Appearances are not reality, but they often can be a convincing alternative to it. You can control appearances most of the time, but facts are what they are. When the facts are too sharp, you can craft a cheerful version of the situation and cover the facts the way that you can cover a battered old four-slice toaster with a knitted cozy featuring images of kittens.
~American novelist Dean Koontz
from The Good Guy (2007)
The above quotation appears in the context of Dean Koontz's description of a psychopathic killer who always tries to put a positive spin on every situation, even when things aren't going so well for him. But it's also a perfect description of the way many New-Wage gurus ply their trade, don't you think? That's why this particular quotation stuck out for me when reading Koontz's novel (which I highly recommend, if you're a fan of suspense/thrillers). For some reason the kitten imagery really grabbed me too, maybe because I'm such a cat lover, as I'm sure many of you are. I didn't have time to hunt for a picture of a knitted toaster cozy with kittens on it, but fortunately I already had some kitty pics; they will just have to do. (Some of you, I think, will get the true significance of these pictures.)
But this post isn't about cute kittens. It is about another development in the career of David Schirmer, Aussie star of The Secret. An alert reader sent me a link to Schirmer's updated profile page on Marcy From Maui's Powerful Intentions web site. After going on about what a successful millionaire he is due to applying the Law Of Attraction, Schirmer adds:
I am a Christian and part of my goal is to help other Christians understand that God desires them to have abundance and prosperity in all areas of their life; and that sickness, lack and poverty are sin (falling short of the mark). God's promises are abundances and that "All things are possible for those who believe." Contrary to some of teachings linked to The Secret I do not believe all roads lead to eternal life with God - otherwise the Bible and God is a lie. So my other goal is to help people know the truth about Jesus, God and salvation.Regarding the first part of this statement, Schirmer is really not much different from the many advocates of "prosperity Christianity," such as Joel Osteen, the pastor of Houston's Lakewood mega-church. Nor is Schirmer all that different, in some respects, from New-Wage gurus who try to convince their followers that Buddha (for example) taught that desire is a virtue and that driving fancy cars and living in mansions is your divine right.
What really struck me, though, was the second part of this blurb, which seems to be a thinly veiled declaration that anyone who doesn't embrace Christianity lock, stock, and barrel is doomed to eternal damnation. This means that anyone who doesn't accept Jesus H. Christ as his or her personal savior will spend eternity in torment, presumably without BMWs, big houses, quarter-million-dollar dining room tables or any of the other good things that the Lord grants to the righteous.
This would mean that in reality, David Schirmer believes that most of his fellow Secret "teachers," and most of the New-Wage gurus he promotes in his magazine, Succeed, are going to burn in hell unless they decide to give their lives over to Jesus. Included on Schirmer's list of the damned would be Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale, who is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Succeed, and who seems to be more enamored of Eastern philosophies, and some of those heathen indigenous teachings such as Ho'oponopono, than of Christianity. (He also, as you may recall, denies knowing Schirmer or having known anything about Schirmer's association with Succeed when he agreed to be interviewed for the magazine.)
So I guess if you can't join 'em, damn 'em, huh, David? I suppose you can't blame a guy for trying to establish a brand for himself. After all, the more famous Secret stars are dissociating themselves from Schirmer, and he hasn't been too successful so far at breaking into the US New-Wage market. So maybe he reckons that if he re-brands himself as some sort of an LOA (Law Of Attraction) Christian evangelist he will finally find acceptance on these shores.
Of course if he's not careful he could still end up in a bit of legal trouble, as has happened with quite a few of our famous evangelists. As Jimmy Swaggart learned, for example, sometimes the Lord can't keep a good man out of the arms of wicked women, and as Jim Bakker learned, sometimes even Jesus can't keep a guy out of jail. (If you follow the link to the Wiki article on Bakker, scroll down to the section labeled, "Philosophy," and see what Bakker has to say about "prosperity theology.")
Amazingly, some folks have apparently bought Schirmer's Christian shtick, leading me to believe that the most abundant resource in the universe, for New-Wage hucksters anyway, is the gullibility of Powerful Intentions community members. Indeed, the army of the deluded seems to be growing, as evidenced by some people's comments on Schirmer's Powerful Intentions page (apparently in response to his invitation to be their "friend"). For example, there's this one:
Dawn Nocera said…Dawn, Dawn, step away from that light!
David!
Thanks for connecting! I love your magazine! Megan from Australia introduced it to me! Love those Aussie's! I also wanted to say thank you for letting the world know you are a CHRISTIAN! You are a light for me to follow. Thank you again!
