The Sweat Lodge Was Hot -- Official

Portions of the autopsy report on the deaths resulting James Arthur Ray's sweat lodge last fall have been released. It should come as no great surprise that the cause was heat exposure.

The autopsy showed that 38-year-old Kirby Brown of Westtown, NY, and 40-year-old James Shore of Milwaukee, both died of heat stroke, and were reportedly unconscious when emergency crews arrived at the site of the spiritual retreat near Sedona, Ariz.

The third person, 49-year-old Liz Neuman of Prior Lake, Minnesota, died after more than a week in the hospital form multiple organ failure due to hyperthermia from prolonged sweat lodge exposure.

During the Oct. 8, 2009 ceremony dozens of participants began feeling sick, vomiting and collapsing. Authorities believe self-help guru and motivational speaker Ray urged the attendees to push past their physical weaknesses, and shamed those who wanted to leave.

As I've previously written, this sweat lodge was abnormally hot, abnormally crowded, and abnormally long. It was also part of a pattern of highly questionable risk taking with seminar participants lives, over a period of years.

Much of the autopsy report is being withheld from the media, in part, because of requests from family members of the deceased. The trial to determine whether or not these deaths were caused by James Arthur Ray's negligence will begin in August.

When the judge returned from recess, he announced that 56 days would be established on the calendar, but he cautioned, "That may change."

The trial will run three and a half to four months, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day, four days each week, excepting weeks with holidays. The calendar calls for the trial to span from the first day Aug. 31 until Dec. 17.

So this will be a long and interesting trial.

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James Arthur Ray: Tweeting Through the Darkness

In an earlier post, I made reference to James Arthur Ray's "thoroughly nonsensical defense of The Secret's blame the victim idiocy, in light of things like 9/11 and the Holocaust." Allow me to elucidate. Here is the quote from ABC News:

In that interview, Ray defended "The Secret" against critics who asked if the victims of 9/11 or the Holocaust are to blame for simply thinking incorrectly.

"I know people of the Jewish faith and heritage who don't necessarily believe the Holocaust was bad," Ray said. "Now that might be shocking to you but I have people on record who have said, hey there's a lot of good things that came out of that, a lot of lessons, a lot of opportunities for the world. "

I don't personally know any Jews -- or anyone else really -- who would characterize the Holocaust as not "bad," so I really wonder who he's been talking to. But that's almost beside the point. Ray's answer dodges the question. One could certainly argue that every dark cloud has a silver lining and that the Holocaust did provide certain opportunities for growth, learning, and social advancement. But that has nothing to do with whether or not victims of horrendous adversity bring it on themselves with their "thoughts."

The question posed to Ray is one raised by The Secret's simple formula: Think and feel positive things and you will attract positive experiences. Think and feel negative things and you will attract negative experiences. Ray was certainly not the first proponent of the "law of attraction" to face that question, and I guess he answered it, or avoided it, about as well as anyone.

As I've discussed ad nauseum, in particular here, the paradigm set forth in The Secret is one doomed to fail even the most ardent proponents at some point in their lives. Bad things happen to good people; even when they're really "positive."

So now that the eternally optimistic Ray is facing an indictment for manslaughter and the implosion of his fortune, what does he do? How does he fit that experience into the philosophy on which he's built his career and reputation? More doubletalk like his Holocaust dodge. 

Now that he's been released on bail, Ray has taken to his Twitter account  and he's tweeting up a storm. He's emerged from his incarceration with a new appreciation for the workings of the shadow.

"If you can't embrace the dark you'll never dance in the light"
3:03 PM Feb 27th via txt

Very few understand that it's the dark that creates and gives birth to greater light. Read the book of Genesis again.
11:19 AM Feb 27th via txt

It's the experiences of the darkness that bring clarity to the light
9:08 AM Feb 27th via txt

Okay... So he's no St. John of the Cross. (Of course St. John of the Cross didn't have access to a microblogging format so his published works were a little more polished.) But now that James Arthur Ray has entered his dark night of the soul, has he learned anything new about how the "law of attraction" might explain his current predicament? It would seem not. As he tweets along, we learn that "conditions" in our lives don't seem to operate according to the "law of attraction."

Current conditions have NOTHING to do with cause... unless we thru our own ignorance of how the universe operates give them power.
12:59 PM Mar 3rd via txt

Whaaa? [Insert Jon Stewart spit take of your choice here.]

