Colleen Conaway: twelve years since her death at a James Arthur Ray event

Another year has gone by... and we've reached yet another sad anniversary.

On July 25, 2009, 46-year-old Colleen Conaway died during a San Diego event held by New-Wage/McSpirituality guru James Arthur "Death" Ray, of whom Colleen was a devoted follower. She plummeted to her death from an upper-level balcony of a San Diego mall during one of Ray's weekend "wealth creation" seminars, and when Ray and his top people discovered she was missing, and later learned of her death, they kept it under wraps and partied on.

Ray was later convicted of negligent homicide, not for Colleen's death but for the October 2009 deaths of three other people -- Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman -- in a phony and dangerous sweat lodge in Sedona, Arizona. He served less than two years in an Arizona state prison, and has been spending the time since he got out of prison trying desperately to make a comeback in Scamworld.

Today marks the 12th anniversary of Colleen's death. If you want more information, start with the post I published in 2019, on the 10th anniversary. I included a number of external links, including to content by bloggers who have told Colleen's story much more comprehensively than I have.

In that 2019 post I wrote about the connection between Ray and the Transformational Leadership Council, or TLC, aka the Trained Liars Cartel, a group of "elite" New-Wage/McSpirituality "thought leaders" who meet semi-annually, in late January and late July, at some desirable resort location. (Well, except for the past two meetings anyway, due most likely to the pandemic: the location for the July 2020 and the January 2021 gathering was listed simply as "Earth," so it was probably a Zoom meeting.) The most recent meeting began July 21 and wraps up today, according to the TLC schedule page, though the location has yet to be revealed on the TLC web site. I'm guessing... um... Earth again.

It was at a 2005 TLC meeting in Aspen, Colorado, Aussie film that producer Rhonda Byrne shot most of her infamous moviemercial, The Secret... and the rest is Scamworld History. At that time, Ray was a TLC member and so he became a "star" of The Secret, which shot him to new heights of fame and infamy, ultimately leading to the deaths of four people and the injuries of many more. I'm wondering if the TLC will have a tribute to Colleen during their wrap-up meeting today... but I'm guessing not.

As for Ray, these days he is (still) branding himself as "One of the World's Foremost Leadership and Redemption Advisors," explaining his qualifications thusly:

Because of his experience in building from humble beginnings and scratch, as well as rebuilding after hitting rock bottom post terrible crises, James has the unique experience and ability to help those at the top, those on the climb, and those who must put their life back together to get up and climb again.

It's too bad that Colleen Conaway -- and Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman -- won't have the opportunity to put their lives back together.

Never forget.

Colleen Conaway: ten years after

July 25 marks the ten-year anniversary of the day that 46-year-old Colleen Conaway died during a San Diego event held by New-Wage/McSpirituality guru James Arthur "Death" Ray, of whom Conaway was a devoted follower. She plummeted to her death from an upper-level balcony of a San Diego mall during one of Ray's weekend "wealth creation" seminars, and when Ray and his top people discovered she was missing, and later learned of her death, they kept it under wraps and partied on. Ray was later convicted of negligent homicide, not for Colleen's death but for the deaths of three other people in Sedona, Arizona, in October 2009. He served less than two years in an Arizona state prison, and has been spending the time since he got out of prison trying desperately to make a comeback in Scamworld.
~ CC

Every year at about this time, there is a gathering, in a desirable location undisclosed publicly until after the fact, of an elite-ish group of self-appointed "thought leaders" known as the TLC, which stands for Trained Liars Cartel... I mean, Transformational Leadership Council (aka the Transformational Leadership Council...of Death). They hold semi-annual meetings; the other one always takes place in late January. Founded in 2004 by Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul (aka "Soup for the Hole" in Salty Droid parlance) franchise, the TLC made Scamworld history at its 2005 event in Aspen, Colorado. It was there that Aussie TV and film producer Rhonda Byrne, desperately scrabbling for a new money grab, filmed some of the TLC members for what was to become the mother(f---er) of all New-Wage moviemercials, The Secret. This year's summer meeting of the TLC began yesterday (July 24) and continues through July 28.

Though he is no longer listed as a member, or even mentioned, on their web site, convicted killer James Arthur "Death" Ray was a founding member of the TLC and was, as a consequence, one of the most flaming pants-on-fire "stars" of The Secret (he was the guy with the Genie). So you might say that it is bitterly ironic that the summer meetings of the TLC always fall around July 25, which was the day in 2009 that one of Ray's most faithful followers, Minnesota native Colleen Conaway, jumped to her death from an upper-level balcony of a San Diego shopping mall during one of Ray's "wealth creation" manipulation weekends. (If you follow the link in the previous sentence, you'll find some posts I've written on past anniversaries. And if the graphic on today's post looks overly familiar, it is because it is a repeat of the one I used for last year's anniversary post and which was originally created for the post I wrote the year before that.)

In a 2013 Verge article about Ray called "The Death Dealer," Matt Stroud explained:

As part of a two-day seminar... Ray had instructed his participants to pretend they were homeless. Soon after, one attendee, 46-year-old Colleen Conaway, jumped to her death from the fourth floor of a shopping mall. A yet-unsettled lawsuit in San Diego claims that Ray knew Conaway had gone missing, but ordered the group to leave the mall without her. He and his employees did not contact police until six hours after Conaway’s death — and after leaving concerned-sounding messages on her cellphone, which she’d turned over to Ray’s staff before the homelessness exercise. She’d also given up her driver’s license, which led authorities to label her a Jane Doe until Ray’s people eventually faxed over a copy of her ID.

Salty Droid had some cynical words for Ray and his peeps; here's one of numerous posts he wrote about the tragedy.

Colleen's family was bewildered by her death and said she didn't have a history of depression or suicidal tendencies. To them it was pretty clear that she had been unduly influenced by her idol, Ray.

