There is quite a good article on SkepDic on New Thought, which is what The Secret is about.

QUOTE:
[skepdic.com]
"New Thought probably won't have much influence in most corners of the world. More than one-third of the people on our planet don't even have access to a flush toilet.* Will Oprah, one of the great promoters of New Thought in our time, advise 2.5 billion people to just believe in hygiene and it will come? Can anyone believe that if you happen to have the misfortune of being born, say, in a squalid Indian village governed by a caste system, that all you have to do is believe your way out? An ignorant person might blame karma or God's will, but nobody in his right mind should believe that anyone born in those conditions lives and dies in those conditions because of her thoughts or beliefs, which could be changed by an act of will."
"New Thought has grown into thousands of little movements in the past 150 years. The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? are just two recent manifestations of this Hydra-headed monster guarding the gates of Wishful Thinking".

This post is prompted by Michael Beckwith’s most recent appearance on Larry King Live several days ago. I went searching for a place to post this item, and found this website, which I have read before. I was a member of The Agape International Center of Truth - as it was then called - from late 1997 to early 1999, during the transition from Santa Monica to Culver City. I am surprised there are no testimonials on this forum about peoples’ experiences with this church.

During that Larry King appearance last week, I was dumbstruck that Michael Beckwith mentioned “addiction to excitement”. This man is smart, but does he not realize that most of his members always were and still are addicted to excitement?! Give me a break! How completely ironic! I became disgusted and shut the TV off. I will not listen to any kind of new age prattle any longer. All I do now is work with the principles Ernest Holmes taught (see below) and studiously stay away from groups – especially big raucous ones such as Agape.

Beckwith named his bookstore The Quiet Mind (still so named to date). His sermons are so completely excitement-producing, and one becomes completely wound up seated amongst 4,000 people experiencing one of the best pep talks they’ve ever heard in their lives, then they file out past The Quiet Mind bookstore. Yes, the message is balance, but that place is anything but.

One of the main reasons I stopped attending Agape services was I started noticing that as I was driving home I would begin to feel deflated. I realized shortly thereafter that I had become addicted to the excitement. I mentioned this to some others, and they had noticed the same thing. Not having had substance abuse issues in the past, I then was informed through these conversations that many members of Agape were and are past addicts and alcoholics. The excitement addiction was something they can and do replace their former addictions with.

In the short time I attended that church – during which time I gave $20 a week and purchased books in the bookstore and took expensive classes, I saw and experienced many things which increasingly disturbed me. Agape employed many stressed out employees who were abusive to “commoners” and they were never seemingly able to take a vacation – nor did they seem to want to (at least not publicly).

At one point I wrote to the membership coordinator to request that my name be removed from the membership roster and demand that I not be counted as part of the then-touted 4,000 plus members. Soon after, the membership numbers being quoted were far more even than that. Many ex-members were and probably still are counted as members.

What I found there was Spiritual Materialism to the max, extreme narcissism, tentacles that reach far into the entertainment business in Los Angeles, power plays and alliances and activities and agendas that ignore the many borderline personalities who arrive seeking true help, as well as the normal generalized population. Pandering to celebrities and forming inner circles and friendships that exclude the common masses. If you’re a “nobody” without talent or money or both, you can forget making a place for yourself in this church, except in the back corner or when you want to fork over dollars for what they are peddling to this day. Many megalomanical personalities abound here, intermixed with the very impressive (at the time) board of directors who seemed to be very calm, rational, decent people.

One of the most disturbing things is the armchair psychology the classes adamantly preach against, but which is engaged in by many “practitioners” there. If you had a problem of any kind, you were “doing it wrong” or “engaging in negative thinking”. The typical new age prattle for times when others experience life’s hardships. You created everything that is happening to you - no one else has any responsibility. This is the manner in which these people got away with their outrageous behavior - especially those stressed-out employees. It's all you - never them. The lack of personal responsibility was absolutely egregious.

There are so many stories, so many disturbing things about this church – both my own and those I’ve heard from others. I may write more about it at some point when I have collected my thoughts and words into a more structured timeline. The original intention of the founding members was good, but it became an out-of-control locomotive train at the time of its phenomenal expansion in 1998 and beyond.

