From the Aloha State to "Zero State"

Aloha, y’all!

Break out the pineapples and coconuts, and don your gaudy shirts, grass skirts, and leis, Dear Ones; Hawai’ian Week is on again. After our tropical vacation was cut short a couple of weeks ago, in deference to Steve Jobs and his iPhone, we’re back on track. And what an opportune time for us to continue Hawai’ian Week, for tomorrow is also the official launch day of a new Hawai’i-related book that one of the book’s promoters asked me to mention on my blog. As it happens, that book’s big blast-off, originally scheduled for the end of June, was also delayed in order to keep it from upstaging the iPhone. Small world, eh?

The work in question, as you may have guessed, is Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More, by Joe Vitale and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len (Wiley, $24.95 US). The "secret system" that will lead you to wealth, health and the rest is a modern – and proprietary – version of a traditional Hawai’ian technique called Ho’oponopono. The title of the book is an allusion not only to a limitless life, but to what is known as "zero state," which in this case has nothing to do with electrical circuit theory. "Zero state" in this latter-day incarnation of Ho’oponopono refers to "the source, where there are zero limits," as Joe explains in his introduction. Or, to put it another way, it is the place "where nothing exists but anything is possible. In the zero state there are no thoughts, words, deeds, memories, programs, beliefs, or anything else. Just nothing."

Which, I suppose, is as good a place as any to start. Accordingly the book begins with a quotation from Danish writer Tør Norretranders, author of The User Illusion, who wrote: "The universe began when nothing saw itself in the mirror." Right away that got me asking questions. Did mirrors exist before the Big Bang? And how could nothing see itself if there was nothing to see? Oh, wait, I think I just answered my own question there. But I still have other questions. For example, how would nothing know whether it was seeing itself, or if it was looking at something (or nothing) else? A person could drive herself crazy with such questions. For me, that would be a short trip.

But the big question you may be asking is, "Why was Cosmic Connie, of all people, chosen by a member of the Vitale publicity team to write about Zero Limits?" It all started when I got this email from an alert book publicist the week before last:

I noticed that you recently blogged about Joe Vitale’s book, "The Attractor Factor." Do you know that he has a new book coming out in a couple of weeks called "Zero Limits" that takes his message a step beyond "The Attractor Factor?" I’d be glad to send you a copy of the book if you'll consider mentioning it on your blog. We’d be extremely appreciative if you could do so on, or about, the book’s publication date, which is July 10.

Now, my first thought was that the publicist (1) had not taken the time to actually read my blog; (2) has a rich sense of irony; or (3) subscribes to the old and possibly outmoded belief that "there’s no such thing as bad publicity." It’s true that I have mentioned The Attractor Factor a few times. But it was not exactly in the most complimentary terms. As it happens, I had also written about Zero Limits…well, sort of. And believe it or not, I had half a mind to send an email back, advising the publicist to actually read a few posts on WM before being so quick with the free-book offer.

But my second thought was, "Hey, a free book is a free book." And as my friend Tony Michalski pointed out to me, getting free books to review is one of the perks of being a "journalist." Not that what I’m doing here on WM is anything remotely close to journalism, and I’ve never claimed it is. But why quibble? Besides, publicists are generally very busy people, and they don't have the time to read long-winded posts on silly blogs. In the end, I accepted the publicist’s offer to send me the book. It arrived via FedEx a couple of days later, and I noticed on the air bill that the FedEx charge was billed to a third party – I’m thinking the publisher. No problem; I’m sure they can afford it.

The truth is that I had seen quite a bit of advance hype about Zero Limits, mostly on Joe Vitale’s blog. Among countless other mentions of the book, Joe recently wrote that when he finally got the finished product back from the publisher, he was stunned all over again by what a splendid book it is. "I am beyond excited," he wrote. "I’ve seen the published book and it is beautiful. It’s a true miracle, as it’s the first book to reveal the updated form of ho’oponopono."

But we don’t have to take his word for it. The back cover, for example, is filled with praise from various pals of his who declare Zero Limits to be everything from "a stick of dynamite" to "the most mind-altering reading experience of your life." The latter comment is from BluBlocker king, direct-marketing master, and Maui resident Joe Sugarman, who opens his home to Vitale when the latter visits Maui. Marc Gitterle, MD, who happens to have co-founded a nutritional supplement company with Vitale, wrote, "I love this book! I feel it will be the definitive personal-change/self-help book for at least a generation and viewed as a watershed event by historians. There is real potential for this book to start a movement that will end war, poverty, and the environmental devastation of our beloved planet."

But what else would you expect from the man who, a couple of years ago, led a movement to redirect Hurricane Rita so it wouldn’t harm Houston or the Vitale estate in the Texas Hill Country? (Um, sorry, East Texas and Louisiana.) Could one expect anything less than an astonishing breakthrough work from a man who is known, at least to himself, as "The Buddha of the Internet," due to "his combination of spirituality and marketing acumen?"*

Even if you haven’t heard any of the advance hype about Zero Limits, you don’t have to read beyond the dust jacket to discern that it is not a scholarly study of ancient Hawai’ian belief systems. The subtitle is the first clue. Then there’s the copy on the inside front flap, which begins with the standard come-on to the legions whose frenzied pursuit of happiness** has sent them over the sometimes fine line that separates divine discontent from malcontent: "Are you overworked and overstressed? Are you doing your best but finding professional success and personal fulfillment frustratingly difficult to obtain?"

And then we’re off and running with the now-famous capsule version of the Joe Vitale story. In the tradition of many of today’s New-Wage gurus, Joe seems to be getting impressive mileage out of his rags-to-riches tale.

He was once homeless. Now, he’s the millionaire author of numerous bestselling books, an Internet celebrity, and an in-demand online marketing guru. What happened to create all of that success? Was it hard work, divine providence, or both? The answer may surprise you…

The answer may really surprise you if you subscribed to the belief that the secret to Joe’s success was the Law Of Attraction, as he said and implied on The Secret and in countless references to that hit infomercial and its companion book. Turns out, though, that it wasn’t really LOA after all. The real key to truly unlimited success for Joe lies – you guessed it – in the ancient Hawai’ian secret he writes about in Zero Limits. Joe verifies this in his introduction, presenting a laundry list of some of his proudest achievements over the past ten years. These include his 1997 Nightingale-Conant audio program, The Power of Outrageous Marketing; his BMW Z3 sports car (which he acquired in late 2000); his purchase of a Texas Hill Country estate, which he says he first set sight on when he was "broke and going through a divorce" (his divorce was final in January of 2001); his huge weight loss of 80 pounds (early 2000’s); and, of course, his appearance in the hit "movie" The Secret, which was released in March 2006 but was conceived in 2004.

