On the NFPS forum (Native American) new comments, starting at #72

[www.newagefraud.org]


Someone's done a video, "Wannabe NDN"

[www.youtube.com]

PS:

'NDN' has originated within the Native American community itself, instead of being a term imposed from by outsiders and exploiters. Hence the video spoofing "Wannabe NDNs".

[www.urbandictionary.com]

More commentary from the NDN community here.

[64.38.12.138]

URL given above. IMO, if anyone wishes to quote from an NDN/Native American discussion venue, the honorable thing would be to contact the moderator/s and ask permission.

Too much has been stolen from the NDN community already.

Finally, for context, here is a subforum within a discussion venue for persons with loved
ones serving time in the prison system.

This subforum is for Native Americans and those visiting loved ones in prison.

This discussion venue responded to the concerns of a non-Native American who loves and cares for an NDN serving time. She wanted to know how to access NDN support for him and learn more about the culture.

You will see the warnings and advice offered. And note the advice that she can expect
to need a long time to win trust and that the elders of the tribe will be paying attention and will have final say.

That is when someone is for real. Note that not one single thing is said about paying money.

[www.prisontalk.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2009 11:20PM by corboy.

Additional perspectives from a Pagan website

A Few Quick Notes--October 16th

[wildhunt.org]

Pagan News of Note--October 16

[wildhunt.org]

Finally

[wildhunt.org]

Jason gives us this-dont know if this is rumor or not:

Quote

Speaking of Oprah, that titan of promoting the New Age flavor-of-the-month will be having a rather unexpected guest on her show in November. That’s right, not a dream! Not an imaginary story! Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah “blessed by Muthee” Palin will be on Oprah to promote her new book!

[voices.washingtonpost.com]

“Oprah Winfrey, on a campaign to climb back from last season’s ratings slump, will attempt to kiss and make up with conservative viewers on Nov. 16 when she has Sarah Palin on her syndicated talk show. You may have noticed that the appearance by the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate is happening smack dab in the middle of the November ratings derby. It’s also the day before Palin’s new book, “Going Rogue: An American Life” is scheduled to hit bookstores.”

(I guess we’ll finally learn what the world’s most famous New Ager and an infamous politician with deep ties to extremist anti-Pagan forms of Christianity have in common. Maybe they’re both fans of Jenny McCarthy? But seriously folks, I guess this proves that money, fame, and power trump all ideological barriers in the end.

Good point about the James Ray Dream Team.
There has been so much happening there has not been time to analyze each component of the James Ray structure.
But the "volunteer" James Ray Dream Team, is directly copied from the other major LGAT companies.
The LGAT guru finds the most persuadable and suggestible people in his group, and then uses his techniques to literally reform their beliefs and minds, to the point that they PAY to WORK for him.
Byron Katie also has "Staff" who PAY to WORK for her.
Getting people to work for free, or pay to work, started back with Werner Erhard, getting people to clean the toilets for no pay. (its about power and control).

Some of those Dream Team people use every penny they don't have, to "be close" to James Ray. Some others might have some family money, and they get the "special treatment" from James Ray and join various other "groups" and coaching that James Ray runs, to extract as much money from them as possible. The amount of money that can be extracted can be mind-boggling.

But the James Ray PAY-TO-WORK Dream Team are some of those who get exploited the most.
At the same time, there are some senior staffers, who would run the Dream Team, who would be like mini-James Ray's, and keep the others folks in lock-step.
Those are the senior James Ray Staffers people who have been doing all the lying and covering up that has been seen going on, and keeping people from helping others in Sedona, and doing everything James Ray tells them to do.
a few of those senior James Ray staffers could be in serious trouble too.

Quote
truth10
This is Dr. Beverly Dunn's account of the events that took place in Sedona. Please check out the video interview from ABC.