The Law of Cause and Efffect is misrepresented in the realm of conditions. Conditions have no primary cause only "secondary causes"
10:55 AM Mar 3rd via txt

We've discussed Universal First Cause as well as Relative First Cause, let's return to the differences btwn "cause" and "conditions"
8:13 AM Mar 3rd via txt

I looked. I couldn't find any of these distinctions between primary and secondary causes in any of his extant writings. Must be new. Hmmmm...

Many misunderstand "If you know the laws of the universe you'll never have challenges, difficulties, upsets" yet no tradition teaches this
11:00 AM Feb 28th via txt

That's true. I can't think of single religious or spiritual tradition that says knowledge will make your life a cakewalk. So where would people get that idea? Oh. I know. From The Secret and from a certain motivational speaker who contributed to The Secret, James Arthur Ray. They've been telling us for years now that if we can only learn to think properly, we can have exactly the life want; not the one the wheels of fortune thrust upon us.

Remember. The universe is really a great big catalog here to hand us exactly the life experience we want. Quantum physics tells us so. James Arthur Ray explains it all to you.

The Copenhagen interpretation states this. There is no objective reality. What does that mean? That means there is nothing outside of you that doesn't come from where? Inside of you. Everything is subjective. Subjective to whom? To you... The observer effect states that you always, always get what you're looking for...  What are you creating? What are you creating? Is it worthy of you? Because see, here's how it works. There's unlimited potential and possibility in the quantum domain. There's vibrant health and vitality and there's dis-ease... There's abundance and there's poverty... There's joy and there's pain. And the moment you place your attention upon a chosen intention: Boom! The particle is created and every other possibility collapses to zero. I hope you're thinking. Once that particle is created that is coming into form and what happens, there's a law in this dimension, the third dimension, called the "law of attraction." "Law of attraction" says what? Like attracts? Like. This particle is created and so another particle in resonance to it is attracted to it and another and another and another and another and... Boom! You've got a Mercedes. And that's how it works. That is how it works... "I'm not good enough." Particle! "I don't have enough education." Particle! "I can't lose weight. I'm big boned." Particle, particle, particle! [Emphasis mine.]

"This sweat lodge is going to kill people." Particle!... No. Scratch that. I think this is where we get into the primary, or is it secondary causes that create... or don't create "conditions." I think... Sweat lodges that kill people are not in the quantum realm... or if they are, they can't be created by our attention to our intention... I think I get it... The observer effect means you "always" get what you're looking for, unless you get several deaths from hyperthermia and a manslaughter indictment... Or something like that. It's a little confusing.

I looked through some of Ray's books to get clarity on this causative principle, and again, he seems to say exactly the opposite. Here's an excerpt from The Science of Success. (p.47)

Most of us are already familiar with this SuperLaw. It states that every effect must have a cause, and every cause must have an effect. Anything that is a "cause" is actually the "effect" of something that came before it. And that "effect" becomes the "cause" of something else. It is impossible to start a "new" chain of events. The SuperLaw shows us the universe is a perpetual and never-ending cycle. All the great religions and philosophies speak of the Law of Cause and Effect. They phrase it in a variety of ways:

• What you sow, so shall you reap.
• If you put a lot out, you get a lot back.
• You can't get back something other than what you give.

And from Harmonic Wealth (p.185):

What you believe you'll achieve is the driving factor of your results: your lack of abundance in terms of money, peace of mind, relationships, physical health, or anything else. This is the cumulative effect of your current Total Belief System, which is exactly what it sounds like -- the totality of everything you believe, your habits, experiences, values, and assumptions. Most people try to change their results by dealing with the effects, throwing new solutions at the results, thinking they're going to change things. But if you want to change the results you must deal with the cause. You have to change what you believe.

One thing that I've noticed, when it comes to The Secret, is that they assiduously avoid discussion of "negative" results in your life. Once you understand The Secret and think positively, you'll attract positive results and your fortunes will change. (From whatever your story is, which they don't want to hear about.) They don't delve deeply into how we "attract" unwanted outcomes -- or how the Jews (and Gypsies, and homosexuals, etc...) may have "attracted" the Holocaust through their "thoughts." It would seem that pattern is holding. At least so far, it seems that Ray is not addressing what "thoughts" attracted his current legal troubles. He seems to be back to a world where negative "conditions" are beyond our control. He doesn't seem to be looking at the metaphysical causes of his predicament. More to the point, he's refusing to take any responsibility for the overtly physical and tangible causes of this disaster. He packed too many people into a very hot sweat lodge for too long and several of them died. Many more were hospitalized with symptoms of hyperthermia and dehydration. No mystery there, really.