Granted, most of the events listed in the introduction actually occurred before Joe hooked up with Dr. Len in the fall of 2005 and picked up the secrets of Ho’oponopono – quite a few years before, in some cases. And if you pay attention to details on the links to his old e-newsletters above, you'll see that he had his BMW Z3 when he was still going through his divorce. He must have been past the "broke" stage by then.

But those are just details. What Joe is trying to communicate in the intro to Zero Limits is that he achieved all of the wondrous things on his list because he was acting upon inspiration – accessing zero state, in other words – even if he wasn’t aware of it at the time. Just as, for the purposes of promoting The Secret, he was using the Law of Attraction to achieve those things, even if he might not have been aware of it at the time. And just as, when he makes his next big discovery, he will no doubt decide that he was using or accessing that miraculous technique or law or force or source to achieve his goals, even if he wasn’t aware of it at the time. And so on.

The most charitable way of viewing Joe’s personal and publishing histories is to look at both as a chronicle of shifting awareness. Giving him the benefit of the doubt for the moment, most of us change our minds, alter our perceptions, and learn and grow as we go along in life. (Except for me, maybe. I'm stuck on snarky for now.) And, to his credit, Joe does acknowledge and address some of the inconsistencies between his writings in previous books such as The Attractor Factor, and some of the things he writes in Zero Limits. (I’ll discuss that in Part 2.)

That said, most people who have taken the time to read my blog – and have not simply relied on keywords unearthed by Google or Technorati – know that I am rarely in a charitable frame of mind when dealing with New-Wage gurus. When someone is constantly selling something, it is difficult for me to separate the heart from the hype and hustle. Even in moments when I am least "skeptical" (in the classic critical-thinking, science-geek sense) – and most sympathetic to those engaged in the search for meaning – it is hard for me to take even the most potentially profound message seriously if the messenger is so transparently in pursuit of the next big cash op.

And so to the miracle breakthrough du jour: under the tutelage of Dr. Len, Joe has learned to reach "zero state" and wants to show all of us how to reach it too, using this modern version of Ho’oponopono. Or at the very least, he wants to get us fired up enough about it to take a thousand-dollar seminar to learn more. As the jacket blurb says, "It works so well…that Vitale had to share it with the world, so that others could experience the fulfillment and happiness he feels every day."

According to Joe, Zero Limits was an Amazon bestseller twice even before its release. The press sheet that accompanied my copy of the book suggested that the system Joe teaches in Zero Limits seems to be working, because the book was a bestseller on Amazon six months before its publication. As an expert on neither marketing nor spirituality, I am about as far from being a Buddha of the Internet as a person can be, so I could be wrong about this. But it seems to me that the pre-sell frenzies could have been a result of aggressive Internet marketing – which centered around a story that spread around the Net like crabs on '60s hippies – rather than Ho’oponopono. The book is doing quite respectably now, hovering around in the top 100 on Amazon as I write this. But its success on Amazon doesn’t really surprise me. Could we expect anything less from a man who is a long time Amazon gamer the author of too many bestselling books to mention here? By the way, Zero Limits has received mixed reviews so far on Amazon, though one negative review has already been removed. See the "comments" section on this post for more information.

I read Zero Limits – and yes, I did read it – with as open a mind as is possible for one whose distrust of such books comes not from ignorance of the terrain (as I’ve been accused by some) but from extensive firsthand experience with New-Wage/New-Age culture. Cynical and distrustful I may be, and it may seem here that I am being anything but open-minded, but the truth is, I liked some of Joe’s earlier books. What did I think about this one? More on that tomorrow. And I'll warn you right now; Part 2 will be even longer than this post.

I'm just getting warmed up.

PS - Joe is already reacting to some of the negative Amazon reviews of his book. He was sitting around with friends over the weekend getting a big laugh about the bad comments. His friends were sympathetic, of course.

They pointed out how people are sensitive to my success, that it makes them more aware of their not trying or not succeeding. It’s easier to blame me than to take responsibility for themselves.

Someone remembered the famous quote by German physics professor Georg Christoph Lichtenberg,

“A book is a mirror: If an ass peers into it, you can’t expect an apostle to look out.”

But this just raises the question: What if an ass writes a book?

PPS - While you're waiting for tomorrow's post, mix a tropical fruity drink (or pack the pipe with some Maui Wowee – whatever floats your moku), and sail on over to Walter Terry's ROI Copywriting blog. Today Walter begins an eye-opening series on some Internet marketing misfires that are somehow relevant to all of the above.

Thanks to my friend Blair Warren for helping track down the URLs to some of Joe’s old e-newsletter articles. I used to be on Joe's mailing list, and I remembered that he was writing about his BMW around the time he was getting divorced, but I didn't have the exact references. In any case, if Joe was broke during those years, he sure hid it well from those of us who were on his mailing list. Hey, fake it till you make it, right?

Here's the link to Part 2 of my Zero Limits write-up.

* No less an entity than Google seems to have Buddha aspirations as well. Google supposedly sees itself as "The Buddha Of The Internet Age." Does this leave Google open to being sued by Joe for infringement… or vice-versa?
** There have been some interesting discussions of the "happiness" issue on Steve Salerno’s SHAMblog.

So how's your Guru-Free Week going so far?

Well, Dear Ones, here we are smack-dab in the middle of Guru-Free Week, sponsored by Americans Against Self-Help Fraud. The Scammy Award winners have been chosen, as announced on Whirled Musings the other day (and if you don't understand why these people were chosen, following the links on the names will give you some insight). Today we'll celebrate a couple of those "winners."

If you meet the Buddha in a Rolls...
Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale actually won several Scammys, but in my opinion, the most richly (in a manner of speaking) deserved Scammy was the Daddy Big Bucks Award, "for the self-help guru most obviously in it for the money." While Joe has often said that his greatest satisfaction is helping other people realize their dreams and making the world a better place, it appears that he possesses, to put it mildly, a strong mercenary streak.

"And your point is?" I can hear some of the New-Wage marketeers asking. Others will say that my own distorted perspective is to blame for my seeing the money obsession rather than his true heart. Obviously I share that distorted perspective with numerous other members of the "Academy" who voted in the Scammys.

Apropos of that mercenary streak, in recent years Joe has exhibited signs of a progressive personality disorder called carcissism. Evidence of this condition is apparent in his blog posts and Twitter posts, such as this recent Tweet:

Looking at the best magazine cover I've EVER seen. It's hypnotic. Sexy. A-maz-ing. http://www.austinfitmagazine.com

Not surprisingly, he was referring to a cover that featured himself and a Scorpion car much like the one that is being built for him. The Scorpion, which begins at $150,000 US (although the version Joe is buying is $250,000), is touted as a "green" car. The magazine featuring Joe and the Scorpion is one of those freebie newsstand rags called Austin Fit; if you click on the link above you'll get to the Austin Fit web site, and if you click on the picture of Joe you will get to the page that has a link to the interview.

