Brainwashed by the cult of the super-rich
Followers, in thrall to Harrods and Downton Abbey, repeat the mantra that the greed of a few means prosperity for all
Guardian, 25th December 2013
Last week, Tory MP Esther McVey, Iain Duncan Smith's deputy, insisted it was "right" that half a million Britons be dependent on food banks in "tough times". Around the same time, the motor racing heiress Tamara Ecclestone totted up a champagne bill of £30,000 in one evening. A rich teenager in Texas has just got away with probation for drunkenly running over and killing four people because his lawyers argued successfully that he suffered from "affluenza", which rendered him unable to handle a car responsibly. What we've been realising for some time now is that, for all the team sport rhetoric, only two
sides are really at play in Britain and beyond: Team Super-Rich and Team Everyone Else.
Honesty and Ethics Rating of Clergy Slides to New LowNurses again top list; lobbyists are worst
Gallup Politics, 16th December 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' rating of the honesty and ethics of the clergy has fallen to 47%, the first time this rating has dropped below 50% since Gallup first asked about the clergy in 1977. Clergy have historically ranked near the top among professions on this measure, hitting a high rating of 67% in 1985.
Comment: I suppose these ratings are being affected by all the exposure of paedophile priests and other deviant types posing as useful members of society... BUT saying that there are a few professions that seem just too high up on this list... I will say that in terms of metaphysics, the levels of human consciousness are supposed to be going up as 'New Energy' pours onto the planet, but in reality and practically, I suppose we are going through the process of a true awakening and realising that there are many people around us who have no honesty or ethics and are now struggling to hide their evil motivations. For those who not aware, it is possible to use a google tool to compare the dramatic increase in the number of people discussing psychopathy on the internet over recent years. Personally, I was driven to search for answers to deal with my own horrible experiences with malignant narcissists. Yet, even now, I hate the thought that people I trusted could be so far up the ratings that they can actually be defined as psychopaths... Whatever, as a researcher, it is also impossible to avoid these types as they can be very successful in fooling those around them. This story is doing the rounds on the internet,
The Death [Ray] Dealer
'Secret' guru James Arthur Ray led three people to their deaths... and now he's at it again
The Verge, 4th December 2013
James Arthur Ray had gone from obscure motivational speaker to self-help superstar. After more than a decade of writing and lecturing, he’d appeared in The Secret, a 2006 film touting "the law of attraction" — a belief that "thoughts become things." Positive thoughts attract positive outcomes, The Secret promised; a dream life awaits anyone with a properly focused mind. ""Your body is energy. Your car is energy, your house, everything, money, all of it is energy.""
Oprah gushed over the film, twice showcasing its stars and telling her audience, "Watch it with your children."
Comment: This article is a reminder for those who don't know why so many people have a problem with con man James Ray trying to make a come back... Personally, the whole James Ray story just makes my blood boil, but when I read his claims that he travelled to the summit of Mount Sinai and found himself in the same cave where Moses received the Ten Commandments, I want to scream BULLSHIT! New Agers who still want to run after this predator are beyond help. He only got famous because of Oprah, so I wonder whether she has even stopped to query her own judgment in promoting this fraud and all the other New Age fraudsters she regularly promoted.... Does the bloody woman even care?
CU professor: Severe space weather shouldn't be ignored
Denver i Journal, 9th December 2013
BOULDER — A massive ejection of material from the sun initially traveling at over 7 million miles per hour that narrowly missed Earth last year is an event solar scientists hope will open the eyes of policymakers regarding the impacts and mitigation of severe space weather, says a University of Colorado professor.
The coronal mass ejection, or CME, event was likely more powerful than the famous Carrington storm of 1859, when the sun blasted Earth’s atmosphere hard enough twice to light up the sky from the North Pole to Central America and allowed New Englanders to read their newspapers at night by aurora light, said CU-Boulder Professor Daniel Baker. Had it hit Earth, the July 2012 event likely would have created a technological disaster by short-circuiting satellites, power grids, ground communication equipment and even threatening the health of astronauts and aircraft crews, he said.[...]
“My space weather colleagues believe that until we have an event that slams Earth and causes complete mayhem, policymakers are not going to pay attention,” he said. “The message we are trying to convey is that we made direct measurements of the 2012 event and saw the full consequences without going through a direct hit on our planet.”
Baker will give a presentation on the subject at the 46th Annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union held in San Francisco Dec. 9 to Dec. 13.[...]
“The Carrington storm and the 2012 event show that extreme space weather events can happen even during a modest solar cycle like the one presently underway,” said Baker. “Rather than wait and pick up the pieces, we ought to take lessons from these events to prepare ourselves for inevitable future solar storms.”
Comment: Hmmm... Baker et al. have realised that policy makers are not taking the issue of space weather seriously enough. Today, space scientists and engineers don't just have the historic 1859 Carrington geomagnetic storm as a precedent to cite. In July 2012, there was seriously life-threatening CME that missed Earth by a week that policymakers must consider... The reality is the consequences of a major space weather event are no longer just conjecture, we have data! Maybe, Baker is trying to warn higher ups that the current worst case space weather scenarios used by authorities that have to consider existential risk [major threats to the existence of humanity] are simply not good enough and the impact of a major space weather event would be even more horrendous than many want to contemplate... Oh well, as in any major world cataclysm there will be some survivors, but due to our current state of unpreparedness, I don't have much hope for our modern technological socieites where very few have any relevant survival skills. This is the link for the original press release,
CU-Boulder scientist: 2012 solar storm points up need for society to prepare.
James Arthur Ray is back on CNN.
Salty Droid, 27th November 2013
At least four dead people later … James Arthur Ray is back on CNN.
And he’s :: like … all sorry and stuff. How else is one to interpret the dye and highlight job?
{tear-ducts-activate} [...]
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It’s the greatest pain I can imagine, is to really care about helping people — and end up seeing them getting hurt.
… says Captain Pity Party :: in various lame {and ungrammatical} ways throughout the hour long interview.
He’s sorry :: about his own pain and suffering … can’t that just be enough for all these whining whiners with dead relatives? [...]
Ray “lost” nothing. The couple million dollars of other people’s money that he had accumulated via fraud and manipulation :: was used to purchase the multi-year services of Rhonda Byrne’s fancy attorneys at Munger Tolles & Olson. Though it seems the ridiculous Ray :: quite hilariously … remains furious with those lawyers for allowing him {The God of All Things} to be convicted for something as petty as killing some of the little people.
I’ve been hearing about this “interview” :: /slash “starting a new” [sic] promotional opportunity … for a couple months now. I’ve also been hearing :: via my ubiquitous robot gossip sensors … that Ray thinks he’s getting his own television show. I was hoping that things weren’t actually that dark out there :: that Ray was just exhibiting some classic The Law of Attraction delusionalism … but here it is happening.
Macabre :: bizarro :: Orwellian :: fact :: that wasn’t a news interview … it was {fücking literally} a reality show audition reel.
Comment: OK, I am stunned beyond belief... It seems the effort to keep simple people trapped in the web of New Age beliefs by master manipulators like James Ray controlled by puppet masters is being continued. It does not matter that James Ray was careless enough to kill people whilst he was trying to reprogram them, controlling the masses through New Age religion is still very important to controllers. The Salty Droid (a profanity warning for this website is necessary), is written by lawyer trained Jason Jones and he is mad, real mad, but the comment about just how dark things are is well, quite frankly accurate.... We are witnessing some serious psychopathic sickness and evil right here... This just makes me shudder... It will be interesting to see which vermin operators decide to cosy up to James Ray because he is being given clear support from some extremely evil and influential people.
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James Ray: "The most difficult thing I can ever imagine is investing your entire life in helping people, and then finding them getting hurt" [VIDEO]
Piers Morgan, 25th November 2013
Roughly four years since a tragic series of events at an Arizona sweat lodge cost three people their lives, on Monday evening "Piers Morgan Live" welcomed James Arthur Ray for an exclusive, live interview.
The host and leader of the retreat near Sedona, Ariz., Ray was found guilty on three counts of negligent homicide, and sentenced to two years in prison. He was released in July, and joining Piers Morgan in CNN's Los Angeles studio, Ray reflected upon the heartbreaking events of October 8th, 2011
Comment: I am not sure whether this performance deserves an oscar.... Well, as long term followers of this blog will know, James Ray deservedly received a lot of attention due to his high profile killing of some of his followers. His refusal to admit his guilt contrasts with the fact that folk were alarmed that Oprah Winfrey was promoting this fraud and complained on her website that people were getting hurt over and over again in his seminars.... Of course, few paid any attention until 2 years later when he roasted a few of his ambitious followers to death. The snivelling performance here is just typical of psychopaths who can easily switch on/off the waterworks, it's all part of the personality disorder. The facts are now well and truly in the public domain, only a bloody fool would be taken in by this con man.
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James Ray rejects his own teachings (and his supporters don’t notice)
Spirituality Is No Excuse, 26th November 2013
James Arthur Ray, the motivational torturer convicted of three counts of homicide, has served his jail time and completed his probationary period in Arizona. Now he’s back in his old home in Carlsbad California and is giving interviews again to the uncritical media and speaking publicly. And of course, continuing to cut a path of destruction through the lives of his customers.
But there has been at least one change in this recurring nightmare. In his new blog post, he has rejected all of his previous teachings. That’s right all of them!
Comment: Jaw-dropping.... JR is now attempting to re-define New Age beliefs with his new Law of Polarity, presumably because he has proven the New Age Law of Attraction does not work! The following is a short reminder for those who need it. Yakuru writes:
"Ray was convicted and went to jail because he cooked three people to death and stood there gawping while others were desperately administering CPR. Then he went and had a shower. He was sitting in his undies eating a sandwich when the police knocked on his door. Then he tried to blame it all on Ted the fire keeper. And now he wants to tell you that he is a wise expert on human life."
Then after a stint in jail, this model of human virtue gets retouted on CNN...
Atheist 'Mega-Churches' Take Root Across US, World
ABC News, 11th November 2013
ABC News, 11th November 2013
It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Several hundred people, including families with small children, packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational talk and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God.
Nearly three dozen gatherings dubbed "atheist mega-churches" by supporters and detractors have sprung up around the U.S. and Australia — with more to come — after finding success in Great Britain earlier this year. The movement fueled by social media and spearheaded by two prominent British comedians is no joke.
Comment: Absolutely perfect if you like everything about church accept the man-made religious stories that you don't want to believe are absolutely true. Quite frankly, this might also be useful for those who are sick of New Age nonsense teaching too. For the intellectual who realise many don't have much understanding of reality, there is still a hope of finding other intellectuals amongst the crowd who are willing to be open minded.
Mark Passio - Holistic Brain & “New” Age Deception
Red Ice Creations, 8th November 2013
Mark Passio is an independent researcher, public speaker, radio talk show host, conference organizer and freedom activist from Philadelphia, PA. Mark has undertaken the task of assembling vast amounts of research in the areas of metaphysics, occultism, spirituality, symbology and consciousness studies. In the first hour, Mark discusses an integral approach to truth gathering that utilizes both hemispheres of the brain. He'll explain how a holistic full brain aggregates information. We'll talk what he calls the "5 boxes for consciousness," including the new age movement, rigid scientism, religion and the monetary system that require a belief outside yourself. We discuss aspects of left/right brain imbalance and how to keep in the center hemisphere of your brain, which is the best place to learn and take action. In the member's hour, we discuss the biggest deceptions in the new age movement such as: avoiding the negative, never getting angry, the idea that we're all one and in this together, solipsism, acceptance of everything, the laws of attraction, false notions of forgiveness, chaos as a fearful thing, enlightenment, truth doesn't need to be defended and the savior is coming. Mark details the deceptions weaved into each one of these aspects.
Comment: New Age Beliefs Exposed! I found this interview with Mark Passio very very sobering. There was nothing I had not worked out already but the clear articulation of the mentality of New Agers I have met was still sobering... Hour 2 subscribers only [1:25] is totally brilliant short synopsis of the main issues that explains the powerlessness and morally ambivalence amongst New Agers. Personally, I think the only way forward for these types of extreme right brain religionista is some serious deprogramming... Whatever, Mark Passio's analysis is very good for those people who realise that something is very very wrong with the New Age movement.
The Real Cause of Andrew Cohen's Dilemma: Part I: Andrew Cohen following Fatefully in Ken Wilber's Egosteps
Integral World News, 16th October 2013
Abstract: There has been a lot of discussion recently about Neo-Advaita teacher Andrew Cohen, who has been severely reproached with abusive treatment of his disciples. The article tries to show that the real cause of the dilemma is not to be found with Andrew Cohen as a spiritual teacher, who truly believed in the dubious enterprise he engaged in. The dilemma lies inherent in Ken Wilber's ego-theory, which has been faithfully followed by Andrew Cohen in his spiritual practice. So it is primarily Wilber who has to be taken to task for his ill-conceived ego-theory
Comment: This article turns over some serious intellectual bullshit... Why won't these people just admit that they have been taken in by confidence trickers or con-men? Wilber and Cohen were in a symbiotic relationship to con their followers and yet their intellectual type ex-followers completely refuse to admit that they were conned.... Just because Wilber and Cohen could go around the mental block about a mythical state of enlightenment means nothing... that is the nature of the con... The well-known supporters are now in trouble because they were either not spiritual enough to discern that these were big fakes or they wanted in on the con... Regardless, rubbing shoulders with a big name was about perpetuating a myth about their own status and nothing more... I realise that the authors writing about these spiritual gangsters are desperately trying to deal with their sense of spiritual betrayal because I have been there too and it is an extremely deep wound, but there will be no healing until they stop pretending Wilber and Cohen are 'normal' human beings because they are not! This is a pair of very clever predators operating on well know trajectory that have been finally exposed. End of story. Btw, once you understand the modus operandi of these spiritual 'gurus', a lot of 'and me too types' become suspect...
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Part II: Ken Wilber's Ego-Theory Revealed as a True Breeding Ground of Self-Destruction
Integral World, October 2013
Comment: I was watching a TV quiz show and in his introduction, a contestant who was a stage hypnotist stated that intelligent people were much easier to hypnotise... Simply, that explains an awful lot about why the likes of Cohen and Wilber have managed to attract intellectuals and why they struggle to get beyond the "teaching" which appears to be just highly affective brainwashing.
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Don Beck and the General Pathology of "Integral" Leaders
Integral World News, 10th October 2013
Hmmm... I think the author is right to point out exactly where Don Beck is coming from... But saying that, maybe this will be the biggest laugh I have had all week, finding out that Don Beck claimed George Bush was operating at second-tier yellow.... Crazy stuff... LOL! On reflection, maybe there needs to more focus on ruthless people who operate on the meme 'knowledge is power'... the dark side of enlightenment and where I think Don Beck and his co-horts are operating from....
Stenographer Diane Reidy Outburst Explained
TruNews, 18th October 2013
Topic : The guest on today’s edition of TRUNEWS is Dan Reidy. He is the husband of Diane Reidy, the House Stenographer that spoke a prophetic utterance on the floor of the U.S. House following the vote on the debt ceiling.
Comment: Regulars to this blog know that I am not a Christian, but I come from a Christian background and I can relate to the mentality. Due to my extensive studies, I understand the concept of astrotheology and how and why religions were created. To cut a long story short, besides a system of control, religions retain the essence of some very important messages. Christians focus on the return of Christ and what we can expect, but for theologians,
Eschatology (End Times) is the most important area of study. It is important because humans must never forget there are checks and balances for all life on this planet. There is a higher power that maintains order and this means humans are monitored. At certain points, "judgement" will be delivered as the extinction and remains of many ancient civilisations proves. As far as I am concerned, a deluge of cosmic energy has many many consequences... For those who are cynical, I suggest studying what Intelligent Design folk have to say concerning the major problems Neo-Darwinists are facing. There is a growing realisation that "mysterious" non-local information heavily controls biology through the maintainence of "body plans". The belief is that two new levels of complexity above highly complex genes are required but that info is held in the environment, meaning scientists have no ability to control and corrupt this info. Obviously, this control is most apparent at times of rapid evolutionary change. World controllers are not the ultimate authority and them abusing their position is not overlooked. Based on what I know of geophysics and the geological record, when the going gets rough, the belief that the elite can run off to underground bunkers and they will be safe is not a long term solution or a guarantee of safety. Diane Reidy, might have had enough of the corruption that is extremely evident in the U.S. Congress (she can call her outburst anything she likes...), but the recent warning by an academic about the sheer numbers of ruthless people and the fact we are coming very close to revolution is just plain interesting... Simply, there is just now too many narcissists and psychopathic predators about... At some point, the predators will be largely wiped out and order restored... The only question really is: how many will go down with them? This is based on laws of nature that most humans fail to comprehend applies to humanity too. God will not be mocked, is just a term that I think refers to laws of nature that all forms of life are subject to where elimination is the final penalty. The United States needs to watch out because it has reputation for its underhand tactics (that's being nice) and as regulars know, the plug can be pulled at any time... Update: Interesting theory that she was in a trance and had been hypnotized.... well, these days I can believe it is possible... The problem with Christians is that they are very vulnerable to manipulators, that is why the religion was started in the first place.... see
House Stenographer Appears to Get Hypnotized Before 'Freemason' Rant
Ancient Confession Found: 'We Invented Jesus Christ'
Biblical scholars will be appearing at the 'Covert Messiah' Conference at Conway Hall in London on the 19th of October to present this controversial discovery to the British public.
PR Web News, 8th October 2013
American Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill will be appearing before the British public for the first time in London on the 19th of October to present a controversial new discovery: ancient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ. His presentation will be part of a one-day symposium entitled "Covert Messiah" at Conway Hall in Holborn (full details can be found at http://www.covertmessiah.com).
Comment: I have already pointed out, Jesus Christ was a name applied to a god who was given the same attributes as a previous long list of saviours, see the online book
Symbolism in Relation to Religion 1915 pg 307 by James Ballan Hannay,
List of Sons of God, Messiahs, Saviours Born of a Virgin to Save Mankind . The Caesar theory may only be icing on a big astrotheological myth-making cake. In my opinion, loudly proclaiming that Jesus never existed but avoiding the subject of astrotheology helps to bury the information for those interested in the spiritual connotations of what the character Jesus Christ originally represented... Btw Kenneth Humphreys website
www.jesusneverexisted.com website is a total tour de force... but as I have stated, one needs to understand the information the myth-making was designed to preserve.
Famous Indian guru’s arrest on sex charges divides nation amid rise in ‘godman’ scandals
Washington Post, 24th September 2013
In MOTERA, India — Men lie prostrate on the floor in front of the elevated seat of their guru — the man they call Asaram Bapu. Pictures of his avuncular face, with its flowing white beard, hang everywhere in this sprawling, 30-acre ashram in western India.
But these days, the guru’s enclosed wood-carved altar, where millions once worshiped him, is empty. All that’s left is a large photograph, an air purifier, blingy lights and fake red roses
The guru, whose real name is Asumal Harpalani, is languishing in a Jodhpur jail, arrested last month on charges of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old daughter of two followers. [...]
In recent years, other gurus have been charged with murder, sexual abuse, running prostitution rackets and illegal land acquisition.
Yet the guru phenomenon has continued to grow in India — buoyed by the 24-hour religious programming on television and an increasingly stressed-out middle class seeking easy, prepackaged bliss.
In recent weeks, the allegations against the mega-guru — who has a massive network of 20 million devotees and hundreds of ashrams worth an estimated $760 million — have stunned and split India.
Comment: Why are people stunned? Being a guru is good business and molesting and raping followers are considered perks by malignant narcissists with a predator consciousness... People are just too naive... The issue is that speed of communications is catching up with these wolves in sheeps' clothing and that is why people are starting to wake up to what many of these gurus are doing. The tricks of the trade of how these bastards operate are being taught to people on the internet and many are waking up... Hence the likes of 'The American Guru' Andrew Cohen being thrown out of his own organisation when enough people campaigned against his abuse, but he is just the tip of a big iceberg of parasites with personality disorders using well honed methods to create a following of people that they can be easily controlled. Surely even Deepak Chopra must be embarrassed by his association with Cohen... Surely, he can't be that oblivious? Same for Oprah promoting James Ray who went on to kill three of his followers thus revealing the seriously dark side of the New Age movement. In my opinion, the poison lives on as people are affectively reprogrammed to spread their cult mentality. The solution is that the Cultic Milieu needs a big fat detox and de-programming because the scene is now very unhealthy and even toxic in parts. The problem is finding people who even recognise that society has a major problem. Even when it is clear that these people are dangerous and will help lead humanity to destruction, who out there gives a shit? Space weather is a major issue but do the so-called spiritual leaders care two hoots? Most are either too damn oblivious or too busy planning their next sting operations.... Btw, hapless clueless types aproaching me thinking I will co-operate to help spread their cult mentality are wasting their %&ç*)(/ time. It's war as far as I am concerned. Update: Sigh! The article basically tells us that modern day "Dharma Lite" narcissistic amd materialistic fast-track spirituality has now become popular in India. The devotee quoted here who does not think he is stupid for following Harpalani, still does not realise that he is dealing with someone selling spirituality. A salesman does not need to believe in his product, he just has to convince the buyer that the product is beneficial and this is what simply naive people completely miss. Con-man is short for confidence trickster, and Indian gurus are now purchasing how-to manuals using techniques studied by academics and refined in the West over the last four decades. Creating a following is big business and is best achieved by salemen who know how to sell using specific techniques of manipulation. Anyone who is interested can educate themselves but most prefer tinsel-town teachings and refuse to examine what exactly is being sold and by what means. I think the problem for gurus with large followings is that it is impossible to maintain high levels of brainwashing on all those who can discover that they are really a con-artist. Maintaining a false personality 24/7 is impossible and often people notice. The real issue is identifying people who will blow the whistle and run a campaign against you exposing the fraud.... Since I am paying attention to many instances of people who feel betrayed running long campaigns, I am quite convinced that we are only seeing the start of a major backlash.
Like a rock: Church of meteorite set up by worshippers of famous space debris
RT News, 17th September 2013
A ‘Church of the Meteorite’ has been set up in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. Its members worship the space rock which streaked across the sky and rocked the region in February, injuring over 1,600 people, and causing damage and furor on the ground.
While scientists have long confirmed that the space rock that hit Russia’s Urals Mountains on February 15 is “an ordinary chondrite” (the most common type of meteorite that falls to Earth), the founder of the Church of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite believes it contains “a set of moral and legal norms that will help people live at a new stage of spiritual knowledge development.”
Paranormalist Andrey Breyvichko says the meteorite, estimated at 10,000 metric tons, is so powerful it could actually trigger the Apocalypse. [...]
There are currently about 50 believers in the Church of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite. These days they are busy holding rites on the shores of the lake, trying to protect the meteorite by building “protective barriers” around it, LifeNews.ru reported.
Comment: It looks like the the founder of the Church of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite wants Chelyabinsk to become the next Mecca.... Meteorite worship is already standard religious business for some, so I suppose by his logic, the aim of starting his own religion with all the standard trappings is quite possible... Whatever, this is another wonderful example of a predator going after the most gullible... Make a big ridiculous claim and see who sucks it up and comes looking for more... The problem is that predators and con-men often come in all guises to attract people with all different levels of education and intellectual ability... For the people who think this is funny, I just have to say there are probably frauds out there that you still think are kosher... During my last 7 years of research into the dark side of the cultic milieu, I have been stunned many many times by the plausible sounding respectable Big Name fraud often armed with fake academic Ph.D. qualifications (some have even fooled universities wanting to give them an Honourary Degree...) That is the reason why I warn that the cultic milieu is truly shark infested warnings... As a researcher, it is a fact that after busting a gut, an assortment of sharks have appeared wanting to profit from my hard work... Usually they want to integrate my research with standard New Age crappy teachings to create their own cult bait... I have quite a collection of emails dated over the last 8 years or so from these fookers making false promises and/or demanding my raw research and book manuscripts... The big question is: why do so few even care about truth, especially warnings about the risk to the future of humanity? Well, the issue is that far too many people are ignorant and uneducated and don't have any real perspective, so it is impossible for them to understand why the truth really matters.
The Law of Attraction is the New Age version of the Surveillance State
Jon Rappoport, 8th September 2013
The so-called law of attraction: like attracts like. If you’re thinking about good outcomes, that’s what you get. If you’re thinking about negative outcomes, you get those. Positive thoughts=positive things happen for you. Negative thoughts=negative things happen for you.
A few New Age prophets even go so far as this: we’re entering a whole new era, in which whatever you think will instantly manifest itself in the world; therefore, negative thoughts are dangerous; only those people who have purified themselves to the point where they’re exclusively thinking positive thoughts will make it through into paradise. The rest will be left behind to suffer.
Comment: Hmmm... After reading George Orwells's
1984 as more background reading whilst writing my long essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu (August 2011), I came to the conclusion that the New Age movement was a clever implementation of the Big Brother state. It seems to work very well with psychopaths who have no problem gathering together the most weak minded who are easy to control. I think 'wolves in sheeps clothing' have always been an issue for seekers, but in the United States, the wolves were handed 'honed' tools for control from the academic community, derived from studying Chinese prisoners of war and then set loose. Based on the evidence, anybody associated with the Esalen Institute is suspect. New Wage criminals are now involved in big gangs in which Big Names endorse each other and because there is very little comprehension that the Dark Lords are working at the level of the unconscious to control their victims, they are getting away with the some real evil. Every now and them, one of these Big Names is outted as a Big Liar or Big Fraud or even a killer, but naive brainwashed New Agers prefer to overlook criminal behaviour. The worse thing about all this is the lack of interest in helping genuine truth seekers, but as I have stated many times, crap sells. Anyway, it is my opinion that the 'Rage Against the New Age Machine' is only just getting started, but momentum is building.... The fight will be long and hard....Personally, I would be interested in finding intelligent people who have already worked out why the New Age movement promotes any bullshit that will provoke spiritual devolution and are interested in helping genuine seekers steer clear of the many pitfalls in the Cultic milieu. Morons are advised to steer clear of me.
James Ray withdraws appeal of negligent homicide conviction
Daily Courier, 6th September 2013
Just weeks after his release from prison, James Arthur Ray, the self-help speaker and author who was convicted of negligent homicide over the deaths of three people at a sweat lodge ceremony he conducted in October 2009 near Sedona, has withdrawn his appeal of that conviction.
In documents filed with the Arizona Court of Appeals Thursday, Ray, 55, signed an affidavit stating that he wishes to "avoid any possibility of a retrial and a resentencing." He further states that he is "fully satisfied with my counsel's handling of the appeal and cross-appeal."
