Hey HJ, I don't think people are calling Tony Robbins "evil", but just stating the fact that he is extremely deceptive, manipulative, and probably has Narcissistic Personality Disorder and perhaps Bipolar, and people with NPD can cause a lot of damage in other people, as they are only concerned with themselves.
When you saw people looking at Tony Robbins like he was a "god", that is not an accident, Tony Robbins uses techniques to instill that into people. For instance, at his seminar, he will do techniques like talk about Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and people like that, and even Jesus Christ, and then he will use techniques to link the feelings people have towards those entities to HIMSELF. He does that over and over, and most people don't notice him doing it, but he does it with some old NLP tricks, and whatever else he can use.
If you look at his books and the PPII, you will notice they are not based on his ideas. His first book is literally just NLP stuff stolen from Bandler and Grinder, and he has to pay them money for that, to this day, as far as we know.
His next book, Awaken The Giant, is just a compilation of a grab-bag of stuff. But there is a lot of tricky, false, dishonest, and highly manipulative stuff in Awaken The Giant too. Most people cannot believe how many blatant lies a guy like Tony Robbins is prepared to tell...Robbins does not care as to him its all "stories", he has admitted that most of what he has put forward as "true" is in fact not true. He was forced to admit that, and then tried to spin in that he was using teaching "stories". Never forget that you never know if Tony Robbins is lying, or when, or about what.
But remember, the books and tapes are a stepping stone in the sales process. The book leads you to an audio recording, which lead to more audio, with leads to UPW, which leads to the next seminar, and then to Mastery University, and then to hiring one of his coaches, then on and on it goes...as much $ as you have to carry you.
As far as the other famous people who recommend him...its very simple.
First, many of them are doing the same thing Robbins does, so of course they like him! They want a piece of the action!
Next, many "celebrities" have no clue of what Robbins is doing. For instance, Leeza Gibbons who did his infomercial is not too bright, and utterly clueless that Tony Robbins put her into a hypnotic trance to get her to do his infomercial. Robbins is very talented at one-on-one persuading.
Also, people who are critical of Robbins have to be very careful. Tony Robbins will sue people who criticize him, and he will retaliate. So its easier for most people not to say anything.
But the reality is that most people have NO CLUE of what Robbins is doing to people, they have no idea of what is going on. But for those who have watched the guy for 20+ years, they can see what is going on.
Richard Bandler the founder of NLP, is pretty honest about Tony Robbins, but only when he has had some drinks. He will tell you what Robbins is really doing...Robbins is using NLP, hypnosis, and everything else he can get his hands on to manipulate people without their awareness. Its all a big joke to those guys, they think its hilarious that people are so easy to "brainwash", and they make a fortune doing it.
As far as those programs "helping you", did you know that you helped yourself? That is called Behavior Therapy, where you pick new behaviors, and then push yourself to do them. So look into Behavior Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, as has been mentioned by others.
I think the real warning here is to stay away from the Seminar Junkie mentality, where people run to all these seminars, and get ripped off for thousands of dollars. That is where they want to get you, to get loads of cash from you.
Here's a pretty good book to get from the library.
Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
by Steve Salerno.
www.amazon.com/Sham-Self-Help-Movement-America-Helpless/dp/1400054095
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HJ
I've read almost all of this topic. After reading it I belief some of the things are true.
I'm now 21 years old and went to upw last year.
I do think now that there is a lot of selling involved for his master university. And for a lot of people Tony is god.
One question I have, his books and the program PPII are in my opinion very good. Some of the tools in the books and program have really done some good things for me. Do some of you think that his books and cd's (not the seminar) are bullshit ? For example Awaken the giant Within, I think it is a very good book.
But I do understand some of what you are saying ( I think) about the seminar, the brainwashing etc. But I had a good time there, but I know there are people who give alot of money to Robbins. And sure that things in this topic are true about him.
But if he was really that bad/evil why would a lot of other great speakers/writers say Tony stuffs is good. It can't be that they are all blind.
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My final question :D : What books or programs can you recommend about personal development/growth or how it's called :wink: .