Several years ago I watched carefully when Mary Manin Morrissey's church imploded due to her mishandling of her church funds and various criminal fiscal behavior proven in legal documents. I am certain Beckwith, his wife and their other inner circle of rich and famous new age pundits would have loved to help their friend out, but were probably prevented from doing so due to tax laws and of course credibility in the eyes of the public.

Within a couple y ears after I stopped attending, I learned that Agape broke off from the main Church of Religious Science and formed their own corporation (use of word intended). As for “The Secret” it is nothing but a slick, commercial repackaging of the phenomenally wonderful work of Ernest Holmes and his contemporaries – something that Beckwith was only too happy to lend his name to. Ernest Holmes would roll in his grave if he were not actually above all this hoopla – which he was and is. There is no need to buy “The Secret” or any other slick packaged treatise on the game of life.

Truth is truth, and Ernest Holmes quietly shared it with others. Interesting that Agape dropped “truth” from its name in recent years. Difficult to live up to it, eh?

Suffice it to say that overall, this church – which is now called “The Agape Spiritual Center” - is very disturbing. Many people in the Los Angeles area know the truth about that oganization, having experienced it directly or through anecdotal information. Fine if it works for you, but you gotta play the game -- and there's no way I play that game because that's largely what it is. Beckwith knows it and so do the rest.

I hope other former members of Agape will come forward and relate some of their difficult stories now that they have moved on. I know they are out there. This post is not about sour grapes -- of which I have been accused in the past -- but of telling a story that needs to be told. It's about personal integrity and responsibility and playing the game as such. Personally I believe their (members of Agape) patterns are too deeply ingrained to ever change their game plan - or even want to.

CharloPearl:

thx for the insider info on the Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith from Agape.

This is the ideal thread for that info, and please post whatever else you can, as there are other questions about Beckwith already posted in this thread.
His so-called "Dr" is also questioned.
And there was dubious content on their previous website which was removed...things like..."donate a car" and stuff like that.

Its very interesting what you describe as the addiction to excitement, and then the crash.
Beckwith himself claims to have been a highly organized drug dealer previously, and in his book he talks about how he got off on a technicality? Who knows if that is true or not, but that should be looked into, to see what the real facts are, and what the charges were. That "story" frankly does not add up, especially when he claims something about moving a weather vane with his mindpower while leaving the court?
Spiritual Liberation: Fulfilling Your Soul's Potential by Michael Bernard Beckwith [forum.culteducation.com]

But "drug dealers" actually peddle the exact same thing, in the same pattern, if you think about it. They get people hooked onto a drug for excitement, and then they know those folks will keep coming back to the dealer for their fix, over and over.

Another interesting thing about Beckwith, is how artificial he was when doing some shows with Oprah. He really toned it down, and said the precise opposite about illness on TV, than what he really believes. So he is very clever. He knows you have to tone down that "curing cancer" stuff while on TV, or you can get in big trouble. [forum.culteducation.com]

So hopefully more insider information about Michael Beckwith will come forward.

finally, some criticism of the quackery and nonsense being promoted by Oprah, in a feature article by Newsweek.
One has to assume criticizing Oprah on these matters is so rare, due to her ratings-power. Noone connected with any of the networks who carry her shows would dare to say anything, as that could harm the advertisers and the bottom line.
No one who ever wanted to be on her show would say anything about her either.

and the producers of the Oprah show, do "rig" the Oprah show and sandbag the occasional "critic" who is allowed on the show, that has been shown many times.
Hopefully, more mainstream media will now begin to criticize Oprah for her promotion of these endless streams of New Wage gurus and cultists.



