Mammon Book II: Belief Orientations behind the Great Recession Newton Fortuin pot

In this regard The Secret is symptomatic of the greater mindset that had led to the economic crisis, but moreover, the book discusses a philosophy which I believe can aid one in one’s pe

Mammon Book II:

Belief Orientations behind the Great Recession

Newton Fortuin

Copyright ©Newton Fortuin 2008, 1012

Published at Smashwords

Mammon

Book I The Demise of Critical Thinking in the Age of “The Secret”

Book II Belief Orientations behind the Great Recession

Book IIIThriving in the Age of Austerity

These books are available in most eBook reader formats

at

Smashwords.com

Please Note

This is a continuation of the previous book which provides the

necessary context for this instalment

F ORWARD

With the exception of the section Conservative Religion and the Economic Crisis, all writing in the main text is as it was written before 15 August 2008

If you follow the argument in the book, you will note that similar new age prosperity views proliferated in the 1920's, and that an underlying unquestioning faith in prosperity is what ultimately derailed the economic system at the time The issue again is not that

of The Secret per se, but that there is a ubiquitous unquestioning belief in prosperity in the US at this time, but also in South Africa where I live, but it appears, globally as well

Although these events have now transpired, it is important to take note of the underlying argument which predicted them, as well as what the consequences may be if it is not heeded In this regard the events were predicted not purely from an economic perspective, but based on what I perceived as the prevalence of a greater Consumerist Psychosis driving the underlying attitudes which resulted in the financial calamity, and which The Secret in particular, is emblematic of In this regard The Secret is symptomatic of the greater mindset that had led to the economic crisis, but moreover, the book discusses a philosophy which I believe can aid one in one’s personal recovery from the psychological and existential effects of the continuing downturn

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

SPIRITUAL CONSUMERISM

THE UNCONSCIOUS RELIGION

THE LORD OF MIND

THE GOD OF MAMMON

THE DAWN OF DOOM

VANQUISHED TRUTH

DECLINE OF REASON

SUFFERING WITH GRACE

CONSERVATIVE RELIGION AND THE EUROPEAN SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS

SHORT-TERM THINKING IN WESTERN DEMOCRACIES

RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOUR

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE AND FAITH

THE PRIMACY OF WORK

THE CARDINAL TRUTH

FORGING A NEW FUTURE

CONCLUSION

CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE ECONOMY

ADDENDUM

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS: THE ROLE OF AMERICA

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS: THE ROLE OF CHINA

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS: SOUTH AFRICA’S RESPONSE

COPYRIGHTS ISSUES PERTAINING TO USE OF EXTRACTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I started writing this work in October 2007 after watching an airing of a The Secret panel on Oprah, and then realising the extent of the consumerist psychosis alluded to in this text

All writing on the economy was completed by August 2008—that is before the economic crash of September 15 It was not meant to be about the economy per se, but rather about the dangers of an insatiable mentality that exists particularly in the United States, and the potential dangers it holds for society As discussed in this instalment of Mammon, one of these being its impact on the economy

I hence wanted to point out that the events which culminated in the dire economic circumstances we are now finding ourselves in, was a product

of a psychological/spiritual malaise ( i.e greed), as much as it was economic In this regard the makers of The Secret simply cached in on the prevailing mentality during this time and did not necessarily create it, albeit that they definitely exacerbated it by proliferating its insatiable belief system

CHAPTER ONE

SPIRITUAL CONSUMERISM

The Unconscious Religion

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a

religious conviction – [Blaise Pascal]

This section examines how instilling a pseudo-religious ideology in the minds of one’s prospects, allows for a level of suggestibility which can readily be exploited for financial, political or any other gain In order to acquire some insight into this it’s again useful to refer to the views of Le

Bon Specifically the following extracts are from a subchapter of The Crowd called A Religious Shape Assumed by All the Convictions of Crowds

…

When these convictions are closely examined, whether at epochs marked

by fervent religious faith, or by great political upheavals such as those of the last century, it is apparent that they always assume a peculiar form which I cannot better define than by giving it the name of a religious sentiment

This sentiment has very simple characteristics, such as worship of a being supposed superior, fear of the power with which the being is credited, blind submission to its commands, inability to discuss its dogmas, the desire to spread them, and a tendency to consider as enemies all by whom they are not accepted Whether such a sentiment apply to an invisible God, to a wooden or stone idol, to a hero or to a political conception, provided that it presents the preceding characteristics, its essence always remains religious The supernatural and the miraculous are found to be present to the same extent Crowds unconsciously accord a mysterious power to the political formula or the victorious leader that for the moment arouses their enthusiasm

A person is not religious solely when he worships a divinity, but when he puts all the resources of his mind, the complete submission of his will, and the whole-souled ardor of fanaticism at the service of a cause or an

individual who becomes the goal and guide of his thoughts and actions.Intolerance and fanaticism are the necessary accompaniments of the

religious sentiment They are inevitably displayed by those who believe themselves in the possession of The Secret of earthly or eternal happiness These two characteristics are to be found in all men grouped

together when they are inspired by a conviction of any kind

To-day the majority of the great men who have swayed men’s minds no longer have altars, but they have statues, or their portraits are in the hands

of their admirers, and the cult of which they are the object is not notably different from that accorded to their predecessors An understanding of the philosophy of history is only to be got by a thorough appreciation of this fundamental point of the psychology of crowds The crowd demands

a god before everything else

It must not be supposed that these are the superstitions of a bygone age which reason has definitely banished Sentiment has never been vanquished in its eternal conflict with reason Crowds will hear no more

of the words divinity and religion, in whose name they were so long

enslaved; but they have never possessed so many fetishes as in the last hundred years (even more so in the following century), and the old

divinities have never had so many statues and altars raised in their honor

It is thus a very useless commonplace to assert that a religion is necessary for the masses, because all political, divine, and social creeds only take root among them on the condition of always assuming the religious shape—a shape which obviates the danger of discussion Were it possible

to induce the masses to adopt atheism, this belief would exhibit all the intolerant ardor of a religious sentiment, and in its exterior forms would soon become a cult

The Lord of Mind

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes — [Kahlil

Gibran]

The danger of religion is very real, primarily because a great many major wars and a great deal of inhumanity until now have been perpetrated in the name of some or other religious view This includes atheism as had been the case in Stalinist Russia and the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, but currently in North Korea as well

The aforementioned dangers associated with religious thinking, ironically, was also highlighted by one of the world’s major religions,

