The Secret

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"As above, so below.
As within, so without."

The Emerald Tablet, circa 3000 B.C.

Smile, darn ya, smile! Because this old world is a great world after all!
Smile, darn ya, smile! And right away hear Lady Luck pay you a call!
Things are never black as they are painted!
Time for you and love to get acquainted!

Foxy, professional Mickey Mouse rip-off.

The Secret is a 2006 film followed by a self-help book in the same year, both by Australian TV producer Rhonda Byrne. They claim to be able to teach you how to get everything you ever wanted (yes, everything! Even that!) by simply keeping a positive attitude and performing some simple exercises such as meditation, visualization (basically, using your imagination), and writing about what you want. In the book, the eponymous secret is the "Law of Attraction," which states that a positive outlook on life and positive thoughts will attract positive things into your life, whereas negative thoughts will do just the opposite. A big part of this is daydreaming about the things you want and believing they're already yours.

There's also some Techno Babble regarding Einstein, string theory, and quantum mechanics. Also, there are a lot of personal anecdotes from a bunch of people who are suspiciously privileged (ie, mostly white men).

Optical engineer and Sci-Fi author, Travis S. Taylor, recently[when?] put out a book titled The Science Behind The Secret attempting to support The Secret with appeals to authority, noting a long history of similar beliefs, and a terribly butchered reading of quantum physics.

If The Secret actually works as intended (which it might, at least in the sense that being positive will make you more productive), then it's a real-life Magic Feather. If not, it's just a multi-million dollar franchise which teaches bad values.


Tropes used in The Secret include: