''The Power'' is a 2010

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

book written by

Rhonda Byrne Rhonda Byrne ( ; née Izon; born 1951, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian television writer and producer. Her book '' The Secret'' is based on the pseudoscientific belief of the law of attraction, which claims that thoughts can change a p ...

. It is a sequel to the 2006 book '' The Secret''. The book was released on 17 August 2010 along with an audio-book based on it. ''The Powers mission statement is, "The philosophy and vision of the Secret is to bring joy to billions. To bring joy to the world, the Secret creates life-transforming tools in the mediums of books,

films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...

, and

multi-media Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as writing, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. This is in contrast to tradition ...

. With each creation from the Secret, we aim to share knowledge that is true, simple, and practical, and that will transform people's lives." The "Power" of the title is the power of love, the mainspring of the universe. A large portion of ''The Power'' describes how Byrne greets each blessed moment with overwhelming love and gratitude toward all creation. The book is based on the law of attraction and claims that

positive thinking Positive thinking or Positive Thinking may refer to: Common uses * New Thought, a new religious movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century * Optimism, an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some spe ...

can create life-changing results such as increased happiness, health, and wealth. Byrne describes this as a fundamental universal law akin to

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

The law of attraction

The law of attraction states that whatever someone experiences in life is a direct result of their thoughts. Byrne's states that it really is that simple. According to ''The Secret'' and ''The Power'', one's thoughts and feelings have "magnetic properties" and "frequencies". They vibrate and resonate with the universe, somehow attracting events that share those frequencies. The three rules of the Law of Attraction, according to Byrne are the following: "Ask", "Believe", and "Receive". As Byrne says, it means that: "Like attracts like. What that means in simple terms for your life is: what you give out, you receive back. Whatever you give out in life is what you receive back in life. Whatever you give, by the law of attraction, is exactly what you attract back to yourself." In other words, if you want good things to happen, be a good person, think positive thoughts.

Criticisms

The claims made by the book are highly controversial, and have been criticized by reviewers and readers. The book has also been heavily criticized by former believers and practitioners, with some claiming that the concept of the "Secret" was conceived by the author and that the only people generating wealth and happiness from it are the author and the publishers. Critics contend that the book is based on a

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

theory called the "law of attraction"—the principle that "like attracts like". In a harshly critical 2010 review, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' stated: "''The Power'' and ''The Secret'' are larded with references to magnets, energy and

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

. This last is a dead giveaway: whenever you hear someone appeal to impenetrable physics to explain the workings of the mind, run away—we already have disciplines called '

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

' and '

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

' to deal with those questions. Byrne's onslaught of pseudoscientific jargon serves mostly to establish an 'illusion of knowledge,' as social scientists call our tendency to believe we understand something much better than we really do."

Jerry Adler Jerry Adler (born February 4, 1929) is an American theatre director, producer, and film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his films '' Manhattan Murder Mystery'', '' The Public Eye'', '' In Her Shoes'', and ''Prime'', and for hi ...

wrote in ''Newsweek'' that ''The Power'' offers false hope to those in true need of more conventional assistance in their lives.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Power, The 2010 non-fiction books Atria Publishing Group books Australian non-fiction books New Thought literature Quantum mysticism Self-help books

The law of attraction

Criticisms

References

See also

External links