by Stephanie Brail

A disturbing trend has emerged in the human potential movement in recent years. It is the trend towards making financial wealth the be-all and end-all of personal growth.

The trend isn't entirely new; Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich was published way back in 1937. And yet, such books from the past seemed to be specific to the goal of becoming successful. They did not necessarily posit this goal as the ultimate meaning of life. Many of the earliest leaders in the success field were deeply religious, spiritual men who held their relationship with God above all else.

Consider, also, that in the early 1900s we were still a young nation that was in the process of building wealth. Thus, encouraging young men to go out and make themselves successful was not even so much about having the biggest and best toys, but what mark you could make upon the world of industry.

If you ever wonder why I get critical of the "get rich quick" self-help people, here's a really good example:

'Flip This House' star accused of fraud

On an episode of A&E's popular reality series "Flip This House," Atlanta businessman Sam Leccima sits in front of a run-down house and calls buying and selling real estate his passion.

"This is, indeed, a con artist," said Sonya McGee, an Atlanta pharmaceutical representative who says Leccima took $4,000 from her in an investment scheme.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_en_ot/house_flipper_investigation

Looks like the Law of Karma, not the Law of Attraction, is now biting this guy in the butt.

I had an opportunity to see Michele Blood speak earlier in the week. She is the singing Australian self-help guru who has for years teamed up with Bob Proctor, one of the main guys on The Secret DVD. I enjoyed her talk, if just for the fact that she liked to throw the F-word in there a lot, and didn't seem to take herself too seriously.

What struck me was her comments on the issue of manifesting money. She mentioned briefly that sometimes she gets criticized for her focus on wealth. She said something along the lines of: "If you want to accomplish anything, you need the energy of money behind you, and so I don't apologize for that." (I am completely paraphrasing here.)

Hmm. Well, yes, I certainly would like more money, as it would make my life easier in many respects. But do we need to be wealthy in order to achieve anything?

by Stephanie Brail

The mainstream media has dropped the ball on this one, but the big story is this: Gas prices are going higher because we are running out of oil. That's it. There's no conspiracy among the oil companies to gouge you - oil is more expensive because the demand is high but the supply is dwindling. Basic Econ 101.

Please read this Peak Oil Primer to understand what is going on.

There is no easy solution to this issue. We can try to drill for new sources of oil, but those types of drilling are expensive, not just cost-wise, but environmentally. America has already hit its oil peak; this is why we are so concerned with securing the Middle East because we are indeed dependent on them to secure our lifestyles. No alternative exists (yet) that can be mass-produced and cheap enough to replace oil.

Today was way too hot in Los Angeles. It got to be around 90 degrees on the Westside, and I have no air conditioning, because usually I don't need it with the ocean breeze. I had an errand to run in Venice Beach, so I parked my car and walked down to the sand.

When I hit the water, I immediately saw an entire cavalcade of dolphins playing in the surf. They were splashing around and body surfing in the crashing waves. Children were there with families along the beach. During my walk, a tiny 3 or 4-year-old girl and her smaller brother almost pounced upon me in at the water's edge, grinning and shrieking and happy as pie. "Are you having fun???" she asked me...or, I think she asked me, because she was young enough to be somewhat intelligible, and the surf was loud.

Since I've been very critical of The Secret, every once in a while I will poke around Joe Vitale's blog and comment here or there. (I will also freely acknowledge that his blog gets a lot of traffic, and posting there is a bit of guerrilla marketing on my part.)

Joe, as you might remember, was the guy in The Secret who likened the universe to one big cosmic catalog that you could order a Ferrari from at will. He recently wrote a post in his blog, Thresholds: Is it serving or selling? Here, he gives the typical response to people who criticize the materialism of The Secret, suggesting that those who have a problem with it are just feeling "undeserving."

by Stephanie Brail

I have mixed feelings about the current popularity of The Secret. On the one hand, that the mainstream media are now covering what would used to be fringe is good for all of us who are working to change consciousness on the planet.

On the other, I find the basic message to be somewhat materialistic and simplistic in nature. Yet, there seems to be this rising trend of people interested in what is called the "Law of Attraction," people who are working to increase their personal wealth.