Comment: Some good news for those of us who have been enlightened by how New Age scammers operate.... I am sure Oprah will be thrilled that she has been exposed as either completely clueless or in bed with scammers because she has promoted quite a few..... Well, whatever happens next, there are still plenty of people watching James Ray... Unfortunately, since too many New Age so-called 'spiritual' leaders are sticking together to cover up the deception, many people remain clueless about how these scammers work. Hence, I am sure eight-grader James Ray will try to continue his con in a toned down manner even without the support of others who don't want to be associated, but are operating in exactly the same deceptive way. For those who are interested, the secret of 'The Secret' is no longer so secret these days and we can thank James Ray for that.... Btw, Oprah and her eight-grader friends can kiss my arse as well as the rest of the Big Name New Age frauds.
Update: I found this over at the
Salty Droid website with some interesting info on the Scientology influence on James Ray who we know was a scientologist at some stage.
I’ve just found this eloquent destruction of James Arthur Ray by David Brear. It was posted on Shyam Sundar’s Corporate Frauds Watch Blog in the fall of 2011.
Warning, ‘MLM Self-Betterment Guru,’ James Arthur Ray, Kills !
Shyam, I thought that your free-thinking readers might be interested to learn that a self-styled ‘Self Betterment’ guru, previously linked to ‘Amway’ and ‘Herbalife,’ is currently awaiting sentencing in Arizona after having been found innocent of manslaughter, but convicted of the ‘negligent homicide’ of three of his followers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15800898
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/spiritual-leader-james-ray-arrested-sweat-lodge-deaths/story?id=9741781
In reality, in the Autumn of 2009, James Arthur Ray (b. 1957) persuaded 50 adults to give him payments of up to $10 000 each. In return, he lured them to a remote ‘Retreat Center’ where, for 7 days, he planned to subject them to a barrage of potentially-lethal, co-ordinated, devious techniques of social, psychological and physical persuasion, designed to shut-down individuals’ critical and evaluative faculties, but without their fully-informed consent. However, Mr. Ray has been running this frighteningly-familiar, blame-the-victim, advance fee fraud for many years, and he has apparently made millions of dollars out of it. He seems to got many of his unoriginal ideas from L. Ron Hubbard’s ‘Scientology’ scam. Amongst his many published lies, Hubbard claimed to have lived amongst the Blackfoot Indians as a small boy after WWI and during the early 1920s, and to have been initiated into the secret medicine of the tribe. Hubbard began peddling what he described as ‘Purification Rundown’ to his ‘Scientology’ adherents in the 1950s. This comprised a progressively-expensive program of intense fasting and sauna baths which Hubbard claimed could remove negativity (in the form of invisible extra-terrestrial creatures) from the human mind and body, and enable ‘Scientologists’ to transform into superior human beings, physically and intellectually.
In brief, exactly like L. Ron Hubbard, James Ray (who has appeared on US network television and who features on the New York Times Best-Sellers List) has also steadfastly pretended that he possesses a secret ‘spiritual/scientific’ knowledge which can help anyone to achieve whatever it is that he/she most desires from life, and that (for a price) he is prepared to share this exclusive wisdom.
Using a typically-hypnotic cocktail of pseudo-scientific/’New Age Religious’ bullshit (partly plagiarized from traditional Native American beliefs), Mr. Ray (the son of a preacher) persuaded his Arizona victims to stop eating for several days and to enter a ‘sweat lodge’ (i.e. a form of rudimentary sauna bath comprising a tent structure in which water is turned to steam by pouring it over a pile of rocks which have been previously heated in a bonfire). Whilst Mr. Ray continued to perform what he arbitrarily defined as a ‘purification ceremony,’ more than 20 of his starving, would-be ‘Spiritual Warriors,’ began to exhibit the symptoms of dehydration and kidney failure.
Kirby Brown (aged 38), James Shore (aged 40) and Liz Neuman (aged 49) died, whilst 18 others were hospitalized.
In the introduction to his best-selling comic-books, Mr. Ray boasts that he has worked as a self-betterment consultant to many famous companies, including ‘Amway’ and Herbalife.’
http://www.jamesray.com/
Mysteriously, James Arthur Ray has (so far) not been charged with fraud, or with racketeering, by US federal or Arizona State prosecutors, but presumably his surviving victims will be filing a civil action.
Predictably, Mr. Ray says that, after sentencing, he will file an appeal against his recent conviction. His attorneys continue to describe Mr. Ray’s highly-organized crime in Arizona as ‘a tragic accident.’
David Brear (copyright 2011)
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James Arthur Ray Is Guilty: The Full Story Of The Sedona Sweat Box Deaths
Anorak, 23rd June 2011
The James Arthur Ray Sedona sweat lodge story rumbles on. This week, Larry King meets the relatives of Kirby Brown, one of the three who died in the James Ray sweat lodge…
WHAT makes the situation interesting is the fact that the “Larry King Live” executive producer is known to have had a business relationship with Ray in the past, reportedly. Apparently, the producer was so taken with the philosophy of “The Secret,” that she focused at least two episodes of King’s show on the subject, and personally booked James Arthur Ray as a guest.
But wait. There’s more.
Around the time Ray last appeared on “LKL,” King’s producer was shopping him to a Hollywood production company to host Ray’s own syndicated show based on “The Secret.” Her efforts to pitch Ray were unsuccessful, in part due to the fact that Oprah Winfrey sent word to Ray that she was interested in building a show around him and his teachings.
Ray quickly abandoned King’s producer for Winfrey’s people – but talks with the Big “O” eventually broke off, leaving him out in the cold. So the question is: Will King go easy on Ray’s actions during Monday’s show… or will he be out for blood?
Comment: I don't know how the hell I missed this but it looks like the Queen of New Age cultiness Oprah, narrowly dodged a bullet with James Ray.... Can you imagine that Oprah Winfrey and Larry King were fighting over this big LGAT fraud who thinks it's OK to kill people and carry on searching for more victims? Thankfully the State of Arizona did not think charging for killing and injuring people was such a great business plan... Seriously, the mind boggles!
Self-taught hypnotherapist turned me into his sex slave: Former RAF man admits vile act while victim was in a trance
Daily Mail, 29th August 2013
A self-taught hypnotherapist faces jail after putting a woman into a trance so he could perform a lewd sexual act on her.
The victim, a married mother-of-three who had been seeking help for weight loss, told police she woke after feeling something touching her neck to find Timothy Porter, 40, with his trousers down.
Comment: Hmmm.... Well, sorry to mention this but it is common practice to use hypnosis in order to take advantage of innocent people. [NLP seduction curses for men wanting to take advantage of women are quite popular these days...] This is a method used in Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT) style seminar business model, where professional persuaders use a plethora of different techniques for influencing people. Many gurus with their quick fix enlightenment businesses, have also incorporated these techniques and that is how they acquire complete control over the life of their followers. In my opinion, the major obstacle to real enlightenment is complete ignorance. Many people are brainwashed into believing that if anything happens, its their fault! They are oblivious to the fact that their belief systems are being manipulated by methods that engineer compliance with the will of the manipulator. Meanwhile, the perps strut about because they know most people are oblivious to how their operate, that is until something really tragic happens...
Donald Trump’s Rich Dad University
Salty Droid, 28th August 2013
Funny :: in the not funny way … how Trump University is so exactly like Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad scam seminar series. In this stellar takedown of Rich Dad on CBC’s Marketplace :: Rich Dad seminar salesman are shown making scripts available for victims to use when trying to get their credit card limits raised during the break.
The similarities between Rich Dad and TrumpU are so striking :: it’s almost like neither of these two fake fuckheads came up with the ideas … and are instead just working from a well-developed playbook … what James Arthur Ray had his minions calling “the syntax.”
Comment: The Salty Droid aka Jason Jones has something to say about just how familiar the Trump University scam is to other well known scams... the usual profanity warning is needed... I like this brief response from
Cosmic Connie aka Connie L. Schmidt, who writes:
I am delighted that the little robot has taken on this story — and, as usual, from an angle that most of the mainstream media have neglected. Because Trump is such a high-profile buffoon, this is another excellent chance to hammer home the point that this kind of thing goes on all the time, every day, in Scamworld, via the Internet, TV infomercials, and radio and print ads. And for the most part the scams are perpetrated by people who don’t have nearly the notoriety that Trump does — which in a way makes them even more insidious.
I think the fact that you brought the Rich Dad Poor Dad scampire, and Death Ray, into the picture will help make more people aware of the scope of the problem. I’m still not sure that the masses of people will really get the message, or that if they do they will think it is actually a big deal… and in this case, Trump’s high-profile buffoonery can work against the mission to inform as much as it can work in favor of that mission. But all you (we) can do is keep trying.
For anyone who has studied the tactics used in Scamworld, they will immediately understand the basic principle of selling an idea and using the highly honed art of persuasion on people to encourage them keep on spending their money with upsells until they are broke... What infuriates me is with New Ager scammers, 'broke' also means that their victims have their inner beings broken into and the scammer becomes the guru-god... These people are evil &%ç*"(/ % control freaks... and I really do mean evil... But of course most seekers are totally unaware of the guru scammer tricks of the trade... As long as the children like the tune of the pied piper that is enough.
It’s too easy to be a happiness guru these days
San Diego Source News, 23rd August 2013
One of the factors evaluated when an entrepreneur decides what kind of business to get into or when an investor looks at a new business is whether future competitors can get into the same business easily. A preferred business model is one that cannot be readily replicated. [...]
These days, I would not invest in the burgeoning field of "happiness." There is nothing stopping anyone from hanging out the proverbial shingle, and there is instant exposure through the Internet that used to take lots of money and time to develop.
With no licensing requirements, no educational requirements and no way to test the advice before you take it, gurus of happiness are everywhere. [...]
When Werner Erhard, L. Ron Hubbard and Tony Robbins started out, they were attracted to the business by the realization that there were a lot of people who wanted to be told how to live their lives. They charged lots of money, which actually increased the odds that their customers would feel what they got was valuable.
Comment: Interesting that Sewitch points out Werner Erhard, L. Ron Hubbard and Tony Robbins because these guys are in the top tier of the most successful LGAT master manipulators...
Donald Trump sued for $40 million over 'phony' university that 'falsely' promised to make students rich
Daily Mail, 25th August 2013
* Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has accused university of encouraging students to pay for expensive, useless seminars
* Students paid as much as $35,000 to attend the university
* Trump has claimed that the suit is politically motivated
New York's attorney general has sued Donald Trump for $40 million, claiming the real estate mogul helped run a phony 'Trump University' that falsely promised to make students rich.
Instead, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that the university steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars, and even failed to deliver promised apprenticeships.
After the lawsuit was filed on Saturday, Trump shot back that it is false and politically motivated.
Schneiderman says many of the 5,000 students who paid up to $35,000 thought they would at least meet Trump but instead all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-size picture of him.
'Trump University engaged in deception at every stage of consumers' advancement through costly programs and caused real financial harm,' Schneiderman said.
Comment: It looks like Donald Trump has copied the LGAT business model used successfully by people like Tony Robbins plus a bunch of other wannabes. James Ray modelled his mannerisms, 'stories' and methodology from Robbins but he added a much bigger component of New Age spirituality, hence the 'content' was slightly different, but the cult and sales tactics were identical. Other similar systems of duping the naive are MLM marketing and pyramid schemes etc etc, but it also reminds me of the New Age 'School of Enlightenment' type scam too... Trump has just done what many others have done, even down to encouraging people to max out their credit cards in the false hope of big returns... Well, Trump's prosecution might be politically motivated because usually this type of fraud is mostly ignored. To be honest, the business model is about making outrageous claims and seeing which fools bite.... This is exactly the same as New Agers believing in the
The Secret and
The Law of Attraction. The real money for the scammers is finding those followers with cash who are willing to keep paying to help realise their dreams, that is until they are bled dry of cash... The mentorship program is identifying the richest and allowing them to get close to the guru where he or she can get the opportunity to extract more from them. For the bit more savvy follower looking to duplicate the scam in the future, I would say a few good photos are needed for 'social proof' that they can rub shoulders with those who are good at extracting cash off followers whilst still maintaining a very thin veneer of respectability. From the 'guru' perspective, why would he or she want to generate thousands of people who instantly become competition? What normally happens in the cult setting is that a certain percentage of followers become completely indoctrinated and are turned into servants for life, often being used to recruit others. For those with broken dreams who realise they have been duped, the internet is a new tool for revenge, but stopping this type of operation requires serious resources and that is possibly why New York's attorney general has stepped up.... Just like the State of Arizona going after James Ray when a few decided that mass killing can't be ignored... Whatever, I hope this latest Trump scandal gets discussed all over the internet and then maybe more people will be truly enlightened on how con men make money by selling dreams. All this is explained in great detail over at the Cult Education Forum
link.
NEW MKULTRA DISCOVERY: Terence McKenna admited that he was a “deep background” and “PR” agent (CIA or FBI).
Gnostic Media, 23rd August 2013
This explosive audio clip that was just brought to my attention today by “Scott” reveals, in Terence McKenna’s own words, that he was in fact an agent. The audio clip comes from Dec. 1994 from his lecture at the Esalen Institute which may be found below in full.
Comment: Terrence McKenna has always come across to me as an absolute creep, but now I find out he was a drug smuggler and wanted by the FBI
and then he says, "THEY RECRUITED ME"... [Dumb New Agers want to believe he was taking orders from a mushroom....] McKenna is not the only well known NEW AGER with ties to the security agencies, I can name a handful of suspects just by stumbling across info that is in the public domain... If you have been checking out the history of the New Age movement (probably because you have been a victim of some of the horrible vile people calling themselves spiritual), then we have to serious question ANYONE who has had any association with the Esalen Institute. This is just another piece of the puzzle of why the New Age movement is heavily policed and staffed with shady characters paid to keep people in the dark. Just think of all those people led up the garden path with McKenna's crackpot Timewave Zero theory... What happened in 2012? Not much that had not been building up for the last 25 years... This revelation will cause some deep embarrassment out there to people who pretend McKenna was a respected academic who wandered off into the New Age jungle... I think this is a significant bust.
Oral arguments set in self-help author's appeal of convictions stemming from sweat lodge event
The Republic, 20th August 2013
PHOENIX — Attorneys for a self-help author convicted of negligent homicide soon will argue to have those convictions overturned.
James Arthur Ray was released from prison last month after serving nearly two years for the deaths of three people following a 2009 sweat lodge ceremony he led near Sedona.
Ray's attorneys have challenged the jury's verdicts in the state Court of Appeals. Oral arguments are set for Sept. 11.
Ray's attorneys have called into question some jury instructions and the conduct of prosecutors in Yavapai County.
Comment: For goodness sake... James Ray is a sociopath, we all know that now... He lies and says he has no money after building an empire on teaching others how to accumulate 'Harmonic' Wealth, so his bail was reduced from 5 million to half a million dollars and he wastes a fortune on lawyers to stop himself going to prison for a long time after killing three people (Colleen Conaway did not even get a mention). It was reported that he left prison supposedly destitute and all his New Wager friends ignored his requests for help (no surprise there, JR badly screwed up and lots of LGAT secrets were released when police raided his offices.... I now understand just how bad things are with New Agers who seem mostly oblivious to what is being done to their mind and soul... ). So, where is the money coming from for this new trial? How can he deny that he refused to help the sick and dying and walked off to have a shower and a sandwich? How can he deny that he went on the run and tried to blame everybody accept himself, when all week before the tragedy, he had been brainwashing his followers into believing he was God? Well, there is going to be a lot of 'educated' people watching this and I hope the prosecution succeeds and manages to lock him back up.
British healer ‘killed woman and put body in bin’Michael Victor Lane is alleged to have killed Ginger Candela, from Las Vegas, in 2009
Independent News, 18th August 2013
The trial of a British-born “New Age guru” accused of murdering a woman during a meditation session is due to start in Nevada tomorrow.
Michael Victor Lane is alleged to have killed Ginger Candela, from Las Vegas, in 2009, before stuffing her body in a bin. It is believed that Lane, who set himself up as a New Age guru and motivational speaker when he moved from Devon to the US, intends to plead not guilty.
A police report said that Lane acknowledged killing Candela, 44, during a mediation session that started with compressions of her neck to induce a deeper trance.
Comment: Hmmm.... This looks like another New Wager classic case study... To be fair, the Cultic/New Age milieu is a scammers paradise... Popular teaching is designed to attract the most gullible -- bullshit like
The Law of Attraction and
The Secret is for the seriously naive, see lots of previous comments. Spiritual salesman using a vast array of techniques have no trouble scamming vast amounts of money off stupid greedy people with the get-anything-you-want-from-the-universe-beliefs and when it does not work there must be something wrong with you and you need more "coaching" etc etc.... Well, the problem with all this is that it attracts very dangerous narcissists who tend to overdo things and there are many many case studies that can be found all over the internet of similar fatalities when things go wrong. The problem these days is that the brainwashing is so pervasive it is hard to find genuine seekers who have not been corrupted by it all.
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Judge sets $2.26million bail for British man accused of killing a Las Vegas woman and hiding her body in a rubbish bin
Daily Mail, 17 December 2009
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Angel of death
Michael Lane presented himself as a spiritual healer, but to Ginger Candela, he was anything but.
Las Vegas Weekly, 7th January 2010
[....] He’s 37. He’s British. He’s lived, it appears, all over the globe. He’s left traces of himself online, and with old friends; over time, the sum of these shadows starts to look like a hydra: a monster who grows two new faces for every one that’s cut off, a con man for all occasions, Mr. Multiple Aliases, Dept. of AKA.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the months before Ginger’s murder, when Michael was living in Southern California, trolling the deepest waters of the New Age scene. He was moving up in the loose-linen crowd, the energy healers, the chakra set, the divine goddess earth mother crystal karma mafia. To them, he was Michael Bodhi, enlightened practitioner of angel readings, spiritual Twitterer to 687 followers, meditation guide to All That Is.
One self-professed psychic, who didn’t want her name used, says she and other highly evolved mediums never felt bad energies in Michael. [...]
“He knows what he is doing. He meets people, becomes a charming person, and you don’t realize he completely sucks you dry. He was nothing but a con man. As far as him being this religious, spiritual person? Those people were the perfect victims for him—gullible people. He would have looked at them and laughed.”
Comment: This is some useful background reading where we are given details concerning Lane's aka Bodhi's New Age activities. The opinion of New Ager peers not recognising Lane aka Bodhi as a fraud is no surprise. Looking out for frauds is not part of the New Age mindset and most would consider this as being "negative". Read what is says here when a business associate who had lost £220,00 or $350,000 tried to warn:
But Michael Bodhi’s new friends told Sarah she was all wrong, that her negative energies were palpable, that she needed to focus on putting out positive light, think about her karma, and maybe consider some angel card readings.
From my experience, you are supposed to not think, bend over backwards and allow the frauds to take advantage... The honest comment from a business associate about New Agers being "perfect victims" is being acknowledged all over the internet by an army of angry people who have not sucumbed to the brainwashing and are blogging or commentating about their awful experiences with New Agers. Michael Bodhi was small fry but Big-time recently "defrocked" American Guru Andrew Cohen is accused of being just as cynical. The refusal to acknowledge the obvious frauds is quite astonishing. I am starting to see that many have got to stage II & even III of what award winning authors Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, in their book Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change [1978, 1979, 1995, 2005] call the Varieties of Information Disease. The Stage I, Floating — The Ongoing Altered State phase is what many New Agers call being ungrounded and many use this as an excuse for their lack of interest in boring reality. The Delusional Phase (II) & Not Thinking — Mind Control (III) and stage IV is Not Feeling — Emotional Control. This last stage is the type of person who will see somebody on the ground dying and turning blue and demand that they be left alone to have their own experience, which is exactly what happened at the James Ray sweat lodge tragedy. The reason that only 3 people died is because someone sane not taking part in the ceremony called for paramedics when they saw about 25 people in real trouble. This was after the 'leader' James Ray, (admired by Oprah) walked off to have a shower and a sandwich.
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Death penalty considered for Brit in Vegas slaying
Seattle Times, January 14, 2010
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Lawyers to challenge case against so-called motivational speaker
Channel 13 Action News, 10th June 2011
Defense attorneys are challenging prosecutors' efforts to combine slaying and assault with a vehicle cases while seeking the death penalty against a British man accused of killing a Las Vegas woman and stuffing her severed body in a barrel.
A Nevada judge is due to hear Thursday from prosecutors and defense attorneys in Las Vegas about whether 37-year-old Michael Victor Lane should face capital charges at trial next year.
Lane's lawyer, Dan Silverstein, has said he'll challenge Lane's indictment because the grand jury that handed up murder and attempted murder charges wasn't shown a videotape of Lane's actual police interview.
Yoga's Terribly, Horribly, Awfully Negative Year
Celestial Reflections, 12th August 2013
[...] A cult following is the most coveted accessory in retail, and Lululemon's is even more lustworthy than its Velocity Gym Bag. It wasn't built on the work of some Jobs-ian swami, however, but on the sources of Lulu founder and chairman Chip Wilson's own spiritual awakening. Wilson has mixed a heady self-actualizing cocktail from equal parts Landmark Forum (seminars based on the philosophy of Werner Erhard), the books of motivational business guru Brian Tracy, and Oprah-endorsed best seller The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. He is now hard at work formalizing them in a Lululemon "internal constitution."
"It's the first time I've heard of anyone almost directly using the techniques of cults and applying them to their business," says Douglas Atkin, author of The Culting of Brands. Drawing on those techniques, and with virtually zero advertising, Lululemon has converted the most popular yoga teachers from Beverly Hills to Boston (and their students) into a devoted -- and self-propagating -- clientele. In a little more than 10 years, Lululemon has grown from a single storefront on the surf side of Vancouver, British Columbia, to a public company with more than 100 outlets and $340 million in annual revenue.
Comment: I have been following the latest on Choudhury but the info on Lululemon building a business based on cult tech is news to me... The discussion of
The Secret is interesting.... And as we now know, the secret of
The Secret is cult tactics and techniques... It will be interesting to watch when folk find out they have been conned.
Andrew Cohen and the Decline of the Guru Institution Part I: Andrew Cohen Steps Down as a Guru
Integral World, 11th August 2013
A stranger would not understand the magnitude of the affair, a stranger might even mock it, but last month an earthquake took place in the world of New Age. A tectonic shift the likes of which the elders of Rishikesh cannot recall. It was revealed that Andrew Cohen, one of the most famous spiritual teachers in the world, and until a few years ago one of the most powerful and influential figures in contemporary Western spirituality, is about to step down as guru and resign the leadership of the movement he founded, EnlightenNext, against a backdrop of repeated allegations of tyrannical conduct and financial and mental (but not sexual) abuse of his followers. In an official message, he announced that he would soon be stepping down, and apologized to his students for the wrongs he had done them in the past. In short: he admitted that despite hopes to the contrary, he does have an ego after all.
Comment: The bells are ringing loud and clear... This is a useful summary of the 'tectonic shift' in the cultic milieu associated with the demise of Andrew Cohen.... I bet there are plenty of folk out there who simply don't understand that the spiritual energies hitting this planet are causing severe problems for some... The intellectual chat about consciousness is all very pretentious but disowning guru thugs is the bottom line.
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Andrew Cohen and the Decline of the Guru Institution Part II: Interview with Amir Freimann
Integral World, 12th August 2013
Hmmm.... This interview is just too nicey nice. I am wondering if Amir Freimann is the guy that Cohen referred to as 'the doctor'. There is a well known incident when Cohen instructed 'the doctor' to cut the finger tip off a follower as a punishment for some minor failing... This was fully intended to traumatise the victim and was only stopped as the knife was ready to be used... Cohen was eventually booted out of his own organisation for good reason....
Why we should fear Miami’s ‘Facebook murderer’
Washington Post, 9th August 2013
[...] Rather, in apparently posting a picture of Jennifer Alonso, 26, to Facebook, Derek Medina basically did what dozens of accused killers have done before him: manipulate the media narrative about their cases.
The modern era has seen others ascend to such notoriety. People like Cho Seung Hui, the Virginia Tech gunman who interrupted his 2007 rampage to mail a package of pictures and videos to NBC News. Or David Berkowitz, better known as “Son of Sam,” who murdered six people in the ’70s, sent a crazed letter to the New York Daily News and inspired New York state’s laws against profiting from the crime. Or even the notorious Swedish serial killer Thomas Quick, who was recently the subject of a GQ profile that concluded that he’d invented his crimes — for no other reason than the resulting media attention.
Comment: We need a professional opinion but I think the Self-Help 'guru' tag adds an extra special dimension to this killer. As regulars will know, my main concern is the overall state of the cultic milieu that seems to support a selection of organised crime syndicates and an assortment of individuals on a continuum of shadiness. I believe there is a need to warn genuine seekers, but few seem to care as it appears the 2nd hand psychopathy has reached new heights as a consequence of general New Age narcissistic teaching. The culture of the 'Society of Seekers' allows dangerous predators to flourish and there is very little effort from the "Big Names" to point out to naive seekers that they are at risk. On analysis, it is clear the reason is that many of those "Big Names" are experts at manipulation and don't want their techniques and tactics to be exposed. Why should dangerous predators masquerading as gurus point out to trusting and gullible seekers that they should learn to discern and distinguish which characters should be avoided? Personally, I believe this case will be seen as another nail in the New Age Self-Help coffin. Btw, at The Seek Safely website the last time I looked on 11th August 2013,
only 15 people have signed the Seek Safely Promise. Based on the current ethos in the cultic milieu, if you go to a weekend or week seminar and experts at manipulation push you into a state where you become manic or suicidal – or in the case of someone like James Ray who convinces people to push themselves to the limit and victims are injured or killed – then very few will be interested and the general attitude is: lets all hail the guru for fleecing lots of money off a bunch of suckers.... Maybe, based on the status quo, we will look back on the last 50 years and call it The New Age of Predators.
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Local Reactions to Man Who Apparently Killed Wife, Posted Picture on Facebook
WDTV News, 10th August 2013
Many experts said this event is something they've never seen before when it comes to social media.
John Antal, a clinical social worker, said, "My concern is that people's egos are so out of control that they will post anything they want to. They will write anything they want to. They will put any kind of photographs on there, and not think of anyone, which concerns me because there is no sensitivity to the others who may be looking at this."
In his post, he also said he would miss his Facebook friends. Some of them even commented back to the post.
