I have submitted myself to the rules of the “law of attraction” to manifest something I think I really need and want, well, I don’t know how many times.  Sometimes it really does seem to work, and I get very high on myself and my “power.”  But just as often-- more often-- it doesn’t work in the slightest.  I look back on my life, at how often things unfold in ways I never could have imagined and envisioned, that popped up law-less.  If I take away the rosy glasses of wishful thinking, I see only evidence that my thoughts are non-stop noise that influence nothing at all.  I agree that it is best to be clear about intentions, and to work on a creative mental environment -- but magical thinking is a pretty regressive understanding of how thought creates reality, I think.   And harmful, because it just enmeshes me further in the cycle of desire and distracts from authentic spirituality.

I think The Secret is fine--anything that introduces the concept of thought creating experience is a step forward, in my opinion.  I heard a great audiobook the other day, though, by Alan Watts--and he says that if you think about your own experience, the greatest thing in the world is to have someone doing things for you because they love you, and you doing things for a person out of that easy, effortless desire to do it.    If we think about that, we realize both that the Universe DOES love us in that way, and so wants us to have new cars, etc., but that WE probably most want to love our fellow beings and be loved by them.  So that explains the sometimes absense or delay of all the new cars and stuff we want.  On our deepest levels, we are pursuing the REAL THING, unconditional love--to give it first and then of course get it.   I want a house in Colorado like crazy right now--can barely think of anything else, and I think that means I can have one and that's what would make me happy right now.  BUT, if I'm honest, my dreams (deepest self) are full of kind, easy, loving relationships with people, which I have, but not as many as I'd like, so I'm wistful about it.  If I had to choose right this moment, I'd choose the love, because when I feel that, everywhere is "colorado" for me!

I believe in having positive thoughts, in bringing to you that which will make you happy and healthy, but I have a problem with the wealth aspect. I have a problem with money period.  I'm a grown woman with grown children and I still can't understand why we allow so many people to have so little - especially children.  Simplistically, I want the money to be distributed more evenly.

I remember vividly how I was introduced to The Secret. A very close friend of mine was so excited to share a new video she had recently discovered through one of her many learning groups. I sat down with her to view it and told my then 11-year-old son he had to join us. My friend was so animated and could hardly stop talking as the video began. I couldn't wait to witness her latest discovery. Within ten minutes, my son walked away professing that this was stuff he already knew. I remained with my friend as I found some of the material to be interesting, but I struggled with a majority of the concepts. I felt concerned that people might try to use The Secret as a way to avoid doing the hard work of life. To this day, I reject the notion of getting something for free. I feel that all things come at a price whether it is emotional, spiritual, or material. To me, The Secret was proclaiming to be a way for people to wish to their hearts content and get everything their heart or mind desired. But I knew otherwise and no video was going to change my mind. That next year another friend gave the book to me as a Christmas present. It's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since, looking nice and pretty with it's specially tailored, fabric bookmark. I believe that working hard for something is often its greatest reward. For me, there is no joy without pain. There is no love without loss and hurt. I cannot enjoy having a great job until I have experienced what it is like not to have a job at all. Before that point of struggle, it is only just another job regardless of how much I attempt to manifest it through my thoughts.