Can a woman who does not believe in self help…help others…is there no hope?
February 27, 2007
Self-Help Books — Do They Help?
On the Today show this morning, I spoke with one of the teachers of The Secret, the wildly selling book and DVD that has reached number one on the New York Times Best Sellers List….these are the words of Gail Saltz…{she is not the saltz of the earth!!!}
This starts the witings of a woman who, I am sorry to say, has lost her soul… go to…
http://gailsaltz.ivillage.com/health/2007/02/selfhelp_books_do_they_help.html
It further states….
But some self-help books promote ideas that are not only not helpful — they are potentially damaging. The Secret is, according to the author and the contributing teachers, “the law of attraction” which they say means that your mind sends out vibrations that will attract like vibrations. In other words, if you think it, you will get it.
The book uses scientific words like energy, vibrations, magnetic fields, and the “expertise” of quantum physicists to state that there is a scientific basis for this idea. There is no scientific data to support the idea that ones mind can send out a vibration which will bring an external object to you or affect another person or affect a future event all by itself. This is rather the author’s idea, belief and wish. Actually, it may be many peoples’ wish. But by stating it as scientific fact and as a secret that will absolutely bring you success if you do it correctly, it is not only a misrepresentation — it could be harmful.
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MY reply was…
Thanks for the laughs you gave ME today…honesty you really cracked me up! As I am thinking…that you have thoroughly messed up with your non motivational nonsense today!
Then…when I got to your site…I see that you promote pharmaceuticals & then I better understood you! You are in with the medicine, pill pushing, dope your children & your self up…instead of being positive within, you want us to become cows and zombies…what a pompous, little twit you are! You are proof that an education doesn’t give you good sense or common logic…think before you speak, lady!
I see hundreds of posts [everywhere] blasting you for what you said but no one backing you up! Not even your own profession.
THE MIND IS A HORRIBLE THING TO WASTE…it looks like you have wasted yours…as yours is a closed vehicle!
Why don’t you look up FAITH, even blind faith, BELIEF or LOVE. Positive thought fuels all of these. Open your eyes & mind!
Smiles & world peace,
Sharon Sutley
PERHAPS… I should have not used the TWIT word…but it was the only one that came to mind that was with in the bounds of polite society!
Perhaps you should go there and see what others are saying…I DID!
Ps…look at the negative body language…very closed off…need I say more????
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I read that article of Dr. Saltz, but I would like to read also that book The Secret in order to be able to give unbiased opinion.
I wrote on my blog about logical informal fallacies before. Even if Dr. Saltz is right that there is no scientific proof that “ones mind can send out a vibration which will bring an external object to you or affect another person or affect a future event all by itself”, it also applies that there is no scientific proof that there is NOT such influence.
Did people from The Secret actually say that mind affects future event “all by itself”? That would be childish if they said so. I guess they recognized there is play of different forces out there in outer world.
I agree here with this. There is no need to connect faith and scientific facts. Science and Faith are both great in their own domain, but one should not justify Faith with Science, as one should not bellitle Faith because it is not scientific. Is it true that those people guaranteed 100% success with their formula? If so, I guess they are wrong, nobody can guarantee 100% success - simply because there is part of formula that each person will implement differently, so there cannot be guarantee.
Scientific method is correct, but limited too. Unfortunately some people think what is not scientific is not worth at all. That is incorrect. Religion and spirituality are not scientific, since you cannot prove existence of God scientifically, but I do not consider myself stupid because I believe in God.
I lived in a communist country so I know very well the shortcomings of dialectial materialism. Communist party forced people to believe in righteousness of their method, but in real life that did not work well.
Sharon, you should be very careful when you give arguments like this I see hundreds of posts [everywhere] blasting you for what you said but no one backing you up! Not even your own profession.
It does not mean someone is wrong because he does not have voice of majority with him. Remember, Jesus Christ was crucified because majority wanted so. Socrates received death sentence because majority wanted so. So please be very careful when you use argument about hudreds of posts.
But I understand your anger, and I agree that Dr. Saltz gave biased opinion in favour of materialistic science. Yet, I do not see that she said something wrong in what she said (except that one informal fallacy)- it is just that she did not give due importance to positive thinking. She just said one sentence about that.
In my opinion she, being a therapist, should emphasise a lot more value of positive thinking. And good thing is that she warned of possible negative conseqences, but she should also speak at least the same amount of text about positive consequences too, which she avoided to do.
Psychoanalysis is relatively young science, compared to others, so when they are speaking about truth they are often silly. They should be more humble if you ask me.
Some doctors say -If someone cuts off your arm, no amount of positive thinking will bring it back- That shows how stupid they are! Nobody will use positive thinking for that, but for other things that are possible.
There are 42 informal logical fallacies that one can make in making conclusions out of premises. I wrote about that in my blog.
Inner peace, the greatest treasure we can have, cannot be scientifically measured. That is a paradox but truth also - what is most valuable in human life, is deep within the heart, beyond the scientific domain of mind.
Keep smiling and being positive!
Dejan
As you can see, there are those of us who do believe in the action of positive thought…
Is thought a vibration??? Are there not people who can bend spoons and move objects with the power of thought? How does this accrue? I am sure that a scientist will tell you how…or how it doesn’t accure.
But can they tell you what love, faith, belief and hope are…other then a chemical reaction. Is not the action of positive thought what creates the chemical reaction..makes the brain send out its messages…in my MIND, {LOL} the mind is the last frontier…there is some much we do not know about the mind. It is/was like the sea, areas we have not seen.
Can not positive thought bring you peace and harmony…I am not a scientist, I did not read the book Secrets…nor do I believe everything that I see, read or even hear. But quote ME on this with out positive thought the hospital wards would be filled with the hopeless.
Scientists and philosophers will battle this subject thu the next eons. And both sides have value and are correct in what they believe.
And God…well that is a whole other subject in it’s self.
I try not to talk religion or politics with my friends, since both are such a personal preference.
Have you ever been to a “shrink” ? Well, I have and I always came out more depressed then when I went in…now I have my friends and family to talk to…to ask for advise. One day after getting out of a session…I decided to go shopping…something very positive for ME! I stopped in the millinery department and started trying on hats…suddenly I felt great and I looked great…and I realized that positive enforcement came from with in me. I never went back to see that Psycho Analyst. And I always wear hats now. In fact I am a Milliner.
Thank you for your comment and insight, Deyan. I know I can count on you to keep ME grounded when I rant…
It is a beautiful day here…I hope you are having the same weather.
Your far away and far out friend,
Sharon
Thank you for making me think over about my life values. I will tell you my little secret for positive thoughts
Whenever I want to have positive thoughts in my life, I take books by Ralph Waldo Emerson and read them. Again and again. It is nectar for me.
I have no idea why that philosopher from far away country and from XIX century is such inspiration for me. But reading his works, which are always poetry in prose, is giving me so much joy.
America should be proud of her great son, Ralph Waldo Emerson!
Keep smiling,
Dejan
Hello Deyan;
I am glad that you have found your special area for tranquility and inspiration. Many search their whole lives and never find it.
Remember for George Harrison he enjoyed his tree, for reflective thought.
Some people go thru their whole life and never find or seek happiness…some only have but brief moments their whole lives.
Me, I see it in a child’s smile, a warm helping hand, in the wag of a puppies tail, in strawberry rhubarb pie, Popsicles on a hot summer day, a ride in a convertible with the top down, someone telling me that they love me or in a sunset. Beauty, life and happiness surrounds and comforts me every day.
Life is good. BUT eat desert first!
Smiles and world peace,
Sharon