The 'Secret' society

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Books :: 'Secret' society: "'Secret' society
Are we finally discovering the truth that's been hidden from us for centuries, or is this new phenomenon just taking advantage of us?
February 23, 2007

BY MAUREEN JENKINS Staff Reporter
Imagine this scenario: Your bills are all paid, with unexpected dollars showing up everywhere you turn. Your career is flying high, with accolades and promotions coming fast and furious. You're madly in love; your kids are wonderfully behaved and earning top grades. Your body's in great shape and now that you think of it, you've never felt better.
If only life were that easy.

The Best-selling book 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne teaches readers how to take on life the easy way.
But it should be, insists Rhonda Byrne, creator of the controversial yet top-selling The Secret.
She says it's all about harnessing the 'laws of attraction,' which through the power of positive thinking woo health, wealth, great relationships and other earthly joys into your life. She believes it's this law that governs the universe and everything in it -- and that you've got the innate power to imagine, and then create, the fabulous life you want. And the Universe longs to give it to you. "

What's the Secret?

Book is hardly a secret:

"What's 'The Secret'?
It's a controversial self-help book (and DVD) that has reached phenomenon status -- by purporting to know the secret to happiness.
Want a new job, a million dollars or a gorgeous girlfriend?
Author Rhonda Byrne says the secret is the law of attraction: If you think positively, you become a magnet that pulls everything you want toward you.
The book (Atria/Beyond Words, $23.99) has been touted on TV by Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres. Word-of-mouth is helping sales as well.
'People are finding out about it from other people,' says Beyond Words editor-in-chief Cynthia Black, who heard about 'The Secret' DVD from a friend and then signed Byrne to a book contract.
The DVD ($29.95) was released last March and has sold 1.1 million copies. The book was published in November with a first printing of 200,000. There are now 1.2 million copies in print.
Byrne, an Australian reality-TV producer, says she discovered the ancient secret to getting everything you want through her study of religious and philosophical texts.
'Everyone has to have their own experience to believe,' says Byrne, 55. 'People should start with little things like deciding a cup of coffee will come to you or that you'll see a feather. There's no difference between attracting a feather and anything else you want. It's as easy to attract one dollar as it is $10,000.'"