[abcnews.go.com]

[thisblksistaspage.wordpress.com]


On the same note, I've attended an introductory seminar(Harmonic Wealth) by James Arthur Ray and found it to be informational but, not so much revolutionary as he sells it. Before this event I studied NLP and learned of the LGAT agenda from this forum. At this event I noticed the unconscious sell traps he builds in the minds of those who attend his seminars. One particular issue I want to point out, is how James Arthur Ray's "Dream Team" is mentioned in the ABC article. If you are not familiar with James Arthur Ray events, the "Dream Team" is a group of people who are graduates of James Ray's seminars. If you've ever been around James Arthur Ray he proudly says that even though they have completed his seminars this people still pay thousands of dollars to help out at his seminars.(Cult?) At the event I went to, the "Dream Team" members counseled many attendees on fears, limiting beliefs, addictions and some of life's struggles. I was there for business and still felt that this seminar way out of hand in that James Arthur Ray assigned the "Soccer Moms"(Dream Team) to counsel attendees. In one particular break, were attendees are encouraged to speak to first Ray's staff but, secondly to "Dream Teamers" I walked up to one of these kind ladies and asked some technical questions of the path to success. The poor lady didn't have a clue, yet she was a "graduate". What kind of caring leader puts middle aged women in this unhealthy psychiatric scenario? I'm not a lawyer but, there are plenty of things that could be a cause of concern in the courts for James Arthur Ray. Recent articles suggest, neither James or any of his staff members are licensed to handle a break down. Negligence? We'll surely find out soon enough. That's my two cents, more later.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2009 04:56AM by The Anticult.

Here's an intelligent and funny take on the James Ray disaster from YouTube:
[www.youtube.com]

buffman:

Some very good points below. Especially about Stanley Milgram, lots to explore there.

Since you have done the Tony Robbins LGAT, you could point out here the similarities between James Ray and Tony Robbins techniques. (and Tony Robbins has many more seminars after UPW of course, isn't that an intro seminar?)

James Ray does use his tactics in virtually every sentence he utters in public.
But just to be clear, its not been in this thread where its been said that James Ray is intentionally setting out to hurt people in a way that would get him into trouble. Quite the opposite.
There have been many blogs saying that James Ray is "evil" and such, but none of that here in these threads.

James Ray certainly knows exactly what he is doing to people, BUT, he certainly does NOT know exactly how it all works technically, as he's just copying others. But he is 100% conscious of the damage being done to people, that is a fact. People can read his disclaimers, where he says so.
[forum.culteducation.com]
Also, anyone who works for the LGAT's for a few years, sees the people getting hurt, and getting bankrupt by the seminars. So you have to be extremely self-centered and utterly ruthless to do this to vulnerable people. These guys are ruthless sharks. But of course, some people are proud to be a shark, and rationalize it to themselves. Ususally their "power animal" is a predator, so they are proud to be a predator, and not the prey.

Why are these LGAT Guru's like James Ray hurting so many people?
These Guru's aren't stupid, and they don't want to do things that will get them into trouble or jail.
What they want to do is to use all means available in order to exercise maximum control and power over their subjects, for their own wealth and infinite egomania.
So they use every method and technique of group control they can get their hands on, and they push it as far as they can.

The subjects who are getting hurt, are those who get caught in the crossfire as collateral damage to the LGAT guru's ambitions. The people who end up seriously hurt or dead are collateral damage to their business.
And the payouts they are forced to make , are just a cost of doing their business to them.

In the mind of these gurus, its a business machine, and some people get crushed.
They then run and cover it up to protect their business.
They even often have contempt for those who get hurt as being "weak", and the more power they get over their subjects, the crazier they get.
Power corrupts.

James Ray wanted to push people to the edge of death, most likely to create a deep bonding experience that would create some lifetime followers. (that could be explored in great detail). People in previous years were seriously hurt, months before Colleen Conaway died, and they knew it. People were seriously hurt, and they just kept going, and stopped people getting help, so that shows the real conscious intent.

