New Age mythology and mysticism has been popular for a long, long time, longer than just

since the 1970s. Much of it is recycled from earlier decades and earlier centuries

when it went under a different name. One such recycling of moldy, old, spiritualist

gobbledigook is The Secret, a popular book and movie. You didn't think there was anything

original in there, did you? The Secret is today on Skeptoid.

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You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com. What's wrong with

this secret? Prepare to have everything you've ever wanted, simply by thinking happy thoughts

about it and be careful of negative scary thoughts which might cause those things to happen

to you too. Little did you know that, just like in the original Star Trek episode, Shore

Leave, whatever you think of, either good or bad, will actually happen. This is the premise

of Rhonda Burns 2006 book and movie both titled The Secret. Rhonda Burns is an Australian television

producer and author. Her book and movie proposed that many of the most successful people throughout

history have known a secret, a secret closely guarded in the marketing materials for the book

and movie. The secret turns out to be nothing more than the old motivational speakers stand

by that positive thinking leads to positive results. But she took the idea a step further.

The secret claims that you can actually cause events to happen by wishing for them hard

...