Why Does “The Secret” No Longer Contain The Secret? The Abraham-Hicks Back Story

I got an email yesterday from my friend Howard Northrup:  I was just reading the latest Horizons and I see that you recommend the original Secret with Abraham-Hicks. That is the version that I first saw and was so surprised that they edited Abraham-Hicks out of future versions–with Abraham explaining our Emotional Guidance System (even if it was shortened from the 22 “steps” in Ask and It Is Given down to just 6).  THAT is the key to working the Law of Attraction! Without that segment in there, it was easy for critics and the general public to say that the film is mainly about getting more money and more “stuff.” When Esther was on Oprah’s XM Radio Soul Series show, Oprah asked her about being edited out and she basically said that it was a contractual issue, but she has moved past it, blesses Rhonda for getting the message out there, and “let it go.” But I never did hear WHY she/they were edited out–did you?

I wrote him back that I had a blog post waiting to go in about it and this is it:  I just saw the revised (extended) version of The Secret for the first time.  I had seen the original one with Abraham-Hicks, whose material was the inspiration for The (original) Secret movie, several times and it was an excellent work.  The revision is a very diluted version that paradoxically leaves out “the secret” itself.  No wonder everyone is so confused despite the new legion of Secret Teachers out there. For WHY Abraham-Hicks bowed out of the original project, read at http://www.sun-angel.com/articles/archive/abraham-hicks-jerry-and-esther-hicks-statement-about-the-secret.php

Being a publisher, I get review copies of all the newest personal development books out there: all the spin-offs from The Secret; the market is pretty flooded with law of attraction titles and books on how to affirm and do treasure maps and visualize.  Most of them - and believe, me I read lots of them - seem to be written in a hurry by someone who was real interested in getting to press before their key phrase (law of attraction, manifestation) falls off the lips of the public.  Most of the material their work contains is simply a superficial overview of someone else’s writing (often using  Esther-Hicks phrasing and terminology) and in the text and exercises you can see they have clearly missed the essence of the work.

I wrote in my May 2007 editorial that I admit I was a little miffed to find Abraham-Hicks edited out of The Secret movie. Which is silly since Jerry and Esther didn’t seem miffed. I guess disappointed is a better word. The biggest difference I noticed in the edited (what they call the ‘extended’) version is that without the crystal clarity of Abraham woven in and out of the other speakers, many subtle nuances of ‘the secret’ are missing. While most of the co-presenters were, if not students of Abraham, then certainly very familiar with the Hicks work, and for many the Hicks material was their first introduction to the law of attraction.

Yes, they all mention other authors, going back many years. But remember, all reference to Abraham-Hicks had to be removed from the edited (extended) version of The Secret. All of it.  That meant creating a new back story, and gathering new “source” materials for the same teachings.  Easy to do since Abraham-Hicks mentions the books as well.

As a publisher in the genre, I talk to publicists all the time and when something new is about to come on to the scene, I hear the buzz.  I get calls and emails and have discussions with lots of these publicists and their clerical staff and sometimes hear a blow by blow account of how the project is coming along. That means I know when the back story changes, because I heard the original story, and got every revision all along the way.

This goes for many authors, yes even some that were in The Secret.  Abraham-Hicks has addressed this and also why they were edited out of the second The Secret at this link.

Nonetheless, for some people, what they are reading and learning in the revised Secret is an upgrade to what they knew before.  There is still a lot of good information in it.  When someone has taken that information as far as they can take it, they can take the next step later to fine tune anything they are missing. Small steps are easier to take.

I wrote in my September 2007 editorial that I can’t make someone else get it.

Amazon.com has the original Secret with Abraham Hicks at http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Original-Esther-Hicks-Rhonda/dp/B000K3I7SO.