And these extreme LGAT Guru's EXPECT some people to get seriously hurt and EXPECT some people to die at their seminars, it says so right in their descriptions of the seminar in their waivers and releases. They say they know others have/may have been hurt in the past, and that people can die. So to them, a few people getting killed is par for the course.
And who knows what happens inside the mind of a serious narcissist LGAT Guru, when people are getting seriously hurt and are even dying from time to time due to his "power".
Talk about power going amok.
The "general" doesn't lose sleep over the collateral damage.
And the serious injuries and deaths at the extreme LGAT seminars, would certainly be worn as a badge of honor by the "fearless leader", after all, he sees himself as a fake white Shaman, and "today is a good day to die". (for his followers, not for him).
One of James Ray's senior people was obviously coached to tell the survivors that they "chose" to die, in that recorded conference call. So there it is in black and white.

But trained people arent't going to believe the feeble lies being put forward about these events.

So the James Ray crocodile tears for his victims, are not believable in the least, its a performance.
Most likely, guys like James Ray are malignant narcissists, or have a serious Narcissistic Personality Disorder NPD. They are so self-obsessed, they literally have no empathy for those who get hurt. If anything, one can know that James Ray feels HE is being "victimized" in all of this.



-----------

[www.mental-health-today.com]
Narcissistic DSM IV Criteria
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

(1) has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

(2) is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

(3) believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

(4) requires excessive admiration

(5) has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

(6) is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

(7) lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

(8) is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her

(9) shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes




Narcissistic personality disorder [www.mayoclinic.com]
Symptoms By Mayo Clinic staff

Narcissistic personality disorder symptoms may include:

Believing that you're better than others
Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
Exaggerating your achievements or talents
Expecting constant praise and admiration
Believing that you're special
Failing to recognize other people's emotions and feelings
Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
Taking advantage of others
Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
Being jealous of others
Believing that others are jealous of you
Trouble keeping healthy relationships

NPD [www.halcyon.com]

Quote
buffman
Thank you for all your excellent reporting on this subject, Anticult. I have been closely watching this tale unfold. Your work in organizing all the information on this thread is highly appreciated.

One thing I slightly disagree with is whether or not abusive guru types like James Ray have malicious motives or not, or even whether they are trained in coercive persuasion tactics. I think there is no question that Ray is using hundreds of such tactics, perhaps even in every sentence he utters---but is he doing it intentionally to harm others? Does he even know what he's doing, or is he just repeating his own indoctrination into coercive persuasion learned from other abusive LGAT's and cults? Abusive alcoholics are generally not trained in coercive persuasion, and yet are sure good at it given the right victim, and perhaps even learn such manipulative tactics from their own abusive parents.

Cedar Barstow, author of a book on ethics for therapists says on her website, "Far from being an automatic result of good intentions, right use of power must be learned and practiced. The ability to act sensitively, creatively, and effectively on behalf of others and oneself requires attention, skill, wisdom, and a lifetime interest in the impact of your uses of power." [www.rightuseofpower.com]

While we may both agree that James Ray seemingly has no interest whatsoever in how his use of power might negatively impact others, he might also actually care for those who have died, or even have conflicting intentions. Intentions are often complex and contradictory, yet what we should judge him by in this case is not intent (which we can't truly know anyway) but impact---and clearly his impact is very negative and controlling, both psychologically and financially over the participants in his seminars.

Stanley Milgram's simple experiment in obedience just utilized a white lab coat, the position of authority of the psychologist, and a gentle prodding with the four simple phrases "Please continue," "The experiment requires that you continue," "It is absolutely essential that you continue," and "You have no other choice, you must go on." There were no complex and sophisticated tactics of psychological manipulation, yet most subjects gave what they thought were deadly shocks to the "learner": [en.wikipedia.org] This experiment lead to the development of ethical standards in psychological research due to the extreme stress and trauma put on participants. Notably though, 84 percent of former participants surveyed later said they were "glad" or "very glad" to have participated---not unlike the ratio of satisfied LGAT participants after coerced to spend 10's of $1000's on workshops.

