Even at Birth, The Soul Comes to its Own

In my opinion, no study of the things taught in the book and the movie The Secret is complete without a companion review of the book "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen. This book is from the same era as "The Science of Getting Rich" and it about 20 years ahead of "Secret of The Ages", which are the two main works that Rhonda Drew on for the movie.

I wish to remark about the following passage from "As A Man Thinketh":

and man, therefore, as the Lord and master of thought, is the maker of himself, the shaper and author of his environment. Even at birth the soul comes to its own, and through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own purity and impurity, its strengths and weakness. (italics added).

As I have watched various forums where ideas around The Secret are discussed, I have often seen the topic come up about the abused children, and especially the babies. Critics of the movie are quick to use this topic as their argument as to the falsehood of the entire thing, because how could anyone suggest in good conscience that innocent little children "attracted" the abuse that is heaped upon them in some cases? Especially the babies who are too young to even know what is going on, much less attract something consciously . . .

I would say that this is perhaps their most powerful argument against the entire concept. I am also not here to say that they are wrong on this. But I do have some insight to offer that may shed some additional light on the subject, because I have been studying all of this for over a year now and something has just now come to me.

There is one point that must be understood first that will prevent progression if we cannot obtain agreement. That point is that we lived as individuals prior to our coming to this Earth. This can be a tough one for some because there is a "veil of forgetfulness" that is firmly in place; and because of it, we have no direct memory of our life prior to this one.

But we did live prior to this life, and we had a Father there in the same sense that we had a father here on this Earth. The Father there is the Father or our Spirit. He is our Heavenly Father. Now when we came from that existance to this current Earthly existence; what would we have brought with us? This is an exceedingly important question for us to understand the answer to.

And to help us understand the answer, allow me to jump forward to what we will take with us to the next existence after this one . . . two things:

1. Our intelligence. What we have learned. Our Wisdom, our mental know-how. Our creativity.

2. Our current vibration.

So follow me here. If these are the two things that we will bring to the next phase . . . are they also the two things that were brought to this phase ????

I think that generally they would be; but the veil of forgetfulness prevents us from taking advantage of the first. Because of the veil, we are not privy to our previous intelligence, and in effect we must start completely over. This is why education is more a matter of remembering things more than learning them, because we knew them all before. The root of the word "education", which is the latin educo, means to "bring to rememberance", not to learn.

But then there is our vibration; and it seems clear that we either did not have one at all, or we brought one with us. If we truly existed, then we would have had to have a vibration, because no energy can exist that does not. Those who do not believe that we existed before would have an argument for a blank slate on the vibration at birth; but if you believe that we existed before this life, then it unavoidably follows that we would have had a vibration there and brought it with us when we came here.

This was a powerful realization for me, especially when I pondered on the idea of "even at birth the soul comes to its own". What is "its own" ?? That would be a compatible vibration.

Now get real! Am I saying that someone might have brought a vibration with them that placed them in the abusive home ??

To tell the truth I do not know this 100% . . . but I also cannot think of any other explanation as to how they ended up there, except for a belief that someone was "unlucky".

Is "luck" a factor in a Universe that is controlled completely by divine and natual laws? We think of or know people who have been "lucky"; but I think we are just using that word because we did not really understand the operation of natural laws that was in play.

Where we end up when we come to this Earth makes an incredible difference in our lives. 90% or so of our subconscious programming is instilled in us prior to our second birthday. With this being such an important thing, would it really be left to chance?

You tell me.

But I don't think so.

I also want to be crystal clear here that I make no commentary whatsoever on any idea that someone had a "good" vibration or a "bad" vibration coming here and were placed accordingly. This would be more fodder for the critics who make another point that The Secret seems to be all about "blame the victim".

I do not know, but as opposed to being good or bad, I think our vibration just was; and because it was, it could only be placed with others that were compatible. Now is a good time to bring in some additional words from "As A Man Thinketh":

Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. ( . . . ) Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.

So why do I write all of this?

Because it might be helpful for someone to understand that there was a plan in place different from "unlucky" in the birth and placement of the soul.

And it leads me to what I want to say most of all . . .

Your NOW is so much more important than your past.

Your future is based on your NOW.

Your NOW is defined by you in every detail that you care to expend thought on.

So make it a good one, because all of us had dysfunctions in our past. The "victim" will hold on to those for dear life!

And the victor will let them go and forgive!

And then he will be truly free.

Be free.

Joseph

P.S. If you would like a free eBook copy of the book "As A Man Thinketh", click here.

Great is as Great does

Today I would like to talk about a topic that fits in with the materials presented in The Secret, but which is not addressed directly. If you saw the movie Forest Gump, they you may remember a scene where Forest is talking to someone on a bench and that person says "are you stupid or something?". Forest responds by saying "Stupid is as Stupid does".

I want to talk about the opposite of this. If I were to ask you: What is a great basketball player? Would you respond with a list of requirements of what makes a great basketball player, or would you just say Michael Jordan? Same with Golf, would you give me a list of requirements of how to be a great golfer, or would you just say Tiger Woods? Notice I am asking what, not who; but it does not matter.

If Michael Jordan wrote a book that somehow contained all that he knew about being a great basketball player, would I become a great basketball player just by reading it? I think we can all agree that the answer is "certainly not".

Somebody who is a true great is the person who defines what it is to be great; but it is never the person who is trying to copy someone else. Prior to Michael Jordan, there was no one who played the game like he later would. He was not following any patterns, he was inventing his great career at every moment.

Since he had (obviously) decided within himself that he was a great player, it simply followed that everything he did would be great. Does this sound too simplistic? Well there is also the matter of belief. When Mr. Jordan had the thought in his head that he was a true great, he really believed it. And that made all the difference. Nothing can stop the Law of Attraction faster than unbelief.

Have you ever wondered why the great basketball player takes almost three steps on the way to his dunk and the rookie player gets called for traveling for taking 1.5 steps? It is not because the officials are favoring the great player, despite what many might think. It is because the great player believes or "be"s the great player in his/her mind first, and then with that strong belief (and some practice to be sure), is enabled to make great plays that are things of beauty and which do not attract adverse calls by a referee.