Buddhism In Buddhism this aspect is referred to as The Lord of Mind This is one of the Three Lords of Materialism coined by Buddha to

describe the controlling power of the ego

In the seventies Tibetan Buddhist Chögyam Trungpa in his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism specifically referred to The Lord of Mind

as Spiritual Materialism It suggests that the ego tends to subvert spiritual

concepts and ‘spirituality’ for its own egocentric ends

Spiritual Materialism in this instance has to do with the individual’s subversion of spirituality in their own mind In other words it is not necessarily as a consequence of outside manipulation as is the case with spiritual con artists such as Byrne et al as discussed in Book I

Interestingly Trungpa points out that Spiritual Materialism, as opposed to the conventional notion of materialism, is most powerful in subverting spiritual growth Interestingly he points out that it’s even more spiritually and psychologically destructive than Physical Materialism In other words, the real danger is in fooling oneself that one is ‘spiritual’, but that this identity is a largely self-serving one

In the book Trungpa warns that American Spirituality in particular was largely succumbing to spiritual materialism And in this regard he warned that fledgling groups, particular those incorporating Eastern religious notions, was in great danger of being subverted by fraudsters and con artists

This chapter, therefore, is not strictly about Spiritual Materialism, but rather about this subversion, and how 'spirituality' can very easily be commercially exploited; hence the overriding reference to Spiritual Consumerism

As such, spiritual consumerism is about how ‘spiritual’ goods are purveyed, and not necessarily about how we as individuals may psychologically attach to any particular spiritual dogma for our own egocentric or other psychological reasons

Shackling Imagery

The mirror of Erised (Desire) shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, more desperate desire of our hearts… However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible…It does not do to dwell on dreams

and forget to live, remember that… — [J K Rawlings]

The way The Secret has formulated its action plan – that is to ask, believe and receive) – for all intents and purposes is an antithesis to actually achieving one’s goals This one can conclude only when one explores its deeper more malicious intent

To understand why it is so one must be cognizant that the ability to get people to unquestioningly believe their visions will materialize by its own accord, is a very powerful weapon in the greater armory of the mass hypnotist

It is once again from Le Bon’s ponderings that we can gain some insight into the methodology of the mass deceiver

shape of a startling and very clear image, freed from all accessory information, or merely having as accompaniment a few marvelous or mysterious facts: examples in point are a great victory, a great miracle, a great crime, or a great hope (or isolated grand sounding claims about

Quantum Physics) Things must be laid before the crowd as a whole, and their genesis must never be indicated (it must be overtly positive, and the

potential pitfalls, the negative, must never be presented)

These imagelike ideas are not connected by any logical bond of analogy

or succession, and may take each other’s place like the slides of a lantern which the operator withdraws from the groove in which they were placed This explains how it is that the most contradictory ideas may be seen to be simultaneously current in crowds

magic-According to the chances of the moment, a crowd will come under the influence of one of the various ideas stored up in its understanding, and is

capable, in consequence, of committing the most dissimilar acts Its complete lack of the critical spirit does not allow of its perceiving these contradictions.

Such is always the case with the collective hallucination so frequent in history—hallucinations which seem to have all the recognized characteristics of authenticity, since they are phenomena observed by thousands of persons

It is not, then, the facts in themselves that strike the popular imagination, but the way in which they take place and are brought under notice It is necessary that by their condensation they should produce a startling

image which fills and besets the mind To know the art of impressing the imagination of crowds is to know at the same time the art of governing them.

…

Thus, as much as it is absolutely not true that visualizing an end will of itself make it happen, what is important to draw from the above is that nurturing such a belief in one’s prospect, is all important if one is to mentally control them

In other words: the ability to conjure up such illusory visions in the mind

of one’s prospects is all important to mentally entrapping them, and for them to unconsciously do one’s bidding

Voluntary Enslavement

Who covets more, is evermore a slave — [Robert Herrick]

Most importantly, what must be borne in mind with regard to spiritual

consumerism, is that there in truth is no ‘goods’ or any other meaningful value exchange taking place, but rather, as with the fable of The Emperor’s New Clothes, the mere purveyance of the suggestion that something of value is being offered

Linking this to Shackling Imagery and The Unconscious Religion, we see

that powerful imagery accompanied with an unconscious belief orientation can be a very powerful cocktail used by the mass hypnotist to entice their chosen victims The real danger with attaching a concerted consumerist agenda to ‘spiritual’ innuendo as is the case with The Secret,

is that the consumerist visual imagery of today is unmatched and far more subliminally compelling to anything that has gone before We are constantly bombarded by visuals suggesting stuff we cannot live without, and how we are lesser humans for not having them Thus we have to contend with a never ending onslaught on our consciousness which we are obliged to constantly ward off for our sanity to prevail

While this state of affairs in itself is untenable, what is apparent is that The Secret deliberately exploits this unfortunate reality by purposefully implanting consumerist mental hallucinations We are literally persuaded

to actively load our imaginations with the images of the things we want, such as Vitale’s BMW Z3 Roadsters for example

It however must be borne in mind that, evoking such overt vivid visual imagery, is part of a concerted effort to entrap those enamored by such views into a particular brand of unconscious consumerist religion Though instead of heaven after death that is being concocted, the belief being purveyed is that one can attain one's dreams and desires merely by

maintaining the illusion of it in one's head Then, to immerse oneself in the hallucinatory feelings as if one has already attained it

In other words the implanted suggestion is that we can attain our stuff merely by wanting it badly enough The specific means to materialize it being is simple as immersing oneself in vivid mental images of it And as

an aside, to intend good things for others to further assist with its certain miraculous manifestation And let's not forget, to also attend expensive seminars or form part of a new age worship group to further expedite this magical acquisition

All along, while engaging our pleasant hallucination, the reality outside our imagination — aside from the pleasant illusion — usually having the nasty side-effect of sneaking up on us if we do not pay it the due attention

Though, as The Secret literally amounts to the propagation of a bunch of carefully selected half-truths, its overall societal impact cannot readily be discerned Perhaps the best way to understand its innate danger is by way

of the Parable of the Sower

This is iterated by the following quote by Andrew Paterson from a

critique of Brandon Bays' The Journey titled Hijacking Natural Enlightenment It was written in March 2005, a few months before The Secret’s release

So the whole thing comes down to authenticity When we are living

authentically, we plant the seed of natural enlightenment in the soil

of our soul When we focus on techniques and teachers, that seed is never planted, or if it has been, any shoots will quickly wither and die It is not that teachers and techniques cannot be useful, but we must always make our own inner lives the focus of our spiritual work Unfortunately, there are many commercially minded men and women out there who are desperate for us to focus on them and their technique so that they can sell us their workshops, retreats, books and CDs These are the hijackers of enlightenment; and these are the individuals we must run a mile from if we want any chance

to taste the true inner freedom that is our birthright.

