I have been a member of Jacumba/Royal Way for many years and it is heartbreaking to read such venomous attacks on Royal Way and Michael Gottlieb, the worst being from people who never attended a Royal Way Retreat or even met Michael. They state “facts” that are outright lies and attack and misquote his papers, which they say are secret. How can they be secret when they are sent to the hundreds of people who are members of Royal Way? Why such hatred for something they know nothing about?

Michael is a man who has devoted his life to helping people lead rich, fulfilling lives, a man of endless patience and compassion who wants only for people to grow and be happy. That someone would intentionally mischaracterize as “worship” the love and gratitude many feel for all he has given to help them solve their problems and enrich their lives is mean spirited and pathetic. It sounds like envy to me.

To the people attacking Michael’s wealth, his finances are none of their business, but to set the record straight, Royal Way is a church and all the money from our retreats goes to Royal Way, not to Michael Gottlieb personally. Most of Michael’s work is done without charge and he does not live in a desert compound as someone claimed. He lives in a house in Los Angeles. Our retreats are held at RW Ranch in Lucerne Valley, California, which is owned by Royal Way. The Ranch is a conglomeration of many individual parcels of land, large and small. Other than a parcel of vacant land which I personally donated to Royal Way, and two small one-acre vacant parcels another member donated, all of the parcels comprising the Ranch were purchased from unrelated third parties (nonmembers) who had listed them for sale.

Royal Way is a true spiritual community. The people who choose to stay and grow with Royal Way become stronger, richer, more independent and more effective in every endeavor, worldly and spiritual. They have more to give to others, inside and outside of Royal Way. Each of us is a distinct individual; the suggestion that we all talk and look alike would provoke a big belly-laugh in anyone who knows us.

Michael is a spiritual Teacher who shares his personal experiences with us and lives what he teaches. He knows much that I do not; that is why I stay with him and continue to learn. He is very loving, caring and giving -- all of the time. He never hurts anyone in any way, emotionally, spiritually, financially, physically, psychologically, or otherwise. And he never interferes with anyone’s personal decision to leave, to stay, to grow fast, to grow slow, to not grow at all. Anyone who wants to believe that such a great Teacher does not exist, and who would rather indulge in dark speculation about supposed ulterior motives and devious methods, has a problem.

Regarding people leaving Royal Way, just like any friendships in life that evolve from common interests, be it a job or membership in a book club or health spa, when someone leaves, they no longer share the same interests, so friendships often change and people move on. This is natural. Yet, there are people in Royal Way who have spouses or relatives who are not, and there is absolutely no problem in their relationships. There also are people who have left Royal Way who only have positive things to say about their experience. They too have no problem. On occasion, however, there is someone who leaves Royal Way and does not move on. It is not unlike a divorce. Many people get divorced and drop the matter. They go on living and achieving all kinds of things, even marrying again. But every once in a while there is someone who, after a divorce, makes that divorce the central focus of his life. His life stops right there, and his food and his drink and his breathing turn to poison.

This has happened to one or two people who have left Royal Way. Writing under a variety of anonymous names and posing, alternately, as former members, interested friends and concerned relatives, they have used this forum for postings that deliberately misquote Michael and misrepresent what Royal Way is. They have their own agenda which is to “save” others from Royal Way. In reality, they are not saving anyone, least of all themselves.

There has been much uninformed conjecture and deliberate misrepresentations about Royal Way posted on this forum. To dispel at least some of this false information, I submit the following:

1. No cult awareness expert, organization or database has ever named Royal Way a cult. This includes the late Dr. Louis Jolyon West of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Rick Ross.

2. Royal Way does not “target” gays or the financially affluent.

3. No one “worships” Michael nor would Michael ever tolerate someone attempting to do so.

4. There is nothing hidden or secretive about either Royal Way or Michael. On the first weekend retreat Michael tells the participants his name – Michael Gottlieb. He has also written openly to members about his background. And, he has opened his home to us on many occasions.

5. Michael incorporates teachings from a number of sources Buddha, Moses, Lao-tzu, Gurdjieff, Rabindranath Tagore, Sigmund Freud, Viktor Frankl and Albert Einstein to name just a few. He has never claimed that what he teaches is original. He, however, is completely original.

6. Royal Way is in no way affiliated with any “Fourth Way” organization or movement.

7. Someone who has only attended the first retreat is not eligible to attend a Patrons Party for the simple reason that they would not understand what it is. So the person claiming to have attended a Patrons Party after only one retreat and reporting on what supposedly went on there is deliberately lying.

8. At no Royal Way retreat has any participant ever disrobed, been asked to disrobe or anything of that nature.

9. There is no “instruction” in Royal Way that “students proceed thru seven or so stages of development, starting with childhood . . .”. There is nothing even remotely related; this is complete fabrication.

10. There is no “free labor for the teacher” in Royal Way. We (the members) own a lovely Ranch in Lucerne Valley and we chose to care for the grounds, gardens and orchards ourselves rather than hire others to do it.

My years in Jacumba/Royal Way have given me a deeper understanding of myself, others, and the world around me, have enabled me to excel in my career and make more money now than ever before. I have many friends in and out of Royal way and lead a truly happy, fulfilling life. And I am not the only one who feels this way. There are hundreds of people who have attended Royal Way retreats who read and study Michael’s papers, and send him letters of love and appreciation.

