Law of Attraction Part 3 of 5: James Arthur Ray

James Arthur Ray. He was one of teachers in The Secret and that really launched him into the upper levels of the self-help industry. He wrote 3 books that I know of (I was originally going to review them here but I'm not for reasons I'll get to in a moment) a dvd program of his Harmonic Wealth seminar and of course, pricey live events, one of which went horribly wrong.

On October 10 of last year, during a $9,000 a person "Spiritual Warrior" seminar held in Sedona, AZ, after going through intense holotropic breathing exercises, a 36-hour solitary "vision quest" in the desert with nothing but a notebook--no food or water, the participants took part in a sweat lodge ceremony which ultimately lead to the deaths of 3 people, two at the site and one later in hospital. Ray was arrested and charged with 3 counts of manslaughter. He plead not guilty and has maintained the deaths were a tragic accident.

Here's the Google results page for James Arthur Ray Sweat Lodge

if you want to read more.

As for Ray, I'm going to be an agnostic about this for now. I do confess I spent $30.00 for his three books on Amazon and will say they're interesting. Nothing I haven't seen before in other self-help lit, but a few interesting bits come through.

On the cover of his last book Harmonic Wealth and in The Secret movie Ray asks: "When would NOW be a good time to start?" I like that one. I also like when he says "Balance is bogus." as to the idea one can have a perfectly "balanced" life. I for one, do not have one at the moment, I have virtually no family life to speak of, I'm in a long-distance relationship and I'm not working the number of hours I would like. And I confess, if I had the $ and the means to get there I probably would've been at one of Ray's seminars...but not now of course.

So the trial itself has been postponed, as both sides argue about what evidence can be introduced and the trial venue. I'm going to hold off on either defending Ray or condemning him as a snake-oil hustler, as many have already. In fact, there's a YouTube video I saw which showed two of Ray's books being placed in a fireplace and burned, alternating with interviews with anguished family members of those who died. I'd link to it here, but now I can't find it.

Anyway, I know enough that I don't need to be a seminar junkie (although going to 2-3 of them a year would be nice) to find the "Hidden Secret" of the Law of Attraction. I'll tell you now what it is:

It is chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to the True Object of Worship, a Nichiren Shoshu Gohonzon, the True Object of Worship. There. Now you don't have to spend thousands of $$$ of dvds, seminars, audio programs and books. You can save yourselves thousands of hours and many years of effort when you practice this Buddhism.

Anyway, that's it for this installment.

Have a Great Week everyone and will write again on Friday.

TJS

Next Week Part 4: Lynn Grabhorn