“I feel your pain. I accept your anger. And I pray for you all to have some measure of peace and comfort,” James Arthur Ray wrote Tuesday on his blog-comments were turned off on the posts about the sweat lodge deaths.
So if James Arthur Ray told you to jump off a bridge, would you? Judging from the details of the sweat lodge deaths in Arizona the answer would have to be yes.
Between 55 and 65 people were in the makeshift sweat lodge over a two-hour period, and authorities said participants were highly encouraged but not forced to remain inside for the entire time. An emergency call reported two people without a pulse and not breathing.
Twenty-one people were taken to area hospitals with illnesses ranging from dehydration to kidney failure. Two people died upon arrival at a hospital and one more died later.
I’ve been a self help junkie for most of my life. I like Rebirthing, Yoga, Guided Meditations, Binaural Beats, and the occasional bit of time in a nice sauna. The Way of The Peaceful Warrior has a lot of hard core physical activity as it’s path to enlightenment.
Sweating as a health treatment has a long tradition going back to Roman times and it is a standard segment of any travel show to Russian for the host to be beaten with sticks in a sauna and then hop into a frozen lake.
Native Americans were the inspiration for this particular form of heat torture. Native Americans also like to use the drug Peyote in their religious ceremonies. One of my favorite oddball self help books is Carlos Casaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan, in which a student gains enlightenment through progressive drug use.
I like self help books, and I even try to follow their advice once in a while. But I have never had the money to go to a retreat, or on a cruise, or even just attend a conference. All of these events are delivery methods for books, CDs, DVDs, and anything else the Self Help Guru’s name can be slapped on. They make sense.
Cramming 60 people into a sweat lodge designed for ten does not make any sense. Unless Self Help Guru James Arthur Ray had been drinking his own Koolaide and really believed the nonsense he was spouting. James Arthur Ray may have slipped from Self Help Guru to Cult Leader, the first is simply after your money, the second wants everything you are and ever will be.
“I believe the best way to honor their amazing lives and everlasting memory is to continue this important work.” -James Arthur Ray.
In either case, James Arthur Ray is responsible for these deaths and should be held accountable. He should not be allowed to carry on business as usual as if nothing happened.