OK great you say, but I am not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods . . . in fact I am not even close.

And I have to strongly disagree with you on that point I am afraid.

I know you are not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. There can be only one each anyway. Being Michael or Tiger is not the point, but being yourself is very extremely much the point.

Because you have some sort of talent; and with practice and proper development of that talent you can become the next world great. You have to know what the talent is first, and you may need some help getting to a world wide stage; but the Internet is a world wide stage; and this blog potentially reaches millions of people for the promotion that I give it, as an example.

So here is how it goes . . .

You identify one or more talents that you have: Things that you seem to be able to do better than almost anyone else.

You practice towards the development of that talent(s). For multiple ones you would pick the one that you enjoy doing the most; NOT the one that you think you can make the most money from. I will explain this in a bit.

You may, at first, work a day job that allows you to use and develop that talent. This is great as long as it does not stop you from taking the next step.

You will start your own business, with you as the owner, of being of service to people by using your talent, whatever it is. As you do this, you will begin to learn fundamental principles of marketing and especially Internet marketing so that you can grow your business. I am here to tell you that you can not learn these principles in any class (Sorry to the good MBA schools).

No, the only way to learn how to market something is to create it first and then get out there and sell it on the Internet. You will learn your first lesson when the hundreds of sales that you envisioned just are not happening for your first attempt. Real world results are a better teacher than all the theory classes you will ever have. As the Klemmer folks say: Never judge anything except by the results, it is sometimes harsh, but it is always fair.

If you enjoy what you are doing and if you are talented at it, and if you have some sort of a followup strategy, such as a customer newsletter (which I have used successfully), then you will slowly grow that business. The key is repeat business from existing customers to add to new business from all marketing sources.

I have written previously about my computer help business that I have started. I created this out of thin air. Because I am talented in the areas of technical troubleshooting and personal communications, I can not only solve my customer's issues, but I can do it in such as way as they enjoy my having been there. Everyone wants my newsletter after my first visit, and once they have received that 3-4 times then I become entrenched as their computer guy. Even if I raise prices later, they are likely to stick with me (unless I am way out of line . . . but I have no overhead and my competition, if you can call them that, has a lot).

So it is a slow but steady growth process, and a business that keeps growing will one day become a big business, as long as it is not mis-managed. I like to say that it is the growing direction that is the most important, not the growing speed. If you have more customers on your newsletter list at the end of the month than at the beginning, then it is a growing business, and when they keep growing you eventually get to the point where you need to hire some help, and then the business can grow some more.

But do not be afraid to start small or slow . . . I charge insanely low prices currently for what I do compared to my competitors. Having no overhead allows me to do this. I charge about $80.00 for two hours of home computer consulting where my competitors charge more than twice that. The appropriate time for me to raise my prices will be when I am so heavily scheduled at my current rates that I can hardly keep up; and as the business continues to grow, that day is surely coming.

You could argue that I am defining what great is for a home computer help business, for the simple reason that I believe that I am great at it. My customers are very appreciative of the work that I do, which I judge when they cheerfully hand over the money for my services. This actually suprised me some at first, people handing me this money so willingly, but I had provided such value to them that they were only too happy to do it. Now I am not surprised by it any more.

But learn the key here. Your greatness has to come as the result of running your own business, or it is never really your greatness. Working for someone else, in any capacity, is not likely the path to the unrestricted presentation of your talents, and you salary is typically always bounded in the upper direction, no matter how much value you provide to how many people.

But do not quit your day job just yet. It is important that you be free to grow your talent inspired business at an appropriate rate, and being free from worrying about how much you are making at first will be GREATLY helpful. Desperation around finances may motivate some to succeed, but in some cases it can actually drive away that which you seek. When should you quit your day job? Do not even start thinking about it until you are making in profit twice as much as what your salary is counting all of your benefits; and seeing a clear path and reasoning for how your business continues to grow. Sometimes you can reduce hours at your existing job to free up some more time for your porfitable business.

As your business grows to a certain point and beyond it, you will begin to have a better understanding of what they are talking about in The Secret when they talk about living in the "magic of life". And why not? You are growing a business and gaining increasing income doing what you love to do. You are providing value to others and have the satisfaction of doing so. Your upward income and value providing possibilities are unlimited. You are being a creator. You have created a business out of thin air (really is is from The Field); and you are learning about how to be a creator.

I am here to tell you that this is one of the most important things we can do during this lifetime, and that is learn how to be a creator. Trust me on this one.

We were ALL meant to create.

Please do not stop yourself from doing so.

Joseph

WELCOME to the Grail Quest

I have not gone crazy. I know that Dan Brown was not in The Secret. What Dan did do was to get a lot of people talking about subjects that are important to us all, and the Book and movie The Secret did the same thing.

So what is the grail quest?

I leave it to the historians and authors to debate about whether the grail was a cup or a bloodline. Either idea does not change the right now occurrance of my life. It just illustrates that there are still so many things that we do not know . . .

And we would be ignorant if we did not expect that there are not some surprises in what we do not know which will eventually be revealed. When the Lord comes again I imagine that He will set that record strait. I would not count on a difinitive answer much before that time.

But I speak today about the modern day grail quest, or the quest to understand the natural laws of the Universe in which we live.

You see, understanding a law gives us power over it.

But the understanding must come first.

We came to understand the law of gravity, and then we proceeded to defy it with the invention of the airplane and the rocket ship. You could argue that since we understand it that we now have control over it. Want to go up instead of down? Get a hot air balloon. It works.

And so we begin to have some understanding of another natural law, namely the law of Attraction, which is really the law of vibration.

But do we understand the power that we are dealing with?

If someone were to truly master the Law of Attraction, they they would be,

essentially . . .

God.

At least of their universe. And their universe is the only one that matters, because it is the only one in which they can live. We cannot create in another's reality.

What is your universe? Is it what you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell?

