Pssst. You're a moron

So, evidently some folks are attracted to The Secret.

What? People are still falling for the homeopathic crap? Look, I used to live near Sedona, I was raised by fundamentalists, and I've lived with Mormons and Muslims. I've heard just about every bit of quasi-religious hokum to ever come down the pike, and some things are perennial favorites. This is one of them. The "secret" is "like attracts like". there. Done. Just saved you a mess o' money.

Except, it's just not true. This is a fairy tale we tell ourselves when things go badly for good people. We think of the poor people of Indonesia, wiped out by a Tsunami, and we wonder: Why them? Why not me? My life has been pretty good, and I don't know why, and their lives were short, nasty and brutish. What gives? So, we start inventing sins for them. Some way in which they were at fault for the misfortune they suffered. Some way in which we are not at fault for the fortune we enjoy. We think about Nuns who never did a bad thing in their lives, drowned slowly in their convent, and we think "what could they possibly have done?" Eventually, the idea comes up: Bad things happen to people who think about bad things. YES! That's their sin: they thought bad thoughts. If I just think good thoughts nothing bad will ever happen to me. What we imagine becomes reality! If we think about success, we will succeed!

What Crap!

You want a little dose of reality? Like attracts NOTHING. Frank Sinatra was, by all accounts a miserable cur. He was brutal to those who loved him, and was depressed when he wasn't angry. By all the powers of "The Secret" he should have been some homeless wino, kicked by passing dogs when they weren't peeing on him. But he was the Chairman of the Board! Meanwhile, i know a real bum. You might have seen pictures of him. Hairy Perry. He's the guy on roller skateswith a turban, playing his guitar on the boardwalk at Venice Beach, California. He's a beautiful guy, who just sings songs about how wonderful life could be. He smiles all the time. Yet, he has less than you do.

You see? And if you still think like attracts like: consider that you'll find no bigger dreamer than a Nazi. A Nazi believes in a "pure" world, filled with happy people, all working for the good of the Nazis. They believe that if we eliminate the negatives, all that's left are positives.

So, the secret? It's that there is no secret. There's only the jumble that is life.