Musings from the Moon

Who is Thom and why am I thanking him?

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< THOM

www.thomrutledge.com

First and foremost, Thom Rutledge is a HOOT! He is also one hell of an intelligent psychotherapist and author (I don’t mean your profession to come secondary to your sense of humor Thom…..don’t get me wrong now!)

A couple of weeks ago on David’s radio show “Psychic Wisdom with David James”, Thom and David had an open and frank discussion regarding the dangers of the DVD and book of the same title, “The Secret” (the download of the broadcast can be found at www.ask1radio.com under David James).

I have admired Thom for over a year now, not only for his humor ( that is a given) and psychotherapy work proper, but his willingness to speak openly and frank on matters he feels strongly about. His commentary on the emotional dangers regarding the “tenents” of “The Secret” was no exception.

While the hysterical hoopla that surrounds “The Secret” has finally died down (thankfully), this was not the case a mere year ago when the masses (by their own volition and the egging on from herds of sheeples ) were getting hookwinked into believing this hype.

I am obviously as into metapsychical and paranormal theories as the next bloke, lord knows I have been studying it long enough. I am, however, a bit more analytical in my studies than the next and not so airy fairy as the one after. When “The Secret” hype was spreading like a dangerous wildfire, I had to, of course, watch the DVD and further, read the book. I was fortunate enough not to have had to lay down a cent for the DVD as I apparently attracted a free “screening” via the web. Obviously my attraction signals got crossed in regards to the book, because I ended up shelling out about $10.00 for it at Costco.

(A sacred $10.00 that I could have spent on two large bags of Hot Tamale candies……..trust me, they would have attracted to me more happiness than the book ever could……..live and learn, live and learn).

The DVD was simply annoying and my husband and I got through about a quarter of it before we gave up our free web “screening” (computer says no) in favor of an previously downloaded episode of “Little Britain”. Time better spent, I assure you.

It was a couple of weeks later that I traded my Hot Tamale money in for a copy of the book. I took it home and read it that night in about a 1.5 hour sitting. Flabberghasted at some of the outrageous and IMO, downright dangerous claims the book made, I took to the internet to see what the masses were saying.

OH GOOD LORD was this frightening!

And one of the most all out – hands down- frightening places was the formal “The Secret Forum” itself (which is now defunct…SCORE!) and its evil off shoot, the forums of the “Powerful Intentions” community (started by a host of Rhonda-ites). Which, unfortunately is not defunct……..yet.

It was here that I read, with appall, post after post from Secret newbies being blamed for the the incest, molestation and oftentimes rape that occured at the hands of their uncles, brothers, fathers, next door neighbors and strangers. After all, the sheeple emphasized, it YOUR thoughts that created your reality. It didn’t matter that many of these posters (overwhelmingly female) were relating incidents that happened in their childhoods, mostly at the hands of the very people that were supposed to be their protectors.

WTF?

Me, never being the one to hold back or mince words, immediately asked why were persons perpetuating the blame of someone who was clearly the victim? How in the world can a child of 4, 10 or 13 ask for the blatantantly dangerous situations their elders put them in? How can a child, who is defenseless, impressionable and cognitively immature, make the decision to be emotionally and physically abused? Why would they choose to put themselves in situations in which may take them a lifetime and countless years of therapy to get past to live a semblance of a normal life?

Answer after answer to my post from those in “The Secret” and Law of Attraction ‘know’ firmly stated in no uncertain terms, that a person’s thoughts create their reality- what you think about and concentrate on is what you will see appear in your reality. Whether that is positive or negative. PERIOD. So in fact, they went on, of course those that were the victims of sexual and emotional abuse feared it and those fears created more of the same to them. Either way you dice it, it was stated, a person is the ONLY one that is responsible for what occurs at any point in their own lives, whether they are a newborn or 112.

But don’t worry about the past, they emphasized, now that you know better (no, I shit you not, a number of posters stated that very thing “Now that you know better”), you can created the life of your DREAMS, complete with a fancy house, dream cars, unlimited checks that mysteriously appear in your mail on a daily basis, lottery winnings and success beyond your wildest dreams. Ask, Believe and Receive. Keep the negativity out and the Genie is there at YOUR command for any and all whims.

WTF X 100?

How about simple humanity, kindness and compassion. Is that available in the Genie’s bottle of tricks?