You think it is.

But it's more like the holodeck as portrayed on Star Trek. None of it is real.

Before I lose you, please allow me to explain what is really happening.

You see something, and a picture appears in your mind. What has really happened is that your optic nerve is sending impulses to your brain that are forming the general specifics of a picture. But the brain clarifies the picture based on a set of rules that is taught to us from our childhood on up. Many of those rules are stored in the subconscious.

So it is our own set of rules that forms the picture. We see a table top and we believe it is "solid".

And yet if you whip out a proper electron microscope and look at the exact same thing, you will see that 99% of the table top is made up of space.

Oh and by the way, of that 1% that is perceived to be solid, we have now looked further and found that 99% of that 1% is also just empty space.

We have not had the technology to check this next one yet, but it seems possible that the 1% of that first 1% is also 99% space. It would not surprise me in the least.

So we have proven essentially that the table top is hardly solid, but appears to barely exist at all!

So why does you hand (which is also 99% space at the very least) not just pass through the table when you come in contact with it?

Because you come in contact with the one thing in the picture that is real, and that is the energy field and its state of vibration. A "solid" table has a very slow vibration. Your solid hand would also typically have a very slow vibration. The energy fields repel each other, and your hand is not able to pass through. You also receive the sensation of feeling the table as another impulse sent to your brain that is deciphered with the same set of rules that what you saw was done with.

Here is the Earth shattering revelation that is really coming out of the book and the movie . . .

You can change those rules.

And when you change those rules, then your whole universe changes.

Just like changing the program on the holodeck . . .

And giving the actors within different scripts.

Did you know you were paying these actors for their work?

Did you know that since you are paying them . . . you get to tell them what to do?

When one of them does something that you do not expect, you might ask yourself:

Why did I give you that script ??

And if you can find the reason that you did, you will have learned something about yourself that you could have not earned in any other way.

OK you say, that is all fine and dandy, but I do not get the Law of Attraction to work for me consistently . . .

Good!

Because you are not supposed to be a master of it at this time.

We were born into this Earthly existence with a BIG disconnect. Two pronged.

Prong One: We do not remember our previous existence, how powerful we were, how cool we were, how great things were. How cool our family was.

Prong Two: The powers of attraction are generally controlled by our subconscious mind, and not our conscious mind.

We are essentially conducting an experiment. What would happen if you took a powerful and immortal being and placed them in a situation where they did not have a clear connection to their power, and no memory of how powerful that they had been.

What would happen?

You can easily tell me, because you are living that experiment right this very moment.

You see, if we had a clear connection to our subconscious, as well as a restored memory of who and what we really are, we would be extremely powerful.

And are we ready for that power?

I think not.

Or else it would have already been given.

Some of the teachers in the Book and Movie, especially Joe Vitale in a recent book, are claiming to help you get in touch with your subconscious to help you reclaim your power. They share what may work for them.

And it may work for you, or it may not.

So what is the modern day grail quest?

To come in contact with our own subconscious.

Some would say that we are trying to come into contact with our "higher self".

I cannot tell you how to do that, in any way that is guarenteed to work for you.

And neither can anyone else.

I recommend that you do your own study, because there is clearly much more power available to us than what we are currently exercising . . .

And as we take the steps to unlock that power, we will at the same time prepare ourselves for the responsibility of having that kind of power; for unto whom much is given, much is required.

And we will want to be ready for that.

Or we could just decide to wallow in the disconnection from our power.

We get to decide.

So decide already.

Joseph

Let's Talk About Money, and it's no Secret

I took quite a few notes as I was watching The Secret for the first few times, and especially when it came to their take on the secret of money.

And yet while all of that sounded true to me, I have not as of yet cracked that one. I am pretty well informed on financial things, but that is because I have read piles and piles of financial books, not because I watched the secret and cracked the code.

There are some tricks for those who know what they are doing. To get into our current home, which is our dream home, we neither made a down payment, qualified for a loan, nor paid any closing costs. I wrote a small eBook on how to do that and you can read about it here.

I want to say something on this money thing, and this is something that was not really discussed in the movie The Secret. I want to talk about retaining your money, not making it.

If you have any kind of a job or profitable business or return on investments, then you make enough money to eventually be rich. Sound strange? Well it's true, at least until you come to the point where you have spent it all (and possibly more) and not saved any of it.

In an earlier post, I talk about how focusing on spending less as opposed to focusing on making more is lack thinking, and I still believe that. But there is a fine line here, because if we do not learn to spend a little less prior to our figuring out how to make more then we increase our debt, and that is just the opposite of the direction that we want to go.

What I am sayting here is that there is just no substitute for a good financial education. You could learn to attract a million dollars using the law of attraction; but if you have no real financial education, how are you ever going to keep it? If you do not know how to make $100.00 work for you in some positive way, then how can you make larger amounts work for you?

Here's hint number one, courtesy of Dennis R. Deaton. The best hedge against inflation begins with not losing a fortune. I know far too many people, including myself, who have learned valuable financial lessons the hard way by losing five digit sums of money. Mostly lost on investments where I thought I knew what I was doing when I did not. Nothing is more dangerous than an investor who thinks he has it figured out.

If you really do not understand the markets and what moves them, if you do not understand and use stop and limit orders, then I have to say that you will be much better off parking all of your savings in cash vehicles, despite what all the other financial "experts" say. All of those "experts" are never around to take responsibility when they help you to lose a lot of money.

Second point. You will never make money by paying large sums of money to someone else so that they can tell you what worked for them. There is no guarentee that it will work for you. In fact, there is hardly any chance at all that it would work for you. If you matched with them on all talents and attitudes then maybe, but when is that going to be true?

No, you have to find your own way. Some people may have different opinions, but I am not big on life coaches or any kind of coaches or paying anyone a large sum of money to help you. They can only tell you what works for them, and nothing works for everybody. I especially do not like the fact that they all want they money up front and if they fail to help you earn any additional money, then it is your fault, not theirs. I have direct experience with this.