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Harmonic Wealth Author Pleads Poverty -- Updated

"James is not a wealthy guy." ~ Attorney Brad Brian on Larry King 2/4/10

What to do when you discover that the emperor's new clothes are shackles and an orange jumpsuit? But James Arthur Ray may be sporting the orange ensemble for a while, unless he can reach a new bail agreement.

Defense lawyers said Ray could not afford his bail, even though he told reporters he was worth $10 million a year ago. But his lawyers say Ray owes massive amounts to attorneys and other creditors – and he really has a negative net worth of $4.2 million.

Prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $1.5 million, but his attorneys say he can't even afford that. They're asking for a bail of few thousand dollars or ROR.

Alex Smyth testified that Ray's business is operating at a loss, employees were laid off, his properties are in foreclosure and that Ray essentially drained his bank accounts following the Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony in anticipation of high legal fees, not in an effort to flee. 

There are really only two possibilities here. Either James Arthur Ray is lying about his net worth -- forensic accountant Richard Lee Echols's conservative estimate was a net worth of $2.4 million -- or he's really broke.  The conundrum here for Mr. Ray is that whether he's hiding assets or he's too poor to post bond, it still adds up to fraud -- not the first time I've used that word in regards to the creators of The Secret.

No matter what he or his attorneys say, at this point, it sounds like doubletalk. 

“Despite misconceptions perpetrated in the media, Mr. Ray is not a man of significant assets and certainly not the millions reported in the press,” his attorneys wrote in documents obtained by The Associated Press from the court.

Well, who perpetrated the misconceptions? James Arthur Ray.

Ray himself has touted his wealth and success in numerous media interviews and on his Web site, including an estimated $10 million in revenue in 2009 and a seven-figure advance for his book, “Harmonic Wealth” that hit the New York Times Best Sellers List in May 2008.

He told “Fortune Magazine” for an April 2008 article that his financial goal was $21 million a year and that he was sure there were limits, but “I am not aware of them.”

Assuming Ray was telling anything approaching the truth about that income, what happened to all that "wealth?" There's no question that he's taken a financial hit. He's had to cancel all his seminars. I have little doubt that book and product sales are down due to all the bad publicity. Lawyers are expensive. No argument that he's in a financial crunch. But I find it a bit concerning that a successful financial guru, didn't know to put a little away. Or did he think that once he knew "the secret" he would never face another rainy day? 'Cause baby, it's pouring!

It looks more like he was living a profligate lifestyle, spending money faster than he "created" it. He built a facade of the success he promised his readers. He purchased multiple properties, all but one of which is in foreclosure. And the whole house of cards is collapsing.

There's a problem with setting yourself up as someone who knows "how the universe works." It's an awfully high bar. Eventually, the people who buy your books and take your seminars will notice that your method doesn't deliver on its promises. For all their investment, they're still not creating "harmonic wealth in all areas" of their lives, and neither are you.


Update:James Arthur Ray received a substantial bail reduction and should be released as soon as he surrenders his passport.

An Arizona judge has lowered the bond from $5 million to $525,000 for a motivational speaker charged with manslaughter for the deaths of three people, clearing the way for his release as early as Friday.

. . .

Darrow said Ray can post cash or a secured appearance bond, and ordered that he surrender his passport. Ray also cannot organize, supervise or conduct any sweat lodge ceremonies or other activities that might physically harm others.

The order does not restrict Ray from travel in the United States or specifically from conducting self-help seminars he built a business on, but he must first provide a written itinerary to his attorneys and to the court upon request.

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James Arthur Ray's Not Guilty Plea -- Not!

Apparently, all the various and sundry news agencies have reported James Arthur Ray's "Not Guilty" plea. This was due to a toxic combination of sloppy reporting and fancy lawyering. He has not plead not guilty, because he has not yet entered a plea.

The confusion starts when Judge Warren R. Darrow asks if Mr. Ray has been informed of the charges against him.

