The Secret

Rhonda Byrne’s self-help book The Secret  (2006) refers to the “secret” of the “Law of Attraction,” a popularized pseudoscientific theory that the human process of ideation has a direct influence on the outcomes of encounters and events in the world. In her book, Byrne applies this theory to different aspects of life, elucidating how she believes it forms a program for tackling any problem. The ideas backgrounding the book, as well as the book itself, have been labeled pseudoscience by members of the scientific community, falling within the New Age and New Thought genres of popular philosophy, which began in the early twentieth century.

Byrne explains the Law of Attraction. Phrased most colloquially as “like attracts like,” it posits that our thoughts directly create our life because thoughts are embedded in the “energy” that makes up the universe. The rest of the book constitutes Byrne’s personal elaboration on the “secret.” She occasionally references quotes by scientists and naturalists, such as Albert Einstein, Carl Jung, and Ralph Waldo Emerson to support her thesis. Byrne starts her argument from the axiom that everything in and around us is made up of energy, down to the level of the atom. Therefore, energy is the basic element of the building blocks of everything we see and experience.

Next, Byrne states that energy is vibrational, traveling in different frequencies. In this way, our thoughts are magnetic, attracting and repelling different frequencies. When we have a thought, it is transmitted from us into the surrounding universe. Byrne analogizes this to the transmission tower, which sends and receives radio frequencies that carry information with which it constructs more complex things. Byrne asserts that similar frequencies are attracted to each other, while people and events that vibrate similar to us naturally magnetize toward us. She argues that it is as simple, neutral, and predictable as Isaac Newton’s law of gravity, not caring whether the individual knows about or believes its existence.



Byrne provides examples of categories of thought to which the secret applies. The first two are good and bad thoughts. Though the Law of Attraction doesn’t discriminate between good and bad thoughts and doesn’t care whether we want something or not, it propagates the waves we give off, thereby attracting the objects of desire. Byrne claims that most people think mainly about the negations of their desires; for example, someone who wants to be rich thinks about the plight of being poor or middle class. Instead, she argues that people should think about what they want, setting off a positive feedback loop.

Byrne discusses the categories of conscious and subconscious thought, borrowing from Freud’s system of organization of the human mind. She warns that the Law of Attraction is not only in effect for conscious thought, but for the unconscious as well. For example, if we want to be rich, we might say we want lots of money, but harbor subconscious reservations or doubts. The universe takes these energies into account as well, informing their outcome.

Byrne cites a study whose findings appear to show that an average person has around 60,000 distinct thoughts per day, most of which are involuntary. All of these thoughts make plenty of subject matter to work on when we try to be aware of the energy we are giving off. Once we reclaim our thoughts, Byrne argues, we gain a tool that accelerates progress toward our objects of desire.



Byrne wraps up her analysis of the applications of the Law of Attraction by giving examples of how to attract desired relationships with others. First, she asserts that we must live ourselves. Most people are conditioned to put self-love at the end of the list of desires, mentally highlighting thoughts that give off negative energy. One hallmark of loving oneself is treating oneself the way one wants to treat others. Second, Byrne asserts that we must realize our love for each other, even for strangers. People who complain attract increasingly negative energy, grouping them in with other people who think negatively. Finally, Byrne exhorts her audience to ensure that their actions are consistent with their desires. If we act as if we already have what we want, we will gradually realize that ideal without needing to worry or despair.

Though Byrne’s book is far from scientific, making illogical leaps about the nature of the mind that are inconsistent with many contemporary ideas gleaned from hard evidence, she presents a compelling argument that resembles the karmic system of Eastern religions. Newly applying the idea of karmic energy to the fluid, chaotic, modern world, she presents a rulebook by which she hopes her audience will learn to live.