Comment: The comments here sound very general and more applicable to the ubiquitous internet trolling taking place. I don't know about these 'experts' because they don't seem very knowlegeable about how some killers behave and how some killers use the media and social media. Look back in the archives (June 2012) for stories about the Canadian gay pörn star cannibal Luka Magnotta who was also prolific on social media websites. He was actually caught in an internet cafe whilst he was supposed to be on the run. He had hundreds of volunteers trying to track him down because he was killing kittens and posting the videos on the internet. The law enforcement authorities only got interested when he was accused of killing and eating parts of his lover after posting a gruesome video on the internet. We can only presume that he was desperate for more attention and notoreity. I also recently highlighted the Wichita, Kansas 'BTK' serial killer who also used the media over a three decade long reign of terror to boast about his exploits.
Alleged Wife-Killer Is a Writer of Insane Self-Help Books
The Atlantic Wire, 9th August 2013
On Thursday, 31-year-old Derek Medina posted a status update on Facebook stating that he killed his 26-year-old wife, Jennifer Alfonso. Medina included a lifeless photo of a bloodied Alfonso and was eventually charged with first-degree murder. It turns out that Medina is also a self-published author of several self-helpish, pretty-insane-seeming books. Now, because the Internet is awful, netizens have turned reviews of his books and the photo of his dead wife into "jokes."
The whole story is pretty disturbing. Though Facebook has taken down Medina's page, the photo is still out there. It's the kind of picture that may give you nightmares. "I’m going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys miss you guys take care Facebook people you will see me in the news ... My wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did I hope u understand me," Medina posted at 11:11 a.m., before posting the picture of Alfonso with the caption "RIP Jennifer Alonso." That raises obvious questions about Medina's criminality — but also about social media in our lives.
Comment: Well, this is another reminder of someone wearing the New Ager mask and are so strongly identified with the memes that they can kill their spouse and post on Facebook at 11:11... To be fair, the faux spirituality is a standard disguise for a malignant narcissist/psychopath.
Has Richard Dawkins found a worthy opponent at last?
'Iron Pete' Higgs of God particle fame has accused Richard Dawkins of adopting a 'fundamentalist' approach when dealing with believers
Telegraph, 8th August 2013
[...] Higgs has accused Dawkins of adopting a “fundamentalist” approach when dealing with believers. He argues that belief and science can co-exist and that a lot of scientists in his field are people of faith. “I don’t happen to be one myself, but maybe that’s just more a matter of my family background than that there’s any fundamental difficulty about reconciling the two.” This is a low blow, because one of Dawkins’ favourite tricks is to exchange the word atheist for scientist, as if it is impossible for a scientist to be religious, as in his line: “Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.” [...]
In the face of Higgs’s challenge, Dawkins has so far remained sitting on his stool, refusing even to put in his gumshield. As a public service, then, and because – rather presumptuously – I think I know his writing well enough, I shall answer for him.
Atheists can’t be fundamentalists, because they are open to any hypothesis, provided that it can be substantiated by evidence. And atheism is not a religion. It doesn’t want followers.
Comment: Hmmm.... Don't be silly, of course atheists want followers, some of them even want their own churches... Anyway, there is a major problem on the horizon for atheists as society have forced them into being staunch "believers" in Darwinism. Well, epigenetics and the new revelation that some hereditary traits might not even be associated with genes means big-time atheistic religious tenets are being unravelled rather quickly and some evolutionary biologists are desperate for new dogma... Quite frankly, for those of us in neither camp, this is interesting to watch and I can understand why the Creationists and Intelligent Design folk are happy...
British tourist suffering from bipolar disorder spends £147,000 in Spanish food shops during week-long impulsive spree
Daily Mail, 7th August 2013
* Seen walking from store to store demanding to 'buy everything'
* Bought 17 pairs of shoes and 30 bags of food from gourmet delicatessen
* Man, named locally as Mark Rushton, eventually taken to hospital by police
* Psychiatrists said he had suffered an extreme bipolar episode
* Hospital paid for him to be sent back to the UK on a Ryanair flight
A British tourist suffering from bipolar disorder spent more than £147,000 during a week-long shopping spree in a Spanish city.
Shopkeepers said the man, who had a British passport and called himself Mark Rushton, was walking from store to store in the northern town of Santander, demanding to 'buy everything'.
According to the Diario Montanes newspaper, he bought more than 30 bags of food from 'Diferente' - a gourmet delicatessen - leaving the shop's shelves virtually empty.
Comment: LGAT masters like Tony Robbins and James Ray deliberately aim to put their audience into manic states. This is done in order to easily manipulate crazed people to max out their credit cards with very expensive training. JR was just a clone of TR so just go and watch some YouTube videos and you will find out how these 'masters' do it.
Ex-Scientologists: Leah Remini's departure has church on the ropes
Fox News, 2nd August 2013
Leah Remini probably had no idea just how much attention she would attract when it was revealed on July 11th that she had parted ways with the Church of Scientology.
Data provided by Yahoo! shows that searches related to Scientology spiked 299 percent in July compared to June, and searches for Leah Remini grew a whopping 946 percent. And the increased attention could be just for starters, as Remini says she isn’t going away.
“No one is going to tell me how I need to think, no one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to," the actress told People Magazine. "I thought about the family being broken up for some other cause, and I’m not about to shut up.”
Comment: I am wondering why nobody told Leah that if you are involved in a cult, someone will be telling you how to think... Worse still, it is normally done surreptiously and you are programmed like a robot.... According to the book
Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change [1978, 1979, 1995, 2005] written by award winning authors Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Scientology is the worst cult in the world and takes an
average 12 years to recover from. The fact she has woken up and is complaining she does not want to be a Scientology clone is quite amazing to me, because that is the whole point of the 'religion'... However, The Church of Scientology is quite prepared to handle the odd rebellious follower and that is why they use confessional blackmail to shut people up.... It will be interesting to see whether it works this time.
Man falls from balcony during Derren Brown live show having been 'pushed by his wife as a joke'
Independent News, 5th August 2013
Derren Brown makes a living by bamboozling his audience into behaving in extraordinary ways. But the illusionist described the “terrifying” moment a man plunged over a 45ft balcony during one of his live shows this weekend.
Brown, 42, said a man in the audience was pushed from the upper circle at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End on Saturday during one his Infamous shows.
He wrote on Facebook: "Tonight a woman pushed her hubby as a joke from the front of the balcony. He fell and caught the upper circle on the way down, and was hanging from it. He's fine, but what a finale. Sending best thoughts to him & wife, terrifying."
Comment: This could have been another death by someone using cult tactics in the form of hypnosis on his audience. I imagine the real terror was Brown thinking this might be the end of his career.... [In fact, he probably saw his career flash before his eyes....] Presumably, this version of events is an attempt to steer any blame away from 'guru' Brown because it is most likely the wife will claim she was still in a hypnotic trance or state when she had the great idea of pushing her husband off a 45ft balcony infront of hundreds of people... I wonder how many people whipped out their phones and took pictures too... Presumably lots and lots of people have to keep dying before people realise that using hypnosis is standard practise by 'gurus' (it's not just 'entertainers' like Derren Brown), and in that state people can be very vulnerable. Well, it occurred to me that the suggestibility required for hypnosis might also be affected by environmental geomagnetic chaos. Sure enough, I quickly found this paper:
Enhanced hypnotic suggestibility following application of burst-firing magnetic fields over the right temporoparietal lobes: a replication.
Healey F, Persinger MA, Koren SA.
Source: Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract: The suggestibility of normal, young men and women as assessed by Spiegel's Hypnosis Induction Profile (HIP) before and after weak (1 micro Tesla), burst-firing magnetic fields were applied for 20 min over the left or over the right temporoparietal lobe or both hemispheres; a fourth group received sham treatment. Only the group that received the stimulation over the right hemisphere exhibited a marked increase in suggestibility (eta = 0.58) following the treatment. These results replicate components of several different previous experiments and suggest that attribution of symptomatic changes following exposures to weak, extremely low frequency magnetic fields, to placebo effects may not be correct. Instead, fields whose signatures contain biorelevant information may directly affect the neurocognitive processes that are associated with hypnotizability.
Link
The likes of Brown might see a lot more of these incidents where people who are all supposed to be under his control are clearly not completely under his control.
'Evolution will punish you if you're selfish and mean'
EurekAlert, 1st August 2013
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Two Michigan State University evolutionary biologists offer new evidence that evolution doesn't favor the selfish, disproving a theory popularized in 2012.
"We found evolution will punish you if you're selfish and mean," said lead author Christoph Adami, MSU professor of microbiology and molecular genetics. "For a short time and against a specific set of opponents, some selfish organisms may come out ahead. But selfishness isn't evolutionarily sustainable."
The paper appears in the current issue of Nature Communications and focuses on game theory, which is used in biology, economics, political science and other disciplines. Much of the last 30 years of research has focused on how cooperation came to be, since it's found in many forms of life, from single-cell organisms to people.
Comment: This is the UK Daily Mail version,
Selfish people 'will eventually die out' because evolution favours cooperation Hmmm.... I have started re-reading the epic James Ray thread at the Cult Education Forum,
James Arthur Ray - 2 die at Arizona retreat's sweat lodge and it has hit me differently this time around. In the cultic milieu there are hundreds/thousands of guru types and teachers using all sorts of advanced persuasion techniques and hypnosis etc etc and a huge audience of people who think being manipulated and scammed by those with faux spirituality and no integrity is normal. Most people are very superficial, they judge by the outward trappings of success but often have no idea how this success is achieved. They are manipulated by experts who push them into altered states and when they are out of it steal their money.... What is the point trying to do your best when there is a huge army of scammers that invest a huge amount of time and effort in learning how to manipulate people with the main aim of of re-engineering their belief systems (B.S.) and turning them into robots? Really, it is no wonder there is so little evidence of spiritual evolution amongst the cultic/New Age milieu as shutting down critical thinking and allowing others to re-engineer beliefs is totally accepted as normal. It seems obvious to me that this is a belief engineered by the wolves in sheep's clothing in preparation for fleecing the sheep... Spiritual evolution means more parts of the brain become operable not closed down. So it is no surprise that what is actually happening is people regressing backwards and becoming psychopathic, the 2nd hand psychopathy that leads to people being killed by extreme "transformational" practices and nobody cares. (Seek Safely Promise count is now 13. Just pathetic. 01.08.2013) The materialistic 'Bling Ringers' who will do anything to get what they want and use New Thought 'The Secret' nonsense to justify their actions.... Meanwhile, somebody is engineering their inner being and they have no clue what is being done to them, but the clones are being churned out.... So, what we are being told here is completely obvious, if society continues to degenerate and becomes more psychopathic overall then humanity in its present manifestatioin is not going to last much longer. [Simply, the mentality that cutting each others throats is a good idea, which results in the real psychopaths being allowed to poison the air, the water, the food etc etc and wreck general havoc on the welfare of humanity, read up on psychopaths, their traits are very specific and information is being spread all over internet as some wake up to how these people operate.] Maybe, the current sperm count decline is for the best we can hope for; a quick reduction in human numbers and a chance for a few survivors to evolve with less competetive stresses. I don't believe transhumanism is the answer either.... Scientists have not figured out HOW species harmonise their genetic material to cope in a stressful environment, they just know a real in-built genetic flexibility exists. Furthermore, I do not believe humans will ever have that ability to completely control their evolution independent of what is going on in the environment, because I believe there is a spiritual component that cannot be fiddled with and it is taken into account. We can see this in operation as psychopaths have dead zones in the brain in comparison to 'normal' people. I dare anyone to make those dead zones operative! Yet, some 'normal' people are turning on more parts of the brain -- the 4% with some form of synaesthesia or have had a near death experience -- this means all is not lost... The question that nobody wants to answer is: what criteria is being used for some members of the human race to evolve? Has it got anything to do with being cooperative and empathic and being the exact opposite of a psychopath? Update:
I have been saying for quite some time that humanity is 'judged' as a collective. Whatever mechanism decides who are the winners and losers in the matrix, there is plenty of evidence that previous high civilisations have been eradicated and a few survivors have been 'allowed' to evolve. The discussion of who controls the matrix is the domain of philosophy and religion.
Archaeologists in Turkey discover 'a piece of a cross' associated with Jesus
Perth Now, 1st August 2013
ARCHAEOLOGISTS in Turkey have found a fragment of a cross, which they claim is associated with Jesus's crucifixion.
The archaeologists were excavating at the 1350-year-old Balatlar Church in the Black Sea province of Sinop, reports the Hurriyet Daily News.
They unearthed a stone chest, containing the cross fragment, along with the skeletons of more than 1000 people.
"We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross." said Professor Gülgün Köroglu, head of the excavations.
Comment: Hmmmm.... Is this yet another big pious fraud being launched to titillate the seriously gullible and mostly Catholic audience? The 'holy' relics scam has been going on for a very long time, but it's the ostentatious display and worship of corpses, skulls, and bones that is truly bizarre. If you want an education on this matter and the associated high level of fraud, I recommed a website with over 50 articles about the Roman Catholic worship of bones, corpses and skulls, see
Vatican Skull & Bones. The collection of images is quite impressive.
Remembering Colleen Conaway: victim of James Arthur Ray's recklessness
Whirled Musings, 25th July 2013
It seems like just a year ago today that I was commemorating the death of Colleen Conaway, faithful follower of New-Wage guru, star of The Secret, and convicted killer James Arthur Ray. Of course at the time Colleen was following Ray, he wasn't yet a convicted killer. And he has yet to answer for her death.
Colleen, as many of you may know, was attending a James Ray "wealth" weekend in San Diego in July 2009, and ended up jumping (or falling?) to her death from a third-story balcony in a San Diego shopping mall. As noted in last year's blog post, Colleen reportedly had no history of emotional or mental problems, but apparently had a psychotic episode at the event. The circumstances of her death were tragic and puzzling, but what happened afterward was appalling.
Comment: For those who are unfamiliar with Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGATS) and cult tactics, breaking people down to achieve "transformation" – or more correctly brainwashing – has huge risks. According to psychologists who specialise in cults, mental breakdowns where people have to be institutionalised for up to 10 years does happen. Suicides also occur, but this usually happens after seminar events due to the amount of emotional stress deliberately used as cult tactics by amateurs with no qualifications pretending to be psychologists. This is the primary reason why The Seek Safely Pledge is being ignored by the top BIG NAMES in the so-called Self-Help Industry.... They know that there is always a certain number of people who are very vulnerable but their answer is to protect themselves from being sued and to count victims as "collateral damage". Punters have no idea that this form of Russian roulette even exists because the widespread 2nd hand psychopathy in the cultic milieu means many New Agers generally don't care about other people only themselves. If they introduce you to one of these charlatans and you have a breakdown then THAT IS YOUR FAULT! Greed and selfishness is paramount. Unfortunately, some people can have breakdowns without much of a trigger and that is why I shudder when I come across amateurs pretending to be professionals and why I no longer promote the EMF Balancing Technique. I had to work out myself that we have a subtle energy field version of Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), formerly known as electroshock treatment. As medical professionals will tell you, ECT is a treatment that can make people better or worse. It is a last resort treatment. As I travelled to trainings, I met psychologists/psychiatrists who were getting great results using EMF BT, but as professionals, they knew how to monitor people, but in my opinion, the vast majority of EMF BT practitioners I came across were amateurs playing with cosmic fire. I can say that because I was an EMF BT teacher and I could see some of this energy with my own ESP ability. Whatever, I still don't believe practitioners are in the same category of predatorial irresponsibility as those secretly using cult tactics on unsuspecting victims. To remember Colleen Conaway, I was going to load up a James Ray legal waiver, but I could not find my copy but there is one still sitting on the James Ray website
(.pdf) and a copy can be found
here. Here are some revealing excerpts:
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. BY SIGNING THIS AGREEMENT YOU
ARE WAIVING ALL RIGHTS TO COMPENSATION IN CASE OF
INJURY.
In consideration of being permitted to participate in the World Wealth Summit event
(the “Event”) and being granted access to the premises where the Event will be
conducted, and for other good and valuable consideration, I agree to release, waive and discharge James Ray International, Inc. (the “Company”), its principals, directors,
shareholders, employees, agents, promoters, independent contractors, sponsors,
volunteer assistants, associated coaches, and others associated with the Company, or
any of them (the “Releasees”), from all liability to the undersigned for any loss or
damage, and any claim or demands therefore on account of injury to the undersigned’s
person (whether physical, emotional, psychological, financial or otherwise) or property
or resulting in death, whether caused by the negligence of the Releasees or otherwise, relating to the Event, whether sustained during the Event or not.
I am fully aware and understand that I will be given the opportunity by the Company to participate in physical, emotional and other activities during the Event, some of which may take place outdoors and/or require the participants to be isolated from one another and/or include very loud music. I am fully aware that I may suffer physical, emotional,financial or other injury during any of the Activities and there is and can be no assurance or guarantee regarding my health or safety in connection with my
participation in the Activities. I understand that (1) there are inherent risks in the Activities; (2) people may have been seriously injured by participating in the Activities; and (3) if I voluntarily choose to participate in the Activities, there is a risk that I may receive injuries requiring medical attention. I fully understand and acknowledge that there is no requirement whatsoever that I participate in the Activities. If I do choose to participate in any of the Activities, I affirm that I have not been nor will I be coerced or persuaded in any way to do so and I assume full responsibility for and risk of any injury sustained in connection with the Activities, whether caused by the negligence of Releasees or otherwise.
I also understand that the Company does not purport to offer any medical, psychological, therapeutic, religious, or other professional advice at the Event and that the information provided at the Event is not a substitute for professional psychological or psychiatric care. I agree that under no circumstances shall Releasees be liable to me based on my use or misuse of and/or reliance on any information provided to me at the Event. And I assume full responsibility for and risk of any injury whether personal, financial or otherwise that I might incur based on such use, misuse and/or reliance thereon.
Why would any sane person sign this when you are told there is even a risk of death? Well, most people don't understand the very dangerous cult tactics that are going to be employed. So, if you are asked to sign a similar waiver, then be aware you may be playing Russian roulette with your life. Please note the other Big Names speaking at this event.... I do have a few issues, but these people are NOT on the list of the most dangerous people.
Scandal of the Jet-Setting Monk Rivets Thailand
Time World, 18th July 2013
BANGKOK) — He’s known as Thailand’s jet-setting fugitive monk, and his story has riveted the country with daily headlines of lavish excess, promiscuity and alleged crimes ranging from statutory rape to manslaughter.
Until a month ago, 33-year old Wirapol Sukphol was relatively unknown in Thailand. Now he is at the center of the biggest religious scandal the predominantly Buddhist country has seen in years.
Despite the vows he took to lead a life of celibacy and simplicity, Wirapol had a taste for luxury, police say. His excesses first came to light in June with a YouTube video that went viral. It showed the orange-robed monk in aviator sunglasses taking a private jet ride with a Louis Vuitton carry-on. [...]
The arrest warrant implicates him on three charges including statutory rape, embezzlement and online fraud to seek donations. He is also under investigation for money laundering, drug trafficking and manslaughter for a hit-and-run accident. Authorities are struggling to figure out how he amassed so much money.
Comment: Hmmmm... And nobody noticed this gangster monk accumulate the equivalent of 32 million dollars? What a joke... For some, religion is just a vehicle to obtain power and to be given an excuse to control and abuse others, or even just a convenient cover for their shading dealings... Why people refuse to admit there are a sizeable number of criminals claiming to be spiritual is beyond me...
THE “A” LIST: A Catalog of Trauma and Abuse
What Enlightenment??!, 18th July 2013
The following is a list of categories of abuses committed by Andrew Cohen and the EnlightenNext community over the years against students, with selected representative examples. All of these acts have been reported, verified and corroborated by first-person witnesses. Most have been documented in three published books written by critical former students—Mother of God by Luna Tarlo (Andrew Cohen’s mother), American Guru by William Yenner and Enlightenment Blues by Andre van der Braak—and on a blog by former students, What Enlightenment??! This list is by no means exhaustive. Many other reprehensible acts, both subtle and gross, have been documented and, as former students are finding their power and their voices, more are emerging every day. This list is only a summary reference. It fairly represents the kind of abuses that frequently occurred in the EnlightenNext community, often justified under the rubric of acts of “crazy wisdom” designed to destroy “ego.”
It is hoped that this list will aide former students in coming to terms with their history and trauma, and that it will serve as a warning and wake-up call to those who are currently engaged with Andrew Cohen, EnlightenNext, “Evolutionary Enlightenment” or its teachers, spin-offs and associates (e.g. Craig Hamilton, Peter Bampton, Jeff Carreira, Carter Phipps, Elizabeth Debold, Mary Adams, Chris Parish, Ken Wilber, the Integral community and others), and those who are considering engaging with them in the future. It is also hoped that it may provide food for contemplation for Andrew Cohen himself and inspiration for his reform and remediation.
5 Denying and Discouraging Students’ Freedom to Leave the Community
· Holding and withholding students’ passports, credit cards and car keys so that they could not leave community premises.
· Posting guards outside a students’ bedroom so that he could not leave, forcing him to secretly exit through a window at night and flee.
· Having a student who was trained in the Dutch equivalent of the military special or commando forces threaten another student with serious physical injury should he ever leave Andrew Cohen, telling the student that if he ever left Cohen,
“no matter where you are on the planet, I will find you and break every bone in your body.”
Cohen, when among close students, ridiculing, laughing at, insulting and dismissing other teachers, public associates and peers, such as Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama (“an idiot”), Don Beck (“a disgusting old man”), Craig Hamilton (“a big baby”), Ken Wilber (“a huge narcissist”), Michael Beckwith and Barbara Marx Hubbard (“they just don’t get it”) and various members of the Integral community, such as David Deida, Terry Patten and others, and encouraging close students to do the same. [WOW....]
Comment: Really? This only fits the profile of a psychopath and it very is very disturbing and really creepy to read this but most of the information is old news... Basically, we have big names like Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra herding the masses in the direction of sociopaths/psychopaths like James Ray and Andrew Cohen but the 2nd-hand psychopathy widely now exhibited in the cultic milieu is that if anything goes wrong with your search for enlightenment, IT IS YOUR FAULT! According to psychopath Andrew Cohen and presumably Deepak Chopra that endorses this scumbag (but according to this allegation that I have NEVER SEEN BEFORE, COHEN THINKS CHOPRA IS AN IDIOT. BUT QUITE FRANKLY, I CAN SEE WHY COHEN WOULD SAY THAT BECAUSE I PRESUME CHOPRA IS VIEWED AS NAIVE... Cohen is still one of Chopra's
evolutionary leaders so maybe Cohen is right on that point after all the bad publicity... ), evolutionary spirituality consists of extreme psychological and emotional abuse with physical violence thrown in for good measure... Yet, can you see any mention of this in the 13th March 2013 published dialogue between Deepak Chopra and Andrew Cohen?
Why the World Needs More Spiritual Heroes. As psychologists and sociologists tell us, predatory types learn a script that they know will attract people, but once they are attracted into an inner circle things become very very different... The cult tactics change to create followers for life and the guru becoming your "god"... they literally install themselves into your inner being. I think Cohen ultimately failed because too many members of his inner circle got some real enlightenment and ran off and in their need for healing started to share their stories on the internet a few even wrote books too that managed to get some attention. It does not help either that Cohen has been endorsed by the pseudo-intellectual-philosopher-can-tell-a-good-yarn Ken Wilber. 'Wilberforce' it seems, was being sponsored by people known and unknown to create a new religion, but after 30+ years he has failed miserably... Simply, there have been too many people objecting by taking to their keyboards and demolishing this intellectual pretender... Personally, I think he was doomed to failure and his efforts were probably a delay tactic because most intellectuals reflect and contemplate -- being brain-dead like most people is not part of the general profile but this explains why thinking is discouraged by those seeking to cultivate a following... I think I was finally creeped out this week by finding out there was some kind of connection between Ken Wilber and pioneering cult leader guru Werner Erhard.... Mr Hardcore Cult Tactics himself who the last time I read anything about was on the run for tax evasion... There have been huge volumes written already, but we can't expect the children following the pied pipers to take any notice of just how very very creepy this all is.... So.... it is no surprise that the many followers of the many gurus have no idea what spiritual evolution is really about.... The introductory waffle littered with buzzwords like quantum this and quantum that is acceptable because many think enlightenment will come if they are dedicated but it NEVER comes... I seriously wonder after 50 years of the use of 'honed' cult tactics, just how many disillusioned people there are out there... there must be a lot.
Woman: 'Visions' led her to dead California boy
xfinity News, 12th July 2013
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Pam Ragland was watching a TV report about the search for an 11-year-old California boy missing in a rural town miles away when she felt something wasn't right.
Ragland began crying and then a haunting vision popped into her head: A young boy lying on his side with his eyes closed.
The boy, Terry Dewayne Smith Jr., wasn't sleeping — and by the time Ragland's visions stopped, she had led detectives to his decomposing body behind his house in the Riverside County community of Menifee.
The remains had been partially buried in a shallow grave under a tree more than 60 miles from Ragland's Orange County home.
Comment: According to research, it is a fact some people can tap into certain types of memory fields held in the environment. The problem is when Tom, Dick and Harry who might have done this a few times then decide to go into business and struggle to use their abilities on demand...
They're watching as guru in sweat lodge case goes free
CNN, 13th July 2013
(CNN) -- New Age guru James Arthur Ray is out of prison, but the families of three acolytes who died in a sweat lodge ceremony vow to keep on eye on him if he tries to rebuild his self-help empire.
Ray left an Arizona prison Friday after serving 20 months for the negligent homicides of three followers who sought spiritual breakthroughs but died of overheating in a sweat lodge near Sedona in October 2009. [...]
According to testimony at his trial, acolytes who flocked to Angel Valley's red rock foothills were willing to shave their heads, meditate in the desert for 36 hours without food and water and then symbolically die and be reborn in the sweat lodge ritual. [...]
They planned to confront Ray as he left prison and ask him to sign a "promise" to adhere to certain ethical practices. It was not immediately known whether they were able to do so or whether he signed. The promise also was sent this week to 160 other self-help practitioners -- including well-known personalities such as Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass, Tony Robbins, Suze Orman, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil McGraw. [...]
Fifty-five people followed Ray into the sweat lodge; three died from overheating and 19 others were hospitalized after they collapsed, vomited, had trouble breathing, hallucinated, foamed at the mouth or fell unconscious.
