What is Ole and DWB really talking about, I wonder. Is it that many European countries have botched the immigration process by not insuring there is adequate education, services, language training and cultural acclimation in general? Or is it that European Moslems are politically organized and "threatening" to import fundamentalist cultural practices? Or is it the religion in g
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Suenam, I think you hit the nail on the head, as the saying goes. Ole is mixing up the levels. The results of that can be emotionally very damaging, in my opinion. And the objectives of the organisation - buddha dharma - are not properly met. Perhaps Ole is simply not mature enough to understand the ramifications of this.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It appears that in the past people have been afraid to come forward. Engaging a solicitor and then saying to all and sundry, "if you have a complaint against Christopher Hansard please contact the firm of ......." might work better.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hello Dike, My understanding is that you can't receive messages here until you have posted 10 times. I heard that the Canadian ex-fiancee is living in Vancouver and has washed her hands of it all - though I could be wrong about the latter so maybe she checks in and will respond, maybe not. It is also my understanding that most of the abuse in Canada was in classes and with students the fi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sorry if I offended anyone....I meant to say that Hansard must think Englanders are less gullible and Islanders more gullible.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I see that the re-invention is continuing. No mention of him being a lhakhu or some kind of Tibetan master since he was four years old. Perhaps he thinks Englanders are less gullible now but Islanders not so much.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In case anyone is interested, Hansard is on the move again. He is planning two workshops on Vancouver Island Canada in September. Christopherhansardworkshops@blogspot.com
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

So the two individuals you mention knowingly conspired to write the book and launch a career for Sogyal and themselves?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What happened with Sogyal, do you know? His book was hugely influential. Did it just go to his head or was he unable to live up to the level needed to be popular and run a Buddhist organization?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Previously Gurunam was part of the 3ho community - during the later years of Yogi Bhajan's life. Previous to his gig teaching nam yoga, harmonym, kabbalah, and so forth he was an engineer, originally from Africa I think.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotejohn_lpoolHi all. I am a "graduate" of DW. I think mindfullness and seeing things the way they "really are" without judgement are the gifts of any "Budhist" practice but how that impacts our everyday life is what matters. Llama Ole is different things to different people. He provided me with a marvellous lesson in seeing things the way they really are. He is wha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I would like to confirm that Mr. Hansard really does work at this address and really has set up a new company. How do I do that, since googling the name or address hasn't produced much.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Tiredofthis, First I am curious whether or not what you describe is a sort of tendency you have, or the result of a lot of reading or practice of something? For instance, there is a some research that indicates that a lot of meditation without focus on something can cause a certain amount of disassociation or what is sometimes called 'right brain dominance,' which makes getting
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I am curious to know where Ole got the idea of powerfields. Ever since the work of Rupert Sheldrake the concept of morphic fields has been showing up in a lot of places. If you combine these morphic fields with meme theory you get an interesting alternative explanation of how cults expand and replicate their norms, as well as the thinking and behaviour of the leaders, often in ways that seem inex
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In reference to the karmapa and the letters.......I think there is a big difference between intuition and the kind of psychic skills that might make it possible to know what is in a letter. For instance, knowing someone has a letter for them and even knowing what the content is going to be about (without prior warning) is the kind of experience that intuitive people have all the time. Even if the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Very revealing portrayal of how Lama Ole thinks, which I have found helpful so thanks. I found this statement, "I'm not really a person, but more a program," in many ways an accurate description of how he comes off. I'm wondering what other people think of that statement.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

NLP was modeled from the work of a number of people, Fritz Pearls just being one of them. Gestalt is widely used by all kinds of therapists because it is helpful for certain things. If you are concerned if there is another agenda just ask if the centre is associated with any other group, religious organization, corporation, association or whatever. And ask why they wanted to know your girlf
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

"she states that if a negative event happens around a pecan tree then your body makes a cellular memory of the event "...the cellular memory landed up in your respiratory tract, if I can use that as an example. So every time if you smell that smell or that pollen is secreted and it is flowing around in the air it stimulates that memory, that memory then releases the toxins and then that
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

Blondie, What a description! Mr. Ole would be advised to take a course on the six realms of existance described by Tibetan Buddhism. That description suggests somebody playing the role of demi-god, not teacher.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

If you really want to look into the dark side of hypnosis and NLP look into what is sometimes called blackops or underground hypnosis. It is a god thing to know about because then it can never really be done to you.
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

Yes, it would be very helpful if both Karmapa and Sharmapa would aid in weaning the sangat off their attachment to Ole, and Ole off himself.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

herbieZH, I am really curious what kind of kalachakra empowerment Ole was giving. Traditionally, if I am remembering correctly, there are a series of eleven possible empowerments. Was he giving one for the whole thing, do you recall. I'm also wondering who empowered him? And yeah, that is pretty weird making people take a vow like that before an empowerment like that. Kalachakra is all
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The fact that so many people end up imitating Ole and taking on something of his personality after taking refuge with him is proof that he is not an appropriate root lama. Things went further downhill when he started using a westernized version of the refuge prayer that is down with prostrations. The previous version is a direct translation from the Tibetan and comes down through thje lineage
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Steve, Your observations indicate the deep-seated selfishness of Ole as a teacher. He may be able to view himself as a regular guy when he interacting sexually with the ladies. There is simply no way that can be said of the ladies. Are we really supposed to believe that his partners are having sex with him and flirting at courses simply because he is a cool guy?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Williams was a Brain Gym and NLP instructor when he decided to create something of his own which he could then franchise out. He used Lipton's ideas on the biology of belief to justify his claims that he could change beliefs and transform your life with Psych-K. That is mostly hperbole as I was in the original workshops when Psych-K was developed and took all the same training he did. The
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Okay, I have answered my own question as there is some history: Still, other than the usual sort of group hypnosis and the occassional weird and unexplainable phenomena that sometimes occurs at Charismatic meetings, are people being bilked, manipulated, or abused in any way? Has a cult grown up around these meetings? The reason I ask is that I know somebody who seems to have been quite dis
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

So is this some kind of 'charismatic' gathering as part of one particular church or another? And is there one or a few specific individuals behind it all, or did it just sort of spring up? It is a curious phenomena coming out of the 'city of churches' (Toronto has more churches per square City block than just about any other city in the world).
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It seems to me that some good Buddhist or Advaita philosophy has been badly distorted and wed to a poorly conceived meditation technique in the name of goals that are completely contrary to what the philosophy is for. I don't know about the Sedona Method but I do know about Crane and in my opinion he is a smarmy robot that is playing with something he doesn't really understand and creat
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

That is almost spooky the way he embodies the Holger Danske myth. I remember how he used to refer to himself as a viking and I can't help but think that he has been sourcing from somewhere definatively non-buddhist.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't think any of that is going on anymore. A few people went to jail for that. There are still a number of smarmy 3ho or ex-3ho business types who I would very much stay away from however. That is true of life in general of course but what we have learned here is that a spiritual veneer in business is often completely meaningless, and often, grounds for suspicion. To be fair, there ar
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"