Dawn
By the way, anti-self-help-fraud activist John Curtis, who is on sort of a mission himself, sent a link to a good article on self-help from a Christian perspective. You might want to read this one, David...
Fame is a yobboI just had to use that word again; I learned it recently from one of my commenters. "Yobbo," for the benefit of those who don't know, is a Brit/Aussie slang word referring to a lout, a hooligan, a totally uncouth guy...well, you get the drift.
I thought of that word when I read a passage from another book I recently completed, the late Evan Hunter's 1974 novel, Streets of Gold. Hunter was a prolific author and screenwriter who also penned works under numerous other pseudonyms, of which the most widely known was Ed McBain. Streets of Gold is the story of Dwight Jamison, a blind jazz pianist born of Italian immigrants. Dwight was, for a spell, an American success story, rising to the giddy heights of a fame that was transitory, as fame often is. Fame, and the pursuit of fame, did some things to him that he really didn't like. Here's his take on success, American style:
Success is difficult to resist; it is exceedingly difficult to resist. It has been personified as female, the Bitch Goddess, but I firmly believe it is male in gender and exclusively American in origin. I have seen this hairy male beast...attack and devour the strongest men and women. He stinks of booze and fornication, his breath can knock you senseless for a week. He belches and farts in public, he uses obscene language, he is a braggart and a dullard, and he has but a single ear. Yet when he clutches you in his powerful arms and plants upon your lips a kiss that surely reeks of all things vile (it is the kiss of death, make no mistake), there is nothing to do but succumb. The Beast is too strong, he can break you in two, he can scatter your limbs to the four winds after he has picked them clean of flesh (he will do that, anyway), and it is better to suffer his crushing embrace (it's what you wanted all along, isn't it?) and let him take you where he will.But I bet you won't find that quotation in the pages of Succeed Magazine.
PS ~ I'm still working on a post about something I think is really important: the sad news of the end of Steve Salerno's SHAMblog. I hope to have that post up in the next couple of days. (But I'm not-so-secretly hoping that Steve changes his mind.)
55 comments:
If ever there was a guy would could not afford to start justifying his actions by quoting parts of the bible it's David Schirmer.
Ah well, then he must also believe that when he meets his maker he'll expect to hear "Get behind me satan".
LOL, Anon.
The Bible does not say that the GROSS shall inherit the earth. This guy should learn to read.
When you scout around those powerfully intending forums as some put it, you see the same people all the time. What an incredible waste of time and energy. If they put as much energy into really helping others out it would be much more worthwhile. I can see all that staff running off into the distance soon because people will realise that the only people making money or getting rich out of any of it is Saint David. I think its sad to see so many people so hopelessly besotted with all this new age crap that does not make them a dime.
OMG Poor kitty but I think what you are getting at is that theres only one type of kitty that would keep that guys attention...
...If he thinks by turning all religious he is making amends or something then its a bit too late don't you think. Besides what HAS he done to solve his problems except crap on about how good he is still? I bet the guy has stickers on his roof for when he wakes up.
"God I'm good"
"Theres a touch of genius in me Lord"
"Thanks for blessing me with all these suckers Lord"
"I'm the greatest man alive Lord, just ask me"
"Lord hold the candle to me"
Oh Lordy, this guys ego is trippy.
I wonder if David Schirmer has ever considered how amazing life could be if he just settled all his problems. His life must be absolutely sh-t and tragically I believe he deserves every bit of it.
What an odd theology. Prosperity gospel meets Hellfire gospel.
But we're used to such incongruity from Schirmer, right?
Are those WAR Kittens?
Schirmer is simply using the Christian card to try and paste over all the cracks that show him up to be a con. And typical of those sort of people is their propensity to take verses of the bible out of context to "prove" their point. Once you quote one verse of the Bible as justification for your actions or ideals, then every verse of the Bible is what you will be judged on. The Bible has a lot to say about stealing, adultery, deception and the love of money, all of which apply equally to Schirmer.
Schirmer has one goal and one goal only.....it is not to help anyone, it is not to bring Christ to anyone, it is simply to get as much money as possible through any means possible with no thought as to its legality, morality or common decency.