My subsequent posts, regarding this ‘blame the victim’ mentality, how it was dead wrong and further damaging to already fragile indiviuals, attracted to me my first banning from the forums (admittedly, they contained a minor, yet well chosen expletives, but still!).

In the two months that followed, I was banned from the forums under 4 other screen names. All for questioning the tenets of Ask, Believe and Receive. Yep, apparently those that perished in all tsunamis, eathquakes, hurricanes, tonados, terrorist attacks, wars, complete annihilation of ethnic groups, rape, pillage, molestation and every other mental and physical catastrophe to befall an individual or an entire nation was caused individually or collectively by a person’s thinking.

Drink a couple of cups of Kool Aid Baby, and the Holocaust never happened.

Or did because, you know, they attracted it to themselves.

WTF X 1000?

Through those last couple of months, I also watched persons max out their credit cards, and go into sever debt, buying materials items that they could not possibly afford because they had asked, they are believing so therefore WIll receive. Subprime market and predetory lenders aside, I witnessed persons enter into mortgage contracts they could not afford, so they could have the house of their dreams. I saw people spend their mortgage monies, rent and children’s grocery money willy nilly, because with the principles of “The Secret” more would ALWAYS be on the way. I watched women humiliate themselves, attempting to attract back an ex-husband/partner, some of which who had restraining orders against these women, because they were their Soulmate ( good Lord, don’t get me started on THAT concept). All of these posters were cheered on by the whole of the community and when it became clear that the Genie in the Bottle had gone on vacation without notifying the universe and the posters related that nothing had appeared (they didn’t win the lottery that weekend, they had not paid their rent in two months and were being evicted, the repo man was after that BMW for non-payment and at least one of the women posters was arrested for breaking a restraining order), what did the Sheeples say?

They were not trying hard enough or they were doing it wrong. They clearly were not truly BELIEVING, and still allowing those pesky negative thought to rule their psyche. Once again, blaming the victim. Do I believe that the person themselves holds no responsibility? No, of course not. But I am not so blind as to ignore the fact that that Rhonda Byrne and her “teachers” that worked so hard to perpetuate this nonsense would continuously come out as lily white in this, while people’s lives systematically crashed.

Responsibility is due all around.

One of the most interesting aspects of these forums was that none, not ONE of the “teachers” of “The Secret” posted nor guided any of the activity on the forums, even though “The Secret Forum” at the time was touted as the Official forum for the DVD and the book.

No! All of these teachers were mysteriously absent as they were all busy cashing in on internet classes, MLM marketing and securing any speaking engagement that they could. Gotta strike while the iron is hot, ya know.

As they laughed all the way to the bank.

It all sounds unbelievable, but I assure you, it is all true. Through my tenure at these forums, I researched everything I could on the dangers of “The Secret”, and came across Author, Psychotherapist and Radio Host, Thom Rutledge’s site and his humerous, yet strongly poignant, essay on the dangers of “The Secret” clevely titled “The Antidote”.

www.thomrutledge.com

While I do believe in many “new age” principles/theories ( including a decidely more in depth and complicated theory on the Law of Attraction), positive thinking, and even folk magic (it is all transformation of energy, after all, and energy is kind my thang), there is major dangers in blindly following simplistic principles of thought, particularly those that make the outrageous claims such as “The Secret”.

I urge all of my readers to visit Thoms site and read not only “The Antidote”, but also available at no cost is the first chapter of his enlightening book “Embracing Fear”. Interestingly enough, that of what we fear can be one of our strongest allies in self empowerment, and Thom’s knowledge on same is worth at LEAST a dozen large bags of Hot Tamales!

In an amusing and “ironic” turn of events over the last year since “The Secret” debut, it is amazing the amount of lawsuits that have been filed against Rhonda and between the several of the “teachers” featured in the DVD and book. I can’t help but wonder what there reasoning is for attracting such angst? Anyone? Perhaps they should order Thom’s book, “Embracing Fear” because they are ALL either in the midst of, or heading for, some very scary times!

As my husband related to Thom the other night, the only true use of “The Secret” book was that of when one finds themselves in the bog without a roll of toilet paper. I will go one further and state, I would rather use the husks of the corn we just shucked.

Home grown corn holds more magic than “The Secret” every will.