"The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is, and all that will ever be."
Rhonda Byrne - Falsely attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson -
Reason 147 to say “Fuck The Secret!”
Let me start by saying that I love Rhonda Byrne. And I love her book and movie, The Secret.
It would be no exaggeration to say that I’ve watched it 100 times over the past two years on Amazon Prime. So to say that I am a fan is a huge understatement.
Even though it’s been reviled and dismissed by many, I simply can't get enough of it, and its extraordinary message of the creative power of thought.
So when I say “Fuck the Secret", I say it with the highest degree of love, respect, and veneration.
Yet still I say it.
Fuck the Secret
And after I'm done with this, I'm hoping and praying that with the same degree of love, respect, and veneration, you will say it with me!
And yes, if you’ve been reading my posts and notes, you know that I am not one to lace my work with profanity. So this is a bit out of character for me. But “Screw The Secret” just didn’t have quite the same bite. Besides, who says masters can’t ever swear?
How the F*CK Did We Get Here?
So by now, you're asking "If it’s been such a big part of your life, why are you showing it so much hate?" And that's a very good question. So I’ll take a moment to address it now.
I came up with the title for this book partly in seriousness, and partly in jest. As a joke, if you will.
It all goes back to a note and exchange I had with another writer during my early days on Substack.
I spent forever looking for that note - with no luck (Notes really needs a search capability - one that includes replies and notifications - Are you listening @Substack?) , so I’ll describe it the best I can - And hopefully the person who created it will somehow be drawn to this and find it!
The original note was a picture of a rack of books from the creator’s local bookstore. In the picture, every single book had a tile like “F This”, “F That”.
“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” was definitely one, though the name escapes me on the others.
I replied with something like -
“I guess that is the new Secret!”
To which she came back with -
”I’m surprised someone hasn’t written that yet - Fuck the Secret!”
“I’ve been working on a book idea - and that title would be perfect!”
“If you do write that, you have to let me know!”
So you see, this work is the fulfillment of a promise. So thank you for the inspiration my (sadly) nameless inspiration. I hope you are entertained and honored by it!
The Flaw in The Secret
As I was saying, I watched the movie The Secret so many times that I practically memorized every word, every image, every camera angle, every shot.
And over time, I found myself disagreeing more and more with some of what the people were saying.
Then one day, it dawned on me:
There was a fundamental flaw in the message! And this flaw was preventing me from receiving the promise of the great secret.
It was preventing abundance from appearing in my life.
And if you're reading this, and especially if you've made it this far, I’ll bet you are still searching for the abundance that you were promised.
Stated as simply and clearly as possible, the main premise of The Secret reinforces the illusions that the world has placed on top of our experience of reality.
Illusions of superiority, insufficiency, separation, and need.
These Illusions act like a veil to hide abundance from us. And they leave us stumbling around in darkness.
The Secret has helped a lot of people.
But it's failed just as many. And probably more.
The good is that it brought many people to seek higher levels of consciousness. Higher levels of being. As was the case with me.
It opened people to the possibility that abundance exists. And that it exists for them.
That they are worthy of good things.
And for me, it is also a blueprint for the art of speaking inspirationally, and I am immensely grateful for that!
And yet, even for the people who seemed to find success with it, many never got what they were actually looking for:
Happiness. Joy. Abounding Love.
So in many respects, The Secret failed to live up to its promise.
And that's why I wrote this book.
My Love/Hate Relationship with The Secret
(or love/not so much love)
For me, The Secret was a gateway to a new world. And when I first encountered it in 2006, receiving it as a gift from my uncle (who strangely has zero recollection of it), I wasn't ready for it.
I was too trapped in the world of my senses - the visible, the real, the concrete - to make it past the first chapter. And I dismissed it as "woo-woo". I promptly placed it on a shelf in the corner of my office. And that’s where it sat for the better part of two decades.
Years later, I rediscovered it through the magic of synchronicity. (I will discuss synchronicity, Jung’s theory of the interconnectedness of events, in much greater detail in a later chapter) It opened my eyes to a new world of amazing opportunities and endless possibilities.