Though James Ray was arguably a rising star in the motivational racket before The Secret, it was his participation in that craven franchise that propelled him to the A-list. He only grew more arrogant and ruthless as his star rose, and at numerous live events he recklessly subjected his followers to emotional abuse and physical danger. It isn't much of a stretch to say that The Secret -- and the TLC -- are at least partially responsible for the deaths of Colleen Conaway in July of 2009, as well as the deaths of the three people who died in Ray's Sedona "sweat lodge" the following October. It's very likely that Colleen's story wouldn't have gotten the traction it did had it not been for the Sedona deaths.

As I noted in last year's post and on numerous others, I've only covered Colleen's story superficially; some of my fellow bloggers, including the aforementioned Salty Droid, have written in much more depth about Colleen. (And for the next few paragraphs I'm just going to copy and paste a bit from last year's post.)

For instance, here's my friend in Germany, Yakaru, writing on the third anniversary of Colleen's death.

Not every “self help” teacher shares Ray’s dangerous combination of stupidity and sadism, but it’s a slick and ruthless system that has been constructed and refined over decades. Every possible devious sales technique has been worked into these routines.

Colleen walked into this trap, hoping to learn how to fulfill her dreams and get the best out of herself. Once she had committed herself to Ray’s program and handed over her money to him, he had immense power over her: she would have felt he held the key to her dreams and hopes.

In essence, James Ray stole her dreams and then set about selling them back to her at the highest possible price.

Also cited in Yak's blog post is another excellent post by Salty Droid, written in 2009.

After Colleen’s death Lynn [Colleen's sister] found that she had been filling out 3x5 cards with what looked like James Ray’s sayings or directives. They were all over Colleen’s house :: Hundreds of them :: Along with spiral notebooks full of similar gibberish. Colleen had been directed to keep a list of her ‘old limiting views’ and her new ‘harmonic views.’ Lynn sounded anguished recalling her feelings at seeing that Colleen had lined though many of the values that 2008 Colleen would have treasured. Scratching off pieces of herself :: one at time :: replaced with empty lies.

And now, ten years later, Death Ray is still struggling to make a Scamworld comeback, as recently mentioned again on this Whirled. Recently he has been peddling "Crisis Coaching ®, a flopportunity by which he helps other presumably disgraced people with their own "comebacks." Trouble is, he hasn't exactly mastered the comeback feat himself, which is bad for him (yay!), but good for the world.

Not that Ray doesn't have his small but loyal fan base; he does. But if there's any justice in the world, his evil little monkey wings have been clipped enough that he'll never get the opportunity to kill someone again. As he continues to find new ways to make himself relevant again -- and as his former club-mates in the Trained Liars Cartel party it up wherever it is they're convening -- my heart goes out to the family and friends who loved Colleen Conaway.

Never forget.

PS ~ As I have often mentioned here on my posts about Death Ray, if you're at all tempted to give money to Ray or to any other Scamworld scammer for any reason, give it instead to a worthwhile organization, such as Seek Safely, which was founded by death lodge victim Kirby Brown's family to guide consumers and make self-help practitioners more accountable for their actions through legislation. (Here is the link to donation info.) So far, as I've also mentioned numerous times, more than 160 leaders in the industry have been invited to sign the "Seek Safely" promise, and not one of the A-list crew has yet done so. While some of them are now dead, such as Louise Hay and Wayne Dyer, the invitation has been open for years, but nobody who's really anybody in the industry seems very interested. That should tell you something.

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Another year, another moment of silence for Colleen Conaway

Eight years ago today, on July 25, 2009, a 46-year-old woman named Colleen Conaway died at a San Diego shopping mall after attending a "wealth creation" seminar by James Arthur "Death" Ray, convicted killer and star of the New-Wage moviemercial for magickal thinking and McSpirituality crapitalism, The Secret. Most of you who have been following this blog and/or the blogs of several others who have written about it -- especially Salty Droid and Yakaru of Spirituality is No Excuse -- know Colleen's story well. But it is a story worth mentioning again, in the service of never forgetting.

If you don't know the story, a good place to start is this 2012 Whirled post, which contains links to more detailed accounts. From that post:

Colleen, who reportedly had no history of emotional or mental problems, apparently had a psychotic episode at a James Ray event in San Diego in July 2009, and she leaped to her death from a third-story shopping mall balcony. After Ray found out about it, he and his top minions apparently worked to cover it up, shielding the rest of the attendees from the unfortunate event, and they all partied on that night. If you don't know Colleen's sad story, my pal Yakaru has written a good summary of this tragedy, linking to several Salty Droid posts.

At the time Colleen died, Death Ray was not yet a convicted killer. That distinction came in 2011, in the form of three convictions for felony negligent homicide, not for Colleen's death but rather for the October 2009 deaths of three other people -- Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman -- in a Sedona, Arizona faux-sweatlodge/torture chamber. For these three deaths, Ray served a disgustingly short term -- less than two years -- in an Arizona state prison. And while he has reportedly settled with Colleen's family (I still don't know all of the details there), he was never criminally charged, tried, or convicted, and therefore has never served prison time for, her death. In fact, Colleen's story, though reported in local newspapers, didn't really become widely known until after the Sedona story broke months later.

In the years since Ray was released from prison, he has been trying his best to make a comeback, and has worked the Sedona deaths into his narrative, painting himself as a hero/martyr who has survived a trial by fire and has emerged stronger than ever, prepared to charge others for his hard-earned wisdumb.

In 2009, after rising to the top of the industry, James was involved in a terrible incident that claimed the lives of three of his clients who he cared about deeply.

True to his own teachings, James maintained an attitude of personal responsibility coupled with resilience. James is constantly focused on extensive study of great philosophers, as well as an in-depth analysis of himself.   As a result, he has defined a new approach that will radically disrupt traditional thinking and present a fresh and dynamic approach to being successful in both life and business...

