Blaming the Victim: Comments on Louise Hay
March 4, 2012There have been some interesting comments on an earlier article about Louise Hay. Here is a link to it. I want to make some general comments here as well, in addition to the exchanges there.
It’s always a bit disturbing to find people who are obviously kind, intelligent and caring people suddenly advocating a ruthless blame the victim mentality. I’ve seen it often enough but it still shocks me. It’s nearly always expressed in tolerant spiritual sounding language, but I still haven’t seen anyone back down or shy away from the hideous implications. The relevant part of one comment:
We are not victims. If I hear something that resonates for me from an author or speaker/presenter, I can choose to take that and leave whatever doesn’t fit for me. I don’t believe there are mindless droves of human sheep who are experiencing some kind of horrendous consequences from reading her books, AND if there are, that’s not about her, it’s about each person who chooses to disregard their own inner truth.
The commenter means here that someone who dies as a result of believing Louise Hay’s cancer quackery, it’s not Louise Hay’s fault. If that person had have listened to their “inner truth” they would have known that Louise Hay’s teachings were “not right for them”.
Now the person who left that comment might still withdraw it or qualify it – I hope so, though I doubt it. But in any case it’s a perfectly representative expression of New Age ideology. (I will take it as such for now, rather than referring specifically to the particular commenter.)
By this view, of course, the most tragic and horrifying events are inevitably portrayed as something the victims somehow brought upon themselves. Now, if anyone wants to tell me that people who got burned as witches brought it on themselves with their negative thoughts, they had better have a damned good argument for advocating such grotesque ideas. And they don’t.
But it also specifically clears Ms Hay of any responsibility for any damage her teachings may cause. No attempt was made here to address my specific accusations of cancer quackery. According to these standards, Louise Hay is free to claim whatever she wants. If someone dies, then it’s not a sign that Ms Hay’s methods and credentials need to be checked, rather, another thought process automatically and instantaneously kicks in. The fault can’t lie with the teachings, no matter how spurious. The fault must lie with the victim.
This is what consumer protection looks like in the New Age.
Got a complaint? It’s your own fault because you filtered out the positive values from your perceptions. Dead or injured? You failed to listen to your inner truth. See a possible problem? Look away and stop indulging in negative emotions.
There are absolutely no standards whatsoever in the New Age culture which has developed over the years. The only limiting factor is marketability, and that standard is adhered to religiously. Apart from that it’s anything goes, and anyone goes as long as they say the right things (if they’re a woman) and look good in a suit (if they’re a man).
Quality control or checking the validity of claims is anathema to this ideology. No one has the right to do this, and metaphysically speaking, it is not even possible. Consumers learn quickly that they are not to see themselves as consumers with rights, despite paying up front (price set by “perceived value”) and risking their health, wealth and loved ones. Risks are not to be called risks. Again, their very existence is metaphysically impossible. Perceived successes include any seemingly positive event that can be in any way connected to the teachings. Failures are, as explained by the comment above, the fault of the consumer. The mere hypothetical possibility of deceptive practices does not enter into the equation anywhere.
Has there ever been an ideology more finely tuned to to protect the salesman and disempower the consumer?
Is there any other industry where professional standards are set so low?
Is there any other industry which is so doggedly defended by consumer loyalty?
…
Spirituality is No Excuse 
The most interesting thing about the “There are no victims” mantra is that it simultaneously absolves the new meddler (eg LAO guru) of any responsibility, because all results are directly one’s own responsibility. In other words, these gurus are freed from accountability. It’s incredibly self-serving to have a crowd of followers mindlessly chant this over and over again.
It always amazes the way the people play the same trick of attacking the motives of the critic, all think that it’s their own thoughts that makes them do that, and all refuse to acknowledge the conflict of interest involved in their teacher telling that criticism is inherently bad. And of course all fail to recognize their own criticism of the critic as itself being criticism.
For many people it’s possible to live happily according to these ideas without ever hitting a wall. But that doesn’t mean that the teachings are safe or don’t have a downside. I guess I managed for quite some years, and was lucky enough to never hit any major walls.
I’d always noticed people suffering in various ways – guilt that they didn’t do what “existence wanted of them”, revealed by a business venture collapsing; guilt that unidentified negative thoughts caused their child to be handicapped: loss of money in an “abundance” pyramid money game,etc etc. And always rejecting the idea that maybe the ideas themselves are flawed — of course their teacher knows what he’s talking about, other wise he wouldn’t be teaching. And he’s rich, so that’s a sign that he’s in the flow with existence.
Admitting you were wrong, or changing your opinions isn’t so hard if one has learned not to be attached to the ego. (!!!) But doing it publicly and opening oneself to the criticism of “how could you think such things?” is not so easy. One of the reasons I started this blog was to speak up for James Ray’s followers who have done a stunning job of admitting their mistakes and describing to the police step by step how they finished up in a situation where so many of them died or suffered irreparable damage. Ray would not be in jail now if it weren’t for a group of them pushing back against his cover ups, threats and manipulations.
