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Not Much of a Secret

Everyone has heard that money can't buy happiness - or, according to The Beatles, love - but none of us really believe that. Instead, we imagine that one day we'll have millions in the bank and, when that occurs, life will be grand.

Hence the smash bestseller The Secret, an Oprah favorite that, in so many words, claims that unimaginable wealth is only a dream away. From the text:

"People who have drawn wealth into their lives have used The Secret, whether consciously or unconsciously...Their predominant thoughts are of wealth. They only know wealth, and nothing else exists in their minds."

Wow. Maybe it's time for me to stop typing and start dreaming. Or maybe it's time I cashed that reality check that's been in my head all these years. Why not? The power of positive thinking has been a recurring theme since Christian preacher Norman Vincent Peale first published the book of the same name in 1952.

As you might expect, the appeal of Peale's work is that it allows for the reader to believe that all things are possible, if only you focus your thoughts correctly. Critics have since assailed Peale's approach by likening it to self-hypnosis. Yet, 15 years after his death, he still has a following. The latest edition of The Power of Positive Thinking earns four stars at Amazon. Roughly 20 million copies of the book have been sold, which makes The Secret anything but.

Ask Joel Osteen. The Texas televangelist and author Your Best Life Now was labeled by BusinessWeek in 2005 as one of the progenitors of the prosperity gospel, which argues that God wants his followers to be happy and will visit wealth on those who ask for it. Call it The Secret for Christians.

Or don't. Osteen preaches about contentment as much as he does prosperity. The Secret, by contrast, suggests to me that obsession, under the right circumstances, is OK. Heck, it may even be good. Want to be rich? Just obsess more.

But that may be overstating it. After all, The Secret offers some amazing success stories, including Chicken Soup for the Soul author Jack Canfield. He's now a multi-millionaire and is, by his own press releases, considered America's Success Coach.

Impressive. But he's also one guy. And his success does nothing to explain why my rich friends - some of who are very rich - are incredibly unhappy. Nor does it help me to understand friends who really do obsess over money, and yet who are also unhappy. Where's The Secret for these people?

Perhaps there isn't one. A recent study from children's relief fund UNICEF, which makes those orange trick-or-treat donation boxes for Halloween, says that there's zero link between the wealth of industrialized nations and the happiness of the children that live there.

Most surprising, UNICEF found that, of the 21 nations studied, two of the richest - the United Kingdom and the U.S. - were the worst in which to be a child. Britain, for example, lagged in key measures for poverty, relationships, risky behavior and - that's right - happiness.

They must not have enough cash. Start dreaming, kids.

Learn more about this author, Tim Beyers.
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