Kelly answers, "I have, judge." Then Kelly jumps immediately into the following, preemptive statement, speaking rather quickly, "We've got a copy of the indictment, we've reviewed it with our client, we've waived its formal reading, his name is spelled correctly, we'd enter a plea of not guilty; request that a jury trial be preserved and the case management conference be set."

But Judge Darrow doesn't enter that plea of not guilty. And really, if you listen carefully to what Kelly said it was, "we'd enter a plea..." In other words, "we would enter a plea..." but he wasn't entering a plea at that time, because, this wasn't the time to enter any plea at all.

Judge Darrow's next words confirm this, "OK, and that's essentially what would be done at an arraignment; this isn't the arraignment, it's the initlal appearance. As I have indicated, I am going to set, or I have indicated to counsel [unintelligible] I intend to set the matter EDC, Early Disposition Court; however, I think that if the parties want to waive that, by an agreement, that can be considered an arraignment proceeding rather than an EDC proceeding, and there probably could be a waiver of that later hearing. But in any event, I'll note that, Mr. Kelly, but I'm not conducting the arraignment today. This is strictly the initial appearance, basically the proceeding that's required within 24 hours of arrest."

So either Mr. Kelly has no idea what hearing he's in or this is a slick attempt to misdirect the media in attendance. If it's the latter, mission accomplished:

ABC News:

Appearing in court in Arizona today to plead not guilty to three charges of manslaughter, [James Ray] is confronting what may be the biggest challenge of his life.

WTZQ

Self-help guru James Arthur Ray pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges connected with 3 deaths at a sweat lodge ceremony he led in Arizona.

Associated Press:

Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray pleaded not guilty yesterday to three counts of manslaughter at his first court appearance since being charged with causing three deaths at an Arizona sweat-lodge ceremony he led.

The New York Times gets it right:

Mr. Ray was indicted on Wednesday. A formal plea would be entered at his arraignment, which is expected later this month, according to Dennis W. McGrane, the chief deputy county attorney.

The Times also gets to the heart of the matter:

Mr. Ray had recently taken his case to the court of public opinion, with his lawyers issuing lengthy letters last month providing their account of what happened and asserting that many damaging statements made by witnesses to the police were inaccurate or taken out of context.

Ray and his attorneys are ramping up the press offensive, kicking off the "James Ray is Not Guilty" media tour on GMA.

James Ray accepts responsibility for what happened in the Sedona, Ariz., sweat lodge that led to three deaths, but that does not make it a crime, said one of his lawyers, Brad Brian.

"After this happened he immediately reached out to the families. We have been meeting with the families' lawyers. But again, that doesn't make it a crime. We think turning this into a criminal charge we think is unjust and we look forward to proving his innocence in court," Brian said on "Good Morning America" this morning. 

I was a publicist, after all. I know a little bit about how this works.

It's also an approach wholly in line with The Secret. It's almost like an affirmation. Mr. Ray and his attorneys are attempting to create the reality they want to manifest; a "not guilty" verdict. It's also blatantly manipulative and lacking in integrity. Something else that is totally in-line with The Secret. It's an attempt to ram through a certain reality by sheer force of will, rather than alignment with the greater good. That's the not-so-subtle distinction that makes The Secret an exercise in ego indulgence, rather a tool for spiritual growth.

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James Arthur Ray Indicted for Sweat Lodge Deaths

James Arthur Ray was arrested this afternoon for causing the deaths of three participants in his "Spiritual Warrior" retreat. I have been following this case pretty closely, since the news broke last fall. See here, here, here, and here, for background. Not much to say here, except that it's about time.

Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray was arrested Wednesday afternoon on three counts of manslaughter for deaths that happened after a sweat lodge ceremony he led in northern Arizona last year. Ray was taken into custody on an indictment at his attorney's office in Prescott, and was to be booked into the Yavapai County jail in Camp Verde, sheriff's officials said. His bond was set at $5 million.

. . .

About halfway through the two-hour ceremony, some began feeling ill, vomiting and collapsing inside the 415-square-foot structure. Despite that, Ray urged participants to push past their physical weaknesses and chided those who wanted to leave, authorities and participants have said.

Two people - Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee - passed out inside the sweat lodge and died that night at a hospital. Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn., slipped into a coma and died a week later. Eighteen others were hospitalized.

