Down to Earth stuff

I have always been wary of New Age notions that promise you the stars and heavens.  "The Secret" was a topseller, but this only shows the degree of intellectual depravity that people are capable of.  There's such a high level of either intellectual confusion or wilful self-deception in this, or both, that it beggars belief.

There is a small element of truth, though, to the principle on which "The Secret" is based, and this is that consciousness is a filter, not an objective opening onto the world.  This has nothing to do with morality or with the power of the will, but up to a point we can actually develop the filter of our minds to let in certain things and keep out other ideas.   Such subtle changes can tend to influence our outcomes.

This is not magic, or the power of belief or something spiritual, but a feature of our organic minds and how they operate.  For instance, if I make my mind more alert to something that already intrigues me deeply, I will get more of it.  In fact, I will simply be alert to what is already out there, thus seeing more of it, and I will follow through on what I see, thus multiplying the original effect.

It's all very down to earth stuff.