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sheagI agree with many of the well-written posts on the subject of the Abraham-Hicks cult. About four years ago, I started dating a man who had 'discovered' Abraham Hicks. He was pretty into it, I got very familiar with the robotic feel-good phrases "all is well" "you can't get it wrong" and "change your vibration". I didn't think much of it, although I found it to be irritating, and thought the whole channelling thing to be utterly absurd. But I figured hey, live and let live. It didn't seem to be to be hurting anyone.
Then I started listening to the CDs he got every month. I couldn't stomach them for very long at any one time, Esther's bizarro fake accent and the innane, vapid audience questions and hysterical laughter at "Abraham's" lame jokes all make for a pretty creepy listening experience. But the more I heard, the more worried I became. I saw that the self-indulgent self-love that Abraham imbues their disciples with can be really destructive to relationships. Expressing normal compassion and empathy for another is seen as "negative vibrations". I will never forget one CD where some guy stood up and basically said he couldn't figure out how grief was compatible with Abraham, and in short found himself incapable of expressing this completely normal human emotion as it clashed with his Abraham teachings. I forget the response from Esther/Abraham, but it was something along the lines of 'don't worry be happy.'
Cult members are encouraged to isolate, no doubt about it, and 'do what feels good' without thinking about the consequences of one's actions on other people. I began to periodically question my mate and encourage him to think critically about what he was hearing. At first he was hostile and resistant, and I got accused of not being open-minded, yadda yadda yadda. I
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began to see that he was attracted to Abraham because it not only tolerated but encouraged many of his personality flaws; narcissism, self-indulgence, ego, lack of empathy, a lack of critical thinking, a complete lack of personal responsibility
. I think for some people it can be comforting to think that you can just ignore all the world's problems and blame homelessness, hunger, violence, and despair on the victims for not sending out the right "vibrations". For creating all their own problems.
The Abraham message to me is send us your money in lots of different ways (CDs, seminars, cruises), and write off everyone in your life who might be skeptical of us because they just aren't on the same higher plane as you.
I knew that ultimatums weren't going to do it with my mate, so I just kept camly pointing out areas where Abraham Hicks seemed to me to be not only vapid but really destructive thinking. THen a friend of him sent him "The Secret", and he was shocked with Jerry and Esther showed up because the whole thing is basically a bunch of white males talking about how to become millionaires while inexplicably showing video of people of color in third-world living conditions. It's a bizarre video, encouraging a kind of sick, grasping materialism. I mean, no one wants to be poor, and I like nice things as much as the next person, but I found "The Secret" to be completely over the top, unenlightened, self-absorbed, greedy schlock. After that he cancelled his Abrahama subscription and I haven't had to hear anything about vibrations since. The truth is, you CAN get it wrong. It's important to be considerate of others and have a world view. Empathy is the cornerstone of most successful relationships, and I think Abraham aims to isolate and control, like any other cult, while destroying every empathetic, analytical, compassionate impulse of their followers.