Most of the coverage rehashes material from previous stories. As such, the ABC site has the most thorough round-up, because of they've done the most in-depth reporting on this case. Highlights include his thoroughly nonsensical defense of The Secret's blame the victim idiocy, in light of things like 9/11 and the Holocaust. Really. It's a great read.

More to come on this story as it develops.

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James Arthur Ray on Sweat Lodge Deaths

James Arthur Ray has broken his silence and granted an exclusive interview to New York magazine. Ray's legal team has conducted its own investigation and exonerated him of all wrong-doing. The white paper testifying to his innocence appears on his web site. The long and the short of it: Move along folks. Nothin' to see here.

Here are some of the more interesting bits from the New York interview:

What first made you realize that this sweat-lodge experience in Sedona was different from the sweat lodges that you’d been in before?
I did not know anything was different until it became apparent that there had been a terrible accident when it was completed. I don’t know what happened.

When did you become aware that there had been an accident?
Someone came up to me and said that there were some individuals that were having problems on the back side of the lodge. I did not know anything before that time. I made sure that 911 was called and we went into action to respond as best we could until the paramedics arrived.

So, his version is a little different from other public statements we've heard.

Did you tell sweat-lodge participants that vomiting was good for them, that the body was purging what it doesn’t want?
I may have mentioned that I had been told by many shamans that the body purges and there’s only certain ways that it can purge. Obviously, you know the bodily functions, so there’s only certain ways that things exit the body.

It is certainly true that the only way for undigested food to leave the body is vomiting. What that has to do with a sweat lodge, though, I can't say. In a sweat lodge, impurities leave the body via the sweat glands, as the name would imply.

And on the principles of The Secret that James Arthur Ray has made a fortune extolling:

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?
Well I don’t … First of all, here’s the situation: Three people have died in transitions. What I’m really focused on right now is to have my team find out exactly why that happened and bring it to some type of closure.

I believe the technical term for that is "non-answer."

There is a bit more obfuscation and legalese to be found, along with some very smoothly articulated pathos and apologia.  But, at least in the ongoing trial by media, we have now heard from the prosecution and the defense.

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Sweat Lodge Tragedy Part of a Pattern

The homicide investigation resulting from James Arthur Ray's disastrous sweat lodge has turned up evidence of a pattern of illness and injury. In addition to the previously discussed suicide, there have been broken bones, loss of consciousness, vomiting, and other adverse events at Ray seminars.

In documents released Monday, a man Ray hired to build the sweat lodge told investigators that he was hesitant to assist with the ceremony for a third year because participants previously had emerged in medical distress, and emergency help wasn't summoned. Theodore Mercer said the latest ceremony was hotter than in years past, but Ray repeatedly told participants, "You are not going to die. You might think you are, but you're not going to die."

Mercer's wife, Debra, told investigators that one man emerged from the sweat lodge halfway through the October ceremony believing he was having a heart attack and would die. She said that instead of summoning medical aid, Ray said "It's a good day to die," according to a search warrant affidavit.

Ray also seems to have confused a ritual cleanse with a test of endurance. I've done sweat lodge ceremony. It's a profound physical and psycho-spiritual cleanse. It's not meant to test the limits of physical resistance.

Our ceremonies are about life and healing. From the time this ancient ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our inikaga (life within) when conducted properly. Today, the rite is interpreted as a sweat lodge. It is much more than that. The term does not fit our real meaning of purification.

Inikaga is the oldest ceremony brought to us by Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit). Nineteen generations ago, the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota oyate (people) were given seven sacred rites of healing by a Spirit Woman, Pte San Win (White Buffalo Calf Woman). She brought these rites along with the sacred Canupa (pipe) to our people, when our ancestors were suffering from a difficult time. It was also brought for the future to help us for much more difficult times to come. They were brought to help us stay connected to who we are as a traditional cultural people.

The values of conduct are very strict in any of these ceremonies, because we work with spirit. The Creator, Wakan Tanka, told us that if we stay humble and sincere, we will keep that connection with the inyan oyate (the stone people), who we call the Grandfathers, to be able to heal ourselves and loved ones. We have a gift of prayer and healing and have to stay humble with our Unci Maka (Grandmother Earth) and with one another. The inikaga is used in all of the seven sacred rites to prepare and finish the ceremonies, along with the sacred eagle feather. The feather represents the sacred knowledge of our ancestors.