"I really don't want to spend much time watching him," Ginny Brown said over the telephone. "But I feel angry that people knew he was dangerous and it wasn't public information."
Comment: I totally disagree with Ginny Brown. CULT WATCHERS KNEW JAMES RAY WAS DANGEROUS AND PUBLISHED THEIR WARNINGS ON A MASSIVE CULT WEBSITE WITH A BIG THREAD DEDICATED TO THIS FRAUD 2 YEARS BEFORE PEOPLE DIED. WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE BEEN DONE? THE PROBLEM IS TOTAL LACK OF ETHICS AND DISREGARD FOR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS. MANY NEW AGERS ARE AT LOW LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS LOOKING OUT FOR NO.1 SO THEY ARE ATTRACTED TO PREDATORS WHO PREACH PROSPERITY AND HAVING IT ALL. TEACHINGS THAT AMOUNT TO THE BIG COSMIC SLOT MACHINE IN THE HEAVENS EXISTS AND IS READY TO PAY OUT ETC ETC IF YOU KNOW HOW TO GAME THE MACHINE - THIS IS 'THE SECRET'... As I wrote in my essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu, “...it is possible for seekers to be duped and sometimes seriously hurt by spiritual salesmen who use a “syntax” of cult tactics with the aim of pushing their followers into an ecstatic/illumination experience where they can be re-programmed in order to complete the “penetration” of the “inner life” thereby making them followers for life.” James Ray carefully sifted his clientele to find the most gullible and rich. It does not matter how much people think of those who died, the victims had been sold on the principle of spiritual materialism. They died because James Ray could not give a shit about their safety. He wanted them to have heat stroke and become delirious so that they would believe he had given them a spiritual high whilst he was secretly re-programming them, (see archives for more of the story), instead he baked some of them to death. Trusting a sociopath is a very dangerous game to play.
The False Guru Test
Energy Grid, April 2006
TAKE THE FALSE GURU TEST. If seven or more of the following describes your guru or spiritual teacher, then unfortunately he or she may not be be as enlightened or good for your soul as you would like to believe:
Comment: No.16 Talks bollocks made me laugh... Actually, this is really a technique used for hypnosis... I believe this helps to shut down the mind and make the [unconscious] mind/self more easily available for programming.
Spiritual Marketing Techniques
Energy Grid, October 2009
An examination of methods used to market spiritual teachers and teachings. Whether you are an authentic spiritual teacher or just playing the guru-game, there is good money to be made in active spiritual marketing.
Comment: In the past I have attracted a few frauds because they want me to provide some pseudo-scientific claims (cult bait). Well, I don't cooperate, as I provide the facts as far as I am aware at the time. Whether this means good or bad news for an aspiring guru I don't care. I let people decide whether we are dealing with yet another fraud.
Sweat lodge leader who led retreat that killed three freed from prison today after less than two years
Daily Mail, 12th July 2013
* James Arthur Ray to be released from prison today after serving 85 per cent of a two-year sentence
* He was charged with negligent homicide after three attendees at his sweat lodge ceremony died
* The family and friends of victims are worried Ray will return to the self-help industry
* SEEK Safely, devoted to educating people about the largely unregulated self-help industry, launches today
A self-help author who led an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony that left three people dead and 18 injured is scheduled to be released from prison today.
James Arthur Ray will be freed from the state prison in Buckeye, near Phoenix, where he's been held under minimum security after serving 85 per cent of his two-year sentence on negligent homicide convictions.
The deaths occurred after dozens of people traveled to a scenic retreat just outside Sedona, Arizona in October 2009 for Ray's five-day 'Spiritual Warrior' event.
Comment: There is a lot of comment over at the Salty Droid but I think the feeling is that another New Age sociopath is back on the streets soon to be spreading the sickness that a lot of New Agey type people think is something divinely inspired... 12 years ago I had no idea what was going on amongst the New Age milieu but now I do... If at first having your head slammed up against a wall does not work, after a few more slams a new picture tends to emerge... As a reminder, I have provided a link of an article written on Oprah and her selling of “The Secret”. A magic potion for narcissists to make them even worse narcissists. James Ray was one of the golden New Age teachers "helping" those having difficulty making the fake principle of wishing on a star work in their lives... Over at the Cult Education Forum Anticult suggests the New Age Big Names will not sign the pledge because it will interfere with the legal waivers that people sign because they know the techniques used to control people come with big risks... [So, if you go to a seminar and they demand you sign your rights away then you know immediately that you are in danger. It's that simple. These are the real criminals protecting themselves upfront from being sued...] Obviously, most punters are oblivious to what those risks are and the kind of harm; physical, mental and emotion that might come their way...
'Sweat lodge' guru to be released from prison
USA Today, 11th July 2013
PHOENIX -- James Arthur Ray, the self-help author convicted of three counts of negligent homicide in the "sweat lodge" deaths near Sedona in October 2009, is to be released Friday morning from the Lewis state prison near Buckeye.
He will have served just under 20 months of the three concurrent two-year terms to which he was sentenced in November 2011 for the deaths of Kirby Brown, 38; James Shore, 40; and Liz Neuman, 49.
The three died of heat stroke and organ failure after a sweat-lodge-style ceremony Ray led as part of a five-day spiritual retreat at the Angel Valley resort. [...]
Three years ago, Brown's family created a non-profit, SEEKSafely, to educate the public about risks due to the unregulated nature of much of the self-help industry, and to promote professional standards. On Monday, in anticipation of Ray's release, the family issued a call on self-help practitioners to sign a promise to provide truthful and accurate information to participants, and to keep them safe at self-help events.
Since Monday, the group said, it has contacted 150 leading self-help practitioners, including Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer and Joe Vitale. So far, three practitioners have agreed to sign the promise, said Ginny Brown, Kirby Brown's mother. SEEKSafely will announce the promise at an event in New York Friday.
But, Ginny Brown said, "we understand people may not have had a chance to get back to us, people may be on vacation. We want to encourage them to join us in making this industry safer. ... This is bigger than James Ray. We want to empower seekers to ask more questions, and we hope the announcement (Friday) will encourage those we've contacted to see whether they can promise to behave in this particular manner."
The group's website, seeksafely.org, tracks which self-help practitioners have or haven't signed the pledge.
Comment: My initial reaction is that BIG NAMES in the New Wage could not care two hoots about people seeking safely because these folkers NEVER point out that their industry is shark infested waters with many using cult tactics as standard practice. Actually, after the success of the What Enlightenment??! blog, I suggest a What Ethics??! blog... it might need some work managing the volume of angst though. However, that does not mean that some BIG NAMES might pretend they are willing to pledge.... a signed name does not mean much in the scheme of things when New Agers & Seekers are being brainwashed that anything goes... Anyway, I had to laugh when I saw the name Tony Robbins who James Ray copied his mannerisms and 'techniques' from... Mr Cult Tactics himself.... There is also some doubt that the other BIG NAMES mentioned here are issue free when it comes to the use of cult tactics and telling the very subjective truth... Lets say my cynicism is off the charts. However, I am pleased that the seeksafely.org website has got some good publicity. Whatever, I will NEVER forget the deaths of Kirby Brown, 38; James Shore, 40; and Liz Neuman, 49, (Colleen Conaway was metaphorically pushed over the edge) by a greedy malignant narcissist masquerading as a spiritual salesman. Oprah et al. should be ashamed but these types have no shame.
Judge bars former Ramtha student from posting videos
Seattle Times, 9th July 2013
In an oral ruling, a Thurston County judge issued a permanent restraining order that bars a former student at Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment from releasing to the public any materials belonging to the school because it would breach a written contract she signed upon her enrollment there.
Attorneys for Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, or RSE, had sought the restraining order after last year’s widespread release of videos on the Internet depicting RSE’s leader, J.Z. Knight, making derogatory comments about Roman Catholics, Mexicans and others.
A preliminary restraining order barred further release of the videos, and ordered existing ones removed from the Internet.
Comment 27.07.2013: This is another New Wager dead-set on becoming a billionaire from extracting cash from deluded followers. From what I have read, this woman is considered a joke even in an industry that prides itself on low standards... J Z Knight (I think she recently changed her name to J Z Rose) drunk as a skunk is OK for brainwashed Ramtha students, but not for the unbrainwashed general public to see... I think the solution is this vile, evil and mad woman needs to learn some more self-control whilst she continues to indoctrinate her followers and maintain a turnover of new punters to plunder. Whatever, social media is rather a major problem for narcissist psychopath fake gurus who try to maintain a 'saintly' image for the outside world and a more intimidating character for the inner circle. Once those inner circle people wake up and decide to flee, they can much more easily generate evidence like videos to justify their actions.... I predict there is going to be nothing but trouble for fake New Wagers.... It's a 11 billion dollar industry, but folk are starting to catch on that something stinks... We are seeing some huge sparks of integrity and we are waiting for the whole New Wage edifice to set ablaze.... I knew this was possible, but the growing mainstream media interest is making a difference to the time frame, as there are already too many major names with big question marks over them. So, who will write the book,
The Top 100 New Wagers You Should Avoid? Update: There is a long and colourful history of J Z Knight and her Ramtha School of Enlightenment.
The EnlightenMeFree (EMF) Online Forum is a website set up by David McCarthy, who is a Knight/Ramtha survivor on a mission to expose Knight as a fraud. The stories of abuse and lurid goings on have never struck me as being remotely spiritual (like recommendations to drink wine and take prozac?), but this forum has revealed where Knight stole her best teachings from.... It seems many people have been robbed of their self-esteem and their money all because they prefer to be spoon-fed by a fraud.
MY DINNER WITH ANDREW
What Enlightenment??!, 7th July 2013
What follows is an account of my attendance at a half-day “Evolutionary Enlightenment” seminar given by Andrew Cohen in Toronto on 22 June, 2013, and a private meeting that I had with him afterward. The seminar was entitled “Living at the Edge of Everything.” As the afternoon progressed, it became increasingly clear to me that my impressions might be of value to those interested in a power struggle that had occurred recently in Cohen's universe: He had been forced into some sort of reckoning with his conduct as a “guru,” and pressured by his “senior students” into vacating his leadership position at the organization he had founded, “EnlightenNext.”
Comment: Most curious.... a real human showing compassion and decency to a malignant narcissist in full control and awareness of what she [I think the author is a female] is dealing with... This person has my full admiration... Personally, I have decided to take the advice of psychologists and cut types like Cohen dead... I am not prepared to give them the opportunity to suck the life out of me because ultimately that is what they are most interested in.... The author here has fully comprehended the sickness and disease that is being spread by this predator. Yet, she still wants to help and maybe a miracle is possible despite the beliefs of psychologists.... For a real human, this is a good read even reassuring that real high quality humans exist, as 1s and 0s on the narcissism scale are few and far between...
Andrew Cohen's Mis-Integration of Spiritual Philosophy into Life
Integral World, 26th June 2013
[...] Just for the hell of it, I did my own Bonewits Cult Danger Scale analysis [8] based upon what I have learned about Cohen from the above sources. Although I do not want to give the details of the individual numerical scores I came up with—because I have not experienced Cohen's organization myself—I will say that
my overall rating of 6.7 puts Cohen in a cult danger class behind only Scientology and The Unification Church for the 22 new religious groups that I have done my experiential Bonewits Cult Danger Scale analysis on [9]. [...]
And how much self-delusion on the part of its members is required to sustain the belief that this noble mission is fueled by their blind faith and unquestioning participation....In the cold light of reality it becomes apparent that Cohen's alleged "realization" has never prevented him from manifesting profoundly unenlightened and at times childish behavior that entitles one to ask whether he could ever have been enlightened in the first place, and whether it isn't just as likely that his elevation to the status he occupies, and the devotion he inspires in his followers, are the over-determined result of a certain set of psychological conditions preexisting in all concerned.
Comment: I now realise that a 'guru' can kill people (e.g. James Ray Sweatlodge Oct 2009 tragedy) and most of these mentally incapacitated 'enlightenment for cash' folk will just try to pass it off with some meaningless clap trap because it does not fit in with the story that they want to sell (read the archives). Andrew Cohen was running a cult using standard cult tactics and because he was quite successful in bringing in people and taking their money, the great and the good wanted to associate themselves. I call Cohen's methods 'Kick Ass' Enlightenment. Do not forget that his own Jewish mother was so grossed out that she wrote a book called 'Mother of God' and compared her own son to Hitler... Yet, Deepak Chopra and others slobbered over this bastard whilst he continued to traumatise his followers. The levels of delusion are sky fucking high all round... Enlightenment my backside and you can quote me.... Btw, I had to laugh when we are told about egocentric characters and mention of Neale Donald Walsch who was outed by the New York Times as a damn liar... Other allegations that are less well known are that he stole the original material for his first book and that is why subsequent books deteriorated quickly in quality. Based on my own experiences and my research, the Cultic Milieu and New Age movement in particular is shark infested waters and the sharks have been watching each others backs, but it looks like a miracle happened here. The irony of a so-called guru hiring management consultants who we must assume told him you can't kick the crap out of your followers and expect them to keep quiet in the internet age of websites, blogs, forums and chat rooms... Apologise and tell them you are a fake.... sorry 'mythic' guru... Really? What a joke....
ANDREW COHEN AND THE FALL OF THE MYTHIC GURU IN AN AGE OF PR-SPIN
What Enlightenment??!, 21st June 2013
Controversial spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen will be stepping down from his role as guru and leader of the organization he founded, EnlightenNext. In a startling turn of events, Cohen has also begun apologizing to some former and current students for misdeeds and abuses of the past. Core students in the leadership of EnlightenNext have left the organization and apparently struck out on their own. But a recent “PR and Communications Plan” message, widely circulated to EnlightenNext students, leaves both the scope of future change in the organization and the depth of Andrew Cohen’s remorse over his abuse of students in the past unclear.
Comment: This is brilliant news, the take down of a big-time guru thug. Cohen is a narcissist, a nasty one too, this must be killing him.... LOL... I feel like celebrating.... BUT due to what I have learnt, I believe that unless followers are de-programmed effectively, the spread of Cohen's nasty guru cult mindset, energy and disease will just go into hibernation but continue to spread where it will bear fruit elsewhere in time. Whatever, I congratulate all the people who have contributed to the removal of this monster. I am astounded, I knew there was a possibility (see archives) but already there is some real success in the effort to clean up the Cultic Milieu... Who is next?
Update 25th June 2013: I am feeling perplexed and a bit stunned... Cohen's management consultants have truly seen the light and are signalling the end of an era or error if you like... They persuaded Cohen to admit that he is a fake by spinning that he was acting the role of a "mythic guru"..... just incredible....
The Death of A Mythic Guru: In this second post (which may end up in multiple parts), Andrew will speak about his own development as a Guru and how he created a “mythic” Guru model within the postmodern world, outlining the negative and positive consequences of that. He'll talk about how difficult it has been for him to recognize the mythic structures within himself, and how he's going to now take the time necessary to develop both himself and the teachings.
That is some spin... I will make it easier for you... Andrew Cohen was a big fake... Well, by this definition there is a lot of other "mythic gurus" out there.... I think this has major implications because gurus abusing their followers has been so normalised, a malignant narcissist's and predator's dream.... Remember the facts, according to psychologists, cult leaders have at least 7/9 traits of a psychopath and since Cohen had an inner circle of followers that he would beat up if they displeased him in any way, this by definition is an abusive cult leader. Read the books that have been written by his ex-followers if you want the background to this momentous announcement, see archives for links. Thus, I am await further serious analysis and developments... Also, if I was Mr Enlightenment aka Ken Wilber, I would be worried because he was a major enabler of this mythic guru as most people know who have followed this saga for many years. Deepak Chopra is also looking suspect too for getting involved and making him one of his "evolutionary leaders"... What a joke... Another grave misdemeanour... there will be some major fallout I assure you.
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Integral egos gone wild: Wilber and Cohen relish worship
Hines Sight Blog, 10th June 2010
When I got through reading "The Second Face of God," I'd reached a clear conclusion: Wilber and Cohen aren't aiming to go beyond the limitations of religiosity in their quest for an Integral spirituality; they're out to found a new religion -- with themselves as the worshipful objects of devotion. [...]
Run, don't walk, from Cohen and Wilber, EnlightenNext, and any attempt to entice you into a religious cult masquerading as Integral enlightenment.
What they're pushing is old-fashioned religion in a New Age guise. Cohen and Wilber are the high priests, and they're looking for submissive acolytes who will worship them and submit to their authority.
The Bling RingTrapped in the closets of the rich and famous.
Willamette Week, 19th June 2013
The Bling Ring takes its name from the real-life cabal of Southern California acquaintances who made a habit of breaking, entering and burgling their favorite celebrities’ Beverly Hills homes. (In the film, Paris Hilton’s mansion practically becomes their clubhouse.) Coppola has crafted well-drawn analogs for the actual perpetrators: Cold-blooded Rebecca (Katie Chang) hatches the schemes while her insecure sidekick Marc (Israel Broussard) handles the particulars.
Frequently along for the ride are Nicki (Emma Watson) and Sam (Taissa Farmiga)—
home-schooled friends who subsist on Ativan and treat The Secret as scripture—and Chloe (Claire Julien), who wears the bruises from her latest DUI accident like a badge of honor.
Comment: Well, I have just found out about the film
The Bling Ring, also see the 1st slide wording of the Yahoo Movie Review:
'The Bling Ring' Burglars and Their Big-Screen Players The movie will make a big point of the fact that some of these robbing teenagers were home-schooled with New Ager parents who used the
The Secret as scripture. I think the scene with this family saying prayers ending with the often 'channelled' saying, "And so it is." really twists the knife... I see this will bring a litte bit more humiliation for Oprah,
The Secret pushers and the New Age movement in general.
Does Oprah “Own Your Power?”
Jet Law, 5th June 2013
Surprisingly, there may be more than one person trying to make sure you Own Your Power. Forgetting for the moment what those words may mean or how some may go about owning their power, the Second Circuit has revived the debate over who owns the right to exploit those words–for the time being.
Three years ago, Simone Kelly-Brown sued Oprah for plastering “Own Your Power” on the cover of The Oprah Magazine and subsequently hosting a corporate event with the same title. Before Oprah published that magazine or held that event, Kelly-Brown had trademarked the phrase and created a website and suite of writings centered on the idea. So, upon seeing Oprah’s use of the phrase, Kelly-Brown went to the courts.
Comment: A sign of the New Age times.... I wonder if Oprah has already done a show on how she attracted a lawsuit because this started 3 years ago.... Well, we all know Oprah is a target because she is a rich woman and the popular New Age mentality is trying to see what one can get with magical thinking and minimum effort... However, the real irony is one Big Name New Ager being sued by another wannabe Big Name New Ager concerning 'Owning Your Power'. The whole concept that anyone has rights over this phrase is just ridiculous but that is fake New Age 'slogan' spirituality in a nutshell. Just keep repeating the mantras and by magic your life will change... A damn lie... The truth is that when you get involved with these New Age wannabe guru types, what you actually find is many examples of people covertly systematically stripping you of your power and setting themselves up to be the spiritual authority in your life. The real specialists use a "syntax" as we were informed by felon James Ray... Whilst we are on the subject, James Ray is coming out of prison mid July 2013. I wonder whether Oprah will be waiting with flowers when he gets out and invites him back onto her show to explain how he attracted the nightmare scenario of killing 3 of his followers by his greed and psychopathic tendencies. Oh yes, we can't forget that James Ray (the scammer who told his devotees the bullshit story of him "...finding himself in the cave where Moses is said to have rested before receiving the Ten Commandments" according to the UK Guardian, see archives) repeatedly stated there is no such thing as balance, and this might explain why he went too far and killed 3 people. So now he has been exposed as a complete fraud to people not brainwashed by the New Age scam culture, it is no surprise that there are no Big Name New Wagers looking to help him out in is hour or 110 days of need. The New Wage scene nurtures narcissism not empathy and here James Ray is proving once again he thinks he is entitled to special treatment. Btw, I don't care whether Oprah wins this case or not. Oprah lost my respect when I found out she had promoted a dangerous thug like James Ray, at a time when people were getting routinely hurt at his seminars and there were clear warnings provided by cult watchers.
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Case regarding Oprah’s use of “Own Your Power” will continue
Lexology, 13th June 2013
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Halfway Harmonic Destitution
Salty Droid, 15th May 2013
James Arthur Ray :: aka inmate 267823 :: used to have a house in Beverly Hills … 90210. He paid an eye-popping $4 million for it :: although at the time he could afford it because Oprah said he knew The Secret … so he was totally rolling in other people’s money. [...] Now that his saggy guru ass is only a few months from semi-freedom :: it seems the comeback plans have begun. He’s starting small of course :: with destitution … and then maybe he’ll work his way back up to Harmonic {I stole your} Wealth™.
It's the Salty Droid (aka Jason Jones), lawyer and scam buster. There is no restraint on hatred here and a profanity warning is in place....
Birmingham woman abandons 'breatharian' bid to survive on sun's rays alone after 47 days
Birmingham Mail, 20th June 2013
A Birmingham woman has been forced to admit light lunches are bad for you – after spending 47 days attempting to survive on the sun’s rays.
Aptly-named Naveena Shine this week called off her 100-day bid to live on light alone.
She hoped for increased spiritual awareness but found only severe body cramps and nausea and admitted: “This could be slow starvation.”
The 65-year-old, originally from Aston, but now living in Seattle in the US, tried to follow the ‘breatharian’ lifestyle, which calls on devotees to survive on sunlight, air and water.
To date, four devotees have died while attempting to follow the food-free path.
Comment: No surprise.... I found a good short write-up by a Christian concerning some of the main issues with New Agers, and of course, the lack of interest in reality is pointed out. Obviously, there is a certain amount of the pot calling the kettle black here too...
ASS Syndrome: The Problem With New Age “Religion”.
Woman missing in Washington state forest after going on naked 'spiritual quest' with nothing but a fanny pack
Daily Mail, 11th June 2013
* Maureen Kelly, 19, has been missing in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest since Sunday night
* Kelly has a small knife and a compass with her—but nothing else
* Search crews are flummoxed how Kelly navigated the steep and mountainous area where she disappeared wearing no shoes or clothes
Authorities are searching for a Washington woman who was last seen walking away from a campground in nothing but a fanny pack to go on a 'spiritual quest'.
Maureen Kelly, 19, went missing early Sunday night from the Canyon Creek Campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington, according to KPTV.
A friend told the Skamania County Sheriff's office that Kelly left the campsite to go on a naked 'spiritual quest' with nothing but a fanny pack, but she never returned.
Comment: The Fox 12 Oregon report says:
"It's super cold at night and without clothes. I really don't see how it's possible," said camper Liz Newland.
"There are bears out here, mountain lions, there's any number of things that could get you out here. Landslides are prominent out here," said another camper, Jessica Herman."
Search for missing naked woman now in second day,
Fox 12 Oregon, 10th June 2013
This is just another example of a New Ager who has lost their mind. I will look out for reports to find out whether they find her dead or alive. The real question is: why do so few people point out the nonsense? I suppose the answer is that the New Age cult mindset is just too widespread. People are either being taken in or finding new opportunities to exploit the vulnerable.
Exclusive: Co-hosts of radio show 'The Pursuit of Happiness' committed suicide [PHOTOS]Lynne Rosen and John Littig were found dead Monday in their Park Slope home. As a psychotherapist Rosen, 46, and motivational speaker Littig, 48, were in the business of telling people how to NY Daily News, 6th June 2013
A Brooklyn couple who hosted a radio show called "The Pursuit of Happiness" committed suicide together by putting plastic bags over their heads and inhaling helium.
Lynne Rosen and John Littig, who were found dead on a couch in the living room of their Park Slope apartment, left behind two notes, police said Wednesday. [...]
Rosen, 46, was a psychotherapist. Littig, 48, was a motivational speaker and a musician. And for an hour every month, they took to the airwaves and doled out advice on how to be your best self.
"People get scared to make changes, right, and to step out of that comfort zone," Rosen said on the April show. "Alternatively, you can get comfortable with change," Litting piped in.
Comment: Hmmm.... I suppose this was a pair of New Agers who realised that what they were teaching did not actually help them on a personal level and they decided to give up... Personally, I have been astounded by being involved with people who set themselves up as spiritual teachers who think being positive whilst spouting bullshit is enough.... Well, I found a useful link posted in response to this story on the notorious GLP forum, see
THE ACHIEVER: Overview of Type Three and since I am very interested in systems that profile human development, especially those that focus on narcissists, I was quite impressed with this summary.
Man Of Steel Ties Into Religious SermonsComic Book, 2nd June 2013
When watching the Man Of Steel trailer, it’s not difficult to pick up on several parallels to religious teachings. Superman himself has often been compared to being a Christ-like figure.
With that in mind, Warner Bros. has teamed up with MinistryResources.org to create a pastor resource site for the Man Of Steel movie. The site located at ManOfSteelResources.com provides videos, sermon outlines, and images that pastors can use in sermons to their congregations. The site even offers a listing of free pastor screenings of the Man Of Steel by city.
According to the “Jesus – The Original Superhero” sermon outline on the site, “Superman’s mythical origins are rooted in the timeless reality of a spiritual superhero who also lived a modest life until extraordinary times required a supernatural response.”
Comment: I think there are quite a few religious scholars who would argue that Jesus Christ is not the original spiritual superhero.... Anyway, the issue is that the Superman/Christ archetype is just one of many archetypes that are embedded deep into the human psyche and are routinely used to influence humans, (I touch on this in the 2012 e-book version of my TTD book). What is really interesting is the effort to re-inforce this archetype amongst the religious when being religious is no longer deemed necessary by the higher-ups in society.... So the question is: why the blatant effort now? Well, I have simply not studied archetypes enough to know what the perils of this kind of influence are if any. (Reading more Carl Jung is on my to-do list.....) All I know is that at the moment, I am wary of those who want to blatantly tap into this level of human consciousness because it is any easy way to manipulate people if you know how.
Pope asks prayers for pastors that they not become ‘wolves’
Todays Catholic News, 15th May 2013
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis asked Catholics to pray for their bishops and priests, asking God to help them be real shepherds who are poor, humble and meek.
“Pray for us bishops and priests,” he said May 15 during an early morning Mass with employees of Vatican Radio. “We need to remain faithful, to be men who watch over our flocks and over ourselves.”
Celebrating the Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope asked the employees to pray that God would defend bishops and priests from what St. Augustine defined as their principal temptations: money and pride.
“If we follow the path of riches, if we follow the path of pride, we will become wolves and not shepherds,” the pope said. “Pray for this.”