He just can't seem to stop Tweeting about his latest obsession:

I drove Scorpion on airport runway and screamed out loud in exhileration [sic]

Discovery TV loved my off-the-charts love for the Scorpion. They said I reeked lust. heh heh. Driving at screaming speed on a runway did it.

Looking at 25 breathtaking pics of me and the Scorpion http://www.brianfitzsimmons...

The writer/interviewer for Austin Fit describes Joe as "the mind beyond the Law Of Attraction...a man who lives big, bold, and without regrets," and "one of the most environmentally-conscious people you'll ever meet." Uh-huh, that 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom of his is really a green car. (By the way, when the interviewer asked Joe how many cars he owns, Joe humbly apologized for having to hesitate a moment and count to himself. Joe's best guess is that he has seven cars, so far.)

Speaking of the Rolls, Joe refers in the interview to a pilot with whom he recently had dinner. He said the guy wasn't all that enthusiastic about having dinner with Joe, even though he'd paid five grand to do it. I can only assume the pilot in question was one of Joe's most recent Rolls Royce MasterMind "Phantom Riders." For the benefit of those who don't know, this is a deal whereby Joe charges people five grand each to ride to dinner with him in his Rolls and talk about ways to make money. As he took a husband and wife on a recent MasterMind, I am guessing that the husband was the less-than-enthusiastic pilot to whom he was referring. I'm also guessing – and again, I am just speculating here – that the wife wheedled her hapless mate into dropping ten grand for the two of them to ride in the Rolls. According to Joe, however, by the time the evening ended the reluctant pilot was alight with renewed passion to pursue his dreams.

At any rate, Joe insists that for him, it really isn't just about the money. It's about the spirituality too, you see. As he says in the Austin Fit interview, "I have one foot in the marketing world, and the other in the spiritual world." I imagine that some Buddhists, however, would say that the "spiritual" foot is actually in Joe's mouth (maybe that's one reason he also won a Scammy for Dumb Speak).

In his March 30 blog post entitled "Buddha's Money-Making Secret," he praises a book called The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life, penned by Geshe Michael Roach, a Buddhist monk whose very status as a monk is controversial at best. The book has so far received mostly five-star reviews on Amazon, though not everyone is enthralled.

But Joe loves it. He writes:

The Diamond Cutter is a practical and reflective book asking you to look at and change the mental imprints in your brain causing you to attract the results you have in your life. This includes whether you have money or not.

Personally I think just repeating the Zero Limits mantra (I love you, I’m sorry, Please forgive me, thank you) non-stop can clean up those mental imprints. But I’m no Buddha. Do what you feel inspired to do.

Now, wait just a doggone minute.

For years Joe was saying that he was the Buddha of the Internet, and there's even a picture to prove it. Now he says that he's no Buddha. My faith has been shaken, once again.

Joe also says he's not a Buddhist, though he's gained insight and value from many of Buddha's teachings. He says he's more of a Transcendentalist. "I enjoy practical metaphysics, which is the take-it-to-the-bank school of philosophy," he writes.

Practical Metaphysics also happens to be the name of one of the companies belonging to one of Joe's joint-venture partners, Pat O'Bryan. Together Pat and Joe have been selling all sorts of tools to help folks create magic and miracles in their lives, or at least in Joe's and Pat's lives. Some of these amazing products are listed on the WealthAttractor.com web site; there are also some eye-opening history lessons on that site, including this one that appears in the description of the Pelmanism product that Joe and Pat are selling:

The Lost Art of Pelmanism

If you're the kind of person who wants to break free from limited thinkin [sic] and finally get whatever you want in life these 12 long lost astonishing e-books written in the 1920's will set you free.

Who knew that there were e-books in the 1920's? I learn something new every day.

I'm no Buddhist either, of course, and I'm far from qualified to go into all of the ways that various New-Wage hustledorks and pseudo-Buddhists subvert this or that teaching. My partner Ron is much more qualified to speak about these things. In fact, he has done so on his blog, Rev Ron's Rants, and I must say that he did it with far more balance, compassion, and eloquence than I can manage at this point.

Unlike many critics, I don't particularly care that the author of The Diamond Cutter, Geshe Michael Roach, still claims to be a monk even though he broke his monkly vows, was ousted from his order, and was even rebuffed by the Dalai Lama. Without a doubt Roach has broken with tradition, doing un-monkish things such as growing his hair long and living with a woman; he claims that he wants to modernize Buddhism and make it, among other things, more inclusive of women. Well, modernization, like charity, begins at home, I suppose, and Roach and his "spiritual partner," Christie McNally, live together in a yurt in the high desert in Arizona. They are literally never more than about fifteen feet away from each other – not ever – but both claim they are living as celibates.

At any rate, I'm all for modernizing religion, though it appears to me that Roach is trying to have his rice cake and eat it too by using traditional Buddhist constructs as they suit him, and yet making his own rules. I can't figure out why he's so intent on holding on to the title of monk – you can be a real Buddhist and still not be celibate, for Chrissake – but I'll leave that squabble to him and the purists.

But, good Goddess, I do get tired of all those New-Wage hustledorks who try to convince everyone that their shtick has been specially blessed from on high, and then write books about it to encourage other New-Wage hustledorks. Regarding Joe's penchant for using Buddhist teachings to justify his own lifestyle, a snarky friend of mine wrote, "Ah, yes, the teachings of the Buddha ... All that talk of money, possessions, fame. The Buddha spoke a lot about those things before he set up his franchising and merchandising operations."

Meanwhile, Transcendentalist Joe is getting ready to go to Peru to speak to a stadium of 35,000 people about the Law Of Attraction. So far he hasn't given many details, other than the fact that he will be meeting the president of Peru (a fact he mentioned on Twitter), but he has hired a tutor to help him learn Spanish, again, as noted on his Twitter page:

Scrambling yet again - Berlitz tutor coming again for three hours of immersion. I'll learn Spanish yet. Adious [sic]!

I guess spelling isn't included in those lessons.

Anyway, congratulations to Joe for winning not one, not two, but three Scammy Awards.

The Wanker of Oz
While Joe Vitale is using Buddhism to help sanctify his very conspicuous consumption, another Scammy Award winner, Aussie David Schirmer, back in Oz after his US tour, is using Christianity for the same purpose. He's currently giving a series of lectures about prosperity, the stock market, and the millionaire mindset at his church, Rhema Melbourne, which is one of those prosperity-oriented institutions that preaches the eternal truth that God wants His children to be rich. David will wrap up the series in November with the one topic on which he is undisputably an expert: “What To Do When Your Business Faces Adversity Or Comes Under Attack.”