Dwight Jamison was a very insightful man. Incredibly all these people learn that lesson way too late and only after many people have been hurt as a result of their greed and selfish determination to (in their own minds) succeed. Everything that comes from Schirmer is about money, greed, selfishness, having what you want and there is never any mention of getting it in a manner that is a benefit to everyone involved. My observations are that what he does is only ever a benefit to himself, remember HIS goal is to have $2Billion. Why that much only he knows obviously thats his benchmark to success and I doubt very much he'll reach it in a lifetime because he shows absolutely no understanding of the real laws of the universe or of how money works. If only benefiting himself is not what he intended then, as an apparent Christian, it should be very simple to resolve every issue he is facing with every person. Because I believe it is not his intention then he will never reach his apparent goal because the entire time he is actually stealing other peoples dreams and goals. I doubt he will ever understand that though because he does not comprehend that he is not an authority on anything much at all in fact I don't think he even has any formal qualifications for anything let alone provided proof of any success in anything. You also have to question his wife and business partner. They are obviously in this who conning business together and are probably hiding some pretty serious stuff. I'm sure it will all be revealed in time and I have no compassion for them. I think they are an absolute disgrace attempting to run businesses the way they do and preach to people about what they should be doing but they are not following it themselves.
The Schirmers used to attend a church in Toowoomba Austalia but it looks like they have been pretty much ostracised from that church now. Who can blame the people from feeling disgusted at them for creating so much anger and hurt amongst the churchgoers. You have to ask what part of what they have done can be considered christian?
The Bible says that "by your fruits you shall be known"
It seems that the only fruit they have been able to produce so far are bitter lemons.
Incongruity from Schirmer? Nooooooooooooooooooooo!
He is God isn't he?
Incredible how this guys websites don't get any comments when hes holding a seminar.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT HE IS INVOLVED IN FAKE TESTIMONIALS AND COMMENT SPAMMING?
So this guy thinks that only the people who believe in the LOA are righteous?
What a pompous ass. If that is his version of Christianity then the guy is a loser.
Sickness and poverty are sins?!?!
Classy dude, classy. (him, that is, not you Connie)
Yes this is the guy who powerfully intends to make himself rich by screwing everyone else. He's been shaking his toosh at the wrong party lately and he isn't real popular. Surprise, surprise, just take one look and you see straight through his smarmy responses and fake wealth.
I can feel another Law Suit comming on David is at it again
http://www.thesecret.com.au/
LOL what a wanker, he gets more desperate all the time. God that guy has tickets on himself, it must really hurt when people say to his face that he's crap.
Oh but I particularly like this part
"The fact is that The Secret shared some of the more superficial ideas and techniques but the really potent methods for attracting whatever you want in your life remain the inner circle teachings of the original teachers.
These deeper level teachings were not shared in the movie, They were kept hidden from you as they always have been and could be what makes the difference between a good life and a life that's 'out of this world!'"
There you go, he is finally admitting what everyone accused them of from the beginning. Yes the secret was just a money making exercise to make those in it rich it was not intended to help the world or to help the needy at all oh no, it was specifically designed to make you want more from of their crap. Really how many shelves of products and stuff, yes stuff, do you need to pay for to make up your own mind to do something about your future?
God this is good. This guy is a desperate wanker.
Yes Schirmer suddenly had a brain wave on how he could successfully rip people off while sitting on his fat backside doing nothing much.
I think he has just destroyed everything for the other teachers now but he probably thinks he's smartarsing to get more customers. Everybody knows that as soon as they put their name and address in those boxes they'll get spammed continuously with Schirmer crap. God thats why those websites dont' work.
"inner circle" secret strategies
Isn't that that Dan Kennedy Inner Circle marketing event that Schirmer boasted about going to here.
http://www.dankennedy.com/faq.html
Now the fool is even using Dan Kennedy's words. The guy can't think of anything original for the love of money. You are right, yet another lawsuit just might be on its way.
LOL Schirmers good christian sidekick has opened a nightclub!!!!!
Says everything about their take on religioun doesnt it? He's probably screwing Schirmer over for all he can get out of him too while pretending to be a good christian. It seems it takes one to know one in that business.
Soon we'll have Schirmer preaching in the nightclub about the LOA while everyones getting pissed. Imagine that, "Whhhhhaaaatt did ya say? Geeeeeeet stuffed, crap music in this place lets leave".
Lots of great comments here... I apologize for not responding individually at the moment, but Ron and I are wrapping up a project and are on a very tight deadline for the next few days. But keep those comments coming!
I believe all David Schirmer is doing is teaching people how to LIE. Think about it and read what he says and then look at his real life. Nothing even resembles truth so in other words HE IS LIVING A LIE.
A hungry public now awaits,
What will Cosmic Connie put on our plates?
She has put us on whirled musing fast,
While days and hours and minutes have passed.
Cracking her whip at new age trash
Who befuddle your mind and take your cash.
