Deeper Reflections on the Arizona Sweat Lodge Incident

I was talking to a girlfriend who I sit with every Friday in “Women’s Lodge.”  We were reflecting on the Arizona Sweat Lodge Tragedy with James Ray and I was telling her I had just written an article about this.  The irony is we were also celebrating my CD “Emergence” going to manufacturing that day.  And the theme of “Emergence” is really about the emerging of the feminine into her rightful place of power right along side of the masculine.

The masculine energy is all about the push.  It is about the “doing!”  There is a place for pushing and doing but there is also a place for surrender and being.  These qualities have gotten a bad rap in our primarily patriarchal society.  James Ray is a prime example of focusing on the “push” to get ahead in life.  And for so many people “financial gain” is what it is all about.  It is the financial gain that gives people a sense of worth and value in their lives.  The more money one has the more admiration he/she receives.  It is the ultimate sign of success.

Spiritual enlightenment and the ability to sit still and reflect don’t figure very prominently in the average persons view of success.

From the information I have gathered James Ray’s Spiritual Warriors program was not about success but rather survival.  It was a survival program and several did not survive.  Did this make them weak?  Did it make them failures?  Or did it make them a victim of a man who was playing God? Read the rest of this entry »