Essentially The Secret is a regurgitation of John Kehoe’s Mind Power

techniques (though many other similar techniques before), but significantly less grounded and with unprecedented commercialism In basic marketing speak the way it is packaged is as the prototypical example of “how to sell snow to an Eskimo”

Again referencing John Demartini, it is interesting that his latest

workshop is called How to Make One Hell of a Profit and Still Get to Heaven While it might sound catchy, this in my opinion flagrantly

promoting his consistent consumerist agenda and he may very well have called it “How to have your cake and eat it too”

As much as Demartini professes to be a spiritualist, his idea of heaven became apparent to me some time before The Secret when a friend asked

me to attend a book signing by someone she referred to as a great philosopher and scientist I nevertheless was not impressed, particularly with Demartini’s umpteenth reference to his five houses dotted around the world, his luxury yacht with its resort community he circumvents the globe annually; and how we all could live his fabulous life if we just attends his very expensive workshops

It's not that making a helluva profit and going to heaven is of necessity mutually exclusive No doubt being rich can be heavenly, but for others having too much money also appears to be a literal hell on earth as well The latest case in point being the death of one of Britain’s richest woman,

48 year old Eva Rausing, due to a suspected drug overdose At her death she and her husband had severely degenerated due to drug addiction An

affliction which they, with all the resources at their disposal, were powerless to overcome Rather the point to grasp is how such references

to becoming instantly wealthy are consistently reflective of The Secret’s consumerist message and how achieving commercial success has become intertwined with popular new age spirituality

Furthermore when one understands the methods used by propagandists one can further gain insight into this unprecedented appeal Though irrespective of its seeming attractiveness, one must constantly be vigilant

of the consumerist motive that drives such views

It simply comes down to this:

It is not that they (the spiritual marketers) wish us to become rich, but rather that the advocates of these views want our money… as such diminishing our true chances in this regard

This is very strongly worded in an article titled Oprah’s Ugly Secret by

Peter Birkenhead who puts it as follows

Steve Martin used to do a routine that went like this: "You too can

be a millionaire! It's easy: First, get a million dollars Now If you put that routine between hard covers, you'd have "The Secret", the self-help manifesto and bottle of minty-fresh snake oil currently topping the bestseller lists

I suppose when looking at it from the predominant commercial paradigm

of our time, in having elevated their particular brand of self-help psychology to the level of a pop religious faith, the producers cunning should in a manner of speaking be lauded As such they perhaps are not truly the evil one’s in this regard For as evil is often defined in the new age world, it is considered to be the denial of self And it is patently obvious that Byrne and her team certainly had been incredibly sober-minded about their incredibly profitable undertaking

They therefore may very well not be new ageists at all, but that they saw the market opportunity in the prevailing new age mindset In this manner cunningly disguising themselves as the proverbial wolves in sheep’s clothing and so to seize upon their unsuspecting prey

While laughing all the way to the bank I’m sure they in their wildest imaginings could not have envisaged the abandoned appeal their concoction would have had Particularly since the scale of its acceptance must have been significantly beyond what even they in their wildest dreams could have imagined

Yet what sets The Secret apart from any other professed self-help means

that preceded it, is that it more than any other, unashamedly feeds into these unconscious proclivities – in particular, wantonness and greed – by disseminating falsehood through gross omission of the facts, while actively encouraging a delusional denialist mentality

One of its greatest omissions being the failure to convey that in most cases the truly great people of history were particularly sober-minded about their magnificent undertakings In most cases they were prepared to sacrifice potential poverty and humiliation in order to persevere with their endeavors, often without even a hope of success or recognition in their lifetime

And to bring this to the previous discussion, were completely aware of the potential personal costs associated with their endeavors Frequently these great spirits were willing to face losing their life without any promise of greatness, only for society to adjudge them great in posterity Nevertheless most of the truly great individuals of history are nameless as they had not sought any recognition to begin with

In fact most of the truly great men and woman of all time became great primarily because they were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice This includes losing everything, and even their life such as Socrates, Jesus,

Alexander, Joan of Ark, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X…

But also because they were prepared to suffer whatever discomfort they deemed necessary to eventually achieve their goals Examples include Galileo, Darwin, Einstein, Planck, Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi…

History also shows that most of the great scientific pioneers over the ages have only achieved acclaim in posterity, having been considered mavericks for having endeavored in the areas in which they did

Thus even though I have somewhat excused the makers of The Secret in the previous section, I now want to fully retract this defense I’m doing so primarily because of such omissions which deliberately seek to convince that achieving one’s goals is easy and that one can do so merely by thinking wishfully

For this reason spiritual consumerism must be regarded as an evil against humanity as opposed to the material kind This is primarily because it is a concerted and deliberate manipulation of the deepest fiber of what makes

us human

What else do these carefully selected half-truths’ amount to but blatant indoctrination for financial gain without any regard for the spiritual and psychological wellbeing of those targeted?

This clearly is contrary to what it professes to do As such it is unscrupulous and unconscionable, and as the common definition is

understood, is true evil—not mere unconsciousness as Jung defined it as Thus, apart from the unintended harmful consequences our unconscious actions or inactions may have on ourselves and others, our inadvertent ineptitude is yet not evil At least as we ordinarily interpret it According

to the usual definition, the association we have with those who commit evil, are that they do their callous deeds with clear conscious intent, regardless of the consequences on others

Though rather than condemning The Secret for the blatant sacrilege it is, for some obscure reason even some of the most learned and influential members of society also appear to have become completely infatuated by

this outrageous deceit

CHAPTER TWO

THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Neo Tyranny

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of

tyranny over the mind of man –– [Thomas Jefferson]

When contemplating Le Bon’s words in The Unconscious Religion one must grasp that Nazism first and fore mostly emanated from a religious cult In fact the fervor that ensued resulted from Hitler seizing on the knowledge that the masses can more easily be manipulated in this way Hence what essentially transpired was that he formulated his own self-styled religious doctrine as a vehicle to drive and promote his devious political ends

This is further intimated in the following extract from University of

Calgary professors Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe’s New Religions as Global Culture: The Sacralization of the Human

To most people outside of Germany the Nazi movement is an example of a political ideology gone mad It was that But, as George Mosse pointed out in the early 1960's the Nazi movement was inspired by various new religions and, at its core, was deeply religious, but violently anti-Christian Of course, for most Germans, National Socialism was a political movement that claimed to be able to solve the problem of unemployment and end the Great Depression But, the SS were almost totally adherents to a new German neo-paganism…

The Arian race concept was specifically derived from Hindu mythology,

in particular the Aryan invasion of India by northern tribes a few thousand years ago The conclusion we therefore can reasonably draw from the above is that, at the core, religiosity – and specifically New Age

‘spirituality’, albeit a devious perversion of the original form – was largely responsible for World War II and the ideology that fuelled the madness that led to the Holocaust

Furthermore, other than having aided the dictators and despots of the early 20th century, the main application of Le Bon’s work had been in the

field of marketing

The question this raises is: what distinguishes marketing from indoctrination?