Another fine example is your response to your own situation, Britt, which I didn’t realize was so severe. I think you’re very courageous for writing about it all so openly. It’s the kind of “testimonial” everyone should read.
…
For the record, Britt’s story can be found on her excellent blog, “the (f)Law of Attraction”, here….
http://www.theflawofattraction.com/the-tale-of-britts-bankruptcy-introduction/
Grin. My life is a bit of a rubber-neck-worthy accident scene. Courageous or stupid, I haven’t figured it out yet. Thanks Yakaru for pointing readers to my story though. Back to your blog, you nail it when you say it has the lowest bar. I personally love it when they throw “metaphysics” around like it was a baseball or something, to prove whatever point they are making. Even the world’s greatest scientist don’t yet understand metaphysics. But when the bar is so low, it’s easy to jump on the band wagon. (BTW, the company that dragged me down learned marketing and sales from T.Harv Eker, one of the leading gurus. I’d suggest readers brush up on cold reading specifically “Barnum Statements” – http://coldreader.web.officelive.com/barnumstatements.aspx – and Robert Cialdini – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini -one of James Arthur Ray’s favourite marketers – as it’s the combination of these two tactics that make their sales so damn effective.)
As Cialdini and others point out, the nature of the brain is also a main culprit in this. Funny isn’t it that in all the vast new age/ New Thought literature about how the mind “constructs reality” there’s absolutely nothing at all about things like false positives, confirmation bias, or other misfirings.
Well I guess it’s not funny at all really. It shows they know which side their bread is buttered on.
Then add a few classical psychopaths for whom its second nature to exploit all these kinks in our mental armor, and, well, it finishes up like it is. A ruthless culture where the sweetest smelling scavengers rise to the top and set the tone and the ground rules for everyone else.
Salty Droid sums it up pretty well too.
http://saltydroid.info/blueprint-to-cult-riches/
Worst of all they recruit genuinely good and considerate people as followers-cum-word of mouth promoters.
Backing out of a situation like that (or climbing out!) isn’t so easy, and I’m glad you’re documenting the steps you’re taking. These are all important skills which need to be shared, I think….
I’ve really been enjoying your blog! This is a fantastic article, and is right on. I am a former follower of Abraham-Hicks. (It’s kind of embarrassing to admit that, but there you have it.)
Another comment to your bolded comment above. There ARE people who over ride their own guidance in the case of listening to someone like Esther Hicks. She claims to speak for GOD, for God’s sake, and when people believe that, they tend to overlook the numerous red flags. At least for a time.
“There ARE people who over ride their own guidance in the case of listening to someone like Esther Hicks. She claims to speak for GOD”
Yes – that’s rather the whole point of going to such people in the first place, isn’t it!
Teachers like Esther Hicks are happy to receive the credit(-card) for their “successes”, but failures are always due to the person “disregarding their own inner truth” as the commenter (and the whole ideology) says.
There is no place in that highly marketable ideology for the idea that it’s a risk to follow the advice of a supposedly all-knowing disembodied invertebrate.
Strangely, however, critics of this ideology are subjected to all possible forms of criticism. Instead of believing that the critic is saying what is “true for them”, different standards suddenly apply. Our motivations and character are questioned – we are “full of rage”, “negative and judgmental” etc etc. It’s utter hypocrisy.
Anyway, I appreciate your comment very much. And looking at your excellent blog reminds me I must get around to making a page of links.
Thanks, Yakaru? I believe I will be quoting you in the near future on my blog.
I was recently accused of shoving my beliefs down people’s throats!! With a blog! By someone who supposedly believes in the law of ATTRACTION and that there is no insertion! OK….
What are they protecting or trying to protect? For some it’s money, maybe all, for others it’s their precious beliefs. It really is an odd phenomenon.
By the way, you are a GREAT storyteller.
P.S. That was supposed to be a ! not a ? lol
It is an interesting phenomenon, isn’t it.
I often get people saying “What’s it to you if people believe this stuff?” To which I reply, “What’s it to you if I have opinions about people believing this stuff?” They never really know what to say to that.
What I think is behind a lot of it is that success for a new age teacher is defined by their position in a hierarchy, and their actions are aimed at maintaining their status. Consumers are at the bottom of the hierarchy, but promised that they might get to the top if they apply the teachings (even though no one has ever made it to the top using such teachings). And an implicit “law” in the hierarchy is that people at the top are not to be criticized. For those at the bottom (and outsiders), different rules apply. We can be criticized till the cows come home, and that criticism doesn’t count as negative or judgmental, and won’t attract the bad karma that criticizing a member of the upper echelon does.
…Thanks for the compliments – very happily received!
