I have been reading lately about James Arthur Ray, the “self help guru” whose sweat lodge ceremonies in Sedona lead to several people dying in October 2009. It appears that he had a large number of fans and people paid a lot of money to attend any self help course he ran. I remember seeing him on “The Secret” and so I became interested enough to investigate what had happened. How could a positive thinking guru fall into such negative territory?
Understanding this has helped me understand better some of the flaws in some corners of the world of positive thinking psychology in general.
The first thing I discovered was that the more his techniques have been revealed, the worse things look for him. An illuminating report in the Washington Post, December 29th reads:
“In documents released Monday, a man Ray hired to build the sweat lodge told investigators that he was hesitant to assist with the ceremony for a third year because participants previously had emerged in medical distress, and emergency help wasn't summoned. Theodore Mercer said the latest ceremony was hotter than in years past, but Ray repeatedly told participants, "You are not going to die. You might think you are, but you're not going to die."
Mercer's wife, Debra, told investigators that one man emerged from the sweat lodge halfway through the October ceremony believing he was having a heart attack and would die. She said that instead of summoning medical aid, Ray said "It's a good day to die," according to a search warrant affidavit.
When Ray was advised that two participants were unconscious near the end of the two-hour ceremony, Debra Mercer said Ray did not appear overly concerned and said they would be OK until the end.
Authorities have interviewed most of the more than 50 people who attended the event and detailed about a dozen of the interviews in documents released Monday after a judge ruled last week that they be made public.
Some of the people told investigators that Ray responded to cries for help from a man who was burned and warned other participants not to leave the sweat lodge during eight 15-minute rounds so they wouldn't also be scorched by the hot rocks in the center.
Others who were interviewed by investigators described suffering broken bones at other Ray-led events after being instructed to break bricks with their hands. Others said they vomited and slipped into altered states of consciousness.”
...I went on to his website to learn more about the kind of self help course he teaches and the philosophy he espouses and instantly 2 warning signs jumped out at me:
First, he talks about “harmonic wealth”. The concept here is that we can operate in our lives at an optimum level – one in which we are succeeding in all key areas of our lives at the same time. It is like tuning into a frequency where everything goes right for us, and his philosophy teaches you how to find it. In describing it he states “balance is baloney!” This is something I could not disagree with more. While it’s a good thing to aim for optimal performance in all areas of life, no philosophy can ever be healthy if it denies the possibility of things going wrong in some parts of our lives some of the time. Balance is not baloney, it is inevitable.
This strikes at the very heart of the problem with a lot of positive thinking fundamentalism. Don’t get me wrong. I am all in favour of positive thinking in general, but it is important to balance it out with the realisation that there will always be negatives in the world too. One balances out the other, in fact, each pole needs the other to exist. I would warn anyone away from a self help course that did not acknowledge space for counterbalancing negatives in life. The key here, is not whether or not you experience negatives, it is how you learn to utilise those dark episodes, harness their power and continue an upward trajectory of growth and success. This is a lesson that Mr James is well placed to try and learn in his current predicament.
My other alarm bell rang when I read the part of the thinking behind his self help course that states, “from every unclear chaos, a new order arises that did not exist before the chaos”. Now, I see truth in this insofar as the Universe – given the negatives and positives that coexist within it – exists in states of intermittent chaos all the time. As I mention above, I believe that these varieties are an inevitable part of the Universal Flow, and, as such are necessary for all the more positive and ordered moments and dimensions in life to exist too. The problem, however, comes about when you try to create chaos yourself in order to experience what comes after it. This is not living in the now or the reality of life – but using artificial means to force yourself into happiness. It is the same age old trap that gurus have fallen into over the ages with an unfortunate self help course ideology that recommends anything from drug taking to orgiastic sex. There is enough chaos in the Universe without anyone trying to create more of it. That only leads to... well... more chaos.
In all, then I see some major intellectual holes in the thinking behind Mr Ray’s self help course which seem to have lead directly to the currently tragic state of affairs. If I were able to pass any message on to him right now it would be this; the greatest gift of all is not the ability to avoid darkness, but the ability to grow through it. Accepting this is half the journey. You have that opportunity to do that now.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
MORALS IN THE BALANCE
A study published in the journal Psychological Science recently found that moral behaviour is often driven by underlying feelings of low self worth. The study examined the way in which people make decisions to take positive moral actions and discovered that feelings of negative self-worth can predispose us to acting morally.
