A friend has massive problems with Abraham-Hicks. Any similar experiences?

First up, I don't have much knowledge of their work at all.

The only thing I want to say is that Esther Hicks when 'channeling' Abraham has an incredibly false-sounding accent. If Abraham is speaking through her, he has the strangest voice, mixed with a number of influences, that I have ever heard.

I saw this posting and wanted to reply. Last year year my husband attended an Abraham Hicks cruise and since returning, his behaviour has altered dramatically. His contact with so called non-believers has dramatically diminished and the only ever time he is animated is when he utters the words 'Abraham says.' Although I have tried to discuss some of the Abraham beliefs, I am am just rejected as being ignorant. I am not sure if this constitutes a cult or not, but the behaviour of its followers is very worrying. It sets up the belief that anything in the Universe is possible and when that does not occur, deep seated guilt and self-loathing takes hold in the follower because it is assumed that their lack of willpower has resulted in an inability to get a great job or win money. My husband also keeps talking about a film called 'The Secret', but I am not sure what that is. Any information and advice people could give me would be most welcome.

"The Secret" - which I haven't seen yet - talks about the Law of Attraction. Esther and Jerry Hicks were involved in the movie which, much like "What the Bleep?" has attracted a bit of a cult following.

"What the Bleep?" was shown to have many holes in it. "The Secret" is pretty new out and I have as yet not seen too much written on the veracity of its claims. Maybe it is time to do a Google search.

Jerry and Esther Hicks have a book called: "The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham". They also have another one called "Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires".

Go to Amazon and look for the second book, then click on "Read all customer reviews", then "Lowest Rating First". The reviews of those who were unimpressed make for some interesting reading.

Here is a quote from one of the reviewers:

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I am part of the way through the book now and I decided to look at the authors' website. I listened to their audio files and honestly it shocked me. It appears that Jerry Hicks started out as an "entertainer", then did "Think and grow rich" seminars and then, when Abraham started to speak to Esther, they consulted with their "business" friends.

It would seem, from that part of the review, that these people, like so many others in the industry are really just salespeople selling a dream.

However, that is not to say that there isn't anything of value in what the Hicks say. There is probably a lot of good too.

Here is an interesting link in which Esther and Jerry Hicks appear to distance themselves from the movie, "The Secret" - [integrationcoach.wordpress.com]

Another thread on Rick Ross, at [board.culteducation.com] has some stuff from "The Secret", which reveals some of the beliefs these people work by.

I was involved in a group based on the Law of Attraction teachings in Lynn Grabhorn's book, "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting". We had an Abraham-Hicks follower attend some meetings, as the work is similar (based on the Law of Attraction and positive thinking).

What bothered me about this woman is that she refused to do any exercises that she saw as "negative", because she didn't want to have any negative thoughts at all. That seems a bit unrealistic to me. Grabhorn's teachings were more about working through the negative stuff so that you can "drop it". Plus, it was distracting to the group, as she would just sit there and ignore us when we tried to do our exercises.

What really got my goat was when one of our members posted on our email list about a horrible tragedy that had just befallen her family. All of us posted our condolences and best wishes to her, but this Abraham-Hicks follower simply unsubscribed from our email list! I guess the "negativity" made her run away, instead of offering her sympathies like a normal, compassionate person.

I saw "The Secret" a few months ago and really enjoyed the refresher in the Law of Attraction teachings, but I hated the pseudo-Historic-Thriller plotline and images. (I think i posted about this already in the "Millionaire Mind" thread.) I don't get why they are marketing this work - which is public knowledge - as a "secret", but judging from their pay-to-join website and pay-to-join message boards, it's all about making money.

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Brad69
"Another thread on Rick Ross, at [board.culteducation.com] has some stuff from "The Secret", which reveals some of the beliefs these people work by.

And this one too:
[board.culteducation.com]

I totally agree with what you are saying about this enforced positivity that Abraham Hicks followers follow and have found this denial of negative thoughts as one of the most unrealistic things about the whole caper. It seems that it is used as a way of distinguishing and dismissing those non-followers for providing 'negative' vibes when they question the validity of what followers are saying. Also, this Abraham belief that you must only ever follow your joy seems a convenient way to justify any action (regardless of its morality). It seems to be a very odd group that cherishes personal selfishness over the communal bonds that might otherwise bind people together.

