An open Secret

It’s the book that stars from all walks of life claim helped them in their careers, so is Rhonda Byrne’s bestseller a psychological wonder or a bunch of old hokey?

Hokey nonsense or a gateway to greatness? Published 12 years ago, Australian Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret — promoting the pseudoscientific ‘law of attraction’ — continues to divide opinion. It still impresses celebrities though, with our own MMA fighter Conor McGregor and boxer Michael Conlan recently swearing by its affirmations and visualisation techniques.

So what is it all about? Author Byrne, 62, says ‘our thoughts create things’ and the universe is happy to provide us with an abundance of money, love and happiness, if we ‘ask, believe, receive’. She advises us to set goals, visualise ourselves achieving them – and to act as though we have already succeeded. So far, so upbeat and hopeful, which surely beats feeling gloomy and defeated.

But Byrne takes things a step further when she suggests that people living in poverty or sickness have ‘attracted’ both into their lives by not thinking positively enough. ‘You cannot “catch” anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought,’ she writes, even cautioning people against so much as consorting with anyone who might be unwell. ‘You are also inviting illness if you are listening to people talking about their illness. As you listen, you are giving all your thought and focus to illness, and when you give all of your thought to something, you are asking for it.’

This week Dr Robert O’Connor of the Irish Cancer Society told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘There is no legitimate scientific research which suggests that a person is more likely to get cancer because of what they think or to whom they give their attention and support.

‘Such an allegation is simply untrue. To say otherwise is cruel and dangerous. It can stop a person seeking professional medical help when it’s needed, and isolate those who need our support and understanding the most.’

As for celebrities who have endorsed the book, chartered psychologist Niamh Hannan of Mindworks.ie adds: ‘Often what successful people have in common is a passion for what they’re doing. Conor McGregor doesn’t just sit in a dressing room visualising himself winning and imagining the belt in the hand. He’s out there training, watching his diet and taking action. We do know there is a lot of science to back up the power of visualisation. But positive thinking on its own is not clinically proven to be effective.’

She points out that elite athletes all have mind coaches now, helping them to build self-esteem and visualise success.

‘We’ve always understood the importance of doing physical exercise and now we know the mind has to be in the right place too. The Secret plays into that,’ she says. ‘As human beings we have a negativity bias, we’re like Velcro for negativity and Teflon for positivity. So Rhonda Byrne encouraging people to take control of thought, that much I can applaud. But a lot of what she is saying isn’t scientifically proven at all. When things are not scientifically proven it’s about looking at them with a little pinch of salt.’ Or a tablespoon, perhaps.

Here we take a look at some of the book’s most famous proponents...