James Arthur Ray – Sweat Lodge Deaths – News Updates
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Nov
05
2009
05
2009
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bob Crawford and Bob Crawford, Bob Crawford. Bob Crawford said: RT @bobcrawford James Arthur Ray – Sweat Lodge Deaths – News Updates http://bit.ly/4onuiR #LOA #sweatlodgedeaths [...]
I think James was probably just as much in shock as his attendees.
While his going into seclusion may not have been the best apporoach and did not sit well with many,
I can’t help but notice the glee underlying your report , at the downfall of a much more successful Self Help coach than yourself.
It makes you come off like a jealous gossiper,
just thought you should know that
@ Stacey:
I’m sorry if you came away believing that I feel ‘glee’ at this situation. I simply reported what was said by attendees. Comments about James leaving were from Beverly Bunn, and were quoted from a news story.
The real tragedy here is the death and injury sustained by James Ray’s students. I harbor no ill wishes toward James, and his downfall, if it happens, will deeply sadden me.
Peace,
Bob
I’m with Stacey Bob. You can do a post-empathy affirmation in response to her post but you most definitely have written with an undercurrent of moral superiority and self designated commentator even though none of it is to do with you and the bigger story for all engaged in this dramatic scenario on the divine level is unknown to any of us mere mortals.
Your words:
“It looks like a long road ahead for James Arthur Ray. I don’t know how deep his pockets are, but it appears he is going to be experiencing a cash flow problem very quickly.”
“I also shared with you in an earlier post that James Arthur Ray canceled all his remaining events for 2009. That’s going to hurt!”
And where is this any of your business I wonder…other than to establish yourself self as morally /spiritually superior being?
Stacey is a messenger for you and your judgement..I would heed her words…
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.
@Carol:
I appreciate your words, they are part of the reason for the very existence of this blog. Like most blog writers, I do several things here. I share news and information related to self growth, I write about my own learning experiences, including my mistakes, and I offer my opinions about what I see going on in the world around me. Sometimes I try to be humorous, and I think that you mistook my attempt at comedic commentary as ‘moral superiority’. That’s okay. Sometimes people comment on the stories, sometimes they comment about my opinions. This is great! This is how we learn and stretch our minds.
But of course this story has to do with me. It has to do with you too. It has to do with each of us that are a part of this life experience, because I’m going to disagree with you once more: We are not “mere mortals”! You and I are from that divine source, we are like that divine source, and right here, right now, we are part of that divine source.
It’s when we are not living from that source that troubles appear… offering us opportunities to learn and grow… but only if we are willing.
Peace,
Bob
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.
Great post!
The ABC program Mind Games, about James Arthur Ray, completely missed the MOST IMPORTANT aspects of this James Arthur Ray Sedona case and that is:
The Construction of the Sweat Lodge
They never even mentioned it!
So, what if they interviewed experts in the construction of sweat lodges and asked them about the construction of the sweat lodge at the Sedona Warrior Workshop? What if the experts TRUTHFULLY told ABC that sweat lodges are supposed to be covered with breathable material. What if the experts had said that a sweat lodge covered in waterproof tarps, like the one in Sedona, could indeed be dangerous enough to cause serious injury or even DEATH!!!
Then ABC would have logically asked: “Who built that sweat lodge?” From then on you would find out who the real culprits in this matter actually are and that is: Angel Valley!
Angel Valley built a dangerously unsafe sweat lodge
and if that wasn’t bad enough
Before the James Arthur Ray trial began Angel Valley DESTROYED EXHIBIT ‘A’ IN THE CASE. Obviously, Angel Valley is doing it’s best to destroy all evidence that would implicate them in this matter.
If James Arthur Ray was caught destroying that sweat lodge before his trial we wouldn’t have heard the end of it! The media would have been all over him and he would probably still be in jail for attempting to destroy exhibit ‘A’ in the manslaughter case.
How would you have felt if ABC investigated this MOST IMPORTANT aspect to the James Arthur Ray Sedona tragedy?
Probably very different indeed!
Obviously, the ABC Mind Games program is biased. It was made to serve a hidden agenda. That’s why they never bothered to investigate into the construction of the sweat lodge
Chances are NOT A SINGLE NATIVE AMERICAN who conducts sweat lodge ceremonies would publicly state that a sweat lodge covered with non-breathable, waterproof tarps was safe. NOT SO MUCH AS ONE NATIVE AMERICAN SWEAT LODGE LEADER IN THE WHOLE BLOODY WORLD!!!
ABC was obviously determined that the whole world view James Arthur Ray as guilty NO MATTER WHAT THE TRUTH MAY BE and they ‘back-engineered’ the program to serve this hidden agenda
SHAME ON YOU, ABC!!!
YOU ARE GUILTY AS HELL!!!
@ Nick White Swan:
You’ve hit on some great points. But in the end I believe that it is the seeker’s responsibility to find the truth out there. History is full of people who blindly follow charismatic leaders into trouble! Sure, we can loath James Ray and others like him, but does that solve the problem?
@ LeeKuanMajor:
Did you expect fairness from a network news show? I sure didn’t. Fair doesn’t sell. Scandal does.