...James’ personal and business experiences have caused him to be considered an expert in leadership, entrepreneurship, mental toughness, resilience and emotional strength. His experience has proven time and time again…that it’s the challenges, adversity, and often crisis, that present the ultimate opportunity for growth and greatness if we’re only willing to utilize them in that way.

Ray even tried to get his three negligent homicide convictions overturned, but he was unsuccessful. He did get his rights to vote and hold office restored, however. Meanwhile, he continues to push his shtick, and though his crowds are considerably smaller now than they were in those heady post-Secret, pre-Sedona days, he still seems to have a loyal following of dolts who either don't know, don't remember, or don't care about his reckless past and unrepentant ways.

And in other, related news, the Transformational Leadership Council, the New-Wage/selfish-help cartel that Ray helped found but that booted him out after the Sedona story broke, is getting ready to convene in yet another seekrit place on July 26-30, 2017 to bolster each other's egos. Their summer event always takes place around the time of the anniversary of Colleen's death, which is why I remember it. The TLC used to publicize their events, and the locations, well in advance, but in the past few years have been much more circumspect -- at least on their official site. But another co-founder, Jack Canfield, reveals on his site that the event will be in Tucson, Arizona.

And so it goes. Death Ray natters on, and the TLC continues to hold events where members congratulate themselves on being masters of the universe, and Scamworld hums away: the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.

But that doesn't mean the dogs should give up on barking.

And once again, my heart goes out to the people who loved Colleen Conaway. Never forget.

PS ~ While some folks have all but given up on the self-help industry having any integrity, there are good people working to improve the industry. One example is the Ginny Brown, mother of Ray victim Kirby Brown. Following Kirby's death, Ginny and the Brown family founded a non-profit called Seek Safely to try to make the industry more accountable, guide consumers to make safe decisions, and track legislation affecting the industry. Check out Seek Safely here.


Related on this Whirled:

• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2016/04/en-blight-en-us-death-ray-stars-in.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-moment-of-silence-for-colleen-conaway.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2014/10/james-arthur-ray-full-blood-moon.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2013/07/remembering-colleen-conaway-victim-of.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2013/07/killer-james-arthur-ray-is-nearly-free.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2013/07/james-arthur-ray-deadly-devotion.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2010/10/musings-on-tragedy-and-its-meanings.html

Tears for Colleen, jeers for the big sick machine

Today, July 25, is the three-year anniversary of the death of Colleen Conaway, the James Arthur Ray victim for whom there has still been no justice. Colleen, who reportedly had no history of emotional or mental problems, apparently had a psychotic episode at a James Ray event in San Diego in July 2009, and she leaped to her death from a third-story shopping mall balcony. After Ray found out about it, he and his top minions apparently worked to cover it up, shielding the rest of the attendees from the unfortunate event, and they all partied on that night. If you don't know Colleen's sad story, my pal Yakaru has written a good summary of this tragedy, linking to several Salty Droid posts. [Also see PS below. ~ CC, 8-06-12]

My friend Mariah at the Post-Aber blog (dedicated to people who are emerging from the Abrascam-Hicks trance) also commemorates Colleen (and relates Colleen's story to the larger question about the true body count from New-Wage gurus. Yes, there's a body count with Abrascam too.).

Here are more links. Take your pick.

And in related news (yes, all of this is related to the "big sick machine" -- see links below), the summer 2012 meeting of the Transformational Leadership Council (TLC) begins today as well. Death Ray was a founding member of that scam cartel, though rather unceremoniously dropped from the membership roster after the sweat lodge debacle. (Here's Salty's take on the TLC.) This confab is being held in the resort municipality of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

More soon.

PS added 6 August 2012: Salty Droid commemorated Colleen Conaway's death with a post that featured his poignant interview with Colleen's sister Lynn. Here is the link. And the good news is that Salty is helping Colleen's family pursue the civil case against Ray, which is finally underway. Salty wrote:

I’m here to fight this fight … however f--king long it takes. Gonna use all that we’ve become to help with this important case :: gonna have all that and a bag of chips waiting for James Arthur Ray when he exits the Arizona penal system … 25 years too early.

And the TLC meeting that commenced on the anniversary of Colleen's death was apparently fairly well attended, if the video of Joe “Mr. Fire” Vitale’s presentation is any indication. If you choose to watch it, it’s 45 minutes you’ll never get back, but then again, Colleen Conaway, James Shore, Kirby Brown, and Liz Neuman will never get their whole lives back.


In his blog post about the video, Joe, using an “advanced” Law of Attraction technique in which one “remembers” the future, writes that he “remembers” that I loved the track from his new CD, which he played at the end of his presentation while he wiped sweat off of his head and attempted to look spiritual and profound. His future memory is apparently not so good.

More on this Whirled about "the big sick machine" (both from July 2012):

• Back in Time with the big sick machine
• Kevin Trudeau's GIN: part of the big sick machine

More about the New-Wage body count:

• January 2011: Men, men, men, men, manly men (the Man Kind Project)
• September 2009: Not to be confused with a leap of faith (Turning Point)
• July 2008: More dark than snark today ("Doktor" Dragan Dabic, aka war criminal Radovan Karadžić -- who apparently didn't kill any of his New-Wage followers but, due to people's need to believe and the New-Wage credo of open-mindedness and non-judgmentalism, was able to disguise his true identity as a killer for years) 

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Now more than ever, your donation is needed
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Arizona in the spotlight: Training Liars Club bound for Tucson, and a call to help stop Death Ray

Oh, good Goddess. July is more than halfway done, and I have yet to publish a new post this month. Once again I've been busy with work, with tending to the comments on existing threads, and with hanging around Salty Droid's blog. So let me begin correcting this month's NPD (new post deficit) right now.

