What ‘The Secret’ Failed to Tell You About the Law of Attraction

HJ: The Law of Attraction is at once the most widely known and simultaneously misunderstood of the universal laws, thanks (in large part) to the surprise hit documentary ‘The Secret’.  While The Secret served to wake a large portion of the population up to a larger spiritual reality that exists just beyond everyday perception, it left them ill equipped to navigate the finer points of this new awareness.  That was never its point, I suppose, or it would have done so.  For this reason, however, many became frustrated and disillusioned with the Law of Attraction as they attempted to use it to create from a place of ego and desire instead of genuine alignment with higher purpose and service.  At best, they got half-hearted results and at worst they felt cheated and became skeptical of this ‘baseless new-age’ rhetoric.  A few were ready for the higher knowledge and the movie served to be just the catalyst they needed for further awakening and self discovery. Either way, the point is that the foundation in spiritual awareness needed to successfully master the law of attraction and the art of manifestation was conveniently missing from ‘The Secret’, for reasons that remain unknown.  This wonderful article by the venerable James Twyman makes a valiant attempt at rectifying that situation and holds many key insights for anyone that has less than the full picture…

– Truth

Peace is a Process: James Twyman on continuing the manifestation conversation

By James Twyman | Emissary of Light 

I directed and produced a film called The Moses Code, which is in many ways, an answer to The Secret, the film that came out a few years ago that highlighted the “Law of Attraction.” Now, the reason I say “an answer” is because I had very strong feelings about The Secret when it first came out. Yes, I was able to admit that there were a lot of people who were just beginning a spiritual journey who needed to get that—the understanding that we do draw everything into our own experience, into our reality, or into our world and, knowing that, we can take control or we can draw the things that we really want, rather than the things that we just happen to haphazardly attract. That’s a good beginning level of understanding.

However, the way it was presented in The Secret seemed as if it was the only level—like if you get this, then you’ve got the whole thing. That’s very dangerous, because you don’t want to think that you’re in graduate school when you’re really in first grade. So people were really getting confused. They were hurting themselves in many ways, because they didn’t realize that it’s not so much about the goods that you attract but more importantly it’s about the goodness that you attract. It’s not about using these spiritual laws to attract on an ego level, but rather it’s about the soul awareness and attracting things that are serving your soul and humanity itself.

I felt that this was a conversation that needed to be continued. It needed to be brought back to the soul. That was why I wrote the book, The Moses Code and why we ultimately made the movie. It was hugely successful because so many of the well-known authors and teachers that are out there felt the same. They wanted to take part in continuing this conversation, and so many of them, from Michael Beckwith, who was also in The Secret, as well as Neale Donald Walsch and Debbie Ford, and others, supported this movie. It ended up being a great success. I think it continued this conversation in a beautiful way.

Many manifestation techniques that we’ve been exposed to lately are absolutely important. But to do them without heart, without soul, just serves the ego. They’re like chains: they trap us and they keep us from focusing on what really is important. And being wrapped in a gold chain is just as binding as being wrapped in a steel one.

People need to understand that what the soul really wants is not to get a new car or a bigger house. The soul wants to be in service and, in doing so, to know that everything is automatically attracted into your life. In other words, when you’re not just thinking about your own selfish desires but how you can be the source of goodness for others, then all the goods that you need are attracted automatically. You don’t need to focus on them. That’s just how the law works. It’s kind of like when Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all of these other things will be added unto you.” It’s natural, it’s automatic.

This is what I think people are beginning to realize now and so I honour The Secret for beginning this conversation. I just think this is something that needs to be continued. I’m glad that we were able to do that with The Moses Code. I have a good friend named Robert Evans who is continuing that through his program “The Habit of Attraction.” And many people are talking about this, which is good, because if we allow it to be held hostage by the ego, we’re in trouble. If we can bring this message back to our soul and realize that we have an opportunity here to create a new world, not just attracting a car, then we’re really getting somewhere. There’s nothing wrong with a new car, and there’s nothing wrong with abundance. It’s beautiful. The question is, what’s it for? Are you doing it to avoid what actually wants to manifest through you? Or are you doing it to serve that?

The ego should not be so vilified. We so often say things like, “We need to get rid of our ego.” Well, the surest way to have your ego be fully in charge of everything is to try and get rid of it, because it’s not going to happen. The key is for it to be the servant of the soul, rather than trying to call all the shots itself. When the soul is in its own natural, right position, then it relaxes.

