Is The Secret science?

THE SECRET IS NOT JUST A GIMMICK OR HOAX.
IT IS A METHOD OF ACCOMPLISHMENT BASED ON FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF LIFE & HUMAN NATURE.

In the past six months, The Secret has taken the world by storm, selling millions of copies as a DVD and a book and jumping to the top of the best-sellers list. It has won acclaim from popular icons such as Larry King and Oprah Winfrey. It has been scorned by some scientists and psychologists as pseudo-science and psycho-babble and condemned by others for appealing to people’s materialistic aspirations. Those who dismiss it, do so with a vehemence reminiscent of the church’s response to Copernicus and Galileo. Everyone is talking and arguing about The Secret, but very little is being done to rationally examine and evaluate the methodology it advocates.

The purpose of all knowledge is to improve the human condition physically, economically, socially, politically, psychologically and spiritually. Human Science is knowledge for human accomplishment. Human Science is based on the premise that there are fundamental laws and processes governing all fields of human activities. The objective of this project is to impartially examine The Secret from the perspective of Human Science to determine whether the method it advocates is consistent with universal principles of consciousness, life, human nature and accomplishment.

Theory of The Secret

The articles in The Secret Project present a detailed analysis of the methodology in The Secret. They examine the questions:

• Does it really work?
• If so, why does it work?
• What are the theoretical principles on which it is based?
• How can the method be further improved and made more effective?

These articles also raise and answer both practical and philosophical questions which the movie and book do not address. They discuss application of the method for unfailing success in romantic love and for creating favorable conditions in one's life, i.e. creating luck. They find that The Secret is a powerful, practical methodology for unfailing accomplishment in life. They also attempt to show that the concepts and methods set forth in The Secret are only the initial steps of a comprehensive approach for higher human accomplishment -- material, social, psychological and spiritual.

What is your view of The Secret?

• If you have serious doubts about the validity of The Secret, please skip this section and read the rest of this article.
• If you are not already familiar with the concepts and methods of The Secret and want to learn more, please see Introduction to the Secret for a basic introduction.
• If you have already tried practicing The Secret and are not satisfied with the results, learn how to overcome difficulties in Making the Secret work for you.
• If you have already applied The Secret successfully, you can learn how to multiply your accomplishments exponentially in Science of Accomplishment.
• If you want to understand more about the theory behind The Secret, including many things The Secret leaves unexplained, see Secrets behind the Secret.

The Skeptics' Viewpoint

The Secret is based on the premise that what we feel inside has a direct influence on what happens around us. Many people dismiss The Secret without even seriously examining it or testing it in their lives, because the very idea that human beings can influence the world around them by what they think and feel inside seems far-fetched or ridiculous. It directly contradicts the assumptions of empirical science since the time of Descartes, who proclaimed that the individual and the world around are completely separate and unconnected with each other.

Skeptics often base themselves on the fundamental assumption of scientific materialism that matter and physical energy are the only things that really exist in the universe. They reject as theology, superstition or fantasy the notion that our consciousness can influence the world around us. Given the predominant influence of science on modern civilization, this viewpoint is easy to understand and not at all surprising.

Alternative Viewpoints

But this is not the only viewpoint. Once does not have to be religious fanatic, a mystic or a dreamer to question the soundness of the Cartesian world view. Even among scientists, many question strictly materialistic interpretations of matter, life and human consciousness. Since the advent of Quantum Theory and Relativity, many emerging concepts in physics seem to undermine this neat, mechanistic view of the world. Medical studies of the placebo effect and other examples of the impact on mind on the body raise serious doubts about the materialist hypothesis. A wide range of research in psychology on the nature of consciousness goes even further.

When we look beyond knowledge of modern science -- which after all is only a few centuries old -- to the knowledge acquired by great individuals and civilizations over thousands of years, we find compelling justification for seriously considering and rationally evaluating alternative viewpoints -- even those that challenge fundamental assumptions of modern science. Leaving aside religious and philosophical traditions, great writers of every century and nation have perceived and depicted relationships between human consciousness and the world that contradict or at least transcend the accumulated knowledge of modern science.

The Achievers' Viewpoint

And when we speak with people of action, those who have accomplished significant results in life -- making money in business, breaking records in sports, winning elections or founding organizations of any type -- we find that the vast majority of high achievers intuitively believe that what they think and feel is a vital determinant -- for many, the only determinant --of what they accomplish. Every entrepreneur and successful athlete can describe critical turning points in their careers when they delved deep into their own psychological resources for the strength, stamina and determination to persevere and emerge victorious.

Ironically high achievers are often unable to explain clearly the basis for their own success. That is why the greatest coaches are not usually those who were the greatest atheletes. Doing something and understanding how to do it or get others to do it are two different things. One is predominately physical. The other is predominately mental.

This is not surprising when we realize that most human accomplishment is what may be termed "subconscious" or "semi-conscious". We achieve something based on ideas or methods of which we are not fully aware. It is usually only later -- sometimes much later -- that we are able to formulate clear explanations, conceptions and theories to describe what we have done. That has always been the predominant characteristic of human development both for individuals and societies.

If we examine the literature regardling accomplishment, we find that the power of human consciousness is central to every approach, regardless of whether the source is an ancient spiritual scripture such as the Bhagavad Gita or one of the myriad modern self-help books written during the past half century since the publication of Norman Vincent Peale's runaway best-seller, The Power of Positive Thinking

Personal Experience

Most of us have no trouble accepting this truth. We believe our thoughts and attitudes do matter. They determine what actions we take and how seriously or courageously we apply ourselves. Most of us can also site dramatic incidents in our lives which confirm this view -- life-changing incidents that lead to astonishing accomplishments or narrowly spared us from tragedy. But if you ask us philosophically or scientifically how we can explain such things, we are forced to fall back on religious or mystical explanations because modern thought does not provide a logical framework for us to explain and understand our own experiences.

The Secret focuses on this relationship between our consciousness and the world around us. It asks us to fully leverage the power of our thoughts and feelings -- our consciousness -- for accomplishment. It gives us a summary explanation about how the 'universe' responds to our aspirations. But it never explains what this 'universe' is, how we are related to it, or how it can possibly know or act on what we think and feel.

Human Science

The Human Science wiki has been established to explores these alternative viewpoints rationally and systematically. This means, that it will explore the logic behind the conception in order to see whether their is a raional explanation for the phenomenon described in The Secret. It also means that it will subject the claims of The Secret to the ultimate test -- the test of life -- to determine whether the principles described in The Secret are validated by individual experience. The ultimate test of The Secret is not whether we understand it or can explain it, but whether it works!

For those who are more interested in the theory than in the practical value of The Secret for higher accomplishment, please see Theory of The Secret.