The case of the disappearing post

It's another Cosmic Connie Mystery! Some of you may have noticed a post about Australian Secret star David Schirmer that appeared briefly on my blog last night (or earlier today, for those in other parts of the world), but is now gone. Rest assured there's nothing untoward going on; I have temporarily taken the post down pending further...shall we say..."research." This was entirely of my own accord – a decision to err on the side of discretion for the time being – and was not the result of any sort of threat.


I have every reason to believe that everything I wrote or suggested about Schirmer on that post is true. I also have good reason to believe that even if I never write another word about him, the truth will come out. Even if I had never written a word about him at all, the truth would have come out. It was well on its way out before I had ever even heard of Schirmer; in fact it was the initial exposé by the Aussie TV show A Current Affair that brought him onto my radar in the first place.

I do wish to apologize to anyone who may be disappointed about my taking the post down – particularly those who feel they have been harmed by Schirmer. I'm not backing down on my stance about Schirmer or The Secret, and I may very well republish the post very soon, or, alternatively, I may publish something very much like it, or something even better (or worse, depending upon your perspective). Believe me, I have a lot of information that I have not yet shared.

Meanwhile, I continue to welcome opinions from all sides, including from David Schirmer himself. I am not a journalist and this blog is not journalism, but I do make every attempt to be fair and accurate, if not exactly impartial.

That said, I don't want to leave you without a couple of comments that were sent to me before I took the post down. These were intended for that post but since it's no longer up, I can't publish the comments the normal way. So I'll do it here. The first one is from the ever-delightful and witty Steven Sashen:

I've been compiling examples to support a theory of mine:

Listen to the self-referential jokes made by the personal development "gurus". They may get laughs, but they are revealing the truth.

So, when someone jokes about his wife only being with him for the money... guess what?

Similarly when one of these schmurus (as in "guru, schmuru") gets righteously indignant about any accusation, I would take the bet that the charge is true.

And if, instead of indignant, they pull off condescending and smug, double your wager.

Put all that together and it looks like the best way to make money off of Schirmer is to find a way to short-sell him.

A guy named Julian (who provided no link) made this comment:

Cosmic Connie, This is a very long and interesting blog. I have never liked David Schirmer from the first moment I saw him on The Secret. He gave off an air of smarminess which did not gel with the rest of The Secret content.

I have also heard that Bob Proctor is no longer associating with Schirmer and I think Bob should also force Schirmer to remove every video of them working together because Schirmer has dirtied the whole production in my view.

David Schirmer is a very sleazy man if even a portion of what [has been said about him] is true. I never did like him, never did trust him and never will and I also know many other people who feel the same way that I do.

Merry Christmas to you and yours and keep up the wonderful work on this blog. There should be many more people who investigate and report on these conmen. Thankyou

Thank you to Steven and to Julian, and happy holidays to you two, and to everyone else reading this. And for everyone's sake, let's just hope that David Schirmer keeps the promise he made on A Current Affair to pay back his investors by Christmas Day. That would be a great present for all involved – including and especially Schirmer himself.

PS added on 24 December ~ Numerous other sites and blogs on the Web are devoted to David Schirmer, including this one, called David Schirmer Exposed. Ironically, I found the link to that blog on Schirmer's own blog. When the only reverse links to be found on a blog are those slamming the blogger in question, that should tell you something.

Anyway, for the benefit of those who didn't catch my "disappearing" post, its main inspiration was a recent blog post of Schirmer's, in which he discussed a nude-photo scandal (not his own, fortunately). He used that post to moralize about the evils of revenge. In the interests of creating yet another useful reverse link on his blog, here's the link to Schirmer's post.

And here is another delicious bit of irony (and yet another back-link for Schirmer's blog): A February 2007 post in which Schirmer writes of an elderly couple who wrote to him because they'd apparently lost all of their money on other people's investment scams. They were overcome with disillusionment and despair as a result. And yet they were also newly hopeful, because they'd just viewed The Secret. "Mr. Schirmer," they pleaded, "can you restore our faith in getting back what has been stolen from us?" (I can hear a few of you out there gasping and sputtering right about now...)

Schirmer does his best to restore that shattered faith. In his reply to the couple he begins by stating, "There are so many scans [sic] out there it is hard for the average person to determine what is the truth." I think you'll agree that his next piece of advice seems strangely self-serving:

Firstly, you must let go of all resentment of whatever money you have lost. Resentment and Guilt are two of the biggest emotions that hold people back for getting what they truly desire. Easy to say, often not so easy to do! While ever we focus on what we haven't got or what was 'stolen' from us we cannot receive the abundance the universe has in store for us. Do not any longer think of or speak about your loss. Remove anything that reminds you of the experience.

He wraps it up with a short reading list that includes a book by Bob Proctor, and then he ends on this note: "DO NOT do any courses or seminar with anyone unless it follows the principles of The Secret and the above mentioned books."

Somehow I get the feeling – call it intuition, call it a strange hunch or a wild hair – that this couple ended up signing on for a Schirmer seminar, and that they did not become wealthy and happy as a result...