In the recent Scammy vote, David received a Hypocrite Award for displaying an enormous gap between expressed beliefs and actual behavior. According to numerous informed sources, in both his professional and personal life he has excelled in deviating from just about everything he teaches about spiritual/religious principles and wealth-building principles.

Regarding the latter, some have claimed that he has yet to actually prove that he can successfully trade. Recently no less than eight of his companies were struck off the register of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). In addition, he has spent a lot of time in court over the past few years, both suing and being sued. Bob Proctor successfully sued him last year in Australia's Federal Court for misleading and deceptive business practices.

Of course he has explanations for all of this, some of which you can see in the comments to this video on YouTube. Among other things, he says he was the one who suggested to Bob that Bob distance himself from Schirmer, due to the fact that a "gutter journalist" was nosing around Schirmer's business. Of Proctor, he wrote, "Bob has yet to fulfill his promises to alot of disappointed people (not just me) – time will take care of that. I have chosen not to settle injustices by taking court action as I believe in abundance for everyone." Uh-huh.

Notwithstanding his questionable trading record as well as other dodgy business dealings, David is getting ready for an international launch of his Complete Stock Market Home Study Course, which is apparently a recycled version of the program he's been selling for a couple of years now. The international launch is one of the deals he was "masterminding" during his recent tour of the United States, when he joined up with the profoundly ethical Internet marketing guru Perry Belcher to plot ways to bring his wisdom to a waiting world. Shortly after returning to Oz, David sent out this email to his list:

Well I'm back from my whirlwind trip around America...

What started as one seminar and one appointment Turned into a wild adventure where we flew all over the country, met a whole bunch of really amazing and influential people and made some fantastic deals...

The whole trip was really a trip powered by faith since we often Had no idea what was next... but as we got there the next step was revealed always just in time... It was incredible!...

...The upshot of all of this is that we masterminded a launch of My Complete Stock Market Home Study Course which is going to Happen in 2 to 3 weeks simultaneously all around the world...

...Now because of all the new promotional partners we have joined forces with we will be launching the Complete Stock Market Home Study Course At a new price point of $4997 US Dollars rather than the current $4997 Australian Dollars.

This means that in 2 weeks the price in Australian dollars will go up To $7619.92 - as per today's exchange rate...

That's more than $2500 more...So if you are serious about wanting to take control of your own Finances, sack your fund manager and retire in 3 - 7 years...If not sooner then I seriously invite you to consider looking at The home study course.

Historically graduates of this course have created around 30% Return on their investments which is more than twice the average Managed fund - with less risk and paying no fees and commissions (except to yourself :-)

www.tradingedge.com.au...

And so on. So if you have five grand to throw around (in US dollars; more than $7,600 in Aussie dollars), and you don't feel up to riding around in Joe's Rolls, you can always spend it on an utterly useless exciting stock market course. Or better yet, just give the five grand to me. It's the right thing to do!

Y'know, whenever I see a comment such as, "The whole trip was really a trip powered by faith," I can't fight the urge to read between the lines. I am guessing that "Powered by faith" is faux-Christian hustledorkspeak for "someone else paid for it." In any case, it seems clear that David Schirmer is now poised to start selling his Home Stock Market Course in America. An anonymous correspondent speculated that since he recently opened a bank account in the US, he'll probably start funneling money to that account and still manage to not pay his debts in Australia. My correspondent suspects that the Schirmers' plan is to build up a nest egg in the US and flee Australia as soon as they have enough to survive on...and the cycle will start all over in the US.

Anyway, congratulations are in order to David Schirmer for his Scammy Award.

Addendum: He's baaaack.... As of 7 April, the whole Schirmer family is in California for a vacation. As I write this, there are Schirmers loose in Disneyland! Disney parks are familiar territory for David...

Gullibalooza alert!
Also falling smack-dab in the the middle of Guru-Free Week, ironically, are two events that promise to be anything but Guru-Free. To begin with, as announced in my recent post about the Maharishi Affectation...er...Effect, there is a big benefit concert in New York City on April 4 (that's tomorrow!), sponsored by the David Lynch Foundation, which, among other things, provides funds to inculcate students with pro-Maharishi propaganda...er...to teach students how to meditate so they can change their world from within. Headlining the concert will be the two surviving Beatles, Paul and Ringo.

If you can't make it to the David Lynch concert, but happen to be in the Dallas, Texas area and have an urge to be surrounded by Gullibaloozas, you'll be pleased to know that the Unity Churh of Dallas is hosting The Conscious Community Expo & Concert, sponsored by The Peace Project. There will be messages, lectures and performances by scads of New-Wage luminaries. According to the write-up on The Peace Project's web site, the rationale behind the big expo/concert is that "a collective, united consciousness has been scientifically proven to manifest results." The event is the culmination of the Peace Project's 10-month-long "Crime Reduction/Peace Enhancement Study" for AGNT (the Association for Global New Thought). One stated purpose of the gala is "to provide each community that uses THE PEACE PROJECT protocol substantial proof that these kind of community events are effective in increasing harmony and reducing crime – without cost to their city." If you've read my "miracles" blog post, or know anything about the Maharishi Effect, that will sound pretty familiar to you.

That's it for now. As Guru-Free Week progresses I will, if I feel like it, celebrate more of the "winners," and perhaps a few of the "also-rans" who made the finals but didn't win a Scammy. Meanwhile, I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.

Sunday scraps

I’m afraid it’s going to be another day for serving leftovers, because once again I didn't have time to cook from scratch. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a lot to chew on here.

Scammer Schemer Schirmer update
Word has it that Episode 2 of A Current Affair's program on David Schirmer will be on the ACA web site on Monday (I am assuming that’s Monday Australian time, which for half a day or so will still be Sunday here in the US). The link only seems to work with Microsoft Internet Explorer, but if you don’t have Explorer and don’t want to download it, I’m sure the episode will be on YouTube within the next couple of days.

One of those who says he has suffered from Schirmer’s alleged misdeeds informs me that what we’ve seen so far on ACA is just the tip of the iceberg. And another person, commenting anonymously on my May 25 post, wrote, "The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), a government watchdog that investigates consumer fraud, is launching an investigation into David’s affairs." We'll see how that plays out.

There are a couple of lessons here. Well, actually, there are many lessons, and the big ones (such as, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is") have been and will be discussed at length. But here are two points that are sticking out for me at the moment:

Lesson 1: Being featured on The Secret isn’t necessarily a good thing. Most of its "stars" have spent the last year or so exploiting the heck out of the fame and celebrity resulting from, or enhanced by, their participation in Rhonda Byrne’s infomercial (and I think we could all name a few who have bragged about their Secret stardom ad nauseam). Well, Schirmer is a good example of how such fame can backfire.