This morning I was thinking about Whirled Musings Day, the upcoming anniversary of my blog, which is July 27. I also remembered that Whirled Musings Day always falls around the same time as the semi-annual meeting of the Transformational Leadership Cartel...I mean...Council, aka the TLC, aka the Training Liars Club (thanks to my pal Duff McDuffee for coming up with that one).

In case you aren't familiar with the TLC as viewed on my Whirled, here are two posts to get you up to speed:

• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2010/08/council-or-cartel-you-decide.html
• http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2009/07/it-would-be-tragic-if-they-all-got-lost.html

As it happens, the first day of the 2011 TLC summer conference is July 27, the precise day this blog turns five years old. This summer the TLC party will be in Tucson, Arizona.

This will be good news to some who may have been disappointed about the cancellation of Stompernet LIVE 11, that famous confab for IM scammers, as reported on Salty's blog. Despite the apparent demise of Stompernet (they don't frame it as a demise, of course), all is not lost in Huckster Heaven. There's still life in the TLC, a fine group of folks with a similar mission of transforming the planet into a place where hustledorks and hustledorkesses can continue to rake in millions and live in gated communities while nearly everyone else struggles for essentials.

The hype goes on forever, and the party never ends.

Now, I would love to go to the TLC conference but, alas, I am not invited. But maybe you can become a member and get invited. Or perhaps even if you don't get a coveted invitation, you can still find a way to get to the meeting venue and, you know, hang around.

I found some details about the event here, on TLC founder and Chicken Soup entrepreneur Jack Canfield's Web site.

Event Information Category: Private Events
Location: Tucson, AZ
Time: From : Wednesday, 27 July 2011 08:00
Until : Sunday, 31 July 2011 20:00 (UTC -08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Seats available: Unlimited seats
Event Creator: AndreaHaefele

As of now there is a Google Map on the event announcement page, pointing to an area that appears to be east of North Country Club Road and north of East Broadway Boulevard in Tucson. Or maybe that's just a generic map of the Tucson area, and the pointer is on an area in the center of town. I imagine that the TLC event planners want to keep any more detailed information top seekrit so they won't get, you know, sign-carrying, pamphlet-distributing protesters at their event. But perhaps those of you who will be in the area around that time can figure it out, if you're interested.

The page I linked to above contains a link to follow if you actually want to be invited to attend the Transformational Leadership Council meeting. Of course you have to be a member in order to attend the exclusive meetings, and for that you have to be invited by a member in good standing. As noted above, however, there's also a link to contact event creator Andrea Haefele. Maybe she can sneak you in through the back door. If you do get invited and you happen to go, be sure to tell everyone hi from Cosmic Connie. Tell them I want to know why the TLC folks have not ever made a public statement about their ex founding member, James Arthur Ray.

And now we come to
the really important part of this post.
Speaking of Death Ray, as you probably know, the trial saga in Yavapai County, Arizona, is on hold. This coming July 25 will be two years since Colleen Conaway died at the James Ray event in San Diego. That was the day originally scheduled for the sentencing of Ray, who has been convicted of three counts of negligent homicide. But the defense has continued its usual stall tactics, such as filing a motion for a new trial, and the sentencing has now been pushed back to mid-August. (Here is a link to a PDF of the motion for a new trial.) Meanwhile, the Ray camp -- those of them that are left -- have been orchestrating a letter-writing campaign, calling for people who have been "helped" by James Ray to write letters that the defense can give to the judge to help sway his decision.

Earlier this month Salty Droid wrote about it here. Around the same time, LaVaughn also wrote a fine post on her Celestial Reflections blog. In addition, if you're on Facebook you can get updates on Connie Joy's Tragedy In Sedona page.

One focus of LaVaughn's post is a poignant piece written by a former James Ray fan, Jeanne Barkemeijer, who was, to put it mildly, shocked and disillusioned by Ray's boorish behavior and mercenary manner when she met him. Her post about this incident is here, and I urge you to read it if you haven't already.

And then I urge you to do whatever you feel drawn to do to spread the word about James Ray's character, or apparent lack thereof. Join the counter-letter-writing campaign to help ensure justice for Ray's victims. Need suggestions? In a subsequent blog post, Jeanne offers suggestions and contact information.

This is important stuff, folks. And I'm long overdue in adding my call to action about this matter.

I will say, for the record, that I generally remain opposed to handling the problem with more laws and regulations (see my long post about that here). However, I do feel that the selfish-help industry needs closer scrutiny, there should be more transparency, and existing remedies should be enforced.

I certainly believe at this point that James Arthur "Death" Ray should no longer be allowed into any position where he can manipulate people, take their money, and endanger their health or their lives. Whether he ends up in an orange jumpsuit or not, I think he should never be allowed on a stage again, unless it's to scrub it or paint it. I hope the judge makes a decision that the friends and family of James Ray's victims can live with.

That's it for now, Dear Ones; I'll be back later this week with more stuff to help make up for the July deficit.

Now get to your own writing!

Council or Cartel? You decide

Dear Ones, I apologize for not blogging for a couple of weeks. (Did you miss me?) I've had this post in the hopper for at least two weeks and decided I might as well finish and publish it before it becomes even more long and meandering than it already is. (If some of it looks familiar, it's because I borrowed a few passages from comments I'd previously made on Salty Droid's blog. I've also written about some of this stuff in earlier blog posts.)

As you may know, late last month the exclusive New-Wage guru club, the Transformational Leadership Cartel...er...Council, aka the TLC, wrapped up its semi-annual meeting and sent its attending members back on their respective merry ways, presumably refreshed and renewed and primed to help each other sell millions of dollars worth of new products and events. The TLC has been described by some as the Bilker...um, I mean the Bilderberg Group for the leading lights in the personal-growth industry.

As is the case with most excloooosive orgs, TLC's Top-Seekrit meetings are always held in posh and trendy spots; the recently adjourned gathering was in Santa Fe, in the Land of Enchantment. TLC also holds a meeting every January, generally around the time of Cosmic Connie Day (I'm honored and humbled); this past January it was in Puerto Rico. The July meetings, interestingly enough, are held very close to Whirled Musings Day (once again, I am humbled and honored).