What is evident is that the marketing industry's emphasis is specifically

on the visual aspects referred to in Shackling Imagery Belief on the other hand tended to be a far more subtle matter The eventual belief in a product or service usually becoming entrenched in the brand image which develops over time Thus there is not an overt attempt at instilling a belief orientation per se

Belief consequently becomes entrenched in the quality perception of the product itself, though this at times can border on a form of virtual worship Nevertheless whatever the belief perception may be, it usually is

an essential element of the quality of the offering itself For this reason, given that business can at times be cut-throat, in this regard there always tended to be an implicit ethical line which seldom is overtly crossed What therefore distinguishes The Secret from being mere marketing is that it most certainly had crossed this implicit line Firstly it does not offer a product or anything else of true value, but specifically purveys a belief it deviously purports to be based on science But more crucially, that this belief itself feeds into the prevailing consumerist milieu which it deliberately seeks to exploit

To discern the fundamental difference between a marketer and what can otherwise be referred to as a spiritual marketer, is this

A marketer will usually ask: “how can I bring attention to my offering in order to maximize its sales?”

This would include emphasizing the special features of the product or improving the quality perception of the offering in whatever way the market demands Thus despite the marketer's inducements to purchase, the consumer ultimately is still in control of the overall process

On the other hand the spiritual marketer would be motivated by the

question: “How can I instill a belief orientation in the mind of my prospect that I may program them into giving me ongoing revenue

without having to provide any meaningful value exchange in return?”

The following 2006 Time.com article emphasizing exactly how blatant this emphasis had been

The film's backers say they deliberately aimed to make "wealth enhancement" a major element of the project "We desired to hit the masses, and money is the number one thing on the masses' minds," says Bob Rainone, a former IBM salesman and telecom exec who now serves as Byrne's U.S business partner Wealth enhancement

is also part of The Secret's business plan.

This in itself should be the dead giveaway That The Secret was conceived as a business idea, particularly targeting it at the greedy (“money is the number one thing on the masses mind”) and not a spontaneous act of inspiration with the intent being to enlighten

As such they’ve use methods of indoctrination in the same way a Napoleon, Hitler and a Mussolini had done So while Hitler evoked the imagery of the blond-haired blue-eyed (notably not his own characteristics) superior 'Aryan' race, The Secret evokes vivid images of the stuff we desire, accompanied with the belief that one can effortlessly manifest them by using The Secret's 'secret' methods Thus instead of doing it for political expediency, The Secret's tyrants were motivated by unadulterated commercial gain

Again, if you had become a devotee of The Secret, the question I’m

obliged to ask you is: how do you feel about it now that you know you had been deliberately targeted? That you were previously deemed likely

to abdicate your conscious reason to these unscrupulous marketer’s inducements, in doing so, to have become part of Rainone and co’s select psychographic as had been predicted by their carefully crafted business plan?

_

As will be discussed in Formula for Disaster, it should be noted that Hinduism has nothing to do with Nazism, except that Hitler had maliciously subverted Indian mythology, the associated symbolism – such as the Swastika which is a Hindu Symbol for Good luck – had been used as a particular method of indoctrination as per the advocacy of

Le Bon Himmler however indicated that it was the ideal religion to support his idea of a superior race, particularly given the notion of reincarnation as well as the associated rigid enforcement of the caste system entrenched in its name Himmler also carried a

Bhagavad-Gita in his possession This melding of diverse religious notions with a perverse political ideology led to the greatest evil of all time

For a more in-depth study into the relationships between Nazism and the New Religions

of 20’s and 30’s, Karla Poewe’s New Religions and the Nazi’s provide substantial documentary corroboration Also refer to the Discovery World documentary Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy as well as Esoteric Nazism

Descent to Inanity

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe,

but in their readiness to doubt – [H L Mencken]

It might sound melodramatic fearing that a simple DVD and book is a great evil threatening the soul of humankind Though the real danger is in the subtlety of the deception It has become really problematic arguing against any aspect of it without being labeled a negative spirit or one who

is anti-love and human brotherhood

On the other hand how can one sit back when such an inane philosophy is

as readily accepted? How for instance can we reasonably reconcile views

as the one below by Lisa Nichols with our oftentimes harsh daily reality?

Everytime you look inside your mail expecting to see a bill, guess what—it’ll be there Each day you go out dreading the bill! You’re never expecting anything great You’re thinking debt, you’re expecting debt So debt must show up so you won’t think you’re crazy And everyday you confirm your thought: Is debt going to be there? Yes, debt’s there Why? Because you expected debt to be there So it showed up, because the law of attraction is always obedient to your thoughts Do yourself a favor—expect a check!

On reading that you might ask: but what’s wrong with it, she’s not saying

we should not pay our bills? She's merely suggesting we look at our debt differently, rather to look towards what we want and not what we don’t want and towards the future instead of being stuck in the past

This extract should however be viewed within the greater context of the book where all aspects such as health, weight loss, potential accidents, are to be remedied with a similar notion—by merely shifting our focus away from the problem, as if in doing so, the problem will go away by its own accord Thus my vehement criticism is in the consistent idea that one

should only perceive the positive while completely dismissing the negative

I also am convinced that most people are not sitting around dreading the bill, and then as a consequence of this dread are not expecting anything great The reality today is that we are expecting far too much and thus that the exact opposite is true It is that most people tend to be in denial about the state of their debt, a great many not even opening the bills when

it does arrive And the main reason for this denial is that confronting it soberly will unavoidably impact on their ever growing list of unfulfilled expectations

That this is in fact what is being conveyed is iterated by the following reference by Bob Proctor found immediately after Nichols quote

Desire connects you with the thing you desired and expectation draws it into your life

What they in fact are communicating is this

To get more of what you want, you merely need become more expectant of life

One therefore can reasonably conclude that the associated expectant mindset had been responsible for accumulating the substantial debt in the first place As such the only reason one would dread the bill is that it is an unwelcome reminder that one’s expectations may have to be significantly curtailed

The danger with accepting sweeping remarks as Nichols’ in the context

of The Secret’s philosophy is that, when the bill does arrive, one is inclined to become complacent about it The sense of ease deriving from the belief that one does not need to worry about such matters as the imaginary check will indeed be arriving soon to rescue one from one's already dealt with and consequently nonexistent predicament

