The Secret
I was having lunch the other day with my accountant. No, I haven't got loads of money stashed away - he just helps me do my self-assessment return each year. Though if there are any rich uncles out there needing a name for their last will and testament, Lotteryman would take up a bit of useful space for you...
Anyway, I'm sitting there in his office and my account suddenly says, "Have you seen The Secret?"
"The what?" I asked.
"The Secret. It's a documentary."
I shook my head and said that I hadn't, so he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a DVD. "Take it home and watch it. I think it should be right up your street, seeing as you're so into the lotteries."
The DVD didn't look like anything I'd be interested in, but I nodded and mumbled something polite. I'd watch it, but only because I consider myself to be open minded. If the truth be told, if I'd known how it would pan out, I would rather have watched my goldfish have a go at the Sudoku puzzle in the morning newspaper.
The Secret is, in fact, a new age "crockumentary" (my own term, but I think it's fitting) about how everything we experience in life is the result of our expectations. Now I'm all for positive thinking if it helps you launch a business or perform well in a job interview, but some of these guys were saying that everything is the result of our thoughts and expectations - our state of health, eye colour, shoe size, the whole caboodle. To "support" such ridiculous conclusions, various quantum physicists were quoted nicely out of context, ensuring that the majority of viewers would be convinced enough to neglect looking into things properly.
Now here's what I found funny: several of the individuals talking about creating reality with their beliefs were bald and wore glasses. Before you get the wrong idea, let it be known that I am also bald (in a ruggedly attractive kind of way, of course) and I wear glasses for reading, so I'm not throwing stones here. But surely, if you were one of the experts on the whole "thoughts are things" scoop, you'd get your hair growing and your eyes fixed? Heck, I know I would!
I can only conclude that the snake oil these people gush over is much more effective in selling DVDs than it is in doing what it says on the tin.
Why am I talking about all of this in my lottery blog? The answer is that this very week I happened to hear about a couple (friends of friends of friends) who are going through a bad patch. Not because of any sexual shenanigans or erotic triangles, but simply because one of them went out and, in the space of a day, spent a grand on scratch cards. That's a thousand pounds in old money!
She did this because she thought such bold and dramatic action would be an expression of her "confidence in the abundance of the universe" and that she couldn't therefore fail to make a good profit according to the wisdom of the "think it into existence" brigade. Of course, not only did this lady lose money, she also jeopardised her marriage in the process.
Stories like this are becoming increasing common thanks to misleading and misinformed DVDs such as "The Secret" and "What The Bleep Do We Know?" So my advice for today is to be a good grown-up and keep your fantasy life and your lottery activities separate. Yes, we'd all love to wave a magic wand and wish ourselves millionaires, but buying more tickets than we know is sensible to buy isn't an effective way of making the dream come true.
And that, my friends, is the kind of Secret you can count on!
Article Last Updated: 20/04/2007 13:36:14