Not surprising, then, that a Sioux Nation treaty council is seeking legal remedy by demanding that the  fatal sweat lodge be prosecuted as a treaty violation.

This event brings to the surface the uneasy relationship between white eyes who embrace native spiritual traditions, as a path to wholeness,  and Native American tribes who seek to keep their practices from being cheapened and desecrated. James Arthur Ray, it's harder with you around.

In following news on this event, since its tragic occurrence in October, I'm inclined to think that the problem rests with a personality flaw, in the self-styled guru. As with so much of his brand of pop, new age ideology, there is confusion between focused determination and inner transformation. The two are not synonymous. Ray is clearly very driven and relentless force seems to be his answer to everything. Ignoring obstacles (or focusing on the positive, to put it in Secret parlance) is certainly a method. However, when those obstacles are pragmatic concerns like hyperthermia and dehydration, some attention to "the negative" is pretty crucial. But, consider that Rhonda Byrne, the primary writer of The Secret, thinks the key to weight loss is to "not observe" fat people. Perhaps Mr. Ray thought that not observing people fainting and throwing up on themselves would prevent the physical traumas around him from putting him in legal jeopardy. That could explain why he did not participate in attempts to provide aid to the sick and dying. Needless to say, in this case, that approach failed.

As followers around him staggered and collapsed inside a hot sweat lodge near Sedona, motivational guru James Arthur Ray seemed to ignore the unfolding medical crisis, according to statements given to investigators.

Ray repeatedly discussed death during the October ceremony, telling participants they would feel like they were dying, according to officials' reports released Monday. When a man tried to open the tent for air, Ray reportedly called him "sacrilegious."

In the end, three of the more than 50 participants in the sweat-lodge ceremony did die.

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The Secret, a Sweat Lodge, and STILL MORE Tragedy

If you missed the Nightline coverage of James Arthur Ray's sweat lodge gone wrong (originally covered here), it is available for viewing on the ABC website. I didn't think I could be more shocked and horrified by this story than I already was. I was wrong. Now we learn that there is a pattern of gross negligence on the part of this self-styled guru -- whose appearance in The Secret catapulted him to fame -- and his company JRI. The death toll is even greater than the three who died as a result of that abomination of a sweat lodge. An earlier death at a James Arthur Ray seminar has now come to light.

Colleen Conaway plunged to her death, an apparent suicide, during a bizarre exercise, in which people who paid thousands of dollars to JRI, were dressed up as homeless people, stripped of their money and identification, and dumped in downtown San Diego. No one interviewed seems to know quite what they were supposed to learn from this experiment, in abject poverty, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't compassion. I say this, in part, because so little compassion was extended to Colleen Conaway or her family. Just as would later occur with Liz Neuman, the third sweat lodge participant to die, the family was not notified, by JRI. Both Liz Neuman and Colleen Conaway spent time listed as Jane Does; one critically ill in a hospital and the other on a slab in the county morgue.

Colleen Conaway's family has asked the San Diego police department to reopen the investigation into the death.

The family wants to know what role Ray's event may have played in her death. Conaway's sister, Lynn Graham said, "It could have been brainwashing. He's been known for heavy-handed tactics. She went from someone excited about life to someone who was completely alone in a span of two days. You can't put people in such an emotional state and then just dump them."

. . .

One detail the family is concerned about is that the event bus picked up everybody, but left without Conaway. It would be seven hours before Ray's group reported her missing.

So James Arthur Ray, and his staff, left a bunch of people in downtown San Diego with no money or identification, dressed in rags, like some of the most vulnerable people in the population, and did not bother to notice that one was missing, for seven hours.

The portrait of Ray that emerges from this story is very unappealing. He comes across as self-absorbed, egomaniacal, and completely lacking in empathy. In the Nightline piece, former employee Melinda Martin describes his behavior during the sweat lodge debacle, which was so horrible that paramedics, when they were finally called, assumed it was a "mass suicide."

Martin said she wanted to call for help, but Ray's staffers told her no.

"They told me that that wasn't something that would be done, because in the past, 911 had been called, and James got very, very angry at the person who called 911, so that had already been quashed. So I was in the mode of taking care of people," she said.

. . .

