Why the turnaround?

by Blair Warren

Some of my readers have asked about my sudden change of heart about The Secret.  After all, when it first came out I *did* support and recommend it.  Now, I’m bashing it with everything I’ve got.

The question is, why?

The answer is complicated.  It is also embarrassing.  Therefore, I won’t bore you with all the details but will give you the essential ones.

First, when The Secret was first being promoted, I simply didn’t see the depth of the absurdity in it that I do now.  (Read some of my recent posts for examples of what I’m talking about.)

Of course, these absurd statements were being made all along; I just didn’t notice them.  Instead I only noticed the parts of the message I agreed with. 

Why did I overlook the rest?  Because I wanted to overlook it.

You see, back then I was a JoeBot. 

What is a JoeBot?

A JoeBot is someone who blindly believes everything Joe Vitale says.

When I first met Joe back in the early 90’s we quickly became very close friends.  Eventually, he also became my mentor and it never crossed my mind that I might disagree with anything he told me.

But within the last few years, for a variety of reasons, I did begin to disagree with some of Joe’s most fundamental beliefs, particularly when it comes to The Secret and the Law of Attraction.

At first I tried to dismiss these “disconnects” as I didn’t want to damage our relationship.  Instead, I looked for places in which we did agree and focused on those.

But eventually, my hesitancy to “butt heads” with some of Joe’s ideas began to take its toll on me.

As Oscar Wilde said, “"To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.”

It turns out Mr. Wilde was right.  So eventually I began to put more and more of these ideas into my writings.  Then, when I began to appreciate how much damage could result from all the hype The Secret was receiving, well, the dam burst and here we are.

Though I still care for Joe and value much of what he says - especially when it comes to marketing - for good or ill, I have found my own voice and am no longer a JoeBot.

Someone once said, “I don’t know the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

I think another key to failure is trying to please any one person all the time.

So there you have it.  The reason for my “sudden” turnaround.  Though it may appear to have happened suddenly, this turnaround has been a long time coming.

I hope this clears things up.  And I hope I never make the same mistake again.

Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 09:02 AM

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