'Back in your holes you dirty dogs,
back under your rocks and rotten old logs'
I wonder if that guy has considered how Schirmers reputation might rub off on his business? Especially when hes working for a guy who is under so much negative public scrutiny. Not a proud moment I wouldn't think and not a real smart business decision but as someone else said, takes one to know one. Schirmer obviously doesn't give a sh-t about anyone else but he manages to mesmerise his subjects so they continue to THINK he is doing them a huge favour.
Hiya Connie,
Glad to see you're still shining a light on the darkest dregs in the universe. :)
Schirmer & the other Secretrons would all have been revival tent hucksters if this were going on in the 30's or even in the 50's &
60's.
At least Aimee Semple McPherson helped hundreds of thousands of people even if she was doing other things which weren't very "Christian." I saw an interview with Anthony Quinn who was friends with McPherson & he said that she was the best actor he'd ever met.
I find the Secret crew to be really really poor actors & I guess that's why I find it difficult to understand its popularity.
Hey, I've not been around much but had meant ot ask you last year if you'd ever written anything about Carlos Castaneda or the company he started 'Clear Green'?
He was a really messed up person. Simply incredible that UCLA accepted his BS as his dissertation. It's incredible to me how he got away with what he did & even now all those missing femal gurus & LAPD & DA haven't done anything to try & find these women who are all presumed dead.
Very sickening to think that I had been sooooooo attracted to Castaneda's writing & had attended a few of the Clear Green seminars.
He also taught that being sick was evil. LOL he tried to hide the fact that he had cancer. Yet whenever anyone in the group became ill they'd be expelled. He also played the abstinence game but was screwing his 'witches' left & right. Desexed them & made them all dress & wear the same hair styles (short masculine cuts dyed platinum blonde). He also made them cut off al lties to friends & family....typical cliched sicko-guru crap.
Also, I find it interesting that Castaneda's entire premise was imo plaigerized from Neville Goddard. Castaneda used to attend Goddard's lectures. He saw the money making potential & also the chick-magnet-student factor. His spin was the Yaqui Indian bs.
Now we have Vitale putting the hoi-poloi hula-wula on the law of attraction. Maybe he can channel Max Freedom Long in a batik sarong whilst sipping a mai tais from a rare & vintage totem which once belonged to some big Kahuna?
Sorry to blab off topic. I just cannot take these creeps like Schirmer & all the other LOA-Metaphysical scammers any more. What stops good people from kicking them in the balls? Or hiring a hit kitty? :)
Yes incredible that someone just hasn't the balls to do the balls thing. I know why, because the people who have the balls are too good for them. These people are low lifes who prey on nice, innocent, kindhearted people who live a good life in most circumstances, who want to be trusting like most people are taught is a good thing and end up "helping" or enabling these people which is exactly what they planned from the outset. The likes of Schirmer have something else really weird going on though. I believe he was brought up in a church but got onto the personal development (selfish help - helping self - help selfishness) movement years ago and appeared to slowly got greedier and greedier. There seems to be something more to him though, he mentions having many companies and I think people are very suspiscious that he has been involved in creating lots of companies to shuffling funds or something (I don't know its just that I heard that is what he teaches so its probably what he's doing). I think that is what the real problem is with him and probably why his problems just don't stop and neither should they until the authorities step in and do something. You get the distinct feeling that these people think they are above the law and they have outsmarted the system or something they just get too smarmy for their own good. Sadly (or gladly for many people) it is that very smarminess that lands them into serious trouble and that is where I believe Schirmer is right now. He must be paddling real hard if he can't afford to pay any of these people back when he promised he would. Interesting though that he is able to maintain his house and cars and heaven knows what else. I'm sure the authorities would be very interested to see him funding himself and not fulfilling the promise to all those people who claim to be owed so much money. I feel for them because it would suck for someone you trusted in to screw you over like that.
To see the love/hate relationships between all these people in the secret just confirms that the whole thing was driven by money from the very beginning. They probably never admitted it to each other but saw the dollars long before they saw the end product or the consequences of those thoughts. I'm sure there is good information in some of it but lets not forget it is just a rehash of old information anyway, nothing new, no new revelations, no guarateed success. It will be interesting to see how they all get through their messes. I think the likes of Schirmer needs to start preaching to self a bit more than he preaches to everyone else and being honest with himself as a beginning. He is just not believable any more. You can't get on national tv and admit so much and make promises and not come out a complete loser if you dont' follow through with those promises. I get the feeling he might have practiced this for a very long time which makes him all the more dangerous. But he is not the only one, many of them make stupid promises but they gloss over it and shut out the complainers. I bet the bills keep coming in and I bet the electricity company won't stand for "loose promises".
