Its interesting how many new agey belief systems always pathologize healthy direct psychological self-defense mechanisms, and seek to soften healthy boundaries, and make people more "accepting" of outrageous and bad behavior. Some of the direct rebukes of James Ray on Twitter are excellent, and are certainly extremely healthy. For example, the STFU response directed at James Ray, is di
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

One post that slipped by a bit, was about how James Ray was linked to the NLPer Matthew James, the son of NLPer Tad James. James Arthur Ray - huna.com Matthew James, Tad James NLP Matthew James was trying to dissociate himself from James Ray, as pointed out here on Pervlina's site. "The second interview is with Dr. Matthew B. James, who carries on a lineage of and teaches Ha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That would have to be another thread. But sales NLP is full of that stuff, from the top guys, to the bottom. Yes, the guys at the bottom are often not very good, but just thinking of what has gone on make one want to lose one's lunch. NLP has no actual studies to prove anything, by the way, just anecdotes. And its not about a few little NLP books about swishes, or whatever. It begins a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

James Ray has put shilling from Jack Canfield on this webpage. www.harmonicwealthweekend.com/index.php?goal=1 "Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul sharing about the Harmonic Wealth Weekend. MORE VIDEOS · Bob Scheinfeld · Janet Attwood · Bill Harris · Pete Bissonette · Marci Shimoff · Hale Dwoskin He also talks openly about doing the basic NLP process, without using the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That is totally correct, and it also applies to post-NLP, that is, people who do variants of NLP but call it another names, there are dozens of them. The NLPers in seminars get people hyped up to think they can do basically anything with their tech, and then sign them up to more expensive trainings. They take fairly naive and credulous people in the audience, and sell them on the idea that &quo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

An interesting point about strategic Storytelling used in persuasion to modify core beliefs without the subjects awareness. They can be classic stories, that sound like fables. But they are even more effective when they don't sound like stories anymore, and just like conversation. Miilton Erickson used that method in his Teaching Tales. Then the NLPers came along and modified that. T
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Many Gurus when they get busted by the law, try to pull-off the Jesus protocol. They almost always say...after all...in the bible Jesus was also convicted and crucified by the government, just like the crooked Guru! So by that logic, they are just like Jesus, they are also the "light". So James Ray is cleverly using hypnotic metaphors, and even the "law of attraction" i
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

By the way, not ragging on the Droid! Just putting forward a contrary analysis, knowing how these LGAT Gurus operate their seminar and business structures. Some people have taken many of the exact same seminars and trainings that James Ray took in his early years, where they teach people how to run these complex seminar corporations. The bottom line is that either James Ray was lying and ex
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There is a lame product pitch by Tony Robbins, which is just his old crap in a new package. Lots of criticism of the lame sales trick they are trying. Ultimate Edge $14.95 (plus S/H) In reality, its $350+ to listen to extremely powerful upselling to rip-off coaching and LGAT seminars and other products, including them collecting your personal information online. They like opening with thes
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hate to be psychic, but here it is in the NYT, this is how these guys play ball. No money down, OPM, balloon it up, cash-out, rape and pillage, take the money and run. Rinse and repeat. After you have seen this 100x it becomes a little predictable as a business model. "Dreamlife began its life as a publicly traded company last year through a complex and unusual deal. In what is known
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, those comments about how Tony Robbins runs his business in the Droid comments by "I've seen Robbins' books" are very accurate. Obviously written by someone who had a peek behind the curtain, which is very rare. The comments above that again miss the point that they deliberately keep their businesses at break even or in the hole without assets. That is intentional, all
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It is very likely that James Ray financial system is more sophisticated that Werner Erhards in that article, as that was from years ago. They have really refined these techniques, and all it takes is a meeting with experts in the field, which are referred by others. For example, James Ray could have simply hired the same financial experts that Tony Robbins or others use. And again, those are the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Rhonda Byrne was going broke in her business, and was desperate for money. She used her TV advertising and marketing skills to pull off a clever "impulse buy" with The Secret, taking advantage of human weaknesses of wanting something for nothing. Every marketer knows that. Her marketing for The Secret was basically identical to that used by Lottery companies, where one little ticket
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

James A. Ray Speakers Platform FEE CATEGORY:* 20.0k to 25.0k "I wanted to thank you personally for your outstanding work with the Robbins Research Telemarketing Group and with our Life Mastery Trainers. Your commitment to personal and organizational mastery is evident in the unique technologies you have put together, and the effective interaction you facilitate." Anthony Robbin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, the LGAT Gurus deliberately and cynically exploit human emotions to their advantage. Most of them approach human emotions like "compassion" in a very cynical way. Many of them think of compassion like Ayn Rand, as a weakness. And they exploit that "weakness" in others. Werner Erhard did that constantly, they all do it. The LGAT leaders deliberately tug on the heartstri
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

hmm, good point, maybe Dr. Logic was Ben Mack. What is interesting about this TED seminar stuff, is that pretty much any scammer with money and connections can get into some aspect of those events these days. The irony is that most of the sophisticated audience that attend those types of events, are not suckered in by the BS of the self-help LGAT seminar scammers. But, they are able to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

