APR. 30, 2007

BOOKS
Beyond 'The Secret': self-help, New Thought and more

The Secret, the enormously popular book and film, tells people to focus their thoughts on their goals and desires and to withhold thought or attention from unwanted outcomes. The author, Rhonda Byrne, and the handful of self-described metaphysicians, philosophers, writers and New Age thinkers whose work she references, describe this “law of attraction” as ordering up what you want from the universe. The emphasis is on material desires, and the premise is that Byrne and her colleagues are revealing ancient wisdom that has been suppressed from popular distribution.

The phenomenon presents the opportunity to explore lesser-known strands of American religious history, including the New Thought tradition, which began in the 19^th century and is alive today among Unity churches, churches and groups allied with the Universal Foundation for Better Living and, to a certain extent, in Christian Science. It is also richly represented by self-help writers and lecturers, from Shakti Gawain to Wayne Dyer. Mainstream religions are responding to The Secret’s popularity with sermons that differentiate New Thought principles from the tenets of the faith.

Why it matters

All religions explain humans’ relationship to the universe, and most embrace a supernatural power that controls human destiny. Books such as The Secret raise the question: What’s the difference between religion and New Age or self-help philosophies?

Angles for reporters

• The Secret’s spiritual underpinnings may be new to many, but they have a long history in the U.S. and origins – however distant and faint – in ancient Eastern religions. The belief that thinking creates reality, which is the basic notion of The Secret, has been preached by such varied American philosophical and religious leaders as Norman Vincent Peale and Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, says Carl Raschke, religious studies professor at the University of Denver, who suggests that positive thinking is a secular American religion, an extension of our pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps frontier ethos.
• The law of attraction – the idea that thoughts are made manifest in the material realm – has origins in early Hindu thought, which proposed, Raschke explains, the “mind alone” theory: that the mind is the only reality; all else is illusion. Such traditions of spiritual discipline, however, are not materialistic, unlike The Secret, which adapts the notion to American concerns with material acquisition.
• The 19^th-century Theosophists and their leader, Madame Helena Blavatsky, are direct ancestors of the positive-thinking New Thought movement, of which The Secret is a part, says Dell deChant, associate chairman of the religious studies department at the University of South Florida. He says America is a cauldron for the development of new religious and spiritual traditions from old sources because of our strong emphasis on freedom of religion.
• The success of The Secret brings to the forefront other books and videos on positive thinking, New Thought and the law of attraction. Two examples, now among the top 15 audio best sellers, are The Secret: Universal Mind Meditation by Kelly Howell and Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Jerry and Esther Hicks, longtime writers and teachers of material similar to The Secret. Esther Hicks channels a spirit called Abraham. Noted thinkers in this genre also include Napoleon Hill (who wrote, with Arthur Pell, Think and Grow Rich, reissued by Tarcher Publishing, 2005); Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking, reissued by Ballantine Books, 1996); Church of Christ, Scientist founder Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures, IndyPublish.com, 2002); Theosophical Society founder Helena Blavatsky (see a Web site devoted to her); and 18^th-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.
• Many scholars consider The Secret and the law of attraction to be representative of New Age philosophies. Other scholars of New Age say that tradition includes belief in the occult and paranormal, which is not part of New Thought, The Secret’s direct predecessor.
• The Universal Foundation for Better Living is an alliance of churches built on the New Thought Movement established by the Rev. Johnnie Colemon (founder of Christ Universal Temple in Chicago) in 1974. It promotes what it calls practical Christianity, in which Jesus is seen as a Way-shower, experiences are seen as a reflection of beliefs, the key to happiness is right thinking and right action, and that rather than primarily helping the needy, the emphasis should be on teaching them to release their divine potential. Find churches and study groups associated with the foundation in states around the country.
• Unity church (distinctly different from Unitarianism) has some 900 churches and study groups and claims more than 2 million adherents in 15 nations. Unity’s five principles include one stating that thinking affects our reality. Search for Unity churches by city or state at the site of the Association of Unity Churches International or see Web sites of Unity Church regions.
• Soka Gakkai International is the organization of Nichiren Buddhism, whose tradition includes chanting (“Nam-myoho-renge-kyo”) with the aim of attaining, for example, good health, financial stability, noble character and family harmony.

