samadhi said:
So does "the secret" actually teach the principle that positive thought, and positive thought only will cause great things to happen to you?
Yep basically. You ask the universe for something, believe you're going to get it (and ideally, think as if you
already have it), and through the theory of attraction it will eventually - no, inevitably - come to you.
In some places it mentions taking 'minor steps' or a 'little token gesture of action' (my paraphrasing) towards your goal but in the main, it's about sending out vibes and having the thing land on your plate. You don't even need to have the foggiest idea of how what you want will come to you - that's up to the Universe. (see how it can be seductive
)
They cite examples such as the person who was flat broke, but then started thinking "like a rich person", sticking fake "Cheques" for thousands of dollars on the refrigerator, cutting out pictures of huge mansions to stick on a 'wish board' and visualising cheques arriving in the mail instead of bills. And OMG - he got rich -! But only, you read later, through some pretty clever investments he made while this was all going on.
Hmmm. 8(
On some level I do believe this philosophy is useful and has some legs, I do think to an extent our beliefs in ourself and our life can manifest physically....but it's definitely nothing new, and relying just on positive thought alone is pretty ridiculous IMO.
ps. I've been visualising winning Powerball for goddamn weeks now!!! When's it coming, universe?