The resulting distorted view of reality directly following from The Secret’s three step action plan—which in fact is credited to Nichols As

step one proposes: “Place an order with the Universe…” Then onto step two: “How the universe will bring it to you, is not your concern or job…

When you are trying to work out how it will happen, you are emitting a frequency that contains a lack of faith…”

And step three: “It’s important to feel good, to be happy, because when you’re feeling good you’re putting yourself in the frequency of what you want… It could be you wake up and it’s just there It’s manifested…” Paraphrasing the above, what in truth is being conveyed is that, facing the reality of the bill will not make one feel good in the moment, which in turn will nullify “The Universe's” assistance in getting one out of one's

‘temporary’ tight spot

It is furthermore inane because thinking a check in the mail, will not make it happen of its own accord, no matter how hard one intends This is not a statement of belief, but one grounded on absolute cause-and-effect scientific fact I suppose it must be a lottery cheque she is referring to which our weekly cash investments and positive mental vibrations would have scientifically assisted us with

The inanity of it aside, the suggestion that one ignores one's debt is tantamount to proclaiming that taking responsibility for the actions that brought it about, is irresponsible

To put it another way, being in the moment in this case requires one fully accept the burden of one’s debt that it ceases to be an unconscious sword constantly hovering over one’s head The reality is that debt in most cases

is a painful consequence of not curtailing our spending when we did not truly have the finances at our disposal

As financial expert Suze Orman indicated, most Americans cannot get out of debt simply because they have no idea about how much they owe, and how much their debt is costing them This being no different to an overweight person not wanting to look at themselves in the mirror, and therefore to come face to face with the reality that their eating may well

be out of control

In fact this denial is exactly what Byrne is relying on when targeting her victims But more importantly, is actively fostering This is very evident from the following concluding extract taken from the chapter on wealth

creation

I never opened my bills until I had got myself into the feeling that they were checks If I opened my bills before convincing myself they were checks, my stomach would churn when I opened them I knew that the emotion of the churning in my stomach was powerfully bringing more bills I knew I had to erase that feeling, and replace it with joyful feelings, so I could bring more money into my life In the face of a pile of bills, that game worked for me, and it changed my life There are so many games you can create, and you will know what works best for you by the way you feel inside When you make-believe, the results come fast!

With this Byrne has taken the notion of living in the land of make-believe

to a dangerous next level: that one completely immerses oneself in one’s fantasies, and that in merely doing so, to expect that one can miraculously manifest any reality one desires

However our debt is a reality we cannot afford to ignore or wish away, and certainly is one we most definitely should not willingly choose to as

it inevitably will only be to our much greater future detriment

And it is not karma that will bring this future suffering to you Rather it is the simple cause-and-and-effect principle of the psychological universe known as consequence you will be attracting

And it usually builds up considerable momentum if it is to be ignored It

is almost the only psychodynamic one can bank on Indeed it is so reliable in its outworking it may well be called “The Law of Attraction”

Thus if we are in severe debt, the recommended recourse would be to

first feel every ounce of that pain, that your stomach churns is yet a sign

that you are living in reality and not insane, but not to be crippled by its specter either as there almost always is a way out—albeit that it more than likely will be very painful in the short term

In this way, by taking responsibility for the actions that had brought it about, to devise a clear plan of action to get us out of our dire circumstance And while feeling every bit of the agony our irresponsible

actions had brought about (though often it merely is the result of unfortunate timing of uncontrollable events as the current financial crisis is), to vow never to unconsciously bury ourselves into such a debilitating hole again

_

Related to Nichol’s remark “Do yourself a favor—expect a check (that is through the mail)!” it is noteworthy that the number one method with which American’s are scammed every year, is through bogus checks which are received through the mail This information came to my knowledge courtesy of The Oprah Winfrey Show

Troubled Waters

The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the

get rich quick theory of life – [Theodore Roosevelt]

As an adjunct to the previous discussion on debt, it is also pertinent to ponder the current state of the global economy in relation to the timing of the release of the DVD This was more or less 2005/2006, a time when the world economy was booming and banks were urging consumers to take on substantial debt Now just over two years on we are facing one of the bleakest recessions for many a decade

According to those who have been around long enough, we are facing the first significant bear market for more than two decades, with a 20% drop

in value in Wall Street during June 2008 (though far worse during September/October 2008) But ominously, that the economic environment has never been as confusing And unlike bear markets since the great depression, where the effects emanated from emerging markets, America is at the epicenter of the current economic turmoil

Factors influencing this are: America’s spiraling budget deficit; the perilous drop in dollar value over the past 5 years having lost more than 50% of its value to the euro; the oil price being at previously inconceivable highs; prices of basic foods such as rice and wheat doubling over the past year; threats to US employment with the seventh consecutive month of job losses by the end of July 2008, a 21% increase

in a single year (that is considering that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan should have had an artificial decreasing effect); U.S consumer

confidence has dropped to the lowest levels in 30 years; and the unprecedented home-foreclosure rate and lending crisis—more so than during any other time

The home foreclosure crisis is also not only an American occurrence as more or less the same scenario is being played out in most economies For instance in South Africa the interest rate has almost doubled over the past two years with even more rate hikes expected because of the prevailing economic conditions After his tenth increase in this period, the reserve bank governor indicated that “untenable high demand for bank credit emanating from the private sector is pushing up interest rates

in the market place”, hence he is obliged to respond with rate hikes Because of this additional burden over and above rising food and oil prices, it is predicted that the home foreclosure rate will triple within the next year, yet the demand for credit continued unabated At the end of July 2008, two months after the last rate hike, statistics have shown that demand for credit had significantly increased compared to previous periods, not decreasing as expected Because of this economist are now predicting further rate hikes to compensate for this anomalous occurrence

The increased demand for credit having been the main reason the lending rate was increased to begin with, and under normal circumstances would've sufficed as an adequate economic measure to slow down credit demand The problem being that debtors were financing their debt burden with new debt in order to maintain their lifestyles instead of adapting to the economic conditions

This scenario in a country where the lending rate is already six times that

of the United States (the prime rate was 12% at the time compared to 2%

in the US) Because of the relatively low interest rates, financing debt with more debt is far more extensive in the US Notably American interest rates have been stable or decreasing during this time as the Federal Reserve is more concerned about maintaining current economic activity The irony therefore is that, while the rest of the world is attempting to ward off the crisis by increasing lending rates, the US is

decreasing their already low rates The motivation being to prevent the escalation of unemployment and further exacerbating their already tenuous credit crisis

To get a sense of what these indicators spell, it is useful to consider the

following extract from an article titled Another World Depression? by

Indian academic Dr Jayati Gosh

Many years ago, the economist Charles Kindleberger had identified the pattern of a financial crisis in his classic work, “Manias, Panics and Crashes” The crisis is the last phase of a cycle which begins with an initial boom The upswing usually starts with some change, such as new markets, new technologies or political transformations

It proceeds via credit expansion, rising prices, particularly of assets, and euphoria Overtrading and then speculative mania emerge, "as a larger and larger group of people seek to become rich without a real understanding of the processes involved" Ultimately, the markets cease rising and, as a consequence, some highly borrowed players find themselves overstretched This is the

"distress" stage Distress generates other failures, including some unexpected ones, and this is followed by a stage of "revulsion" or

"discredit" The final phase is a self-feeding panic, involving a downward free fall.

