Confusion? No. Confucius...

What really is "The Secret"?

Confucius, a famous Chinese philosopher once said “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

This means that if we are positive and if we don’t give up that easy we will overcome all of our mistakes and become better persons because of our mistakes.

According to Rhonda Byrne, the author of a best-selling book, The Secret; is “based on the law of attraction” and that if you think positively you can change your life and become wealthier, healthier, and happier.

Susanna fails from running away, and she fails in her various attempts on suicide, these mistakes made her fall, and made her weak, but she learns from her past mistakes and she will “rise” (Confucius).

Susanna learned from her falls. The guy that “she had always liked” (26) offered to take her to England and run away from the hospital she answered after the moment of imagining her other life: “I think I’ve got to stay here” (27). Past Susanna would have gone with him, she was a complicated girl and in her previous days her “job of the day” was to “swallow fifty aspirin” (17).

In Susanna Kaysen’s memoir she discovers her momentarily secret of life. It has nothing to do with controlling your thoughts and thinking negatively or positively and making that an influence in your life. Susanna’s secret of life is a ten second daydream about running away. “Was this the secret of life? Running away was the secret of life?” (26).

Susanna is in this mental hospital for a reason. She messed up. But every time you mess up there is room to make it better. You can grow and learn from the mistakes you make.

This is what Confucius meant.

He also meant that failing is not failure. If you fail you haven’t been defeated and you can still continue. “Don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”

It’s when you refuse to give up that you have understood that failure is important, and that in life you fail constantly.