The Greatest Secret

The Secret Library #5

by Rhonda Byrne

From Rhonda Byrne, the author of the worldwide phenomenon The Secret, comes The Greatest Secret—a long-awaited major new work that offers revelations and practices to end suffering and discover lasting happiness.

Ancient traditions knew that to hide a secret it should be put in plain sight, where no-one will think to look for it. Billions of people on our planet have searched—but few have discovered the truth. Those few are completely free from negativity and live in permanent peace and happiness.

For the rest of us, whether we realize it or not, we’ve been in search of this truth unceasingly every single day of our lives. What secret can possibly be so lifechanging? What single discovery offers a direct path to end suffering and to live a life of deep joy?

The Greatest Secret is a quantum leap that will take the reader beyond the material world and into the spiritual realm, where all possibilities exist. Inside The Greatest Secret, you’ll find:

· Profound wisdom from spiritual teachers from around the world, past and present, who have discovered the greatest secret.
· Healing practices that can be put to use immediately to dissolve fears, uncertainty, anxiety, and pain.
· The ultimate key to end suffering and discover lasting happiness.

“The Secret showed you how to create anything you want to be, do, or have. Nothing has changed - it is as true today as it ever was. This book reveals the greatest discovery a human being can ever make, and shows you the way out of negativity, problems, and what you don’t want, to a life of permanent happiness and bliss.”—From The Greatest Secret

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Personal Development, Audiobook, Philosophy, Psychology

276 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2020

About the author

Rhonda Byrne is an Australian television writer and producer, best known for her New Thought works, The Secret—a book and a film by the same name. By the Spring of 2007 the book had sold almost 4 million copies, and the DVD had sold more than 2 million copies. She has also been a producer for Sensing Murder. According to an article published by Australia's Herald Sun, Byrne has also worked on the Australian TV series World's Greatest Commercials and Marry Me. In 2007, Byrne was listed among Time Magazine's list of 100 people who shape the world.

Reviews

[Ganesh Marees · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Rhonda Byrne. Her books The Secret and The Magic has helped me in many ways. And it still helps me.
I was so excited when she announced this book release. I bought it few seconds after its release (literally) on Kindle Store and started reading it.
It starts with her Secret-styled narration about how she "discovered" the "The Greatest Secret" when she was undergoing deep disappointment and negative emotion (guess she forgot what she wrote in The Secret and other books) and all hype and hoopla about the benefits of knowing it. Of course, it has LOTS of nice quotes from other authors and teachers.
After all these, she reveals that The Greatest Secret is knowing that we're not the body and mind. We are Awareness - a different term for the Soul(from my understanding). That didn't make sense at all.
Being a spiritual student, I have learnt a lot on this subject and definitely this isn't the right description for who we really are.
In a paragraph Rhonda says, 'when thoughts stop, we become consciously aware of Awareness'. Wow! If awareness is who we really are, then, what's Consciousness?
She lost me there. Such a disappointment!
To put it short - after milking enough from "manifesting series", The Greatest Secret is an half-baked attempt by Rhonda Byrne to transition to spiritual writing.
Sorry, Rhonda.

[Gretchen Scoggins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not sure what in the world happened here. Let me save you time. “Awareness is awareness. You are awareness. You aren’t your body”. That’s it, that’s all I got from this book and I’m not even sure what to take from that. 50% of the words in this book are the word “awareness”. Struggling for the right word for this book. I think you have to be searching for something very specific for this to make sense. Disappointed that I actually purchased this. Want a refund!

[Lavins · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is reiterating the same message that a hundred other teachers said before, therefore is nothing new, there is no secret and no revelation.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, Inspiring, Uplifting, Empowering. I read The Greatest Secret over one weekend and started it again within the week. I then proceeded to read the book 5 more times in 2021. I've read all books by Rhonda Byrne and this might be my favorite. The writing surpasses that of previous books. I didn't experience any laugh-out loud moments (due to the cheesiness) like I did with her previous books. Since I re-read Byrne's Secret Series each year, it's refreshing to have a new installment. I listen to audiobooks and follow along with my printed copy.
Rhonda Byrne gets her information from great teachers and reliable sources. She is able to present information in an unprecedented easy to understand and approachable way.

The Greatest Secret pairs well with Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle.