QUOTE:
[www.newsweek.com]
At some point, it would seem, people will stop looking to Oprah for this kind of guidance. This will never happen. Oprah's audience admires her as much for her failings as her successes. In real life, she has almost nothing in common with most of her viewers. She is an unapproachable billionaire with a private jet and homes around the country who hangs out with movie stars. She is not married and has no children. But television Oprah is a different person. She somehow manages to make herself believable as a down-to-earth everywoman. She is your girlfriend who struggles to control her weight and balance her work and personal life, just like you. When she recently related the story of how humiliated she felt when she arrived for a photo shoot to find that she couldn't fit into the clothes she was supposed to wear, she knew she had every member of the audience in her hand. Oprah's show is all about second and third and fourth chances to fix your life, and the promise that the next new thing to come along will be the one that finally works.

This perpetual search for The Answer reached its apex a couple of years ago, when Oprah led the frenzy over The Secret. The video and accompanying book were a rehash of one of the oldest of self-help truisms—"think positive"—refreshed with a dusting of "science." The secret of The Secret was something called the Law of Attraction. As Oprah put it on the show, "It says that the energy, that the thoughts and feelings that you put out into the world, both good and bad, are exactly what is always coming back to you, so you have the life that you have created." Oprah and the teachers of The Secret, as they call themselves, did not mean this metaphorically. They explained that the universe and everything in it are made of vibrating energy, and by thinking positively we can actually "attract" the positive vibrations of the universe and bend them to our will. "You're a field of energy in a larger field of energy," one of The Secret's teachers said. "And like attracts like, and that's very, very scientific."

By harnessing this powerful science, they said, we can have anything we want—happiness, love, fabulous wealth. This was so inspiring to Oprah that she devoted three shows to the product and appeared on Larry King to talk it up more. She said it encapsulated everything she believes. "I've been talking about this for years on my show," she said. "I just never called it The Secret."

On one of the Secret shows, Oprah gave an example of the scientific power of the concept. She said that once, while she was hosting an episode about a man who could blow really big soap bubbles, she was thinking to herself, "Gee, that looks fun. I would like to blow some bubbles." When she returned to her office after the show, there, on her desk, was a silver Tiffany bubble blower. "So I call my assistant," Oprah told the audience. "I say, 'Did you just run out and get me some bubbles? 'Cause I got bubbles by my desk.' And she says, 'No, the bubbles were always there. I bought you bubbles for your birthday and you didn't notice them until today'."

There are many lessons that might be drawn from this anecdote. One is that if you give Oprah a thoughtful gift, she may not bother to notice it or thank you for it. This is not the lesson Oprah took away from her story. Because the way she sees it, her assistant hadn't really given her the gift at all. She gave it to herself. Using the power of The Secret, she said, "I had called in some bubbles."

According to The Secret, however, the Law of Attraction can use the vibrations of the universe to deliver more than just bubbles. The book that Oprah urges everyone to live by teaches that all diseases can be cured with the power of thought alone: "The question frequently asked is, 'When a person has manifested a disease in the body temple … can it be turned around through the power of "right thinking"?' And the answer is absolutely, yes." The book then offers the testimonial of a woman identified as Cathy Goodman. "I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I truly believed in my heart, with my strong faith, that I was already healed. Each day I would say, 'Thank you for my healing'." Goodman watched "very funny movies" to make herself laugh. "From the time I was diagnosed to the time I healed was approximately three months. And that's without any radiation or chemotherapy."

The message got through. In March 2007, the month after the first two shows on The Secret, Oprah invited a woman named Kim Tinkham on the program. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and her doctors were urging surgery and chemotherapy. But Tinkham wrote Oprah to say that she had decided to forgo this treatment and instead use The Secret to cure herself.
[...]

Quote
skeptic
Anyone hear of it, know anything?

A friend told me about it today, it was on Oprah. Sounds like "you create your reality". This crap is EVERYWHERE!!!!

skeptic

It is everywhere indeed, and that dude, Michael Beckwith urging everyone to be veg, I'm serious.

It's true, the Law of Attraction is everywhere. Why? Because it's a get rich quick scheme promoted by the very rich via the mass media. It's pernicious for a number of reasons. It gives false hope. It trivialises life. It corrupts spirituality. It justifies the vast differences of wealth that exist in the world. It makes poverty and suffering a personal and not a social issue.

It's the spirituality of the neo-cons - if you're poor it's your own damn fault.

Quote
Carlos B
It makes poverty and suffering a personal and not a social issue.