Yes, you should educate yourself based on what successful people have done in the past, but all you have to do to begin and continue this process is to obtain and read a book. If you go to the library then the books are free. It need not cost a lot of money.

Someone who understands insurance, and who understands what you really need versus what you do not, can save tons of money buying insurance. The understanding must come first.

If you do need someone to help you, see if you can find someone who does consulting like I do.

I do financial consulting in the facts and figures world of finance. I cannot and will not attempt to teach you how to attract one million dollars, but I guarentee that I can work your family spending plan so that you come out at the end with more money. What do I charge for a fee? I charge a percentage of what I have saved you. So you win with the savings, I win with the percentage of the savings, and everyone wins. What a refreshing change versus coach always wins and the coached person might win something.

If you have a coach, ask them if they would be willing to charge you on a model of a percentage of the increased income you earn because of their coaching. In my experience not one of them has been willing to do this. Why should they have to take any responsibility for all that money that they are being paid?

It seems like the new Information Age race. Who can make the most money while providing only dubious value and not taking any responsibility whatsoever ?? I am here to tell you that there are a lot of people around who are good at this game, and you want to avoid them like the plague!

So we search together for the key to the code of attracting a big pile of money . . . but in the meantime let's improve our financial education so that we are ready for the windfall when it comes.

Because you would hate for it to all blow away.

Joseph

Rise of the Mega-Pastor

The book and movie The Secret are very much inspired by the Wallace Wattles book The Science of Getting Rich. In fact this is the book that Rhonda reports being given by her daughter that started everything off for her. (The cover page shot in the movie shows a different book, which is Secret of The Ages by Robert Collier).

I wish to address the following passage from The Science of Getting Rich:

"What is now needed is a demonstration of the science of life from the pulpit. We want preachers who can not only tell us how, but who in their own persons will show us how. We need the preacher who will himself be rich, healthy, great, and beloved, to teach us how to attain to these things; and when he comes he will find a numerous and loyal following."

Mr. Wattles wrote this 100 years ago. If he were alive today, I think he would visit Houston, point to Lakewood Church, and say: See! I told you so!

If you are one of the five people in America who have not heard of Lakewood Church or Pastor Joel Osteen, it is a non-denominational church following similar theology and methods as an Assembly of God church would. Pastor Osteen draws crowds of several tens of thousands every weekend, filling up the former Compaq Center, where the Houston Rockets used to play basketball. At the rate they are growing it seems that the currently unused 60,000 seat Astrodome might be the church's next location. The television audience is numbered in the millions.

To put things in a little perspective, I estimate that about 3-4 million people have had the opportunity to see the DVD movie The Secret. Pastor Osteen reaches twice that many people directly every single week. I do not know the numbers for the book.

And yet several other pastors and leaders from other churches level much criticism for Lakewood Church being really light on doctrine or even repentence, which is scarcely mentioned. In my mind Pastor Osteen is more a motivational speaker than a Pastor, but having grown up as the son of the former Pastor of Lakewood church it was natural for him to follow in his father's footsteps.

And yet to attend motivational seminars that are half as good as what is presented at Lakewood costs several hundred dollars. At Lakewood, the services and the parking are free. The church brings in millions upon millions of dollars from donations from the congregation and from the TV audience, which is quite interesting because the do not show collection on the TV program, and they never ask for money on the TV version (a great plan given what some TV preachers have done in the past).

So, why is this Pastor so popular?

Because his message describes a loving God who is always working to bring better things into our lives. All of his sermons discuss different ways that we block Him from doing that, and how we can stop blocking Him. It is a refreshing change of pace from those who preach that God is uncaring or uninterested in the details of a single persons life, or the message that true spirituality is obtained through poverty and lack.

As information comes to light in this age about the Law of Attraction, we can begin to understand how it was us, and not God, who caused most of what we are complaining about to happen to us. This is an important distinction!

If our afflictions are sent to us by God, then we would be absolutely powerless to do anything about them at all except for muddle through, and pray to the God who sent them to take them away. Does this seem like a disconnect to anyone?

What if instead we attracted them ourself? True or Not, this is a more empowering idea. You see if God is the cause of your afflictions, then i do not know how you do anything different than live your entire life as a victim. The God in this thought universe is the God of Justice, brimstone and damnation.

If instead you attracted them yourself via the Law of Attraction, then guess what? You can do something about it! Given we are taught that God helps those who help themselves, it is apparent that we were meant to do something about it ourselves. The God of this thought universe is the mentor, the loving father, the advocate. The one who wants to bless us with more than we can imagine, but also the one who knows when we are ready to handle something.

Pastor Osteen does exactly what Wallace Wattles said 100 years ago, and he certainly does not lack for a following.

Here is another item to consider. The success of Pastor Osteen is but an example of the success that every human being can attract once they get in line with the Universe and start using the talents that they were blessed with. Combine that with some marketing work to find the right audience, and a similar success story can belong to anyone else who seeks it.

And we should all seek it. How would you like to go to different cities and towns and have hundreds of people line up all telling you that you have so inspired them, that their life is so much better now since they have come to know you. Talk about a virtuous circle, here is the case of someone living in the magic of life.

All of us are meant to do the same, no matter how much we ignore it.

Joseph

How Much Does Enlightenment Cost?

I will be on a tightrope for this one, because there are some fine lines here.

I once went to an investment seminar that cost about a thousand dollars. Using the tools I was taught at that seminar, and believing that I was a pro because of attending that seminar, I proceeded to lose several thousand dollars in the stock market. I do not play the market anymore. I learned one thing for my thousands of dollars lost and spent: The market is controlled by fear and greed. The truth of the matter is that no one knows which way the market will go tomorrow, but everyone can tell you why it did what it did today.

You know what? People who were friends of mine had tried to tell me that, but I did not believe them. That unbelief cost me thousands of dollars. I would have to say that the one thousand dollar seminar was not a good value.

There was one thing said at the seminar that did impress me however. One of the presenters asked the crowd if they were suddenly given $20,000.00 to invest, how much of that would they spend on their financial education, and how much would they invest directly?