The Awareness Practice
Step 1. Ask yourself, "Am I aware?"
Step 2. Notice Awareness.
Step 3. Stay as Awareness.

The Super Practice
Step 1. Welcome Anything Negative
Step 2. Stay As Awareness

Favorite Passages:

Dedication
Dedicated to all of humanity.
May The Greatest Secret free you from all suffering and bring you everlasting happiness.
That is my intention for you, and for every human being.

epigraph
Of all the things human beings can learn in this life, I have the greatest news to tell you, the most beautiful thing to share . . .
-Mooji

The Beginning
And suddenly I saw what I had been searching for. It was so simple, and it was right here. Just like that - after ten years - my search ended! I can say without any hesitation that the happiness and joy I felt from this discovery was worth every second of my years-long journey. Even if it had taken my entire life to discover it, it would have been worth it.

In the end, just one simple discovery was the whole truth that I had been looking for, which is actually what everyone is looking for, whether they realize it or not. And once I had seen the truth, I could see that it was everywhere.
______

From the moment I made the discovery, I knew that there was nothing more important than to understand this discovery more, live it completely, and then share it with the world. My hope was to show they way out for those experiencing hardship, to help end the pain and suffering that so many are enduring, and to shine a light to a future where we can live without anxiety or fear.
______

The Secret showed you how to create anything you want to be, do or have. Nothing has changed - it is as true today as it ever was. This book reveals the greatest discovery a human being can ever make and shows you the way out of negativity, problems, and what you don't want, to a life of permanent happiness and bliss.

Hidden in Plain Sight
Ancient traditions knew that to hide a secret it should be put in plain sight, where no one will think to look for it. And that's exactly where The Greatest Secret lies.
-Rhonda Byrne

The only way that someone can be of help to you is by challenging your ideas.
- Anthony de Mello, S.J., Awareness: Conversations with the Masters

All of humanity's suffering comes down to a case of mistaken identity.
-Rhonda Byrne

All the unhappiness, discontent and misery that we experience in our life is caused only by our ignorance or confused knowledge of who or what we really are. Therefore if we want to be free of all forms of misery and unhappiness, we must free ourself from our ignorance or confused knowledge of what we really are.
-Michael James, Happiness and the Art of Being

The discovery of our true Self has the power to transform the darkness of ignorance into the light of pure understanding. It is the most profound, important and radical discovery. It is a tree that bears fruit immediately. When w realize who we are - the one experiencing and perceiving the world - so many things will be set right.
- Mooji

Open yourself to the possibility that you can experience the truth of what you are, this very moment. How, you may ask? By noticing that the only obstacle in the way is your imagination - your imagined opposition.
- Rhonda's teacher

When you fully recognize who you are, suffering and struggle will be gone, and fear and negative emotions will dissolve. The mind will quiet. You will be filled with joy, positivity, fulfillment, a sense of abundance, and an imperturbable peace. This will be your life.
-Rhonda Byrne

Never again will you be afraid, desperate, lonely. Whatever comes your way, this causeless joy will hold. Imagine it.
- Jan Frazier, When Fear Falls Away

The Greatest Secret: Revealed
The ego isn't who you are. But it makes so much racket you can't hear who you really are. If you keep it going, if you feed and water the ego, it's madness.
-Jan Frazier, Opening the Door

Why is it so hard to see through the ego, to let it go - to stop believing in the solidity of the little guy? Why do we hold on to this apparently real self, when beneath and around and above and swimming all through it is this gorgeous other reality that really is real, that can be counted on for sustenance, for perfect peacefulness? Why deny ourselves this, for the sake of something so paltry by comparison - for a thing that causes so much trouble, even pain?
- Jan Frazier, Opening the Door

We're so smart and our lives are so complex that it's hard to believe that simply discovering awake awareness could be the solution to our suffering. It's also hard to believe that the most important discovery is already here within us; we don't have to go on an odyssey to find it, earn it, or develop it.
-Loch Kelly, Shift Into Freedom: The Science and Practice of OpenheartedAwareness

The great joke is the simplicity of it all.
- Peter Lawry

This is not a fairy tale. This possible thing is as real as a tree, as real as politics, as the roots that hold the tree to the ground, as real as the newspaper and its stories. It is as real as the Red Sox, as the price of gas, as a fight with your in-laws, as real as a tuition bill . . . The truth is, it is more real than these things, and yet it is hardly seen, hardly felt, let alone directly known.
-Jan Frazier, Opening the Door: Jan Frazier Teachings on Awakening