Think of it like a dog—especially a dog that needs to have a job. If it’s confused about what its function or job is, it’s a dangerous dog, because it’s going to be looking for it in all the wrong places. But when a dog knows what its role is, when it knows who the master is, then it’s comfortable and can relax and it plays its role perfectly. The same is true for our ego. When it knows why we’re here, then it relaxes, and, as the soul guides the ego in a proper way, we’re really moving somewhere and this peace we’ve been describing begins to manifest in our lives and in the world.

And peace is a process. It’s something that we need to create and develop and share over time. It’s dangerous to think that some magic wand is going to be waved over the heads of humanity and from that moment on there’s no longer going to be any conflict or war.

People sometimes ask if I think that we’re ever going to get to the point where there will be complete peace and the cessation of all violence. I don’t really think that that is how it works. We created this world of duality in order to learn certain very important spiritual lessons. This is the world where we learn from our mistakes, where we learn from everything. One of the things that we learn from is the way that we relate to one another, both skillfully and unskillfully. This is the evolutionary trek, both individual and collective, that brings us to a spiritual maturation.

Maybe there comes a point where each individual makes that choice to such a degree or level that they no longer have a need to reincarnate, if you believe in that. Or we move on to the next schoolroom, the next classroom, where we have different lessons. The main thing that I’ve learned over all these years I’ve been doing this work and been in spiritual practice, is that I don’t know anything. So these are my theories, just as we’ll all have our own.

I don’t know what is meant to happen here. The only thing I really do know is that I am meant to continue to choose peace in very dynamic ways in my own life, and to try and share that whenever I can. How this ends, what happens, I’m not attached to it, because I know that in the end we’re all going to realize that we created this world and can create a better one. And in doing so, peace may happen. I hope it does—that would be wonderful. But I’m not attached to it, I’m more attached to the spiritual growth.

I believe that we’re beginning to focus much more on the ways that we’re the same, rather than the ways that we’re different. Ireland is a very good example, because clearly, whether you’re in Northern Ireland or whether you’re in the Republic of Ireland, they’re all Irish. And whether they’re Catholic or Protestant, in the end, does not supersede the fact that they’re really the same.

The one thing I’ve learned as I’ve travelled around the world, often to these war zones, is that we’re not all that different from one another. If we could begin focusing on the ways that we’re the same as opposed to the way we’ve been doing it, which is to begin where we’re different, and build from there fosters a new attitude that ultimately does lead to peace. The Internet has been fantastic at that. We have broken down boundaries and walls in ways that we never would have thought possible twenty years ago, just through connecting through the Internet, email, Facebook and other social networks. And this is an exciting time to live in—we have opportunities here today that are just remarkable.

I remember the first time I was invited to Iraq, back in 1998 by Saddam Hussein himself to perform the Peace Concert in Baghdad. I was pretty nervous because of course I thought, “These people are so different from me—what’s going to happen? Am I going to be safe?” But it was one of the best experiences of my life. After I did this major concert in Baghdad, they had a party for me. It was one of the most fun parties I’ve ever been to and all we did all night long, was sit around singing Simon & Garfunkel songs! In Baghdad! We really were a lot more similar than I thought that we were.

It makes me think of how I got into this work in the first place. You may remember twenty-five years ago, there was a gathering that took place in Assisi, Italy, the home of St. Francis, where for the first time in history, the leaders of the twelve major religions of the world came together, not to have discussions, just to pray. Each one brought a peace prayer from their tradition and there was an amazing, beautiful gathering where each one prayed that prayer. It was those prayers I eventually arranged to music.

That was the beginning of something very important to me, especially in terms of our spiritual history and the way we relate to one another in religion. Even though all religions are very different, they all have a common denominator, and that is the desire for peace. Everyone has a peace prayer. We see this happening in so many ways. Allowing these boundaries between individuals, cultures and nations to continue to dissolve is what ultimately is going to lead to peace.

James Twyman is an internationally renowned, best-selling author, filmmaker and musician who has a reputation for travelling to some of the world’s greatest areas of conflict, who enjoys sharing his message of peace. Known as the peace troubadour, he is the author of several books, including The Moses Code, The Barn Dance, Emissary of Lightand The Art of Spiritual Peacemaking. He is currently promoting a film produced specifically for seniors called Redwood Highway.