A Twenty-First Century Bible: Spiritual self-help book The Secret as a modern form of religion

Abstract

The Secret is amongst the most popular self-help books of the past decade. It provides its reader with tools to control the Law of Attraction. Thereby, the reader should be able to receive whatever he or she wants. In this thesis, the form, content and impact of The Secret are compared to a twenty-first century form of religion. This form is being explained by combining research on postmodern religion and spirituality with that on therapeutic culture. The Secret is being analyzed on its message, narrative of revelation, forms of authority, institutionalization and vision on humans. This thesis will show that The Secret is inherently a product of its time, as it could not have been successful, or even have existed, without the changing perception of religiosity and personhood, that together formed a new form of religion. Characteristics of this new form are a focus on individuality and expressivism, a mixture of spiritual influences without them being affiliated to institution or dogma, and the idea that humans are deemed to experience trauma and need tools to overcome this. In the end, the thesis shows how objects and practices that are not obviously religious can still fulfill a religious function for individuals. Thereby it is part of an academic trend that tries to research the growing amount of options that modern Westerners have to find purpose in their lives.