“There is No Secret”
by Kelvin Chin
Life After Life Expert
Last night I watched a documentary on CNN and was inspired to write this essay...I literally started during the closing minutes of the film...
“There is No Secret.”
There is no secret to wealth or success — whether material or spiritual — in any aspect of our lives.
No one wants to hear that. No one wants to pay for a spiritual teacher to tell them that.
Everyone wants to know “The Secret.” Remember that best-selling movie and book, “The Secret”? And remember all of those gurus in it who professed simple formulas for attaining all of your life’s goals? Essentially distilled down to one message: “Think positively,” or some similar mantra.
The thing is — people want to believe that there is a Secret. They want someone to tell them there is a Secret. They want confirmation that their hope is real.
And they will pay $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 — I know people who have paid $100,000 for a week-long course — to be part of that inner circle that learns that secret. That secret that gets them past their life challenges, that relieves them of that burden immediately. That secret that ensures they will experience enlightenment. That “break-through experience” that all those New Age gurus talk about. And all those prophets of antiquity spoke about. (You see, this is not a new phenomenon.)
Here is the truth:
The Secret is that there is no secret.
But people want an easy fix. People want “the Magic Pill.” Especially people who are suffering, who are economically downtrodden, who are emotionally stressed. They have been the easy targets of gurus and prophets for 10,000 years — in Sumeria, Egypt, Judea, and India — and it is no different in 2016. In the United States. Europe. Asia. South America.
Look at how many self-development gurus have crossed Oprah’s stage, how many of them she has proclaimed as “the savior of our society’s ills…” There are legions, and here’s the new twist in our TV and Internet Age — they sell advertising because many develop large followings. And followers are potential consumers. So, they get media attention, and more and more of us are lured in and seduced by the promise of the “easy, immediate fix.”
Perhaps some of those you know have fallen into this trap — maybe even yourself. But, don’t beat yourself up over it. Learn from it, and…
Ask yourself: Is that something we should continue to feed? That illusion that there is a Secret to Life?
I say No.
Especially those who claim to be spiritual teachers have a responsibility to be transparent, to tell it like it is. Guiding people by sharing perspectives with them is fine. It can be very helpful. However, encouraging blind following, listening without questioning — or even allowing it if one sees it happening — is irresponsible. It is that teacher’s responsibility to explicitly and implicitly discourage guru following.
That said, there will always be those who will pay thousands of dollars for the magic pill, the secret. But the truly enlightened and responsible mentors, coaches, and teachers will not encourage or exploit those seekers. By doing so, those teachers would be preying on the weaknesses that they, above all, should see clearly in those seekers and students. And that sort of conscious choice to take advantage of those weaknesses exposes such teachers for who they are. More materialistic than spiritual. More taking than giving.
So, the lesson is that there is no magic pill. We each must find our own way in life, whether you believe that this is your only life, or if you believe that this is just one in an infinite series of lives. There is no secret answer.
And if you wish to truly seek a life that is more self-aware, more conscious inside yourself so that you may enjoy your life more fully, then you will best be served by a teacher or mentor who is a proponent of true “self-development” — as in the literal meaning of that phrase (and now worldwide industry!)…
…that we must each “develop our ‘self’”….that no one else can do it for us…and there is no quick fix.
There is no getting around that.
And yes, we each should continue to pursue avenues that help us learn more about ourselves, facilitate our growth as human beings, as minds with conscious awareness, and Free Will in the universe. We just need to be careful to not give up our power to anyone else — no matter how “enlightened” he or she seems, no matter how “strong their energy, charisma or message” is. Trusting your “heart” does not mean dispensing with your rational mind. Use your common sense — to me that means your intuition, emotions and rational mind — all combined.
And we need to be patient and relax about all of this. Because based on my experiences, our minds (or “souls” or “consciousnesses”) are eternal. Time is what we have plenty of. And we can probably never know everything about ourselves, but we can continue to learn more and more, because it will make our lives more enjoyable, more fun. Now, in the continual present.
That, I think, is the true secret. That there is no secret. No final answer. That we can reduce our fears, overcome our challenges, and always know more about ourselves and life itself. And this can increase our happiness and joy in our continuing conscious existence.
Kelvin H. Chin is a Meditation Teacher, Life After Life Expert, and Author of “Overcoming the Fear of Death,” “Marcus Aurelius Updated: 21st Century Meditations On Living Life” and “After the Afterlife: Memories of My Past Lives.” He learned to meditate at age 19, and has been teaching Turning Within Meditation and coaching others in their self-growth for 40 years. He helps people understand their life challenges through their individual belief systems, and helps them find their own solutions. His past life memories reach back many centuries, and he accesses those memories in his teaching and his coaching in the same way all coaches draw on their own available experiences for perspective and effective analogies. He can be reached at www.TurningWithin.org.
Tagged: #The Secret, #Perfection, #Oprah, #James Arthur Ray, #Enlighten Us, #CNN, #CNN Films, #documentary, #Meditation, #SelfDevelopment, #Self, #Religion
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