Monthly Archives: November 2009

When Relationships Change

I was talking with friends, a long ago ex-boyfriend and his wife of a dozen years. She and I joked that when she was done with him, I get him back. He said “There’s not enough therapy in the world for that to happen.” Ah, memories…  A friend wrote on Facebook: “The end of a marriage is no more a failure than the end of college is a failure.” I agree. I’m friends with all my exes. You just have to morph the relationship into a new shape is all.

I’ve been married five times.  Yup, 5.  And so you don’t think I’m a complete loser, three of them died; and no, it wasn’t the mushrooms 🙂  All my ex boyfriends and the husbands, we had pretty amiable breakups and remained friends.  I learned early on that when my ex has a new mate, she’s not my competition, she’s my sister if I am to remain friends with him.  I am not the other woman.  I am not the ex-girlfriend.  I am not his friend.  I am the friend of both of them as a couple. Continue reading

When Former Devotees Expose Fraudulent Gurus: John-Roger, Werner Erhard, Carlos Castaneda

I just re-read a favorite book by Peter McWilliams entitled Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You. The introduction is entitled What does a rampaging guru have to do with you? McWilliams got taken by John-Roger, a self proclaimed guru known for abusing his power. It’s a fun and enlightening read, as are all of McWilliams’ books. Life 102 is not simply an expose’ of misrepresentation, scandal and fraud relative to one man, one incident.  The book goes into the intricacies of the programming aspect of indoctrination in organizations that purport to be self help but are instead cash cows.  The book is particularly relevant in light of the James Arthur Ray incident. I literally stayed up overnight reading it, although I did skip over the dialogue of John-Roger’s harrassing phone calls and hateful notes to naysayers, and skipped over the legal findings of specific criminal acts.  Essentially, the story began when John-Roger, a self proclaimed all knowing ascended guru, told Peter McWilliams that he could see in his aura that McWilliams had AIDS and tuberculosis and that he was going to die in 9 months.  BUT, if McWilliams put Roger’s name as co-author on some books and shared profits with him, Roger would heal his illness for him.  McWilliams was under his spell from 1978 until 1994, at which time he was medically treated for depression.  As his depression lifted, he began to see what others had been telling him about John-Roger, and he began to break ties.  Roger retaliated, as he always did, and it is all documented in the book. Continue reading

Why doesn’t Law of Attraction always work? How do I really do it? Why two versions of The Secret?

There’s still confusion over the 2 versions of The Secret DVD. I wrote in my Horizons Magazine blog post Why Does “The Secret” No Longer Contain The Secret? The Abraham-Hicks Back Story that the original version that contains Abraham-Hicks is the one with clear information on law of attraction, the least rhetoric and hyperbole.  With new attention on James Ray and his connection to The Secret, I see a lot of comments and discussion online by people who have only seen the extended, revised version of the DVD, and not the original one with Esther HicksThey still haven’t learned “The Secret” because the revised (they call it the EXTENDED version) DVD removed Abraham-Hicks, who were the only ones who actually explained law of attraction so it could be easily understood.  The same with Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret, which came later.  The revised version is like being fed a beef soup minus the beef.  It might be good, but you can’t call it beef soup if you leave out the cow.

Hear Esther Hicks on Oprah here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E1hZMZWJNY explaining in her own words  Continue reading

On James Ray Keeping The Silence

Cassandra Yorgey wrote at Sweat lodge survivors continue to speak out and I commented:  “I agree it appears James Ray is acting without integrity after the fact. However, as a former criminal defense paralegal of 22 years, I recognize he’s simply acting like someone who knows what to do when law enforcement comes on the scene of a crime in which he might be culpable. You have a right to say “I’m going to remain silent and I’d like to see a lawyer.” And as long as that is all you say, you’re in compliance with the law and the attorneys suss it all out later. This is a neat link to an online book that tell you how to handle yourself with law enforcement, invoking your right to remain silent and request a lawyer. That’s what James Ray was doing the night of the Sedona sweat lodge deaths.  Legal counsel surely briefed him, after the July 2009 death of Colleen Conaway, that he is not to speak to anyone after an incident. He knew that any word coming from him afterward about the event would have to be scripted and okayed by his attorneys first. Period.

So, as a professional familiar with the justice system, I don’t see his silence as sneaky.

Simply strategic and orchestrated.

James Ray Sweat Lodge story updated links