Day 16

What A Wonderful World

In case you missed it, "the Secret" is out. A few years ago, someone told the secret of the universe (which I think ended up making them alot of money.) Many, many enthusiastic people came encouraging me to watch the video. Some of them were more energized than I'd ever seen them before. I would have described them as evangelical (one who shares good news) if I knew they wouldn't think I was criticising them.

If you've not seen it, the movie opens with testimonials from renowned scientists, religious practitioners and others who espouse the miraculous truth and power of 'the secret.' I have to admit, I didn't get all the way through it, but I watched enough to get the gist of it: "the universe" wants to give you what you want, or at least "what you put out there."

If it sounds vaguely familiar, you may have heard it in some other version:

• "You get out of it what you put into it."
• "Life is what you make it."
• "If you believe you can or if you believe you can't, you're probably right."
• "Be the change you want to see in the world."
• "Judge not, lest ye be judged."
• or as Parker put it, "we cocreate the reality in which we live."

I probably should have watched the whole movie, but I got stuck when someone gave their testimony about how "the Secret" had changed his life for the better. Some years after 'putting out' what he wanted most, he was unpacking in his luxurious new home, when he came across a posterboard collage that he'd made a few years previously. On it was the house and several other images of the possessions and lifestyle he was now living.

What "kind of reality do you do you desire for yourself and others?" This I think is what stopped me short of finishing the movie. It seemed singularly focused on what the universe wants to give me. To focus one what I want without regard for others, it struck me that I'd be putting greed, selfishness or self-centeredness out there in the universe. I'm sure there's enough of that out there already. I'm also sure I don't want to get any of it back from the universe.

When I think about the reality I desire for myself and others, I think less of external things and lifestyles and more about inner states of being: satisfaction, contentment, simplicity, compassion, generosity, hopefulness, joy... Reiterating that it's a lifelong journey, it's my hope that's I am putting those things out in the universe, being those things that I want to see in the world or cocreating such a reality for everyone.

May our desire for the world be the love and peace Christ taught and lived, and may our enthusiasm for it be so contagious that everyone would know our secret.