I keep of the track of the James Ray Sweat Lodge Matter since I get many requests asking about it. I was reading at the latest Q & A with James Arthur Ray by New York Mag’s Michael Joseph Gross the press interview that Ray attended via phone with his attorney. I’ll give you a few minutes to read the interview.
The info is a typical press release response to a public clamboring for him to address the matter. His account differs from witness statements. He does does not answer any of the deeper questions, referring the questioner to the James Ray White Papers. But what caught my attention was his responses to the following questions:
QUESTION: In a conference call after Sedona, a woman … who was identified as a kind of medium or channeler, said that the victims had been having out-of-body experiences and were having so much fun that they chose not to return to their bodies. What do you think about what she said?
RAY ANSWER I have no comment. I don’t think I’m qualified to talk about channeling.
ANDREA: I think this is important. It’s not a question about channeling. It’s a question about “What is your opinion about the words you allowed her to speak on behalf of JRI? What is your opinion about how the words she spoke might affect the listeners to the call?” James Ray well knows the power of words and re-framing to cause changes in perception. The main question everyone has on their minds is “What thoughts were going through James Ray’s mind as he did the things he did as the events were unfolding?” In my opinion, to not answer that question but to say “read the White Papers” which also do not answer that question, turns the interview into a promo piece.
QUESTION: So it might be true and it might not be true: You don’t have any sense either way?
RAY ANSWER: I really don’t, no. I think that’s up to an interpretation of each individual.
ANDREA: Again, he knows the real question is either “What did you hope to accomplish with the call, what thoughts did you hope to instill in the minds of the listeners?” or simply, “What is your opinion?”
QUESTION: Do you think in some divinely or cosmically ordained way this was the victims’ time to die?
RAY ANSWER: I don’t think I’m qualified to answer that. I think that’s something that everyone would have to come to their own conclusions about.
ANDREA: He doesn’t need to be qualified to answer that, he is being asked for his opinion.
QUESTION: How has it changed your personal beliefs?
RAY ANSWER: I don’t know how to answer that. That right now is not the important issue.
ANDREA: This is one of the most important issues. Ray is in the business of changing personal beliefs. His own personal beliefs are morphing right now and it would probably be good press for him to admit he was blinded by bad judgment and is now getting a really serious wake up call. A public rehab would satisfy those in the coliseum who love the gladiators, but I think Ray is still pondering how he attracted this to himself.
QUESTION: A basic principal of your teaching is that the universe is at your command; you speak of the power of intention. I wonder how you perceive the tragedy in Sedona in light of those teachings. Did you in some way cause this to happen?
RAY ANSWER: Well I don’t … What I’m really focused on right now…
ANDREA: I think this is important, since Ray knows that manifestation is all about focus. So he consciously intends to whenever he directs focus away from the important questions asked and back to his agenda of portraying himself as a concerned friend. The simple answer is that he – with no malice and no prior intent – allowed his focus to be directed elsewhere, by whatever means and for whatever reason, at crucial times that resulted in tragedy for others entrusted to his care. That’s the simple answer.
It only gets complicated when Ray pretends what happened didn’t happen, and acts in ways that defy logic. Maybe those alleged steroids fried his brain so he couldn’t use good judgment, or maybe it’s just upon advice of his defense counsel. Having worked for high profile criminal defense attorneys for 22 years, I recognize the drill when I see it.
But I also recognize that when you find you’ve screwed up, cop to it, tell the truth about it, do what you can to fix it. It all goes much easier that way. This is where the pedal hits the metal. Do you tell the truth and trust the Universe to deliver you a vibrational match? Or do you slip into the unconscious mindset of deny, deny until the end?
This is a big lesson for everyone who talks about the law of attraction without really understanding how it works. The law of attraction lets you know moment by moment – by what you see in front of you – what you are attracting. We get a lot of warning ahead of time when we start going off track.
If we pay attention and stay conscious, that is. This incident has helped me be more conscious.
For a chronological timeline of this case from the beginning, see our Updated Links for James Ray Sweat Lodge Matter. Some readers don’t like that many of the articles are by Cassandra Yorgey and to that I say, yes, she’s snarkee, but she’s had the inside track on this story from the beginning and her articles include lots of relevant links.
Andrea