I am amused at these people, including Schirmer, whose only claim to any sort of qualifications at all apparently is the fact that at some point in their life they went to a personal development seminar and got whacked with the love and bliss disease and purchased a title called something like LIFE COACH.
They never earnt it, didn't study or sit for examinations to test their level of knowledge, they just bought it with money and went ahead telling the world how good they are. Schirmer probably borrowed the money off someone else to pay for it (he has admitted somewhere that the borrowed the money to go so if he had to do that he probably had to borrow the money to buy as well) and paid them back with a fake promise and he probably still owes them if the truth be known.
It is only then that these people realise that all the money is in selling these so call FAKE TITLES. Isn't that what the selfish help business is all about, selling people a little bit of punch for their ego. Feels good until someone steps into their territory and whoa do the fists come out then. They spend all their spare time personally developing their bitching skills. Just look at the amount of life coaches out there now. Really how many life coaches does it take to solve peoples woes?
Are we that screwed up or are we just being told by these FAKE TITLED EGO TRIPPING LIFE COACHES that we are because it serves their purposes?
Anyone could spend a few thousand dollars and buy themselves a title of Life Coach and there are no regulations to stop them sucking thousands of dollars out of people by selling self help crap and charging ridiculous prices for their hours spent just listening and repeating stuff they had read.
At one point one of these so called uneducated teachers was selling people the chance to be a life coach for something like $100,000 but apparently it never got off the ground...interesting don't you think and you've got to wonder at what point their greed stops.
When people get THAT greedy their victims get smart and see through the fog of (sorry Rev Ron but I know you need a bath) charm and lies. It would not surprise me if that was Schirmer because he seems to be the most desperate of the lot. Shows the level of understanding of anything and the level of real wealth doesn't it?
Keep up the work on these guys, from little things big things grow.....(Another selfish help quote that gets bandied around a lot)
Looks like ACA are not finished with this guy yet. He is now listed under their "Special Investigations". For sure they have a lot more dirt yet.
http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/investigations/
Is this David Schirmer who used to live in Biloela then Toowoomba then Melbourne in Australia? Does he have brothers Grant, Ian, Jaime, Aaron?
If it is, NONE of this surprises me!
LOL, this is off another blog:
"This is like watching Schirmer shuffle deckchairs on the Titanic, I think the outcome was decided a long time ago by Schirmers own actions."
Can't agree more.
You gotta laugh at this Youtube link. It mimicks The Secret Intro. The title is Youtube Secret:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=jmH83PvhLws
What is happening with Schirmers second court appearance in Australia? Come on you Aussies, keep us up to date or give us some links. I think it was basically one spruiker taking on another spruiker wasn't it? The battle of the Titans.
According to the Federal Court web site the mediation is this...
File Number - VID222/2008
Application - ADR
Date Time Before Reason Location
30/07/2008 10:15 CAPORALE R Mediation Registrar's Chambers
I think it has changed from 14 July and God knows why, it's probably Schirmer doing his usual tactics of screwing with everyone as much as possible to be a smartarse or he cant come up with a good enough excuse. Either way he is such a pathetic little man now.
Hi, I'm impressed by the dedication you show in bringing the truth to the masses about what you see as spiritual chicanery, but I am afraid I am going to have to pop your unempathetic bubble. It's a shame that you want to separate people from the chance to manifest the success which is truly everyones birthright once they have re-membered the ancient law of attraction. I think David shows great love dedication in bring his success wisdom to those ready to allow themselves to surf on the wave of the accelerating global consciousness. This goes beyond earthly laws, and naturally he can see beyond the karmic entanglement that society creates when it makes laws that are not in accordance with the One great Law of Attraction. To embrace fully the LOA is to finally real-ise, or real-eye-s, the unity behind the astonishing and unjust spaghetti which is the global legal system.
I myself came across the secret when I was in law school, the DVD of the secret(tm) was laying next to my friends TV, and I asked her what it was and she said I could borrow it and I am so glad that I did really, or real-e, I never realised how much my life could be transformed in such a short period. I went from looking at a major flunk out, to passing with flying colours.
I think it is a sad reflecton on your level of vibrational consciousness (and no, I am not afraid to use such terms just because I am a high flyer in the hard headed legal world) for you to devote your life to what seems like a constant sream of negativity.
You see, following Davids example of filling out a check for the amount he felt comfortable with, I designed my own bar exams, with the complementary perfect answers.