It is MY OPINION that James Arthur Ray was ignorant as to just how dangerous a sweat lodge holding about 60 could be. Angel Valley must have assured Mr Ray that such a sweat lodge would be no problem to build and it would be safe or else James Arthur Ray would not have paid them to build it. Mr Ray blindly trusted Angel Valley to be experts in these matters. This is where James Arthur Ray made his big mistake. Angel Valley should have told Mr Ray that they would NEVER build such a sweat lodge because it was extremely dangerous to do so. They should have told Mr Ray that they also would not allow ANYONE to build such a dangerous sweat lodge on THEIR PROPERTY, for liability reasons. Yes, Mr Ray was indeed ignorant to blindly trust Angel Valley when they told him they could safely build a sweat lodge that can hold 60 people. It was indeed blind ignorant trust in Angel Valley that led to the tragedy in Sedona’s Angel Valley
I agree with the assessment it is indeed the Law of Attraction that is truly on trial here. People ask things like, ‘Why did James Arthur Ray attract this to himself?’ The real question is why did those PARTICULAR PARTICIPANTS attract this to THEMSELVES? Why did they refuse to listen to their bodies? They all knew they signed a liability waiver promising to take full responsibility for their actions at the workshop. They must have all heard that one man screaming at the top of his lungs, “I DON’T WANT TO DIE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!! There is NO EXCUSE for those people going back into the sweat lodge after a 10-15 minute round if they could not handle it. If your body is dying it will indeed let you know in unmistakable ways. If you refuse to listen to your body screaming that it is dying and you go back into a sweat lodge, after signing a liability waiver, you have no one else to blame but yourself! It is irrelevant who may be encouraging you to go back into the sweat lodge. It is YOUR LIFE and YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to protect YOURSELF!
From my travels on the Internet, about the Sedona matter, I know how Native Americans would have reacted if a Native American went to that workshop and stayed in the sweat lodge until he had to be hospitalized. The Native Americans would hold THAT PARTICULAR Native American fully responsible for his actions. They would have told THAT PARTICULAR Native American that he should have known better than to stay in a sweat lodge until he needed to be hospitalized. They would say that he got what he deserved for being an idiot! Yes indeed. That’s how Native Americans would have reacted.
James Arthur Ray Sweat Lodge Trial Vacated — No New Date Set:
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2010/07/james_arthur_ray_sweat_lodge_t.php
TO THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE SEDONA WARRIOR WORKSHOP:
So, you paid over $9,000.00 to go to that workshop. It had been held for, I believe, 7 years at Angel Valley. You obviously knew what you could basically expect. If you wanted to be indulged and pampered you could have used that money to go to a luxury holistic heath spa and been covered in organic mud then pampered with soothing massages. No, you didn’t want that, right? You wanted to be pushed so that you could learn the difference between what you THINK you can endure and what you ACTUALLY can endure. You wanted to be able to make dramatic use of The Secret and see your daily lives transformed. Obviously, you couldn’t get that from a luxury holistic health spa that caters to pampering you in all your cozy holistic indulgences. No, you paid the money and went to that workshop because YOU DIDN’T WANT TO PLAY IT SAFE. You wanted to be pushed out of your ‘comfort zone’ to the edge of your endurance. For this you knew you needed a Spiritual Drill Sergeant in order for you to reach your fullest potential and that’s what you got. You must admit it takes a lot of guts for James Arthur Ray to create such a workshop. It’s not as safe as a holistic ‘pamper yourself’ spa. Such a workshop is only for those who are serious about permanently changing their lives. The liability waiver made it clear enough that you might indeed be injured at that workshop. You might even die, yet you chose to PROMISE IN WRITING that you would take full responsibility for your actions when you attended that workshop and not hold James Arthur Ray or ANY of the JRI staff liable should you suffer injury and if you died your relatives could not sue over the matter. Ray should have had the attitude of a Marine Corps drill sergeant. He was nicer than that, right? Still, show me a Marine Corps drill sergeant who is always sweet and nice and I’ll show you…a worthless drill sergeant.
True warriors are honorable. They keep to the agreements they make and DON’T NEED a written contract to honor their agreements. You ‘pity me’ people who went to that workshop with the intent of breaking your promise if anything went wrong are a disgrace. You should not have been there. Supposed “warriors” who break their promises are actually losers pretending to be warriors. A drill sergeant is indeed going to shock you into a state of mind where you access your dormant potential. Once you sign the military agreement it’s too late to change your mind about the matter. Sounds to me like you crybabies would make excellent military basic training boot camp washouts. You say you were pressured by Mr Ray to stay in the sweat lodge. What did you expect? For him to pressure you not to go in and build your endurance? GROW UP and take responsibility for your actions and your lives, people! Until you can say the Native American adage “It’s a good day to die” with casual optimism and REALLY MEAN IT you will never amount to much on the path of Universal Knowledge. You should have gotten your lives in order, before you went, and been fully prepared to die at that workshop. There is no guarantee that you would not have died before you even arrived there! Next time spend your money on a self-indulgent holistic health spa for New Age weaklings that will pamper you with indulgent, holistic luxury. You don’t belong at a workshop for the strong and the honorable.
I suggest you consider this: Angel Valley destroyed exhibit ‘A’ in the James Arthur Ray manslaughter case before it went to trial because…when they took the sweat lodge apart they found that the vinyl tarps covering the breathable material were somewhat melted. God forbid you people who went to the workshop would find that out! It would mean you suffered injury because of the fumes that came from those melting vinyl tarps. Angel Valley had no business constructing a sweat lodge and covering it with non-breathable vinyl tarps. THAT’S CRAZY!!! Study into sweat lodge construction and you will indeed find Native Americans agree that a sweat lodge MUST be covered with a breathable material. So, you didn’t have enough air in the sweat lodge, eh? WHO THE HELL BUILT THAT DEATH TRAP COVERED WITH NON-BREATHABLE VINYL MATERIAL? Who assured James Arthur Ray that the sweat lodge was safe and didn’t even bother to supply thermometers to make certain it didn’t get too hot inside the structure,eh? These are the questions you really need to be asking…”warriors”
@ LeeKuanMajor:
It seems that you have a lot to say about this issue, might I suggest that you find another forum for your discussions? Perhaps a blog of your own?