[…] discover Yakaru has a blog! It’s got a good post on the front page right now: Blaming the Victim: Comments on Louise Hay. It deals with one of the familiar tropes in both religion and newage that serves to protect the […]
As I said in a previous comment [here -ed.], I have been at the receiving end of this.
It’s not at all nice when you are throwing up blood, sweating profusely, struggling to breathe and being given nervous glances by nurses (that “I hope he doesn’t on my shift” type look), to be told that it’s all your fault for thinking selfish thoughts! Talk about brainwashing!
There was a movie released a couple of years ago where a guy set himself up as a new age guru for an experiment. He got a lot of followers who claim he changed their lives. He got sucked up into it too.
When the deception was revealed they didn’t quite believe him and even managed to convince him there was some higher purpose for the deception. I guess cold logic won’t dispel these notions. I know it won’t with me. I’m going to have to repeat the truth to myself a few million times to get over this illogic bomb.
Louise Hay talks as if we are as ignorant about that which goes on under our skin, as we were back in the times of Jesus. (This is not a coincidence – she’s a fanatical Christian.) In fact brain function and the action of hormones on brain and body are extremely well researched.
It is true that thinking certain thoughts can make your heart race, etc, or over the long term can cause stress which in turn can affect health. But there is no way that the specific mix of neuro-chemicals that are involved in behavior that others might term “selfish” can produce the extremely complex medical condition of TB.
And as I say, the number of TB sufferers is not identical to the number of selfish people in the world!
to be fair. lets consider this.. i am a massage therapist. My work is not easy, but whos work is? I work hard for what I have, and own my own business. I live in a high end building in a nice part of Los Angeles. I am very good at saving, yet i always think that I can never get ahead, constantly complaining about this and that.. yes, I am human, but even my boyfriend was saying things like just be grateful etc.. well one day I came home. and i live alone.. only I have a key to my apt… to find my safe with most of my savings… in cash.. gone.. well one could think why be dumb enough to keep that much cash around… point taken… but according to louise hay.. a financial disaster can be from limited beliefs…and I do have limited beliefs.. however..what got me to the point of where i got to? I mean I must have been “flowing” … of course my therapist would say “shit happens” all the time.. look at all the billionaires who lost everything with Madolf.. So, I have experienced major financial loss.. I am to blame.. the thief is to blame… I also think greed is to blame… some people believe in karma. funny thing is .. i went to my chakra therapist.. whos from india.. I thought .hes gotta be on my side with this one.. he said very plainly.. “there are a lot of evil people in the world, I have seen men get out of cars in the Middle East.. shoot four people in the head, and then get back in the car as if nothing happened.. two hours later they will probably be in first class on a plane headed back to their mansions” So,who knows what to belive.. but I do think its better to think happy thoughts if you can. cuz if you get stuck in the misery for too long.. it can take over your life.. I know a person who lost a job 16 years ago.. gained 90 pounds, is now an alcoholic, and is miserable to be around. So, I think he could have used some of Louises advice.. Some people just really seriously need to get over their shit.. I had 22 thousand dollars taken from me.. but what do i do? live in misery for the rest of my life because some greedy asshole decided he/she was entitled to it? do i waste my time trying to think of who could have done this to me? does it matter? the money is gone.. the cops showed up and did their report… but do you think the cops care? they have rapes and murderr to deal with… finger prints could not be found.. so.. what are my options.. play the blame game?
there is also a great book on amazon that talks about how we choose what happens to us before we come down to earth.. we choose our bodies our parents our pets.. it makes a lot of sense to me.. its all about soul lessons. that we wanted to learn.. only the toughest strongest souls come down here.. why did i choose this lesson? who knows.. why did my best friend at ASU get AIDS in 94 and then die within 2 months of diagnosis? who knows
but i will say this.. at least louise hay is spreading light around rather than darkness and decay. she does not sit around calling you ridiculous or bad mouthing you.. does she??? something to think about
its amazing to me how selfish people have become, filled with such hatred and small talk… such disgust at an idea..
go visit a childrens hospital .. and start saying mean things to kids .. i guess louise hay is the devil for trying to put a little happiness into our worlds.. and saying good things to ourselves…
im doing it, and all of you with your mindless small talk, and gossip.. about you knowing sooooo much more than her or him or him and hiim.. you are all so intelligent..
however.. why have i not heard of you? please share with me your omiscient all knowing pure 100 percent knowing the exact way..
cuz honey.. no one has it…
everything is an idea… get over yourselves..
Dear entitled whiney whores,
It would have been better if all of you had replied separately rather than going one after the other in the same comment box.
I will be brief.
The guy’s name was Madoff, but “Madolf” as you have him is pretty good too.
But it strikes me as rather odd that although you “lost $22,000 and got over it”, you could not get over the fact that I have criticised Louise Hay.
My criticism made you so angry that you simply had to post a nasty, self indulgent, irrelevant and idiotic whiney rant about it.