This is the same state that most religions refer to as 'liberation' or 'salvation,' because only in this state of true self-knowledge are we free or saved from the bondage of mistaking ourself to be a separate individual, a consciousness that is confined within the limits of a physical body.
-Michael James, Happiness and the Art of Being: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Practice of the Spiritual Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana

The Reveal Continued
When a human being lives from the place of knowing they're Infinite Awareness, then the experience of living in the material world becomes breathtaking. Because their mind has dropped to the background and Awareness is in the foreground, they are no longer subject to the turmoil of the mind, so they are lighthearted, happy all the time, and laugh a lot. They're existing in pure happiness and bliss and living their lives from that place every day. Problems are virtually nonexistent, everything dreamed of comes to them, and because they're consciously living as Awareness, they're fully aware of their immortality. They know they are everything, and yet they know they're not affected by anything. Life on earth doesn't get any better than this!
-Rhonda Byrne

Every little thing you do or see - every little, ordinary thing - carries this tingly sense of being. It is hard not to cry sometimes at the most unspectacular things. The lines of the walls in relation to the flat of the floor. It's horizontality. The nap of the rug. The sound of the car going by. The smell of the skin on your arm. All is miraculous.
- Jan Frazier, Opening the Door

There's a fork in every moment. To be what you are or what you are not. You're choosing in every second.
- Rhonda's teacher

The less you believe you are the doer the more you are an unstoppable force for good in the world.
-Hale Dwoskin

When you lose the eyes of ego you see with the eyes of God.
-Mooji

We seem to have the experience of a limited consciousness but when we investigate more closely, we see that it is impossible. That which is aware of limitations transcends limitations and is therefore beyond them.
- Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence

You're Dreaming . . . It's Time to Wake Up
The whole world as now seen is nothing but a dream-illusion that never was. The truth is just behind the outward world.
-Lester Levenson, Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think, Books 1 through 5, The Greatest Secret Edition

We should be open to the possibility that this is a dream and when we do, everything changes dramatically. It actually turns out to be so. If this waking experience is seen to be a dream, then our behavior changes and we will find that the response coming from the characters or the situation in this dream also changes.
-Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence

If we take the dream state as an example, there may be a dream that covers a fifty-year period, but we wake up and realize that it didn't actually happen. It only seemed real while there was identification with the dream state of consciousness. The waking state is also only an extremely convincing play that consciousness is producing.
-David Bingham

If you can go to a movie and see a picture of war and suffering, and afterward say 'What a wonderful picture!' so may you take this life as a cosmic picture-show. Be prepared for every kind of experience that may come to you, realizing that all are but dreams.
- Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest

The greatest healing is to wake up from what we are not.
-Mooji

Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They live mechanical lives, mechanical thoughts - generally somebody else's - mechanical emotions, mechanical actions, mechanical reactions. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence.
- Anthony d Mello, S. J.

When you wake up and begin living your life as Awareness, your life will be beyond anything you can imagine now. You will find the world utterly magnificent, bursting with beauty and loveliness, and you will see with clear eyes that everything is on track, nothing is out of place, and all is well. When our mind is running our life, we're prevented from seeing the world as it really is.
-Rhonda Byrne

Know that you can go there, can be there, can live a life that is unencumbered. You do not have to earn this, or deserve it. It's free, already here. It isn't a reward. It's innate.
-Jan Frazier, Opening the Door

When you reach the top of the mountain, you can see everything in all directions. Nothing whatsoever is hidden from you. our vision of the world and beyond if fully expanded in every direction. You can see the people in the valley and their limited perspective, and you know from where you are that there's nothing for them to fear. You can also see the people who are at various stages on their way up the mountain, and the various limitations of their perspective. And where you stand, at the top of the mountain, you can see the sheer exquisite beauty and perfection of absolutely everything. You see that nothing is out of place, and there's nothing for anyone to worry about, or be afraid of. The spectacle, the wonder, and the mystery of life that is revealed to you is nothing short of magnificent, and when the people in the valley can see the magnificence of what you can see, they also will be free.
-Rhonda Byrne

When we stand on top of a mountain or look at the stars we are sensing infinity, which is what we truly are, and why so many people crave that sense of expansiveness.
-David Bingham

. . . our mind recycles thoughts according to our beliefs and holds us prisoner with those thoughts by severely limiting our life - until we wake up and see that our thoughts and our mind are not who we are!
-Rhonda Byrne

Would you rather play the game of limitation or would you rather be free? That simple question is a key to dropping our obsession with being limited body minds.
-Hale Dwoskin, Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think!