The presenter said that he would spend 15 of 20 thousand on his financial education, and I remember being impressed by that.

So here is something I found that was a great value . . . The DVD movie The Secret. For just over $30.00 (shipping included) one can have this DVD that presents the Law of Attraction, and does a great job explaining it! The book The Secret, at a similar price, is also a great value.

There are many other books that talk about these topics, several by the teachers in the movie. These are all fairly inexpensive, and the several I have read have all been very good.

Even I got into the act! I wrote a 30 page eBook around The Secret DVD that goes more in depth into the history, some of the subliminal things in the movie, trivia pieces, and a whole lot more. All of that can be had for less than the cost of the movie as well. Do you know which teacher got the most time in each edition? Read my eBook and find out!

But what about the two thousand dollar seminar that purports to reveal all of the "secrets that were left out of the secret" ??

You will undoubtedly get some great information out of such a seminar, but at that price point, it is pretty difficult to see the value it would provide, because your earning power would have to change fairly drastically and quickly to make up for that much money out the door. One would really need to compare and see if they would not make more money by placing that 2000 dollars in a safe investment that returned money to them.

There is the aspect that someone will take it more seriously if they spend so much money on it. Everyone has to decide for themself if this is true for them. I say: Would it not be easier to train ourself to take something seriously without having to put that much money down?

My concern is mostly for those who are new to all of the ideas in The Secret, and who will plop down a large amount of money in the hopes that this will save them from having to do their own research and come to their own understanding.

So I offer a humble suggestion. Set a percentage of your income that you will spend on your own personal development. There is not a better thing in the world to spend money on, except for buying assets that put money in your pocket every month. If you can, start a business in a area where you have talent and enjoying doing it and set aside a percentage of those profits as well for your personal development.

In the beginning with this plan you would have to start out small. Buy a couple of books, or get them at the library. Put what you learn into production and see if it brings you increased income or increased enjoyment which will lead to increased income. Use the books to grow your business. Do not forget the books on Sales and Marketing.

As your business grows, or you income increases as a result of doing this, you will have more to spend and will graduate to buying more expensive things.

But here is a critical point . . . .

If you business does not grow, and your income or your enjoyment have not increased, then it means that there are some basic elements of The Secret which you have not understood yet in their entirety. If you have not yet fully understood and proven the basics, then spending more money will not typically help you. It would be like taking calculus before understanding algebra. You will learn some neat things, but it will not help you.

Is this a failure if we go this way? Only in the sense that everyone's ultimate path to success is built on what they have learned from previous failures. Avoiding failure is a 100% known way to never reach a big success.

So stick to the plan. There is enough in the initial book or DVD to get someone started in the right direction. There is enough additional information for free on the Internet to keep us busy at first. Let's make sure we understand the basics via proving it with increased income and increased enjoyment. It is a staircase to success, not a high jump.

Joseph

The Emerald Tablet

In the very first part of the movie The Secret, we see Rhonda reading the book A History of Egypt. Soon after that, we are shown a depiction of "The Emerald Tablet". Have you ever wondered what said tablet says? Well here you go, with commentary. This translation is by Sir Isaac Newton himself.

1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
-- A lot of "truth" there. No lies to ultimately get us to the truth.

2. That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.
-- As Above, so below.
-- This is a powerful statement designed to help us understand the relationship between us and God/The Universe. We tend to think that us vs. God = Two VERY different things, but this suggests otherwise. And what are the "miracles of the one only thing"?
-- We call them manifestations . . . or the results of the Law of Attraction.

3. And as all things have been & arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
-- As within, so without.
-- All things arose from one by the meditation of one . . . well who was that I wonder? :-)
-- So all other things are born of this one thing. Are we still thinking we are so much different from God now? Yes He is better at manifesting than all of us . . . but what did Jesus mean when he said the following? "The works that I do shall he (they) do also; and greater works than these shall he (they) do, because I go to my Father".

4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,
-- Put now into terms of objects that are familiar to us, namely the two biggest things in the sky.

5. The wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.
-- We are still talking about the "one thing" here. The manifestations of attraction and vibration.

6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
-- Some are quite sure that he left us to fend for ourselves.

7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
-- What is the proof of the Law of Attraction? When your manifestation takes physical form! All things are created Spiritually before they can be created Physically.

7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.
-- Understand that the spiritual creation lives within the physical one.

8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it desends to the earth and receives the force of things superior & inferior.
-- Still talking about the one thing, in this case how our thought energy transcends all time and space to bring us things both superior (what we want) and inferior (what we do not want).

9. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
-- A message for anyone who thinks that any human life should be lived in obscurity!
-- Something to ponder: What is the glory of the whole world?

10. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.
-- Even Physical walls are not as powerful as our manifestations based on our thoughts will be. When we finally allow ourselves to understand this truth, then our power shines forth. Then we really can be "The Light of the World". And the light of the body is the eye . . . therefore if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light!

11. So was the world created.
-- By the Law of Attraction. A fairly sizable manifestation.

12. From this are & do come admirable adaptations where of the means (or process) is here in this.
-- When so many of us understand our power, and manifest awesome things, the vibration of the entire planet is raised. This in turn helps all of us raise our vibration further. It is a virtuous circle.

13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
-- Note from the author. These are the conclusions of his study of all philosophy.

14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
-- So we do not have to wait for any reason, the timing of our manifestation is RIGHT NOW. All things that are needed to be created to support us are here with us, and we with them.

-- Final thought: The message of the Emerald Tablet is alchemy, and is also that there is plenty of power for personal transformation, and that we have been ignoring our power for long enough now.

A glorious work in progress . . .

Joseph

From Whence Cometh Happiness ??

OK, if you were paying very close attention to the scene in The Secret with John Asseref's vision board, the you saw the statement printed thereon: Joy is the best measure of success!

I often hear people say something like the following: When I have _____, then I will be happy.

