The Secret (Extended Edition)

In this astonishing program are ALL the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. Plato, Newton, Carnegie, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Einstein. to reach you. This is The Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted. For the first time in history, the world's leading scientists, authors, and philosophers will reveal The Secret that utterly transformed the lives of every person who ever knew it... The new "extended edition" of this ground-breaking feature length movie presentation reveals The Great Secret of the universe. It has been passed throughout the ages, traveling through centuries... And it can change your life forever. Now YOU will know The Secret.

It simply won’t resonate with everyone, but if it resonates with you, you're likely to enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Those looking for more on The Secret might want to check out the companion book by Rhonda Byrne. Not really a movie or documentary, The Secret is more of a video seminar, a presentation featuring a series of authors, philosophers, doctors, quantum physicists, entrepreneurs, and spiritual practitioners expounding on the powers of The Secret (probably the most well-known of the presenters is Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Success Principles). (There is a rundown of topics on the DVD Chapters menu).

Most of the material here is given in a straightforward manner, with the presenters simply talking into the camera to address the audience directly, which is good because it avoids the trap of pretense. On the other hand, the quick edits between presenters (would it hurt to let them say more than one sentence at a time?) don't help because it reduces many of their points to palatable sound bites and aphorisms. Put it another way, it’s The Power of Positive Thinking and how it can be applied to attracting more money, better health, and relationships; in short, happiness. What is The Secret, exactly? "That principle can be summed up in three simple words: thoughts become things," proclaims writer Mike Dooley, author of Notes from the Universe. Others will approach it with a good deal of skepticism or dismiss it as another way of marketing happiness the masses. But still, the primary message is one of positivity and hope for everyone. To many viewers, this may make the program come across as a series of nice ideas not rooted in reality. Plus it's somewhat spurious to claim that The Secret was well understood and practiced by specific individuals like Plato or Shakespeare (it's well known that some of the historical figures noted didn't exactly live happy or even prosperous lives, despite their achievements). --Daniel Vancini So what to make of it? In the end, programs like this generally find an audience that is open to the message, and many will probably find it to be a source of inspiration.