Byron Katie is becoming more and more mainstream. I was at a bookstore yesterday in Salt Lake City that I hadn't been to in a while, just passing time because I was on-call for work in downtown SLC. It's a "metaphysical" bookstore and I don't frequent them like I used to anymore. There was a whole display on a wall with her products, books and CDs and her face everywhe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"Balance is bogus! It's all about Harmonic Wealth!" Quoteharmony Function: noun Meaning: 1 a balanced, pleasing, or suitable arrangement of parts <her face had an angelic harmony that fascinated the leading painters of her day> Synonyms: balance, coherence, consonance, proportion, symmetry, symphony, unity They're synonyms, for goodness sakes! Unreal. QuoteHARMONY
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteChrista Is this what New Age beliefs do to believers? Make the murderer more valuable than the people he murdered? Oh Yes. New Age beliefs can turn people into callous, indifferent monsters. I was once of part of a women's spirituality group and there was a woman who shared a horrible story of being sexually assaulted and beaten within an inch of her life by her ex-boyfriend. Some
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

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Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

His 'tweeting' shows his total contempt for his (remaining) followers, not to mention the families he's hurt. He just mixes different belief systems, throws 'em up against the wall to see what will stick. The fact that his 'teachings' haven't worked for him AT ALL doesn't seem to faze him or his supporters. "Properly understood, all goals and in
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotePenelopeJames Ray Recommends Hawkins and Demonstrates Applied Kinesiology James Randi Tests Applied Kinesiology I posted this here a few days ago, it's a side by side comparison of James Ray and James Randi, both using AK with different results. I'm sure there are many nonverbal cues people can pick up from people like Ray or Dwyer when they perform AK. I got rid of most
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There was a great rerun of Law and Order Criminal Intent on last night that dealt with self-help gurus, manipulation, deprivation and forced 'suicide': . It was very well done, a self-help guru gets an emotionally unstable follower to give him a "gift" of a million dollars (by convincing him to kill his wealthy father). I wonder what research the writers did for the story
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

James Ray Recommends Hawkins and Demonstrates Applied Kinesiology James Randi Tests Applied Kinesiology
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I think people who've read Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer over the years have been put in a frame of mind where if someone DOES tell them to put it to the test, they'd be much more likely to go along with it and think it's possible. These two authors are extremely popular and mainstream. I have no doubt the average James Ray fan has read Chopra, Abraham-Hicks and/or Dyer, if not o
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

More idiotic mind over matter crap by self-help new age gurus who aren't James Ray: Chopra/Dyer; Creating your world: "Dyer asks Deepak about some of the miracles he's seen, and Chopra makes reference to seeing saints who could have flowers grow at their feet as they walked. Dyer said, I know that's possible. The audience snickers, and Dyer finishes with, "I
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The concept of mind over matter in New Age circles isn't as extremist as you might think. Abraham-Hicks teach that you can do anything, I mean ANYTHING, if you're in emotional vibration with what you want. I remember someone asking if they could regrow a missing tooth and they said yes! of course you can! You can also ignore a cancer diagnosis and focus on postive thoughts and it wil
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Ray supporters are tweeting in celebration over this CNN story: @JamesARay I always knew you would come out of this mess more sooner than later! Sorry you went through such an ordeal! @JamesARay I was so glad to hear the news today.....your rampage of appreciation here on Twitter really payed off...congrats Sweat lodge deaths ruled accidental (CNN) -- The October deaths of three peopl
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

O.J. Simpson's acquittal was pretty much about race. The L.A.P.D had/has a long and ugly history of abusive treatment of the black community, so the whole 'frame-up' theory was much more plausible to the jury. James Ray isn't going to get to use the "race card". He might try the religion card, but he's a motivational speaker and quasi-new age author, so even
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for the link Christa, I've just finished Part One. Will watch the rest later. Fascinating stuff. QuoteChristaWe've reached the part of the thread where I recommend Adam Curtis's 4-part documentary, The Century of the Self. No discussion about engineering consent, self-serving gurus, or the elite's manipulation of the meaner classes (cf. Oprah's retailing of pers
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