If you really believed that “everything is an idea” you would have just gotten over your hurt. But you are so lacking in self awareness that you don’t even realize you don’t actually believe that it’s “just ideas” at all. It’s just a convenient trick that Louise Hay has played on you to trick you into not questioning her ideas.
Reality does exist, and our ideas about it have consequences. Hay’s ideas are deadly dangerous quackery. She doesn’t follow them any more than you do, as your hypocrisy demonstrates. The only difference is that she makes money by lying to people about their suffering and blaming them for it. Her ideas are useless for everything except her bank account.
Sadly, and stupidly, you swallowed her evasion tactic and — like dozens of other Hay fans on this site — tried to pull her trick here.
Your projections are obvious to everyone except you. You couldn’t “get over” ideas that upset you. You are the one who is “whiney”. And the thing that bothers you most is that you have no coherent answer for my criticisms of Hay, but you still want to believe her somehow.
P.S. I initially assumed this person was a Poe, but decided it added up more like a real comment. Any opinions on this matter are welcome!
Hey, Yakaru! I originally thought Poe as well, but then figured not.
As a parent, and former New Ager, I see the behavior of many new age types as quite childish. Saying that the skeptic is “spreading darkness” is like my daughter telling me I’m a mean mom when I insist she brush her teeth or put her laundry away. Typically if we get called “mean” then we parents know we’ve done something right! Same for skeptic bloggers, I suppose!
There’s a reason gurus want childlike faith. It’s easier to convince childlike people that they are right. It’s also easier to resort to childish name-calling than it is to listen to what the skeptic has to say.
As a parent, I have to tell my little one things she doesn’t want to hear. She rebels when I tell her not to touch boiling water, and really only learns after burning herself. Louise Hay’s ideas are dangerous, and I will not stop telling others that is the case. Sadly, some will get burned before they learn.
“Sadly, some will get burned before they learn.”
Yes, and even more sadly, some them will have have spent half their life promoting these lies to others before they get burned.
“EntitledWhineyWhores”- first of all let me start off by saying how sorry I am that you lost such a vast quantity of money. No one deserves that and I hope the burglars get caught so they cannot harm others. Money isn’t the key to happiness, but we sure as heck can’t steal our daily bread, so we do need it to some extent.
“to be fair. lets consider this.. i am a massage therapist. My work is not easy, but whos work is?”
Louise Hay’s is. 😉
“I work hard for what I have, and own my own business.”
Millions of women in Africa work thirty times harder than you and are still starving. You are well off because you live in the right place at the right time. Mere chance.
“I live in a high end building in a nice part of Los Angeles.”
LA. Shocker.
“I am very good at saving, yet i always think that I can never get ahead, constantly complaining about this and that.. yes, I am human,”
Don’t apologize for being human. It’s normal and healthy to complain.
“but even my boyfriend was saying things like just be grateful etc..”
So you were complaining and yet you became rich. Well, how did that work if the Law of Attraction states that you should have been attracting negative stuff?
I do agree with being grateful, and I think that aspect of New Age spirituality is A OK. On a different note, perhaps your ungratefulness, stress, etc was what led you to feel you needed, or at least what attracted you to, the New Age thought circles. They offer things that ungrateful or unhappy people need in order to force them to become dependent on them.
“well one day I came home. and i live alone.. only I have a key to my apt… to find my safe with most of my savings… in cash.. gone.. well one could think why be dumb enough to keep that much cash around… point taken…”
See, you’re doing it here- blaming the victim. “Why did I __?” “Why did I keep my cash in __?” “Why didn’t I act differently?”
You were burgled because a burglar chose to burgle you. Point given. If you had acted differently the burglar would have just found another way. And he would still be a bad person, not you, even if you WERE able to stop him from stealing from you. Bad decisions on your part or being negligent about your safety procedures do not equal guilt or poor character on your part. And if you had put your cash in the bank, you may have gotten screwed over by a banker or company, so that may not have been safer.
“but according to louise hay.. a financial disaster can be from limited beliefs…and I do have limited beliefs.. however..what got me to the point of where i got to? I mean I must have been “flowing” …”
Bingo! You don’t even need for me to say it to you. New Ageism is bullshit. At least this particular form of it is. Why were you flowing if, as your bf said, you were in a negative state of belief? Your life events prove this philosophy wrong.
“of course my therapist would say “shit happens” all the time.. look at all the billionaires who lost everything with Madolf..”
Bingo again. Shit happens. And you did NOT deserve it to happen to you. The best way to combat this is not to change our own nature or behavior- it is to jail people like Madoff and the person who burgled you.
(And I’m a sucker for word puns so I loved the M-Adolf joke! Ironically, Hitler, bad as he was, would have put those type of guys in prison, so if Adolf thinks they’re bad they must be pretty bad!!)
