Watching "The Secret", one is in constant anticipation for the punch line, the raison d'etre of a 90-minute "positive thinking infomercial that one can see on cable any day at 3 am or Sunday morning.
Am I being primed to sell houses with zero money down? To join Amway? To buy into the next Enron? To join Scientology? What is the punch line? The punch line is this: if you do not own a million dollar house in Beverley Hills, if you do not travel the world sipping from martinis on the beach, if you do not have a model for a wife, and a perfect 10 body then you are a schmuck, you are are a mental wimp and a negative, ignorant, and unspiritual person. Shame on you! The movie is shameless, superficial, supercilious, sugar-coated, and sickening at every level. We are subjected to endless stories of how we can trick God and the universe by power of positive thinking into making us millionaires. Forget about the wisdom of Solomon, forget about the Sermon on the Mount, forget about The Tao, forget about Buddha - this is one big party down here! Hey man, chill out and loosen up! Eat, drink, and be merry! Feed your ego and grab all the toys you can handle.
Worst of all is the packaging. We are told that the movie is about a Secret that somehow the evil priests and clerics of the world has kept from us. Wow, how original! Secret? Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie said the same things decades ago but at least they didn't try to divorce it from all spiritual and philosophical underpinnings.
The Da Vinci Code married to Nietzsche, packaged by Wal-Mart, sold at MacDonalds, and preached by Oprah Winfrey. That is American "Spirituality" at it's "best," circa 2007.
Am I being primed to sell houses with zero money down? To join Amway? To buy into the next Enron? To join Scientology? What is the punch line? The punch line is this: if you do not own a million dollar house in Beverley Hills, if you do not travel the world sipping from martinis on the beach, if you do not have a model for a wife, and a perfect 10 body then you are a schmuck, you are are a mental wimp and a negative, ignorant, and unspiritual person. Shame on you! The movie is shameless, superficial, supercilious, sugar-coated, and sickening at every level. We are subjected to endless stories of how we can trick God and the universe by power of positive thinking into making us millionaires. Forget about the wisdom of Solomon, forget about the Sermon on the Mount, forget about The Tao, forget about Buddha - this is one big party down here! Hey man, chill out and loosen up! Eat, drink, and be merry! Feed your ego and grab all the toys you can handle.
Worst of all is the packaging. We are told that the movie is about a Secret that somehow the evil priests and clerics of the world has kept from us. Wow, how original! Secret? Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie said the same things decades ago but at least they didn't try to divorce it from all spiritual and philosophical underpinnings.
The Da Vinci Code married to Nietzsche, packaged by Wal-Mart, sold at MacDonalds, and preached by Oprah Winfrey. That is American "Spirituality" at it's "best," circa 2007.