So what is the truth about James Swartz?Is he a true spiritual teacher, sometimes maligned by plotting and jealous inferiors, or is he actually a scheming, persuasive conman using a spiritual pretense to get rich, enjoy life, and in tohe past, to lure in underage girls to be raped and made to striptease professionally to make him money?
To attempt to find the facts, in a few weeks we have gathered 70 posts and over 2600 views. The numbers continue to rise.
Heather herself, the person whose allegations about James Swartz (JS) first rocked the “Shining World” in the winter of 2016-17, has weighed in to this message board personally. It was her allegations which also led to the book, “Gu
ru? The Story Of Heather.”
Some of my friends and myself supported Heather from the beginning, or almost the beginning. We went in with an open mind, and were very curious how the accused spiritual teacher would respond. In fact, we were shocked when JS reacted in the loud, threatening, bombastic, and self-revealing (as in “acting and behaving as if ‘totally guilty’”) ways in which he did. Any doubts about Heather’s accusations being unfounded went out the window thanks to JS himself (as is recounted in the book).
What some of us understood regarding facts and allegations going in was:
JAMES SWARTZ—
— Misogynist and unrepentant Sex Criminal.
— Teacher of false/ adulterated spiritual teachings who lied profusely about his spiritual bona fides as well as about the actual teachings and about other teachers (the better of whom he is intensely jealous of, and reveals it incessantly.)
— Mis-user of spiritual teachings to give himself an excuse for any behavior (a form os “spiritual bypassing”), including, it seems, drugging, hypnotizing, and raping females, even one only 14.
— Bully in his personal relationships, and spiritually. (Many witnesses to his various questionable if not downright illegal activities wish to stay anonymous due to fear of his response.)
— Killer of family pets (barking bothersome? Poison the dog... Then brag about it to your buddies.)
All of the above, and more, was covered in the “Heather” book.
Along with the above, “new” information has come in.
Information about the wife and the ShiningWorld organization were the main surprises. Except, regarding Swartz’s continual battles with his top people, not really. We have always wondered how a well-meaning, intelligent, and sincere spiritual seeker could move up to “teach” for Swartz, and then, as they grew in knowledge and experience, continue to be in the thrall of such a spiritual fraud.
It turns out, most can’t. Most find out the truth about JS because when they come to him with sincere questions which indicate that their knowledge and spiritual attainment are moving beyond his, he attacks them, drops them from the organization, put them down, and worse.
Until this forum, we held the wife to be another victim of JS. Now there are accounts which show her to be an active collaborator in his questionable activities. According to some sources, it is her that has gotten him invitations to be a guest speaker into seminars in places like London and Berkeley. It would seem that organizations that would invite Swartz obviously have not heard of his allegedly sordid past and have not analyzed his so-called spiritual teachings in any depth, but it is apparently the sweet and charming ways of his wife that get him past any hesitations or warning signs. It is also her, according to these accounts, who is very jealous of any person that JS actually likes, and who moves against them in order to maintain her control over JS and ShiningWorld. It is also her who helped JS to, allegedly, rip off people’s inheritances and fortunes.
Regarding the latter, it could be largely thanks to her that she and JS are being investigated by the legal authorities, or so the story goes, in Europe for fraud.
This on top of the file the US federal authorities have on JS himself for his alleged sex crimes, some of which have no Statute of Limitations.
One somewhat surprising response to this Message Board was that, unlike in 2017, JS did not respond immediately with threatening messages (which also displayed serious possibilities of psychological illness). Instead he has remained silent, at least as goes this message board. We can only guess this is due to the power and superior intellect of his wife, who realized that every time James communicates he shows his guilt and instability, as well as his spiritual “wrongness.”
In summary, as this message board passes 70 posts, if only these posts and the allegations strongly made in the “Heather” book are factored in, any person looking for a spiritual teacher or wise counsel might be well-advised to think twice, or thrice, before going to James Swartz.
In the last three weeks the only positive things I have heard regarding James Swartz have, intriguingly, come from highly spiritual folks who:
1. Are for real
2. Don’t teach,
3. Have looked at the teachings of JS, and just shaken their heads.
One of these folks said, and the others generally agreed with, “There is a chance that some good things could come from the teaching of Swartz. At least he reccommands, or at least mentions, Shankara and Ramana Maharshi. Just finding out about those teachers is a fantastic step forward for a person who hadn’t heard of them before. The thing is, once the student has heard of them, almost inevitably a reading of their teachings or hearing about them from better teachers will pull the students away from Swartz. That act of separation, especially from an egotist like him, is rarely pleasant. However, at least he got them started, which, especially if they can avoid all the abuse,is a good thing.”
Please, if you have more or something to contribute regarding James Swartz— perspectives, memories, experiences, or whatever— please do so.