One of the common elements of all these self help / motivational books are the mass advertisement, testimonies, marketing, and cultish "group think" that go along with it. The people who make these books may have been financially successful or maybe not, however what is for sure is that after selling a few million copies of their "miracle books" and "get rich quick" schemes they will be wealthy and succeeded in getting the preverbial "golden calf". To quote Nine Inch Nails..."God money I will do anything for you" is the idea that these books teach.
These books teach you to:
- Forget your family
- Forget your friends
- Forget your school
- Forget your religion
- Forget everything...but yourself
While the teachings conveyed about the Law of Attraction from worldly teachers contain many truths, they also contain some contradictory ideas to the Word of God. For example, the notion that a person can have just anything. The reason being, we were born with different strengths, skills, and talents that lend themselves to our individual abilities to acquire the things we desire.
So, even from an Athiest perspective, we can still see that ther is a flaw in this ideology. The idea of the "Law of Attraction" exists within Islam as well as other faiths, however none of them tell you to forget about God or that everything is your own fault. Life with God in this universe is a 50/50 bargain. God sets up the chess board and we are the pawns who can choose which square to move into, however we can't decide the outcome of what happens when we move to a square. The problem with the notion of everything is "You" is very Darwinistic in attitude in relations to "Survival of the Fittest". Then what happens to the love and mercy of God?
It is the ultimate "Self Worship" and Pharoanic ideology that teaches about the "Haves and the Have Nots". It teaches people to hate those who are dealt bad luck or destinies. It teaches that if you fail, it is not anybody's fault but your own. So, for example if your in a crowd and a car goes out of control and runs you over, it is your own fault. Or even better yet, if you die and no longer exist in our world...it is your fault. These ideologies are based on Materialism, Darwinism, and the "Survival of the Fittest". They are devoid of any Muslim, Christian, and Jewish values. They teach the ultimate hate for those who are dealt ill fortune. You could say it is "Spiritual Fascism".
In Islam, this arguement could be made that the Prophets, Caliphs, Imams, and Saints who were martyred or died unjustly etc. were at fault and it was their own fault that they met their end in such horrible ways. As an Iranian-American the story of Imam Hussein who is reveared as a defender of Islam in the traditional Shia and Sunni branches of Islam...would be considered at fault for failing to win against an overwhelming force of decadent people who would probably endorse the book "The Secret". Of course as Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other people of faith we see that this ideology is Satanic and akin to the teachings of the Anti-Christ who wishes to divide family, friends, people and have you dedicate yourself to the worship of self and money. In Christianity we could say the same thing about Jesus and so on with other faiths. In away this ideology would teach to hate the Jews because they have been persecuted. Of course this kind of Self Worship ideology would not care about people of faith and their "trivial travesties".
I wonder how many Americans blame themselves or spouses for their companies closing in this economy and laying them off? How many of these self help / motivational books have been the causes of strife and ill treatment of people, when the true success and money goes to the book writers and companies, not those who read them?
The best self help people can do in America is sticking to the good traditional and modern values based in true faith in God regardless of the religion. These kind of books do not believe in faith and works but instead are based purely on desires and greed. A person will not achieve true spiritual success, but instead may gain temporary worldly success. This is why if you are a person of any faith, you should stick with tested values and logical modern values that do not create strife and fault people for things that they can not control.
We as humans must focus on reality based thinking that is logical and does not hurt others. Fantasy thinking like these books is good as long as you understand their purpose and do not start to become an extremist in the faith of Self Worship.
If a person can control when they naturally die, then they may have achieved the success these books talk about. But mere mortals can not control neither their destinies or their death (which is destinied). One thing we have to make a distinction about is distinction between the two principles of of the "Law of Attraction" that "Like attracts Like"....but this is not true at all since science has often shown that "Opposites Attract". The overall problem with extremism of any kind is that you lose perspective and you lose the truth. The Secret is that you may lose the Truth sometimes when you try to flush traditional values down the toilet. There is a reason why traditional values have stuck around for so long while others have vanished.
3 comments:
Just what do you mean by Darwinism?
Social Darwinism? That wasn't invented by or advocated by Darwin, so just who are you pointing the finger at?
AJ
Just what do you mean by Darwinism?
Social Darwinism? That wasn't invented by or advocated by Darwin, so just who are you pointing the finger at?
AJ
That is an excellent question, I too wonder "who to point a finger at". However, the teachings of such books and ideologies lean towards a form of social darwinism that has replaced traditional values. I still donate money to the poor (when I see they are not just drug addicts). Donating money to the poor and social welfare could be in various forms, such as taxes for things like healthcare, education, policing, military, etc. Currently we as a country use tax dollars for various defense and policing issues, but we don't spend it on the two things that are the most important that will create less of a need for defense and policing...which is education and healthcare. Health and educated people are less likely to create problems that need more policing dollars etc. We should be able to do the best we can do to help our fellow human being as well as the environment in order to live in peace.
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