The statement is born out of a misunderstanding. Happiness is not a destination. Happiness is a journey. What is the difference beteeen happiness and joy? Joy is a feeling, and an emotion. Happiness is a lifestyle.

So what is required for happiness? You could ask anyone who is truly happy. The following ideas are meant to get you thinking about the subject, not to convert you to a certain way of thinking.

Is living in a nice house required to be happy? Yes. But there are *all* kinds of nice houses. Who has to think it is a nice house? Why you, of course.

Is having prosperous circumstances required to be happy? Well, I had to think on this one for a moment, but No, not required. I would like to say it helps, but in some cases it hinders.

Is being grateful for our current conditions required? Yes! 110% Yes.

Is knowing about or trying to live the Law of Attraction required? Sorry guys, but No.

Is the opportunity taken to be of a benefit to others required to be happy? Aye Aye. Yes.

Must we seek for spirituality in order to be happy? Yes, if we want all of it.

Must we drive a luxury car in order to be happy? Only if we think so.

Can we be happy or have joy in any kind of dishonest dealings? Nada. Nothing that lowers our vibration will make us happy.

Can we be a victim and also be happy?

No, not completely.

Can we be happy even if we have bad memories, or memeories of bad things?

Those are all in the past. Happiness and joy are in the now. In the now redefines the future.

Does being forgiving make us happy? A definite Yes. Its not bad for the rest of the world either.

Does uplifting others make us happy? Yes! A proven way to get there.

Do any of the emotions on the "bad" side of the emotional guidance scale make us happy?

YES.

But only when we realize that they are guidance telling us something, and when we properly understand what the guidance is telling us. That lesson will invariably lead us to happiness and joy, but short of that, NO.

Is there ONE overriding principle; One grand emotion; One mode of thinking that includes all of the others already listed; that is empowering within itself; which all low vibration flees from; which overpowers all negativity; which casteth out all fear; which destroys all doubt; which energizes all who come in contact with it; which has the power to command all other emotions; which raises our vibration to a Heavenly state; which is the best conduit in this lifetime to understand God; which puts us in total 100% command of all aspects of our reality; which shapes our very existence; which transcends all other human emotion ??

Well I am glad that you asked . . .

Because YES there is . . .

What is it ??

You already know,

and you never needed me to tell you.

I just wanted to be there when you fully realized it.

Now that you know . . .

What can you do now?

Love,

Joseph

The Law of Attraction and . . . . . The Lottery ???

Please stick with me on this one, because the point I want to make is going to take a little bit to get there. There are several images of "The Lottery" in the movie The Secret. In my mind those images are just meant to convey the idea of a boat-load of money, but is the movie suggesting that The Lottery is a possible way that we might want to attract money?

Because the laws of mathematics are just as valid as the Law of Attraction, and the Lottery is mathematically designed for millions of people to play and only one to win the big jackpot. This is to say that by design, millions of people will play and lose at every drawing. Now I am not here to say that one person cannot attract the win, but I am here to say that if too many people start attracting the win, then the win will be watered down until it is not worth anything anymore, because the big jackpot is divided by the number of winners.

Let me tell a fictionalized version of a true story. There was a woman, we will call her Laura, who had come to a point where she had hit rock bottom in her life. Her father died suddenly, and her whole life was in turmoil. Little did she know, but our of her greatest despair would come the most wonderful blessing!

She had been introduced to a Great Secret, in the form of a 100 year old book. She grew excited about this and traced The Secret back through history. She could not believe that there were other people alive today that knew this Great Secret, but she was able to find and study them. Based on her studies, she became a very powerful attractor!

She then thought (and here is where the story moves into fiction), "I am a great attractor! I think I will try my hand at The Lottery!" Well sure enough she plays the Lottery and she wins! She wins the big jackpot! All hints of money troubles are over for the rest of her life, because she has also attracted being smart with her money.

Well she moves on with the knowledge that she can attract whatever she wants. She tries to tell all of her friends about this great gift, but she is not able to make them understand, and ultimately they all ascribe her great success to pure dumb luck. She lives happily ever after . . .

But we do not. All the great blessings of the movie and book The Secret never occur.

Because you see, in her focus on how to attract money, she did not also focus on providing any value. The Lottery is the world's number one way to attract money without providing any shred of value in return. Pyramid schemes, legal or illegal, are the number two way to attract money without providing any value in return.

But Laura does learn one important lesson that she could have never otherwise learned . . .

It is lonely at the top.

(Now for the truth of the story)

The truth is that this is not a fictional story, and our hero's name is Rhonda, not Laura. But Rhonda had a great desire to tell others about the great discoveries that she had made. She wanted to share the value that she had found for herself with others.

So instead of attracting a win at the Lottery, she instead took an extremely large risk. She hired a very skilled production company to help her make a movie, and she talked some of the world's foremost experts on the Law of Attraction to be interviewed for a movie at no payment. Millions of dollars where spent to make the production worth watching, and two farms were given away to pay for a teacher named Esther Hicks.

All of this was done with no guarentee whatsoever that anyone would ever buy the movie or be interested in it, or that the original TV station that they had an agreement with would ever air it. In fact the original TV station never did air it as they were supposed to.

But of course the rest of the story is history. The movie was a smashing success, it has inspired literally millions of people the world over, and ALL OF THIS because one person was looking for a way to share value that she had found in her own life with others.

OR NOT. She could have just played the Lottery and attracted the win. Lived happily ever after. The movie and the book The Secret go *poof* into nothingness. This entire Secrets of The Secret blog ceases to exist. The great Secret forum at powerfulintentions.com disappears, along with any wisdom gained by anyone reading it.

So should we look to attract money without providing value in return?

Well its our decision. It's either:

1. Lonely at the top.

- or -

2. Unspeakable joy in every soul that we are able to help.

So decide already.

Joseph

Is it harder to attract Positive than Negative?

If you want to get really technical I think you would have to say that neither one is "hard" to do.

We may have a lot more experience with one than we do with the other.

In the movie The Secret, Dr Beckwith says that an affirmative thought is hundreds of times more powerful that a negative thought, adding that this fact has been proven scientifically.

