2 Deaths At James Arthur Ray Retreat Seminar Sedona Arizona
This unfortunate event made me think about this whole ‘new agey’ law of attraction phenom and how it will be interpreted by those who associate with it, the media, et al.
When people have misplaced trust in someone they see as an authority figure, they shirk their personal responsibility for their own life and the actions or inactions they choose.
When this occurs, they can get themselves into trouble. They allow the collective voice – some might call it peer pressure – to override and drown out their own voice.
Where, oh where was their mindset?
To me this illustrates how most people are followers and allow someone else’s judgment overrule their own innate wisdom. Individual boundries are dangerously overridden by pressure to conform.
“I’m feeling pretty bad, maybe I should stop and get out. Well, everyone else is still in here. I’ll look weak if I leave. I’m in better shape than many of them, I should be able to take it. We’re safe here, right? They are incouraging us to sit it out cause it’ll be so worth it. Breakthr…”
“Group think” is a phrase that pops in my head. One thing that I doubt very much WASN’T going thru their mind was any sort of Critical Thinking.
According to the article, [read it here - James Ray 2 deaths in Sedona], over 50 people had paid $9000-$10000 for the privilege of attending this 5 day retreat. Hmm…. So James was charging $1000 a head per day for a take of over $500,000 for a week’s work.
Why do I bring up the money? It makes me question the mentality of the attendees. Do they think that the price of going somehow insulates them from potential harm? As in, if it’s expensive, it must be good and safe.
What a load of dookie. That is a peeve I have with the industry. Any punk ass on the street (many of them came from there) can orchestrate a ‘big breakthrough success’ fabricated or real, and then that’s all the credentials they need to justify such absurd fees for the privilege of being in the presence of their hubris. I’m not signaling out Mr Ray nor am I implying one way or the other if he falls into this catagory. However, it pays to be aware that this industry does attract more than it’s fair share of charlatans and for that, one MUST not lose connection to their inner voice.
It’s incredible to be able to command that kind of speaking money – like ex presidents and celebs. But when you get right down to it, it’s a bit nutty. It’s one thing to think highly of yourself and what you have to value, but it’s another to simply bilk people out of their money simply because you can.
Maybe it’s just a numbers game. After all, big music acts only charge 20-300 for a ticket, but they have 1000s of concert goers, whereas these seminars and speaking engagements have to make up for the lack of numbers by charging 10-100x’s more money.
Update: This article really lays it out: The New Age Sweat Lodge Death Controversy.
As a former Arizonan who grew up there and remember a Sedona before the New Agers took it over, mostly the wackos from California, I can tell you that Mr. Ray reminds me of a Jim Jones and Guyana actually. No respect for the desert, or the fact that it takes literaly years for the human body to acclimate to that climate to begin with, and then using the Indians and their beliefs in order to score a buck off rich tenderfoots.
And anyone that was there that didn’t realize that passing out, vomiting and the like are clear signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration, should be charged as accessory to negligent homicide if they worked for that jerk.
There was absolutely no reason for those people to have died, and there should have been trained medical staff standing by in any event with the number of people that were in that plastic and timber tent.
And by the way, it would have been a sauna in there in a plastic tent in October in Sedona since the temperatures stay up into the high 80′s to 90′s many times still at that time of year, and that plastic would have retained the heat from the day to begin with.
What a tragedy. And hope the State of Arizona bans the New Agers from any such garbage being conducted in that state in tghe future – since it also maligns the Indians, who value it as a religious rite, and are smart enough and in which there is always a healer involved in such ceremonies.