As someone said, Michael has a powerful influence on people and their lives. To them I say, yes he does, a powerful influence for growth, not only for those who are fortunate enough to know him, but all those they come in contact with. Royal Way is a ray of light in a world engulfed in darkness.

One final question. Every day, the two great opiates of our time – television and the internet - enslave millions of Americans, whose beings are so filled with trivia and garbage that they have profoundly lost any sense of their own worth, their own possibilities. Why is it that this gets no attention whatsoever from people who profess to be so concerned about protecting our personal freedoms and integrity? This is a phenomenon truly worth exploring.

Sharon, just post the "writing" that I read. I am sure you have read it and know which one I am talking about.

Only then, with this orginal content in mind, can people make their own determination about the value of RW. You infer this writing is not secret, so just post it.

If you do post it, I will edit and delete all of my so called "venomous attacks" because then forum readers will have the primary facts for themselves and not need my research findings, both fact and opinion.

Go ahead and post the writing for all of us to read. This is a really simple request.

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Anon1234
Sharon, just post the "writing" that I read. I am sure you have read it and know which one I am talking about.

After reading such a well expressed and heartfelt post from Sharon Nader, your demand comes off as cold and aggressive. Who are you to be so attacking? Sounds like you have a grudge. I take your opinion with a hefty dose of salt.

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Anon1234
Only then, with this orginal content in mind, can people make their own determination about the value of RW. You infer this writing is not secret, so just post it.

You think a person can make a determination about the "value" of anything based on one writing? I can quote biblical passages that would make Christianity or Judaism look bad. I'm not interested in reading anything out of context. Your motives are suspect.

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Anon1234
If you do post it, I will edit and delete all of my so called "venomous attacks" because then forum readers will have the primary facts for themselves and not need my research findings, both fact and opinion.

Sounds like a bad deal to me. Anything anyone posts can be attacked, misconstrued, turned inside out- whatever. You're suggesting a "lose-lose" scenerio for Ms. Nader- she'd be a fool to fall into it. I came here to find out if RW was a decent thing to attend, and comparing Ms. Nader's post to yours, I think I'll take that chance. You haven't even attended anything regarding RW. How much could you know? These forums are full of people who attended seminars, retreats, etc. of many different organizations and have a real first hand account of whether it was a good thing for them or not. You haven't done that, so just go and find out yourself. I think I'm going to- I have a lot of respect for my friend in RW. I did a google search for RW and this is what I found. At first I was concerned (this is an old thread), but after reading Sharon's post I'm not. Good thing she posted when she did. You, however come off as someone who doesn't know what you're talking about.

Yes Sharon, post it. Let us see it and make up our own minds, although I have a "strong" feeling I will be agreeing with Anon1234.

Anon 1234: The letters Michael writes are for his friends only. You
obviously don't like the letter referred to. Fine. Don't read it. It's
not for you.

This is my response to Anon1234: Your insistence that we publicize our spiritual Teacher’s private writings—intended only for those who have attended the Royal Way retreats and are interested in studying his teachings—is offensive. It also betrays an astounding ignorance on your part. You don’t grasp the enormous difference between privacy and secrecy.

Privacy is at the core of spirituality, just as it is at the core of everything which is most dear to us as human beings, including love, friendship, sexuality, etc. Some things are too special—some things demand too much care and respect—to be blabbed about indiscriminately.

Secrecy can connote hiding something out of shame, fear, deviousness, anger, etc.

If the distinction still doesn’t come through to you, ask yourself why Sharon Nader and I post under our real names and you don’t.

Mr. Zemanek,
I do understand your point. I can only speak for myself, but if the writings are intended only for attendees, I'm ok with that. I think it would be interesting to meet the guru first, so that reading the writings also has a sense of who he is to augment it. It is interesting that if there are churches or groups that should be avoided, I have had no problem finding an abundance of material online to attest to the fact. That is certainly not the case here. I will trust the quality and the longevity (over 7 years) of my friendship with the person who recomended RW. They are a dear friend who I admire and have been through thick and thin with, so I know their character.

-Stacey

It seems strange that any group would withhold writings that have raised serious questions.

The only way to have those questions really resolved would be to post the material in question publicly and demonstrate there is nothing to hide because there is nothing within the material that is questionable.

However, RW members have chosen not to do that.

Ms. Nader and Mr. Zemanek are not only members of RW they are lawyers, so they should understand the value of discovery.

That is, in order to understand the facts about the material people need to see (discover) the documents.

Ms. Nader and Mr. Zemanek did not state that they are lawyers in their posting, they posted as members of a group. You have altered the spelling of Ms. Nader's name, and you have disclosed their profession, which they chose not to disclose to the public.

As lawyers, Ms. Nader and Mr. Zemanek understand the value of discovery.

I'm sure they also understand the value of confidentialty.

I respect their decision not to post these "writings".

bells:

Sorry about the typo regarding Ms. Nader. It has been corrected.

Questions have been raised about the group leader's writings, that apparently will remain unanswered.