Oprah Winfrey, New Thought, “The Secret” and the “New Alchemy”

Though the demonism of the Middle Ages seems to have disappeared, there is abundant evidence that in many forms of modern thought – especially the so-called “prosperity” psychology, “willpower-building” metaphysics, and systems of “high-pressure” salesmanship – black magic has merely passed through a metamorphosis, and although its name be changed its nature remains the same. 

– Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages, pp. 101-2

The foregoing quote reads like an excerpt from a review of the movie, The Secret. This is not the case, however. Manly P. Hall wrote those words in the late 1920s when New Thought metaphysics was in full swing, and the original self-help gurus combined the burgeoning science of applied psychology with that of Bernays-like manipulative advertising. An eager public was caught unaware and would consume mass market “willpower-building” manuals, by the millions. Each successive generation has had its own purveyors, and the Oprah-inspired phenomenon that is The Secret, as we shall see, stems from the same fount.  (more...)

Oprah Winfrey, New Thought, “The Secret” and the “New Alchemy”

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