Martin said that while people were being dragged out from the tent in front of him, Ray made no mention of stopping the ceremony. She said she was on the side of the tent when Ray exited the sweat lodge and saw the pandemonium outside.

"He came out, and he stretched his arms up, and everybody hosed him off, and he's like, 'Hey, thanks,'" Martin recalled. "I just stopped and I said, 'How can you walk out of there with all of these people are down and they're -- they looked near death, and you guys can walk out there looking like you just spent the day in the spa?' It was incredible to me."

. . .

As Martin performed CPR on a dying woman, she said her boss simply stared.

So, what does this have to do with The Secret, other than James Arthur Ray's association with the popular book and film? Unfortunately, I think the mindset encouraged by The Secret sets the stage for such tragedy, for a number of reasons. The Secret encourages denial of negative experiences and focus on only "the positive." This can cause us to miss crucial, red flags like, say, people begging for water, and so delirious that they are wandering into red, hot coals.

More to the point, The Secret indulges the ego. Again, I want to be very clear that I'm talking about The Secret, not necessarily Science of Mind or similar disciplines, of which The Secret is derivative. In most of these disciplines we learn that when we are stating intention, we must caveat that it be "for the highest good of all." Shakti Gawain, for instance, teaches this phrase:

This, or something better, now manifests for me in totally satisfying and harmonious ways, for the highest good of all concerned.

If such a caveat was referenced in The Secret, I don't recall it. Any such concept, if even mentioned, was dwarfed by the relentlessly consumerist focus. It's all about what we want, want, want, and satisfying the impulses of the ego. In The Secret, we learn from Joe Vitale, that the universe is a great big catalog where we can order up the experiences, relationships, and "products" we desire.

In her November 25 broadcast, on the subject of gratitude, Christina Pratt discussed the Quechua concept of Ayni; a philosophy and practice in which we recognize the interconnectedness of all life. There is no way I can do justice to her entire explanation, and I highly recommend downloading the podcast, but I will attempt to transcribe her explanation of the contrast between pop new age techniques for manifestation, and a shamanic practice of manifesting in "right relationship" with the world.

One of the things I see, in a more, I don't know... new age, for lack of a better word, kind of practice today, where people are busily focusing their intention to manifest what they want... Well, the problem with that is there is no conversation with your soul and spirit in that, because most of us identify with ourselves from an ego/personality place. And that all we're doing is using spiritual principles of intention and focus and prayer and manifestation, to make manifest what we want. What if what you want would bring the downfall of mankind, in 10 generations? Would you maybe change what you want right now?... This is what I mean by using shamanic skills to make better quality decisions.... So that when we start to use these powers of manifestation and focus and prayer, that we're doing it in a way that has taken our place in the fabric of everything into consideration. So we're doing it from a place of all the spiritual principles; not just that one single spiritual principle that you can manifest your destiny -- that you can manifest whatever you want. I mean that by itself is grossly dangerous.

For all his use of native practices, I doubt highly that James Arthur Ray was very focused on how his work would reverberate, in the world, for future generations. He remained completely oblivious to how it was affecting participants, in the here and now, when their lives were imperiled. He did not consider how their families would be affected by being left in the dark as they died. That none of this demonstrated "right relationship" with the world, is fairly obvious.

Such tragedies occur when we are so invested in our egos that we think the universe is here to serve us, like a great big catalog of riches, rather than considering how we serve the universe, by bringing our light into the world.

In general, I think the idea of using the so called "law of attraction" to manifest, demonstrates a shallow understanding of the universe. I've explained fairly thoroughly why I think that. But, The Secret is the shallowest of the shallow. It requires no application of universal principles to manifest what you want if you're driven, ruthless, ego-centered, and are willing sacrifice people along the way. People have been manifesting their wants that way from time immemorial, and look at where it's gotten us. James Arthur Ray has amassed a lot of wealth, and according to numerous accounts, he has done so through the application of incredible arrogance. No one can avoid "attracting" that dark reflection, of our shadow nature. There are consequences to everything. James Arthur Ray may soon be coming face to face with exactly what he's manifested.

Comments on this entry are closed, on this blog. If you wish to comment, please find this and all newer blog entries crossposted on Celestial Reflections.

