spouted by Byrne is infinitely more reprehensible. Indeed because of its insidiousness, is far more destructive to the collective human psyche than anything that has gone before.

And if you are of the opinion that I’m overreacting about the above, perhaps you should give this section a slower more reflective read before continuing. But my honest opinion is that, if you didn’t get it by now, nothing will wake you up from Byrne’s spell. 

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After three people had died and 18 others hospitalized as a result of his “spiritual warrior” program, part of harmonic wealth initiative, James Arthur Ray was investigated for homicide as a consequence of his negligence. It is interesting that in his defense that Ray mentioned that it was an accident which was beyond his control. This being in stark contrast to what is claimed above—therefore the reference from the book should be viewed in conjunction with what had transpired at Ray’s event. Ray charged 69 people almost $10 000 for the retreat which should not have had more than a dozen people with subpar facilities which did not have a legal permit. This rite is usually provided free of charge by Native American practitioners. That is more than half a million dollars in less than a week, and excludes airfare, while numerous additional mandatory items such a $250 Peruvian poncho, were required to be purchased as well.  

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The following interaction I had on a blog also relates to the above:

My Response:

© Newton fortuin – 2007

  From 

Scourge: The Demise of Critical Thinking in the Age of "The Secret"