Comment: OK. What the hell is going on in the Vatican? The sheeple are being told by the Pope who historically is usually but not always the biggest predator amongst predators (do the history lesson) that their spiritual leaders are money grabbing wolves... What is he going to say next? Will he exhort his flock to learn about malignant narcissists and psychopaths who hide behind a mask to provide cover for their real intentions?
Church of England facing new child abuse allegations
Archbishop accused of not reporting claims made against former dean of Manchester to police at the time
Guardian, 10th May 2013
The Church of England is facing a new child protection scandal after accusations that the former archbishop of York failed to report allegations of child abuse by a senior clergyman.
Lord Hope of Thornes, the former archbishop, said he stripped the Very Rev Robert Waddington, a former dean of Manchester cathedral who was once in charge of church schools, of his right to conduct church services after allegations of child abuse against him. But Hope said he did not report the matter to the police or other child protection agencies because he deemed Waddington did not pose a further risk to children.
Comment: Back to the standard 'filth' of wrongdoing by the guardians of religious fiction. (Well, that is based on an understanding of the mythos, with a much required general scholarship and education about what is really going on...) Whatever, here is some related news concerning someone who does actually care about the victims of serial religious abusers,
Kevin Annett is nominated for the Nobel Peace
Bikram Choudhury Accused of Rape in Two New Lawsuits -
YogaDork, 8th May 2013
This just in…Two women filed separate lawsuits earlier this week claiming they were raped by Bikram Choudhury and that Bikram’s inside circle actively recruits women for him.
We know, there are so many Bikram-related lawsuits it’s hard to keep track. This is where it gets real.
“Jane Doe No. 2 sued Choudhury and Bikram Yoga College of India in Superior Court on Monday, alleging sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, harassment and seven other counts. Jane Doe No. 1 filed a similar complaint Tuesday against the same defendants in the same court,” Courthouse News Service reported earlier today.
Note, this is in addition to the lawsuit from March that rocked the house that Bikram built filed by former student and Bikram Yoga teacher Sarah Baughn alleging sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination, all of which Bikram denied. We thought there might be more. This time, it’s rape. And it is incredibly ugly, contemptible and beyond disturbing. [...]
Bikram’s rants and outrageous antics are something we’ve grown accustomed to in the yoga community and have even made light of in the past, and for which he is largely unapologetic, but after reading this you may never think the same way about him again.
Comment: Yet another egomaniac exposed for abusing his followers. Well, it must seem obvious to some that yoga has just become good cult bait for the numerous predators out there... Victims are just lambs to the slaughter because the Cultic Milieu operates on a time honoured model where future victims are lured for systematic abuse by other docile followers in exchange for a pat on the head by the guru... Well, as psychologists tell us, cult leaders have at least 7/9 traits of psychopaths but it seems that many think this egomaniac behaviour is what is required of 'leaders' and so they expect to be abused. Here is a old documentary that sums this up nicely, YouTube link
Egomania.
Robert W. Sullivan - The Royal Arch of Enoch Red Ice Radio, 7th May 2013
Robert Sullivan is a philosopher, historian, antiquarian, jurist, theologian, writer, and a lawyer. He is a Freemason, having joined Amicable-St. John's Lodge #25, Baltimore Maryland in 1997; he became a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason in 1999, Valley of Baltimore, Orient of Maryland. "The Royal Arch of Enoch: The Impact of Masonic Ritual, Philosophy, and Symbolism" is his first published work and is the result of twenty years of research. We’ll discuss freemasonic lore, rituals, ceremonies and the deities surrounding the Royal Arch Degree. Also, we discuss the history of battling secret societies, philosophies of pro-papal Jesuits and warring anti-royal aristocratic masons.
Comment: Henrik Palmgren is again hitting on another Freemason with useful information for anyone interested in the preservation of an ancient astronomical religion in its most true form... (Christianity is too much of a smorgasbord mess to be given that kind of accolade...) Well, I am coming to the conclusion that even when major secrets are in plain sight – not even hidden in plain sight – many don't have the mental hardware to process the facts... There are 7 million Freemasons but how many understand the crux of the ancient message that has been preserved over many thousands of years? Well, I was impressed in Part I with the admission that Freemasons are trying to preserve knowledge especially at times when God (Universal Consciousness) routinely tries to erradicate mankind .... The educated cannot challenge the fact that ancient knowledge has been passed down that Earth experiences regular conflagration by fire or flood, the issue is few want to discuss why humans are routinely up for extermination and why we deserve to be wiped off the planet.... Obviously, narcissists will not discuss why regular checks by Universal Consciousness forces drastic action to destroy the pestilence that is humanity... Whatever, I have given my opinion on this blog a few times and nobody has challenged my assessment and I suppose that is because it requires deep honesty and most people are too deluded for that.
Amanda Berry’s mother ‘gave up hope’ when ‘evil, evil’ psychic said her daughter was dead
National Post, 8th May 2013
When Amanda Berry’s mother, Louwana, died in 2006, three years after the disappearance of her daughter, friends said she had been able to withstand the anguish no longer.
“She died of a broken heart,” said Dona Brady, a local councillor. Two years earlier, a television psychic had told her to give up hope: her daughter was dead.
Louwana Miller was only 44 when she died of heart failure. She was never the same after the television psychic’s message, said a friend at the time. “I think she had given up hope.”
An online backlash against the psychic, Sylvia Browne, has begun. At the time, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that that Miller believed the psychic “98%.”
Comment: Sylvia Browne has a number of high profile fails and it makes you wonder why the woman is taken seriously. This article published in The Guardian in October 2007
Sylvia Browne: is she for real? looks like the subtitle has been updated this week as it reads:
"Sylvia Browne is famous for telling distraught parents where their missing children are – but as in the case of Amanda Berry, she gets it wrong. A lot. So why does she still have such a massive following? Jon Ronson took a cruise with America's most controversial psychic to find out."
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Stopping Sylvia Browne
Daily Grail, 8th May 2013
[...]
This is not the first time that Sylvia Browne has been horribly wrong about a missing person. In 2007 Shawn Hornbeck was found alive, after Browne had previously told his parents that he was dead. In 1999 she told a missing girl's grandmother that she had been kidnapped and put into slavery in Japan, but four years later her body was found in the U.S. - investigators found that she had been killed shortly after her abduction. The list of terrible gaffes goes on. [...]
Stop Sylvia Browne. Don't buy her books, watch any TV shows she is on, or reward her in any way for what she does. Enough is enough.
Comment: Folk are getting fed up and angry... This means that it is getting harder and harder for the sharks in the cultic milieu to earn a good living by being a lying fraud... I personally think the tide has turned... People are not turning the other cheek, instead they are now working to eradicate the fraudsters... Due to a shift in consciousness, the numbers of gullible folk around is rapidly decreasing and a major faux pas equates to the frauds poisoning their own well. Just think about how this is now working... each time they are exposed they have created another opportunity for themselves to lose more and more influence... The credibility downward spiral seems to go down faster than it goes up...
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Psychics like Sylvia Brown are immoral frauds
Science Blogs, 9th May 2013
In the wake of the dramatic events surrounding the discovery of three women including Amanda Berry, being held captive for a decade by a monster, it’s important not to forget another sociopath played a role in this drama. That sociopath is the psychic who told Amanda Berry’s mother that her daughter was dead: [...] As the Wiki shows, her predictions aren’t reliable, and not surprisingly, she has a history of criminal behavior, including indictments and convictions for fraud and grand theft.
Comment: Wow.... this article makes some very unscientific claims, but I will admit when you hook up with these people and/or do the research, it becomes obvious that many claiming psychic powers are in fact sociopaths and psychopaths. They are evil and they are dangerous.
Only the REAL psychics can tell you how to avoid the fraudsters
Doubtful News, 19th March 2013
This is either ridiculous or brilliant. The President of Psychic Access, Inc. complains about how his legitimate psychics have to deal with ”the tragic aftermath of psychic scams, when the victim finally finds her way to us for skilled help and guidance,” Phony psychics damage the reputation of real ones. The readers at Psychic Access call them “fraudsters. ”
Psychic Access Warns Public to Avoid Psychic Scams.
In an effort to combat the prevalence of online psychic fraud and swindles, Psychic Access has now published a set of useful tips and guidelines on their website. The new information page offers a detailed anti-scam checklist informing consumers on how to spot a psychic scam. The set of red flags and danger signs was compiled from actual cases encountered by the experienced team at PsychicAccess.com and is made available online in an attempt to inform and educate the general public and potential customers who are interested in locating legitimate psychic reading services.
Comment: I think this article should be called 'Psychics at War For Your Cash'...
Swiss police arrest "healer" accused of infecting 16 with HIV
Reuters, 15th March 2013
(Reuters) - Swiss police have arrested a self-styled healer after he stopped attending a trial where he stands accused of infecting 16 people with HIV using acupuncture needles.
Swiss police said on Friday that they stormed the home of the 54-year-old man, who had barricaded himself inside, was armed with a knife and had issued repeated threats. An unidentified woman with him was also arrested.
The man had been free on bail since August. His trial began on March 6, but he stopped turning up in court on Thursday.
The case came to the attention of the Swiss authorities after an HIV-positive patient told a Berne hospital he had traced his infection back to acupuncture treatments carried out by the accused. The man has denied the charges.
Comment: Due to my own experiences with malignant narcissists & predators in the cultic milieu claiming to be spiritual, I have realised that this kind of story should be expected. At least, if you are a Christian, you are taught that wolves in sheeps clothing exist, but in the New Age milieu, the mentality is every man for himself and few care enough to teach people how to avoid becoming a victim. Instead the psychopath's dream teaching called
"The Law of Attraction is cited and empathy is often VERY LOW. Where exactly is the spirituality you ask? That's the whole point, it does not exist... for some their faux spirituality is just a mask and a means to an end. By the way, have you watched the documentary Egomania? YouTube link
here. It explains how cult leaders have at least 7 out of 9 traits that identify psychopaths. Again, my favourite self-aware psychopath Sam Vaknin is featured in all his glory. See also:
Pa. pastor gets life sentence for killing 2nd wife
Spiritual healer and clairvoyant psychic sexually abused eight women but claimed he was releasing 'emotional blockages'
Daily Mail, 5th March 2013
Just a reminder that the Cultic Milieu in general attracts predators both male and female....
God is not the Creator, claims academic
The notion of God as the Creator is wrong, claims a top academic, who believes the Bible has been wrongly translated for thousands of years.
The Telegraph, 28th February 2013
Professor Ellen van Wolde, a respected Old Testament scholar and author, claims the first sentence of Genesis "in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth" is not a true translation of the Hebrew.
She claims she has carried out fresh textual analysis that suggests the writers of the great book never intended to suggest that God created the world -- and in fact the Earth was already there when he created humans and animals.
Comment: Remember, you heard it here first... "A New Myth For A New Age"...
Mexican priest with comic book robe sprays congregation with holy water gun
Metro News, 25th February 2013
We doubt the next pope will spray his congregation with a water gun filled with holy water but he may want to take inspiration from the way a Mexican priest is making his Mass much more enjoyable.
Father Humberto Alvarez not only drenches people with his water toy, he also wears a snazzy robe that features images of Superman, Spiderman and Batman.
The priest chose the characters because of their ‘struggle and effort to overcome fear and find peace and forgiveness’.
He added these were traits he wished to pass on to the members of his Ojo de Agua church in Saltillo, Mexico.
Comment: Hilarious....
Priest fined $1000 for ear biting [AU]
WA Today, 12th February 2013
A West Australian priest has been fined $1000 for biting off the ear of a fellow elderly clergyman in a dispute over a sprinkler.
Thomas Henry Byrne, 81, was spared a criminal conviction after pleading guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm on Tuesday, because a Perth magistrate accepted dementia had played a central role in the attack.
A confrontation was sparked between the two men after the victim moved some objects around the shared yard of their Dianella complex on November 9.
As a result the victim's ear was completely severed.
Comment: Hmmm... so what is going on with these old priests getting violent? The image icon is an actor playing the old drunk Father Jack from the UK hit sit-com
Father Ted.
Alien from Sirius sentenced to 11 years in a colony
Pravda, 7th February 2013
The Novosibirsk regional court sentenced the founder of religious sect Ashram Shambala, Konstantin Rudnev, to 11 years in a colony.
Konstantin Rudnev, who calls himself an alien from Sirius, was accused of creating a religious association that infringed on the rights and personalities of local citizens. The sect practiced rape, sexual assault and illegal sale of drugs.
Comment: The headline made me laugh...
Sandy Hook Mom Says Clairvoyant Son, 5, Refused To Go To School, Saving His Life
Hollywood Life, 2nd January 2013
Sandy Hook Elementary School mother Karen Dryer shares her emotional and uncanny story that saved her 5-year-old son’s life from that horrific Dec. 14 shootings. HollyBaby.com has all the EXCLUSIVE details on her extraordinary son.
Karen Dryer‘s worst nightmare started to unravel when her young son Logan Dryer, 5, became so anxiety ridden when he went to kindergarten at Sandy Hook Elementary School that she decided to pull him out of school just two weeks before the deadly massacre.
Like any parent, Karen could not understand why her usually happy, healthy son Logan all of a sudden started having panic attacks while in school. Little did she know, that like her own late mother, her son had the gift to foresee the future.
Comment: I would have been amazed if absolutely no one had had a premonition of what was coming because there are enough us about who have moved up the evolutionary spiral and the detectable programmed 'scalar' energy must be terrible. Obviously, the fact that many in the mainstream don't believe the official stories about what happened is beside the point, something awful did happen. See,
Be a Proud Conspiracy Theorist, You're in the Majority
James Tyberonn ~ 2013 – The Aquarian Shift & Anthropocene Radiation (Part 2 of 2)
Shift Frequency, 19th January 2013
******DO NOT MISS THIS!*******
As has been presented to you in this Gathering, many of your scientist and researchers are making new discoveries, discoveries which would not have been apparent or occurred prior to 1987. You have just reviewed a series of presentations that offer much valuable information for you to contemplate.
The work of Greg Braden initially presented the concepts of Solar Radiation and was followed by further research documented by Susan Rennison and others. The work of Dr Luc Montagnier indeed added the element of coherency and theta waves to the equation. So in the Aquarian Radiation much will shift, much will change. Some of these shifts will occur in your lifetime, some will takes centuries , others millennia. But change will occur. We offer you a hint, and that is that 2038 offers a major leap forward…and what you do now is creating it ! [...]
Higher dimensional life forms are becoming visible. These are new to the earth only in terms of being more ‘tangible’. .. but they have been referenced in some of your religious texts. Ancient scribes have written in several of your sacred ideologies that life occurred in 3 formats: As clay ( Earth biology) , fire (devic electrical) and light (angelic) .
Certain of the orbs, lightning sprites, elves and photonic ‘jellyfish’ phenomena that began quickening in the past years are in fact conscious life forms of other dimensions and construct. Some of these have communicated to you in various means, including crop-circles. Many study groups are beginning to explore these occurrences, but not as life forms. NASA has recorded record numbers of CME’s over the past 2+ decades,
these have been noted by geophysist Susan Rennison and Dr Greg Braden as referenced in the presentations in this Gathering. The CME’s the cause.
Comment: So, Tyber-dumb-idiot has decided on a damage limitation exercise and archangel Metatron says I deserve some credit! This would be hilarious if it was not for the fact this fake angel channeler has still plagiarised my research.... How stupid is James Tyberonn, Tyberfart, Tyberfool, Tybertwit? Well, as stupid as lots of other uneducated New Agers I have come across who do not have the ability to realise they are out of their depth.... Btw, what the hell has Gregg Braden done? To my knowledge he has no Ph.D, he is not a Dr. and has never worked in academia, he has the same level of qualifications as me but my work is far more relevant... The quality of his research has been going down the toliet in recent years too, laughable in fact... Let's say, I will be even more more angry if I discover that Gregg Braden has decided to plagiarise my research too... In fact, I promise that all hell will break out.... To regular blog followers, please burn a New Age book in your possession and regain some self respect.... I have no particular recommendations, but there is plenty of crap to choose from....
-
What Happened to Gregg Braden? — A critique of his latest work: The God Code
Energy Grid, March 2004
I HAVE JUST GOT BACK from a lecture at Alternatives in London given on the 29/3/04 by Gregg Braden, which covers the material of his new book, The God Code. I had been looking forward to this lecture for many months: I am a HUGE fan of Braden's work, and it is very rare to see him in this part of the world. So it was with absolute delight that I went to hear him speak… and ended up almost walking out.
This was the biggest load of pseudoscience I have heard for a long time, and it was delivered in a thoroughly patronizing manner (his target audience when preparing this material can only be imbecilic). I cannot understand this because none of this comes through in his previous work — although I have never heard him lecture before, I have read his previous books, some of which were fantastic and are recommended on this site. I have also listened to one radio interview, which was great.
Braden prides himself on being a scientist, and in his other material he presents the right balance between scientific fact and "spiritual" interpretation of those facts. But his latest work, The God Code, seems to be fantasy masquerading as science, and actually ends up discrediting his previous works.
Comment: It really does make you wonder whether he does not really care anymore, as there are enough undiscerning people who will keep buying his books as long as a big publisher is prepared to keep publishing whatever rubbish he can cobble together.
-
A Rough Guide to New Age Teachers: Gregg Braden
Energy Grid, 21st October 2005
Recently, however, it has been pointed out to me that Braden was never a scientist: he was actually a software engineer who had worked in the scientific arena. This does not make him an "earth science expert" as he claims, or indeed a "scientist" at all. In fact, judging by his use of pseudo-science and bad science to justify his position (we are NOT talking about leading-edge or bona fide alternative scientific theory or research here) he shows himself to be scientifically illiterate (or deliberately misleading the public which I will discount). Discovering that Braden was no scientist was a relief to me because it meant that I could accept his sincerity, which I do. After all, if he was a bona fide scientist then one could only conclude that he was deliberately misleading people for whatever reason because the mistakes and contrivances are so appalling.
-
Gregg Braden Debunked
2012 Deception, January 3, 2010
Contents: Gregg Braden Debunked (1 of 15) INTRO, Gregg Braden Debunked (2 of 15) The Schumann Resonances, Gregg Braden Debunked (3 of 15) Pole Shift, Gregg Braden Debunked (4 of 15) The Earth Stops Rotating, Gregg Braden Debunked (5 of 15) The Photon Belt, Gregg Braden Debunked (6 of 15) The Sun’s Magnetic Field, Gregg Braden Debunked (7 of 15) Quantum Physics , Entaglement, Bell’s inequality EPR Paradox, Gregg Braden Debunked (8 of 15) Fraudulent Footnotes, Gregg Braden Debunked (9 of 15) The Great Red Spot, Gregg Braden Debunked (10 of 15) The Maharishi Effect, Gregg Braden Debunked (11 of 15) The God Code, Gregg Braden Debunked (12 of 15) Messages from Water, Gregg Braden Debunked (13 of 15) The Global Consciousness Project, Gregg Braden Debunked (14 of 15) The Council of Nicaea, regg Braden Debunked (15 of 15) Jesus and Conclusion
Comment: I finally decided Braden was not what he claimed to be when I watched a YouTube video of one of his presentations when he had the nerve to claim Jupiter's Red Spot that represents a permanent storm or hurricane had reversed spin direction as a direct consequence of solar system changes... That lie is completely unforgivable and in another class of liedom from his Schumann Resonance claims that were also shot down in flames by many on the internet ... Thus, because he has made too many false claims over such a long period of time, I can't discount the possibility that he has repeatedly tried to mislead the public... This is the principle reason why I don't want to be associated and take exception to Tyber con-man fraud (or as one of my regulars emailed me and called him, Tyber-Saurus-non REX) dragging my name through the New Age Hall of Fame, or is that Hall of Shame...
-
Alternatives. The New Age at St James Church Piccadilly London
iawwai.com,
I first encountered the Alternatives organization in 1994 as I happened to know quite by chance the Son of one of its founders William Bloom, who at that time was a leading figure of the New Age movement in the UK. My friend would take me to their speaking venue at St James Church Piccadilly from time to time to hear the talks and also to meet some of the people involved. This was really my first introduction to the New Age at a time when I'm not sure I was even aware of the term 'New Age'.[...]
The main director of Alternatives is representative of the crassly commercial side to the New Age. He ran a workshop called 'Freeing the Spirit of Money', wrote a book called 'The Prosperity Game' and runs a semi regular series of meetings called 'The Prosperity Connection'. Now, the goal of showing people how to make money and generate wealth is a worthy one. Of course some people might see an incompatibility between worldly pursuits versus spiritual ones but this is less relevant to present discussion. However what I discovered in the course of things, was that the director in question, who seemed to possess the keys to great wealth and prosperity, was himself low income and not actually possessed of much financial resources. This was confirmed in a conversation I had with the accountant who managed the Alternatives organization's financial affairs.
It seems he started out his career as a New Age financial Guru, when he first came to Alternatives as a middle aged, unemployed man living with his Mother. From there he progressed to becoming a director of Alternatives earning a modest income and living on a council estate. Now, there is nothing wrong with being low income, of course not. However there is something a little ironic and inauthentic in a situation where a person who doesn't have very much money, is charging people good money in exchange for promising to show them how to get rich. Furthermore I learned that the said director had, at some point after coming to Alternatives, changed his surname from something perfectly respectable but ordinary sounding, into one with strong connotations of wealth, status and prestige. This highlights another aspect of the New Age which I'd frequently encounter. Sometimes the scene does very well on packaging, presentation and superficial appearances but is then completely lacking in authenticity or substance.
Comment:
After re-reading about Gregg Braden and his visit to the UK in March 2004, where he was laughed at by real scholars, I decided to check out Alternatives at St James Church that is supposed to be a haven of New Agism in the UK. Well, I found this very interesting article that explains just how the UK New Age movement has been infiltrated by unsavoury characters masquerading as spiritual folk. Since I was interviewed in December 2009 by what I have now found out is the main director at Alternatives, Steve Nobel, this article explains his obvious lack of real interest in my research and his strange almost weirdo demeanour.... At the time, James Ray had only just killed three of his followers, I was on a very steep learning curve about LGATS, cults and cult tactics, so I did not appreciate what I was dealing with... Whatever, my conclusion is that this is true pied piper land, you cannot expect anything better... If you want to understand more about the New Age nightmare, this article provides an insightful perspective...
'She's as guilty as her rapists': Fury as Indian guru blames tragic student Jyoti, 23, for the vicious gang attack which killed her
Daily Mail, 7th January 2013
* Asaram Bapu says gang rape victim is responsible for her own fate
* Spiritual leader's remarks criticised by politicians and mocked by web users
* Comes as judge orders trial of rape suspects to be held in private
* 150 people tried to cram into court room built for just 30
* Jyoti Singh Pandey died on December 29 - 13 days after horrific attack
A self-described 'spiritual guru' has sparked outrage in India after saying that the 23-year-old rape victim who died after being assaulted by six men was partly responsible for her own attack.
Asaram Bapu said that Jyoti Singh Pandey, whose fate has drawn the sympathy of the world and been treated as a national tragedy within India, was 'as guilty as her rapists'.
He added that she should have been more friendly to her attackers if she wanted to preserve her own life.
Politicians and web users have reacted with fury to the 71-year-old guru's comments.
Asaram Bapu's controversial intervention in the case comes on the day that five of Jyoti's six alleged attackers appeared in court to face charges of murder, rape and abduction.
A judge ordered that the courtroom should be closed to the public after more than 150 people tried to cram in to a room designed for around 30 during the suspects' initial hearing.
'Only five to six people are not the culprits,' Asaram Bapu said. 'The victim is as guilty as her rapists.
'She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop.'
Comment: This is another prime example of the issues I present concerning vast swathes of the cultic milieu encouraging spirituality that is full blown psychopathic. Please note the disgust here.... It is once again 'blame the victim' with teaching that suggests she "attracted" her own demise... Being attacked by a pack of wild dogs or rapists has nothing to do with being unfortunate enough to come up against the unevolved dregs of society. Conversely, these teachings imply that predatorial rapists, malignant narcissists and psychopaths are entitled to do whatever they want.... Of course, this kind of teaching is perfect for fake gurus who are busy destroying the mental defenses of their 'victim' followers...
2013 - The Aquarian Shift & Anthropocene Radiation Pt. 1
Spirit Library, 3rd January 2013
Two years after the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, a massive magnetic storm bombarded the Earth with billions of tons of charged plasma.
Your scientists and geophysicists have noted the effect. They recorded over 200 solar flares in 36 Coronal Mass ejections over a 2 week period. Eleven of these were X-Class. The Earths Aura, the magnetosphere was flattened to half its normal size, appearing something like a plasmic jellyfish.
The great magnetic storm created havoc. NASA lost track of space objects they were tracking, sophisticated computer systems crashed, oil platforms stopped drilling, global positioning systems failed, compasses failed, electrical grids shorted out leaving millions of people in Canada and North America without power. The MIR space station was abandoned.
This influx continued. The largest flare ever recorded to date took place in 2001, followed by 150 storms in 2003. More X-Class flares have taken place in the past 2 decades than at any other time in recorded history.
Unusual light phenomena began to occur. Rare red auroras were noted, auroras became visible during daylight, interesting phenomena of lightning called jellyfish, sprites and elves were reported more often than ever before.
Comment: To the people who have been following my work since I published my book in September 2006, parts of this 'message' should sound very familiar.... Well, I received an email on the 7th January from a T. Wright, informing me of the existence of an article by James Tyberonn. On perusal, this is infact a 'channeling' as it is headlined as "a message from Archangel Metatron channeled by Tyberonn." It seems that this New Ager has read my book because there are sections of this channeling that are virtually direct quotes. James Tyberonn has re-hashed information from this blog and taken near direct quotes from the first chapter of Tuning the Diamonds which is free online, but there are bits of information from the latest 2012 e-book version too. This guy is a plagiarist and a fake but in his process of creative writing, some of the info is factually wrong [according to the BBC news, the Mir
Space Station was scheduled to be abandoned in August 1999 NOT 1989, but we can't expect a 'channeler' to check the facts can we?] Some of the info is debateable because solar scientists do not agree on some of the fine detail and that is why the use of references is important. My research is original and groundbreaking. The original version of my book had five hundred references (over 750 individual sources of information) and the latest version of my book is stuffed with 1190+ references/individual sources of information. My belief was that if people wanted to argue they had to approach world experts and argue with them and not me. The likes of Tyberonn don't need to actually do proper research they just prefer to steal and tell people some 'angel' gave them a factual download... Well, I actually did some serious work and integrated information in my 'evolved' brain. My book was good enough for a copy to be given to astronaut Neil Armstrong on 3rd November 2006 and 5 copies placed in the UK National Archives in November 2007 to be preserved as National Heritage. See see my webpage
Milestones.
