James Ray Urged Sweat Lodge Participants to Ignore Physical Needs

It is so frightening when people abandon common sense to listen to someone in authority. What a terrible tragedy.

And now he is saying he will continue these horrid programs. I have come to believe he is an abuser. And sadly, I have seen other people in levels of ‘power’ among the alternative healing/psychic landscape who display similar energies. They like to have followers. They like to be ‘authorities’. And, there are those who like to be part of that – importance by association. It is a self-perpetuating system, sadly. So, we continue to pray for the world and leaders and seekers and we practice kindness and humility and we become Truth by example….

This for me is a bit of a tough one. there is value in pushing your limits and comfort zones. that is often how we can grow.

There are lessons in pushing past your pain. I ad to do that to heal from back injuries and work harder to pay my bills. In the end it is what helped me overcome problems after an accident.

But there is also the value of paying attention to your body and not pushing harder than you can( even at another’s propmting though I do not excuse his part).

Many of us know the difference between I can’t and I don’t want to.

And alot of these things mentioned like fasting and being in a sweat lodge are things to work up towards.

Common sense, is unfortunately NOT as common as they say.

this is a great tragedy, and Mr. ray needs to man up and assist the investigators and make good to the families with heartfelt condolences. If found neccessary he also needs to man up and face the prison sentence if the courts deem it so.

This is such a tragedy, especially because it could have been so simply avoided. It’s such a typical dynamic. Yet it is easy to see how this could have happened. My heart goes out to all in this situation. I can only wonder now about the healing that has to happen among all the survivors. It won’t be easy for them…

And I wonder if Mr. Ray has any self-awareness whatsoever of how he contributed to this horrible tragedy. There is some serious healing that has to happen for that man too. It just sin’t acceptable to say a blithee “It’s all good, man” in some New Agey way that allows someone to totally shirk all personal responsibility. Especially if he fancies himself a leader…

I don’t know his work, but if he has any integrity at all, he should be doing some pretty serious self examination at how he created this situation. It wasn’t only the fault of people who could not speak up. Teachers absolutely need to be held accountable for their actions too.

So far, I don’t hear anything that suggests the man has learned anything from this experience. I only hear that he will do it again and his sweats will continue. That is sad, because it means this man has learned nothing, and this tragedy might happen again. If the only way to get the man to wake up and take responsibility for how he contributed to this situation is a lawsuit, so be it, IMO.

There’s nothing wrong with sweats. But there is something wrong with narcisstic, spiritual arrogance that ends up costing other people their lives.

Just my .02. Let us pray for everyone involved.

Orca

James Ray put people in a life- threatening situation. Not only did he endanger those people physically, reulting in three deaths, he also put them in a state of psychosis. He is not a trained therapist or psychologist. His credentials say he has been out in Peru somewhere. He had no idea how to help those people and did not even know that three of those people were actually dying. I am so discouraged about the lack of training with these “healers.” Just because they have some kind of insight gives them the power to dismantle people to that extent? And suddenly they know it all, just because they went to Peru, or wherever he has been (read his bio-it is extremely vague). Where are the ethics in all this? The regulations? Professionals study for something like ten years before one could handle a client like this. And I agree, we just get roped in. I don’t know if people are looking for quick fixes- I do believe those people who were Ray’s “Clients” are genuine soul seekers. But it’s discouraging to see the lack of regulation in the healing industry. Clearly, Ray did not know what he was doing, and here are the consequences. For the sake of those people and the families, I hope he is brought to justice and that points a clear message to to the healing industry. Yes everyone needs to take care of themselves, but we have to realize that a lot of these facilitators, healers, therapists are NOT TRAINED. No offense to those who do care about their clients, but I beleieve this lack of trianing has become a huge problem in this country.

Years ago I used to listen to Anthony Robbins materials and thought he was just the greatest.

After that, I read Harv Eker’s book on learning to have a “millionaire mind” and went to the free weekend seminar that he offered in major cities. I thought that the three, sixteen hour days were a value added feature. What he was really doing was getting us (at least those of us who were terribly naive and gullible, like me) over tired and in a worked up, frenzied state, so that we would be more susceptible to purchasing his very expensive seminars. It worked – I purchased one, which turned out to be an expensive joke. Harv Eker’s representative at the free seminar mentioned Eker’s upcoming involvement with Anthony Robbins – later I learned that Robbins’ seminars are organized in the same fashion with the similar mind control techniques.

I think anyone out there who is willing to give over control of themselves to people who are trying to make exhorbitant amounts of money, under the guise of teaching others to do the same, is under some form of mind control.

In the 60s and 70s, the cult leaders weren’t quite as sophisticated as these current “gurus.”

Before getting involved with anything, whether it’s an individual, organization, church, or whatever, always remind yourself that anything worth learning is worth questioning, and if for some reason someone is preventing you from doing that, then it’s time to step back.

James Arthur Ray killed 3 human beings. He is not innocent. He killed them in a sweat lodge at the conclusion of a days-long pschospiritual exercise framed upon on self-depredation, under the banner of self-help.

