Based on the survey posted over the past few weeks, we will begin with The Greatest Secret by Darrell Daybre.  This is available in the "Downloads" section.

Let's start our discussion by reading the first ten pages by Monday. �Add comments at any point.

And you said this wasn't a class!!!

Sounds like homework to me!!!!!  

BTW can ya tell I'm the probnlem child in all classes? Self appointed, of course!!

Okay, I have work Saturday so I'll be unable to do much then but I can read some friday  and sunday and I should be good.

Its okay, Novia, I know how to take care of problem students... (Storm)

haha I saw all the replies and expected to read some insightful discussion...

like why is it that "like attracts like" in this law of attraction, when we're taught in nature that opposites attract?

and is page 7 saying that we see things each in a different way? the same thing? this makes sense to me in so much as we all have our perspective filtering our experiences, but is this saying more like "my red looks like your blue" kind of thing? I always thought that might be the case when I was little...

like, everything behind me doesn't exist until i turn around and acknowledge it? what if someone's looking behind me and sees, say, a sword that i can't see. if i run into it walking backwards, do i not get hurt because i'm unaware of it's existance, or do i get hurt because the observer has brought it into the current reality??

(i do employ "the secret of creation" by the way, but it's only weakly effective, and if i understand exactly what it is i'm trying to grasp i think i'll be more efficient in using it)

LOL Relaeyez, we haven't started the 'discussion ' part yet. Monday I guess is D day (that would be Discussion Day!   )

I too TRY to employ it on a minutely basis. Then there are those days when the energy gets turned about and well I'm still using the law of attraction then as well,   .

A Very Brief History of the Reemergence of �The Secret�

With the publication of �The Secret� by Rhonda Byrnes, the concept of the �law of attraction� was introduced to the Western media.  The popularity of all media related to the Secret spread quickly for a number of reasons.  Practitioners of the Secret promise that we can achieve all we could possibly dream and more with minimal effort.  Additionally, the law of attraction, as it is currently packaged in today�s media, is ideologically neutral.  Therefore, whether one is a pagan, Christian, or Muslim, it is espoused that the Law of Attraction is a law of science; thus, it will work for everyone.  Although this incorporation of the Law into practice by the masses may be viewed as a trend of current spiritual fashion, the Secret is a constant theme that permeates the history of religion, science, and the occult.

Most practitioners credit the Emerald Tablet as the earliest recorded recitation of the Law of Attraction.  Although the Emerald Tablet was said to be written by an ancient Egyptian scholar by the name Hermes Trismegistus, the first record providing evidence of the existence of this tablet is from the Arabic manual, Kitab Sirr al-Asrar (we do not know the date this was written, but it was in use by the 10th century).  The Kitab Sirr al-Asrar commonly is credited as being the work of Aristotle.  Unlike Christian scholars, Muslim academics did not discount all works by the ancient Greeks as blasphemous or heretical.  Westerners have the Arab peoples to thank for much of the preservation of the knowledge of ancient Western philosophy.  This �Secret of Secrets� has been translated multiple times (see http://www.sacred-texts.com/alc/emerald.htm), but the underlying theme of the tablets is always �like attracts like.�

In the West, the Secret continued to be passed down through occult traditions of the Middle Ages, especially in terms of alchemy, astrology, and the practice of magic.  In these passages, we are presented with the underlying model for the rituals of magic and much of New Age spirituality.  From the Emerald Tablet we are taught:  

�That which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above, working the miracles of one.�

�As all things were from one.�

(http://www.sacred-texts.com/alc/emerald.htm)

The Emerald Tablet, combined with indigenous mystical systems of Judaism and various European cultures, forms the foundation for much of Western occultism.  These teachings and practices were known to the eminent scholars of there time, but could never be widely spread 1) because the Church would object to any notion that an individual could find fulfillment and salvation within them selves 2) much of the populous was uneducated (there was not public school), and 3) it was not until the movable type of the Guttenberg press that information was able to be spread to the masses in any effective way.

Onward, we move to the rise of the Victorian occult in the 19th century.  Here, we have two separate and highly influential occult movements�the Golden Dawn and the Theosophical Society.  The Golden Dawn, combining Christianized Kabala from the Middle Ages with Egyptian mysticism, formed one branch of the modern New Age movement.  The Theosophical Society was the movement from which I believe the more precise articulation of the Law of Attraction in modern times developed.