Also, please understand that people like Madoff/olf and other rich people (Louise Hay included) are not rich because they put the Law of Attraction into motion in their lives. It is because circumstances and personal connections got them where they are. And because they are preaching what the financial elites want them to preach. Madoff got in trouble not because he robbed the little guys, but because he screwed around with other big shots. They put him on trial to make it look like they are being fair (going after the bullies) but really it was all show.
Who does it benefit when the poor masses are told that the way to riches consists of visualising your way into them? (A method which I frankly think looks like a real life version of Music Man Harold Hill’s “Think System”)
Answer: the rich elites. The rich elites (Madoff, the Kennedies, Rothschilds, Rockerfellers) did not grow rich because of this real life “Think System”, or even because of hard work for that matter, but because their already-rich families and lives and friends give them (sometimes illegal) boosts and they all partner and collude together. They are not smarter or more talented or more hardworking than you, any more than a kid who cheats at chess is a better or smarter player than a kid who follows the rules and does an intelligent job of planning his moves.
They naturally don’t want the poor finding out they are screwing them over- and certainly dont want them doing anything constructive to stop it- so they convince the poor that they got rich by “thinking” about it. That way the poor will not get any of “their” money (because the think system doesn’t work) and also the poor won’t find out that the rich got rich by f*cking people over and not by merely being happy and optimistic (both of which are not illegal and don’t make the rich look hateable).
Did it ever occur to you that Louise Hay and others are getting cause and effect mixed up? Perhaps these people are not rich because they are happy, but are happy because they are rich.
“So, I have experienced major financial loss.. “
True.
“I am to blame..”
Not true.
“ the thief is to blame…”
True.
“ I also think greed is to blame…”
The thief/burglar’s and Louise Hay’s, to be specific.
“some people believe in karma.”
Humans put the Law of Karma into motion. If someone hurts us, we fight them back. Is that not karma, only being channeled through the actions and will of the victim and his defenders? Why wait for the universe to lash out against a baddie? That’s what he wants you to do since it’s not guaranteed that will happen.
“funny thing is .. i went to my chakra therapist.. whos from india.. I thought .hes gotta be on my side with this one.. he said very plainly.. “there are a lot of evil people in the world, I have seen men get out of cars in the Middle East.. shoot four people in the head, and then get back in the car as if nothing happened.. two hours later they will probably be in first class on a plane headed back to their mansions” So,who knows what to belive..”
I hear you on this. There are evil people in the world who get away with it. Well, at least on Earth. I don’t think they totally get away with it. As the Christians say, if you “die in your sins,” you go to Hell. Well, what I take that to mean is that if you die knowing you did horrible things to people, and with such an unhealthy state of mind as someone who has that nature, then your mind or spirit or soul or whatever energy is left over after your body withers away will be in a constant state of torment. That would be Hell and that’s a much more realistic theory than Law of Attraction.
But, we are here on Earth and during this time, we want things to be as fair as possible. I don’t want to wait until death to be equal or treated fairly.
“but I do think its better to think happy thoughts if you can. cuz if you get stuck in the misery for too long.. it can take over your life.. “
I agree with this. If you wallow in your unhappiness instead of doing your best to try to get out of it, then you can prolong suffering unnecessarily. Dissociation can be a sign of being traumatised or abused, but it works wonders when you want to get rid of the pain. But be careful to draw a healthy line between choosing to look on the bright side and neglecting the fact that you are in pain. Unaddressed pain is not healthy.
Also, there is a difference between merely acknowledging you were harmed and being upset about it.
“I know a person who lost a job 16 years ago.. gained 90 pounds, is now an alcoholic, and is miserable to be around. So, I think he could have used some of Louises advice..”
So you don’t want to be around him because he is always complaining. well, maybe he complains so much because all his friends abandon him in his time of need.
He sounds like he needs friends and support, not advice. Based on the way you view and treat him, you’re the one who needs some serious advice.
And if your positive state of mind is strong enough, being around negative people will not affect it, so you’d think New Agers would be the perfect people to provide company to these poor wretches.
“Some people just really seriously need to get over their shit..”
Wow, now THAT is incredibly judgmental. Louise Hay would be ashamed, I think…
“I had 22 thousand dollars taken from me.. but what do i do? live in misery for the rest of my life because some greedy asshole decided he/she was entitled to it?”
Who are you to decide what is a bigger deal? Maybe alcoholism and weight gain, to him, is more hurtful than losing money is to you. Different people are harmed by different things and you have no right to judge someone for being more sensitive than you. It may not be his outlook that makes him more upset, but the actual effect the events had on him may be different.
Also, being an alcoholic can make life miserable. If you are not a drinker, then you may at least be able to enjoy life and whatever you have left, but alcoholism directly affects your brain so he may not be able to put positive thinking or gratitude in motion.
Maybe you are living in misery because of what happened to you. Here you are, talking about your experience, without us even asking for it (so that means you WANTED to talk about it), and you certainly do seem bothered by it. You may not be complaining about it, but by the way you talk about it, you definitely were harmed by it and are sorry it occurred.