All someone would need to do to become the next manipulative LGAT leader is to go to existing LGATs and "play full on," then repeat what was done to them---like an abusive alcoholic continuing the cycle of abuse. But yes, James Ray has implemented such power games and manipulative tactics "full on," i.e. with utter ruthlessness and disregard for his seminar attendees. I went to Tony Robbins' UPW in 2003 and at that workshop decided I wanted to be a LGAT leader like Robbins. In many ways, I've spent the last 6 years deprogramming myself from that one manic seminar and the goal that was implanted there, and have been seeking out non-coercive methods of therapy and personal change since (which are unlikely to make anyone rich or famous, by the way).

I think perhaps evil is much more ordinary than that of the "evil genius" archetype, as Hannah Arendt argued in Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. This thesis is perhaps even more disturbing than positing the existence of evil individuals who manipulate others with sophisticated tactics, for we need to guard not just against the handful of evil others, but also the tendencies towards control and coercision within ourselves, as well as structures of society that promote authoritarian control. If anything, we should fight for regulations on how self-help LGAT workshops can be conducted, especially with regards to long hours, sleep deprivation, breaks for food and bathroom use, and sales pitches for other workshops and products. And also continue to use our critical minds, especially to question people in positions of authority.

I should be clear that this is NOT justification for blaming the victims of James Ray or anyone else in any way whatsoever. Education about LGAT's, cults, and coercive persuasion is still a very important thing to prevent others from being victims of such abuses of power, and I will continue to do everything I can to educate others so that we can stop James Ray and other abusive guru types.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2009 05:51AM by The Anticult.

Things to Make and Do

Do a google of sweat lodge (exact phrase) and the name of any New Age or 'Spiritual' teacher.

See what you get.

As in "sweat lodge" and Byron Katie.

"shamanism" and (fill in the blank)

or

"Native American Spirituality" and (fill in the blank)

Or "firewalk" or "fire walk" and (fill in the blank)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2009 10:12AM by corboy.

I agree with everything you've written in this last post, Anticult. Perhaps I'm foolishly holding onto an optimistic view of James Arthur Ray's intent, since I have no experience of being such a ruthless narcissist. I also think I'm still deprogramming a bit myself from my Tony Robbins experience, nearly 6 years later. Part of me wants to believe that Robbins isn't a monster, despite the evidence. My girlfriend went down after a PSI seminar two years ago though, which was the major wake-up call for me. The $10k+ in hospital bills after that experience are an ever-present reminder of why neither of us will be attending any LGAT's again.

I will say that I've noticed several very strange things Ray does. For one, the story about "Howard" from Wolfgang Pucks in this video from his YouTube account is 100% ripped off from Robbins, word-for-word including inflections:
[www.youtube.com]

It is impossible that both Robbins and Ray had the same experience with "Howard," which means Ray must be lying, and who knows, Robbins may also have ripped off or made up the story (he almost certainly embellished it at the very least).

In several other videos Ray says "You, like me, ..." which is a cheesy language pattern for embedding "you like me" into a sentence. Whenever I hear this phrase it has the opposite effect though, even before I knew about NLP and hypnosis.

Ray worked as a telemarketer for AT&T and became a sales coach. When I was desperate and broke a few years back, I worked for a few weeks as a telemarketer myself. Worst job I ever had. When people get out of prison and have tattoos on their face, they get job placement in telemarketing (about 1/3 of the staff was fresh out of jail). The guy who trained me was a coldhearted narcissist. I found myself feeling terrible about calling these people and robotically following this pushy script, treating the person on the other line as a number.