What goes on at a TLC meeting? Oh, the usual: naked pagan rituals that include old men dancing nude and urinating on trees in old-growth forests; simulated human sacrifices; the porking of young male prostitutes... no, wait. That's Bohemian Grove, the summer camp for conservative politicians and other filthy-rich power brokers. My mistake.

The truth is that few folks outside of the members and those very close to them know what goes on at a TLC meeting because, hey, it's Top Seekrit. Although the occasional underground video gets leaked (see the bit below about New-Wage torture), it's very hush-hush for the most part. Well, except for all the tweeting and blogging by those who can't get over themselves for being TLC members (again, see below). And then there are those who don't seem to be listed as members but get to experience a meeting anyway, as did Soulwave Institute founder Katie Darling, who wrote about speaking at a Mexico TLC gathering in January 2006. (This was just before The Secret really hit, which is why there's no mention of it in the post. There is, however, a mention of the Victoria's Secret catalog and its possible role in getting Katie to the TLC.)

A little history...
You can skip over this part if you already know it; you won't hurt my feelings. It's merely a rudimentary review of the Transformational Leadership Council's history and some of its esteemed members. The TLC was formed in 2004 by Jack Canfield, perhaps best known for his hand in the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise, also fairly well known for being a motivational coach, later very well known for being in The Secret, and perhaps less known for being a New-Wage Daddy Dearest. Damn, I don't know what happened with that font sizing. Blogger must be acting up again.

What was to become the TLC initially convened at Jack's home in Santa Barbara, California; the second meeting was at the Mendocino County ranch of John "Mars and Venus" Gray, (who is also mentioned in this article) and it just took off from there. Since that time the group has met twice a year, in January and July. Membership has grown steadily but is by invitation only, meaning that one has to be nominated by a TLC member and voted in (or not).

In the summer of 2005, at the TLC meeting in Aspen, Colorado, an Aussie TV producer named Rhonda Byrne descended upon the gathering and conducted a series of interviews that became the foundation of The Secret. Almost all of the speakers featured in her famous moviemercial are TLC members, though not all who were interviewed were enamored of the project, especially as they learned more about it (e.g., Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks).
James Arthur "Death" Ray was of course one of the luminaries in the film and, more relevant to the topic of this post, he was one of the founding members of the TLC, though his name was removed from their web site a couple of weeks after Sweatgate happened. I still don't know whether he was officially ousted or was just temporarily removed from "member in good standing" status pending the outcome of his manslaughter trial (whenever that may be).

Bill Harris, now known as much for threatening his critics as he is for his pricey Holosync scheme, is also a founding member of TLC and, notwithstanding his bad behavior regarding said critics, is still listed on the TLC site. For you nostalgic types, here's a blog post about Billy from none other than James Ray, written in the happier days of the summer of 2006, when The Secret had just taken wing and was soaring to giddy heights.

I just wanted to give you a quick "heads up" about an incredible opportunity to meet with me and a good friend of mine.
As you may know, I'm a member of an amazing mastermind group of some of the most influential leaders in personal and spiritual development called the Transformational Leadership Council. Many of whom contributed to the movie The Secret with me.
Well, my good friend, Bill Harris (founder of Centerpointe Research Institute and creator of Holosync Audio Technology) is also a member of the TLC.
Our next TLC meeting is going to be held near Vancouver, BC, and Bill has decided to do something special for his local friends, readers and clients (and he has graciously allowed me to invite you as well)...
It's called "An Evening With Bill with Special Guest James Arthur Ray."
...By the way, when Bill and I get together, it's... well... it's just electric. The excitement and energy literally pulsates throughout the room. If you've heard any of our previous interviews, you know what I mean. It often ends up being like point/counter point, and it always promises to be fun and informative...

But that was then, and this is now. Still, despite Death Ray's troubles and his being bumped from the TLC rolls, apparently he and Billy got married, as announced earlier this year on Salty Droid's blog. Isn't it romantic?
Two others listed as founding members of TLC are Marcia Martin, who is a co-founder of est, which later morphed into The Forum and then into The Landmark Forum; and Belgian Feng Shui expert Marie Diamond, aka Marie Vyncke, one of the lesser known Secret stars. Marie was later the target of a lawsuit involving her failure to deliver more than fifty thousand dollars' worth of copies of The Secret (a lawsuit that she apparently lost), but it must not have been a very serious matter because her name remains on the TLC rolls.

And speaking of The Secret, if I remember correctly Rhonda Byrne was also listed at one time as a TLC member, but her name is not on the list now and apparently hasn't been for a long time. Could it be because of all those legal troubles that revealed a greed too blatant even for the usual New-Wage love-and-lightwashing? No matter; her absence from the TLC members list online hasn't stopped at least some TLC'ers (specifically, those who were stars of The Secret) from promoting her new book, The Power, which has been steadily climbing the bestseller lists even though it hasn't even been released yet. Lawsuits or not, the "teachers" in The Secret, even those who aren't in the TLC and probably never will be, are still getting mucho mileage out of their part in that franchise. And, as many of you may recall, TLC founder Jack Canfield wrote the blurb for Rhonda when Time magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people of 2007. He marveled at Rhonda's perpetual state of childlike bliss as The Secret project progressed:

Even when she ran out of film, when the money to complete the next phase of the project hadn't yet materialized or when her original TV distribution deal fell through, to her it was always "perfect." She radiated a confidence and a trust that it was all being handled perfectly by the universe. Obstacles that would defeat most people didn't seem to daunt her. She just kept moving forward in joyous faith that it would all work out. What I didn't realize at the time was that the way she was living her life and approaching her work was teaching me even more about how to live in harmony with her Law of Attraction than her movie or book.