The Mountain of Consciousness is a metaphor for consciousness: Your perspective of life expands as you get higher. At the top of the mountain, you can see the beauty and perfection of absolutely everything.
-Rhonda Byrne

Freedom From The Mind
If you would only from this moment on see what you want, that is all that you would get.
-Lester Levenson, Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think, Books 1 through 5, The Greatest Secret Edition

Your mind can't multitask, as much as you might believe it can.
-Rhonda Byrne

If you prefer to suffer, go on believing your stressful thoughts. But if you'd rather be happy, question them.
- Byron Katie, A Mind At Home With Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart, and Turn Your World Around

It's not you that people like or dislike; it's their stories of you.
-Byron Katie

Taking responsibility for everything in our life also means not blaming anyone or anything else for something that happened. And it means not blaming ourselves. Blaming is just another repetitive program in the mind.
-Rhonda Byrne

As long as you think that the cause of your problem is 'out there' - as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering - the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you're suffering in paradise.
-Byron Katie, Loving What Is

The mind measures, compares, and describes. These three things are all the mind does, over and over and over again. Check for yourself with anything you say, or with whatever thought appears.
-Rhonda's Teacher

If you try to imagine a world without time, you won't be able to do it because your mind can't comprehend it. Your mind is always either in the past or in the future; it's not aware of this present moment. If you stop and are present right now, you will notice that there is no thought. It's one of the reasons why the mind has been able to prevent so many of us from realizing who we really are, because Awareness can only be recognized in this present moment!
-Rhonda Byrne

The past is made of memory, the future of imagination. Neither has any existence outside the realm of thought.
- Rupert Spira, The Ashes of Love

What is a thought? A movement of energy. What is a feeling? A movement of energy.
-Peter Lawry, "Consciousness Unlimited"

A thought is like a bird flying by. Let the bird fly past without analyzing it. "Where are you going? What kind of bird are you? Where's your family? How old are you?" Just let the bird fly past.
-Rhonda's Teacher

Understanding The Power of Feelings
Good feelings are to be enjoyed. They are the expression of joy and take us back to joy, which is our true nature. Just enjoy them; be one with them.
-Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence

Positive and good feelings are a result of saying "Yes" to what is happening in life.
-Rhonda Byrne

It takes a lot of energy to be a person. It takes no energy to be yourself.
-Mooji

The real source of 'stress' is actually internal; it is not external, as people would like to believe. The readiness to react with fear, for instance, depends on how much fear is already present within to be triggered by a stimulus.
-Dr. David R. Hawkins, Letting Go: The Pathway To Surrender

See that thoughts and feelings are like a train that enters a station and then leaves; be like the station, not like a passenger.
- Rupert Spira, The Ashes of Love


(see more favorite passages in review comments)

[Brb_busyreading · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just one big fat NOPE! I am all for the secret and the law of attraction but this book just went too far. Really have no idea what Rhonda was talking about in this book, nothing made sense and random quotes from others were thrown in and you didn't know if it was part of her book or a extract from somewhere else. Very badly written and I think she's gone to another world with this. What I have took from it is I guess that we just need to be more aware of being in the moment! But she's obviously gone on to say we aren't our bodies.....or whatever! Dont waste your money

[Papiya Banerjee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Umm so there’s no doubt that THE SECRET has changed our lives. Before that first book, I had no idea about what is the law of attraction and manifestation. The first book really helped me through and enhanced my spiritual practice also, so when this one came out I started wondering what could they talk about now?? Mind it I have all the books which were released by Rhonda in the last ten years. All the others which came in between gave me nothing special, so I was curious about this one. I am kinda very disappointed by this book. It’s difficult for me to explain what this book was cos it was very difficult for me to understand hahaha..

It has a lot of spiritualism in it. I do meditate and I do have a spiritual guru whom I follow hence I was able to grasp some of it but dude for beginners, this will go right above your head. The concept talked about in this Book might be the truth, no doubt about it but I feel it’s very far fetched and it requires way much more efforts and understanding Spiritualism to actually be able to practice what’s said in this book.

