Recovering mlm wrote:

"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"



Jerry indeed was involved in Amway. He was also a circus performer. He has remarried. He's done a lot of things and like you and I he has a background. If you visit their website, there is a lot of information given away there at no cost. They also have lots of products for sale, with a no-questions-asked money back guarantee. They have never asked for a donation of any sort. There is no joining anything. They encourage people to think for themselves, without the help of Abraham. Remember life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? That sums up Abraham-Hicks. If you agonize over people who make money in America through free enterprize system, you certainly do have a problem.

I just wanted to reply to the last comment and say that if you look at the past comments on this thread, I don't think you can genuinely argue that contributors have a problem with making money in America. What concerns us is how legitimate the advise and motives of this organisation are. It could be argued that a former Amway sales man and circus performer might not be the most suitably qualified person to be handing out advise that often deals with deep rooted psychological and emotional issues, particularly when it is framed in a blame culture of negative thoughts leading to negative outcomes for the individual. Also, I don't think the Hicks are operating a charity, I know that the cruise my husband went on was very expensive and we are still waiting to see the positive economic fruits that were supposed to be the outcome of such meetings. Finally, I can only say that from what I have seen, all influences and perspectives that are not Abraham inspired are shut out or dismissed as negative influences - free thought indeed!

I read a very sad story a little while ago. It was about a woman who had cancer but chose to heal it by positive thought. Even as the disease took a greater and greater toll on her, she refused any treatment because that would be taking a negative view of her position. Her decision to stick to positive thought failed. She died from the cancer.

Life is all about balance. Focusing on the positive and denying the existence of the negative is a potentially dangerous way of living, as demonstrated in the story above.

It seems the story Abraham-Hicks sell is too black and white.

Taking into account all aspects of a situation, including things we view as negative, is a necessary part of making good decisions in everyday life.

I've wondered before how many people there are in this world using the Abraham-Hicks model of positive thinking to win the lottery. They can't all do it...

::sigh:: I know I sure do miss the company of my internet friend who was heavily involved in Abe-Hicks. She shut me out after I gave some constructive criticism of the Abe-Hicks movement. What happened was that my friend started saying that bad things were happening in my life because I wasn't following Abe-Hicks. (Actually, things weren't so bad. I took a temp job to pay some bills and she saw that as bad because I wasn't making oodles of money.) She said I would only have good friends and boyfriends if I looked for people in Abraham-Hicks; I never found followers in my age group. (I'm 27)

I really feel that Abers follow the Esther and Jerry as though they were modern-day messiahs. And, IMHO, the Hicks permit such behavior. Kinda egotistical... :(

I don't think either Hicks should be telling us how to live our lives. I also don't think we need some made-up entity to tell us about the Law of Attraction. Rereading their history, they skeeve me out. Their services are outrageous- why aren't they charging on a sliding scale or offering scholarships?

I just wanted to add something to Brad 69's interesting comments. Believe it or not, I have heard of people who despite being in dire financial circumstance have been told by Abraham followers that the Law of Attraction will allow them to win the lottery and solve all their problems. Even after the courts have declared them bankrupt or being on the verge of bankrupcy, they have hung on to this thought. And suprise, suprise when it doesn't happen this belief system has the perfect get out clause: your negative thoughts prevented you from winning! Are they due a refund from the Hicks?

I did not experience A/H as a blaming entity.

I recommend reading with an open mind and rejecting the principles that do not ring true.

The concept of our thoughts creating our reality is not a new one.

I do not believe they intend harm. Sure they want to sell their books--all authors do. Does that make it a "mind control" cult?

Ever curious,
1light

Good thread, thanks!

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Quote
1light
I did not experience A/H as a blaming entity.

I recommend reading with an open mind and rejecting the principles that do not ring true.

The concept of our thoughts creating our reality is not a new one.

I do not believe they intend harm. Sure they want to sell their books--all authors do. Does that make it a "mind control" cult?

