When I saw the popular movie The Secret, I felt a strong sense of deja vu. Long long ago in Lemurian and Atlantean times, this philosophy was popular. You simply had to focus on what you want, believe in it with all your heart, and voila, you manifested your heart’s desire. It led those cultures into deep catastrophic trouble. And it can lead us down the wrong path today. For it is the power of love, rather than the love of power, that brings us happiness.
I believe that we each hold a spark of the Divine within us and that we can connect directly with our Creator. But a spark is far less powerful than the flame from which it springs. How can I, with my human mind, know for sure what is for the ultimate good for myself and all other beings?
In his studies Dr. Larry Dossey has found that the most powerful healing prayer is "Thy Will be done." I think that we need to adopt this same attitude of "Thy Will, rather than my will" in order for "The Secret" to work and bring us happiness.
This concept is illustrated by an old Taoist story which is several thousand years old that I call "Who Knows for Sure? The story goes like this:
There was once a wise old man who lived in a small hut on a hill above a village. He had one son and one horse. Each day his son would ride down to the village and work. At night his son would ride home with the dinner he had earned for them.
One day the son slept late. In his hurry to get to work, he forgot to tie up his horse in the village. The horse ran off into the mountains. That night the villagers followed the old man’s son up the hill and stood on his doorstep saying, "You have such bad luck! Your careless son has let your horse run off. And he’s not much good working for us without a horse. You have such bad luck!"
The old man replied, "Maybe it’s bad and maybe it’s good. Who knows for sure?"
The next day the villagers saw a cloud of dust coming out of the mountains that went up the hill to the old man’s hut. They climbed the hill and found that a whole herd of wild mountain horses had followed the old man’s horse home. The villagers stood on the old man’s doorstep and said, "You have such good luck! Your son can build a corral and break and tame these horses. Then you can sell them and make lots of money. You have such good luck!"
The wise old man said, "Maybe it’s good, and maybe it’s bad. Who knows for sure?"
Some days later after the son had built a corral, he was on top of a wild mountain stallion when the horse bucked and threw him to the ground so hard that both his leg and his arm were broken. Bad news has a way of traveling. In no time at all, the villagers were standing on the old man’s doorstep saying, "You have such bad luck! Your son is laid up now. You have to take care of him and you have all these horses to feed. You have such bad luck!"
The wise old man replied, "Maybe it’s bad, and maybe it’s good. Who knows for sure?"
The very next day the soldiers of the czar came to the village. They took every able bodied man off to war. Many of those men died or came home later crippled. But of course, they did not take the old man’s son. And who knows, maybe they even bought some his horses?"
I think we do not always know what is good for us. We have a limited view of things. So we need to surrender to the Divine Creator, who knows what is best for all.