The difference between you and your drunk fat friend is that at least he has the personal honesty to complain about it and get it out of his system. And his complaining will at least have more chance of attracting someone to help him, while you are letting it fester inside by pretending you’re ok and no one will pick you up if they don’t know you fell down…
“do i waste my time trying to think of who could have done this to me?”
Um, I don’t think doing something that GOVERNMENTS and POLICE do BY LAW (looking for the perp) is a waste of time.
No, you just waste your time commenting on boards you disagree with to convince people you don’t like of philosophies you don’t understand.
“does it matter?”
Yes, because they could be going and taking things from other people.
“the money is gone.. the cops showed up and did their report…”
Which was the right thing to do.
“but do you think the cops care?”
Well, you did say you were in LA, so…. 😀
But seriously, you’re right, LA or not, the cops may not give a shit. That doesn’t make them right, or normal. That makes them shitty cops. Normal people give a damn when others are harmed, ESPECIALLY if I am payig their salary in order to do so!
Also, what if one of those policemen gets their homes burgled by this person/people? Even if they are selfish they have reason to care, so they probably do.
Truthfully, if the cops don’t give a shit, it’s probably because of all this New Age bullshit nowadays that they were raised in as kids, that says- subtly, but surely- not to care about other people or even about yourself, because reality is an illusion (except for New Age authors’ paychecks and book royalties). And that anyone who gives a damn about fairness and morals is backwards, right wing, intolerant, or has Aspergers.
“they have rapes and murderr to deal with… finger prints could not be found.. so.. what are my options.. play the blame game?”
Rape and murder are obviously a bigger deal than money, but, still. Robbery and burglary are illegal for a reason. It hurts people, You are obviously still well off enough to afford a computer and Wifi, or else you afforded a car to drive and go use the library computer. And you have time to comment. If the burglars go and steal from some poor family’s home, they are not as lucky as you and won’t be so well off afterwards.
You are not playing the blame game, Playing the blame game is when a person focuses on blaming others when they are not at fault, or when they blame others in order to ignore the need to fix the situation. It is not playing the blame game because we need to see who or what caused something in order to stop it from happening again, and in order to have justice be done.
You are playing the Apathy Game, which is a lot worse.
“there is also a great book on amazon that talks about how we choose what happens to us before we come down to earth..”
Oh my god. Just. No. No, no no.
“we choose our bodies our parents our pets..”
Preeeetttty sure it was my mom who bought those fish. I wasn’t legally old enough to purchase pets when we got our fish. And I did not choose the allergy to penicillin, thanks.
Also, in a family of, say, one kid and two parents and one dog, which one of their pre-birth spirits was the one who chose the pet?
Was it the child’s? Was it a parent- before his or his child’s birth- who chose that their family would have a dog (and, I assume, who also chose who his wife would be…and perhaps their child)? Was it the other parent? Was it perchance the pre-born dog’s soul who chose that family? Why be species-ist and say humans choose pets and not the other way around? Was it a mutual decision amongst all four their souls, prior to all- or some of- their births? Or what?
“it makes a lot of sense to me.. “
I am trying so, so hard not to make another LA joke right now, srsly.
“its all about soul lessons. that we wanted to learn.. only the toughest strongest souls come down here.. “
So survival of the fittest for New Agers. My two least favourite philosophies.
What lesson did Josef Stalin’s victims want to learn? Murdered babies? Etc?
And if we’re so weak because we dont believe in New Ageism, then how did we get down here and why are so many New Agers trying to tune out reality and can’t wait until they reunite with the cosmos again?
“why did i choose this lesson? who knows.. why did my best friend at ASU get AIDS in 94 and then die within 2 months of diagnosis? who knows”
Because he was unlucky, because he had unprotected sex, because someone purposely lied to him and infected him, because New Agers convinced society they could will diseases away, because he made uninformed choices and was promiscuous without practicig safety measures, because a stranger who had AIDS sneezed on him, because lots of people in his location had the disease, because it’s LA (dammit, there I go again!)
“but i will say this.. at least louise hay is spreading light around rather than darkness and decay.”
she says fluttery happy things, but that does not mean she is not spreading darkness and decay. As they say, the devil has a handsome face. Meaning, bad things usually dress up like good things so they can go unnoticed.
Even if she does not say it directly, she is blaming the victim. saying a victim chose her fate (and that consequently, you do not have to help her) or claiming she can get out of a jam with positive thinking (which will not work) prevents people from helping her because it fools them (and the victim herself) into trying to save her in a way that will not work. Or worse, teaches them to ignore her.
“she does not sit around calling you ridiculous or bad mouthing you.. does she??? something to think about”
No, she’s too smart for that. She does it in a far more insidious and subtle way. But I personally am honest enough to call her a charlatan and a scummy person without hiding how I feel.
