Finding posts about groups selling personal growth the the "Men's movement " has got me thinking;
A lot of movements arose in the 60s and 70s, and, although we didn't know it at the time, many were very "cultish", requiring total adherence and committment to the ideals of the group or its leader.
Bad things came out of this, but positive social change as well.
And eventually many of the ideas and beliefs of these radical sects filtered into the public consciousness and became mainstream.
(Of course, most of this happened without anyone charging $600 for a weekend's training.)

These new social concepts, like "the Men's Movement", seem similar to me.
The big difference is that the business community seems to have caught on and sees it as a great product to peddle.

Perhaps the ideas aren't so bad, and will eventually be absorbed into mainstream thought. I wonder how the fact that the concepts have been so commercialized will effect the outcome, however.

Just a line of thought.

Interesting point. I think commercialism is much more accepted and respected than it was in the "counterculture" 1960s. Back then you'd be accused of "selling out" if you tried to make money. Nowadays, people are considered stupid or weird if they choose NOT to make money on something.

People wear t-shirts with product names on them, big corporations get stadiums named after them, musicians sell their songs to be used in ad campaigns, people name their babies "ESPN", people sell space on their bodies to have the name of a business tatooed on their foreheads, people who have money are idolized simply because they have money (i.e. Paris Hilton, Donald Trump).

So it seems the 21st century New Age movement, Christianity and other spiritual movements are all about cashing in as well. Gone are the days when religious and spiritual leaders had to at least pretend to be humble ascetics who renounced worldly goods and material possessions. Now it's all about the Joel Osteen and Creflo Dollar success-driven model of Christianity, or Sai Baba and his luxury cars, or Buddhist centers selling expensive Crystal prayer beads.

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Gulab Jamon
Interesting point. I think commercialism is much more accepted and respected than it was in the "counterculture" 1960s

Now it's all about the Joel Osteen and Creflo Dollar success-driven model of Christianity, or Sai Baba and his luxury cars, or Buddhist centers selling expensive Crystal prayer beads.

Some great points in their Gulab - bloody depressing but good to realise I'm not alone!