Also the practices, umm it was a huge let down. They have simply assumed that the reader will just know how to become one with the universe or become awareness. I practiced it myself and felt so disconnected that I can’t even fathom how will a non meditator will even understand this?? It didn’t work for me. Period.

I was let down. I was disappointed.

[Soha Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book left me unsettled. The topic discussed here is so ginormous. It feels like Rhonda just stayed on the surface of it. I want to divulge the depth of the whole thing. Maybe books on Sufism might help me with opening the tangles and knots in my mind.

[Joshua Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, the simple, powerful idea presented was worth every penny and more. Indeed, this book is not just marketing, it is a treasure, a mirror that shows the best reflection and more. NO spoilers, just clarity in showing the purposes of reality and why to live at your best and most conscious always. That's it. The only spoiler could be though, this book for good or bad will show you who you are, and make you more of it. That is it, also. If you are positive, you will get that. If you are negative, you will get that. Ultimately this book is what you are anyway, and that is the crux of this review. As I was reading tonight, I was genuinely introduced to myself, and I genuinely like what I see and saw. It is not perfect by any means, right down to "little accidents that happen", but I love me unconditionally. That is the most powerful gift that this book shows and gives to a person, their real self in full view. If it is positive, it is a gift. If it is negative, it is a curse. The greatest secret is our genuine selves activated fully, that is the rub of the genie, and if that is a sort of spoiler, so be it. But this book is worth reading and cherishing because of its simplicity and depth anyway.

[Prerna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne truly did feel like an awakening. If you've read The Secret by her, you should definitely go for this one. If not, I suggest going through The Secret first and then jumping onto this book.

Being someone who takes great interest in the teachings of Law of Attraction and has read or watched multiple works from multiple multi-national teachers on the same, The Greatest Secret that Byrne has revealed in this book was no surprise to me. In the beginning, I felt like there was nothing new that I would find in this book but what came as a sweet surprise to me was the remembering and the eloquent examples that made everything so clear and put everything to perspective. There were so many real-life examples which offered so many key takeaways to me.

Quotes from many, many famous people from around the world were used to iterate the same point in different ways. I like how Bryne structures her books so they were full of excerpts, pictures and descriptive texts that made it engaging and all the more easily understandable for someone who is a beginner to reading or to this knowledge. I've read her books so I can't help but compare how powerful her last chapters are and The Greatest Secret didn't disappoint!

I am grateful for all the knowledge I have received through this very book. A must-read for Law of Attraction practitioners!

Also I want to point out that this particular edition is gorgeous and handy at the same time! From the font to the page feel (Miniscule details, I know) everything was very tightly put together to make a wonderful book.

[karel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awakened at last

I have now become aware of who I've spent my 74 years looking for, and I know who I am at last. I've known this for decades but, until now, I've not read it in black and white. My mind has hidden the truth from me, but in my being I felt that what my mind was telling me was not the real truth. I am Aware!

[Baroness · Rating 2 out of 5]

Secrets are better whispered... But not this one.
The greatest secret is one that has been told several times by several people.
This read was not bad but it wasn’t good, it was just ok...

[Nanya Srivastava · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Secret felt like a revelation and I still swear by that book, and also by The Magic and The Power. This book, however, felt like someone saying the greatest secret to fitness is Yoga. Sure, perhaps in the West, it's still considered a discovery, but for someone in India, who has had to do Yoga in PE/PT classes in school, it feels less like a revelation and more like a repackaging of traditional wisdom and cultural appropriation. (Makes me wonder if that's how the Japanese felt about Ikigai).
The Greatest Secret is Awareness, and the many things Byrne reveals are actually tenets of Buddhism and Hinduism, which unfortunately Byrne is yet to understand deeply. Again, many of the things she says are taught in schoolbooks in India, and therefore, I just breezed past the whole thing. Unsurprisingly, many of the quotes were from either Buddhist or Hindu philosophers or from religious books. There is a bit of new-age philosophy as well, but for that, I would recommend listening or reading Oprah, who does a much better job of motivating you and packaging the content. If you have the book, and you do not know anything about Hinduism or Buddhism, then you may find "revelations", otherwise give this one a hard pass.

