The Secret Mumbo Jumbo

The secret is known. Or is it? The release of Rhonda Byrne's new book, "The Secret" has people raving about the power within. The book shows how to attract good things to yourself; it explains how to become a magnet of sorts, to create your own destiny through the power of the universe.

Now, it strikes me as quite crazy that one finds it impossible to believe in a God, or an established religion for that matter, but that they could fall for this scheme.

Is it really so much harder to believe that there is a loving God that created the earth and everything in it, that there is a divine purpose for everything, and that life is not one big mush of organisms thrown together for no purpose but what we decide on ourselves?

Have ideologies changed so drastically to a paganistic worldview that such ideas seem even plausible?

People are hungry for truth. They grasp for anything to fill the void in their lives, often unwilling to examine the truth that there IS an ultimate truth. No, rather, humanity continues reaching into thin air, attempting to find something that isn't there.

So what is the secret? Thesecret.tv states that the film and book hold "the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted."

Right off the bat, this statement creates within itself a fallacy. Ok, so, through the power of yourself, or the universe, or the sun, or whatever, one can find the fountain of youth within themselves. Preposterous.

It's been said that several things in life are inevitable; death and taxes. But they forgot to add one thing to the list; aging.

Yes, youth can be attained in the mind; this has been called a youthful mindset. Exercise, laughter, love, fun, genetics; these contribute to a youthful mind, often followed by a youthful body.

But age happens. The universe can't stop it. The only way aging will stop is at the end of life.

Money does not come as a result of wishing. It is the result of hard work, or working smart. If wishing were all people had to do then the world would b alot richer, and poor, third world countries would not exist.

Then again, maybe they have to much negativity prohibiting the intentions.

Inside the Think Tank

Feminism Fails

Enlightenment: Oh Ye Bringer of the Dark Ages

Times are looking dark for the world. Morality is at an all-time low, respect is nearly buried beneath the dust of time and disuse along with the books in grandfather's library, and dignity is all but extinct.

Go back in recent history, when the 10 Commandments in front of the courthouse was a terrible scandal. Yes, there was the issue of separation of church and state. But more so, was the refusal to "push" any one morality on others. Morality has become quite relative and personal. If you want it, fine; if you choose not to accept it, that's your perogative.

Morality is not relative. There IS absolute truth in the world. A nations refusal to acknowledge that does not change the fact. Yet the fight for morality is a losing battle. This is a society where groups fight to free murderers, and in the same breath denounce moral codes such as the 10 commandments.

Maybe that's the kind of mentality that got society in trouble in the first place. The belief that morality should not be forced, that its only place is in the church.  Society would be an infinitely better place if there was a standard for people to follow. But that would just be politically incorrect!

Once upon a time people carried themselves with dignity; not the dignity that comes with thinking one is "somebody", but rather the dignity that comes with being human. There was a worth placed on life that is often overlooked today.

Abortion and pornography degrade the very essense of life, cheapening things once held sacred, like life and human dignity, to nothing more than the the lowlife fungus about which nobody wants to worry.

Yes, perhaps the world has simply been enlightened. Perhaps everything presented as a problem is just one persons attemt to hold on to the past, a time when moral values were worth something, and life was worth saving.

Then again, consider that enlightenment was the problem in the first place.

The 60's brought the sexual revolution, with free love and drugs for all. Time went on. Entertainment entities began to glorify these as the epitome of happiness. At one time in history, consider the "I Love Lucy" show, men and women would not sleep in the same bed on camera, even if they were married. That was simply taboo. Slowly, small steps at a time, entertainment has come to it's present state, with casual sex glorified and often portrayed quite vividly on camera.

And society wonders why young people have no idea of what is right. Yes. Right. Going back to that absolute moral truth.

But society was enlightened. That, of course, is what's important. Yet, funny thing, for all the light, society seems to have totally lost sight of the difference between right and wrong. It used to be as broad as daylight. But then again, all the en"light"enment must have canceled out other light sources, and left us in the dark.

Yes, the Dark Ages have come upon us once again. Then again, did they ever leave?

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The Death of Chivalry

Chivalry is a dying art. The rampant decline of chivalry in the American culture is a natural result of the rise of radical feminism.

Chivalry was once a tradition that dictated how men would treat women, that being with respect, as they took upon themselves the duty to protect a woman's honor from any who would attempt to soil it.

Sounds like a fairytale world.

Well, once upon a time, the world was a different place. Same earth; same countries; different mentality.

Men would behave differently in the presence of a woman, curbing their speech, rising at her entrance, and such small niceties that showed a woman that she was seen as more than an object.

How far society has come since then. It now see's such respectful behavior as outdated.

With the rise of the women's movement in the 1920's, the world itself began to change. The changes were not only among women. Women created a barrier between themselves and the respect that once existed for their sex, by stating that they were to be treated no differently than anyone else.

The era of the fifty's maintained a sense of respectability of both sexes. Women pushed for better treatment. They received it in the work force; but in everyday life, they were and are treated poorly.

The problem does not exist in the attainment of equality. The problem arises from women curbing attempts by men to behave traditionally toward them.

But the problem lies with the men as well. Times change. Women have claimed their natural right of equality and denounced their  status as second-class citizens.

Men have, in theory, given in to women's demand for equal treatment. It gives them a way out, a reason for allowing respect and decency to sink to the bottom of the ocean floor.

But there must be some kind of compromise. Society seems unable to find the balance between treating women with a traditional respect and understanding that they are capable of self-management.

Because of the inability to compromise, traditional roles of manhood spiral downward.

The traditional roles and definitions of the sexes has changed so drastically that they are almost beyond recognition.

Chivalry once defined a man's role, revealing him as a person of respect in his own right. To defend a woman's honor was a high calling.

Now men are respected by their peers based on how much they get around. They are cheered on when telling friends how many women they "were with".

Women, for all their advances, are still in the same social state that they were in hundreds of years ago. They are denounced as whores for even looking at another man.

A recent trip to the movies proved this idea only too well. Much to my disgruntlement, the cussing and name calling from the people beside me (who in my mind, do not deserve to be called "men"), came at just the moment when a girl, left destitute of love, despairs and ends up kissing a mutual friend of the disgruntled lovers. The hoots of approval rang out when the guy walked around like a player, getting all the girls. Disgust was a natural reaction to this example of what society has become.

The problem is not with one or the other. Both are guilty of allowing it to become a problem. The question is, now that the problem is out in the open, what is to be done about it?