Since I was desperate, I stayed much longer than I wanted, and one day "cracked the code" to telemarketing--I dropped into a meditative trance state where I didn't care about the outcome, and just called as many people as possible, trying to get people off the phone who weren't interested very rapidly. I was totally nonpushy and apologetic, and even put people on the "don't call" list if they said they weren't interested (that was breaking the rules--you're supposed to continue to call everyone no matter what). Most callers got 1-2 leads/hour, and suddenly I was getting 7-15--and you were paid more for extra leads. But I also realized that the only people who signed up (we were trying to get people to sign up for an appointment with an auto insurance salesman) were old people living in rural areas. It was clear that we were taking advantage of the innocent---savvy city folk almost never "converted." The next day, I quit---even though I was broke and had no other job prospects at the time, my conscience just couldn't take it, and I saw where that dark road led.

Hearing that Ray was a successful telemarketer tells me a lot about what has happened inside of his psyche---especially since he almost certainly didn't take the nonpushy method I took. And he's also targeting the same easy prey that is taken by pushy telemarketers for his LGAT.

When Ray was recently in Denver, a friend and I went down to hand out flyers about the sweat lodge deaths. Instead, we found ourselves inside, and stood up and asked him "did you block people from leaving the sweat lodge?" He did not respond, but we did get anonymous mention in the NY Times (a slight misquote, though):
[www.nytimes.com]

The room was full of middle-aged conservative looking people, whom I'm sure had very little knowledge of language or social psychology. Easy pickin's for a trained telemarketer. Several people stood up and defended Ray by yelling at us "we didn't come to hear you speak" and even "the size of your two egos...". A fellow skeptic wrote up this article for Randi.org with his report:
[www.randi.org]

Personally, I found it liberating to shout at the devil, er, at James Arthur Ray. If more people would do this, perhaps we could infuse some sanity into these trainings. On the other hand, knowing social psychology, when we left (escorted out by Ray's bodyguards) this could have reinforced the notion that everyone remaining is part of the in-group. A good telemarketer doesn't let the last "no" affect him--no matter how much they scream or call you names or whatever--but just moves on: one more "no" on the way to a "yes."

I also facilitate healing processes with clients, some of which are based in NLP. There are a few teachers of NLP that take a non-manipulative approach, but not many (the saints amidst the psychopaths). Virginia Satir was one initial therapist modeled by Bandler and Grinder. Whenever they would figure out a technique from what she was doing, she would be so horrified and afraid she was manipulating clients that she would stop doing whatever it is. What she didn't realize though is that all human behavior can be modeled, and that she was doing techniques unconsciously.

I do think that NLP and hypnosis can be done non-coercively, but unfortunately not many people who come to these fields are interested in things like love and kindness and respect for all aspects of a human being, and most NLP is not taught with ethics built-in as much as it should be. But then again, I've met many people who use Marshall Rosenburg's Non-Violent Communication in manipulative ways to enforce that you too speak in NVC language. Any tool, even if explicitly non-coercive, can be used for coercion even unconsciously. And most NLP practitioners are not going around manipulating people all day either. If anything, we should have more education about communication and psychology to prevent manipulation.

Tony Robbins' approach to NLP however (or NAC as he calls it) is totally consistent with manipulating others. You start by overpowering parts of yourself, setting up a dominator hierarchy of psychic functions, using adrenaline to crowd out subtler objections within. Then you project this same overbearing forcefulness onto others to get what you want. I've always been opposed to heavy drug use, but when I was doing Robbins' "state management" and eliciting "passion" regularly, I found myself surrounded by coke heads because our subjective experience was relevantly similar. Later a friend of a friend said that the experience of coke was "pure ego," and that exactly describes the state Robbins calls "passion"---the elicitation of mania as a way of being. In fact, drugs work because of receptors that are already in the body for endogenously generated chemicals. Robbins teaches how to endogenously generate coke or meth, turning his followers into junkies for the next fix of their own biochemistry, now anchored to the presence of Tony.

Since Ray has copied Robbins nearly word-for-word, I have to assume his workshops are similar in structure and in the states elicited. I have mixed feelings about Robbins, for his work brought me out of depression on several occasions only to bring me into mania, and then rapidly cycling bipolar moods. This kind of "healing" is like getting punched in the gut to stop a headache.