It’s as if we have a morality bank account inside us and when our feeling of self worth is low, we do something to boost it. When it is already high, we are less likely to perform a selfless act – we might choose to not act morally, the study found, or just not act at all.
The concept of inner balance is something I discuss a lot in the Sileotherapy personal development website. As this study illustrates, even the negative feelings we have within us serve a purpose. There is no part of us that is not a fundamental and essential part of our current balance – no matter how unpleasant or even ugly it may feel. Our inner world exists in a form of synergy – where the high and low emotional tides are essential for the existence of the stillness, respect and calm that forms our most basic core self. It’s all good, and it’s all necessary.
The pain you feel inside you today will drive you to better things tomorrow. The key to making the most of it is to enable yourself to feel it. Remaining unconscious of your pain or negative feelings just propagates them; as this study also probably verified. It was not just those who possessed low self worth, but likely those who were conscious of it - and so could admit it to the researchers – who acted more morally.
As many a self help and personal development website will attest, it’s not just that every cloud has a silver lining, every cloud is a silver lining!
It’s as if we have a morality bank account inside us and when our feeling of self worth is low, we do something to boost it. When it is already high, we are less likely to perform a selfless act – we might choose to not act morally, the study found, or just not act at all.
The concept of inner balance is something I discuss a lot in the Sileotherapy personal development website. As this study illustrates, even the negative feelings we have within us serve a purpose. There is no part of us that is not a fundamental and essential part of our current balance – no matter how unpleasant or even ugly it may feel. Our inner world exists in a form of synergy – where the high and low emotional tides are essential for the existence of the stillness, respect and calm that forms our most basic core self. It’s all good, and it’s all necessary.
The pain you feel inside you today will drive you to better things tomorrow. The key to making the most of it is to enable yourself to feel it. Remaining unconscious of your pain or negative feelings just propagates them; as this study also probably verified. It was not just those who possessed low self worth, but likely those who were conscious of it - and so could admit it to the researchers – who acted more morally.
As many a self help and personal development website will attest, it’s not just that every cloud has a silver lining, every cloud is a silver lining!
THE EVOLUTION OF LOVE
There has been a lot written in recent months by evolutionary psychologists about the development of certain, relatively unique, positive aspects of human behaviour such as altruism and faith.
The theory goes that as humans developed over millions of years we attained certain characteristics that protected us as a species. As a result, these characteristics grew into increasingly prominent and permanent parts of human nature. One example is altruism. This human trait is what led early groups of humans to shield each other from attack by other predators and so ensure the longer term survival of the species, even if it was at the expense of some individuals’ longevity.
Another more recently discussed example is that of faith. The belief in a higher power of one form or another has, the evolutionary psychologists tell us, evolved into the human psyche over millions of years also. This belief, in turn, led to certain frames of morality that subsequently had a positive effect on the survival of our species. Of course, there are those who argue that, in fact, faith has had the opposite effect, given the history of religious strife, tension and war over the ages. That aside, however, the point that is emerging from evolutionary psychology is that positive attributes within us may have arisen by evolution. Does this, though, make them any less valid? Does the fact that faith developed via an evolutionary pathway make a mockery of faith itself? Does all of this call into question the very reality and meaning of love? Are such characteristics merely devices for the propagation of human genes?
To my mind, characteristics such as faith, love, altruism and kindness are essential and concrete parts of who we are. No human is without them. At our centre, we have a core of acceptance and respect for all and this is an energy that propagates the whole Universe – that is why when we really come into touch with it, we know we are part of something much bigger than ourselves as individuals or even as a mere single species. None of this is incompatible with evolutionary psychology theory. Whether these core elements of the self arose via evolution or not, the point is that the Universe has evolved in such a way as to bring them about, so they must indeed be fundamental characteristics of the Universe. In fact, you could go on to argue that, as such, the whole of nature is one giant unfolding personal development course! I jest, of course (kind of).
The truth is that the reality of love is not something you need an evolutionary psychologist or a personal development course to teach you because it’s something you feel every day; you, me, the rest of the human race and beyond...
The theory goes that as humans developed over millions of years we attained certain characteristics that protected us as a species. As a result, these characteristics grew into increasingly prominent and permanent parts of human nature. One example is altruism. This human trait is what led early groups of humans to shield each other from attack by other predators and so ensure the longer term survival of the species, even if it was at the expense of some individuals’ longevity.
