REVIEWS

The Secret contributor makes valid, positive points, whatever your perspective

The Key: The Missing Secret for Attracting Anything You Want by: Joe Vitale John Wiley & Sons Interview with Joe Vitale

The Secret is now so well-known that everyone has an opinion. Anything written with a connection to The Secret becomes colored by whatever reaction a reader has had. As a result, it’s hard to read Joe Vitale’s latest work, without reference to The Secret.

Except that I have my own secret: I haven’t seen The Secret. I like to think that gives me a certain purity. I can critique The Key with little previous influence.

According to The Key, Vitale contributed to The Secret and summarized the premise of his book, The Attraction Factor. So, all I have to go on is The Key itself. How does it stand up without its predecessors?

It stands up alright. Again, I’m not the queen of self-help material, but I can evaluate an idea as well as the rest of the reviewers out there. Vitale has some legitimate ideas for pursuing happiness and being all that you can be, whatever that is, for each person.

To begin with, the attraction factor, as described in The Key, suggests that everyone has the capacity to attract life’s good things, including health, romance and material wealth. But despite the capacity to attract what we want, Vitale says we encounter blocks. The Key starts here: removing the blocks, or counter-intentions, that keep us from having what we want. To do that, we need to “get clear.” This, according to the author, means changing our unconscious beliefs.

So to be happy, healthy, well-off, and in healthy relationships, we should be clear about what we want and change our limiting beliefs that we don’t deserve good things.

Sounds simple enough to me! Let’s go. As I read, Vitale’s suggestions feel consistent with my existing beliefs (although I’m most happy believing as little as possible.) I do, however, believe that most of us are fettered by a Marxist-style false consciousness that keeps us oppressing ourselves by keeping our expectations low. In so doing, we keep telling ourselves that we deserve less. For me, becoming aware of this false consciousness seems a legitimate way to “get clear.”

In describing his personal experience attracting good health and material wealth (from an earlier position of homelessness), Vitale writes that we are often conditioned to feel undeserving of expensive material items. If there’s one thing the Protestant work ethic has done for many of us, it’s the creation of an underlying belief that we have to suffer and endure hard work, the harder the better normally, for any monetary reward. Abundant or passive incomes just don’t seem comfortable to anyone brought up under this influence. Diversion away from this ethic seems to be healthy and realistic.

However, as much as I appreciate freedom from the Protestant work ethic, many of us are trying to accumulate less, not more. Not everyone wants or needs expensive, material things. A luxurious car doesn’t appeal to everyone. Some of us are trying to live simply, maybe even without any kind of car. It’s not that we don’t feel deserving; it’s that the weight of these possessions feels too heavy in our developed-world lives with too much stuff.

What I liked more about the book was his notion of happiness and particularly of “being in the moment.”

“The trick is to be in this moment while playfully wanting more. No need. No attachment. No addiction. Just gratitude for now while welcoming even more” (p. 55)

Yes, this is the goal. This is unfortunately why we drink and do drugs and shop excessively. Stopping in that moment is so incredibly hard and so incredibly short.

Throughout the book, Vitale leaves workbook-style space for readers to analyze their own limiting beliefs. I always support readers writing in books and when writers leave space for them, all the better. Vitale also encourages reading and gives space to others who have helped in his pursuit of his wholeness and success.

Finally, he offers a novel view of forgiveness when he cites Colin Tipping’s notion of Radical Forgiveness: the idea of abandoning notions of “bad” actions. Rather than doing something “bad,” each person is merely acting out his or her own program. I’ve always thought that forgiveness was a bit of a stretch anyway. So radical forgiveness seems to simplify things.

To sum up, The Key is more of what Vitale has offered in the past. His insights are novel. His writing is clear and plain language.

Furthermore, this latest work stands alone; you can enjoy even without having experienced The Secret.

Gwen Pawlikowski had a chance to interview The Key author Joe Vitale.

GP: I was interested to read about the Law of Attraction as you describe it in The Key. I certainly see this working in all kinds of ways. But one common problem stumps me: insomnia.

Many people struggle for a good night's rest, but one in seven of us can't achieve it regularly. Do you have any suggestions for helping people with insomnia to "get clear" about why they aren't sleeping?

JV: You have to look at what the "pay off" is. In other words, there's a positive reason for everything we do, even the apparently self-sabotaging things. Not sleeping may be an avoidance of something. I'd ask questions, like "What might be a good reason for having insomnia?" I wouldn't edit answers. I'd allow anything to surface, as it may be revealing. As always, once you get the lesson from the experience, you no longer need the experience. Look for the lesson.

GP: I really liked your idea that reality is subjective. I notice as well that you often refer to a higher being such as God or the Universe. Sometimes these ideas seem in conflict. Is it possible to apply your ideas without any belief in a higher being? If reality is our own perception, then can we become our own higher beings?

JV: The best answer is to realize you aren't totally in control of your life. For example, you aren't running your body. It's "happening." Realizing that SOMETHING is keeping your heart pumping and your lungs working is a start in realizing there is a more powerful part of you alive and well, and regulating your life system. Learn to respect that "higher" part of you, as it can help you achieve miracles.

GP: This interview is for an online magazine targeted at women between the ages of 30 and 50. Have you found that women in this age group tend to have limiting beliefs that differ from the typical limiting beliefs men in the same age group encounter?

JV: Women still struggle with their own sense of power. They have it, but aren't used to wearing it yet. It's still easy to be timid and let men, or even other women, step forward. I'd suggest women take a deep breath and realize their sense of power, and then act on it in the world. They might try a new affirmation, something like "I am a powerful being and deserve success."

GP: Women tend to earn less than men and have less leisure time. We also face more demands on our time and energy from children and aging parents. It's much harder for us to access the resources (time, especially) for "getting clear" than it is for men. Do you have any special advice for women, given our particular circumstances?

JV: Great question. I believe that a simple but clear intention can move inner mountains. Stating something like, "I intend to easily clear the blocks within me to success" can begin to actually do just that. Change doesn't have to be hard. Change doesn't have to take a long time. Change isn't limited to men or women with extra time. Those are all limiting beliefs. Change can happen right now -- if you believe it.