Her Law of Attraction? Hmmm.

According to an article in The Australian magazine, Jack also spoke up for Rhonda when her legal troubles started coming to light in 2008:

Unfortunately, the teachers from the film who were contacted by this magazine were reluctant to discuss the current litigation, including Rhonda Byrne herself, who declined repeated requests for comment. The one exception was Jack Canfield, “America’s #1 Success Coach”, who believes that the bad publicity generated by the lawsuits is merely a “blip” in the relentless global spread of The Secret.
Like all of those who appeared in the film – except Esther Hicks – Canfield received no payment, but says he has benefited many times over from the exposure. And Byrne, he says, has since donated $400,000 to the Transformational Leadership Council he runs with several teachers from the film. “I think all of us … thought that was a generous amount,” he says.

So did TLC oust Rhonda despite her generosity, or is the absence of her name from the site an error? Or is she not officially a member but just an extraordinarily supportive friend? I've been Googling here and there but keep running into brick walls. Maybe someone less lazy and more determined than I am could find out for certain.

Another match made in hustledork heaven
Despite all that has happened with the stars of The Secret, and notwithstanding the rising tide of criticism of their industry, the members of the TLC are apparently still laboring hard to convince themselves and everyone else that they are part of a very special group that is striving to elevate humanity. If only humanity would quit resisting, snarking, criticizing, or — most nervy of all — getting injured or croaking under their tutelage.
Last summer the TLC gang gathered in Bermuda, and I blogged about that meeting on July 26, 2009.

This was the day after Colleen Conaway had met her tragic end at a James Ray event in San Diego, and James and his top people covered it up, although at that time I knew nothing of this tragedy. Sweatgate was still two and a half months in the future. (I'm probably far from the only person who longs for a Quantum Leap type scenario in which we could go back in time and stop it from happening....)

Though he was still a member at the time, James was not at that summer 2009 TLC meeting in Bermuda, because, of course, he was busy destroying lives in San Diego. Regarding his alleged ousting from the TLC, it isn't surprising that there have been no public statements from the organization one way or the other, since the Cartel is, after all, a Seekrit Club, and they don't go broadcasting their stuff. However, as noted above, some of their members do love to blog and tweet about how exclusive the whole thing is and how proud they are to be a part of it.

Case in point: Steve Pavlina, aka Pervlina, who, as he did last year, once again boasted at length in his falsely modest way about what an honor it is to be a member of the TLC. What he both loves and hates about the TLC, he says, is that everyone there is so darned authentic. They have all the dirt on him — his D/s activities, his bankruptcy, his felonious past, and so on — and by golly, they still love him, or so he claims.

He particularly seems enamored of Joe Vitale, writing:

Joe and I have something in common in that we are both content machines. He’s authored 52 books, for instance, and he’s constantly giving birth to new products. I haven’t been working in this field as long as he has, but I’ve authored a respectable 1000 articles in less than 6 years, which is enough to fill about 25 books… not to mention getting one actual book published as well.

By the way, Steve's book was published by none other than Hay House, New-Wage dowager queen Louise Hay's baby. Even Joe, with all of his 52-and-counting books, hasn't achieved that yet, though he has implied that he would like to be a Hay House author like his friends Jerry and Esther Hicks and their imaginary friend collective, Abraham. Joe really admires Louise, though he was surprised she hadn't heard much about him when he visited her a couple of years ago and gifted her with his works. (I'm thinking that if he can't get a good deal through her traditional publishing arm, Hay House, maybe he can self-publish through her recently-launched Balboa Press.)


But I digress. Pervlina adored what Joe had to say about inspiration during his talk to the TLC. Gushed Steve, “He was simply brilliant.” Apparently Joe's sweetie Nerissa shot a video of this bril presentation, which Joe posted in six parts on his blog. It provides a little insight about the TLC meeting; f'rinstance, judging from the banner behind Joe's head, it seems that the theme for this summer's gathering was "The Excellence Effect." Wow, excellence: shades of 1980s Corporate America hustledorkdom. Tom Peters, where are you?

Anyway, here's a link to Part 1 of Joe's talk, which appears to be built around a form of New-Wage torture known as whiteboarding. This is a devious technique whereby the torturer scribbles a bunch of crap on a whiteboard (alternatively a flip-chart pad) or, as in this case, convinces a couple of volunteers to do the scribbling for him or her. Notice in this one how Joe is hypnotically trying to undress the female volunteer with only the power of his mighty mind, causing her to continually tug at her gauze frock to keep it from slipping down. I didn't watch long enough to see who won, Joe or the frock. I find that I don't really care all that much.

Whiteboarding is insidious because it causes the torturer's captive audience to be temporarily overcome by the sense that they are drowning in profundity and wisdom, when in fact all that is happening is that their brain cells are being whited out, one by one. In this case, as I discovered by skipping ahead to watch the last few minutes of Part 6, the talk ended with Joe's whiteboard wiped clean of words and rendered as empty as a New-Wage follower's mind is supposed to be in preparation for being invaded by the Divine (near as I can understand it, anyway).

The whiteboard shtick seems to be pretty much the same thing that Joe has used in the past, on more than one occasion, I'm guessing. Hey, if you have a spiel that works, why not use it again and again? Comedians do, after all. It's all entertainment. Anyhow, here's what the August 12 entry on the Mr. Fire's Pyre blog says:

I saw Joe Vitale speak about ho'oponopono about 4 years ago back before his book Zero Limits was written. He did this exercise where he had people brainstorm up all of these ideas on a white board and then he told us that none of that stuff ever matters because what really matters is inspiration and going back to a clean whiteboard.

Then he said that he didn't know what he was going to talk about that day, it was going to come from inspiration.

