by Carroll Straus

Created on: February 13, 2008   Last Updated: February 16, 2008

The Secret of the Secret
Is "The Secret" true? Is it possible to "manifest" whatever you want? Yes.
Sort of.

Can we all manifest whatever we expect? Of course. We can and we do. If we were abused, we will either find those who will abuse or, or we become someone who abuses others.

The concept of the "self fulfilling prophecy" is not new at all. Some people really do expect lots of money and success in the form of accolades, and they do get them. It has been observed that most winners of the lottery get rid if the money pretty quickly. It has been shown that we keep about the same amount of money on our bank accounts no matter what our income is.

There is a "risk stasis" built into us. New York cabbies get antilock brakes and they take other risks that offset the safer performance of their cabs.

These are scientifically verified facts.

But the Secretand all the various formulas that are selling like the proverbial hotcakes these days (The Passion Test, the Secret, Happy for No Reason At All) all seem to say "it's easy to be happy (rich, attractive), no sweat, look I did it!" What these people almost never tell you is how much agony they went through to get where they are. If you venture into the less glamorous world of Jungian writers, (Moore, Johnson, Sanford) you will read those stories. But they are not as marketableonly more authentic.

In all of nature, there is balance between up and down, in and out, high and low. If you add energy to a system there will be an equal and opposite reaction. The saying "as above so below" is true. NOTHING is all good or all bad, and every gain brings with it a loss.

Part of the "secret" is paying attention to what is. That is what you have already manifested. But can you get big "goodies"? Maybe. Some of us can do this easily others not so easily. We all have thought processes that shape our perceptions and our actions and what we attract. Many of these exist a far below our conscious minds. When we seek to move from that thought to a new one, it is harder if there is a larger gap between the old and the new.

But what is most misleadingly missing from the stories of "How to get what you want" is the reciprocity. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you get light, it is balanced by dark. If you can keep this awareness as you get stuff you want, you can navigate the accompanying "unwanted" changes. If you think that everything can flow in one direction only, you will either become discouraged or worse, fight the "unwanted" arrival that accompanies the "wanted" arrival. And what you resist persists.

So, just knowthere is no free lunch. You can change what you have and what you feel it's just always balanced.

But the best and most effective step is to notice what you have more than what you don't have. We all live in houses with running hot and cold waterkings of earlier eras did not have that. We take it for granted. So the real "secret" is "take nothing for granted, and want what you have." Then make sure you want the "more" for a good enough reason to live the changes it will require.

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