Reality Bites

In the continuing James Ray saga, today's news reports that Mr. Ray is "broke." He can't afford his $5 million bail, his finances have been "shaken" by withdrawals to pay for his legal defense, among other things, and apparently, he's not worth the millions he himself bragged about during numerous interviews. But let's remember: This was the sleek, sexy, self-styled "guru" of the new "let's get rich" Law of Attraction crowd, and he had to look good to keep attracting those followers.

"As you think, so shall you be"

Proponents of LOA have basically always underscored the adage, "As you think, so shall you be." Nothing is truer, in my opinion, as far as Mr. Ray's situation is concerned. If you focus on appearance rather than substance, that is of course what you are going to attract. In other words, you look good on the surface, like Mr. Ray did, but when you scratch underneath that surface, what do you find? Not much.

This is a guy who bragged to Fortune Magazine in April of 2008 that his financial yearly goal was $21 million and that while he was sure there were limits, his attitude was, "I'm not aware of them."

Welcome to reality, Mr. Ray. You do have limits, and here they are, in stark relief. By the way, they have nothing to do with how much money you can earn, but how you actually earn that money -- and how you spend it. In other words, reality is going to bite you in the butt if you earn that money through pretense and callous disregard for others except for what they can give you in terms of a paycheck and a bloated bank account. By not being aware of those limits (by your own admission), you find yourself in this situation.

Being responsible and paying attention

LOA is about personal responsibility and paying attention, above all. In addition to his continuing legal troubles, Ray has also got a net worth of *negative* $4.2 million, because, apparently (and again), he didn't pay attention to his own actions in terms of finances, either. Overspending and living far above your means is just another example of the type of reckless disregard Ray so embodies.

Again, a good wake-up call for we folks who believe in the Law of Attraction. You do absolutely get back what you put out. Reckless disregard, or responsible, aware, thoughtful behavior? It's our choice.

James Ray's "Accident" Defense Means He's No Believer in LOA

There's another thing about James Ray that's bothered me since this has come out. That is, he's been trying to say via his lawyers that this incident was an "accident." But wouldn't he, being the master of the Law of Attraction that he purports himself to be, and the ultimate believer that he says he is, know that there are no accidents?

Before this (and before he had to dance and protect his own butt), he would have said so. In fact, I'm sure he would have somberly shaken his finger at whoever tried to say so, and reminded them that they were responsible for themselves and that there were no accidents.

So, if there are no accidents, how can this incident suddenly have been deemed an accident by Ray? More than that, how do LOA's immutable laws somehow bend themselves to Ray's situation (i.e., certainly an accident for him, but no one else, right?)?

Indeed, if Ray's situation can do anything, it can make those of us who believe in LOA stop and take sober stock of our own actions, that along with the (admittedly enticing) "Just do what feels good!" clarion call of Abraham-Hicks and others in this tradition, we pair that with a respect for our physical existence and yes, our responsibility to others.

Accountability and the Law of Attraction

I've been thinking more about James Ray and this egoistic mess he's gotten himself into, and it's crystallized something for me that I've been pondering, but I haven't been able to put into words until now. That is, when you decide to seriously pursue the Law of Attraction as a way of life, you don't become LESS accountable for other people. A lot of what I have read about the Law of Attraction in the past has hinted at just that; in other words, it's all about you, while other people are secondary.

However, I think that believing in the Law of Attraction makes you become MORE accountable for other people -- but not in the way most of us think of being "accountable."

That is, we don't become accountable to people in that we try to please them. We don't try to believe what they believe or agree with them to simply "get along," or because we think they know better than we do. The Law of Attraction is about self-empowerment, so in that sense, we truly are on our own path. We don't become responsible or accountable for other adults in that we try to take charge of them, and we know that we have to let them go on their own paths just as we're going on ours.

However, once you believe in the Law of Attraction, it does make you absolutely aware that you are responsible for your own actions in every way, which means you're also accountable for how you treat other people. And if that's true, then that means we have to be really careful that we always treat other people with care, respect and courtesy. That's a very different tone, in some respects, than the "Just float your own cork!" message you get from more traditional LOA messengers like Abraham-Hicks.

James Ray Has Been Charged with Manslaughter

James Ray has been charged with manslaughter in the deaths of three people who perished during the Sedona Arizona sweat lodge incident. This is very, very good news, in my opinion.

I'm a believer in the Law of Attraction, to be sure, but one of the Law of Attraction's teachings is that you take responsibility for your actions. Ray is trying to squirm his way around this, in my opinion, by saying that he takes responsibility but that he's not criminally guilty, which is a crock. In this case, "I'm responsible" means, "I'm guilty," for his part in those deaths.

If he REALLY believed in the Law of Attraction, this never would have happened, because he never would have so become disconnected with other people in his teachings with them that he ignored them in favor of his own ego-driven pursuits.

And now, he's really going to experience the Law of Attraction in all of its simplicity and directness. You can't "pretend" your way out of the Law of Attraction's results, and now he's going to learn that.

Law of Attraction "Foundations," not Fakery

It's no wonder that this recent focus on James Ray and the Sedona sweat lodge tragedy has brought LOA naysayers out in force. The guy is a prime example of the downfalls of falling for fake gurus, in this case for the Law of Attraction-following crowd.

But it doesn't mean LOA itself is fake, and we LOA-ers know that. It *is* an illustration of just what can happen when you give your power over to someone else, and quit thinking for yourself. LOA is all about self-empowerment, about staying focused in the "now" and fully conscious, and not about blindly following someone else.

What is LOA for?

It's a personal interpretation, of course (everything with LOA ultimately is powered by personal interpretation ;-) ).

In my case, LOA is there for me to give me a construct to my life. It helps me focus on what I want and to fix what I don't want. And it gives me permission to ignore what I don't want (but have in my life nonetheless) if it's something I can't fix right now.

That's freedom. Because what happens when I have the freedom to ignore what I don't want and can't fix is that eventually, one of several things happens:

§ Tools "show up" so that I can fix it
§ It just "goes away" of its own accord, or I can leave it behind easily
§ It just changes of its own accord to something I want
§ I grow into it and discover I DO want it, and that I just had to give it (and me) time

It's an ongoing process, too, and I'm still learning my own mastery a decade into this. If that's you, too, that's okay. Give it time. :-)