For these 'spiritual warriors,' the casualties were real
By Christine B. Whelan
Sunday, October 25, 2009
[www.washingtonpost.com]

There is another article about the so-called sweat lodge deaths and James Ray.
Unfortunately, yet again, the main point is missed, like a 900 lb gorilla in the living room.
James Ray and his ilk are NOT about "self-help" or spirituality or cognitive psychology, or sweat lodges.
That is the sales-pitch, that is the bait-and-switch. That is how they get the "customers" into the door.

Why is it that even intelligent people, can miss the 900 lb gorilla in the room?
They seem to be completely blind as it is staring them in the face.
That is because these advanced group influence techniques are NOT taught in any university that anyone is aware of.
There are very few good books about them that reveal the methods they are using.
You are not going to learn them at college, and its not so easy to learn them in the real world, as its very expensive.

Years ago there were all sort of decent seminars which actually did teach the specific techniques of all the mastering group Persuasion Techniques, Influence, and how to operate your own seminar. But now even those are very rare, as those who know how to do it, don't want to give aware their systems and methods.

But people gotta wake-up. Someone has to step-up, and explain to the public how these complex LGAT seminars really work.

Christine Whelan is literally just talking about the professed "content" of the seminar.
Don't they realize that LESSON ONE in group influence is that CONTENT is irrelevant?
They call content BS, that is Belief Systems.

And they put out all that content LITERALLY to DISTRACT people from seeing the group persuasion techniques they are doing to people.
Its literally a distraction, like a magician uses on a stage, to misdirect people's mental focus.

The meta-content is what its really all about, the "content" is literally meaningless.
You literally learn that in the first chapter of how to influence people.
How can it be that those who are writing and thinking about this stuff, don't even appear to know what you learn on the first day?
There are hundreds of techniques being used, NONE of which will be mentioned on the LGAT's website!
Of course, that is all "content", and its frankly meaningless. But they know people get their heads lost in the "spiritual philosophy" which is where they want it. They want their heads lost in the clouds.

Its scary, that almost no one in the media has any clue of the actual persuasion and influence techniques being used by these LGAT gurus on the public.
There has to be someone out there, who knows exactly how it all works, and who can speak and write and educate the public.
Maybe now is the time for a group of experts to come forward with a nice text on the persuasion methods, to educate the public?

Why did Christine Whelan not even reference
INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini? [www.amazon.com]
Influence By Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. [www.culteducation.com]

Which is just the basic starting point of a few basic techniques?
Its scary, it really is.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2009 10:39AM by The Anticult.

I started to read Influence, but the introduction made me nauseous. The fact that Cialdini teaches social psychology to manipulate groups to marketers and others is extremely unethical in my opinion. I thought his book was going to be about how to prevent being influenced, but most people who've read it and rave about it are in the business of engineering consent.

The Real Secret: Additional Resources for Journalists and Concerned Citizens


Well, here are additional resources

The Anticult, in addition to mentioning Cialdini's book, mentioned another one

Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control (Hardcover)
~ Dominic Streatfeild (Author)

[www.amazon.com]

We had a discussion on the RR.com forum years back on Manipulating the Room
Environment.

[forum.culteducation.com]

This by itself can be easily done and has a more potent effect than many of us imagine.

If you add that to travelling away from home to attend an 'event' this effect multiplies.

Some entrepreneurs do these events multiple time zones away in foreign countries.

Please go back and read this long thread from the beginning, at page one. Note how this discussion attracted many disruptive visitors.

Also, put :

'psychosis'

'nested loops' 'sleep deprivation'

and 'Ericksonian' into the search slot for the Rick Ross message board. The search button is at the upper right of the screen. You will want to select 'all forums' and 'all dates'.

(Milton Erickson was a good and honorable psychiatrist who created new methods of
trance induction, often through use of story telling. He was acutely concerned with the needs of each patient and intended for this to be used only for medical purposes. In a number of his published works he discusses medical ethics.)