It's the spirituality of the neo-cons - if you're poor it's your own damn fault.

<<snipped for relevancy to response>>

Interesting points, and good ones. I got that a lot from Agape people who had either inherited, done well in business either ethically or unethically, married well, etc. It indeed is very similar to the "spirituality" of the neo-cons. It's an elitist attitude, something which was and probably is very much alive and well at Agape.

Another person not related to Agape but into "new age" stuff once told me that she believed, had great faith and always had money in her purse and that I should do the same. I later discovered she was actually kept by a few well-heeled men. And on it goes.

There is no doubt that positivity and positive thinking is quite beneficial, but it doesn't guarantee results.


(I still plan to write more about Agape and my experience there but family responsibilities prevent a more rapid posting.)

Rick Ross Forums – draft post 7-2-09 9:00am

Rick Ross Forums – draft post 7-2-09 9:00am)

Quote
The Anticult
CharloPearl:

thx for the insider info on the Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith from Agape.

This is the ideal thread for that info, and please post whatever else you can, as there are other questions about Beckwith already posted in this thread.

His so-called "Dr" is also questioned.

And there was dubious content on their previous website which was removed...things like..."donate a car" and stuff like that.

Its very interesting what you describe as the addiction to excitement, and then the crash.

Beckwith himself claims to have been a highly organized drug dealer previously, and in his book he talks about how he got off on a technicality? Who knows if that is true or not, but that should be looked into, to see what the real facts are, and what the charges were. That "story" frankly does not add up, especially when he claims something about moving a weather vane with his mindpower while leaving the court?

Spiritual Liberation: Fulfilling Your Soul's Potential by Michael Bernard Beckwith [forum.culteducation.com]

But "drug dealers" actually peddle the exact same thing, in the same pattern, if you think about it. They get people hooked onto a drug for excitement, and then they know those folks will keep coming back to the dealer for their fix, over and over.

Another interesting thing about Beckwith, is how artificial he was when doing some shows with Oprah. He really toned it down, and said the precise opposite about illness on TV, than what he really believes. So he is very clever. He knows you have to tone down that "curing cancer" stuff while on TV, or you can get in big trouble. [forum.culteducation.com]

So hopefully more insider information about Michael Beckwith will come forward.

I dope hope that more people come forward. I think many people move on quietly, just as I did back then. They become tired of the chaos and frustration and just want it done. Agape is an urban church made up mostly of people involved in the entertainment industry. I'm not an urban type and I don't work in entertainment. There was nothing left there for me.

Michael Beckwith received his honorary doctorate while I was a member of Agape. I do believe the honorary degree was warranted, in spite of my overall opinion of him. At the time, Agape was still a respected organization with many fine members performing amazing community service. Beckwith receiving an honorary doctorate

Beckwith acknowledged many times from the pulpit how various family members and friends prayed fervently for him and others while they were dealing drugs in their youth and how grateful he was for those prayers. If I recall correctly, Beckwith is from a middle class background. His father was a local municipal judge. Beckwith attended Morehouse College. He does have credentials. He is very well read (or was). He has done a tremendous amount of good work over the past two decades. At the time I was a member of Agape, Beckwith was still projecting the GQ image, which was necessary to build credibility. With the dreads and robes, his is far more authentic now. It was a long time coming, and a bit too late for my taste.

What I object to is the elitism, the narcissism, the tours (most recently the new age circuit), the $35 "concerts" in various cities across the country not to mention expensive annual conventions that cost several hundred dollars. It is not surprising that Agape grew into what it now is, and I used to wonder when Oprah would jump on the bandwagon. She was a stealth friend of the general community of new agers, including Agape, long before going public about it. It was all too obvious, because she had started to talk like them.

I hesitate to write specifics because even though it was a long time ago, there are people with very good memories. They know who was working there, they know who was attending regularly there, and certain people know how badly they behaved and what the details were. They know that much of the behavior was unfair, cruel and unnecessary. Suffice it to say they knew they were in the wrong and didn't care because management backed them up, and the Agape management most definitely still would. The rationalizations were and are typical of hierarchical and cult-like groups.