Does it follow that a positive attraction is hundreds of times more powerful? Does the fact that the natural state of the entire Universe is prosperity and wonder mean that it should be easier to attract those things?

Some people put a lot of mental effort attracting negative circumstances into their lives. Does that sound crazy? People do it all the time. Of course much, if not all, of that is the subconscious doing the attracting; but that subconscious program was written based on thoughts and experiences that came down from the conscious mind.

So for any who seem to be still attracting a lot of negative things I say the following . . .

Take a Break.

Look at the grass. It does not struggle to grow, it is just an intelligent design. The wind blows whithersoever it will. The same designer who created these things created us. Feel gratitude for the grass, the wind, the sun, and the thousands of other little blessings occurring in our lives that we pay no attention to and thus express no appreciation for. Express verbal appreciation at every opportunity.

The first step in manifesting the positive is to stop working so hard manifesting the negative.

Do it!

Joseph

Have Other People Attracted Some of Your Actions?

In the movie The Secret we learn about the Law of Attraction, and the movie focuses mostly on what we attract to ourself. But what about what other people around us are attracting? Are we fulfilling the attractions of others with some of our actions (without even trying to)?

Case in point. There have been a couple of recent occurrences in my life that were strange, because my actions were strangly out of character for me, and I do not have any reason why I did the things I did.

1. I am normally a very friendly and courteous driver. I always let someone in if they are trying to get in. Except this one time. This one time I totally made great efforts to block someone from getting in for no reason at all. I did not know this person, I was not in a bad mood, I had not had a bad day at work, in short I had absolutely no motivation to do what I did, but somehow I did it anyway. I spent the rest of the day wondering why I had done that.

2. I recently took the kids to one of these pancake type resturants. The service was good and I gathered up cash at the end to pay the bill and add the tip. I had clear in my mind that I wanted to pay the $59.00 bill and add a decent tip, say $6.00. So I left $65.00 on the table and left thinking I had left my normal 20-25% tip that I always do for good service.

It was not until about three hours later that I looked back and realized that I had only left a 10% tip, and that waitress would be wondering why I shorted her. Well you might say that it was just a brain freeze and I was not thinking right, and I would normally agree except to say that this does not happen to me. I never do tips in my head and come out with the wrong answer. So I spent the rest of that day wondering why I had done that.

Here's a possibility: Those people attracted my actions. Perhaps the first person was in their vehicle affirming how bad the traffic is and how unfriendly the drivers are and how everybody always tries to cut her off. Perhaps the second was thinking here's a guy with four kids who are breaking all the crayons and making a lot of noise, he will probably stiff me, that always happens to me.

Well unfortunately I do not know either person and I do not expect to ever see either of them again. So I wonder if similar things have happened to you? Have you done some things that were out of character for yourself and later wondered why you did it? Have you noticed that others acted out of character towards you in an unexpected way? Can you think of any way you might have attracted that? You may not be able to, because it could be a subconscious attraction drawn from programs running in your mind.

What do you think?

Joseph

The Law of Attracton and Agency

Given the thought that we attract to us everything that happens to us, many wonder about those who are victims of crime or terrorism or some other horrible thing. Certainly these victims have not attracted such terrible experiences to themselves, the critics say. The Book and DVD The Secret do not delve into this deeply.

I wish to address this idea. Let's start with why these types of horrible things happen in the first place. God could certainly stop them, (and in some very rare cases He has), but generally men are allowed to rampage and pillage and destroy without God's interference. The reason why can be summed up in one word, and the word is agency.

Agency is not a word to be taken lightly. It means that men and women are free to choose their own actions, free from divine interference. Also there are both good and evil influences in the world, so that people could be enticed by both sides, and then make their own decision. We take agency as a given, but it was not as easy to come by as most of us think.

Because of agency, there will be those who choose to hurt others. Once they have made that decision within themselves, then the only question becomes who? Well in the majority of cases the who will be someone that they know. We have all heard about random acts of violence on the news, but that is not the majority case.

In As A Man Thinketh, James Allen says that men attract that which they love, and also that which they fear; not generally that which they want. While it would be necessary in each specific case to do detailed interviews with victims to test this theory, it is my belief that what will be found is that there was a fear somewhere in the victim that was realized by the actions of the aggressor. The Law of attraction will take the aggression offered by the offender and match it with someone who is attracting that like energy through fear or some other program that they are running sub-consciously.

So I would agree that people generally do not consciously attract crimes upon themselves; but they end up attracting them anyway because of specific fears or because of programs that are running subconsciously that were programmed when they were younger. Does this give any new insight on the wisdom of watching the 10:00 news every night? With the advent of the Internet and Global news, every horrible thing that happens among a population of more than 6 billion people is reported worldwide. What is never reported though is the extremely small percentage of the total world population that is affected.

Do not let these types of things control any of your thinking.

Joseph

The Power in What You Behold

Even though Esther Hicks does not appear in the current version of The Secret, she was the main teacher in the original version and most of the teachings about the exact mechanics of the Law of Attraction were done by her. Whether you believe in that whole channeling thing or not, what she teaches is powerful.

I saw this bit posted recently from a workshop that Esther did in North Carolina in 2004. It concerns the healing powers of the Saviour:

Jesus is said to have been a powerful healer. And the reason that he was is because when he looked at you, no matter what your current temporary state of physical condition, he
did not allow himself to behold it, instead--he saw you as he knows you to be.

And because he saw you in your wellness, and he saw you that way so powerfully, your illness could not abide in his vibration. There just wasn't a place for it there.

--------

I have posted before about how I no longer give any energy to thoughts of me being sick, even if I feel the initial symptoms of it. I just completely ignore it and move on. I am not sure that I am really seeing myself healthy, but I am doing everything possible to avoid seeing myself sick.

Now I wonder what power and effect it has when I look at someone else? Do I see them as being healthy and well or do I see them as being sick? How much will it help them if I see them as being healthy and well? I am going to have to experiment on this some and I will report back later what I find.