To tell the truth, he probably wouldn’t have come up on the Whirled Musings radar screen at all if he hadn’t been in The Secret. Because most of his alleged victims are in Australia, his misdeeds have for the most part been ignored by the mainstream US media. With apologies to my new Aussie friends, that’s a reflection of the general narcissism of the US; if it doesn’t appear to directly affect us, then our media (and therefore our populace) don’t seem to pay much attention to it. In addition, I specialize in lampooning new-age/New-Wage hustledorks who are into self-help, pop spirituality and the like; for the most part, investment gurus are not my bailiwick. Don't get me wrong; I think that if the allegations against Schirmer are true, it's a very serious matter, and the people he wronged should be fully compensated. I'm just saying that the Schirmer scandal is probably not a topic I would have covered on this blog if Schirmer had been just another financial guru who didn't have a big presence in the States.

But The Secret connection – and the fact that Schirmer is now playing martyr by claiming that he is being attacked for his belief in the Law Of Attraction rather than for scamming good people out of untold amounts of money – landed him right smack in the middle of my Whirled.

As I’ve noted before, I have a feeling that Schirmer is far from the only hustler in The Secret who has pulled a scam or two, and/or who has been responsible for people wasting their money. (I realize, of course, that the concept of "wasting money" is subjective, as some people happily fork over hundreds or thousands of dollars for what would appear to others as negligible returns at best.) Schirmer's big mistake was extending outrageous promises in an industry that is more heavily regulated than most self-help/self-improvement stuff. And that brings us to…

Lesson 2: If you’re going to make your living as a hustledork, hustle something that is so nebulous (and/or so neutralized by disclaimers) as to render you impervious to lawsuits and investigations. First, don’t make your living by investing other people’s money in the stock market, or by doing anything else that is subject to heavy government regulation or scrutiny. Instead, you should hawk a new breakthrough technique or "technology" based on ancient secrets from the Hawaiians or the Mayans or the Lemurians or the Manchurians or one of your imaginary friends who claims to be an Ascended Master... or something equally vague that can be neither verified nor falsified. Second, take a lesson from the Disclaimers, Terms Of Use, Earnings and Income Disclaimers pages, and the like on the sites of the great netrepreneurs (the links usually appear in itty-bitty type on the very bottom of the hype pages). Use your hype pages to promise your marks everything, but be sure you retract all those promises put the qualifiers on the pages that no one reads. Hey, if they don’t read the legal stuff, it’s their fault, not yours.

It has been suggested to me more than once that some of the people who were duped by Schirmer were at least partly responsible for their misfortunes, for who could possibly believe in, say, a 1000-percent return on investment in the stock market? Granted, some people’s judgment gets a bit cloudy when it comes to money-making schemes. But keep in mind that, as one of my correspondents suggested, what we've seen so far about Schirmer may be just the tip of the iceberg. The promise of a 1000-percent ROI is just one part of this story. In any case, if Schirmer made promises that he had no ability or intention to keep, he should be held accountable.

Cosmic Connie a sexist?
Not only am I wrecking families, but I’m a sexist too. Heather Vale, aka The Dana Scully of Success, sent me a comment yesterday implying that I used a different standard for describing women interviewers than I did for men. In an April 20 PS to my April 16 post (scroll down to "Do Mulder and Scully know The Secret?"), I described Heather Vale as a "hustledork groupie."

She wrote:

Interesting how a male interviewer is a conversationalist, but a female one gets dubbed a "groupie"?

I wonder what kind of message you're trying to send with this kind of comment. I'm sure you know how it comes across from one woman to another.

But for the most part I just find it amusing. Keep doing what makes you happy.

cheers

Heather Vale

I admit I had to go back and read my post because I didn’t remember calling anyone a groupie. But sure enough, I had. I immediately replied to her:

Sorry, Heather, no sexism intended. Yes, as a woman I am aware of double standards. I'm sorry if I offended you by my use of the word "groupie." That was obviously inappropriate.

I should have said you were a hustledork "fan." (The reason I say that is that many of the folks you have interviewed and say you admire are people whom I consider to be hustledorks.)

Barry Goss ["The Fox Mulder of Manifestation"] dubbed *himself* "Life Champion and Chief Conversationalist" at ManifestLife.com [one of his other web sites]. I was simply quoting his self-description; you'll notice that I put his description in quotation marks. Similarly, I included *your* self-description [from your MySpace page] of "talk show host, author, journalist, internet interviewer."

Anyway, I'm glad you were amused, and I thank you for stopping by.

So to clarify: In case anybody in any way interpreted my words as meaning that Heather is a "groupie" in the classic sense that she follows the hustledorks around on their tours and has sex with them, please know that this was not my intention. I wrote that without considering how it would sound to Heather, but the truth is I was using the word "groupie" in the same way that a lot of people use "junkie" – meaning someone who is enthusiastic about something almost to the point of being addicted.

All that Heather does, in case there is any doubt whatsoever, is interview self-help gurus, netrepreneurs, and pop-spirituality luminaries. And in retrospect, I see I made yet another blunder by not capitalizing "Talk Show Host, Author, Journalist, Internet Interviewer," when describing Heather in my original post, as these words were capitalized on Heather’s MySpace page. This is an especially egregious error because I had capitalized Barry Goss’ self-descriptions. I stand corrected; I intended no implication of inequality.

OMT: I should add that I am not a copyright / intellectual properties attorney, and really am not qualified to say whether or not Barry and Heather are violating copyrights belonging to FOX Network. There may very well be no harm in their calling themselves the Dana Scully of Success and the Fox Mulder of Manifestation, even though they are using the names of the main characters on the now-defunct TV series The X-Files. After all, Joe Vitale has called himself the Charles Atlas of the Internet (because of his love of bodybuilding) and the Buddha of the Internet (because of his great spiritual marketing wisdom). And so far, to my knowledge, neither Charles Atlas’ estate nor Buddha (or any Buddhists) have sued him.

BTW, Jody Sasche, self-described "Spiritual Warrior and Equal Opportunity Enlightener," and Barry Goss’s partner at ManifestLife.com, also recently commented on the same post that caught Heather's attention. Playing the good-sport role, he noted that he is glad I have found a creative outlet for my writings and opinions. Though in context that sounded to me kind of like someone professing relief that mental patients or rowdy children have arts and crafts to keep them occupied, I took his compliment at face value. Besides, perpetrating Whirled Musings does beat basket-weaving or producing bad art (though I suppose I’ve done my share of the latter lately).

I should note, however, that Jody does like the word "hustledork," which was coined by my partner Ron.