But two years after that, despite soaking up all its lessons like a sponge, and discovering many more teachers, with all kinds of great wisdom, I seemed no closer to my goal than when I started.
And that's when I had my revelation.
That's when I saw the “Flaw in the Law”.
That's when I said:
"Fuck the Secret".
Why this Book? Why Me? Why Now?
If you're reading this, I’m guessing you've read or watched The Secret.
And I bet at the time you were super excited! You imagined all the money and cars and health and wonderful relationships you could call into your life, and it seemed like your prayers had been answered! You had The Secret!
So you created a million-dollar bill and taped it to the ceiling over your bed, or in front of your desk.
You created a vision board, started writing in a gratitude journal, watched your feelings, and tried to change them to happier ones when you were feeling down.
You downloaded a meditation app. And started saying affirmations every morning.
And you did your best not to hope, but believe in the abundance that was coming to you.
But day after day, in spite of all your imaginings to the contrary, your bank balance wouldn't budge. And your followers and email subscribers only trickled in - no overnight flood of success like what you had pictured.
And you found it harder and harder to go on, through disappointment after crushing disappointment.
And it became almost impossible to endure the unintentionally disheartening comments that your friends and relatives would make - like “I’m sure it will pick up.”, “It takes time to create a business out of nothing”, “Everyone struggles at first”. Innocent., well-intentioned comments meant to encourage, but instead feel like a knife cutting into your soul.
Am I getting warm?
And then recently, or maybe even today, you thought -
"The hell with this crap! FUCK the secret!"
And then, like some divine message from above, this popped up - in your email, in your feed, in a recommendation from a friend. And then you had a new thought:
“Is Alexa learning to read my thoughts?”
Well no. Alexa is not reading your thoughts. So you can rest assured. At least not yet. (Though I can’t say for certain that the same will be true next month!)
But I can.
I know your pain. I've been through it all. The false hopes. The heartbreak.
The pressure that eats away at relationships and threatens to destroy the very ones that gave us the motivation to start this whole maddening journey in the first place.
I wrote this for you - the struggling artist, writer, or poet.
The mystical heart who dreams of creating a better world.
The middle-aged, but young-at-heart spirit who worries that it’s too late to make the impact that they wanted to have.
You deserve more! You deserve wealth, abundance, bountiful health, and unconditional love. Love that never questions, never asks for more than you can give, never intimates that you are not enough.
You are worthy. You are worthy of every good thing that life has to offer. No matter where you came from, no matter who your parents are, No matter what trauma you have been through, or what awful pain and suffering you’ve inflicted on another.
Yet still are you loved. Still are you worthy. Still are you blessed.
Your inheritance is waiting for you - right where you left it. Waiting for you to recognize it and reclaim it.
Come with me. Let me show you the way.
There’s a fundamental flaw
in the Law of Attraction
That restricts your results to only a fraction
Of what they could be
So listen to me
And I’ll show you the knowledge that begs to be seen
This message has been lost, it’s been hidden from view
distorted by illusions the world has made true
This book is the key to reversing your luck
So join with me here
as I make the way clear
and as for “The Secret” - to it, let us say FUCK!
(Yes there will be poetry! And if you have a problem with that, you should probably stop reading now!)
Thanks for reading!
This post is the introduction to my forthcoming book of the same name. I will be releasing it on Amazon Kindle initially and will make it available free to all my paid subscribers. After this free introduction, I will release the chapters as paid posts as I write them.
If you have a problem with that, I ask you to read this post on why posting free content all the time is stealing!
I don’t know if that is the best approach to writing a book, but it was the best I can think of. And as long as it reaches the people I want to help, that’s all that matters.
The next post - Chapter One - will go deep, maybe deeper than you want to go, into my story.
It will detail the darkest night of my life, and how it brought me to where I am now. It is riveting, intensely personal, and, I hope, inspirational. I know you won’t want to miss it.
Make sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss a chapter. if you’d like to get on the waiting list for the finished book/audiobook, please reply or send me a DM.
Peace, Love, and a Virtual Hug!
Aaron
F*ck the Secret!