The Theosophical Society was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in the late 1800s.  Her first and most influential book on the Secret was Isis Unveiled, the content of which was revealed to her after becoming ritually intoxicated and communicating with two divine beings.  HPB (as she is referred to in the occult circles) combined what was known about physics with that time with Hinduism and Buddhism to develop a workable philosophy of humans as magnets for all the events and materials within their lives.  

Physicists of the time speculated that our existence is saturated with electromagnetic ether of which energy fields by objects situated within this ether affected.  Therefore, through all of existences connection with this ether, we are a single entity.  This concept of science compliments Far Eastern systems of belief.  In Hinduism and Buddhism, all of existence is one singular underlying reality.  The goal of life is to recognize this fact, and those people who recognize their interconnectedness to all things have control over all things in their reality, as it is essentially an extension of themselves.      

HPB probably developed the idea of humans as magnets from the work of Mesmer.  The scientist, Franz Anton Mesmer (1715-1815) (from where we get �mesmerize�) proposed that the human body has a strong magnetic field that can be manipulated to perform supernatural acts.  It is from Mesmer that we also get the industry of magnetic healing.  So, logically to HPB, if the human body is a magnet connected to all of existence by electromagnetic ether, if we learn to control our magnetism, we can draw to us all that we desire.  

HPB�s thoughts were influential to the New Thought movement that was prevalent in the early 1900s.  Of particular influence was the book, �Thought Vibration� by William Walker Atkinson.  It is in this work that we finally read the idea that the technique for accurately exploiting the Law of Attraction it by thinking positive thoughts while feeling positive feelings.  This is the so-called �secret of the Secret.�  Works by Atkinson and other New Thought movement authors tended to emphasize the spirituality over the science, in my opinion, but this is to be expected as scientific theories about physics and the origin of the universe had changed much since HPB�s time.  Additionally, the obvious sources of Far Eastern mysticism that were present in HPB�s Theosophy were greatly reduced in the New Thought movement�in many ways, the movement was a modern Christianization of science and the occult.

So, know we come to the reemergence of the Law of Attraction in the works of Byrne and Daybre.  As we continue our readings, I�ll try to provide more background information as necessary.  Please feel free to add any comments or ask questions. For your information, both Atkinson and HPB's books are available for free in google books.

Started reading and got through almost half the book before I realized we were only supposed to read the first ten pages!  (Voracious reader BTW)  Can't wait till Monday!  Thank you so much Stacey for taking on this project!!

Acasia, it's always wonderful to talk with a fellow bibliophile!

Please do not feel restricted by reading only the page numbers I assign.  I just do that to make the book club more accessible to those of us who are new to the concepts in the books, are slow readers, or just have busy lives.  I personally try to read all of the assigned book before I even begin to discuss it so that way I am better prepared to help people through discussions.    

I'm nearly done, but will keep all discussion questions to the assigned pages, so we can all understand and move forward together.

Stacy thank you for the detailed information, I feel you have a lot of cross-referenced knowledge on subjects of this nature and am eager to listen and learn from you.

I still don't fully grasp why like attracts like, especially if it's broken down in terms of our electromagnetism. Is it possible the thoughts we are trying to attract with positive energy have a negative (as in a negative charge or void, not negative as in evil, bad, or sabataging) energy component to them?

I'll read the book by Atkinson, I'd bet he breaks this down some. Thank you again for your tip on the free reading. I'm very grateful for this information.

HOLY COW I READ BOOKS NOW!!  (Read)

Okay I'm lost and might stay that for a while.  I'm going to download the book and start reading.  I will let you know I'm the questioner in the group.  I ask a whole butt load of questions all the time.  And thank you Stacey I'm one of those slow readers and I can't read anything without practically rewriting it so I can remember what I read so I will definately need that extra time.  How are we going to discuss this on Monday?  Do we all meet on here at a certain time or do we log on and just put what we think?  Anyhow off to downloads I go.  Will be back later.

Oh, RealEyez, you are trying to be Teacher's pet by discussing the book before the rest of us have gotten a chance to read it.   Novia and I will have to sneak up on you after school and open a can of whup-witch on ya'.      



Um..........does anyone have a spare can of whup-witch?

Really goofy question does the intro count toward the 10 pages or do the 10 pages start at Chapter One?

No, but I'll gladly relabel a can of sumfin else fer ya and call it whup-witch!!!  

Ok off to the book section afore I get in twubble!!

Bramble, I was wondering exactly the same thing.