The above article was written in 1998, most of which we have witnessed over the past number of years and we can reasonably assume we are entering the ‘distress’ stage—though thankfully not, as yet, the

‘revulsion’ stage

These ominous indicators definitely spelling gloomy economic times for the foreseeable future But it is apparent that those who believe in views such as The Secret who are facing possible foreclosures, rather than dealing with the issue in a practical way, would take Nichols advice and spend the little they have to remedy the situation on expensive workshops

or lottery tickets, in the hope that a check will magically manifest itself in the mail

In this way praying and believing that The Secret and its ‘methods’ will somehow save them from their impending doom

_

Note that these were factors before the Lehman Brothers collapse after which these indicators plummeted dramatically.

At the end of July 2008, two months after the last rate hike in South Africa, statistics had revealed that demand for credit had significantly increased compared to previous periods, and had not decreased as was expected Because of this economist predicted further rate hikes to compensate for this anomalous occurrence.

Sober Reflections

We learn from history that we do not learn from history – [George

Wilhelm Hegel]

To get some sense of the period before the Great Depression, it’s useful

to again reflect on Hall’s writing The following extract is also from The Secret Teachings of all Ages, describing attitudes three years before the

1929 economic meltdown

My fleeting contact with high finance resulted in serious doubts concerning business as it was being conducted at that time It was apparent that materialism was in complete control of the economic structure, the final objective of which was for the individual to become part of a system providing an economic security at the expense of the human soul, mind, and body.

This gives an eyewitness impression of the mindset of the time Though this period cannot in any way be compared to the unprecedented technological materialism of today, considering the most prized material possession then other than one’s house had to have been a Model-T Ford That is considering the trappings of today such as 3D TV’s (let alone TV), computers, smart phones, air travel, the Internet And not basic everyday necessities such as electric stoves, washing machines, refrigerators and electric irons were available either Let alone practically

a billion times greater assortment of meaningless stuff to acquire, were even contemplated back then

A Pew Research Survey conducted in 2006 found that the number of things Americans now consider as necessities as opposed to mere luxuries has “multiplied over the past decade.”

Even with this it is important to be cognizant that rampant materialism

on its own is not the most ominous indicator signaling the beginning of a dramatic economic decline

Within the context of this work and considering the scale of uncritical acceptance of delusive offerings such as The Secret, it is useful to consider the views of Charles P Kindleberger mentioned in a previous extract Before his death he was MIT Professor of Economic History and

author the 1973 book The World in Depression 1929-1939 and the most eminent analyst on the events that led to the Great Depression The following extract is from a subsequent book titled Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises.

The object of speculation may vary widely from one mania or bubble to the next… At a late stage, speculation tends to detach itself from really valuable objects and turn to delusive ones A larger and larger group of people seek to become rich without a real understanding of the processes involved Not surprisingly, swindlers and catchpenny schemes flourish.

Clearly the extent of the proliferation of such swindlers and the grandiose nature of their delusive schemes today is probably the most ominous indicator that we currently are at such a cataclysmic economic stage This

is because the acceptance of such delusion is reflective of the greater uncritical milieu they thrive in

Why it furthermore is the true danger is because a rational mindset which reacts to the objective facts – in particular, having the ability to make a rational distinction between a luxury and a necessity – may yet remedy what potentially can become an unprecedented economic catastrophe from occurring

Paradise Foreclosed

The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them and they make us despair in losing them – [Madame de

Lambert ]

When examining Kindleberger's remarks, he was specifically referring to

the attitudes that contribute to the collapse of money markets Thus his reference was directed at fraudster and delusive products pertaining to this However the attitudes of those who engage the money market is representative of the greater societal milieu the money market operate in For this reason the following observation by Kindleberger is very revealing about the associated mindset responsible for economic meltdowns, but which is also reflective of the greater society as a whole

As firms or households see others making profits from speculative purchases and resales, they tend to follow: "Monkey see, monkey do." In my talks about financial crisis over the last decades, I have polished one line that always gets a nervous laugh: "There is nothing so disturbing to one's well-being and judgment as to see a friend get rich."

To put it another way: “The inability to keep up with the Jones's has the tendency to drive one positively green with envy In fact, it is downright depressing.”

When assessing the conditions necessary for the complete collapse of an

economic system, it is apparent that a critical mass of the populous appears not to respond timeously to the prevailing economic status quo

In particular economic measures put in place to curtail spending such as increasing the lending rate, become wholly ineffective at such times These individuals then would also be the ones who would eventually bear the brunt of the economic pressures that are applied during normal economic down turns

Let us assume this critical mass is around 5% of the population and that during ordinary recessions this mass is not even remotely exceeded However when this hypothetical mass is surpassed the chances of economic decay becomes greatly enhanced That is in terms of duration

as well as the eventual extent, but that the economic spill over would also affect those who otherwise would have been reasonably insulated during ordinary economic fluctuations

The cause of this extraordinary state of affairs is that the aforementioned critical mass of individuals would usually continue their consumptive behavior irrespective of the economic circumstances As such they

become the straw that ends up breaking the proverbial camel’s back In effect they would’ve been the ones who had caused the oversized bubble

to begin with

The process starts off with an economic boom where, as Kindleberger previously intimated, a number of individuals make initial killings on speculative acquisitions This is particularly in real estate purchases but also on investments on the open market Jumping on the economic bandwagon by making similar speculative investments in real estate or the stock market, many would indebt themselves in the belief that the money they invested, would similarly soon be recouped Accompanying this belief they in all likelihood would increase their standard of living to reflect their newly assumed economic status

This is even though their investments are yet to bare the promised dividend In their desperate attempt to maintain the prosperous and successful image they as a result wish to portray, they are likely to further increase their already considerable debt Their existing properties or investments usually serving as surety

As the economic circumstances worsen, their first priority tends to be to maintain their newly acquired standard of living As a consequence their response would be to finance their existing debt with even more debt This in the belief that it merely is a temporary storm that must be weathered in this way, and therefore that the good times does not have to

be curtailed Indeed because of the gloomy circumstances, to avoid the onset of depression, many increase their lavishness to prove to themselves and others that all is still well

