Update on James Arthur Ray – Sweat Lodge Death Tragedy
Self growth news!
The tragedy continues in the James Arthur Ray sweat lodge deaths case. Sadly, another person has died from their injuries, making a total of three individuals who lost their lives in this tragic event.
There still aren’t a lot of details since my first post about these tragic sweat lodge deaths, but there have been two major developments that I thought you would want to know about.
The first is the sad news that a third person has died. You can read about it here. Apparently, she was an avid follower of James Ray, and in addition to attending many of his events she was also the leader of the Minneapolis-area “Journey Expansion Team”, a fan group that meets to talk about Ray’s ideas and teachings.
Second, according to an AP story on Google, found here, the police are now investigating the deaths as a homicide. What this means remains to be seen, but it doesn’t bode well for somebody down the line.
At least one of the victims’ families are planning to sue, and I’m sure the others will be quick to follow suit once authorities determine who or what was to blame for the deaths.
Over the past several days I have heard and read many interviews and many people are speaking out on both sides of the case. Many of James Ray’s students, seminar attendees and colleagues are rising to provide support for James, but there are just as many people angrily lashing out, painting the spiritual retreat the victims were attending as a cult-like gathering, with James Ray controlling his students through mental and physical control.
What a crock. I would be willing to bet that half of the attendees at any self improvement seminar are hoping against hope that the guy running it would ‘take control’ of their lives and just fix things.
But it doesn’t work like that does it?
You and I know that no one else can fix your life except you.
At first I was disheartened by some of the comments I was hearing about my beloved self improvement field. It hurts when someone bashes what you do for a living. But it served to open my eyes to the real problem… I wasn’t seeing clearly.
That’s right. Me. I wasn’t seeing clearly.
That’s why the comments bothered me, that’s why the response to this tragedy troubled me so much.
One of the great lessons in life is that any obstacle that is troubling you out there in the physical world is simply a reminder of a similar problem inside yourself that still needs to be addressed.
Sometimes I forget this important truth.
In this case it was my own perception of people and their reactions that had changed over time. The more deeply involved I become in helping people grow and improve, the more that I forgot that not everyone is ready to grow, or ready to improve.
How quickly I had forgotten those days in my own past when I scoffed at ’self-help’ books and speakers. I myself had allowed many years to go by without taking conscious control of my own life.
It was an eye opening experience and showed me that the path I’m on never fails to teach and empower me to become a better person.
But how about you?
Are you able to see the events of your life for what they really are?
What was your reaction to this tragic story?
Has it changed as details about the story come out?
I suspect that this case will have long ranging effects upon the entire self help and holistic fields, and will probably change the way that at least the larger seminars and retreats are run.
I hope you’ll share your thoughts and feelings about this by leaving a comment below.
Once again, my sympathies and love go out to the victims and their families.
Peace,
p.s. To stay up to date with the latest in personal development, including a free law of attraction ebook click here now.
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I am so sad to hear that another person has died as a result of this horrible, horrible incident. My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to all of the families involved.
As for my thoughts….I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. From what I’ve seen and read, it looks like there was definitely some negligence involved as far as how the tent was set up, the number of people crammed inside of it, the fasting just prior, etc. But homicide? That’s where I start having some difficulty. I can’t believe that James Ray, or any genuine person in the self-help field, would ever intentionally set out to hurt someone. To me, the definition of “homicide” is the *purposeful intent* to end someone’s life. I’m positive that was not James’s intention.
Like you said, this whole thing is going to have far-reaching effects across the entire holistic field. And like you, I was at first angry at the people who have been lashing out at James and throwing around words like “cult” and “mental manipulation”. Then I realized that these people are just lashing out with fear and anger at something they don’t understand. I know that it is certainly going to affect how I go about teaching people in my own coaching practice.
Thank you for the thought-provoking post!
Bob,
I think what has happened with this is that many people are not being self-empowered when they look for something external to help fix them. Like you stated, it must come from the individual. The problem lies when people tend to follow somebody and to certain things because that person told them to. But there’s also a social psychological aspect to that. Both Robert Cialdini and Stanley Milgram brought out the fact that people will do things if they perceive somebody to be an authority figure that told them to do it. When I was in the Marines it was the same way.
Not many people are able to rationalize their thoughts and want others to do it for them. That’s the reason advertisements are successful and if an authority figure is part of the ad, then it makes it better (unless the authority figure gets into trouble after the ad is out).
Things like the sweat lodge incident and many others will continue to happen because people are looking for something more. Heck, many such people will go from religion to religion the same way.
Your thoughts?
Bob Choat
This tragic event should never have happened. James Ray should have stuck to his fine mentoring lectures like fellow teachers Randy Gage and Dov Baron.
Sadly, the tragic unstudied version of the fine Native American traditions is what was wrong, not the law of attraction.
The media has now caused a pig pile of people upon the entire self-development arena by people, many of whom couldn’t tell you one sentence about the law of attraction.
Joel Osteen delivers the same message every Sunday to a totally filled compaq center, is this all a giant fraud?
Charles Haanel taught it as a course called the master key system in the early 1900’s to businessmen. They liked it so much they tried to buy it and keep it a secret. Were these already successful businessmen fraud victims?
Check any list of the traits/habits/beliefs of very successful people and they will boil down to what is being taught by mentors about the law of attraction.
Are all these successful people like Donald Trump and/or Mother Theresa victims of fraud?
If so, this is the best and most beneficial fraud in the history of man.
Sadly, critical thinking is becoming more and more of a lost art in our world as people get dumbed down to 15 second sound bites and tweets.
It saddens me on many levels. I was once a follower of James Ray and I say it in those term, follower. I am now awake to the fact we are our own teacher, we do not need someone to tell us how wonderful we are, how talented we are but we need to believe and sometimes someone comes into our lives that helps us wake up to that fact. I did not however spend any money on any seminars to find that out. I also believe the Native American traditions is what was wrong, not the law of attraction. The law of attraction does not belong to James Ray it is ours. I cannot get past the fact that James did not honor the long standing Native American tradition concerning the sweat lodge ceremony. I have been to one in Alaska and wish to go to more, I will however from this day forward only go to one that is 100% Native American and long standing. Now for the reality of the day. I feel there was negligance. 3 People are dead, many more tranitized forever. I am sure James Ray and the organizers did not think they did anything wrong. the unfortunate thing is, traditions were not followed and therefor it was wrong and other things will be brought up. I am sorry for the lives that were lost, for the pain the famalies must endure for the rest of their lives. I do however hope wisdom comes from their loss and so we all learn from this tragic event.
@loa fan Thanks for the comment. I agree, critical thinking is becoming a lost art! Let’s change that one person at a time. Peace, Bob
@Jan Thanks. I too, hope that some wisdom comes out of this tragedy. Peace, Bob