My god, the amount of brazen lies in that propaganda piece, is almost unbelievable. What is needed are some serious interviewers who have experience dealing with trained liars. But he will always avoid trained interviewers in the media, or professional investigators, he's still totally avoiding them to this day, as he knows full well they are trained to deal and overcome all of the tactic
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Dave Lakhani is still at it, always the Applied Propagandist. The poster says to Lakhani, that it must have been an oversight, to not mention that he was alerted to his "mistake" about CAN and Scientology on the RickRoss.com forum. (By the way, that is not just a mistake, that is serious gross negligence, and could actually ruin vulnerable people's lives by referring them in
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Tad James is a flagrant NLP covert hypnosis-persuasion artist master manipulator, and moustache artiste, who has been doing this stuff for many years. He has also been doing the Huna swindle-dance for a very long time. www.ancienthuna.com Tad James is based in Hawaii, and one imagines that's why his son is running the same game. You can see it a family business. These guys can take
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Stoic: Just so you know, you are not to blame for bringing up the name Dave Lakhani in these threads, as his name had already come up in other threads before his mention in the James Ray thread, as he is also a colleague and business associate with "Dave Benzer" aka (Ali Binazir) who is a close associate of Michael Bernard Beckwith from The Secret, who is buddies with James Arthu
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Buffman, you make excellent points. Especially the part about how Dave Lakhani deliberately tries to create controversy as part of his marketing. For example, his book Subliminal Persuasion opens up with Dave Lakhani constantly beating the drum of FEAR, DANGER, how his publisher wanted to censor his book as it was TOO DANGEROUS for your virginal eyes!!! (of course in this day and age, th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

One thing about Dave Lakhani, is at least he admits there is such a thing as advanced unconscious persuasion techniques. Even though he immediately tries to misdirect away from some of the most powerful techniques, at least he admits there are many dozens of techniques that are being used all over the place. Notice how people like Byron Katie, Stever Robbins, and many others will literally DE
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As predicted, is Dave Lakhani using those precise techniques below, to try to upsell people to attend his seminars, and purchase his products. Notice he claims to give a FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE, (that is to create an emotional response) and to reveal information they would not allow in the book (more manipulation bullshit!), and to teach cult mind control tactics and brainwashing, and how to use
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The harsh reality is that many many senior "facilitators" or franchisees with many of these LGAT groups end up bankrupt. Literally. That is a fact. Anyone who has been in that business, sees person after person pushed into bankruptcy after dealing with the Guru for a number of years. Going to the edge of bankruptcy, and into bankruptcy, that is not uncommon in these seminar groups. It
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Its absolutely true that even skepticism isn't enough. (although professional level Skepticism can be enough). But in fact, the more intelligent a person is, the more they can get duped. These LGAT's don't target more "blue collar" people, as they often see its a scam. Often, people who are more intellectual, are easier to dupe. The people who are the most vulnera
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Power of An Hour: Business and Life Mastery in One Hour A Week (Hardcover) by Dave Lakhani (Author) The forward to this book by Dave Lakhani is by T. Harv Eker. The writing by T. Harv Eker is highly manipulative, and he is trying many embedded suggestions, pretty close to the level that James Arthur Ray does them. Dave Lakhani also thanks Joe Vitale in the book, and Vitale is anothe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That blog is from Dave Lakhani, someone who has just hit the radar screen. boldapproach.typepad.com Of course, one needs to be extremely careful, analytical, and cautious when it comes to Dave Lakhani. What is Dave Lakhani really doing? That is as yet undetermined. But his name came up in another thread about Michael Beckwith and "Dr." Alex Benzer aka Ali Binazir from taoofdat
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Stoic, thx for posting that, its very important. That is EXACTLY how these LGAT salespeople exploit their customers. They all do it, Tony Robbins salespeople do it, James Ray salespeople do it, Byron Katie, all of them, What they do is they target your WOUND. That is the term they use...your WOUNDS. They find them, like debt, low-self worth, trauma... They literally, their words, fi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That is a good point about the Gaslighting. That is what these LGAT salesmen are doing to people, modifying how they perceive reality, and installing delusions, and taking people into deep trance, as well as all the other techniques. There are some people out there who do claim to teach these advance persuasion techniques, like KENRICK E. CLEVELAND, but one has to be extremely skeptical and c
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Below is an article about one of Tony Robbins salespeople and franchisees named Michael Burnett. QUOTE: "Empowernet International...Provider of personal development seminars and associated products and services based upon intellectual property produced by Anthony Robbins" This is very typical of the kind of guy who buys into a Tony Robbins selling franchise, or a James Ray sell
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"