This aside from the fact that the principal reason for the economic downturn was that an unsustainable level of economic activity was reached and that an inevitable economic slowdown is required This consequently affects the value of all fixed assets because of the more expensive mortgages which results from the increased lending rates at such times As a further consequence of the economic slowdown, the increased lending rate results in a decrease in the demand for property Thus, once the value of the asset base that sustained the lavish lifestyle

becomes depleted, the perilous house of cards begins to collapse

However as a parallel, banks also tend to be very bullish with their debt during the initial period of euphoria that started all the hype Regardless

of their general frugality, they too tend to throw caution to the wind at such times, also wanting to reap the economic spin offs This is because banks also tend to have an unavoidable short to medium-term focus This

is so since the respective CEO's and managers performances are usually measured by their annual bottom line that dictates their bonus checks paid

at the end of the economic year

In normal economic circumstances the usual measures would yet suffice

as banks as a rule have more than enough reserves to fully recover their investment They also have sufficient asset guarantees that could be ceded as a result, oftentimes making significant profits because of it The dilemma during times of dire economic crisis is that, because they are so heavily borrowed, and because so many are unable to meet their obligations, mass foreclosures now begin to have a draining effect This

is because their asset acquisitions literally become gigantic white elephants which banks are unable to sell at the prices they require

Once again, if the critical mass is exceeded, the property market would’ve gone beyond the saturation point, making it very difficult to find willing buyers to liquefy their increasingly burdensome asset base Because of the domino effect, property prices dramatically plummet As a result many smaller banks struggling to liquefy their assets would be forced to foreclose Because of the associated disinvestment, it then would have a ripple effect throughout the entire economy The end result being that the usual fast economic recovery is near impossible to affect Thus when considering the above scenario, the most ominous economic indicator is that a number of major international banks have already foreclosed or would've but for the fact that they are being buoyed by their respective government's fiscus The latest (1 July 2008) statistic provided

by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the federal agency that backs bank deposits, reported the biggest jump in “problem institutions”

it has seen since the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s, a 52% increase from a year ago

But because borrowers are not able or unwilling to repay their debt, coupled with the increasing numbers who now have to dig into their savings, it is a scenario that is completely unsustainable if it is to continue for very long

_

This was my view months before the Lehman Brothers collapse It has since turned out that major American banks were far more reckless and complicit in the events that led to the crash than indicated in this section

The Final Straw

No country can squander itself to prosperity on the ruin of its taxpayers

– [Herbert Hoover]

The previous discussion portrays an incredibly bleak scenario but is based on a very real phenomenon called “the debtor’s death spiral”, and which is exacerbated by the American budget deficit The fact that low interest rates had been artificially maintained in the US for such a sustained period merely is intensifying what will be its ensuing vortex However what is most concerning about the previous indicators, is that month-on-month analysts are commenting that the indicators are almost always worse than predictions And what makes the scenario far worse, is that the home foreclosure crisis happened without increasing interest rates, but merely that a great many Americans cannot afford their existing debt because of the extent of their indebtedness Any rate hike at this critical time would immediately overload the already overstretched economy The result would be that a very rapid economic meltdown will almost immediately ensue which will have far more dramatic consequences than the one discussed before

To reiterate this, a 31 July 2008 CNNMoney article titled The Fed's Rate Dilemma, starts off with the following caption: “Interest rates likely on

hold for a while as worries about economic weakness and inflation leave central bank with few good options.”

The article further quotes Rich Yamarone, director of economic research

at Argus Research, who said “I think the Fed is not really part of the equation anymore because of the corner they've painted themselves into”.This indicating the extent of the current crisis in that the once powerful American Reserve cannot even respond to save itself, simply because it and the current administration has completely dug themselves into a very deep and debilitating economic hole from which they are now powerless

to get themselves out of That is considering that Americans collectively are $9.5 trillion in debt

The CNNMoney article was published on 31 July 2008, and was about why the US Federal Reserve meeting on 5 August most likely would keep interest rates unchanged, and not increase it to curb mounting inflationary pressures as other reserves around the world had done The article was correct in its prediction in that, despite the need for an increase to curb the level of debt, the Fed maintained interest rates at 2% That is compared to European interest rates which currently are at 4.25% Because of this, the real danger for Americans are that they are used to incredibly low lending rates, while nations such as South African can withstand interest rates in excess of 25% if need be In America’s case, even a small correction very well could be the straw that will break the economic camel’s back

Because of the size of the US economy, the resulting aftermath will cause

a ripple effect that will invariably cause a global economic disaster unlike anything experienced before As the expression goes, when America sneezes, the whole world catches the flue

_

By December 2008, the fed lowered the interest rate to 0.25%, the lowest it has even been, even lower than before or during the great depression.

On a Knife’s Edge

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body – the producers and consumers themselves –

[Herbert Hoover]

After writing this section on the economy I felt rather uneasy about painting as gloomy a picture as I did However as timing would have it, America’s debt crisis and debt obsession is now being highlighted in an unprecedented manner in a new documentary titled I.O.U.S.A, featuring prominent investor Warren Buffett which was released on 21 August

2008 The documentary’s central message is that “America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.”The Seattle Times in their review of the movie describes it as follows

A private-equity billionaire, a former federal government official and a Baltimore newsletter editor have made a documentary film that they hope can do what an endless parade of policy papers has not: Convince Americans that debt has created a looming economic crisis that would make the Great Depression look like a market correction.

What makes the scenario far bleaker than it otherwise would have been is that, apart from the depressing global economic state of affairs, because America also has to additionally contend with financing a costly war, has even less to spend on remedying this predicament Here the greater economic tragedy is that a select group of large companies are currently reaping the rewards of high oil prices in Iraq This despite the enormous cost on the already struggling American taxpayer who ultimately is charged with footing the final bill for their continued excesses

The further irony being that while the men and women who are laying down their lives may be doing so out of genuine patriotism, those who started it invariably could not have been as all the facts reflect their motivation could only have been unadulterated greed

But moreover, and an aspect Americans prefer to remain absolutely in the dark over, is that China is increasingly financing their continued spending In a 2005 article, consultant David Hale writes about the

burgeoning US current account deficit

The outlook for the dollar in 2005 will depend upon whether China has a continuing boom which sustains the income of the commodity- producing nations or a slump which sets the stage for renewed central bank intervention The resilience of the dollar in the face of massive external deficits demonstrates there always will be a buyer for the currency But in the current global environment, it is China that will determine who the buyers are.

