The Mystery that is "The Secret"

Perhaps it is the same in all human languages, but the mere mention of the word "Secret" causes certain noticeable changes in the nervous system, distinct from most other words (though that is highly subjective). Though the word can NOT be satisfactorily defined, beyond the most simplistic terms - such as: "kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged", just to name one - and given the one just described, leads to other difficult terms, like "initiated", and "privileged", and so it goes.
"The Secret" is really just a circularity-of-wordforms posing as something more substantial; that is, something you can "put your finger on", which of course no one can, but isn't that the FUN of it?

"Well, now that you mention it, you betcha!"

Let's say "Waking Up" out of the almost permanent "sleep-mode" in which all humans appear to dwell - most of whom don't even know about the concept, let alone the techniques that might actually lead to it - is "The Secret" that can never be satisfactorily detailed, only experienced for oneself, and then almost immediately forgotten, kind of like a touch on one's shoulder that causes one to turn and LOOK AROUND, but that one can never adequately tell anyone how to "Feel the Touch that Awakens".

Let's say "Waking Up" is being aroused from slumber not by a touch on the shoulder but rather by an ITCH that can never (thankfully) be SCRATCHED, and the effort to tell others "How to wake up" is a fool's errand, and the AWAKE know this, while the ASLEEP never can.

Let's say "Waking Up" requires WILL of a kind that can never be transmitted through a book, or someone else's voice or writings, but was in fact ALWAYS there anyway, but never recognized for what it is. After all, consider this: why would anyone EVER gather the force of WILL necessary to actually awaken, if their rooms are full of rare and not-so-rare books written by people they (say and think and believe wholeheartedly) admire? Do you realize that the "will" they need is not in the books, but in themselves. The pseudo-will in the books is seen as, felt as, sensed as, "good enough", but of course is not. That pseudo-will is a sham, and the AWAKE know this, while the ASLEEP never can.

Better to burn the books, and stop asking others "What should I do to awaken?" and start LOOKING AROUND for the SECRET WILL that does exist within all humans - really, from birth, as if "whispered into each and everyone" (by Mother, God, Life, Universe?) - and nurture that need/will which is really a Life-and-Death Deal struck with oneself. I.E., Get On With It!