Indeed, Mr. Fire seems to really like whiteboards, and once he even invented something called Divine Whiteboard Meditation. Of course Joe is not the only New-Wage speaker who loves to scribble on whiteboards and flip-chart pads. His good buddy James Ray, to name just one random example that simply popped into my head unbidden, did a fair amount of stage scribbling too, back when he was allowed to have public events. If there's any justice in the world, those days are over, but you never know.

Recycled shtick or not, Joe's TLC talk really inspired Pervlina, who wrote that he quickly got the idea to perform a 30-day trial of "acting on inspiration whenever it hits me, whether it has to do with content creation or some other idea." The very same day he heard Joe's talk, Steve was in his hotel room around 8 PM, and a stray thought popped into his head: why not put an auction off a 60-minute consultation on eBay?

At first he considered putting the idea on the back burner till he got back home to Vegas the following week. But then he stopped and smacked himself, possibly enjoying the rare opportunity to be both D and s simultaneously (or perhaps more accurately, S and M), and he decided he needed to catch the wave now and not let it pass.

So, no doubt still atingle from that sound self-smacking, he dove into action and reactivated an old eBay account. He wrote a quickie blog post, which also fed to his Twitter and Facebook pages, about the hot new auction item. "Imagine that," he wrote. "Less than an hour after getting the idea, it was already up and running." A few minutes after the posting, he was Skyping about it with ex-wife Erin, who said she loved the idea. "Beats the hell out of that old polyamory scheme of yours, anyway," she said. (Oh, not really. That was uncalled for. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.) 

Anyway, Erin checked the auction and informed him that the item was already up to $51.00. By Steve's bed time it had reached $132.50, by the next morning it was $425.00, and as the day progressed it hit $1,000.00. "There are still 3 days left till the auction closes," wrote Steve on his July 27 post. "I can't predict where it will end up."

The important lesson concerned riding the waves of inspiration as they come rolling in, which, Steve warned, he fully intended to do.

In any event, you may see some rather erratic behavior from me in the coming weeks. I’m extending this trial across all areas of my life, both personally and professionally. It’s a 24/7 commitment with no breaks except those that occur naturally as the inspirational waves ebb.

He shared the exciting news about his auction with several other TLC'ers, including his fellow content machine Joe Vitale. He whipped them all into a lather about the idea, and Joe was apparently so overwrought that he was inspired to tweet about it: "Sparked by my talk yesterday, he took action: 60-minute consult w Steve Pavlina" (and Joe provided a link to the auction page). Steve wrote that throughout the rest of the conference people would check in with him to see how the auction was going. "I think they were just as curious as I was," he wrote, meaning that more than likely the light bulb$ had blinked on in their own heads. 

But alas, spoilsport eBay soon removed the posting. In a blog post titillatingly titled "Spanked by eBay" (he is nothing if not thematically consistent), Steve explained the situation. Still, he seemed undeterred from his 30-day, 24/7 inspiration experiment.

Don't blame the Universe
New-Wage gurus do love to go on about acting on "inspiration" at the moment it hits you, rather than waiting to act, because, after all, the Universe loves greed... I mean, speed. The gurus are basically preaching and teaching impulse buying, which of course helps line their pockets, but they generally frame it as advice to be open to messages from Spirit or God or the Universe or what have you. Apropos of that, ethics columnist Randy Cohen recently wrote, "...when you hear a voice that says it's the universe speaking, a bit of skepticism is appropriate. It may well be a crank call from your self-interest." (Here's a link; the quotation is in the answer to the second question.) Of course many a New-Wage narcissist would not make any distinction at all between the Universe and one's own yearning self, so Mr. Cohen's point is probably moot for them.

I don't believe I am the only one who thinks that any talk about being in a state of "inspiration" 24/7, even for a 30-day trial period, is just as bogus as the implication that it is possible to live in a state of complete "wakefulness" if you follow the advice on a product that the person making that claim just happens to be selling. You can be completely "awake" or "inspired" for brief periods, perhaps. Over the long haul, you can be "awake" in some areas of your life and dead to the world in others. (Why, you can even market entire courses purporting to teach people how to be "Awakened," including a product about The Awakened Relationship... and still be apparently asleep at the wheel when there is major discontent brewing under your very nose. Or, alternatively, totally awake but just focused more on money than on love. I'm just sayin'. (And here's a small visual, by the way.))

Regarding "inspiration" in the sense that I think Pervlina is talking about it, I doubt that it is possible to live in that state on a continued, non-stop basis for any appreciable length of time, and still function in this world, no matter what the gurus tell you, though I suppose it is possible to convince yourself that you are doing so. Somewhat related to this, a friend of mine turned me on to the very interesting You Are Not So Smart blog, which pokes a hole in some of our favorite delusions.

But let's get back to the Cartel before I get too sidetracked.

More wisdom from the content machine
Pervlina’s "Inspirational Week" blog post about the TLC is full of numerous other gems. For example, he 'splains the exclusivity of the Cartel gatherings by noting: “One of the most important elements is that we do this away from the public eye, sans fans and critics alike, so we can keep the energy very positive and loving but also honest and real.”

I'm sure that some of the bidness deals that are struck there are quite real, anyway. We can be pretty certain that attendees trade frauduct ideas along with their hugs, laughter, and tears. Pass me that joint venture, my friend, and I'll take a deep hit and pass it on. In his review of the new Julia Roberts movie Eat Pray Love, Houston Chronicle film reviewer Mick LaSalle made an observation about the rather contrived nature of the spiritual quest that forms the basis of the story: "Thinly veiled in Eastern robes, Eat Pray Love is the ultimate American success story, in which every warm human contact becomes grist for commerce." That could easily be said about the TLC as well, and for that matter, about many of the personal interactions that occur in the New-Wage/McSpirituality industry.

But I cannot help wondering if damage control has been a topic at all since Sweatgate happened, or if the ethics of the New-Wage way of doing business are seriously discussed, or are these issues just ignored? I'd welcome insights about this from anyone inside or outside the TLC.