Putting it another way, the reason interest rates are not much higher in the

US today is because the Chinese have decided for whatever reason to keep the US economy afloat by buying dollars, yet they are not receiving

a very good return at all This is tantamount to China being America's bank, and in a manner of speaking may well hold the power to foreclose

on the world's largest economy This was recently iterated in a The New Yorker article

More than any other nation in history, the United States depends, economically, on the kindness of strangers Right now, Asian investors appear very kind… As long as it's in their self-interest to keep America afloat, the dollar will not crash.

This is from an article titled In Yun We Trust Fortunately for America a

tenuous quad pro quo relationship exists between the two, China being the producer and America the primary consumer of its goods—China set

to become the world’s leading manufacturer by 2009 The article further discusses the consequences of such a possible foreclosure and why it has not happened to date

Of course, the Chinese and the Japanese could decide that the costs

of the falling dollar are too great, and suddenly stop (or, at least, cut back sharply) their lending to the United States This would lead

to a so-called "hard landing" for the U.S economy: high inflation, punitive interest rates, collapsing stock prices and housing prices It would also lead to bedlam for China and Japan Their best customers would effectively be unable to afford their wares To paraphrase John Paul Getty: If you owe the bank a hundred dollars, you've got a problem If you owe the bank three trillion dollars, the bank's got a problem.

The irony of this is that the only saving grace for Americans at the moment is that the problem is as big as it currently is—it being that China

cannot afford not to indulge US insatiability at this time But apart from

the ominous economic prospects, this conundrum places China in an incredibly powerful political bargaining position, in particular that much

of China’s human rights abuses are being overlooked This being a situation that otherwise would’ve been untenable for the average American sensibilities, except that at the present they are enjoying paradise a bit too much to be bothered with the fact that they are indeed enjoying borrowed time

Referring back to Lisa Nichols quote on expecting the bill, it certainly appears that the greater American society is in denial of their collective bill which they too seem disinclined to open Perhaps the current administration is leaving this bowl of rotten eggs for the next presidential hopeful to contend with

As the heading of a The Secret critique I read captions: that Americans are too busy “Creating a Culture of Cheerfulness as Rome Burns” to even remotely be bothered by the quagmire that is sustaining their current cheer

_

See Addendum Global Economic Crisis: The Role of America, The Role of China and

South Africa’s Response

CHAPTER THREE

INTO THE ABYSS

Ominous Parallel

Nothing is easier than self-deceit For what each man wishes, that he

also believes to be true – [Diane Arbus]

An interesting fact is that new ageism is not new at all, having surfaced in the late 19th century until its decline in the early nineteen thirties, with a revival again in the seventies Moreover at its core, it is based on Vedic philosophy, one of the most ancient worldviews Its eventual decline coinciding with events associated with the great depression

To bring this discussion back to the thesis of this book, that is the decline

of critical thinking and the prevalence of ideologies as The Secret, while the economic indicators on their own are disconcerting, the most ominous parallel we can draw to the great depression of 1929 is the proliferation of new age wealth gurus at the time

The specific one's whose biographies are listed in the back of the book and who were still alive at that time are: Charles Haanel (1866-1949); Genevieve Behrend (1881-1960) and Robert Collier (1885-1950) At the time of the great depression their ages were 63, 48 and 44 respectively The other two being Wallace Wattles (1860-1911) and Prentace Mullford (1834-1891)

To paraphrase Byrne’s claims, they were preaching the very same prosperity message back then as she and her cohorts are doing today Why the three is noted in particular is that, as much as The Secret claims

to have based its philosophy on their proposed methods of achieving financial success, they had been around at one of the most economically depressing times in history

That is from 1929 to the end of World War II in 1945 The timing of the Great Depression in relation to their ages therefore ought to completely discredit the efficacy of their proposed money making methods and means In retrospect, some of them may very well have been of the swindlers at the time which Kindleberger referred to As such they may

have been responsible for creating the insatiable mindset that directly contributed to the system's collapse.

To put it another way, prosperity ideologies created the critical mass who did not respond to the economic circumstances And who as a result of overstretching the system’s capacity, were directly responsible for the resultant economic meltdown

For this reason, when one assesses this period one may very well conclude that it was not necessarily bad macro-economic planning that crippled the world economy at the time, but rather that it was brought down by a prevailing insatiable consumerist religion fostering the belief that the good times were never going to end.

As such it is reflective of a prevailing psycho-spiritual crisis, the economic collapse being the outer manifestation of a much deeper societal malaise

This does not necessarily mean that a particular religious orientation or worldview was responsible, but that a general belief orientation about the nature of reality had pervaded pre-depression American society In a

1999 lecture titled Crashing Hopes: The Great Depression, Stanley K Schultz, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin gives six reasons for the extent to which American’s invested in stock markets at the time, but which can also be regarded as the direct cause of the events that transpired The first five being, rising stock dividends, increase in personal savings, relatively easy money policy, companies invested their over-production profits in new production, and lack of stock market regulation

It is noteworthy that, with the exception of the last one, all the former most definitely applies to today Though despite relatively more stringent stock market controls and the efficiency introduced by computerization, the extent of speculator activity today coupled with complicated derivative mechanisms, has all but negated advances that were made over the past eight decades The weak monetary policy by the Bush regime is also very ominous, particularly in the face of the looming bear market

In my assessment, the sixth one should be considered as the primary underlying cause which fuelled the reckless spirit that led to the others Schultz describes it as the Psychology of Consumption

The Psychology of Consumption fed the optimism of investors and gave them unquestioning faith in prosperity When the Crash did come, it was even more devastating because of this unquestioned faith

This is very much in line with the “Monkey see, monkey do” mindset described by Kindleberger and appears to be the very mentality of the CEO’s responsible for the collapse of a number of American commercial banks This consumerist mentality also exhibiting all the fervor of a religious sentiment as described by Le Bon, with a pervasive air of invincibility deriving from an underlying belief that one somehow is cosmically insulated from all potential economic calamity, and that the general state of prosperity is here to stay Thus instead of being weary of the economic signs ahead, this subconscious consumerist religion fostered the notion of faith in the power of the god of mammon, who would indefinitely ensure sustained riches In particular, that having such faith would bring riches in spite of the circumstances

When contemplating Schultz’s remarks, it is opportune to again consider Step Two of the Secret

How the universe will bring it to you, is not your concern or job… When you are trying to work out how it will happen, you are emitting a frequency that contains a lack of faith.

Here the danger is inherent in Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome in that one’s unquestioned belief in prosperity would filter out any information which would prove the contrary As such an individual with this belief orientation will do whatever is in their power to maintain the illusion associated with the belief—in this case, that there is not a financial problem

This merely feeding into, and further exacerbating, the existing

“unquestioned faith” that already is prevailing without The Secret’s tantalizing doctrine still adding even more fuel to this fire