Sometimes I think it is funny how everything works out the way I planned it to be. If I take a peek into my 15-year-old mind, I can see me picturing myself as a soon-to-be General Chief of Student Council Board. I knew exactly what I needed to do: “Just walk the road that was already pathed for you, Andrew.” So I did. Recently, I had to set my university goal, just like any other third-year-students of senior high school. After several discussions with my parents, I had NTU imprinted clearly on my mind. And guess what? Not only that I am the only non-plus/acceleration (though I was in plus class during my first year at senior high school, but that is another story) student from my school that made it through, but I was also invited for a scholarship interview at Jakarta, which was exclusively offered for about 80 Indonesian best students. I had doubt in myself and I thought that there are better and superior people out there. And the result is, well, I did not get the scholarship. For additional information, I who did not plan to study at NUS yet applied for it just to “try” was not even called to attend the university entrance examination.

Amazed with these “coincidences”, I jumped on the bandwagon and purchased a copy of Rhonda Byrne’s “The Secret” to find some explanations. Truthfully speaking, I am disappointed. The book is merely sending the same old tired message that can be found on your regular self-help psychology books (the likes of “9876543210 Ways to be a Successful Leader”), which is, duh, “be optimistic”. After reading the book, I have as much understanding of “the secret” as reading through the lines “There can be miracles / When you believe / … / You will when you believe” from the famous Whitney-Mariah duet. The law of attraction is nothing new. Although a clever woman she is, Ms. Byrne has camouflaged the exhausted message in a cryptically inviting package to ensure that the “best-seller” title is around the corner.

According to the book, we can utilize “the secret” through three simple steps. Ask. Believe. Receive. What was missing from the book, though, is the critical fourth element: Act. “The Secret” makes reference to the success of several prominent figures from Alexander Graham Bell to Ludwig van Beethoven. Sure, Bell must have visualized while he let his creative ideas run. But he did not just go to sleep believing that he has invented something and wake up the other day with the prototype model of a telephone on his hand, ready to be patented. He worked hard and experimented for years to invent it. Let us assume that Beethoven aimed to be one of the greatest composers of the century. He asked for it, he believed that he would, and he would be more than willing to receive. What sets him apart from hundreds other forgotten composers with the exact same aim, though, is that he took an action to achieve it. With every preceding piece of music, he attempted to outdo what he has previously composed before he could reach the height of the Ninth Symphony.

I do agree that the power of believing (plus asking and receiving) is a force to be reckoned with, indeed. The fact that we believe in something helps us to struggle for it. A terminally-ill patient who believes that he has no chance of recovery will be pressured and, at the end of the day, he does not make as much effort as those who want to recover. If you think that you have no friends, you will be more aware of the situation when you are alone and subconsciously focus on it. But if you believe you have friends, you will be affected to join in the conversation when your friends are around. In a speech competition, someone becomes the winner because he wanted to and, therefore, he presented a speech of a winner quality (instead of the poorly-attempted ones by the “I-am-just-trying” contestants). Looking back, I would not have been elected as a General Student Council Board Chief if I did not bring out the best in me. I am now admitted to NTU because I aspired it and, therefore, studied hard for it. I would not have been able to answer those damn math questions if I relied only on the Universe to work its positive energy on me. For God’s sake, some of the materials are not even studied on Indonesia’s high school curriculum. There is no way that the answer could have sprung miraculously into my mind if I did not study enough.

As simple as that? Or would you differ? Feel free to submit your own opinions.

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