Jump to background

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National sources

• Leigh Eric Schmidt is a religion professor at Princeton University, where he is chairman of the religion department. Among books he has written is Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality from Emerson to Oprah (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005). The book connects Americans’ interest in mysticism and spirituality with political liberalism. His expertise also includes American religious history, with particular focus on Protestantism, ritual, consumer culture and spiritual practices. Contact 609-258-5285, leschmid@princeton.edu.
• J. Gordon Melton directs the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif. He has written about New Religious Movements and about Christian Science. He co-wrote Perspectives on the New Age (State University of New York Press, 1994) and has written on New Thought Movements. Contact 805-961-0141, jgordon@linkline.com.
• Wade Clark Roof is professor of religion and society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life. His interests include American religious trends and the sociology of religion. He is the author of Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion (Princeton University Press, 2001), in which he explores baby boomers’ interest in spirituality over religion. Contact 805-893-3564, wcroof@religion.ucsb.edu.
• Kathryn Lofton is an assistant professor in religious studies and American studies at Indiana University at Bloomington. She has written about the religious content of Oprah Winfrey’s media empire and is knowledgeable about American religion and materialism. Contact 812-855-2495, loftonk@indiana.edu.
• Catherine L. Albanese is professor and chairwoman of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Among her areas of expertise are religion and American culture and metaphysical religion in the United States. She is particularly interested in how people combine various religions in the U.S. She calls the metaphysical movement a “third force” in American religious tradition, along with denominationalism and evangelicalism. Albanese wrote A Republic of Mind & Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion (Yale University Press, 2006). Contact 805-893-7136, albanese@religion.ucsb.edu.
• James Trapp is CEO of the Association of Unity Churches, based in Lee’s Summit, Mo. Unity claims about 100,000 members in some 700 churches. Contact 816-524-7414.
• Dell deChant is an instructor and associate chairman of the religious studies department at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He has written numerous entries on New Thought and New Age movements for various encyclopedias of religion. Contact 813-974-0576, ddechant@cas.usf.edu.
• Douglas R. Groothuis is a philosophy professor at Denver Seminary and an expert in Christian apologetics, the defense of Christian ideas and faith. He wrote Unmasking the New Age (InterVarsity Press, 1986) and Confronting the New Age (InterVarsity Press, 1988) and contributed to The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2000). He can discuss the New Age worldview. Contact 303-762-6895, Doug.Groothuis@denverseminary.edu.
• Carl A. Raschke is professor of religious studies at the University of Denver. He is particularly interested in postmodernism, popular culture and religion. He wrote The Interruption of Eternity (Nelson-Hall, 1980), a reference on the origins of the New Age movement. He is co-founder and senior editor of The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory. Contact 303-871-3206, craschke@du.edu.
• Roger E. Olson is a theology professor at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas. His expertise is in historical theology, and he has written about Christianity in the context of New Age religions and postmodernism. He co-chairs the American Academy of Religion’s Evangelical Theology Group. Contact 254-710-3755, Roger_Olson@baylor.edu.
• Michael Bernard Beckwith is minister of the 8,000-member Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, Calif. He is one of the spiritual leaders featured in The Secret, and the Agape Center is part of the New Thought tradition. Contact 310-348-1250.
• Blaine Mays is president of the International New Thought Alliance, which holds, among other things, that mental states are manifested in daily experience. He can describe the New Thought movement and discuss whether the blockbuster success of The Secret has created demand for New Thought churches and spiritual centers. Contact 480-830-2461.

Background

• The Broadband download Web site for the film version of The Secret, available for $4.95, proclaims “A New Era for Mankind.” The film’s trailer can be seen free at the same site.
• Simon & Schuster’s Web site for The Secret says the publishing house has ordered a second printing of 2 million copies of the runaway best seller, which brings the total in print to 3.75 million copies.
• Barnes and Noble has 23 book club message boards devoted to aspects of The Secret.

ARTICLES
• “Unlocking the mind’s power,” a Feb. 16, 2007, Chicago Tribune article about Chicago’s Center for Spiritual Living, describes the spiritual dimensions of a New Thought church in the tradition of The Secret.
• “Everybody Loves Secrets,” a March 14, 2007, article at Catholic Online, urges pastors and religious educators to use The Secret’s popularity as a teaching moment.
• In “The Hubris of ‘The Secret,’” an undated Beliefnet article, the author, a cancer survivor, questions the book’s premise that one’s life is the result of one’s thoughts. Other Beliefnet articles on The Secret include “10 Steps to Unlocking ‘The Secret’” and Therese J. Borchard’s Feb. 21, 2007, column, “Hardly a Secret.”
• USA Today’s undated “Secret History of ‘The Secret’” explores the history of American movements devoted to positive thought, including the Unity Church.