“its amazing to me how selfish people have become, filled with such hatred and small talk… such disgust at an idea..”
yes, like those who blame others for their misfortunes so they don’t have to help them, and who refuse to do all they can to stop burglars (the burglars are the ACTUAL selfish people- and at least, unlike Hay, they don’t go around fucking up people’s psychology to do it!)
we are not criticising this idea out of selfishness, but because we want to help people and we think the people promoting the ideas are selfish.
If an idea is filled with hatred and disgust for me, or blames me for being victimised, you bet your arse I will hate it. Maybe the idea and its proponents should “just accept” my criticism and not get so upset about it, if getting upset about stuff is not their style!
See, it’s not okay for the normal person to get upset with a robber or a bully, but it;s okay for a New Ager to get upset wit someone FOR GETTING UPSET with the robber or bully. Meaning, they make big deals about little things (people complaining) and don’t care about big deals (people getting robbed and bullied).
“go visit a childrens hospital .. and start saying mean things to kids ..”
Like that they willed their cancer onto themselves before they were born?
“i guess louise hay is the devil for trying to put a little happiness into our worlds.. and saying good things to ourselves…”
No, she’s an asshole for fooling people into helping themselves in ineffective ways, and for telling them they chose to be hurt, and for gaslighting them by making them think they must have done/caused/were/chosen/thought something in order to make bad stuff happen to them.
“im doing it, and all of you with your mindless small talk, and gossip..”
I see no gossip here. Our article and comments are dealing with intellectual and sociological issues, not gossip. I have yet to see a gossiper speaking about theology and epistemology.
Doing what? Lying?
“about you knowing sooooo much more than her or him or him and hiim.. you are all so intelligent..”
You are the one who believes your statements to be true, so you are just as opinionated and intelligence-mongering as you claim we are .
Also, we are not here to prove people wrong to make ourselves look smart (Louise Hay damn well is smart, she knows that stuff is bunk, she just pretends to think it’s true so no one finds out she is a liar). We are here to prevent people from believing lies that greedy people tell.
“however.. why have i not heard of you?”
A- you obviously have because you’re commenting on their blog
B- we aren’t famous because we aren’t preaching what the rich elite want us to preach (that poor people’s ticket to success is something that coincidentally won’t give them any of the “rich’s” money and will keep them from finding out why the rich became rich (because of cheating, connections, luck)) so naturally the rich people who own the media won’t give us any fame or spotlight.
“please share with me your omiscient all knowing pure 100 percent knowing the exact way..”
Omniscient? We’re not the ones claiming omniscience. The people who tell you we know who we will be born as and what pets and family we will have are the ones who claim that. We admit our lack of knowledge, and if your heroes were so wise, they would do so too.
It takes a wise man to know when he has been really stupid.
-The emperor has no clothes. (Andersen)
“cuz honey.. no one has it…
everything is an idea… get over yourselves..”
Then our comments are also ideas and you should “just accept” them, “ignore” them, and “not let the negativity get to you”
But, of course, you won’t.
You will continue to be more and more upset at us, way more upset than you were at those robbers, because we robbed you of something way more precious to you, something you are much more addicted to, even more than money.
Your illusions.
The emperor has no clothes.
My work is done here.
Thanks, phoenecianprincess!
I especially liked this zinger:
“however.. why have i not heard of you?”
A- you obviously have because you’re commenting on their blog
I will be lining to your comment from now on when I get one of these formulaic attacks from Hay fans.
(I hope you don’t mind me using my higher editing powers to bold whiney’s quotes, for easier reading.)
Aha, thanks for reading. Of course i dont mind. In fact, I was hoping someone would do that.
Yes, link back to my comment all you want, I’m not shy, I hope it (literally) saves some lives.
I have actually just started a book deconstructing all these New Age victim blaming philosophies, with a focus specifically on how they affect politically and economically marginalized people.
They also marginalize people politically and economically! In the US, ask law of attraction believers if they vote, and they will say they prefer to simply focus on the result they want. (The only possibly good aspect of all this is that at least it stops people voting for any candidate who might share their views!)
Yes, that’s one good result- no idiot candidates….oh wait.
But anyways, I am working on a book that details the law of attraction’s dangerousness and on the danger of twisting true spirituality into something dark. Yes, our thoughts have effects, but for god’s sake, they aren’t all there is in the world. And what happens if two people think two opposite ways about one thing? which was does the thing go?
I was thinking of a title like “No Secrets” or “What Secret?” or maybe somethig more humorous.
I am also going to address the tendency of so called victim advocates (who I thin are infiltrated with perpetrators themselves) to attribute the victim’s believing the lie to a weakness or trait the victim has, and not to the way the (false) information is presented. Claiming victims all have the same psychological traits or that certain people are “easy targets” is insulting and also inaccurate, since anyone can be lied to, anyone who doesn’t have mindreading or future prediction skills and cannot know what is going on in the leader’s head.
