Reading The Secret is like a dejavu for me since it copied what old books had said. The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz was one of them. Rhonda Byrne, the author would like to share his family’s legacy to the world. This legacy was a law, known with the Law of Attraction, which had been applied by big shot like Hugo, Da Vinci, etc.

The point of this book is that we can attract what we think in our mind, in term of wealth, health and relationship. If we think we are able to earn one billion rupiah within three months, it will manifest in our life. On the contrary, if we think unfavourable things in our mind, it will happen too.

Our wishes in universe are like a catalogue. We may order a wish and universe will deliver our needs. May be this idea has inspired Prof Johannes Surya to launch his own term ‘Mestakung’ (universe will support). Unlike in the business, the supply in the universe is unlimited. So, we should not worry if some one else ordered the same wish.

Nevertheless, this statement has dealt with many critics. Andrie Wongso, for example, questioned how this law could be explained in general election. More than one candidate took part in this event, but the winner was always one.

Along with the book, Rhonda also produced the movie. From the movie we would be able to watch more clearly when the jinni whispered,”Your wish is my command”.

Many critics said that this book was a set back for human kind. Why? Because this book had sent modern society to the dark age. Modern society was based on rationality, but the Secret had re-introduced the figure of jinni, which had been forgotten for a long period of time in the west.

In my opinion, something good in this book is the notion about the thankfulness. If we would like to experience happiness in our life we have to thank for what we have today: family, money, stereo set, education, job, etc. Jinni shown in the movie, for me, was just an analogy in order to make easy our comprehension in how the law of attraction worked.

Another lesson I got from this book was that we should avoid negative sentences in our daily conversation. Why? Because our subconscious mind could not identify whether we liked or disliked what we had said. That’s why anti-drug campaign, anti-terrorist and anti-corruption war still face difficulties. Is it caused by using negative sentence? I am not sure.

Finally, I have to say that creativity to package such a book size is worth thumb up. The square book is very eye-catching especially with unique logo of “S” letter in the first word of SECRET. No doubt, this trend has inspired other publishers to produce similar size such as Quantum Ikhlas by Erbe Sentanu, Law of Attraction by Michael J Losier, etc. (Hery Azwan, Jakarta, 6/1/2008)

• Book Discussion