Finally, if one wishes to research the career trajectory of charismatic spiritual entreprenuers, you can start by reading psychologist Len Oakes' book Prophetic Charisma. This book is an excellent guide for a researcher and also for creating a list of interview questions.

Some excerpts from Oakes' book can be read here:

[www.sustainedaction.org]

[www.sustainedaction.org]

Finally if your subject claims Carlos Castaneda as an inspiration, you can learn all about this shyster here, on a website run by former and very disenchanted followers who suffered for their devotion.

[www.sustainedaction.org]

Here is a discussion of Castaneda's system of 'Erasing Personal History and Other Sorceric Techniques". Its just a version of you make your own reality.

[sustainedaction.org]

Quote

Erasing Personal Integrity and other ‘Sorceric Techniques’
By David Worrell

The important practices we will be discussing kind of go hand in hand, so I'm going to name them up front, so you can intuitively begin to see how they fit together. The main practices for discussion will be: erasing personal integrity, avoiding responsibility, being available and unavailable at the precise turn of the ego, and worshiping self-importance.

While I foolishly have enough confidence in my fellow humans to imagine that just upon hearing these important terms they will already know what they mean, I am going to briefly spell them out anyway, as to how they interrelate, and in the end it will be obvious how all these traits combine in the "perfect practitioner" to make up the "mood of a warrior."

Erasing Personal Integrity

"Morals" are not the concern of a warrior. In other words, there is nothing which should ever be considered "good" or "bad" conduct. The only concern is with energy, with one's own energy, that is. Whatever you may do --- intentionally or otherwise --- to other people is in no way your concern, just as long as it doesn't get you down or hang you up in any way, energetically. Remember, a warrior is like a pirate, using people, taking everything they want. And so if anyone has a problem with anything you do or with you just taking anything you want, well, fuck 'em. :-)

Of course, lies don't matter. You lie to get what you want, and to make sure that you get what you want, no matter what. Simple. Now, you might think that this could cause problems with people getting angry with you (if they find out what you're really doing, and hey, they may not because you are never to be open or up-front about your activities)--but people getting angry or hurt is not a problem, because if you have no personal integrity, no explanations are ever needed. Let 'em get mad. Let 'em be hurt. Big fucking deal. If your lies and deceptions and hidden actions cause other people to have problems--if others waste enormous amounts of time trying to figure out what you are deceptively hiding, or lose ground following trails you left to mislead while in the process of getting what you want--well, it's not your problem is it? It's really so darned simple: you get what you want, you take what you want, and if anyone has a problem with that, then fuck 'em. Above all, no one pins you down. If someone else gets "pinned down" in some way as a result of your actions, well that's their problem isn't it?

Avoiding Responsibility

It kind of goes without saying that if no one knows what you are really doing, then people are going to have one heck of a time trying to hold you responsible or accountable for anything. So you don't have to worry about it at all! Isn't that great? :-) Little by little you must create a fog around yourself, so that no matter what you do, no one can catch up with you to do anything about it or make you answerable for your actions. So of course you must leave everyone who knows you well, or tries to get close to you, and you never reveal what you really do, not to anyone. Sure this may hurt the hell out others and it may cause them all manner of problems and inconveniences, but no one can ever cramp your style again, and that's all that matters.

Being available and unavailable at the precise turn of the ego. See, once again, the important thing to remember is that it's always, always about YOU. So you come and go as you please, and simply (wimply) vanish whenever it suits you. You get what you want, do whatever you want to do, and then you get out of reach. Yes, this means that most of the time when others may need or want something, you are simply not there, but that's no big deal of course, because ... it's always, always about YOU.

Worshiping Self-importance

It should now be very easy to see that everything in a warrior's life has to do with their own precious self, and nothing but their own precious self. Not only does a warrior not give a shit about friends, or relationships, or love, but a warrior doesn't waste time on crap like how people live in this petty little world--the schools, the political systems, the environment, etc. none of these things can be allowed to take one second of time from a warrior's primary concern: themselves. As a warrior, your own energy, your own journey is literally ALL that matters. It doesn't matter how much you cheat, or lie, or confuse, or even fuck other people up--it doesn't matter who or what gets ignored or discarded or trashed or abandoned or used, as long as you keep increasing your energy for your precious journey.