When I said he's probably done this successfully to people in the past, I meant more in his personal relationships. He has proven to successfully manipulate people in his professional life, obviously. I'm sure narcissists and sociopaths get emboldened when they find these techniques work in one-on-one relationships with people and then decide to take it to the next level and try it on
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And yet he continues his blathering. It's like if he keeps acting like things are normal, people will eventually give up or start questioning their sense of reality. I've know people like that in my own life, they'll keep up a lie and completely ignore all evidence to the contrary and get you to start wondering if maybe it's you and not them. He's probably done this t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Yakaru, I did read the article, I wasn't endorsing "Applied Kinesiology" or the vitamin test, I was pointing out how silly it was. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post. I took a class taught by an actual anatomist from the University of Utah that dealt with actual Kinesiology, the study of anatomy, biomechanics and physiology, not the woo stuff trying to pass itself of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"The practice of Kinesiology is the assessment of movement, performance, and function; and the rehabilitation, prevention, and management of disorders to maintain, rehabilitate, and enhance movement, performance, and function in the areas of sport, recreation, work, exercise, and general activities of daily living." I took a class in this, it's a very intensive study of the mus
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

On NLP, I still can't really get a clear definition of it. I was at a bookstore a few days ago and there was an "NLP For Dummies" book, I looked through it thinking it might be a bit more objective, being from that series. Still extremely vague. It did touch on the manipulation accusation, and gave the "everyone manipulates" rationalization. You just have to have inte
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe AnticultThat was some sarcasm about being a victim of the government! LOL! Sorry, It's really hard to tell anymore, new age gurus seem to enjoy playing the "I'm being persecuted for my greatness" card.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe AnticultBy they way, Abe-Hicks tour the country in some type of massive motorhome. You can be 100% certain, that Abe-Hicks do not hold their assets in their own names either, they probably lease the motorhome from their own company as a tax-write off, and keep their corps in the red as well. Abe-Hicks started with Amway, and then went where the REAL serious money is, New Wage hocus-poc
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteThe AnticultIndoctrinated followers of various Gurus and cultists can do very serious damage. This appears to be an example of the James Ray target demographic, she understands the images and metaphors put forward by James Ray, and believes them. "RaySunWarrior" These are the followers who can be so indoctrinated they will literally leave people to die, as they believe they a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

JR has to make his seminars over the top because he is basically selling *nothing*. Just an idea. You can think yourself wealthy. Nice. Then what? The whole 'mind over matter' philosophy is why he and his followers can rationalize his reckless behavior. It is no different than the Christian Scientist parents who will not get their children basic medical care because they belie
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In an old pre-sweat lodge/prison tweet he mentions Jesus saying "ye shall know them by their fruits" which refers to something about a good tree not being able to produce bad fruit and a bad tree not being able to produce good fruit. I don't think he'll be using that quote again...
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And there's no "what did I do to attract this?" He's starting with the biblical quotes, and of course WAY out of context. No more Law of Attraction for Ray?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I've heard the same thing from a friend to whose mom was very emotionally cold and abusive to her, as a child she was blamed for being abused and bullied at school by her mom too. Being a parent means it's your job to teach your kids how to handle the outside world, to give them support and love, and tools to deal with things like bullying. Your mom getting angry at you is just ab
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

It is extremely unlikely my brother would ever physically strike or hurt our mom. He's mooched and lied to my parents for money but has never been physical. No one in my family would stand for that, either. I also have a brother who is 4 years older than me, and when we were kids he'd push me and hit me and never got into trouble for it. I remember watching a home movie w/ my imm
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

Standing your ground with someone who is used to successfully manipulating you with guilt or sob stories can become potentially dangerous physically . My own brother seriously beat me up and gave me a bloody nose, whiplash and a slipped disc in my neck when I wouldn't budge on an issue that looking back was pretty trivial. I had to go through two months of physical therapy, cortisol shots,
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

Reading the transcripts, these detectives sound like they're not buying into the BS The Fredricksons are spinning. Since it seems Josh and Megan are not being very cooperative with authorities, can their immunity be revoked? I can imagine the look on the Detective's face when he had to ask this: Det. Diskin: "What was done after this to prevent this from happening in the fut
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's interesting that when these guys get caught, the whole law of attraction philosophy is conveniently ignored. If something bad happened to a 'normal' person, they would be told to ask themselves what they did to attract it. When their guru gets jailed for gross negligence with human life, he is a noble man undergoing some sort of persecution for his greatness. As fellow
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"