Another more recently discussed example is that of faith. The belief in a higher power of one form or another has, the evolutionary psychologists tell us, evolved into the human psyche over millions of years also. This belief, in turn, led to certain frames of morality that subsequently had a positive effect on the survival of our species. Of course, there are those who argue that, in fact, faith has had the opposite effect, given the history of religious strife, tension and war over the ages. That aside, however, the point that is emerging from evolutionary psychology is that positive attributes within us may have arisen by evolution. Does this, though, make them any less valid? Does the fact that faith developed via an evolutionary pathway make a mockery of faith itself? Does all of this call into question the very reality and meaning of love? Are such characteristics merely devices for the propagation of human genes?
To my mind, characteristics such as faith, love, altruism and kindness are essential and concrete parts of who we are. No human is without them. At our centre, we have a core of acceptance and respect for all and this is an energy that propagates the whole Universe – that is why when we really come into touch with it, we know we are part of something much bigger than ourselves as individuals or even as a mere single species. None of this is incompatible with evolutionary psychology theory. Whether these core elements of the self arose via evolution or not, the point is that the Universe has evolved in such a way as to bring them about, so they must indeed be fundamental characteristics of the Universe. In fact, you could go on to argue that, as such, the whole of nature is one giant unfolding personal development course! I jest, of course (kind of).
The truth is that the reality of love is not something you need an evolutionary psychologist or a personal development course to teach you because it’s something you feel every day; you, me, the rest of the human race and beyond...
FIRST IMPRESSIONS FOOL
A study by academics at the psychology departments of the Universities of New York and Harvard demonstrated that certain parts of the brain (the amygdala and the posterior cingulate cortex to be precise) light up when we are meeting people for the first time. Not only that, they tend to light up more when we are formulating knowledge about that person that falls into a consistent pattern. In other words, our brains are wired in such a way as to prefer consistency when we are forming impressions about people. I.e. we are deploying a filter early on; we are starting to sacrifice anything that may appear paradoxical or inconsistent, in order to draw a coherent judgment.
That then takes us to the world of psychotherapy and the more recent genre of the self help website. To understand this further, to my mind, we have to go to the bookshelf and brush off the cobwebs from the likes of Freud and Jung. While some of the findings of early psychoanalysis have been more controversial than others, some have certainly stood the test of time. The description of one of our most fundamental defence mechanisms – projection – is one of them.
As I teach within the Sileotherapy self help website; we all possess within us numerous traits and aspects that we find hard to carry. This occurs whenever the trait evokes a sufficiently strong feeling within us – in a positive or negative way. Whenever the feeling reaches a certain threshold that makes it difficult to carry inside, we throw it onto someone else and carry round the feeling as if it’s about them instead. It’s a lot easier to carry that way. Strong feelings of love and hate, anger or attraction, usually have some roots in this process.
This study, very interestingly, seems to verify anatomically, the existence of this phenomenon. When we first meet people, the truth is, we know very little about them and – with few exceptions - it will be at least several more encounters before we can form anything like a fair picture. Nevertheless, on day one, we seem to be in the business of conjuring an image that already feels consistent and so, in some way, complete. How is this possible? It must be our old friend projection coming into play. The consistent impressions we are filtering through are facilitating our own projection needs.
Basically, we are filling in the blank canvas before us with our own inner colouring pencils.
That then takes us to the world of psychotherapy and the more recent genre of the self help website. To understand this further, to my mind, we have to go to the bookshelf and brush off the cobwebs from the likes of Freud and Jung. While some of the findings of early psychoanalysis have been more controversial than others, some have certainly stood the test of time. The description of one of our most fundamental defence mechanisms – projection – is one of them.
As I teach within the Sileotherapy self help website; we all possess within us numerous traits and aspects that we find hard to carry. This occurs whenever the trait evokes a sufficiently strong feeling within us – in a positive or negative way. Whenever the feeling reaches a certain threshold that makes it difficult to carry inside, we throw it onto someone else and carry round the feeling as if it’s about them instead. It’s a lot easier to carry that way. Strong feelings of love and hate, anger or attraction, usually have some roots in this process.
This study, very interestingly, seems to verify anatomically, the existence of this phenomenon. When we first meet people, the truth is, we know very little about them and – with few exceptions - it will be at least several more encounters before we can form anything like a fair picture. Nevertheless, on day one, we seem to be in the business of conjuring an image that already feels consistent and so, in some way, complete. How is this possible? It must be our old friend projection coming into play. The consistent impressions we are filtering through are facilitating our own projection needs.
Basically, we are filling in the blank canvas before us with our own inner colouring pencils.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)