The self-help construct that he formed to persuade people to pay for this exercise is based on complex academic models that he has NO certifications for teaching. Equally disingenuous, is the fact that he infuses psychological plagiarisms originating from those models, with Native American practices that he has no basis or support to perform.

Unfortunately, his energized Olsteenian delivery coupled with his entertaining rearrangement of otherwise imitative concepts, was enthralling enough to gain and grow an audience. Targeting that audience, he strategically tailored his address to tantalize their yearning for greater understanding of their existence.

Seeming to be enlightened and gifted, he became empowered as a leader in the self help movement. Approval of his message was dramatic, mistakenly perceived as validated. Thus, his utter lack of qualification was concealed by the misdirection of his persuasive rhetoric. It is this precise deflection of attention to his methodology that has kept him from being held accountable…until now.

In Sedona, simply put, what he was doing was a highly reconfigured Lakota Vision Quest ceremony. However, the Lakota way of doing it and the way Ray does it, are completely different.

The Lakota Vision Quest ceremony is an exhaustive prayer for understanding. One seeks this understanding for the sole purpose of being a benefit to one’s community, family, environment, and world. It is a selfless act, and a very sacred ritual. Therefore, done right, because this ceremony is from Creator God directly, it needs NO modifications.

However, in order to package it and sell it, Ray did modify it and he modified it horribly, to the doom of those entrusting him.

The Vision Quest ordinarily is a long endeavor, requiring a great deal of preparation, and oftentimes, community involvement, certainly family involvement. The actual Vision Quest ceremony is started with a sweat lodge and concludes with a sweat lodge. The Vision Quest entails fasting with NO food or water, and staying fixed in a small spot for up to four days, completely open to the wild and the elements. It is an act of all things good and inspiring within the human spirit.

The sweat lodge, like the Vision Quest, is almost always done by someone who has the time and experience necessary to lead it. In fact, several revered Lakota leaders mandate certain restrictions on who can lead, and Ray, would not fulfill any. All Native American ceremonies draw directly upon the Great Sacred. Therefore, great warning is always given to all who participate to be deeply mindful and humble.

As for leaders of these ceremonies, there is an extreme amount of training that needs to be surpassed, understanding developed, and acumen displayed. There are always vast considerations, concerns, protocols that need to multi-tasked. A leader must be able to manage safety issues, levels of discomfort, medical contraindications, as well as supernatural contingencies.

The Sedona regimen that he “leads” people though is VERY serious. It requires the leader to be absolutely astute and compassionate – in James’ own words: “full on” commitment to the task at hand. Being fully aware in this very serious scenario is NOT enough though. Since he was employing extremely powerful Native American religious practices, one also needs to know what they are doing.

This consciousness, James Arthur Ray does not possess. He, in this regard, is an imposter. He made a small empire professing harmony and enlightenment, yet actually had not enough sense to see that he was hurting people, or feel moved to stop if he did sense it. Think about that. In other words, for all the sway of his self-help empire and persona, he was doing nothing more than running a hustle. However, using things beyond his grasp of reason backfired severely upon him.

Let this be a warning.

Native Americans who live by what these rituals embody, tell those who try to emulate them, especially those who truly believe them, to be VERY careful, to be utterly humble and respectful. They say that if one does these things wrong, they will hurt someone else. This, Creator allows because the wrong-doer is meant to survive the lesson, so that the lesson will be made real. If one does not wish to be in that awful predicament, then they will abide to the utmost best of their ability.

Ray heard these lessons along his journey, and knew full well what he was doing. I guarantee you that the certainly learned enough to be performing a lodge at the time three people died and multiple others were injured, because that what happened – and NEVER should have.

However, though he heard the warnings, he obviously did not listen.

Make no mistake; he heard the warnings about misuse of these sacred ways. Obviously, he CHOSE to ignore them. As a horribly painful result, he is now poised, through the ultimate trust and consequent sacrifice of others, to lead by example in complete contrition, humility, and responsibility.

The only real question is: does this man have this capacity? Truly, if it was there to begin with, none of this would have ever happened. But where there is life, there is hope.

If he had chosen to follow the teachings of the lodge, three people would still be alive and others would not have permanent life long injuries. If he had followed the sacred teachings of the lodge, as well of the other parts of his own spiritual journey, he may not have quite achieved his financial and material dreams he aspired to, but he certainly would have attained something far greater than himself nonetheless.

Do not expect Ray to be repentant, or be amazingly responsible in his role for killing and hurting other human beings. He is not. He could have been. He has had plenty of time, but has shown no demonstrable form of absolute contrition. He has, however, been steadfast in his stance of blamelessness, but has begun selling some of his material excess.

DO NOT blame the victims, blame the victimizer. This is not a toxic domestic situation where you can point to both sides. This is a social situation in which society looked the other way while one of its creative individuals capitalized on others dreams and goals.

If you are one who seeks “self-help”, pause for a moment and consider the term. You are much better off seeking a way of life based on principle rather than personality. For that, you only need yourself to do. Yes, it really is that simple.

And if you still feel the need to reach out to another compelling self-help messiah for help, order some Shamwows from Vince; at least he gives you what you pay for, and it actually works.