In reality, James Tyberonn is not the first lying fraudulent New Ager that I has tried to steal my research and pass it off as original insights. Sadly, I have had encounters with other fake mystics in the past too... James Tyberonn if you reading this now, why don't you just own up to being a &%ç*"/&% fraud? Please acquire some integrity or is that too much to ask because you are simply too much of a manipulative narcissist? A typical 'warped' New Ager with the belief that the end justifies the means.... Contact me and I will tell you what I think with expletives...
-
Selling American Indian Spirituality
is Big Business!
Manataka™ American Indian Council, 2009
My contact T. Wright sent me this link and it seems James "Tyberonn" Tipton, of Texas has been well and truly busted! There are other familiar names of New Age felons mentioned here too...
Update: I have updated my Joyfire Fraud Watch Advisory
here and created a permanent copy of Tyberfart's fake angel channelling
here.
Desolation Row: The Selling of the New Age
Ishtar's Gate, 3rd January 2013
How the New Age movement leading to an Age of Aquarius was deliberately sold to the Sixties generation by eugenicists and social engineers with links to the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergers and the Council of Foreign Relations.
Man needs his own stories and his own dreams to create his own reality. Instead, we have given away this right to others who want to weave our stories for us ~ stories that suit their own agendas. Even New Age gurus have stolen this right from us, as they pack out auditoriums and sell millions of books based merely on the one or two astral journeys they once took, years ago, with no spiritual training whatsoever, and from which, in their demiurge-like arrogance, they’ve brought back messages for the world, like Moses coming down from the mountain.
Thousands are fooled into believing that by hanging on to every word of these New Age gurus they will achieve enlightenment or ascension. Instead, these false prophets fill us with fear about global catastrophes and deadlines for ET invasions that pass uneventfully and unremarked, as by then, we are already on to the next deadline, the next Great Overhanging Fear that, like the two pillars of the Children of Israel, permeates our conscious mind during the day through “the news”, while our nights are full of terrors after being programmed with rape and violence via our flickering screens.
Not one of these New Age gurus is standing up and saying “I have no message for you other than to show the means to get your own messages, through which you will be able to live your own dreams.” That’s because, in my opinion, the whole New Age movement has been hijacked (if not originally invented) by those dream-stealing eugenicists who want to create a new world order through the ruins of the old one, which global conflagration they are also trying to cause.
[...]
The biggest delusion of the New Agers is that they so often think that their lifestyles and beliefs are an act of rebellion, and a sign that they are an independent thinker when, in fact, it is the very opposite. By buying into these bogus belief systems, their minds and their judgement is being destroyed so that they cannot hear the ankle manacle chains clanking as they’re led into a stinking prison cell on Desolation Row.
Comment: It is interesting how many people are realising they have been mis-sold.... The author Ishtar states they are not a New Age guru but then call themselves a shamanic practitioner..... In a later post, she writes: "I was a member of this MKULTRA experiment writ large. I had a fully paid-up ticket on the Magic Bus. And I've been recently trying to deprogram myself, to sort out which is their stuff, and which is my stuff." Hmmm..... Well, the impression I got was someone with some major disappointment... however, I was pleased to see that Ishtar realises that she needs to de-program herself... read my essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu (August 2011), there is going to be no real spiritual evolution for a lot of New Agers until the de-programming is done...
Spiritual people are more likely to be mentally ill (but at least they think life has more meaning)
Daily Mail, 2nd January 2013
* Researchers at University College London say spiritual believers are more likely to suffer problems such as eating conditions or an anxiety disorder
Being spiritual may give life deeper meaning, but it can also make you more susceptible to mental illness, new research suggests.
A study found that people professing to be spiritual, but not conventionally religious, were more likely to suffer from a host of mental challenges.
They suffered problems including abnormal eating conditions, drug abuse, anxiety disorder, phobias and neurosis.
They were also more likely than others to be taking medication for mental health problems.
Professor Michael King, from University College London, and his fellow researchers wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry: 'Our main finding is that people who had a spiritual understanding of life had worse mental health than those with an understanding that was neither religious nor spiritual.'
Comment: Well, for those who want to understand why so many that profess spirituality appear to be mentally ill, I suggest there is a great need to study cults, cult tactics, gurus and what is going on generally in the cultic milieu with the thirst for quickie enlightenment and the abundant use of heavy handed techniques to break people down mentally... I wrote about this in my long essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu (August 2011), an extract is provided below:
Enlightenment For Sale: Technologies of Experience
Historically, we can trace the development and widespread dispersion of mind-altering “Technologies of Experience,” that caused a “consciousness explosion” as huge numbers of people were exposed to radical therapeutic techniques. Briefly, we know that from about the 1970s onwards, experience techniques developed in the 1950s, found their way into the public arena. Social scientists had discovered that various methods can be used to push people into emotional highs, peak experiences, or supposed dramatic personal breakthroughs, whether via extreme acts of sensory deprivation or more subtle sensory manipulation. These methods could be used through words, gestures, images and intimate group dynamics and combined with Eastern practices (Zen, yoga and many forms of meditation) and psychedelics. Furthermore, the mass marketing of these techniques combined with aggressive sales techniques only served to legitimise the “quick-fix” search for enlightenment. Therefore, as these experience techniques became popular in the quickie search for enlightenment, there was real concern by some researchers that there was no real oversight, due to the largely subjective and intangible nature of the supposed benefits. Social scientists Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman in their groundbreaking book, Snapping: America’s Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change [1978, 1979, 1995, 2005], revealed that the ecstatic/illumination experience so often treasured by spiritual seekers may only be energy releases associated with the mind dealing with high stress, and when that sense of release occurs, people become wide-open to reprogramming.2 Hence, in response to a certain technique or therapy, there could be ‘enlightenment’ or conversely, a mental breakdown. Basically a form of spiritual roulette where when things go wrong, the normal response is to blame the victim. Conway and Siegelman write:
With the spread of the technology of experience into religion, therapy and wider everyday domains, millions no doubt had achieved impressive personal breakthroughs and spiritual awakenings, yet we saw little recognition of the perils inherent in the new technology and the intense experiences it evoked. These new practices that had proved beneficial in many contexts were not supernatural powers or pinpoint engineered tools but living information and communication processes that reached bedrock levels of the mind and body. When used manipulatively or covertly, they could be turned into paralysing instruments of human control. When practised recklessly or to excess, they spawned debilitating mental, emotional and physical effects.
In a consumer society, it seems that the only real criteria for consideration, was how well these techniques brought in more recruits to cult enterprises and how well they could be used by salesmen to sell or be sold in workshops, seminars and trainings. In the hands of exploiters, it was quickly realised that experience techniques were tools that could be used against people to serve their own agenda. Simply, if you can change how people think and feel, whilst weakening their resistance to suggestion and command, then you can create new followers. This means that an unscrupulous guru can use ‘honed’ experience techniques, to recruit new followers who will give them all their money and/or work for next to nothing, as long as he can keep them under his spell. A salesman using psychological tricks, hypnosis, suggestion, persuasion and influence techniques, can create willing buyers who will keep buying whatever you have to offer, if they can keep buyers convinced that they will benefit somehow. The manipulative and covert use of these techniques is defined as ‘cult tactics’.
“In SALES, they find your PAIN, and then magnify your PAIN, and then sell you services that promise to take away the pain. If those “services” increase their pain while promising to reduce it, you have a Customer For Life.”
(Think about it, if their techniques worked, and you felt great, then they lose a customer. They are punished by success, and rewarded by failure.) The Anticult 3
Various psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and other academics and researchers have identified various levels of conditioning created by these technologies of experience. Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, use the term Snapping to indicate a sudden drastic alteration of personality.2 (Literally, synaptic connections in the brain snapping off and new ones forming within seconds to create sudden change in the brain.) This altered state is the distinct aim of those seeking to gain complete control over new followers, but this is mostly disguised as being a real spiritual breakthrough.
Source: Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu (August 2011)
These days the perspective I have gained has helped me enormously understand just how serious the people issues are in the cultic milieu... Anyway, before I wrote up my
Joyfire Philosophy webpage , I would get the more than occasional email from people who I thought were mentally ill... It was even more disturbing because it appeared that just because I am interested in metaphysics the non too intelligent assumed I was on the same wavelength... Presumably, there was very little in the way of criteria being used for a prognosis... This is just some clarification about philosophy:
A definition of philosophy:
Philosophers spend their days contemplating the world. While not strictly a science in itself, philosophers are concerned with uncovering the deepest truths about reality. The pursuit underpins knowledge and logical thought-- this makes up an essential component of the scientific method.
There are four major strands of philosophy: 'epistemology' is concerned with the growth of knowledge -- what it is, and how it is acquired and processed; 'ethics' is about resolving moral dilemmas -- scientific research dealing with the creation of life, such as synthetic biology is increasingly being guided by ethical considerations; 'logic' determines our processes of reasoning and deduction; while finally 'metaphysics' examines questions of reality that lie outside the realm of what is testable by science -- for example, is there a God? The word 'philosophy' comes from the Greek language and means 'love of wisdom'.
Source: Paul Parsons, Science 1001, Quercus Science
For those who still don't get it, the cultic milieu is an environment that resembles shark infested waters and the mental health of seekers is of no consequence to those looking for a cult following...
What Have We Learned From December 21, 2012?
Humberto Braga Blog, 22nd December 2012
From the perspective of being the manager at a spiritual bookstore witnessing the New Age 2012 craze at ground zero in West Los Angeles, I feel it incumbent to take the opportunity to lay out some observations regarding this period in time because all too often, I meet people like this:
Hello and Namasté dear New Agers,
Well… Here we are.
Dec 21st, 2012 has come and gone.
Are you “enlightened” yet?
Was there a “global awakening”?
Are you still in a human suit, marooned in Monkey Land, where governments kill, steal, and oppress? Where cultures distract and ensnare you with lies and myths to coerce your obedience through empty promises, convolution, illusory Left/Right paradigms, and fear?
Yep.
So, do you realize what it means?
It means these MANY YEARS of flashy “You Create Your Own Reality” and New Age marketing leading up to the “Awakening/ Ascension of 2012? was a MANUFACTURED LIE. The planets were never going to “align” and there was never going to be a worldwide global enlightenment on Dec 21, 2012. [...]
Just like Santa Claus, Religion, Nationalism, the Return of Jesus, and the “savior” Obama, it was just another disappointment in a laundry list of false saviors that promised to give you everything you were brainwashed to crave.
It’s about time you faced the objective facts, dear. Your mind has contracted yet another STD (Socially Transmitted Delusion)- 2012.
Who gave it to you? Daniel Pinchbeck? Gregg Braden? Richard Hoagland? David Wilcock? José Argüelles? John Major Jenkins? Drunvalo Melchizedek? Doreen Virtue? Barbara Hand Clow? Giorgio Tsoukalos (the big haired guy from the spurious show “Ancient Aliens“)? Lawrence Joseph? Terence McKenna? Or was it that emotional orgy of unquestioned wishful belief, pseudoscientific word salad, and a lot of partying at Burning Man & Lightning in a Bottle? [...]
After your latest binge of cultural intoxication to avoid anything “negative” that “lowers your frequency”, you’re perhaps still clinging to the “Insta-Enlightenment” afterglow, trying to save face by stringing along further speculation with lies and logical fallacies. You may be trying to defend the years of delusional nonsense that your worldview revolved around with vague Deepak Chopra-esque “quantum” terminology and New Age pseudospiritual “feel-good” over-generalizations that allow you to avoid the cognitive dissonance which comes from your subjective illusions falling to the inevitable confrontation with objective reality.
Comment: I picked this up at SOTT.net.... This is essential reading. Humberto Braga sums up the 2012 New Age delusion and names BIG NAMES in the New Age Milieu and castigates them for giving people another mind STD (Socially Transmitted Delusion) - 2012. (This is another expression for a mind virus, but far more provocative.... see my book review
Virus of the Mind.) In my opinion, this is not harsh, this assessment is fairly accurate... Meanwhile, real modern Mayan Elders with useful information were ignored and the real phenomenon of Space Weather was ignored. Presumably, there is little understanding amongst the BIG NAMES that we exist in a physical and spiritual universe that can be better understood by intelligent and educated people with some real knowledge...
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2012 – Collective Awakening or End of the World?
Piercing the Veil of Reality, 22nd July 2012
Bernhard Guenther has a good rant about the New Age movement in this article too and explains the origins of techno-spirituality that I also explained in my long essay Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu (August 2011). It seems that Guenther has also reached a deep understanding of some of the major issues facing humanity like the normalisation of psychopathy and most certainly, the New Age movement as a whole is part of the problem and not part of the solution. Since my own shock awakening to the existence of malignant narcissists and psychopaths, now seen by me as littering the cultic milieu as badly disguised angels of light, I have wondered who else out there has noticed the existence of the death angels and who even cares. Well, it does seem there are a few carers who are prepared to point out the dangers for genuine seekers and have drawn swords to fight back...
JZ Knight Self Destructs....[VIDEO]
Supporter sets a new low for Washington Democrats
Thurston Opinions, 18th October 2012
(Thurston County, WA) A video released today shows JZ Knight spewing incredibly foul discriminatory hate speech, and setting a new moral low for the WA State Democrat Party.
JZ Knight is one of the largest contributors to the Washington State Democrats [link]. She has given $50,000 under the name Judy Knight, President of JZK, Inc. She is also the largest individual contributor to Sandra Romero's (D) campaign for Thurston County Commissioner. She has given Romero $1,800 under the name JZ Knight and has given another $1,800 recorded as the Ramtha School of Enlightenment for a total contribution of $3,600.
With large contributions like that, JZ Knight certainly has been invited to the most exclusive events put on by the Democrats, and presumably, has even bought her access to visits from President Obama. [...]
I think most Democrats believe that they are the party of tolerance, civility, and diversity. JZ Knight is taking the party in a completely different direction. This video shows her denouncing the catholics, jews and homosexuals all in one "sermon". Her profanity, obscene gestures and venom is absolutely unsettling.
Comment: O.K. I really don't have time to give the run down on the worse exploiters in the New Age milieu, i.e. the New Wage stars (that I know about and especially those with ambitions to become billionaires with a big drink problem), but this video of JZ Knight is incredible... Quite frankly, I think many true God-fearing Christians would be terrified of what this person is displaying, but since I have researched cults, the guru culture and this character, I would say that she was drunk in these video clips... Actually, I still hope to see the definitive video of this woman drunk, whilst so-called channelling, being sick and having to be carried off stage in front of her followers.... Whatever, I can't for the life of me understand why she has any followers, the stories from her ex-devotees including
documentary info) are truly shocking and the conclusion from many is that she is a fraud... Btw, the warning about the offensive language is too mild, this is beyond offensive. JZ Knight is spewing sheer venom and hatred. This video has caused quite a local political storm...
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Video tries to link Romero, JZ Knight tirade on church
Online: State GOP leader calls rant ‘homophobic, vulgar’
The Olympian, 24th October 2012
"[...] The state Democratic Party says it does not condone the profane comments that the Yelm-based spiritual leader made in a videotaped talk this year, but the party will not return an estimated $60,000 that Knight gave it. [...]
“This video that was recently posted online is nothing short of repulsive. JZ Knight is an intolerant bigot and Sandra Romero is either ignorant of her views or shares them,” Wilbur said in his news release. “Which is it, Sandra? I am personally disgusted by the sickening things uttered by Knight on the tape. She is anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, homophobic, vulgar and profane.”
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Bigoted Cult Leader Part of Obama Steering Committee [Photos]
Victoria Taft, 29th October 2012
By now you may have seen the story of demon "channeler" JZ Knight whose cult head quarters are located in rural Thurston County, Washington. Knight has given thousands of dollars to Democrat candidates, from the President all the way down to a Thurston County Commissioner. Now Knight claims she is on the President's Re election steering committee. Until recently, the teachings of this cult leader have largely gone unexamined, but former cult members are now coming forward with tapes of their former spirit guide and it turns out, homegirl's got some issues.
A bigoted 'leading light' in the New Wage milieu, may I add...
Mass suicide fears as more than 100 members of Brazilian doomsday cult barricade themselves inside a house awaiting 'end of the world' TODAY
Daily Mail, 12th October 2012
Comment: So, is this the start of the 'End of the World' 2012 paranoia? I am wondering how bad things will get.....
Osel Hita Torres - The reluctant lama
BBC News, 28th September 2012
A Spanish toddler identified as the reincarnation of a revered Buddhist lama spent his entire childhood in an Indian monastery. But at the age of 18 he returned to his family in Spain. Still hailed as a teacher, he is more comfortable on the beaches of Ibiza.
When he was two, Osel Hita Torres was enthroned as a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist lama.
He was dressed in robes and a yellow hat. Grown men prostrated themselves in front of him and asked for his blessing.
Comment: There is another example of a teenager refusing to be a Holy man in the archives. It seems that some don't think being worshipped is that great, maybe it's not the kind of energy that they want or need...
Thieves Target 'Psychedelic Tea' Death Family
A thief and a con artist make off with money raised in memory of a teenager who died after drinking hallucinogenic tea in Peru.
Sky News, 23rd September 2012
Kyle Nolan, 18, died after drinking extracts of a psychedelic plant called ayahuasca during a ritual in the Madre de Dios jungle region of Peru. [...]
Nolan, from northern California, went on a spiritual retreat in the Amazon rainforest about 530 miles east of Lima on August 17.
He was later reported missing and his mother travelled to Peru to appeal for information after police failed to find him.
Shaman Jose Manuel Pineda Vargas, 58, later admitted trying to cover up his death by burying him in the grounds of his retreat. He was arrested with two other men.
Comment: Even though this story appears current, it has been floating around the news media for nearly a year. Hence, there is already a lot of comment in the blogosphere from people who hate New Age
"drug tourism and phony shamanism". The Rick Ross Cult Education Forum has an article collection in the thread
Recovering from New Age Mumbo Jumbo & also provides details of the long list of ayahuasca contraindications that can also lead to death.
Is America The Most Materialistic Society In The History Of The World?
The Economic Collapse, 19th September 2012
When it comes to materialism, has any nation ever surpassed what we are seeing in the United States right now? We define our lives by how much stuff we have, to a large degree our personal and business relationships are defined by how much money we make, and even most of the important dates on our calendar are all about materialism. Just think about it. We throw outrageous birthday parties for our kids and we shower them with gifts. Most of our "holidays" have become highly materialistic, and the biggest holiday of all in our society, Christmas, is an absolute orgy of materialism. We make lists of the "wealthiest Americans" and we glorify their achievements. We spend most of our time either making money or spending it. Even the phrase "the American Dream" reveals how materialistic we are.
Comment: This article reminds me of an invitation where I was asked by an American: Do you want to be rich like us? I felt I had been transported into Tolkien's Middle Earth and I had just had an encounter with Gollum.... I was so creeped out, I ran away fast and never looked back... Now, I realise that malignant narcissists only see you as a cardboard cut-out and a means to an end, I am not so offended, but it means that I know what I am dealing with and materialism is not the half of it.... Anyway, I was interested to find an article about someone who lived and breathed Oprahism for year. Robyn Okrant devoted a year to following Big Time New Age pusher Oprah's advice and wrote a book about her experience. In the Globe & Mail article, 25th February 2010,
A year of living Oprah is no life at all. Oknant states:
"The biggest conflict for me is where spirituality and consumerism converge on her show. [....]
This whole project was about living your "best life." But by the end of the year, you write, "I haven't felt this much pressure to look and act a certain way since high school." What specifically triggered those feelings?
There are some who refuse to forgive Oprah for promoting James Ray (despite warnings he was dangerous) who then proceeded with his new found fame to go on kill four people. Now she is promoting Tony Robbins, who blatantly uses cult tactics. His LGAT exercise of "Emotional Flooding" is a classic example... Due to the nature of the deceit, most people have no idea what some will do to turn them into blind followers, but in general, narcissism and consumerism is an intoxicating brew...
Three-year old revered as healer
Phnompenh Post, 14th September 2012
Ray Rong, 3, blesses bottles of water in Svay Chrum village, Prey Veng province. Hundreds of people come to see the child and get the water every day, believing it can heal their illnesses. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post
Even before dawn, a few hundred people have gathered to sit in line, reminiscent of the queues of waiting patients which snakes outside the grounds of the Kantha Bopha Hospital during pandemics.
They have travelled from different cities and provinces to get a chance to be healed by Ray Rong, a resident of Prey Veng’s Svay Chrum village. Rong is known far and wide as one of the best healers in the area, and the blessing water and herbal medicines he gives to patients are claimed to defeat a hundred different kinds of diseases. Many other traditional healers proffer the same goods, but there’s one important difference: Rong is only three years old.
Comment: I am wondering if the placebo affect is in overdrive here, but in this energy, anything can happen....
Dalai Lama tells his Facebook friends that religion "is no longer adequate"
io9 News, 12th September 2012
This past Monday, people who have the Dalai Lama as a Facebook friend found this little gem in their newsfeed.
"All the world's major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether."
[...] It's important to remember that Tibetan Buddhists, while rejecting belief in God and the soul, still cling to various metaphysical beliefs, including karma, infinite rebirths, and reincarnation. But interestingly, the Dalai Lama once had this to say on the subject:
"My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims."
Comment: Wow.... someone who wants ethics (something that used to be associated with spirituality) to move on from religion... Well, I want the cultic milieu in general to move from the second hand psychopathy and narcissism that so many have been duped into believing has something to do with spirituality. Yes I am talking about the crap called "The Law of Attraction" and the rest... For those who don't understand, the psychopathy and narcissism behind the mentality, "the end justifies the means", is the hallmark of those deeply ingrained in the cultishness that passes for spirtuality and explains why so many have no ethics and integrity and hence think nothing of lying and being fraudulent. This is a major problem that I have come across and no doubt the Dalai Lama has been forced to work this out due to the sheer numbers of people pretending to be spiritual, but are in fact psychopathic in their mentality and traits. My problem now is finding people who even see there is a problem and have enough power and interest to do something.
Steven Hassan's new book -- critical review by psychologist
Cult Education Forum, 29th August 2012
Steven Hassan’s latest book, Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs, just released in summer, 2012, is the latest in what can be seen as a trilogy of sorts, starting with Combatting Mind Control in 1988 and then Releasing the Bonds in 2000. A large portion of the material in his latest book is a verbatim repetition of material from Releasing the Bonds. In his most recent book, Hassan reports that his sister was the impetus to changing his “approach” in interaction away from interventions, an activity that Hassan has been involved in for over 30 years. In the preface to this book, Hassan repeats the story of his introduction to and his exit from the Unification Church (Moonies) and how that exit helped him find his life work of education and liberation from “mind control cults”.
However, it is notable that in this third book, Hassan has greatly expanded his target audience due to what he says is cult activity “increasing exponentially,” and the “rise of the Internet”. Since Hassan maintains a substantial Internet presence through his Web site, www.freedomofmind.com, it could be argued that he has increased public sensitivity to cults, thereby magnifying the importance of his solutions, as well as providing a forum where he can extensively promote his own theories and agenda. [...]
Cathleen A. Mann has a doctorate in psychology and has been a licensed counselor in the state of Colorado since 1994. Dr. Mann has done research regarding cult formation and the recruiting and retention practices of high demand groups. She has been court qualified as an expert in 7 states.
Comment: I am interested because Hassan's BITE model (old version) is quoted in my essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu. Quite frankly, I am impressed that a professional (Cathleen Mann), has bothered to take a self-styled expert (cult member ex-interventionist) to task and point out the need for some professionalism. Well, despite Hassan's obvious desperation to promote himself, I think the need for de-programming people in the Cultic Milieu in general is acute... My beliefs are based on over one thousand hours of research and much heartache... So, now that I have worked out more or less what is going on, I now realise why I have had such difficult dealings with people I have met in the Cultic Milieu. There are too many with strong narcisstic streaks and personality disorders, hence it has been quite a shock to discover the truth of what exactly I have been dealing with...
Cult Induction: Hypnotic Communication Patterns in Contemporary Cults
Ericksonian Psychotherapy, Ed. By Jeffrey Zeig (Mazel, New York) 1985
By Hillel Zeitlin
"Cults have been a part of every society, representing alternative lifestyles, ideologies, faiths, and social forms. As such they traditionally have served a social function of being reformers and change agents (Appel, 1983). Usually they have begun as fringe elements that eventually are either incorporated into the broader society or die out. Modern cults are distinguished from many of their historical predecessors by a near universal emphasis on consciousness and consciousness-altering practices. This emphasis, as well as deceitful and antisocial actions in the recruitment and maintenance of members, has generated much controversy."
Comment: I think this is an extract from a book, but if it is just an article, it is still one of the best I have read on this subject.
The Power of Negative Thinking
The New York Times, 4th August 2012
[...] Consider the technique of positive visualization, a staple not only of Robbins-style seminars but also of corporate team-building retreats and business best sellers. According to research by the psychologist Gabriele Oettingen and her colleagues, visualizing a successful outcome, under certain conditions, can make people less likely to achieve it. She rendered her experimental participants dehydrated, then asked some of them to picture a refreshing glass of water. The water-visualizers experienced a marked decline in energy levels, compared with those participants who engaged in negative or neutral fantasies. Imagining their goal seemed to deprive the water-visualizers of their get-up-and-go, as if they'd already achieved their objective.
Or take affirmations, those cheery slogans intended to lift the user's mood by repeating them: "I am a lovable person!" "My life is filled with joy!" Psychologists at the University of Waterloo concluded that such statements make people with low self-esteem feel worse - not least because telling yourself you're lovable is liable to provoke the grouchy internal counterargument that, really, you're not.
Comment: The problem is that dumbies think that ignoring the facts and thinking positively is the key to success... This has created hoardes of people who refuse to engage brain who replace thinking with learning some stupid New Age homily that they repeat like robots, as they think this will make them seem wise. The concept of positive and negative thinking is being stuck in a duality 'unevolved' mindset, deciphering reality and dealing with complexity is the capability of more highly evolved minds.
I Was One of America's Top Psychics -- And Like All of Them, a Complete Fraud
An excerpt from Mark Edward's new book, "Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium."