[Brenda Wharton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t bother. Bunch of jumbo jumbo new age BS. You can have ever lasting happiness once you discover your true self. You deserve everything you could ever want. You don’t need to suffer. Your life can be truly full filled without you needing to do anything. We are in search of the biggest secret of our lives... but it’s in plain view. Whenever we suffer, it’s because we have mistaken our identity

[Samira Elytess · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the hell... this book deserves zero star!

I was helping a friend to understand certain passages from the book. (otherwise this book is too elementary for my spiritual path to buy in the first place).
I kid you not, this famed bloated book consists of 90 percent quotations of eastern philosophy that are horribly translated into English from other languages in the first place.

The "greatest secret" is that there is a divine power inside of you...that you are god and part of the Creator. Clearly this book is not adding any new insight that was not written before by eastern spiritual writers centuries or millennia ago (same with her other previous books).

It's just to make money and have blind fans and matrix agents give a fake 5 star review to promote the book, and to separate you from your money honey.

[Sally Underwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very simple explanation of a basic truth that we so easily miss. We are trained to look outward or to the intellect to solve our problems, but the solution to everything is right within us. This doesn't mean that things in life should be as you want them to be, it means you can be at peace with whatever comes your way. It also means that you can free up a lot of the energy that is nornally caught up in either trying to either repress emotions that you don't like, or in trying to make the world conform to your wishes.
It includes the best teachers in this field: Lester Levenson & Hale Dwoskin of the Sedona Method, the wonderful Rupert Spira, Frances Lucille and many others.
I wasn't a big fan of The Secret, even though the evidence of thoughts preceding my reality was everywhere in my life, I just found too simple and too focused on getting stuff, but with this book she's cracked it.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I agree with other reviewers that this book contains a good amount of ideas and quotes from other authors...that actually heightens the book’s impact for me. It brought together a bunch of ideas, a lot of which I was already aware of on my spiritual journey. By bringing these ideas together I could feel a shift as new connections were made. The book is easy to understand and really connected the dots for me.

[Victoria Marsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing new, nothing groundbreaking. Still a lovely book to listen to during walks. People, familiar with Vadim Zeland and Eckhart Tolle, will find it quite naive. Perfect for self-help literature beginners.

[Sangam Agarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is like summary of all Spirituality books.
In the end meditate all the time and you will get everything you want

[Anuradha Goyal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detailed review here - https://www.anuradhagoyal.com/the-gre...

[Rozanne Visagie · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Disclaimer: I was kindly gifted a copy of this book by Jonathan Ball Publishers in exchange for an honest review.



♦ PUBLISHED: November 2020 ♦ PAGES: 256 ♦ GENRE: Self-help, Psychology ♦ Hardback ♦

In 2006 Rhonda Byrne wrote The Secret and 14 years later she brings us The Greatest Secret. I own a copy of The Secret but haven't finished reading it, so it's definitely a reread for me. The Greatest Secret is a hardback with a beautiful design, the pages are glossy with gold smudges around the edges.

I learned quite a few things from this book even though I'm not an avid reader of self-help books. The author discusses a few topics and includes quotes from different teachers such as Eckhart Tolle and Anthony de Mello, S.J. to name a few. After each chapter a 'chapter summary' is included which summarises the key points. I find this useful for quick referencing. I particularly found Chapter 10: Everlasting Happiness to be interesting. The author writes about people who are constantly trying to find everlasting happiness in material things which disappears with time along with the temporary happiness it brings. She urges the reader to rather focus on Awareness (which is a main theme throughout the book) and find happiness that is already within each of us.



Another theme/topic discussed is thoughts. I found the following quotes helpful and flagged them for future reference: "When your mind tries to speak on your behalf, remember that the voice you hear in your head is not you." "The first step to freedom is when we understand that our thoughts create our life. What you think is what manifests." I found the illustrations accompanying the text helps to strengthen the readers understanding of the text, and my favourite illustration is at the end of the book. I feel that if the whole book could be described in one illustration it's definitely that one.

This book is ideal for fans of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny by Robin S. Sharma or The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.

Books written by Rhonda Byrne includes The Secret (2006), The Power(2010), The Magic (2012) and Hero (2013).

This review is posted on my blog with extras: https://willowscornerbook.wordpress.c...

[Vuvu Vena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

[Nina's Reading List · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and eye opening!