About a year after one such outrageous situation involving a former high up employee, that person recognized me at a church located 500 miles away and tried to greet me. It is one of the few times in my life that I have conspicuously snubbed someone in public. The idea that this person would think I would ever deign to greet them after treating me the way they did - more than once - is delusional and pathetic.

At some point people have to stop being workshop junkies and start living the message. You can catch it all in a year's time with sermons, tapes, a few classes. After that it becomes about social fellowship and getting recharged. But it becomes an addiction.

And it's a dangerous situation for one's psyche when one keeps hanging around so many egomaniacal people. Beckwith and his wife Rickie BB do some good work, but even they know there's a tremendous amount ego in what they do and how they do it. As mentioned up thread, they're not fools. They grew up in the entertainment biz. They know how the game is played.

I would urge anyone who is interested in self-improvement to obtain the original Science of Mind books, not just by Ernest Holmes but by his contemporaries in the field (circa 1960's). All "The Secret" is, is a slick re-packaging of the same Truth. Truth is simple, Truth is eternal. Beckwith acknowledges that. But Truth doesn't have to have a shiny re-packaging for people to "get it". Truth only has to be re-packaged when enterprising people create yet another way to make big bucks off of it.

And that's why people are so disdainful of New Thought. Not because the ideas and message are wrong or no good, but because the opportunists in New Thought are exactly like those in traditional organized religions.

[www.abc15.com]

SEDONA, AZ -- The man who hosted an Arizona retreat where two people died and several dozen more were injured Thursday is a well-known author and TV personality.

James Ray is a New York Times best selling author who has made appearances on Oprah and Larry King Live.

He hosted at least 60 people for the Sedona-area retreat at the Angel Valley Retreat Center this week, according to Dwight D’Evelyn with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

Sedona Fire Department Spokesperson Gary Johnson said crews first responded to a call at the center around 5 p.m. Thursday, when multiple people collapsed after exiting a sweat lodge on the property.

SEE PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE IN THE ATTACHED PHOTO SLIDESHOW

Angel Valley is located 6 1/2 miles from West Sedona and about 125 miles north of Phoenix.

Johnson said Sedona Fire, Verde Valley Fire, and Yavapai County Sheriff's department all responded to the call.

D’Evelyn said sheriff's deputies at the scene learned those injured had been part of a larger group housed in a “sweatbox” type structure on the property.

The structure is reportedly framed in a dome like shape and covered with tarps and blankets. Hot rocks are used with water to create steam in the enclosed environment.

Detectives have learned that there were 64 people inside the “sweat dome” when several fell ill, according to YCSO.

Approximately 21 retreat participants were reportedly transported by air and ambulance to area hospitals including the Verde Valley and Flagstaff Medical Center.

Thursday night, two of those transported to the Verde Valley Medical Center were pronounced dead shortly after arrival, according to D’Evelyn.

The two dead were a middle aged man and woman. Identification is pending notification to family members.

At least one other remains in critical condition at VVMC.

Some attendees told detectives they paid up to $9,000 for their stay and participation in the program.

Host James Ray was reportedly inside the dome when the medical emergencies occurred.

A spokesperson for him said Ray is too distraught to talk, but sends his deepest condolences to those involved.

Detectives will be consulting with medical examiners and other health officials as the investigation moves forward.

Detectives are attempting to determine if there are any criminal actions that may have been a factor in the injuries and deaths.

This is absolutely outrageous.
James Ray was one of the people from The Secret.

This sounds like a super-LGAT, being held in a over-heated tent. Many of those people were "fasting" and engaging in many LGAT style activities.
They are pushing people to the edge, and beyond the edge.

This is yet another reason showing what an absolute scam The Secret is, and was

And James Ray has been cashing in on The Secret for years.
For this retreat, 60 people x $9,000 a person = over 1/2 million dollars.

And using very powerful LGAT techniques, and beyond, pushing people past their limits, using sleep deprivation, food deprivation, and even convincing them to go into overheated tents.
Are they going to get away with it?

Did they also have a waiver with a "death clause", in case people die at the seminar?