Alternet News, 3rd August 2012
[...] Twenty-five years of working the psychic streets has taught me many truths, for better or worse. Sure, I have a pile of testimonial letters. Yes, I can see the future, given the right perspective and information, and of course I can read the paw of your pet poodle. I may indeed have a great gift, but it's the gift of gab mixed with a healthy dose of imagination and nerve that has allowed me to be a psychic professionally and to now write about it. [...]
"I teach a special seminar on corporate intuition, which is very popular." True again. I had performed a lecture combined with an ESP demonstration at several business meetings for Toyota, IBM, and Southern California Edison over the years. It was never intended for shut-eyes or as a religious experience, but I could ante up the bullshit factor for the New Age crowd with only a few minor adjustments. "I also have a lecture on how to develop clairvoyance," I added. This was basically the same lecture as my intuition seminar, just less corporate and more New Agey. Back then you couldn't go into Toyota and tell them you would teach their employees how to become clairvoyant, though nowadays it just might fly. [Wow....]
Comment: The 'purple' end of the cultic milieu... These days my synaesthesia has become acute and I trust my abilities to smell the horrible energy fields of the fakes and then run like hell away... Sometimes, there is no choice, as some come with energy fields that make me feel physically sick.... What, I have found interesting is how many of these types are oblivious to the fact that more evolved humans actually exist on the planet... However, I will admit some I have come across folk who are deluded and their modus operandi is truth mixed with fantasy/fantastic lies. This means that they are difficult to describe as complete fakes and take a little longer to suss out....
+3 Open Wounds
Salty Droid, 2nd August 2012
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Plus three years ago :: I didn’t find out about the death of Colleen Conaway until it was too late to stop the deaths of James Shore … Liz Neuman … and Kirby Brown. It hurts to think about how different things might have been if I’d have noticed sooner … if I’d have seen Jason Moffatt’s friend Greg Hartle’s tweet about the end of Colleen … or if someone would have whispered to me about Death Ray’s silencing of Andy Grant’s attempt to talk about his trauma at watching Colleen die while himself struggling with the demon of suicide.
Me now is different than me then :: so much stronger :: better connected :: better informed … me hopes I’d hear about this now … right? Before it was too late … right?
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Comment: It's the Salty Droid (aka Jason Jones) so a profanity warning is in place.... This blog entry is about keeping the memory and circumstances and deaths of Colleen Conaway, James Shore, Liz Neuman and Kirby Brown alive. Spiritual seekers who were conned out of their lives... I listened to the conversation with Colleen’s sister Lynn Graham about the passing of Colleen (MP3) and I was struck by the comment concerning good people following the wrong people. Quite frankly, Lynn Graham has hit the nail on the head.... I have come across some extremely nasty characters claiming to be spiritual, but I grew up in an environment where it was well known that there were wolves in sheep's clothing and good examples to scoff at. Nevertheless, that did not stop my own experience when I was a student at university, where I was severely traumatised. It took me over 25 years to find out how I was compromised and I now know that certain methods of breaking people down are commonplace in the cultic milieu, (I was in an evangelical church and cult tactics were used on me by the church pastor...). Despite all my research, I still worry about whether those using cult tactics are just plain evil or not. I suppose the truth is that when there is a need for control, what often appears is the velvet covered iron fist and despite appearances, ruthless predator types know - at some level - what they are doing.... So, Salty may have a foul mouth, but his heart is good. He is special because there are not so many fighters out there... I don't know where Salty is on the evolutionary scale but he is operating with a crime fighter archetype, it is most interesting to watch and anyone brave enough to deal with the nastiest 'reds' out there [Spiral Dynamics], especially the worse examples in the metaphysical community, is of great interest to me.
Who Killed Colleen Conaway?
16th October 2009
2012 - Collective Awakening or End of the World?
SOTT.net, 25th July 2012
We're half way through 2012. Many prophecies have hinted at this time as The Shift of the Ages and The Time of Transition. If you take a look at the shelves of any spiritual/new age bookstore, you'll see dozens of books with 2012 in the title. It certainly has become a good marketing bit. There are many theories of what 2012 is supposedly all about. From the end of the world to global mass enlightenment. [...]
've said before that I didn't "like" to find out the more disturbing aspects of our reality. My rose colored glasses were shattered in the face of a cold harsh reality where most people dream of being awake but are asleep. Waking up and seeking truth entails facing the lies we tell ourselves through sincere self-work and networking. For some time I was also blinded with wishful thinking, assuming that everyone who is seeking truth would do so sincerely, without an agenda, and be willing to look into certain topics more critically, neither with "blind belief" or "cynical debunking", even if these subjects contradicted what they'd found out so far.
Comment: This article does have some very good quotes, but it is not really about 2012. It starts off by trashing some prominent New Agers who have done a lot to promote their ideas about 2012 and then it goes on to wail about the general state of New Age Movement and the Cultic Milieu, with a big swipe at the druggies, sorry neo-shamans. I agree with most of this article, especially concerning the overview of the New Age/Cultic Milieu mindset as it complements my essay,
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu, where I use the term 'The Orwellian New Age' which just about summarises how bad things are.... Yet, the lack of critical thinking about 2012 must be causing severe embarrassment in some quarters, as the impact of Space Weather accelerates and becomes more and evident and pronounced... Seriously, the failure to engage brain and link space weather with the claims of modern Mayan Elders is simply awful... Whatever, I don't like the Trojan Horse/Sinister Barrier emphasis, but I respect the fact that there has been historical 'chatter' amongst esoterics concerning a negative influence on humanity. As far as I am concerned, the article fails to add the perspective that a shadow biosphere exists on this planet, see previous comments 'ad infinitum'. The evidence is that plasma entities exist that do not care about us humans, we are not the centre of their focus, but I am not denying that some interactions occur.... Some of these orbs (first called foo fighters) seem to like 'tagging' airplanes and these days, some like trailing after the space shuttle, but ufologists and esoterists prefer to ignore this 'playful' or 'critter' behaviour and are desperate to frighten people into their way of thinking, i.e. humans are being preyed upon etc. Quite frankly, the right perspective is to compare humans vs the animal kingdom; there are are a lot of animals that would have a human for breakfast if they could... I did not like the final long quote in this essay that I think lowers the overall quality of the content, too much metaphysical twaddle. But, this is an interesting essay and as I have stated, I agree with a lot of the sentiment. However, the author talks about 'truth' and people spreading disinformation, but I think Guenther can be accused of the exact same thing by throwing out names and ideas but not supporting his claims. There is no explanation for how people can come to their own truth and no mention that his viewpoint is an assessment based on information that he has processed that might change with time and more information. For such a long essay, Guenther does not seem to have any interest in quoting scientists and social scientists on their primary studies, who have spent many decades researching and can give some fresh new insights into the UFO phenomenon and what is going on in the Cultic Milieu. Whatever you may think, real science is a search for truth and there are some real truth seekers amongst scientists that can provide us with some tremendous insights, where the most useful insights tend to come from the heretics..... I think it is appropriate to add a reminder that lies often come packaged with a lot of truth, like a poison pill coated with sugar. Therefore if you need a reminder: stay vigilant!
San Jose: 21 people treated for burns after firewalk at Tony Robbins appearance
Mercury News, 21st July 2012
SAN JOSE -- Amid inspirational talk, chanted mantras and shouts of victory at a late-night firewalking event attended by thousands Thursday came agonized shrieks from followers whose soles were scorched by the superheated coals, witnesses said.
At least 21 people were treated for burn injuries after taking part in the crowning event of the first day of a Tony Robbins function downtown, including at least three who went to the hospital, a San Jose fire captain said.
The people who suffered various second- and third-degree burn injuries were among more than 6,000 who attended the motivational speaker's event at the San Jose Convention Center called "Unleash the Power Within."
Comment: Tony Robbins is a high pressure 'New Wage' salesman. James Ray who is now serving time, copied Robbins right down to his mannerisms, but JR went too far and killed people, Robbins is too clever to actually kill some of his followers. Whatever, Robbins should be avoided due to his ability to liberate huge amounts of money from the richest in his army of naive 'enlightenment now'/'get rich quick' followers. He is a master of manipulation using highly honed 'covert tech' as has been explained elsewhere on the internet. Robbins has been around for a long time and continues to draw in the gullible. Those who don't have a lot of money will be entertained and those with the cash will be fleeced, that seems to be how it works.
A Self-Improvement Quest That Led to Burned Feet
New York Times, 22nd July 2012
"Participants said they paid between $600 and $2,000 to attend the seminar. [...] In the hallways, participants were invited to further their self-improvement with CDs and DVDs, including “Total Commitment Package” for $647 and “Love & Passion: The Ultimate Relationship Program” for $249.
Footprints on the Fire
Salty Droid, 25th July 2012
Of course, the Salty Droid (aka Jason Jones) has something to say plus the folks on the forum, but a profanity warning is in play....
Vaughan Bell: hypnosis is no laughing matter
Long derided as a tool of quacks and comedians, the science of suggestibility is enjoying a revival as a clinical tool
The Observer, 22nd July 2012
Hypnosis is the eccentric uncle of cognitive science. It was once part of the mainstream – studied by scientists and clinicians alike in its 1960s heyday – but it slowly fell into disrepute as it was picked up and popularised by tacky stage hypnotists and quack practitioners in the following decades.
In recent years, hypnosis has seen something of a rebirth, and neuroscience studies using the technique are now regularly published in some of the most respected scientific journals. Curiously, though, it hasn't shaken off the stigma entirely.
Comment: Presumably, hypnosis became stigmatised in the 1960s when social scientists found out in the 1950s how hypnosis can be used to control prisoners of war and people in cults (prisoners of a spiritual war). Today, hypnosis can be used amongst an array of techniques that are usually called 'cult tactics', see my essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu for more details. I believe I fell into a hypnotic trance on one occasion, but I knew it was happening as my vision narrowed considerable. It was an extremely weird experience and I don't know whether it was done deliberately or by accident, but at least I knew because I was able to pop in and out of this state (maybe another part of my consciousness kicked in), as I was aware of some funny stares.... These days, I know when people are using covert tech, but this has taken me many years of study so I can make a decent analysis of people I come across. Whatever, even if you have studied what to watch out for, some people are very slick so vigilance is required.
Samantha Brick: The cult that tried to take over my life
It started with a massage — but soon she was paying thousands to a sect that preyed on the lonely. Years later, she still fears they’re watching her
Daily Mail, 18th July 2012
This unsettling experience came flooding back to me when I read about claims that Tom Cruise’s devotion to Scientology had contributed to the marriage break-up with his wife Katie Holmes. Sadly, I know what it’s like to be in the control of a cult.
I became a follower of Sathya Sai Baba — an Indian guru and mystic, who died last year — for 12 months, during which time I spent close to £10,000 on various ‘services’.
Comment: This story reveals a standard cult experience and follows the 7 Fundamental Principles used by the Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT)/Cult business model as follows:
1. A Purpose: Provide initial sales pitch, where a Big Claim is made.
2. A Group: Lure and love-bomb victims into the group/sect or set-up, using local meetings and/or conference calls, as the start of Social Influence.
3. A Vision: Identify some kind of “hook” through life meanings to maintain motivation and control of victims.
4. A Mentor: Start the focus on the Guru as 'leader' in the victims' minds.
5. A Practice: Provide an indoctrination process that uses cult tactics or 'covert tech' inserted inside the Practice
6. A Coach: Upsell to a system of more personal indoctrination and sales, costing $100 hr of course.
7. A Retreat: Provide a way for victims to get even more deeply involved in a controlled cult or LGAT seminar environment for a weekend, or longer events that are weeks long at a hotel or some other venue.
All of these principles have to be in operation before accusations can be made about any activity being a LGAT or a cult. Btw, as the end of this article advises, there seems to be no connection between this UK cult and Sathya Sai Baba and it just seems like some average New Wage fraudsters preying on the ignorant and vulnerable.
'Beatings', sniper nests and a punishment block called 'The Hole': Inside Scientology's strict Sea Org which Suri Cruise faced joining – and which drove her parents apart
Daily Mail, 3rd July 2012
These pictures reveal the headquarters of Scientology's higher order where members pledge their allegiance for one billion years - and which may have cost Tom Cruise his marriage.
The prospect of sending six-year-old Suri to the Sea Organisation, or Sea Org as it is known, is what is said to have been the final straw for Katie Holmes before she filed for divorce.
The clergy like group is run like a military clique from the Scientology Gold Base in California which has a sniper-style nest bunker on the site.
Comment: According to social scientists (recommended book about cults,
Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change [1978, 1979, 1995, 2005] by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman), it takes 12 years on average to recover (de-program) from Scientology, a cult that some experts consider to be the most mind controlling on the planet.
A Special Message for the New Age Prophets
Cosmic Convergence, 23rd June 2012
[...] Look at the place – closely – without the filter of your entitlement complex and consumerist values and Westerner outlook. Strip away your many layers of American acculturation, academic brainwashing and religious imprinting. Only when you let go of the inordinate love of money, the stuff that it buys and the conditioned need to be ceaselessly pampered and incessantly gratified, will your vision be clear enough to see the sobering mundane realities which surround us all.
Comment: I am pleased to see that I am not the only obnoxious dissenter around... LOL I don't have time to do a proper review...
Dr. David R. Hawkins Mystic and Spirituality Consciousness
Solitary Purdah, 17th June 2012
Dr. Hawkins points out that the two greatest spiritual growth barriers seem to be at level 200 and 500. Two hundred, the level of courage, represents a profound shift from destructive and harmful behavior to life-promoting and integrous lifestyles; everything below 200 makes one go weak using kinesiology.
Currently, approximately 78% of the world’s population is below this significant level. The destructive capacity of this majority would annihilate mankind without the counterbalancing effect of the 22% above 200. Because the scale of consciousness is logarithmic, each incremental point represents a giant leap in power. As such, one person calibrated at 600 counterbalances the negativity of 10 million people below 200.
Comment: The best thing about this article is the link with the preface, "A less than flattering account of this approach provided in
David Hawkins' absolute calibration of truth, needs to be read in its entirety." The Rick Ross Cult Education Forum has details of some good detective work too.... Dr. (Diploma Mill Ph.D.) Hawkins and funny Knighthood is a fake and I removed his information from the latest (e-book) copy of my book
Tuning the Diamonds.... I was stupid because I believed that he was credible (published by Hay House.... oh what a fool I was to believe that was relevant....) I quite liked the concept of his
Map of Consciousness but I did not check up on the existence of published papers... The only saving grace is that his imaginary research was most likely based on the work of others, but again, we are not talking peered reviewed research... Well, after finding out about his big time narcissist grandiosity and almost Walty Mitty characteristics, I felt very very duped.... My only excuse was that back in 2005 & 2006, I did not realise just how pervasive lying frauds are in the Cultic Milieu.... now I know better.... Btw, the author of the linked article questions whether Hawkins "is a pathological narcissist who has lost touch with reality and become completely intolerant of criticism." Well, let's put it like this; these kind of people congregate in the Cultic Milieu because of the lack of objectivity which allows these people to run amok amongst the gullible.... This is an interesting comment:
"But surely there are more people in the New Age and New Consciousness movements who are scientifically literate enough to reject Hawkins' contrived calibration? How come so many seem to be silent in this debate?"
As I have now realised, the New Age and New Consciousness movements is generally in the business of hogwash.... truth does not have much to do with anything...b#ll#cks sells very well.... Even when millions of lives are at risk, the New Age and New Consciousness movements does not care at all... Consciousness is being delivered to the planet BIG-TIME and the so-called 'enlightened' are clueless.... Why do I say this? Because the evidence is overwhelming that the Cultic Milieu is an incubator for cults and victims are manipulated so that they devolve rather than evolve... Brains are fried by various means and then the mini-mes re taught to repeat like damn robots.... if you are free of the brainwashing, you cannot fail to notice the automatic responses from people who cannot empathise and cannot think....
Unbelieving preachers get help to 'come out' as open atheists
CNN Blogs, 13th June 2012
Jerry DeWitt entered the ministry when he was 17, launching a 25-year career as a Pentecostal preacher. He traveled all around his home state of Louisiana, preaching and ministering wherever he could.
All these years later, DeWitt, 42, is still on the road, and now takes his message all over the United States. But the nature of that message, along with his audience, has changed dramatically.
DeWitt is now an avowed atheist, and his audiences are made up of religious “nones,” the growing number of Americans who are atheist, agnostic, humanist or just plain disinterested in identifying with a religion. Today, DeWitt preaches a gospel of disbelief.
Comment: Well, on a personal note, I can understand why some people would struggle to 'believe' once certain information becomes quite clear and they decide they don't know what to believe anymore and then reject everything. When I was in the exact same position, what I decided to do was to put certain information in my mind on a mental shelf of "I don't know" because I did not want to reject the information or my knowledge. Over the years in my search for truth, things would get moved around in my mind from the mental shelf of "I don't know" to "I understand what this means on a higher level". In terms of religion and Christianity, I understand this to be a man-made religion devised by astronomer-priests trying to teach generally uneducated people some basic concepts that they can understand. Today, people are much more educated, so if religion and Christianity is to become more relevant again, then there is a need to have a major overhaul. However, if you study the lives of Christian mystics and that goes for other major religions too, these people still managed to acquire genuine high level relationship with the divine. I am not an atheist, but I think my understanding of reality and a divine universe is more sophisticated than average due to my personal experiences and my studies and so I can understand that becoming an atheist would not necessarily be a satisfactory option for many people. Going back to how religions started off in the first place with the worship of the heavens, a modern day appreciation of a divine universe seems to me to be another way of obtaining some kind of new foundation but there is a need for some major education to stop the pitfalls of false teachers wanting to become your God, that is so obviously prevalent in the Cultic Milieu. People also need to understand that religion has generally been in the business of controlling human development and keeping people under some kind of easy control. Thus there are strict instructions on how to maintain some kind of relationship with God, an approach not taken by serious mystics.... I think the reason why intelligent people believe in a divine universe and God is simply because they have developed a very sophisticated understanding of reality, but this is not so easy to convey to people who are not so interested in the philosophical aspects of a whole range of scientific studies that even includes mathematics and sacred geometry. This is the discussion over at ATS
Unbelieving preachers get help to 'come out' as open atheists.
Nithyananda surrenders in court, arrested
Deccan Herald, 13th June 2012
Self-styled godman Nithyananda - who had been on the run for the last four days after a fresh controversy erupted - surrendered before the Ramanagara district court on Wednesday.
However, judicial magistrate Komala did not entertain his surrender plea due to certain shortcomings in the application. No sooner did Nithyananda come out of the court premises than the Ramanagara police arrested him. [...]
The news of Nithyananda appearing at the court spread in Ramanagara town like wildfire and soon a large number of people gathered there.
The crowd wanted the godman to be handed over to them for ‘instant justice.’
Comment: The Hindu 'holy man' Nithyananda Swami, with thousands of followers across India is grabbing lots of headlines again. He first came to international attention back in 2010 after he was caught 'frolicking' with a famous actress called Ranjitha, after a major 'sting' operation conducted by journalists. Now, he is in serious trouble again and there are lots of new headlines which imply that his antics are creating gripping media coverage...
Clashes rock Nithyananda ashram
Deccan Herald, 8th June 2012
Godman Nithyananda is in trouble again
Deccan Herald, 11th June 2012
There are more stories and developments here....
Mysterious desert yoga retreat where they'd pledged not to speak for three years ends in grisly death of love rival who married head monk's secret wife
Daily Mail, 7th June 2012
* Ian Thorson died from exposure after fleeing Buddhist retreat with his wife
* Ordered out of the retreat after revealing she had stabbed him 'by mistake'
* Thorson was the love rival of Michael Roach, a divisive Princeton-educated monk who ran the retreat
* Roach had been secretly married to Thorson's wife
A man who was part of a mysterious yoga retreat - likened to a cult - has been found dead in the mountains in Bowie, Arizona after fleeing the sect with his wife and succumbing to exposure.
The grisly death is just the latest twist in a story that involves a Princeton-educated monk, his forbidden wife and a stabbing in the desert.
Search and rescue teams found Ian Thorson's body in a cave alongside his wife, Christie McNally, who was delirious and thirsty.
Six weeks earlier, they had been ordered to leave the Diamond Mountain retreat after she revealed in one of her lectures that she had stabbed him with a knife 'by mistake'. [...]
Roach, who had previously run a diamond business worth tens of millions of dollars, raised eyebrows for promoting Buddhist principles as a path to financial success, the New York Times reported.
Yoga teacher Matthew Remski described the leader as a 'charismatic Buddhist teacher' who he respected until his popularity 'turned him into a celebrity'.
Comment: This is a tangled web but if you have read up on malignant narcissists, this outcome is NO surprise.... Understanding narcissists is the only way I can deal with the sheer lack of interest in the fact that our whole world is undergoing a massive transformation. Instead of helping me as a researcher, writer and teacher I have had narcissists jealous and refusing to help me and/or desperate to steal my research to get what they think is the limelight and adulation they are desperately craving... The more I study, the more I realise that people are being encouraged to be narcissistic, it's cultural and largely accepted by society.... but how is that going to help them when our planet is being flooded with cosmic energies that might be severe enough to shut down the national power grids, the power will go off and not come back on again and millions will die? Well, that is the point.... the aim of an extreme narcissist (psychopath) is to destroy other humans for their own narcissistic supply of energy and that has major implications about what is really going on... My interest is primarily what is going on in the Cultic Milieu. There are too many guru types that are basically narcissists -- some may even be under demonic influences -- who are misdirecting their followers so that they don't even know anything about how a spiritual universe works and why our world is facing some severe challenges. It seems that some will teach enough so that their followers will become destructive too. For example, 'Practical Mystic' James Ray taught his followers how to direct or fire energy at people and he used this technique on the judge at his trial. We can only presume the judge was negatively impacted as he decided to retire immediately after James Ray was sent to jail, but I watched the scene live over the internet when JR's use of 'technique' was discussed openly in court.... simply awful.... In short, the situation is akin to the sheep being led to the slaughter... it's that simple....
-
The Michael Roach Bubble
Elephant Journal, 29th June 2012
[...] When the New York Times reported on June 5th, the floodgates of global media opened. Fernanda Santos’ story – an account brief and elliptical enough to provoke many new questions – was broadcast throughout the English-speaking world, reinvigorating the source-threads with a slew of new commentary, and prompting an immediate followup by Nightline, in which Ian Thorson’s grieving mother called out Roach’s group point-blank as a cult. Lama Surya Das warned the world about him in HuffPo. Since June 6th, I’ve fielded calls from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Newsweek, CNN, and People Magazine. The story is getting louder. But on Diamond Mountain there is the silence of continued retreat, and tight lips.
Except for Roach, who has had plenty to say – mainly about himself. He’s published a 26-page self-report of his academic history. In recent public appearances he has compared himself to Jesus and Abraham Lincoln. He has bragged about his well-attended appearances all over the world, and about his book sales doubling on Amazon despite negative publicity. He has joked that “We need more scandals.” He has compared his critics to demons. And at the opening of his first public appearance on the American soil in which Ian Thorson’s flesh is dissolving, he held down the rhythm on double bass as a devotee sang “What a Wonderful World”.
The disjunction between Michael Roach’s bubble of obliviousness and consensus reality is being laid bare before our eyes, in real time. Thousands want to know why a frail young man meditated to death in the arms of his wife, in a cave without food or water. They want to know how his wife came to believe she was a goddess. They want to know what paroxysms of religious delusion and/or domestic violence led her to stab him months before he died. They want to know why her former lover and guru exiled them both from their home and community. Despite Roach’s claims to kindness and empathy and selfless service, it appears as though he is happy to laugh about a tragedy in his wake, and ignore these now-global questions that cut to the very heart of modern spiritual integrity. Perhaps we can chalk it up to his decades-long meditative rehearsal of a neo-Tantric mirage in which every calamity is a divine teaching moment, every criticism is proof of his virtue, and every call for transparency is an invitation to greater secrecy.
On a broader scale, Roach’s snubbing of consensus reality is a powerful display of irreconcilable worldviews: the collision of premodern tribal magicality with postmodern skepticism and inquiry. The public discourse around his intentions is a powerful display of the hostile barrier of mutual misunderstanding and distrust between religious insiders and outsiders. In an age in which progressive religiosity is at least attempting a dialogue between premodern faith and postmodern reason, the Diamond Mountain story shows what happens when this dialogue crashes and burns, or perhaps never gets started.
Comment: The author of this piece has had some self-realisation ... Basically we are told the back story about a charismatic narcissist who seems to have learnt how to manipulate his followers with 'cult tech'. Thus we are given a few examples of how Roach pushed the inner-self buttons of his followers and when he goes too far and causes the death of one his adherents, he uses the standard cult technique of mind cleansing, sweeping, washing machine cycle stories that just keep being reported coming out of the mouths of the guru fakes. This is a very good read that was widely read in Buddhist circles and illicited over 2,600 comment replies...
How to spot a sociopath - 10 red flags that could save you from being swept under the influence of a charismatic nut job
Natural News, 8th June 2012
(NaturalNews) One of the more offensive duties of being an investigative journalist is taking out the trash -- exposing liars, fraudsters, con artists and scammers for the people they truly are. Each time we investigate a sociopath, we find that they always have a little cult group following of spellbound worshippers who consider that particular sociopath to be a "guru" or "prophet."
Sociopaths are masters at influence and deception. Very little of what they say actually checks out in terms of facts or reality, but they're extremely skillful at making the things they say sound believable, even if they're just making them up out of thin air. [....]
The ultimate destination of a sociopath is to destroy himself and take as many willing victims with him as possible. This is the Jim Jones scenario: Drink the Kool-Aid laced with poison, and thereby prove your worth to your entire cult group.
Comment: This is a nice article.... I agree with the sentiment that in the Cultic Milieu, some guru type expect you to believe everything they say because somehow they have told you that they are enlightened and that is the end of the matter.... What a joke.... btw that is no. 10 on the list here... There is one awful person that I came across that I now consider to be a pathological liar and full blown narcissist, but she still wanted me to promote her.... Somehow, she thought she had found a bloody idiot... As I subsequently found out, this person is probably one the nastiest people I have ever met in my life but even though I made my assessment based on the initial 'charm phase', I ran away as fast as possible because this person had zero credibility. What's more, as soon as I said no, a dark persona appeared and I knew I had made the right decision.... That is something else that I have learnt, these people find it hard to stay civil for any length of time, especially when they don't have enough of the energy they need to keep up their false self.... Whatever, I don't join forces with anyone without some serious scrutiny of what I am dealing with... As far as I am concerned, there seems to be an awakening going on in society and these people's lives are going to get harder and harder as more and more people wake up to the truth that amongst us there are "intraspecies predators" as psychologist Dr Robert Hare likes to call them... These days I amuse myself with the notion of the aliens (psychopaths) and their bastard half-breed offspring (narcissists), it just about sums it up for me... I would just like the opportunity here, to mention that there seems to be a real issue now in the Cultic Milieu, as it is obvious that things are starting to get real on this planet due to the new phenomenon of space weather being accompanied with some major reality bites.... Yet, there is almost a deathly silence from those same guru-types claiming to be enlightened... rather telling don't you think?