[Faye*]

I needed a short audiobook to listen too while cleaning. It was OK.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not expect to like this, and I did not. I read it because I like to be aware of what is trending in culture and pop-psychology. This book is non-scientific theory put forth as absolute fact. Those who read "The Secret" are familiar with Rhonda Byrne's style, which is to stitch together quotes from other writers and thinkers with relatively small bits of narrative and original thinking from herself to attempt to hold it all together - an effort which fails. The result is a manual for living that could hardly be less seamless, with one repetitive, redundant quote following another.

Without further ado [spoiler alert] here is the Greatest Secret:

You are not your mind or your body. You are Awareness -- that which is aware of your mind and your body.

Here are the prescribe steps to living in the Greatest Secret:

1) Ask yourself if you are aware
2) Become aware
3) Stay in awareness

Other key ideas from the book:

-Awareness is also infinite happiness, which is our true nature.
-Awareness can also be called or thought of as love, God, etc. It has no borders or boundaries. You are God. You are love. You don't inhabit your body, your body inhabits your awareness.
-To live in happiness become aware of and welcome all thoughts, including negative thoughts, feelings and emotions, taking note of them but not dwelling on them. Suppressing negative thoughts traps that negative energy within you. Welcome the negative thought, let it flow through you and watch it leave. When you allow negativity to leave, all that is left is positivity and happiness...your true nature.
-You are awareness. You have always been and will always be. No beginning. No end. You do not die when your body ceases to live. Only then will you be fully awake, as waking from a dream.
-Buddha had to live 500 lives before becoming fully awake.
-Great spiritual leaders, like Jesus, Buddha, Hari Krishna and others lived in a fully aware and awakened state.
-If you live in awareness all trouble, pain, harm, negativity, worry, etc. will fully vanish.

So there you go.

[Ágnes Perényi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ez a könyv cseppet sem hasonlít egy “csodálatos közös utazásra”!
Maroknyi, valóban értékes gondolatát a végtelenségig részletezi, amitől igencsak unalmas olvasmánynak mondanám.
A könyv 70%-a más emberektől származó idézet, saját gondolatait, személyes élményeit éppen csak elhinti itt-ott az írónő, pedig azok sokkal jobban magukkal ragadtak, mint a millió idézőjeles klisé.
A legelkeserítőbb, hogy a “legnagyobb titok” agyoncsépelt elméleti háttere mellett, annak gyakorlati megvalósítására nevetségesen kevés figyelmet fordít a könyv. Ezen a részen is sokat javított volna, ha az írónő megosztja saját tapasztalatait és gyakorlati kontextusba helyezi a “titok nyitját”.
Amúgy is -de mindezek tekintetében főleg- rettentően túl van árazva a könyv. A szép papírlap helyett érdemesebb lett volna a tartalmi minőségen gondolkodni.
Ha valaki elolvasná, inkább kölcsön adom.

[MariamAlakrawi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would rather give it 0 starts!! Complete rubbish this book. I can give you many reasons why: 1- overpriced 2- repetitions 3- not practical 4- nonsense 4- wast of time and money and 5- boring. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Rhonda Byrne but this book is complete disappointment after a series of good books ( I have them all). She kept saying awareness over and over again without solid argument. She failed miserably to convince me of her idea. Don’t buy it

[Fahad Alkahtani · Rating 5 out of 5]

For lost people. For people who are in mind level. For people who want to cleanse their emotions. For people who want to be in their authentic version of them selves. For those who can’t afford to have a mentor or buy an online course. For all people. This is an amazing book to guide you to your true freedom with ease and simplicity. This really the greatest secret .💚

[Pattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible and the audible version is deffo the way to go! It’s about dissolving fear and anxiety...removing negativity...and finding everlasting happiness and bliss. She cites quotations from many teachers and you hear them (or representatives of them) speak their part. Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did...and yes...I will be listening to it over and over! Xx

[Leigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a written book by Rhonda Byrne. This book is just quotes from other people. It basically says nothing. Complete waste of time. I’ve read The Secret numerous times. I would not read this book again nor would I ever recommend it.

[Abhishek Shekhar · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book is a half hearted attempt in compiling quotes and thoughts from other good works. Nothing original in the book and of course the quotes are also not fitting the narration. Very disappointed such a waste of time