As promised, the mood of a warrior should now be totally obvious, and can be very succinctly summarized. The mood of a warrior is: Selfishness. It is like the selfishness of a very young child, except that it is natural and beautiful for a very young child to be selfish, and as children grow they naturally develop the ability to empathize and harmonize with the perspectives of others around them. Thus, in an adult, the "mood of a warrior," the total selfishness and concern for oneself to the exclusion of everything else is really a hideously regressive pattern, developmentally equivalent to the moral sense of ... oh...about a two-year old.

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"I cling to nothing..., therefore I have nothing to defend"

I.e., I build nothing in the world for anyone but myself, therefore I have nothing to defend (except myself of course).

I am committed to no one, therefore I have nothing to defend (except myself of course).

I have accomplished nothing worth fighting for, for anyone but myself, therefore I have nothing to defend (except myself of course).

In fact, I don't give a shit about ANYTHING but myself, therefore I have nothing to defend (except myself of course).

I cling to "clinging to nothing" and other "enlightened slogans", yet still say I have nothing to defend, but what I really have to defend (besides myself of course) is ... my non-moral morality slogans and my self-image as a big bad warrior.

Additional Exploration topics listed here:

[sustainedaction.org]

Note: Here is an item that relates to Milton Erickson, who by the way, lived and practiced in Phoenix, Arizona--a wise old man of a desert city. One of his teaching stories referred to a cactus. He often told patients as part of their assignments to climb
a hill near his office.

I happened to read a book, The Language of Change: Elements of Therapeutic Commnication, published in 1978 by psychologist Paul Watzlawick. Watzlawick was greatly influenced by Erickson's methods. His book is a a very early description of Erickson's work in language accessible to laypersons. Watzlawick discussed figurative language and hypnotherapy and wrote

Quote

, 'hypnotherapy, which has always relied on figurative, dreamlike
language, and considers its mastery a precondition for the success of therapeutic intervention.' Earlier PW stated that this kind of language, which engages the right hemosphere of the brain, does explain...it evokes and calls forth something from within us.

On page 57-58, there is a lengthy page note which includes:

'A modern master in the use of language of imagery is Milton Erickson, who is known to answer his patients' questions (above
all, the typical question: 'What shall I do in this situation?') with lengthy, complicated stories that, from a logical point of
view, seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the situation at hand.

Watzlawick continues

'My colleagues and I suspected for a long time that the figure of Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda's books was really Erickson--
an assumption which, upon our inquiry, he denied for once directly and not by telling a story.'

'Guided fantasy as a therapeutic technique is also explained very well by Bandler and Grinder in their Structure of Magic Volume 1
(7 pp 166-169)

(Corboy--what follows is stricly my reading of the tex quoted above. Notice PW's use of 'for once' and 'directly and not by telling a story.'

Note too that PW uses the word 'suspected' and refers to 'my colleagues and I'.

This hints that some highly placed people already entertained grave doubts about Castaneda and his alleged sources. Paul W was an eminent
psychotherapist, based at Stanford University. He had quite good professional connections.

And...notice Watzlawick's assertion that Castaneda actually responded to the inquiry--as though he dared not ignore it.)

Paul Watzlawick died in 2007. It might be interesting to find out whether his correspondance has been preserved and whether any trace of a correspondance between CC and PW survives. There is a Wikiepedia article on Watzlawick. It mentions that in the 1950s he taught in El Salvador.

This is all very interesting given Amy Wallaces (author of searing memoir Sorcerers Apprentice: My Life With Carlos Castanda) remarked that part of the job of CC's inner circle was to destroy or discard various books on hypnosis. It would be interesting to know what the titles were.