Setting the thick wad of papers before me, I meditated for several hours, energising the intention that these questions and answers be the guiding template for my upcoming test period. Visualising a sphere of golden energy surrounding my pre-destined answers, I then visualised the real test papers connected to them with cords of silver quantum energy, and an oscillating information wave between the two. Silently I acknowledged that it was my own thoughts that would bring me the exam results I needed so badly, and I let go the intention that the real test papers would, by virtue of the effects of the holographic nature of reality, be influenced by the ideal that I had created drawn from the archeype region of cosmic mind. This is, I am sure, the way that Plato understood the secret, but which is so badly understood, as I saw when I took philosophy classes.
The way I learned to apply the LOA has brought me tremendous success, and now I rub shoulders on a daily basis with some of the most dedicated and brilliant legal proffessionals in the business, as I empty their waste paper basket, and restock the paper cups on the water vendor, and thats all thanks to the generous wisdom of the people who let me in on The Secret.
Watched that youtube video, they could have done better but maybe they didn't want Rhonda Byrnes chasing them. She probably won't have anything left anyway after all the lawsuits and bitching thats going on amongst the secret teachers.
Proctor sues Schirmer
Vitales denies knowing Schirmer
Schirmer is left out of any new material
Schirmer appears on national TV
Schirmer is being sued again for violation of trademark
but Schirmer continues to tell everyone that he thinks he is the most knowlegable person in world on the mind. You got to love his gall.
I have been reading you on and off for over a year, and you are awesome.
And this is coming from someone who is in the metaphysical/paranormal business/communities.
Fact is, one has to give props where props are due.
I don't agree with all of your viewpoints, but damn, you articulate them well...and there is always food for thought.
People like intelligence, and you always offer a plate or two.
Kudos!
~Moon~
www.blog.psychic-wisdom.net
Well dear abby, "I am a high flyer in the hard headed legal world" so you are no better. You have just finished college and claim to be a hard hitter, God help you. Yes real-e, and trul-e, your comeuppance is due. I wonder if it has dawned on you just exactly what you have learnt? Put simply, you have learnt to use your brain so cut the bullsh-t and be real. No amount of new age crap is going to make my dinner tonight and no amount is of it is going to wash my clothes EXCEPT if I make the decision that it needs to be done and just get off my butt and do it.
I also get the feeling that you haven't got a clue what the problem is with these teachers. It is not about the secret or any visualisation or any magic it is about real people doing real things to other real people that no amount of prophetic visualisation makes acceptable.
Why do you think that two of Schirmers mates (and I say that as it seems to be an very Aussie term) have discarded him. Perhaps two of the most notable mates in the secret. Could it be because they have experienced first hand his pathetic smartarse smarmy excuses for not being real? Whatever it is you cant deny the truth or the obvious no matter how much you might quantum physics it all away and if Mr Schirmer is who he says he is then why the hell is he attracting so much crap?
Whatever you ask, you receive, so you believe.
Hi, all: I'm taking a long-overdue break from work, at least long enough to try to reply to some of the comments here. And with any luck I'll actually get a new blog post up soon.
I did want to make a quick comment to "Quirky": I believe "Abby" was being ironic. My first clue to that was in "Abby's" name, but then again, I'm pretty pun-sensitive and am likely to see puns even where they don't exist. (Abby Leever...A Believer...get it? Not quite as obvious as something like "Dee Bunker," but a good one nonetheless.)
I'm also pretty sensitive to irony and sarcasm, as these are some of the tools of my trade. And when I came to the last part of "Abby's" comment...
"...now I rub shoulders on a daily basis with some of the most dedicated and brilliant legal proffessionals in the business, as I empty their waste paper basket, and restock the paper cups on the water vendor, and thats all thanks to the generous wisdom of the people who let me in on The Secret"
...I felt I was correct in my assessment. I sense the hand of HHH at work here, but if I'm wrong on that count, I apologize both to HHH and to "Abby." :-)
Another quick comment... not trying to give short shrift to anyone here, but I just wanted to say hi to Paulette and say that it's good to see you back here after your long absence. I look forward to reading your blog when you get finished with the "construction" phase. :-)
I haven't yet written about Carlos Castaneda, but some of the things that have come out about him in recent years are pretty disgusting. An entire generation was enraptured by his "teachings." I admit to having most of his books myself, but I basically bought them because I liked the covers and thought I might find some of the stuff marginally interesting; I never have actually read much of them.
As for Cleargreen...I got this from the "statement of purpose" page on their web site:
"The name of Cleargreen stems from an idea that sorcerers who lived in Mexico in ancient times had about the configuration of our human energy. They believed that different kinds of energy had different hues, and that human energy has now an off-white coloration, but that at one time it was clear green.
"To be congruous with those shamans' idea that the path of shamanism is really a return to our origins, the name of Cleargreen was adopted for this budding corporation..."
