by Ruth Adams

Created on: June 19, 2008   Last Updated: June 20, 2008

The showing of "The Secret", and its fame, point to something that is gaining prevalence in our times and that is the understanding that we influence our reality by the way we think. The scenarios depicted in the film are not exactly new as such to the genre to which this movie belongs. What may be new is the fact that a film such as this is so well known and widely discussed. This suggests that people are willing to communicate about thinking, in a far more open way than before. In addition, this is happening at a time when communication across continents is instant and effortless. Without even asking for it, you can be presented in one instant with half a dozen Google ads, all of which are about systems to help you to change your life through thinking.

The causal relationship between thoughts and reality has for a long time been an integral part of some Eastern philosophies, as well as the Hassidic aspect of Judaism. Even in Western society, we are already familiar with the knowledge that stress can help cause such illnesses as cancer and heart disease. We have also known about the "placebo effect" for many years: This denotes a scenario where a patient is given a certain medicine and told that it is very effective. Subsequently s/he feels significant release even though the "medicine" contained no important healing ingredients.

It is interesting to note that the placebo effect has not been given a respectable place in the medical profession. Indeed, practitioners have been more likely to dismiss certain treatments on the grounds that "they only work because of the placebo effect". This seems quite ironic because the goal of any treatment should surely be to relieve the patient. However, it can be understood (if not condoned) when you consider that Western medicine is based on positivist science and precludes the effect of more subtle variables. Alongside attitudes about thinking, the approach to physical science is also changing. In "The Biology of Belief" by Bruce Lipton (2005), the author details experiments that show ways in which thoughts can and do affect the behavior of cells.

If it is recognized that attitudes about thinking are changing; it is also clear that in some cases we are rather clumsy with this change. I have heard "The Secret" criticized strongly on the premise that it appears to blame a tragedy on the victim/s; as if they caused the tragedy to happen, by thinking negatively. To me, this shows a lacking of the conceptual tools needed

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