Jung At Heart

Certainly The Secret has generated a lot of press and attention, especially since being featured on the Oprah Show. Whirled Musings and SHAMblog talk about the background to this phenomenon at length, including some problems with the coaching industry as a whole. The secret of The Secret is the so-called Law of Attraction. Wouldn't it be nice if it were true that one's thoughts were the sole or even primary determinant of one's destiny? It seems to me that this is yet another example of that bit of Guntrip's wisdom that i like so much: We would rather be bad than weak. It is so much easier to believe that it is our own negative thoughts which led to the bad marriage, the lousy job, the chronic illness than to accept that we cannot control the actions and thoughts of others and that sometimes, well, sometimes shit happens no matter how positive one's thoughts. This seems very much an American thing, with our need to believe that if a problem can be named, it can be solved and easily -- and quickly, of course. The hard work of reflection, facing into our Shadows, owning our behaviors and mixed motives is just not as seductive as the Law of Attraction.