Comments on: The (hidden) Secret http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/ Investigations on the Psycho-Spiritual Life Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:55:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: sashen http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-840 sashen Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:12:08 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-840 Pavlov's dogs have nothing on us. If someone rings the bell of: "I know how to solve your problems and make you happy," we'll start to salivate. Add in, "And it's a 'secret' that 'they' have been keeping from you," and you'll have a full time job draining the drool bucket. Pavlov’s dogs have nothing on us.

If someone rings the bell of: “I know how to solve your problems and make you happy,” we’ll start to salivate.

Add in, “And it’s a ’secret’ that ‘they’ have been keeping from you,” and you’ll have a full time job draining the drool bucket.

]]> By: Matt Metzgar http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-839 Matt Metzgar Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:04:32 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-839 The Secret is just a retread, but that fact that it is selling so well is what's curious to me. I guess humans have a natural appetitie for this stuff. I bet in 10 years, another retread book on the same subject will sell just as well... The Secret is just a retread, but that fact that it is selling so well is what’s curious to me. I guess humans have a natural appetitie for this stuff. I bet in 10 years, another retread book on the same subject will sell just as well…

]]> By: Ed http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-807 Ed Sat, 17 Mar 2007 03:43:04 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-807 I bought "how we know what isn't so" in 1991, and found it to be marvelous. If I'd read it the previous year, I would have included it in my honors thesis on self-deception, but perhaps I didn't need to. As for cause/effect like The Secret, I have to smile. Who says the "cause" is actually *doing* something? Maybe it was *not doing* something. I'm thinking of a former neighbor who was so worried about getting ripped off, that he was constantly sour in his business negotiations. As a result, he didn't get ripped off, but he didn't get freebies thrown in either. It's the classic "non-event" (from the book). Since we don't notice things that don't happen, how can we really identify cause and effect, outside of a controlled laboratory? And last time I checked, few of us lived in such places. I bought “how we know what isn’t so” in 1991, and found it to be marvelous. If I’d read it the previous year, I would have included it in my honors thesis on self-deception, but perhaps I didn’t need to.

As for cause/effect like The Secret, I have to smile. Who says the “cause” is actually *doing* something? Maybe it was *not doing* something. I’m thinking of a former neighbor who was so worried about getting ripped off, that he was constantly sour in his business negotiations. As a result, he didn’t get ripped off, but he didn’t get freebies thrown in either.

It’s the classic “non-event” (from the book). Since we don’t notice things that don’t happen, how can we really identify cause and effect, outside of a controlled laboratory? And last time I checked, few of us lived in such places.

]]> By: sashen http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-723 sashen Sat, 10 Mar 2007 18:55:17 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-723 They claim that The Secret is based on Wallace Wattles's "The Science of Getting Rich." And while TSOGR does have more than its share of magical thinking, it spends a lot of time talking about taking ACTION -- show up at work early, stay late, do more than anyone else, make sure your boss knows how important you are. Clearly, that technique alone would accomplish more than any amount of "believe-receive". "Think and Grow Rich" is the best example of "hindsight bias" ever -- Hill apparently asked already successful people "How did you get here?" ... and then believed what they told him... and then made up a whole philosophy to surround their stories. (He was a smart marketer and wrote the book primarily to sell consulting services, speaking gigs, and workshops.) Sadly, the stories of cause-and-effect that we make up after the fact are rarely accurate. Imagine how much different it would have been had he asked, "How much of what we're calling 'your success' would you attribute to luck, fortune, accidents, and other elements that are out of your control?" I have a fondness for asking that question and "How much of the life you're currently living did you imagine, plan for, or anticipate 10 or 20 years ago?" to my "successful" friends. Without an exception, they all answer something like: "Oh, I didn't plan this at all... in fact, often I still can't believe this happened to me!" They claim that The Secret is based on Wallace Wattles’s “The Science of Getting Rich.”

And while TSOGR does have more than its share of magical thinking, it spends a lot of time talking about taking ACTION — show up at work early, stay late, do more than anyone else, make sure your boss knows how important you are.

Clearly, that technique alone would accomplish more than any amount of “believe-receive”.

“Think and Grow Rich” is the best example of “hindsight bias” ever — Hill apparently asked already successful people “How did you get here?” … and then believed what they told him… and then made up a whole philosophy to surround their stories. (He was a smart marketer and wrote the book primarily to sell consulting services, speaking gigs, and workshops.) Sadly, the stories of cause-and-effect that we make up after the fact are rarely accurate.

Imagine how much different it would have been had he asked, “How much of what we’re calling ‘your success’ would you attribute to luck, fortune, accidents, and other elements that are out of your control?”

I have a fondness for asking that question and “How much of the life you’re currently living did you imagine, plan for, or anticipate 10 or 20 years ago?” to my “successful” friends. Without an exception, they all answer something like:

“Oh, I didn’t plan this at all… in fact, often I still can’t believe this happened to me!”

]]> By: Susan http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-719 Susan Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:57:56 +0000 http://sashen.com/blog/25/the-hidden-secret/#comment-719 Hi Steve, Thought I would stop by and see the latest entry. You know the Secret is only a updated for our times version of Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think and Grow Rich". I would be more partial to an updated version of a book called, "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George Samuel Clason, a contemporary of Hill's. More practical. Being never upset for the reason you think comes right out of the Course in Miracles. I had a teacher tell me over 30 years ago that life is like a cafeteria, take what you need and don't spit on the rest. I think why people defend and attack can be a fascinating study in human behavior. Good stuff and yet, nothing new under the sun. Waiting for the next iteration. love, Susan Hi Steve,
Thought I would stop by and see the latest entry.

You know the Secret is only a updated for our times version of Napoleon Hill’s classic, “Think and Grow Rich”. I would be more partial to an updated version of a book called, “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George Samuel Clason, a contemporary of Hill’s. More practical.

Being never upset for the reason you think comes right out of the Course in Miracles.

I had a teacher tell me over 30 years ago that life is like a cafeteria, take what you need and don’t spit on the rest. I think why people defend and attack can be a fascinating study in human behavior.

Good stuff and yet, nothing new under the sun.

Waiting for the next iteration.
love,
Susan

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