The Secret: Stuart Davis

Integral musician Stuart Davis was recently feaured on Ken Wilber’s blog. His post titled:
The Secret: The Spirituality of Narcissism
gives an interesting critique of the popular movie The Secret. Here are some key points:
1) The Secret is (partly) true

“Our thoughts and feelings are of consequence, and positive thinking and feeling can significantly characterize our experience of reality, even influence the way reality unfolds.”

2) The Secret confuses the Self (true self; an unbounded, unlimited reality which transcends but includes all qualities) with the Ego (the frontal structure, personality).
3) Following the AQAL (All quadrants, All levels) model, The Secret only focuses on the interior of the individual (where thought occurs), not the other quadrants which comprise reality (according to this map).

Q1 (I) – The Interior of an Individual (where thought occurs, for instance)
Q2 (IT) – The Exterior of an Individual (the body, what can be measured and seen objectively)
Q3 (WE) – The Interior of the Collective (Culture, invisible features of mutuality, inter-subjective social)
Q4 (ITS) – The Exterior of The Collective (Biosphere, planet, infrastructure, the inter-objective realm)
In summary,

“Your thoughts and feelings are not the Source of Reality, but two of its features. You do not “create” your reality, you participate in it, and in certain circumstances, under particular conditions, you can influence it. And it is good and useful to cultivate that influence, to positively nurture those portions as much as possible, in the interest of love.”