Ever curious,
1light

Umm, well, yes. The reason the Hicks and their traveling freak show are a "mind control" cult is that they do the one thing that mind control cults always do, they encourage their more ardent followers to isolate themselves from non-cult (in this case, non-Abe-Hicks followers) members. Isolation from non-cult members is one of the fast and cardinal signal posts for true cultdom.

You really don't make it to cult status until you've established that one. And yes. We KNOW that they tell the members its for their own good. Of course they do. They tell them that they are just encouraging them to be around positive, like-minded members who won't interfere with their "manifestations" and their success with their psychic negativity.

Well here's a big newsflash for ya! That's what ALL the cults SAY. I mean, you don't win many followers with the line, "Hey, I'd really like for you to give me all of your money and associate only with the people I specify." That line NEVER goes over well. So they make it "good" for you to narrow your associations with those negative and unenlightened people outside the CULT. You know, so that you can be happy. And successful.

When the real deal is that they are just afraid that if any of your friends get you away from their happy trappy hippy dippy bs long enough, they might talk some sense into you about the likelihood that you should spend money buying merchandise from a woman who couldn't manifest a good marriage, but was more than happy to dump her spouse, marry this Jerry huckster, and start a cult with him. About how likely it is that 35,000 year old advice and prophecies from "warrior spirits" via Esther Hicks are a good plan for the rest of your life.

Especially when hey, Jerry stole that idea from some other woman channeling some other made up bs and then thought it would be a great idea for Esther to explore her own spirituality and start doing it too. Umm, especially if people would pay for it afterwards. He made his franchise much bigger and better though. He is, after all, a good salesman. Which is all this dog and pony show is. A bunch of pseudoscience, some pragmatic advice, and an increasing and unfortunate attempt to isolate followers. For their own good, of course.

There is just enough pragmatic, common sense stuff in there to make a good hook for the bait and rest of it is pure-d horse manure.

Oh, back to the what does it hurt, or are they really hurting anyone?

If by that you mean, is it ok to knowingly rip off untold numbers of people in the name of the almighty dollar, and slowly to isolate them from the outside world to perpetuate your myth and your hold on them, oh no. Absolutely not. The Hicks are sweethearts if you count all that stuff out.

I think Sydala makes some very good points here and it confirms that spirituality and well being has very little to do with the money orientated and manipulative methods used by the people discussed in this thread.

What I found so creepy and cult like about the Ab-Hicks followers is the way that have internalised defenses against any possible critiques of their faith and these are repeated in an almost hypnotic fashion. For instance, when I remind my husband that Jerry and Esther have yet to generate one single dime for us (quite the opposite in fact) hes always replies that he has been told that luck and good fortune will always grativate towards the Abraham Hicks partner of a couple that contains one skeptic - Right! Tell that to the banks and loan companies that we now owe so much money too because of such good beliefs!

I also think Sydala's point about the destructive way such groups cut off individuals from 'non-believers' is a really important one. When my husband came back from his 'instructional' cruize with the Hicks last year, his behaviour and appearance had totally changed. His eyes would glaze over when faced with an economic or social situation that didn't seem to have an Ab Hicks instant solution and he kept commenting that he was having trouble readjusting to reality. If I am blunt, I don't think he has ever readjusted.

Where the followers of this stuff are very vulnerable is on the reality of Jerry and Esther's background, as Sydala has pointed out. When I have questioned my husband on this he just comments 'Dont know, can't remember', as if an automated response has been drummed into him.

If there are any people with further information on the pasts of these two, could you please post them on this thread.

Go to Las Vegas or some casino near you and test the Law of Attraction with open mind.

focus on winning,

feel as if you already won

generate the winning feeling of joy

Warning: test with small amount that you can easily part with. Increase your bet when you know that it works for you. You will know fairly soon if it works for you. BE OPEN MINDED, ASSUME IT IS GOING TO WORK or you not doing the test properly.

Is using the Law of Attraction in casinos consider cheating? Perhaps casinos has to banned the use of the Law of Attraction !!!