There was a time when the answers to life’s challenges were simple. We learned to make our own decisions based on common sense, family values and religion, and we learned good judgment from life experience and through the sound advice of family and friends.

Now, however, Self-Help gurus have brainwashed us into believing that they know what is best for us, our marriages and our families. These self-proclaimed experts make millions while offering up their generic advice without any solid evidence to support their claims.

The common sense once readily available to all of us has been hijacked. Self-Help has evolved into a “quasi-religious” cult following through the systematic commercialization of positive psychology and sound mental health.

The Self-Help Movement has become the Self-Destruct Movement by diminishing or destroying our ability to explore, interpret, assess, create, judge, choose and evolve on our own. We have given up the freedom to live life, and build healthy marriages and families based on our unique history, values and life experience. Instead many (desperately) search outside themselves for someone to tell them how to be happy, what they should value and how they should act.

Being a “happier person” or having a “healthier family,” whatever that means, are often the goals of consumers of Self-Help products. Yet studies continue to show that to be happy and healthy is simple but not necessarily easy. Few of us want to do the hard work necessary to change, so we keep searching for an easier way offered by the latest guru, sometimes with deadly consequences.

The Solution: A Return to our (Common) Senses! The best way out of this learned “self-helplessness” is to go cold turkey. Stop watching ALL Self-Help shows now, and quit reading any more Self-Help books, at least until you have applied what you read in the last one.

Begin, instead, to reclaim your natural, God-given ability to think for yourself. The common sense that was once readily available to all of us is still there free of charge and waiting to be applied to just about any challenge we might face in life… all you have to do is use it.

John Curtis, Ph.D. is the founder of Americans Against Self-Help Fraud – http://selfhelpfraud.com/

Sheriff’s Office seeks information
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office detectives are trying to find and interview previous attendees, staff and workers at James Arthur Ray’s Spiritual Warrior retreats or his similar events.
Anyone with information should contact YCSO online at http://www.ycsoaz.gov or by calling Yavapai Silent Witness at (800) 932-3232.

I have some law enforcement background so hope you don't mind my responding to your questions. The police have not said this was a murder, they are in the process of investigating. Detectives are investigating the incident as a possible homicide, which means they have to follow a specific set of investigative protocols that come to bear where there may be some culpability. Such investigations can take time, police may need to delay interviewing key eyewitnesses until they have sufficiently recovered. In addition, it usually takes several weeks for full autopsy results (including toxicology tests) to be available to the forensic examiner, whose findings will be important. According to a news source, the investigators themselves have said it would take several weeks to complete their investigation. I would rather see the police take the time they need to conduct a thorough and proper investigation because if charges are eventually filed against Mr. Ray, the case needs to stand on its own legs in a court of law in terms of strength of evidence, but also in terms of procedure. Nothing worse than to have a case like this dismissed on a technicality.

Arrests cannot be made based upon mere suspicion; the police will require probable cause. They may not be at that point yet, but that doesn't mean it won't happen eventually. In any event Mr. Ray is not required to cooperate with them or submit to an interview. I think it speaks volumes about him that he has not, although I'm sure he is operating upon standard legal advice. Regardless of how the criminal investigation unfolds, Mr. Ray and/or his organization will almost certainly be sued in Civil Court.

If it were possible to send Ray to a new age Siberia I doubt it would do much good. He is made from the same fabric as so many others……….he speaks from the same positivity culture as so many others who came before him and will follow him. There are people out there asking the right questions, writing books that challenge the underlying ethos. I'm not sure if it makes a dent, but folks are trying.

Oprah should totally get this Dr. back on her show to make him admit his wrong doing and make him apologize, just like she did with Frey. I doubt not that she could do it. I really do adore Oprah, but sometimes I think she can be very damaging with her “medical woo”, bringing people with clearly unscientific/spiritual “cures” for medical issues to national attention. This is just one example of this taken to extremes.

Anyway, my heart goes out to the families of those who died.

I posted the link to this WashPo piece by sociologist and author Christine Whelan on the other thread but thought it worth repeating, and she also has a similar well-written column on Huffington Post where she is a contributor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-whelan/…

The comments are worth reading too — quite a few posters share anecdotal stories from their own experiences which expands my own understanding.

This passage from Whelan caught my attention:

“At the ritual's conclusion, seemingly unaware of the bodies of the unconscious lying around him, Ray emerged triumphantly, witnesses said, pumping his fist in the air because he had passed his own endurance test. ”

Hubris is the word that comes to mind.

here are a couple a quotes for tidbits that will make the dog growl. . . these where taken from a blog entry on the Huffington Post called; Health Care: What ever happened to Taking Personal Responsibility?
Not only karma comes back but sometimes one's own words can bounce back and bite one's butt. . .

“Dealing with Cause versus Effect

If you're familiar at all with my work, you should know by now that “energy flows where attention goes.”

All the hoopla regarding death panels, rationing and discontinuing Medicare is the conversation about what to do with people who are sick. Do we let them die or live? Are they worth saving or not? Is this a conversation about health? I think not. The study of how to address sickness is not an advocacy, nor a solution, for health.

In my letter to the president when he took office (click here to read it), I suggested we usher in a new era of responsibility. So far, I haven't seen it in any great measure, and this issue extends beyond health care alone.

Banks and automotive companies that ran their businesses irresponsibly were bailed out with little accountability or with few constructs being put in place. In other words, “You screwed up, but you're not responsible or being held accountable.”

I don't know about you, but if I make poor financial decisions in my personal life or business, I've never found anyone (much less the government) ready to bail me out. I currently have a pretty hefty tax bill due to the state of California, and I'm pretty sure they're not going to let me off.

And now, we're consumed with sick care. I'm not too excited to pay for a lung cancer case obtained by smoking two packs of Marlboros per day. What part of “smoking has been proven to cause lung cancer” is unclear?

Likewise, I'm not excited to pay for triple bypass for a person who's spent a lifetime eating burritos, Krispy Kreme and Snickers, whose idea of a workout is clicking the remote on their television.

If I sound insensitive, I apologize. Those who know me know I'm very sensitive to the needs of others. And please understand that needs and wants are not always the same thing.

Sometimes true sensitivity and love is not continuing to enable individuals to continue with the behaviors that got them in a painful situation to begin with. I don't think many parents would allow their small children the opportunity to continually place their hands upon a hot stove.

When we individually begin taking more personal responsibility for our own health and our own lives in every area, we feel more empowered, more inspired and alive and more in control. Transforming our government and our world begins with transforming our self.

That's how you and I change the world.”

J.A. Ray

Dr. E. i think James's middle name is Arthur instead of August?

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-arthur-ray/…

Followed by, “My team and I are working with the appropriate authorities and have even hired our own investigators to find out the truth.” His lawyers already have their investigators on the case to track the authorities investigation and plant the seeds of his defense.

His statement is self serving BS. Sounds like he and his legal team are anticipating criminal charges and/or civil litigation. Criminal: possibly criminally negligent homicide, but more likely manslaughter because of the added factor of refusing to allow people to leave. Murder is unlikely because of the difficulty proving specific intent to kill. Civil litigation could include negligence and perhaps punitive damages based on gross recklessness.

Whatever the legal outcome, this should be a time to mourn loss, not use a purported statement of sympathy to set up your legal defense, Mr. Ray. Shame on you.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by TMV: James August Ray, Empire Builder on Money and Spirituality: James Ray who has a mega-spirituality business that rev… http://bit.ly/2KiqRs...