Wait! What about the purity of the white light? Or the indigo light -- indigo being the color of the crown chakra, if I'm not mistaken. Sigh... dueling belief systems again. Mystics just can't seem to agree on anything, LOL.
The Neville Goddard-Castaneda connection is interesting too. Even more interesting is that "Dr." Joe Vitale is also a big fan of Neville's teachings, and not only writes about him in "The Attractor Factor" but also came out with a book purporting to share some of Goddard's most electrifying secrets and profound wisdom.
At least one person on Amazon was disapponted in the latter offering, which is titled "At Your Command":
"I own and love several of Joe Vitale and Neville's books. With such an electrifying cover, I expected more from this book. The material by Neville is short but good. But considering how much Joe spent to buy the book and his enthusiasm for Neville's teachings, I thought Joe would provide a lot more value added to Neville's teachings. I assumed he would reveal exactly how he used Neville's techniques. Instead, we get an ENTIRE chapter that is simply ad copy for Joe's teleseminar! I don't mind some publicity for other books/works/offerings by an author - but an entire chapter!? That's not right...."
It may not be "right," but it's SOP for Mr. Fire.
And as for the Ho'opononoponoponoponoono etc. -- that's just one shtick out of many for JV. He's hawking lots of other stuff now as well.
I checked out that succeed magazine of David Schirmers and it is total crap. Just more of the same old same old stuff you can get on the web FREE and it's now twice the price of any other normal mag so why the hell would you buy it. He's got his staff crapping on in it again and his exmate Joe who it seems he's trying to pretend is still on good business terms. As if everyone hasn't heard or seen that before. In typical Schirmer style everyone is a friend until hes used them up. I've watched that happen at least 20 times so far and if you ask Schirmer it's always their fault not his. He never takes responsibility for anything he can't his pride is too big.
Theres also a guy in there who is a member of Schirmers staff and he claims he's a successful private trader but he's working for Schirmer so that also a bunch of crap in my view. He also rattles on about how he moved because his wife just couldn't wait to get down to Melbourne to work with Mr Schirmer. Eeeewwwkk now that is scary but he can't say he wasn't warned. It's much like everything that goes on in that joint - weird.
God knows what he's up to now but for sure he'll be screwing someone over to pay for something for himself. I'd be prepared to put a bet on it if I were a betting man.
The secret is you can pretend all you like but in the end everyone can see straight through the fog in fact it seems they were seeing straight through the fog a few years ago and Schirmer just doesn't get it. The guy will never know what success is because he craps on everyone who genuinely tries to help them.
I think, Quirky Icarus, that you are a prime example of someone who needs to come to an understanding of the soft power of the LOA. We both know that we have to be tough minded in the law field, and we have to deal with some of the heaviest issues, or heaviest boxes of cleaning products, depending on your examination grades.
However, anyone with any understanding of the LOA knows that the simplest way to achieve your dinner and washing is not through the aggressive, linear, left brain, male dominating, patriarchal sun god hard power way of getting up off your butt to do it, but the soft power way of putting out to the universe the intention that your mother does it for you, which is obviously what you really want.
I'm guessing Schirmer must have totally screwed over Vitale? I'm thinking that because usually Vitale will pimp anything that will mention his name, but he's been suspiciously "mum" about his dealings with "Succeed Magazine" since a commenter suggested he was partnering up with Schirmer.
Vitale said he didn't know Schirmer was involved until all was said and done. Schirmer says, somewhat to the contrary, that he enjoyed a friendly chat with Vitale after the initial phone interview, and arranged for another phone seminar that took place a few days ago.
David's been plugging the hell out of this seminar, but except for two brief mentions on his Twitter account on the day of the phone call Vitale's been totally silent about it.
Maybe Vitale's wised up about who he associates with? That would be a first.
A comment on another blog also claims Schirmer's moving his office again, but I've yet to see specifics anywhere else.
Well, I got interrupted the other day when I was trying to catch up on my comments, and I probably won't fare much better today, but I'll try to get started anyway...
First I wanted to thank Poppet/Moon for the nice comments, which prove once again that at least some folks in the metaphysical community like WM. (In fact, another metaphysically oriented practitioner whom I'd snarked about but later became pals with told me that other "metaphysicians" whom I hadn't snarked about were feeling a bit slighted. No slights intended, anyone! :-))
Since I'm really pressed for time right now I'm not going to be able to answer all of the "anon" commenters individually right now, but I wanted to thank everyone again (anon or not) for the comments.