Strange bedfellows
I'm not above letting others do the cooking here once in a while. I keep meaning to share this little tidbit that a guy named Rick Belden, who lives in Austin, sent me last week. Rick wrote:

Connie,
Last night I was scanning the dial on the car radio here in Austin, in the usual hopeless quest to find something worth hearing, when I stumbled upon a show about THE SECRET on, of all the crazy places, the Christian/Patriot/Conspiracy station. Just to be sure I wasn't hearing things, I checked their web site today, and found the program description at the bottom of the page:

What We're Thinking
Host: Ken Ludwig
As we see movies like "The Secret" and its participants appearing on Oprah as well as becoming much sought after speakers and coaches, it would seem that there is a need and desire to seek out a new paradigm. What has been referred to as "ancient wisdom" has been reincarnated, so to speak, as "New Thought" from the teachings of Emerson and Holmes to more recently Abraham/Hicks. This move to a more "spiritual" approach to life, business, health, finances and virtually all aspects of our existence is becoming more and more main-stream. It is Ken’s opinion that a more spiritual approach can and will change the course of our collective path in these most unsettling times. We seem to live in an ever more complicated and treacherous world, but is that the truth and does it need to be that way? His answer to both questions is a resounding, "NO"! This business coach and spiritual counselor will explore with you what really is the truth of our lives and how we can effectively get more of what we want and less of what we don’t.

My correspondent Rick added:

I found it especially bizarre and amusing that THE SECRET is being promoted on this particular station because so many of the other shows include a good deal of ranting and raving about the evils of the occult and other non-Christian, non-Biblical practices.

A visit to the aggressively patriotic web site confirmed Rick’s observation. Talk about strange bedfellows. Ken Ludwig himself is, on first glance, a run-of-the-mill hustledork / life-coach type. His partner in the coaching biz, Dawn Falbe, is a woman who seems to be very much into astrology. So what’s Coach Ken doing on a "Christian/Patriot/Conspiracy" station, as Rick describes it? Sheesh, that’s all we need – a right-wing, patriotic (as in militant US patriotism) Christian version of The Secret. I’m running for cover. Thank you, Rick, for sending this amusing (if slightly alarming) tidbit.

And that’s it for now… it’s back to work, and then maybe some play time too, if there’s any weekend left.

Don't worry, buy happy!

Just a few snippets and updates, partly in honor of the financial insanity that's going on all around us...

Buddha would be proud
As mentioned here a couple of posts ago (third item down, "It's because the Universe likes greed"), Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale – the man who says that Buddha wants you to be rich (and who calls himself "The Buddha of the Internet") – recently bought a 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom. If you've read much of his stuff, however, you know that he doesn't actually refer to the process of acquiring a car as "buying." He rarely speaks in such mundane terms about his car purchases (or any of his other extravagances, for that matter). Instead he says he is "attracting" these cars, which of course is partly a play on the whole Law Of Attraction craze and The Secret, but is mostly a way to promote his own "Attract A New Car" scheme. Every time he buys...er...attracts...an egregiously overpriced automobile, he points to it as proof that his program really works.

Thus the meta-tag title (the title appearing on the top bar on the screen) of his October 13 blog post, "Meet the Phantom," is, "Secret movie star Joe Vitale attracts $375,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom" – as if the car just magically appeared on his driveway one day as a gift from the Universe. He writes that he didn't expect to attract yet another new car when he went to San Diego a couple of weeks ago for his "Miracles Weekend," but by golly, he did, and wow, what a car! It makes him look and feel like a royal...um...like royalty.

He is now using his new acquisition not only to show the world how rich and successful he is (yes he is, he really, really is!), but also to get all of the mileage he can out of his readers' concerns about the current economic crisis. He writes:

There’s a lesson here, of course.

The Rolls-Royce motor car was created to serve the affluent market. It’s good to remember that even when the media says the money is gone and the sky is falling, life goes on and money still circulates.

On the day the stock market took its biggest dive, I bought a $375,000 car.

Naturally the Joebots were quick to jump in with oohs and ahhs about his new baby, thanking him for being such a bright and shining point of light on a generally gloomy landscape. But even though most of the respondents seemed to project a sense of optimism that they too would eventually reach Joe's level of success, one message from a perpetually sad but nonetheless loyal and devoted fan stood out.

I was at the Car Show today - Autoshow 2008 Istanbul.

Everything was beautiful… Cars, girls, people around. Even under the affects of the world economic crisis we enjoyed our time a lot...

BUT after that beautiful day why I feel sad & downhearted ??? Because I back to the same rented apartment on a slum quarter with taking buses and trains ? Because I have $1000 on my bank account and the cheapest car I like to buy was $30,000 ? Or because I don’t have a beautiful girl friend to warm my heart ?…

...I feel sad & downhearted right now because I’m focusing to the things I don’t have… I know I should focus on things I want and should say thank you to the divine for the great things in my life. But why I’m not doing that ?… I don’t know.

I feel happy right now to see you with your new baby - A Rolls Royce Phantom. One of the most amazing cars ever built. Keep me inspired dear Joe…

I snark about the silly side of selfish-help/New-Wage, but that young man's message, as English-challenged as it is, speaks more poignantly about the sadder side than anything any critic could write. It's not the first time this individual has written a message like this to Joe's blog, and he's not the only one who has expressed despair over the fact that life hasn't changed in spite of investing in all those breakthrough products and trying all of those magical techniques.

Such "woe-is-me" comments aren't the sort that Joe normally answers directly on his blog, but on a fairly frequent basis he does address the question of why, despite their best efforts, people fail at self-improvement, wealth creation or whatever. The answer to that timeless question, of course – the key to the missing secret, the hand up to the "next level" – is always contained in Joe's latest product or program or workshop. And if that product or program or workshop doesn't do the trick, well, there's always the next one. (Not that Joe is alone in this m.o. – hardly. It's just the New-Wage way of marketing.)

In any case, the vast majority of responses to the Phantom piece, as well as to most of Joe's boast posts, are more in the spirit of this one from a guy named Josh:

Like Joe says, we live in a world of abundance. It’s supposed to be like that!!!
Here’s the concept…You are supposed to be living the life you want. You are supposed to have the things that you want. This is how you and the Universe are made. It’s made that way and when you fight it, well… things go out of tune!!!
It’s true!!! Look at Joe he knows what he is talking about. Thank You Joe!!!
P.S. Nice Wheels.

If The Secret did nothing else, it expanded the New-Wage consumer's sense of entitlement. "We deserve everything we want, and furthermore, the Universe wants us to have it! That's the way it's supposed to be!"

The October 13 blog post wasn't Joe's first mention of the Rolls; it was merely its formal introduction, complete with photos, to readers of his blog. His buddy Pat O'Bryan shot a video this past weekend of Joe sharing a "prosperity lesson" in the Rolls. (And by the way, according to that video, the car cost not $375,000 but $400,000; maybe this is due to the fact that it is, as Joe said his banker told him, appreciating in value. Or maybe it's due to Joe's tendency to be a little creative with facts. But heck, what's a mere $25,000.00 or so? Any bets on how long it will take his Phantom to become a half-million-dollar car?)

