A human being can lift 1,000 kilograms

Scientists have calculated that if all the muscles of a normal person were ALIGNED so they all pulled in the SAME direction, then that person could lift 1,000 kilograms!

Now, the human mind has often been compared to a muscle ("exercise it to make it stronger", etc.).

However, unlike muscles of the body, the mind can be aligned to focus all of a person's mental energy in ONE direction.

This is why goal-setting is so important. It channels all your thoughts and mental energy toward ONE point, thereby multiplying the efficacy of your mental power.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where there are so many distractions (marketing, news, etc.) that our mental power is continually being diluted. Mass messages from the news, magazines, advertising, etc. continually DE-STRATEGIZE people's lives (that is, these mind-numbing marketing messages make people FORGET about their goals, so that they become more easily controlled by advertisers).

Smart and successful people don't fall into that trap. They rarely watch popular TV programs, the news, or other low-value information sources. Instead, they read books to strengthen their minds continually. They know that distraction is destruction. Destruction of a person's mental power.

What does all this have to do with The Secret?

Well, the documentary says that you should visualize your ideal state, your ideal future. This is like goal-setting. If you do the exercise honestly, you will have a single point toward which you can direct all your mental energies, attention, focus, etc. This, by itself, will make you a tremendously effective person. You will naturally focus on the important stuff (which brings you closer to your goal). You will naturally ignore anything or anyone who does NOT help you get closer to your goal.

Magic vs Logic

The Secret talks mostly about the magic of life, NOT the logic of society.

Believing in the magic of life is necessary, but not sufficient. The (psychological?) necessity of believing in magic -- that amazing things can happen without a rational cause -- is shown by the almost universal tendency of children (including you and I when we were young) to believe. Children in fact believe INTENSELY. Perhaps this belief in magic is necessary to open their minds to new things, so that they would learn faster.

Indeed, imagine kids who are cynical and who constantly require proof. They would be so close-minded they would not learn anything!

At the same time, if we remained children who only believed in magic, and did not study to learn science and technology in order to master logic, we would not have the civilization we have today. Human progress would not be possible.

Similarly, it's great that The Secret helps people to make the first step to success by BELIEVING. But something else is required, and that is the mastery of logic.

I don't just refer to mathematical logic that can be proven by theorems, but systems logic as well (the kind that Peter Senge talks about in his awesome book The Fifth Discipline).

4 types of people

Many people who find themselves in trouble in their lives, due to a variety of factors, often view The Secret with great enthusiasm. (Note: the 90-minute video can be viewed HERE.)

Similarly, people who view the new economy as teeming with BIG opportunities (such as becoming rich through the Internet, etc.) also view The Secret with great enthusiasm.

Next, there are people who are doing OK in life. They don't have particularly lofty ambitions, so they are content with what they have. They tend NOT to believe in The Secret. To them, success comes from hard, consistent work.

Lastly, there are those who are in trouble, or who are blind to the big opportunities around them -- opportunities which are capitalized upon by people they know or have heard of -- yet they maintain they are doing OK. These are the hopeless people. They will likely attack The Secret and will try to demolish it via (reasoned or unreasoned) argumentation, and this serves to make them feel good about themselves.

So to recap, there are:

1. Trouble people (are VERY excited about The Secret)
2. Growth people (are excited about The Secret)
3. Content people (ignore The Secret)
4. Denial people (aggressively attack The Secret)

Reasoned argumentation

There seems to be a dividing line between those who believe in the message of the documentary The Secret, and those who don't.

Since that documentary seems to be critical to understanding how success actually happens, I thought I'd write a few postings on it.

Comments / feedback welcome!

Peter
superpeter@myway.com
Success intellectual