I took “The Secret” to task for misrepresenting the truth in order to make money. I heard back from a number of people. Two New Agers were unhappy, and everyone else spoke about their discomfort with “The Secret’s” lack of spiritual depth and its materialistic focus. Other writers have criticized “The Secret” as well. Stuart Davis said, “The Secret” teaches bad self-help masquerading as mysticism.” Jerry Adler commented in Newsweek, “On an ethical level, “The Secret” appears deplorable. . . Even some of the major figures in the film confess to uneasiness with its relentless materialism.” Jerry and Esther Hicks, who popularized the Law of Attraction, have pulled their material from “The Secret.” It’s easy to sell get rich quick schemes. As P.T. Barnum said, there was a customer born every minute.

Many of you asked questions about how things worked here on earth. I am finishing my new book on just that topic, but I will try and address a few thoughts here:

“The Secret” relies on the “Law” of Attraction taught by some new age speakers. The idea is a simple one: what you place your attention on will manifest in reality. In the words of “author and personal empowerment advocate” Lisa Nichols, “When you think of the things you want, and you focus on them with all of your intention, then the law of attraction will give you exactly what you want, every time.”

This assertion is not completely wrong, which is why it is confusing. But as presented, it is mental sleight of hand. Your thoughts do not determine your reality. Your beliefs determine what manifests in your life, and there are very important differences between the two.

If you believe that you deserve abundance, you will have it. If not . . .

If you believe that you deserve to be happy or successful, you will be. If not . . .

If you believe that you deserve to be loved, you will love yourself. If not . . .

So you can see that the law of attraction does work - but in regard to beliefs, not thoughts. The question is, can you change your life situation through your thoughts without changing your beliefs? The short answer is no.

Beliefs are antithetical to the God Space. As you read this, The Universe is busy creating life experiences that will bring you to question the beliefs that you carry, especially the ones you hold about yourself. And no matter what you desire, nothing is going to upset that process. It is why you are here on earth.

Now, there is an exception (sort of). The exception is that you can bulldoze your beliefs for a time. You can commit your willfulness and your intellect to (artificially) create what you desire (for a time). You can achieve fame and fortune by having a positive attitude and working hard. It is the American way. America is the land of materialism, get rich quick plans and self-made billionaires. And the thing is, a few people actually do it! Every year, some people in corporate mergers, Wall Street brokerage firms and class action lawyers work their tails off and make a great deal of money. America’s top lawsuit lawyer made $40 million last year! The average CEO of a Standard & Poor’s 500 company makes over $15 million in compensation. Americans are obsessed with money.

Western culture is built on the doctrines of positive thinking and hard work. We venerate aggressiveness. Dale Carnegie has been teaching people to think successfully for almost a century. Norman Vincent Peale first published The Power of Positive Thinking in 1952. There is nothing new there. But those programs have little to do with spirituality. These people speak to what can be accomplished through effort, intelligence and self-confidence, and although there is nothing wrong with these things, there is nothing inherently spiritual about them either. Success motivation programs and “The Secret” are preoccupied with obtaining money and success, neither of which can exist in the God Space.

The trouble with money and notoriety is the reason we usually seek them. Most of the time we are trying to compensate for what is not happening within us. We do not love ourselves, and we want to ignore the inner work that The Universe is asking us to do. We just want the good stuff without doing the real work to get there. The problem is that there is a high price to be paid for making a deal with the devil. When you accomplish things through effort, in contravention to your beliefs, it takes a considerable toll on your physical and emotional well being.

Materialism hit the big time in post world war America. So did stress related diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and Alzheimer’s (unknown before WWII). Do you really believe that these are not related? Some people will argue that there are other causes, but in 1904 there was very little cancer in the U.S. Now there is an abundance of it. In 1940 a woman had a 1 in 22 chance of getting breast cancer. Today that rate is 1 in 7. Only one in 10,000 women in China will die from cancer, compared to one in 10 in the West. In men, death from prostate cancer is 70 times higher in the West. Seventy times! When Japanese people move to America their stress-related health problems multiply, especially heart disease. As industrialization sweeps across India, Southeast Asia and China, the stress related health problems in these nations are skyrocketing. There is a price for not doing your inner work and for turning away from the eternal.

It is helpful to remember that the Universe is a place of infinite abundance. God has more love or gold or anything else you desire in amounts beyond your wildest imagination. He freely offers it all to you just like He does fresh air and sunshine. So the issue is not the availability of what you want. Studies show that people who are optimistic do better in life than people with pessimistic beliefs, so there is a good deal to be gained by doing your inner work. The issue is, can you come to peace with what you believe so that you can let God’s abundance manifest naturally? Having harmonious thoughts is a good first step, but Eckhart Tolle tells us there is much more:

Some spiritual teachings urge us to let go of fear and desire. They are unsuccessful. Trying to be a good or better human being sounds like a commendable and high-minded thing to do, yet it is an endeavor you cannot ultimately succeed in unless there is a shift in consciousness. This is because it is still part of the same dysfunction, a more subtle and rarefied form of self-enhancement, of desire for more and a strengthening of one’s conceptual identity, one’s self-image. You do not become good by trying to be good but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your consciousness.[1]

You can do a great deal to make yourself happier. And these things have merit. But they do not have great substance. When the deep wave of pain or anguish rolls up from the depths of your being, it will blow away anything that is not firmly anchored in your beingness.

So if the question is, “Can I be rich or famous?” The answer is yes, but don’t confuse that with anything real. What God cares about is the love and compassion in your heart, especially toward yourself. As long as you do not cause pain to yourself or others, God doesn’t really care what else you do. Earthly concerns are of little, if any concern to God. If you can be compassionate and rich at the same time, wonderful!

But the problem is that money and notoriety are extraordinarily seductive. They have a terrible tendency to pull people off of the spiritual path, and ignore the human love and compassion that God is interested in. Spiritual teachers have spoken about this dilemma for centuries. That is why in The Sermon on The Mount, Christ spoke of not piling up earthly treasures. He said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. . . “[2] I’ll bet you didn’t know that eschewing possessions was an essential Christian principle! As with Christ’s firm admonitions against violence, the churches don’t pass along these teachings because people don’t want to hear them!

You are here because part of you does not move in harmony with the rest of The Universe. This part of you is where you become afraid, anxious and insecure. This is the place your beliefs originate as you compensate for the loss of your connection to the God Space. When urged to move to compassion, you are only able to go partway - especially in regard to being compassionate toward yourself.

Everything that happens in your life will be part of a process to realign your beliefs so that you can live closer to the God Space. Everything that happens in your life will urge you to challenge your beliefs of unworthiness and move to greater compassion. We do not like going into the parts of ourselves where we feel inadequate. We would prefer to stay involved with “safer” earthly concerns. But God is primarily interested in what is happening within us. Guess who wins?

I think it is important to keep Morris Adler’s words in mind:

Our prayers are answered
not when we are given what we ask for
but when we are challenged to be what we can be.

[1] Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose, (Dutton, 2005, p. 12.)

[2] Matthew 6:19

Ross Bishop is a shaman practicing in Charlottesville, VA. Ross has published two books, “Healing The Shadow”, and “Truth”. His new book, “Living In The God Space” will be out late in the spring of 2007. You can learn more about him and find more of his writings at his web site, http://www.rossbishop.com