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The Secret, a Sweat Lodge, a Dreadful Tragedy

Two people have died and 19 others were hospitalized, in a sweat lodge ceremony that appears to have gone horribly awry. My heart goes out to the families of Kirby Brown and James Shore, and to those who are recovering in hospital. James Arthur Ray, "Personal Success Strategist" and contributor to The Secret, included the sweat in his Spiritual Warrior seminar.

Consider this a lesson in the dangers of dabbling. Ray claims to have studied with native shamans in Peru, the Amazon, and other places he doesn't "care to recall." He even claims to have "mastered" the techniques of these indigenous people. Somehow he seems to have missed this basic bit of wisdom: Don't cram 64 people into a sweat lodge.

Joseph Bruchac, an expert on Native American traditions and author of “The Native American Sweat Lodge,” said that number far surpassed the 8 to 12 typically present at such a rite. “It means that all these people are fighting for the same oxygen,” he said.

It also means it's very, very hot, because the body heat of all those participants has to be factored in. From early reports, it seems clear that the heat was dangerously excessive.

Authorities said 21 people were taken to hospital suffering from burns, dehydration, respiratory arrest and elevated body temperature after sitting in the sweat lodge at the Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat in Arizona. One of those people is in a critical condition.

. . .

Similar to a sauna, a sweat lodge, is an enclosed space where water is poured on heated rocks to cleanse the body. Used in Native American ceremonies the traditional lodges are made of willow branches and covered in canvas or animal skins. They are not meant to be air-tight and participants normally spend less than an hour inside.

However, authorities told the New York Times the James Ray's sweat lodge was covered in plastic and blankets. It is believed temperatures inside the lodge reached up to 49 degrees. [That's 120.2 degrees Farenheit.]

I have been very critical of The Secret, for, among other things, its glib, superficial approach to spiritual growth. This latest incident, involving a member of its brain trust, is a reminder that you can't just pluck things out of the context of spiritual traditions and repackage them as "self help" seminars, without risking psychic, emotional, and even physical injury.

That superficiality is readily apparent in the marketing copy for the seminar. I'd be wary of anyone claiming to teach any sort of warriorship or spiritual mastery, that won't require personal sacrifice.

There is no sacrifice—only greater and more magnificent results, wealth, adventure and fulfillment.

It would seem he gave the lie to that bit of slick marketing with his now deleted tweets, during the seminar.

JamesARay: Day 2 of SPW: "Ware must you be willing to give up to live the life you say is important to you?"

JamesARay: is still in Spiritual Warrior... for anything new to live something first must die. What needs to die in you so that new life can emerge?

Once again, once we know the "Secret" everything is really simple and painless... except when it isn't.

I picked through more of his site, and found more facile platitudes. There's this from his Practical Mysticism seminar:

Maybe you, like me, are tired of the so-called "spiritual individual" who is sick and broke all the time, or the "mystic hopeful" who can't carry on an intelligent conversation about real life.

Where, oh where, would motivational speakers be, without the mythical ne'er do well to use as a whipping boy? His disdain for the sick and economically disadvantaged is also highlighted on the home page.

Likewise, there are others who qualify as a creative genius, and they're physically sick all the time. That's not real wealth!

Then there are those who claim to be really "spiritual," and they're always financially broke. That's not wealth either!

Is it any wonder that so many people came away from The Secret feeling like their illness and adversity meant that they had failed somehow? If there's one thing I genuinely hope we learn as result of the economic downturn, it's to stop viewing poverty as a character flaw or spiritual weakness.

Many have criticized The Secret for its relentless focus on money. In the wake of this incident, I've seen much criticism of James Arthur Ray for charging nearly $10,000 for this training. I disagree with those who claim that real shamans don't charge anything, and that it's inherently wrong to accept remuneration for spiritual teaching. It is absolutely untrue that traditional shamans work for free. You can't compare tribes that live communally with the modern, western world and its economic system. Indigenous peoples use barter, which is just a simpler, more direct currency. Shamans and healers in many cultures receive produce, livestock, and other necessities as offerings for their work. That's a form of payment, and an exchange of energy that is wholly integral with their lifestyle. Trained, practicing shamans who live in our culture, require payment consistent with our economic system. There is nothing wrong with that. HOWEVER, $9,695.00 for a 5 day seminar is indefensible. It's hard for me to believe that this tragedy is, at bottom, about anything other than simple greed.

A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

~ Alexander Pope in "An Essay on Criticism"

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