Yes, there are rather a large amount of problems withn it all, aren’t there. And by some incredibly strange coincidence, they’re all exactly the kinds of problems that would arise if ideas in it were all skewed in favor of marketability!
What a coincidence!
Yes, the victim blaming thing (only stupid people/nonthinkers get taken into cults) is the mentality I want to combat. No one knows if he is walking into a trap before it is too late because the narcissistic sociopath leaders exactly imitate normal person behaviour until it is too late to get out.
Another silly (and suspiciously sociopathic looking) idea is the “narcissists and cults target empaths and ‘nice people'” idea. What are “empaths”? The pop psychology definition sound like it was written by a sociopath himself- it appears to be anyone with normal levels of empathy who has not been sufficiently corrupted by the modern edict that we all be a mix of pathetic, selfish, and fearful of others. In other words, they are trying to make NORMAL HEALTHY HUMAN TRAITS seem like something only special lovey dovey saps (empaths) have.
If you would just get rid of those “liabilities” (trustingness, empathy, altruism) (trustingness meaning inability to magically predict the guy would be an asshole, empathy meaning not ignoring everybody ever, and altruism meaning giving a homeless guy a dollar every month or two), then you wouldn’t get “used” and “manipulated” and sucked into cults! It’s your “weaknesses” (empathy/trustingness/altruism are now “weaknesses”) that “made you a target.”
Victim blaming and anti-goodness talk all in one!
Empathy is not a weakness, nor a strength. The two concepts are unrelated. It is a choice and a willingness to attach to others and know about their plights. Strength or capacity or ability measures a totally different concept.
Trustingness is a bit subjective- a person may trust others not because it is his personality, but because he has little experience with regard to shills. IF he were to have all the info, he may choose not to trust people easily. Also, the alternative is someone huddling up inside his house and trusting NO one, now that is also a problem.
Altruism is also not a weakness. It is also a choice. It means a person whom at least some f the time, puts others needs equal to or above his own. I would think only a STRONG person could handle that.
The idea that such qualities are “weaknesses” and “liabilities” is not true. The reason cults attach to people with these qualities is because they desire those qualities, not because these qualities make a person less able to resist the cult’s draw. If the cult wanted blond people would that mean being blond was a liability or a weakness? No. If a vampire wants a person’s blood, does having blood mean you are “deficient” and “gullible” and “susceptible to vampires”?
The cults go after strong people, not weak people, because the strong have the qualities they wish they had (happiness, TRUE wealth, intelligence, will, goodness, etc). Like vampries the cults attack themselves to the victims by luring the victims in (the victim is not dumb, just uneducated) and then blaming the victim for “seducing” the vampire with his irresistable blood and if only the victim would get rid of this thing the vampire desires, he would be safe.
But would he? If I were to get rid of my goodness and optimism, wouldn’t I be defeated that way as well? Only by suicide instead of murder. All these youths (and older people!) out there who have no more optimism and compassion and morals have committed a kind of suicide and are already poorly off even without the need for a cult to suck it out of them. At least the cult victim had these qualities at one time.
There is a drive to blame the cult victim and make him get rid of his self because the cults will not take advantage of him if he does. It’s rather like telling a woman to wear a burka so she doesn’t get assaulted, instead of punishing the assaulters. Or like the phenonemon in Communist countries of workers being unproductive because, as teh saying goes, the tallest daisy gets cut down.
Cut yourself down and the cults won’t get you, the “experts” say. But if you think about it, wouldn’t that be the same thing, only happening sooner?
I find this all very interesting and important territory.
Parasites depend on mimicking something that’s safe. It only works because everything is fine most of the times that we trust people — not counting the change we get from the cashier, believing the guy behind the desk in the doctor’s surgery in really a doctor, etc.
And this whole New Age scam has been running in this form for about 40 years, and it’s gotten incredibly slick. So slick in fact that they even fool skeptics. We think we’re smart when we get instantly turned off by their quantum nonsense. It’s so painful to listen to, that we just can’t get away fast enough. We’re being filtered out by it — driven away and socially isolated from those friends of ours who believe it.
There are a few different streams or origins for this New age stuff, as far as I know. There’s the Mararishi / TM people (Chopra & co); the Christian Science mob who keep their Christianity under a bushel (Louise Hay); The LoA people like Esther Hicks; and there are the ex-Scientology creeps (Tony Robbins, James Ray) who do all the manipulative marketing scams. They all feed off each other and pretend not to compete, but they DO.
It’s not our own thoughts. It is other people’s thoughts about us that we and our bodies are reacting to. Like how the rich think about the poor as you point out.That energy can be neutralized by identifying the thinker and the Word (s) and verbally returning to sender, if you choose, using Louise Hay as a guide for clues to the type of thought. But it may take too long to identify, so go to a doctor too.
Anyone understand the above comment?