Many who imagine they are preoccupied with “personal development” recommend for themselves and praise a small trilogy of films aiming at the documentary name but are not. I am referring to the films What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004, R: William Antz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vincente), The Secret (2006, r: Drew Heriot, Sean Byrne, Marc Goldenfein, and Damian McLindon) and What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole (2006, R: William Antz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vincente).
They have a few good ideas. Someone who watches these films and applies SOME of the pictures there can improve their lives. However, there is also the other side of the truth: these films contain ideas inconsistent with science – a mixture of truth and falsehood.
From the point of view of the spiritual suggestions it implies, this trilogy offers unfounded analogies. It takes the viewer on the journey of New Age beliefs, such as that God would be the energy of the universe, and that each of us can control and do whatever we want with it. Therefore, man replaces God’s will with his own will, and “the Universe responds.”
Have you ever wondered, for example, if a plane crashes and 100 people die, the result of whose negative thoughts was it? Unfortunately, none of the “specialists” is asked this question in these three films.
A spicy detail is that some of them did not even see how the sequences with them would be used in the final editing because they would not have agreed to the work if they had seen it. So the “Law of Attraction” does indeed work, but not as it is ranted and rambled in such films.
These are excellent vehicles for those who talk to promote their products and services, especially if we are talking about multi-level marketing systems or courses with all kinds of so-called “spiritual masters” – in fact, a bunch of charlatans, most of the time.
Think about it: if only our thinking had the capacity, by visualization, to bring us to the results inherently wanted, why would we need to act, to transpose what we believe into our behavior?
Don’t you know people who have dreamed and died only with the dream, or maybe the plan died with them? Do you think they didn’t use visualization? Yes, it is certainly something that helps. However, autosuggestion, visualization, and so on are not enough. They are just helpful tools.
The responsibility for change belongs to those who own these ways. And if they are “blind on the inside,” as the Bible says, how will they be able to shine outside?
PS: A real story from a friend. He was talking to a female friend who said:
“The universe is full of abundance and is generous! So don’t you worry about money anymore!”
“You know what? Will you lend me 100 Euros for a week?”
“Well, I can’t because if I lend it to you, I’m left without, and my mother won’t give it to me.”
Acclaimed journalist, author, and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking in the following video.
If you liked this article, then I also recommend to you The Critique of Positive Thinking.
Occasionally, film critic
Copyright © Marcus Victor Grant 2015-present Translation by Cristiana Brezeanu of the article “Mălăiaţă în gura lui fleaţă, v.2.0: Universul în vizualizarea credulilor “ published initially by Marcus Victor Grant in Romanian on the 21st of February 2015 on Discerne. Copyright © Marcus Victor Grant, all rights reserved.
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