Alas, I have to go easy on my YouTube viewings because another restriction of this f-----g satellite high-speed Internet service we are stuck with is this thing called Fair Use Restriction. Streaming video uses up a lot of what we're allowed on a monthly basis; if we use more than that amount, Wild Blue will step in and slow us way down. We can't afford that because we frequently have to upload huge files to printers. And we can't upgrade to get more access, because we already have the most expensive deal Wild Blue offers...and it's still not enough.
[Early warning for everyone else: This may be the wave of the future for all Internet service providers, taking us back to the old days when users were nickeled and dimed for every moment they were online above and beyond a certain allotted amount.]
To make things worse, our wireless router went out yesterday and until we get the replacement router we can only access the Internet on one computer, which happens to be Ron's desktop machine. He needs to have constant access to it and the Internet, so I have to steal time when I can.
However, I will sneak a peek at the YouTube links y'all have provided when I get a chance.
Meanwhile, in response to the most recent Anon commenter... you really should take just about anything JV *or* DS says with the proverbial grain of salt. But I'm sure I'll have more to say about that on my blog. :-)
Well thanks, lol:) I may be a metaphysician (whatever that is...feel free to define it yourself anyone), but from the time I saw "The Secret" 'film' and further read the book, I felt it was a dangerous load of crap. My fears were confirmed when I started reading and posting in the "Powerful Intentions" forums (which I subsequently got banned from on a number of occasions, under a number of different screen names, for speaking out.....it is like a cult. Speak out against the tenents and they force feed you a cup of Kool Aid, lol).
Don't even get me started on Abraham-Hicks! Shaklee anyone?
Moon
www.blog.psychic-wisdom.net
Moon, I have no idea what a "metaphysician" is either; I was just using that as shorthand. (Although "Dr." Joe Vitale is, I believe, listed as a "metaphysician" on "The Secret.")
I'm torn between thinking that "The Secret" is dangerous and thinking that it is merely silly. But I've seen and heard some eyebrow-raising stuff about the Abraham-Hicks folks. They take their regard for Esther Hicks' imaginary friends very, very seriously.
I'm not surprised that you got banned from the Powerful Intentions Forum; those people don't seem to have much of a sense of humor when it comes to criticism. They're such happy-happy joy-joy people, particularly bubbly Marcy From Maui, who founded the forum... until someone steps up and tells 'em they're full of crap.
BTW, occasionally I'll go back and read some of my older blog posts, and I've noticed that many of the links I've provided to Powerful Intentions or Secret Forum threads are no longer good. So I can only assume that the threads have either been removed (maybe because they've been such snark targets? What a shame...) or that they're restricted to members only.
I was going to leave a comment that was just going to be a lame observational joke. Something along the lines of, "Do LOA-ers buy insurance? Life, health, auto, home? Because isn't the NEED for such a thing, um, like, dwelling on the negative and just ASKING for accidents in one's life?"
But then I got swept away by Abby Leever. They had me going up the the very end. It was all JUST on the edge, and my jaw was dropping lower and lower with each convoluted phrase....
...and then that last, final line TOTALLY killed. I ROARED.
I enjoy your blog, Connie, though I don't post that much. But I gotta offer a virtual handshake to Abby for that one. Well done!
Thanks, Mojo. We're definitely in agreement about Abby's brilliance.
Abby Leever good work. I notice that on Schirmers facebook page in one breath he is saying he's a "spirit filled faith walking christian" and he has added himself to the naught adults chat and compare HOTNESS application while quoting verses from the bible. That is such scary stuff don't you think. I'm starting to think that the guy is using the church as a front from something much more sinister. I don't know but I don't feel its very healthy.
Anon 1:33 AM: Are you saying that David Schirmer has joined a "naughty adults" chat group on Facebook? So... what is he trying to do...
1. Save the heathen from the rampages of lust? or...
2. Live vicariously, since he's such a good and faithful husband? or...
3. Troll for dates?
Do share more details if you can. I'm mostly Facebook-illiterate, but I do see that one can only access Schirmer's detailed profile if one is officially a Facebook "friend" of his, and I'm not and don't plan to be.
Although I have a feeling that he'll quickly disentangle himself from the "naughty adults" chat once he finds that his association has been made public. Maybe he'll rejoin under another identity, just to keep the good times rolling...er... I mean, just to do his part to witness for the Lord Jesus amongst the sinners.
You don't have to be his friend for christs sake I certainly AM NOT. You just need to join and then click on his name and its all visible for facebookers to have fun with...
What, Schirmer moving AGAIN, now that really is suspicious. What excuse will he give this time?
None, he has none left because he's used them all up. Now is the time to cut the crap and be up front about why he can't pay all those people like he promised to last year.
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