For the past couple of weeks Joe has also been "Tweeting" frequently about his Phantom on Twitter. At one point another "Tweeter" asked him, "Why do you find it so necessary to brag about your possessions?" He replied, "Why do you consider it bragging and not inspiration to reach for more?"

In addition to Tweeting and blogging about his cars, he has also presented a running account of his quest for the perfect mansion, one with a garage large enough to house his growing stable of jalopies and sufficient square footage to accommodate his ever-expanding ego. A recent Tweet informed readers that he was "Off to Austin to check out another multi-million dollar hidden estate. The Phantom demands it." That's right, Joe. Blame the car.

When it comes right down to it, though, this picture tells us more than Joe's words ever could.

You can get a taste of Joe's wealthy lifestyle for yourself; just fork over $5,000.00 US and you will get taken for a ride. In the Phantom, that is. Not only that, you'll get to go to dinner with Joe, and you will get to participate in a Master-Mind session to brainstorm on ways to help Joe pay for his Phantom and next car and his mansion...I mean, ways to make loads of money for you.

Financial crisis? What financial crisis? Just keep spending your money on Joe's books and DVDs and workshops and seminars and special Master-Mind sessions, and you'll glide in comfort and luxury over these rough economic roads. Or at least Joe and his buddies will.

Like I said, Buddha would be proud.


Onward Christian wankers (the long-promised David Schirmer update)
Speaking of the stock market, we haven't heard much lately from that brilliant investment adviser, Law Of Attraction expert and Secret star, the Blunder From Down Under, David Schirmer, who is pictured on the left in a pose that somehow reminds me of the Joe+Rolls photo I linked to in the snippet above. Alas, Schirmer can't do much with the stock market these days because he's in a spot of trouble with the Australian authorities. But that hasn't stopped him from exploiting his Secret connection to the max, and trying to glom onto other Secret stars and selfish-help gurus.

There was, for example, the short-lived partnership with the elder statesman of the LOA crowd, "Scientist" Bob Proctor, who ultimately took Schirmer to court for deceptive and unfair business practices, among other things. Apparently Schirmer has violated some of the court orders and is in even more trouble with Proctor. But that still hasn't stopped him from promoting himself as a "wealth coach" and trying to grab on to the coattails of any guru he can. For a while he tried to make it look as if he had a special connection with Joe Vitale, using the fact that Joe was featured in multiple issues of Schirmer's publishing experiment, Succeed Magazine (which, rumor has it, is on the brink of failure). And Schirmer's endorsement appears on the back cover of the new version of Joe's book, The Attractor Factor.

"Joe Vitale not only appeared in The Secret, he is one of the few who knows and lives attraction! Contained in the five steps that Joe maps out in The Attractor Factor are the keys to endless abundance. This book instructs on how to take control of your beliefs and focus, ultimately attracting the life of your dreams. If you just do what Joe tells you, you will create an abundance far beyond what you can currently imagine. The Attractor Factor is the secret that The Secret doesn't tell you."
— David Schirmer, wealth coach and star of The Secret.

Nevertheless Schirmer is apparently persona non grata in the upper tiers of the hustledork hierarchy, and scuttlebutt has it that a few of his fellow Secret stars have gone so far as to warn others to stay away from him. I suppose that it's professional courtesy as much as fear of litigation that prevents them from making a big public deal out of these warnings, but the train has left the station anyway.

Even New-Wage guru wannabe and former Schirmer admirer Keith Leon, who until recently had a series of events with Schirmer scheduled in California, seems to have dropped him from the roster. Keith was reportedly going to be Schirmer's ticket to breaking into the US market, but he has his own career to look out for; he is apparently trying earnestly to gain credibility in the selfish-help industry, as evidenced by the fact that he and wife Maura are in the line-up of life coach and Vitale bud Jennifer McClean's "Healing With The Masters" teleseminar series. It just wouldn't do for a rising star to be seen with the likes of Schirmer.

So what's an ousted hustler to do? There's so much money to be made in the New-Wage/selfish-help industry, but if you've been shunned by some of the industry's leading luminaries, whaddaya gonna do?

I'll tell you what you do, and in fact I've already made mention of it here: you try to break into the Christian hustledork market.

Now, it's not that I have anything against Christianity, though I don't consider myself a Christian, but I have to say that if there's anything worse than a New-Wage hustledork, it's a Christian hustledork. That's a person who combines crass materialism, greed and arrogance with traditional religious self-righteousness, as opposed to New-Wage sanctimony. Gaggggh!

Word has it that Schirmer used and abused the folks in the church he used to belong to, and was kicked out. He subsequently became involved in another church, RHEMA Melbourne (formerly Word Family Church). For all I know, he may have been ousted from that one too by now – I'm kind of behind on my Schirmer updates – but until I hear differently I'll assume that he's still trying to capitalize on his "Christian" faith via that church.

Lately he's been promoting one of those intensely annoying motivational Christian types, a former baseball coach named Chip Brim, founder of Champions 4 Christ. Chip is the son of Branson, Missouri evangelist Billye Brim. A few years ago Chip had a mystical experience while stalking Bambi.

Eight years ago, while deer hunting up in a tree-stand, God gave me a divine visitation. I was taken out of my body for two hours, back in time to my high school football field. With this encounter, God gave me an illustrated message to the Church for these last days—“why prayers are not being answered.”

When it happened, I thought it was ten minutes, but two hours had passed by. I've never even heard of anyone being taken to another place in time. However, I have since and have seen it in the Word. So, I'm O.K. I am on, thank God.

You can read the rest of this exciting story on Chip's web site. Anyhow, apparently Schirmer's church is infatuated with Chip, and last month Schirmer sent out this email:

Subject: A special invitation for the people of Melbourne ... and the world

Date: 2008/9/13

Hi

This is an unusual email for me to send you ... in fact it is unlike anything I have ever sent before!! I'm sending it to you because I'm so excited!

Read it carefully - it could impact and change your life forever.

Last night I had the privilege of listening to one of the most inspiring, exciting and stirring speakers I have ever heard and I want to invite you to listen to him ... either in person or online.

Millions of people know that I am one of 24 Teachers on the movie 'The Secret.' Many thousands of people have had their finances increased and lives transformed by what I have taught in both the stock market and abundance thinking areas. I am truly grateful for the experience and knowledge God has given me to enable me to impart the financial wisdom.

What most people don't know is that I have another passion that is far greater and more profitable than all the stock market and abundance thinking put together.

Let me share with you a glimpse of my story:

I was born into a wonderful Christian home of farming parents, one that upheld the values of hard work, honesty, integrity, kindness, love and God. My Father always treated my Mother with honour, respect, equality and love. He taught us a work ethic that very few people have or understand today. He often said, "If it is not true, not kind or not helpful don't say it!" We got a belting with a stick if we were disobedient ... or talked back! We went to church every Sunday, rain, flood or drought!

