Here’s a follow-on to my March 22, 2007 post “The Secret: Packaged In America.”

Burying the Secret, by Carol Rutter

Within the framework of responding to Rhonda Byrne’s “The Secret,” Carol Rutter’s “Burying the Secret” weaves autobiography, expose, searching cultural commentary, and an analytical compendium of helpful books on important psychological and spiritual issues. If you liked “The Secret,” read this book. If you didn’t like “The Secret,” read this book. If you care nothing at all about “The Secret,” but are interested in knowing more about American culture and human nature, read this book. The 10-page exercise at the back of the book is worth the price alone.

In Rutter’s reply to Byrne’s book is just the jumping off point. This frame holds the book, but contains so much more. I’ll be sending a copy to a friend who moved from Oregon to Florida last year (via Texas) and suffered in a similar way to Byrne’s story. She often emailed me in anguish during this time concerning the deluge of “The Secret” and the law of attraction and we dialogued about it throughout her transition period.

Each of us contains our own secret to spiritual development. That secret path may be encrusted with riches, and it may be a much more humble path. Fast and easy sells, but is not the complete truth. Overall, commonsense must reign, or ruin follows.