Babies, Bathwater and the New Age
The Secret Sun, 31st May 2012
The New Age movement is one of the great enigmas of our time. You won't find hardly anyone willing to defend it or define themselves as a "New Ager," and yet the movement has slowly and quietly (some would say insidiously) changed the culture at large, for better and worse. [...]
Which is not to say that the New Age movement itself is blameless, and was not infiltrated and used for nefarious purposes, one of which was the testing ground for MK techniques that were subsequently exported to the Megachurches. At every turn ideas that took root in the New Age movement were appropriated and mainstreamed, an inevitability in a movement that lacked any kind of structure to guarantee simple quality control, never mind control of intellectual property.[...]
Indeed, for many people the movement was known more for the hucksters and charlatans that used the open source aspect of the New Age-- which the old hippie idealists saw as a strength and necessity-- as a license to loot and plunder. I don't have to name names here; I'm sure you all have your favorite examples.
And there were/are a lot of foundational ideals in the movement that drove people away: misguided, "we are the world" Globalist cheerleading, knee-jerk ecumenism ("all paths lead to the Source"), contentless spirituality ("It's all energy"), a kid-in-a-candy-store approach to ancient symbol systems, the aforementioned neo-Theosophical authoritarianism, and a troubling insensitivity to human suffering ("You have cancer because that's the path you chose.")
Comment: I had not seen the first video here
Sh#t New Age Guys Say [response to Sh#t New Age Girls Say by ELEVATE], but it is not as funny as the original.... There is a lot of honesty in this article... Well, when I talk to people are are actually serious about their search for truth, most realise the New Age movement has created a lot of monsters... lack of integrity is a major issue... read my essay Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu for the reasons why. My issue is the acceptance of crap on a large scale... e.g. 2012 and people listening to Mayan 'researchers' rather than modern Mayan Elders who explicitly explained about the arrival of ether or space, hence the whole phenomenon of space weather was ignored for a long time until I started making some serious efforts by joining the dots... In fact, ALL of the Mayan, indigenous, esoteric, metaphysical and religious teachings about an 'End of an Age' can be explained in terms of changes in the cosmic environment.... So, many do not think you can be spiritual if you choose to engage brain whilst these same people are being constantly misled and swindled.... If you want to understand the tricks being used, then I suggest you go over to Rick Ross's
Cult Education Forum to invest some time. You will then discover the numerous techniques used to manipulate and being currently used by people who are basically turning themselves into gods in the minds of their followers.... In terms of 'New Age' I have been thinking about the childish acceptance of "channellings".... It means that people believe anything, especially when lots of people are saying similar things and a good example is the fixation with the Photon Belt. Most don't actually understand why the physics and the astronomy they were being told was mostly erroneous, but if claims are made with enough gravitas then they tend to be believed... I am still shocked by someone who was arrogantly trying to tell me that the changes in the solar system where caused by the Photon Belt... "It must be the same thing" I was told.... sometimes you realise that you are just beating your head up against a wall of ignorance and arrogance and it is best to simply move on.... I note the talk of positive and negative thinking and it seems the author of this piece has failed to understand the concept of dualism.... You cannot be positive when faced with a malignant narcissist who is only interested in using and abusing you.... you have to recognise what you are dealing with and then make a decision... there is no room for thinking positively, the key is education... it is a lesson that I have been forced to learn... something that I have never seen encouraged within anything that vaguely sniffs of being 'New Age'... and I suppose that is because in the shark infested waters of the Cultic Milieu that includes the ' New Age' movement, the narcissists and a disproportionate number of psychopaths don't want to be uncovered... the last thing they want around is people who understand how they operate...
Woman says hypnotized into $160,000 loss
Boston's Chinatown has been on edge since a 57-year-old woman claimed three women used hypnosis to get her to fork over $160,000 in life savings.
93.9 MIA News, 7th May 2012
Yes, putting people into a trance and exorting huge amounts of money is what scammers do at various scales, but some people are famous for their ability to convince large crowds that anyone can do this and make lots of money.
Woman starves to death in spiritual quest to live on sunlight alone
Daily Mail, 26th April 2012
A woman starved to death after embarking on a spiritual journey which involved giving up food and water and attempting to exist on nothing but sunlight.
The Swiss woman, who was in her fifties, apparently got the idea after watching the documentary film 'In the Beginning, There Was Light' which features an Indian guru who claims to not have eaten anything in 70 years.
The Zurich newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported Wednesday that the unnamed woman decided to follow the radical fast in 2010
The paper claimed there have been similar cases of self-starvation in Germany, Britain and Australia.
Comment: I seriously, wonder whether this is about a need to feel superior to everybody else. Due to my own experiences with people, I have got the impression that some meditators think they are spiritually superior but according to long term meditator Tom Kenyon, many become dependent on the psychoactive substances produced by the brain during certain types of meditation. I have also noted other ways that people who think they are spiritual assume they are superior to others because they have certain abilities. In my limited experience, after having run-ins with some of these people, I have never been impressed with their ethics and it seems taking heed of the dangers of spiritual pride is not particularly fashionable these days.
Woman starved to death trying to live on sunlight alone: Report
The Star, 25th April 2012
Swiss woman starved after 'eating' only light
The Local, 25th April 2012
A woman living in the east of Switzerland who believed she could survive on light alone was found starved to death, it has emerged. Anna Gut (not her real name) was in her early fifties when she saw the film, “In the beginning there was light,” a documentary in which two men claim to survive entirely on light, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported.
The film, which ran in Swiss cinemas in 2010, portrayed two men, 62-year-old Swiss Michael Werner, an anthroposophist with a doctorate in chemistry, and 83-year-old Indian yogi Prahlad Jani. Both men claimed to derive sustenance from spiritual means rather than the intake of food. Werner claims he has lived this way since 2001, while Jani says he has lived for 70 years not only without food but also without water. [...]
Dr. Dee Dawson, a British specialist in eating disorders, was in no doubt about the dangers of breatharianism.
"It's suicidal," she told The Local.
Comment: Swiss local news for ex-pats with all the juicy details.... Wow, she read a book and was inspired.... Lord have mercy.... Well, there you go.... I think she was being competitive (I am more spirtual than you because I can live off light etc) but reality kicked in and she died...
New Age followers encamp around French mountain as refuge from 2012 doomsday
The Independent, 25th March 2012
A rapidly increasing stream of New Age believers – or esoterics, as locals call them – have descended in their camper van-loads on the usually picturesque and tranquil Pyrenean village of Bugarach. They believe that when apocalypse strikes on 21 December this year, the aliens waiting in their spacecraft inside Pic de Bugarach will save all the humans near by and beam them off to the next age. [...]
Now the nearby village is awash with New Agers, who have boosted the local economy, though their naked group climbs up to the peak have raised concerns as well as eyebrows. Among other oddities, some hikers have been spotted scaling the mountain carrying a ball with a golden ring, strung together by a single thread.
Comment: Seriously.... "naked group climbs up to the peak have raised concerns as well as eyebrows...." I don't even know what to say... Off the charts.... I even hesitate to call this cult behaviour, I think this is even way beyond that... Isn't it cold at the top of a mountain?
Secrets of
NXIVM
Some experts say Keith Raniere, the guru behind an unusual training business, is really a cult leader
Times Sun Union, 12th February 2012
In a Saratoga County townhouse complex, a man who wears a Jesus beard and seeks to patent his philosophies keeps a cluster of adoring women at his side. He has drawn more than 10,000 people to his mission of ethical living. But some disciples say he has delivered a much darker reality.
Keith Raniere, a multilevel-marketing businessman turned self-improvement guru, has peddled himself as a spiritual being to followers, most of them women. A close-knit group of these women has tended to him, paid his bills and shuttled him around. Several have satisfied his sexual needs. And a few have left their families behind to wrap him in their affections. [...]
He is listed in the 1989 "Guinness Book of World Records" for being one of three peoplen IQ group called Mega, a Mensa-like collection of geniuses requiring a minimum one-in-a-million IQ level and formed by philosopher and librarian Ronald K. Hoeflin. Raniere once worked as an Amway salesman, where he learned techniques he later used at Consumers' Buyline, a members-only buying club he boasted had grown to a $100 million company by 1992.
Comment:Another psychopath using guru 'tech' including NLP and hypnosis.... this is the standard these days.... What is interesting is that someone super intelligent decides to misuse that intelligence, but James Ray has proven you don't need to be that intelligent to do this... So, is this simply about acquiring an entourage of people who are looking for a guru to provide the guru with an easy life and lots of power? Well, it is a very popular business model that is repeated over and over again. I suppose it's easy when there are simply too many people happy to find a fake guru and support them. For those who want to avoid such people, and sometimes they come very cleverly disguised, it's a matter of having strong boundaries, knowing when to tell these people to get lost (you can use stronger language here) and having the guts to walk about from whatever enticed you in the first place. Btw the image icon is an actor playing the role of a guru seen with a celebrity who was pretending to be spiritual when out shopping, see archives for info...
Quebec woman was ‘cooked to death’ at retreat, coroner says
National Post, 26th January 2012
MONTREAL — Quebec police officers have completed their report into the bizarre death of Chantale Lavigne — who was “cooked to death” at a personal development seminar — and investigators are expected to meet with the Quebec prosecutor assigned to the case as early as next week.
It will be up to the prosecutor “to decide whether any charges will be filed, and, if so, what they would be,” Rene Verret, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said Thursday. [...]
Lavigne died in hospital after she and eight others in a personal-development seminar called Dying in Consciousness were covered with mud, wrapped in plastic, put under blankets and immobilized with their heads in cardboard boxes for about nine hours, under instructions to hyperventilate. [ James Ray would be impressed...]
Lavigne apparently completed 85 sessions and paid more than $18,900.
Comment: I think that this will be classified as an accident because this was the first death after 2,000 people and Lavigne had completed 85 sessions already, but it is interesting that this is not just assigned as 'therapy' but being nearly cooked to death is designated as 'personal development'. But even worse,
Dying in Consciousness is just so apt for those New Agers volunteering to become zombies. The real intent of destroying consciousness that is behind vast swathes of the Cultic Milieu.
Update
Well, the ranting about unregulated New Age therapies has started on the blogosphere.... I have been thinking that this must have been a 'special' event cooked up for the super gullible (please excuse the pun). The wrapping in mud is a standard type of detox treatment that I believe would normally last an hour. The cardboard box over the head and the instructions to hyperventilate for 9 hours was probably dreamt up as a New Wage money spinner, otherwise many of those 2,000 people who have had treatments over the years would have died too. The comparison is a 'normal' sweatlodge and a hellaciously hot James Ray heat endurance test in a plastic tent sweatbox. The interesting thing is therapist Gabrielle Fréchette claims she is not responsible, because she rang 911.... That already makes her better than James Ray who thought people on the ground turning blue was sign of his success! Well, I have probably done over a thousand hours in the last 4 years or so, reading about and studying the Cultic Milieu, cults and gurus. I have also served enough time being being involved with New Agers to realise how the game works. This is another completely OTT 'balance is bogus' guru 'induction' event. There is no doubt Fréchette knew what she was aiming for... This is not just about sheer stupidity.... this is about a wannabe guru taking over the hearts and minds of followers. As I wrote in my essay
Spiritual Evolution in the Cultic Milieu, “...it is possible for seekers to be duped and sometimes seriously hurt by spiritual salesmen who use a “syntax” of cult tactics with the aim of pushing their followers into an ecstatic/illumination experience where they can be re-programmed in order to complete the “penetration” of the “inner life” thereby making them followers for life.” Here, we have another classic example of this evil intention going wrong.
Detox therapy death spurs questions on self-help group
Quebec woman initially reported to have died during spa treatment but was actually in self-help group therapy session
CBC News, 25th January 2012
From the video and the comments from her widowed partner, it looks like Lavigne was in a real cult... The police recreated the scene and there a short clip of some distressing audio recording of Gabrielle Fréchette shouting instructions at her followers whilst they are covered up and sometimes being violently sick. Unbelievable.... It seems some have absolutely no discernment and a great craving for any kind of induced spiritual 'high', even if that 'high' is induced by heat stroke...
Indian skeptic charged with "blasphemy" for revealing secret behind "miracle" of weeping cross
Boing Boing, 13th April 2012
Sanal Edamaruku, an Indian skeptic, went to Mumbai and revealed that a "miraculous" weeping cross was really just a bit of statuary located near a leaky drain whose liquid reached it by way of capillary action. The local Catholic Church demanded that he retract his statements, and when he refused, they had him arrested for blasphemy.
Comment: Hmmmm.... Religion and the enlightenment industry is big business. Let's say there is a long history of fakery by the psychopaths that run these enterprises. Quite frankly, the trickery continues in the Cultic Milieu, but it is a little more subtle in New Age circles. People are still too gullible... I see people who are magicians waving their hands and spiritual children being thrilled.... I don't see much real spirituality.... What is so odd is when you see through the tricks and the magicians can't believe it....
How atheism became a religion in all but name
Spiked Online, 1st February 2012
There was a time when it was very dangerous not to believe in God. In ancient Athens, Socrates was hounded and eventually executed for questioning the city-state’s gods. Throughout most of history, to be ‘godless’ was considered a form of moral decadence deserving punishment. In the seventeenth century, even John Locke, the great liberal philosopher who promoted the idea of religious toleration, regarded atheism as intolerable. He said atheists should not be tolerated because ‘promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist’.
Paradoxically, today, when atheism enjoys unprecedented respectability, it is being turned into a new cause. Over the past decade, books celebrating atheism and denouncing belief in God have frequently appeared on bestseller lists. [...]
It was inevitable that sooner or later the New Atheist crusade would mutate into a quasi-religion. Alain de Botton’s recently published Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion is an attempt to absorb into atheism the current therapeutic and spiritual fads that influence Western elite culture.
De Botton has proposed building temples for atheists through the UK. ‘It’s time atheists had their own versions of the great churches and cathedrals’, he says.
Comment: This isn't strange at all... As I have come to understand just about any belief can be used to create a cult, sect or religion, where believers can be told what to do and how to think. An interesting modern comparison is 'Green' Religion and those who tried to jump on the bandwagon by encouraging people to confess their green sins. I believe that is the point where the subtlety ends...
Ken Wilber and the Center for World Spirituality welcome Marc Gafni back in 2012
Worldwide Happiness, 12th January 2012
Ken Wilber took time off to deliberate on the recent Marc Gafni sex scandal. Now he has given us his conclusions:
"I am not working with Marc despite this last blogosphere explosion but rather because of his reaction to it. What impressed me most about Marc’s response to this situation is that though he might well have felt justified in feeling angry or hurt about what happened, by and large he focused on asking for all feedback from every possible source on why this happened. He wanted to know, at a deeper level, how he might have contributed to it himself, and what he could do to help remedy the situation and any part he might have played in this. Most astonishingly, for a spiritual teacher, he included in this list—in order to make it truly comprehensive—a search for a great therapist that he might see. He made a serious and widespread search for a therapist, and finally found an incredibly competent and highly respected one—and signed up."
Comment: I had heard of Ken Wilber but I did not know much about him, so, when I was directed to his famous blog entry where he responded to some criticism, by telling his critics to suck his appendage, I have never taken this character seriously ever since. Apparently, some think he is some great spiritual luminary.... Anyway, am I missing something? Marc Gafni is in the Ken Wilber inner circle of great spiritual luminaries but this guy markets himself as some kind a relationships/love/sex guru. Not surprisingly, Gafni has a long track record of being a sexual predator preying on his students who come to him looking for "enlightenment". But seriously, is this supposed to set the example of a cutting edge evolutionary spiritual teacher? His marketing literature is loaded with sexual overtones. I don't have time to be bothered to write at length because others who think this might be related to real spirituality have offered their views, but here are some links to Marc Gafni bio info
here and stuff of the main Center of Spirituality website, where he hawks for new victims
here. Well, I could not believe what I was reading, I am even starting to wonder why women are complaining when he abuses them, it is clear that he is very experienced seducer. Well, some are less polite than me and walter1963 over at the Cult Education Forum really goes for the jugular and I think it is well deserved. So we read:
walter1963
Date Added: 09/16/2010
Posts: 39
Re: International Enlightenment Fellowship/Andrew Cohen
Integral Spirituality is a morally bankrupt and mentally deficient movement. It's founders and promoters are at best damaged people that no one should look to for spiritual advice or instruction. It's also clear that many of the leading lights are morally bankrupt and adamantly refuse to condemn even the most atrocious behavior of their compatriots.
Not just once, but time after time.
And evidently their wealthy followers don't get it either. Just because some morally depraved ego maniac got a taste of Nirvana or some other so-called "enlightened state" doesn't make them fit as teachers. It just means they had a altered state and that's it. They are still a ego maniac with the morals of a career criminal. I don't care how intellectual imposters like Wilber paint it, reframe it or spin it, these are very bad people that hurt other people.
Put it this way, if what happens in these integral ashram's were to occur at a work place in the real world, the police would be called, arrests made and lawsuits filed.
Morals matter, ethics matter. It's what's separates us from criminals and savages. We need to demand it of so-called spiritual teachers, just because they had some form of enlightenment does not absolve them of behaving in a moral and ethical manner. Those like Wilber and his crew who state otherwise IMO are nothing but fools and worse.
source
More links:
Ken Wilber took time off to deliberate on the recent Marc Gafni sex scandal. He has now written in support of Gafni, saying that Gafni's
recent move to see a therapist "makes him an even more gifted teacher":
here
The Center for World Spirituality has also given Gafni "unequivocal support":
here
Another Integralist, Joe Perez calls for closure:
here
Gafni himself has written for "closure" on the issue:
here
I think the whole "Integral" movement of evolutionary spirituality is based on seducing rich people and Marc Gafni is the best seducer in the business so that is why the people making the money don't want to let him go. The issue of morals and ethics is something I think about a lot because the logic is how can spiritual teachers be providing true spiritual guidance when they prove they are lying frauds? Just because someone is attractive and charismatic does not mean that they can't be power hungry and dangerous too. Whatever. Meanwhile back at the real cutting 'lonely' edge, I have had to go back to how religions even started in the first place and work out what the hell is happening on the planet and then sort out the wheat from the chaff as to who knows how to work with the New Energies on the planet, at the same time as watching my back to save myself from the truly dangerous people in the Cultic Milieu. At the moment, I feel like Indiana Jones, going through the jungle, looking for the true spiritual treasures but having to constantly fight off the savages on my own. It's a million miles away from the likes of 'golden' boy Marc Gafni.
Update: If you want to know what "Integral" means then you can look about on the internet and maybe you will find the arguments with the original authors Don E. Beck and Chris C. Cowan, who published the essence of Professor Clare Graves research in the book,
Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change (Blackwell, 1996). Then I would recommend reading as much of the original Graves material as possible. You will then realise that 'ethics' was a big part of the original notion of human development and evolution, but I think it is too glossed over in the Spiral Dynamics book. Integral is all about being Tier II, but like others I have come across bragging about their status, you can't pretend because your actions will reveal you for exactly what you are. So, from what I have read so far, the Spiral Dynamics that Wilber has supposedly developed from the basic theory is the best part of the Integral teaching and that is because Professor Clare Graves's original work was totally brilliant, so maybe it is about gilding the lily. Whatever, if Graves was alive I would be very interested to know what he would think of the likes of Wilber, Gafni and that monster Cohen plagiarising his theory.
Is Wilberian Integralism a Ritualized Drama?
Cult Education Forum, 14th January 2012
"The Wilberian Hopeful are the chorus of Devotional Enablers who sing the Praises of Total Power and Zero Accountabilty and Cry that Powerholders Need Compassion… The rhetoric is so similar as the years roll on that it has the characteristics of a liturgy, a ritual. The Onlookers (including myself and those who disapprove of cruelty) are the Chorus warning of Hubris and Nemesis… But this is not an ordinary theatre production or even a private persons dream. The bodies, minds, health and finances of the guru's subjects bear the brunt of it. They are shouted down and shamed if they try to add their voices to the drama, for only the voice of Powerholder matters. In this drama, only powerholders are allowed to have and use their voices as human individuals."
Comment: But it is a fact that Ken Wilber acts like the Godfather and he is running a mafia of career criminals... Look at the worse offenders he endorses, that monster Andrew Cohen and serial sex predator Marc Gafni. This is at the
Center of World Spirituality that is "creating new templates for spiritual practice, education, and community." Oh yes, Andrew Cohen ordering that red paint be thrown over helpless women and beating up his followers really sounds like spiritual evolution doesn't it? [Btw, even Cohen's own Jewish mother wrote a book about him and compared him to Hitler. How's that for being big in the monster stakes!] As I keep saying, cults need to be considered as self-replicating viruses of the mind and as is now common knowledge, Ken likes "rude boy" gurus. So, this is the template that Ken Wilber and his cronies wants to replicate in the world in the guise of spiritual evolution. As I have come to find out, there are others that talk evolution, but in fact are perpetuating the very opposite. Sick and twisted spirituality is probably closer to the mark.
#### New Age Girls Say
YouTube, 13th January 2012
Brilliant.... Those who have just learnt how to repeat phrases that fit in the with the New Age meme or is that virus of the mind? ...
He once claimed he's the Son of God and the world is run by alien lizards, but the story of David Icke's marriage breakdown is almost as weird
Daily Mail, 9th January 2012
But there is one thing Icke has not yet talked about on his tour — and he does go on rather, sometimes for eight hours at a time — and that is the increasingly bitter divorce battle he is embroiled in with his second wife, Pamela Leigh Richards.
Or that one of the reasons they split up, according to Pamela, is that he became suspicious that she is a shape-shifting alien. [...]
Yet despite their deteriorating relationship, Pamela says she was still shocked when she learned, in typically unconventional style, that Icke wanted her out of his life.
Mr Icke has rejected the allegations made against him by Pamela
‘We were on tour — in Vancouver, I think — when the driver said to me out of the blue: “David wants you to go.” I was so shocked I felt as though I was having heart palpitations. There was no reason for it. ‘When we got to our hotel, my bag was chucked into the car — David had thrown my clothes into the bag. [HOW NICE NOT!]
Comment: What a story.... It does not surprise me that he is paranoid, he sells paranoia for a living... I think the worse thing is that he obviously now ill or otherwise by following his own logic, he should have known that Pamela was a reptile when he met her, but instead he did not and so married her. Whatever, he is now clearly nuts... just like a lot of New Agers/conspiracy theorists who just love over the top distorted realities. Space Weather has been getting worse for over 20 years and there is very little interest in those who claim to be metaphysical/spiritual, but why exactly is that? Well, I have decided the reason is a distinct lack of interest in reality and a great preference for sensationalism. Spirituality these days is highly focused on narcissism (the Buddhists call this 'Dharma Lite'), so due to sheer ignorance, many don't think being fried by cosmic radiation has anything to do with their spirituality, when thriving in a high energy plasma environment has everything to do with their spirituality. Read about the Cultic Milieu and how it works, spend hundreds of hours understanding the guru culture and then it is easy to see why many are clueless about what is happening to this world and why most don't even think they will be affected...
David Icke Debunked (Full Movie)
YouTube, 28th March 2010
I found this 2:27:14 documentary a jaw-dropper.... Obviously it's only one person's perspective but the book quotes and interviews with David Icke are eye-opening... He is pushing a certain New Agey belief system whether people realise it or not...
How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body
New York Times, 5th January 2012
On a cold Saturday in early 2009, Glenn Black, a yoga teacher of nearly four decades, whose devoted clientele includes a number of celebrities and prominent gurus, was giving a master class at Sankalpah Yoga in Manhattan. Black is, in many ways, a classic yogi: he studied in Pune, India, at the institute founded by the legendary B. K. S. Iyengar, and spent years in solitude and meditation. He now lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and often teaches at the nearby Omega Institute, a New Age emporium spread over nearly 200 acres of woods and gardens. He is known for his rigor and his down-to-earth style. But this was not why I sought him out: Black, I’d been told, was the person to speak with if you wanted to know not about the virtues of yoga but rather about the damage it could do.
Comment: I did read the original article when it was first available, but it's only now that there has been an interesting response mixed in with other major revelations about the origins of yoga that I think it's worth saying a few words. From my perspective, it's just curious that a whole belief system can be built up over many decades, centuries and even millenia and it can all be based on some major lies... I have no real interest in yoga, but I find it interesting that many believe the practice makes them spiritually superior and I am particularly interested in spirituality that I think is based on pure bulls#hit. The reason being is I need to fully understand why so many people have no real interest in reality and are ready to swallow major lies. I have already posted links to articles that have already argued that people have been conned and that much of yoga is far from ancient and it seems that someone has now written a book,
The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards . That should be a good poke in the eye to many spiritual snobs. The guru culture is seriously alive and well but what exactly is it contributing to society is not exactly clear and maybe I can hazard the guess of spiritual sheeple.... Well, I have had an interesting few weeks breaking down some burgeoning New Age myth-making and I have found the process quite cathartic. Seriously, I have no interest in fake spiritual evolution that is based on pure ignorance, I am trying my best to provide some genuine truth and enlightenment.
Yoga's Greater Truth
A scholar embarks on a quest to trace the roots of his yoga practice back to their source. What he finds confounds and unsettles him, and, ultimately, provides him with a glimpse of yoga's greater truth.
Yoga Journal, November 2010
"I learned that the Danish system was an offshoot of a 19th-century Scandinavian gymnastics tradition that had revolutionized the way Europeans exercised. Systems based on the Scandinavian model sprang up throughout Europe and became the basis for physical training in armies, navies, and many schools. These systems also found their way to India. In the 1920s, according to a survey taken by the Indian YMCA, Primitive Gymnastics was one of the most popular forms of exercise in the whole subcontinent, second only to the original Swedish gymnastics developed by P.H. Ling. That's when I became seriously confused."
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