In the mid 70's to mid 80's, Jerry Hicks was an Amway distributor; some diamond level, based in Fresno CA. He's from Arkansas. His wife at the time was Trish. A darling chaming southern hospitality type couple. During his presentations of the Amway business plan to groups of people at hotel and restaurant meeitng rooms, Jerry would start off with a sort of metaphysical babble about becoming who you think yourself to be, etc. etc. That you are here now doing this because it is what you always wanted to do, etc. etc. Kind of mind numbing stuff, but everyone was in awe of him - very charasmatic and handsome. Turns out that this is the stuff Esther now 'channels' and they call it "Abraham." I guess that sells better than Mohamed, or Shiva.

One of the couples (Amway was very big on married couples) that Jerry recruited into his organization about 1978, was Esther and her then husband Richard Geer, from Fresno. After a couple of years of working "closely together", Jerry and Esther left their spouses and moved in together, later marrying after the divorce dust settled. About this time their Amway groups had begun declining, but Jerry and Esther had already started switching their revenue sources to selling tapes and seminars to their Amway down-line organization, and new followers. Jerry was doing generic 'Think and Grow Rich' seminars and that kind of thing. Jerry learned from Amway that there is always a large and financially viable number of people that need to feel involved in a warm and fuzzy clique that holds out the hope of an exclusive path to happiness, a path that is always within sight of the goal but not quite there - so you have to buy some more tapes or attend another seminar. You gotta hand to these two, they figured out a pretty nifty way to travel, live a luxury life, and not work too hard - problem is - it's all b.s.

In the mid 70's to mid 80's, Jerry Hicks was an Amway distributor; some diamond level, based in Fresno CA. He's from Arkansas and said he was an "entertainer" - whatever that means. His wife at the time was a charming older lady from the South,maybe Texas. They presented themselves as darling chaming southern hospitality type couple. I think she had the money that set up the successful and elegant lifestyle they used to attract new recruits to their Amway organization - always selling the dream of riches.During his presentations of the Amway business plan to groups of people at hotel and restaurant meeitng rooms, Jerry would start off with a sort of metaphysical babble about becoming who you think yourself to be, etc. etc. That you are here now doing this because it is what you always wanted to do, etc. etc. Kind of mind numbing stuff, but
everyone was in awe of him - very charasmatic and handsome - so they listened and some people bought into it and the Amway groups took on a new meta-physical dimension. Turns out that this is the beginnings of the stuff that Esther now channels' and they call it "Abraham." I guess that sells better than Mohamed, or Shiva. One of the couples (Amway was very big on married couples) that Jerry recruited into his organization about 1978, was Esther and her then husband "R", from Fresno. After a couple of years of working "closely together", Jerry and Esther left their spouses and moved in together, later marrying after the divorce dust settled. About this time their Amway groups had begun declining, but Jerry and Esther had already started switching their revenue sources to selling tapes and seminars to their Amway down-line organization, and new followers.
Jerry was doing generic 'Think and Grow Rich' seminars and that kind of thing. Jerry learned from Amway that there is always a large and financially viable number of people that need to feel involved in a warm and fuzzy clique, an 'inner circle' of people who know the truth and promote a way of thinking that holds out the hope of prosperity and happiness, but never quite gets there, so you have to buy some more tapes or attend another seminar.
You gotta hand to these two, they figured out a pretty nifty way to travel, live a luxury life, and not work too hard - problem is - it's all b.s. IMHO

Hi Recovering MLM,
can you provide some sources for the information you posted? I searched the net to try to find something that links the hicks with amway (it would be a very interesting mind opener for some if it could be circumstantiated) but didn't find much, actually nothing else but your post on google groups.
While I am inclined to believe you, could you share how you found out? Even the wikipedia page on abraham-hicks has no critical point of view at all.

Thank you.