Also I will be posting soon about the reality that we see all around us. Read this for a sense of what I will post about.

Joseph

Can You Attract Lower Gas Prices?

Now here's a subject area where The Secret could gain some additional popularity, as if it needed any. How to use the Law of Attraction to attract lower Gas prices?

Well energy goes where attention flows. If having lower gas prices is something that you want, and in fact you want it more than other things that are competing for your mental attention, then you would go to the extra effort and spend the necessary time to figure out where the best deals on prices are. I have noted that I could save up to 30 cents a gallon in some cases by doing this.

I would make a different recommendation, however. If you have a standard vehicle that takes about 20 gallons of gas to fill it up, and you are able to find that station where you save 30 cents, then you will save 20 X 30 cents = $6.00 for your efforts. Factor in how much time it takes you to find the lower price station (or drive to it) and you can figure out how much you are being paid per hour for this activity.

It is obvious that many people are focusing on the higher gas prices, or the things that they do not want. The Secret says to do just the opposite, and where your savings are so small anyway, I say remove yourself for this entire scene, get gas at the station that is the most convenient not necessarily the cheapest, and move on with attracting bigger and better things that you want.

Some things are just not worth worrying about!

Joseph

The Law of Attraction and Giving Directions

I am writing about cases where the Law of Attraction, or more specifically knowing about it, has made my life easier.

Recently my wife was flying in to the Houston Airport and I needed to give her directions on how to board the right parking bus to find the car I had left for her. There is a bus with a small blue sign and a bus with a small red sign, and she needed to take the one with the red sign.

Prior to watching The Secret , I would have told her to get on the Red bus but not get on the Blue bus. Invariably what would later happen would be when the time came she would be confused, because I had said both red AND blue, and she could not remember which was which. This is an example if we put what we do not want (blue bus) next to what we do want (red bus).

But since I had seen the Secret, I remembered to focus on only what I did want, and so I told her to take the Red bus and said nothing at all about the blue bus. Having those instructions, my wife found the car without any trouble whatsoever. When she saw the blue bus, she knew immediately that it was wrong because I had not even mentioned it, and so she found the red one.

I used to be a good one for giving people confusing instructions because I would tell them what I did want them to do followed by what I did not want them to do. No wonder people got confused. Now I just omit the do not want part. I also now try to phrase everything in terms of what they should do, and not necessarily what they should not do. This has helped as well, because it puts the focus on all the right things.

If you have not seen The Secret, its really cool! I strongly recommend it.

Joseph

My Health and the Law of Attraction

When I first saw the movie The Secret, I was amazed by the ideas presented about health and disease and The Secret.

Now I do not have and I have never had any really serious diseases, but I have noticed a difference in my life since I learned and started to apply The Secret.

I used to find myself one day with cold symptoms. My reaction would be "Oh no! not again! and then I would come down with that cold for the next seven to nine days. Similar occurrances would happen and I would end up with bronchitis or sinusitis (sinus infection). Even the odd ear infection.

Now since seeing The Secret, I have learned that I do not want to give any kind of energy to these kinds of things.

Now what seems to happen is this: At some point I begin to detect cold symptoms coming on. That part has not changed! But now I completely and utterly ignore them, and do not give them any thought whatsoever. Energy cannot flow where no attention goes I believe, and I am testing the theory in my own life.

Well I have not had a cold, or a bronchitis, or a sinusitis for over a year now since I started doing that. I am 39 years old and to some extent my body is better at fighting these things now since I am older with a more experienced immune system, but the complete reversal is startling.

And I had another strange experience. Sometimes my ears fill up a little with wax and I go to the doctor to get it professionally removed. (Yes I could be attracting the wax, but I do not know how yet). So I went about three months after watching the secret and my doctor told me that I had a big ear infection in one ear.

Now I have had these before and they HURT! But this time I did not even believe her because I could not feel anything. When I focused specifically if I was feeling anything I could detect maybe a little pressure in that ear, but no pain whatsoever. It was really weird!

Based on all of this I would have to say that The Secret has so far proven to be true in my life with regard to Health, and based on James Allen saying "those who live in fear of disease are the ones who get it", I have determined to give no energy at all to any thoughts of me having any disease.

Like what you read here? Learn all of The Secrets of The Secret.

Joseph

The Secrets IN The Secret

So you have seen the movie The Secret, but did you know about all the subliminal references that are occurring in the movie? Ever heard of the Rosicrucians? They are mentioned in there. How about the subject of alchemy? How about almost 100 year old books by Elizabeth Towne and Robert Collier?

You could spend a couple of months tracking all of this information down, about the back story of The Secret; or you could just go http://www.jowresearch.com/The%20Secret.html and obtain the eBook for yourself for less than you paid for the movie. I have done all the long hours of research for you, so you do not have to.

Ever wondered who has the most appearences or gets the most time in the movie? I have calculated it for you. Ever wondered how the two versions of The Secret differ from each other? Its much more than just the replacement of Esther Hicks. Did you know that they changed not only the method of using The Secret, but the emotional guidance system as well?

Ever wondered what the real story was behind the removal of Esther Hicks? I have the skinny on that for you. Lisa Nichols does a great job, but NOBODY teaches like Esther Hicks.

Here is hoping that you get to enjoy reading the Secrets of The Secret eBook, because I sure had a great time writing it for you!

Enjoy!

Joseph

Welcome to The Secrets of The Secret Blog!

Hi All,

By now millions of you have heard of the runaway successful movie The Secret. But did you know that there are really two different versions of the movie, and that the first one, being no longer available, is a kind of collector's item?

How do you tell which one you have? If you look at the back of your DVD case and you see the words "Extended Edition" in white, then you have the recent one that is selling now, and you will not see Esther Hicks. If you see Esther Hicks or do not see the words "Extended Edition", then you have the original which was sold up until about October 1, 2006.

Keep the original if you have one, it is worth something.

The book The Secret mostly tracks with the Extended Edition of the movie.