We never had a TV or went to the movies ... imagine my disbelief when I went into the world and workplace and saw husbands that bashes their wives, and employees who stole from their employer and people disrespectful to authority. I will share more about this another time!

I started to study the mind and thinking 20 years ago this year ... what an amazing journey.

I have been down many, many rabbit holes ... from astrology and past lives to quantum physics and the metaphysical occults. Down many holes I didn't find much of value ... not ever rabbits.

While studying the mind and why we get the results we get, I always tried to bring it back to the truth written in the Bible. Why you might ask? Because I had and have an absolute faith and belief that the Bible is God's written word and everything must align to that.

Yet the more I studied it and the more I listened to some of the world's personal development guru's, the more lot of teachings didn't seem to line up. Some of my mentors would quote verses out of the Bible as truth yet say that all roads and all beliefs lead to the same end and that there is no hell or Satan only God and love.

Now that really confused me!! The Bible says clearly that there is Satan and there is hell and if you don't get your act together here, that is where you are headed regardless of your beliefs; so how can they quote part of the Bible as truth and not believe the complete story? It's either all truth or not!

The other challenge I had is that many religions and beliefs teach and preach it is ok to be broke ... even righteous ... and that if you live in poverty or sickness then it is your lot in life. Yet when I studied the Science Of Getting Rich and the science of the mind it directly opposed such crazy beliefs. Then I went back to the Bible and re-read and studied it ... Guess what? The Bible doesn't teach poverty and sickness either ... it teaches prosperity, abundance and health.

Interesting!!!!

Well, it was for me because many of the beliefs I had been brought up with around money and prosperity where not lining up with my new awareness. We are not meant to be unhappy, sick and broke ... we were made in the image and likeness of God; and God certainly is not unhappy, sick and broke!!!

Many people's lives are ruled by fear and lack ... many people are in pain. There is a way to live in complete joy and abundance.

My question for over 16 years has been, "Is there a Christian group or church that teaches the abundance that is promised in the Bible?"

16 months ago I found such a group of people who not only taught what I understood to be the truth about the mind, the Bible and abundance, prosperity and health, but lived it daily!!! I have learnt more in the last year than I have in the previous 45 ... now that's saying a lot!

As I said in the beginning, last night I had the privilege of listening to one of the most inspiring, exciting and stirring speakers I have ever heard (I have travelled the world and listened to some pretty good ones); A man who knows how to live and walk in abundance and peace, free of fear and teach others to do the same. He is Chip Brim - a great baseball coach from the USA.

How would you feel if you had no worries, no cares just abundance and prosperity flowing to you?

The purpose of this email is to invite you to listen to Chip Brim. If you live in or around Melbourne then do whatever you can to see Chip. It is totally free ... you don't need to be a Christian either to learn from him. Here is the only place you can see him:

This Sunday, September 14 @ 10:00am and 5:30pm
RHEMA Melbourne (formerly Word Family Church),
100 New Street
Ringwood, Vic Australia

If you are somewhere else in the world or in Melbourne and can't make it then Chip Brim's talk will be posted on http://www.rhemamelbourne.com.au on Tuesday.

I hope his message and this information helps you as much as it has me.

David Schirmer

P.S. Feel free to forward this email on to those who you know would be interested.

Amen, Brother David. And what a blessing to know that Jesus, like Buddha, wants us all to be rich.

One of the things I find truly remarkable about the above message – I mean, besides the way Schirmer tries to set himself apart from those other LOA proponents who don't believe in Hell or Satan, and will therefore probably burn in Hell themselves – is the wholesome story he paints of his family life when he was growing up. That's not exactly the version of his background that I've heard from numerous other sources. And as adults, Schirmer and several of his brothers have lived, to put it mildly, very troubled lives.

Let's face it: revisionism is a way of life with the hustledork crowd. Whether they're counterfeit Christians or bogus Buddhists, they're all cut from the same cloth. The good news, though, is that it looks as if Schirmer's US debut has been stalled indefinitely...that is, unless he can get here via the Christian Hustledork Express. I'll keep you posted.


"You've got to do something about that negative attitude!"
That's what some teachers, a couple of past employers, and even an ex-boyfriend or two told me. Let's just say that more than once in my life I've been lectured for having a bad attitude. (And I'm not even counting the lectures I've received from Secretrons and others since I've been writing this blog.)

Well, I think there's a lot to be said for having a bit of a negative attitude. Furthermore, there's a good case for the argument that perpetual positivity can have...well...negative effects. Among other things, argues SHAMblog's Steve Salerno, the emphasis on a positive mental attitude is part of what has landed us in the current financial mess. In a recent post Steve wrote:

To me... Tony [Robbins]—more specifically, the sky's-the-limit mentality he sells—is part of the problem. It is directly related to the analysis I presented in my Journal piece last week at this time. I blame Robbins for being a major contributor to the climate of faux optimism that seized hold of America roughly a decade ago and is just now being revealed for the, well, sham it is. What's wrong with faux optimism? Who does it hurt? It hurts everyone, and in surprising ways. It makes people far less inclined to have a Plan B (since they've already put their full faith in Plan A). It bullies people into sticking with a given course of action until long after its dangers have been revealed—because after all, if they "just keep a positive outlook," how can they fail?

You can read Steve's Wall Street Journal piece here. I also recommend his recent "Can This Market Been Saved?" series of blog posts, the latest of which appears here. Among other points, Steve does a good job of tying the "irrational exuberance" perpetuated by the selfish-help industry to the current economic mess.

* * * * *

Okay, that's it for now; it's time for me to get back to my real work. There are bills to pay, and I need to buy a new laptop, and one of the cats has an ear problem and needs to go to the vet. There's always something. So Ron and I are constantly dreaming up new ways to make extra money, and as it happens, we are now planning a series of rolling Master-Mind sessions of our own. This is truly the opportunity of a lifetime for you; for a mere ten grand in US dollars, you get to ride around in our Honda Odyssey mini-van with us and bask in the presence of our scintillating personalities. Of course, dinner is included with the ride; you can even order the large fries. If you're interested, send me an email. Or better yet, just send me the ten thousand dollars and continue to enjoy my scintillating personality via this blog, and Ron's scintillating personality via his blog and his participation on Steve Salerno's blog, from the comfort of your own home. You don't need those fries anyway. And if the Universe guides you to do so, feel free to send more than ten thousand dollars.

It's the only way to get the economy back on track.

PS ~ In case you're wondering about the graphic at the top of this post, I didn't steal anyone's original artwork and fail to attribute it. I did "borrow" and crop a photo of the Rolls-Royce "Spirit of Ecstasy" hood ornament, and then applied a few cheap tricks (e.g., water color effects) in PhotoPaint, which is Corel's equivalent of PhotoShop.