Normally I don’t start my day looking at the news as it tends to affect my mood. I don’t like starting out the day with sadness. This morning I had to do some online banking and when I was done clicked over to CNN.com. I read the article and listened to the clip about James Ray being arrested for the deaths of the 3 people in his Sedona sweatlodge last fall. As I watched him walk into the prison, he seemed to be falsely holding his head high, feigning dignity. At least I hope that was why his body language reflected a “holier than thou” attitude. I imagine he is afraid. He is human. A human who got lost in the power of inspiring people to greater heights.

James Ray is magnetic as a speaker and personal development guru. His free seminars are actually giant sales pitches for his week and weekend long retreats, such as the one in Sedona. I was mesmerized until he got to the end of his talk that was like a guy at the carnival barking out his attempts for you to shoot the ducks in his booth. “Let me take your money…a lot of it!” is how I would paraphrase the schtick. So the shine came off the star very quickly for me, though I sent him a copy of my book (that I have few left of) with a note of gratitude for the earlier part of his message which was quite good. I never heard from him or anyone in his office. I was given his address by a friend of a friend who is or was his pr person. I mentioned her in the note. Nothing. I slowly let go of my hope that he was really doing a good thing. I decided he was lost in the greed of it and stopped listening until the sweat lodge.

Now James Ray’s biggest teaching is an enormous view of what happens when greed takes over. Somebody gets hurt, somebody loses, someone has pain. In James’ case, it was a horrific tragedy for the people who died and the people who love them, as well as the others who participated in the $9000 week. So, as you head out there toward your dream, claim first your authenticity. Stay with it. Remember why you headed that way in the first place. You are going there because that is who you are, a helper, a nurturer, an activist, a friend of the planet. You know that everyone is created equally and of the same cloth. If you are like me, you wonder why some people are so lost and then you realize that most likely we all get lost in the wilderness, looking for the light across the forest and head to it. The journey to the light is the story we tell when we have found our way into the clearing. We tell it to recount it, to deepen its experiences, to share it so others might find the same elation of stepping into the field of multitudes of flowers and sunshine and blue sky and white puffy clouds.

Amen