Another amusing bit was Steve's observation about the motives of his fellow TLC members.

I can’t say I’ve encountered anyone there who does this kind of work for the money. If such a person exists, I’ve never met him/her. Even the ones who teach about wealth and abundance seem to be primarily motivated by the love of the work and the desire to contribute. The truth is that it breaks their hearts when they see people suffering from lack, and they want to do what they can to alleviate suffering and spread more happiness and abundance.
I think if you got to know the people behind the scenes as I have, you’d feel immensely grateful for them. Even when they’re dealing with major personal and professional challenges, they just keep giving, giving, giving. Maybe their contributions aren’t perfect, but they do the best they can.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure they do. By the way, in this post Steve makes a passing (or perhaps passive-aggressive) mention of Tony Robbins' now-failed "reality" TV show. Tony is arguably the most successful "name" in the industry, and is notably absent from the TLC roles. Was he not invited, or simply not interested? Deep Pockets Chopra isn't there either. Numerous other big names seem to be missing as well.

Have you driven a Ford lately?
Speaking of Mr. Fire, he's another one who likes to name-drop TLC. While all of us critics and haters and losers were still hanging out in the Salt mines jawing about the World Cupple (Joe+Pat), Joe himself was being charmed and bedazzled at the TLC gathering, and was, least in his own mind, being equally charming and bedazzling. He has long professed to be an admirer of Chopra protege Debbie Ford, author of numerous books about topics such as the Shadow Self.* He seems to have a major crush on her, and you can hardly blame him because she is pretty darn cute. But now it has come to light, so to speak, that the Shadow Queen admires him too. Writes Joe:

I loved relaxing with her, talking, sharing, and playing. When we met, she looked at me and said, “You’re gorgeous.” As if that compliment could be topped, one of the most flattering moments is when she said she wanted to co-lead a workshop with me.

Imagine how this feels: a great teacher I’ve studied wants to share the stage with me. (!)

I keep telling people that as long as you keep working on yourself, your life will blossom. Teachers I’ve studied years ago when I was broke, are now partners, peers and pals of mine. Many of them are in TLC.

Do I even have to tell you that the words "keep working on yourself" link to Joe's Miracles Coaching scheme? And do I even have to mention that in Joe's case, "working on yourself" has meant, for the most part, aggressively working the hustledork/Internet Marketing circle jerk?

In any case it's clear that he is seriously kissing up to Debbie Ford, because there's a picture of the two of them together, and that pic links to...get this...Debbie's site. This would be NBD except for the fact that there are two other photos in the same post, and they link, as do the vast majority of pics on his blog, to Joe's Extract Money Now book site – which in turn is little more than a promotional piece for the "Mormon boiler room" (as Salty Droid would put it) that Joe's House o'Miracles-Coaching has become. Speaking of that, here's a link to the tale of one person's interesting experience with Joe's Miracles Coaching. I have a feeling we'll be reading a lot more about this stuff soon.

Given Joe's past history of accuracy, you have to wonder how the exchanges with Debbie Ford at the Cartel meeting really went down. I imagine that in many cases, "I'd love to do a workshop with you" is the h-dork equivalent of "Let's do lunch some time." I'm thinking that the Shadow Queen may yet regret the friendly overtures she made to Mr. Fire at the TLC gathering, much as, according to a rumor I once heard, she regretted tossing him a crumb of praise during a private conversation in the past.

But even if she does end up ruing the day she ever allegedly told him he was gorgeous, I imagine no real harm will be done. After all, the New-Wage/selfish-help/McSpirituality industry is an easy-come, easy-go world of "friendships" and alliances that can turn on a dime, or, more accurately, on the promise of a lucrative joint-venture deal or the agreement to share a few hundred thousand mailing list names. Point being that if the James Ray debacles could be swept under the TLC rug so easily, as they apparently have been... and if someone like Bill Harris is still a member in good standing at TLC, for gosh sakes... anything else can be swept away as well. Hugs, tears, intimate sharing at the clandestine confabs...and then it's off to the next scheme. Business as usual.**

It is indeed a magic circle jerk, and the circle remains essentially unbroken despite the calamities that have hit the industry over the past year. The real purpose of the TLC's existence couldn't be more clearly expressed than it is on the blurb on their web site:

The Transformational Leadership Council was founded so leaders of personal and organizational transformation could support each other in their contributions to the world.

Sounds like a cartel to me! But at least the TLC'ers aren't running around pissing on redwoods or dallying with for-hire gay boy-toys.
Well, at least not that I know of.

PS ~ Speaking of cartels (or syndicates, if you will), The Salty Droid really nailed it in his August 12 post, illuminating not only the business models employed in Internet marketing but also in the frequently-overlapping "transformational" racket.

* One of my own critics advised me last year that I need to own up to the darkness in myself and that reading Debbie Ford's books would be helpful in this regard. This person was obviously unaware that I claim and actually like my shadow self. Or at least I like my shadow, particularly when it looms large on the moonlit wall at night, like an Amazonian Cosmic Connie. Those giant cat shadows that sometimes sneak up behind the big CC are kind of unnerving, though.

** 23 August 2010: Those of you who have been following this post from the time I first published it may notice that I have deleted a brief passage about Julia Rogers Hamrick's book, Choosing Easy World. I can see how people reading the original passage might have thought that the mention of the book in this context was an implication that Ms. Hamrick is a TLC member. At the very least it was an implication that she is peripherally part of the "circle jerk" the post reviles. After conversations with Julia's husband Rick, whose comments appear in the discussion section of this post, I believe it is possible that I have unfairly painted her and her work with my "broad brush strokes," and I think she and Rick deserve better than this. For the record, Ms. Hamrick is not a TLC member at this time, and, whatever one might think about the concept of "Easy World," this author does not appear to be in the same sorry league as many of my snark targets. For further discussion about all of this, hurry on over to the "Comments" section.

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