Closing Arguments: Regulate Extreme Self-Help?

yes

This cult should be regulated. Ray should go to prison. Families should not get any compesation.

No!! it's a free country. You should have good enough judgement to know when things are a little off and not to get involved with that stuff.

Licensing does not protect the public it only protects the territory of those who have licenses. This is a slippery slope that continually limits the creativity and freedom that have made us so great. There are behaviors that people do that are unacceptable and need to be addressed by the law. Licensing does not stop these behaviors it only creates and extra legal way of policing them. The current laws on criminal and civil accountability are adequate to protect us. If they are not then we need to strengthen them rather than add more licensing.

All seminars AND COACHES that claim to help you achieve results that are extraordinary should be regulated... ie. Mark Allen, Dr. Richard K, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. ALL of these 'prey' on people who are just hoping and praying for the best outcome when they have exhausted all normal means. Coaches should be licensed and regulated just like therapists. Because they are influencing peoples mindsets and beliefs about themselves, just like therapist do.

NO! We have way too many regulations in our country already! Every adult can be accountable for themselves. When I seek therapies/treatments/retreats that are not "mainstream", I can determine for myself what is "right" for me. Please let's not let this one incident infringe on our freedoms of the future!

Yes it is time to regulate this industry. I like to get tips from these types of books and some are very good. However I was also taken by JACK CANFIELD.

Perhaps I should have known, because even his writings in THE SECRET focus on MONEY and NOT on helping people. His book THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES contradicts itself, and after paying for his course, his "LIFE COACH" only advised me to read the book. When i asked for my money back they refused saying i didn't try hard enough.

And who will decide what is "extreme?" What is extreme to one is not necessarily extreme to another! Some things that are considered "normal" in our society, I may consider extreme...and somethings I consider "normal" may be extreme to others.

Yes it is time to regulate this industry. I like to get tips from these types of books and some are very good. However I was also taken by JACK CANFIELD, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Perhaps I should have known, because even his writings in THE SECRET focus on MONEY and NOT on helping people. His book THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES contradicts itself, and after paying for his course, his "LIFE COACH" only advised me to read the book. When I asked for my money back they refused saying i didn't try hard enough.

No, enough regulation. People exercise their will each and every day... and day after day freedoms are taken from us as a society and as individuals because of big government. With respect to James Ray... I don't know enough about him, but I did notice the usual ABC News bent towards one side of the story and taking a tragedy and making a villain out of an individual and the whole spiritual and self help movements. Congratulations on continuing to be negative and one sided!

Why weren't people interviewed who have had positive experiences with Ray or others?

Licensing and regulation do not insure quality, character, maturity, and wisdom. They simply require people to jump through hoops. That having been said, I no longer look to the self-help industry for wisdom and inspiration. After decades of attending seminars and workshops I have concluded that many self-help "gurus" are simply delusional folks who've disowned their suffering and their limits, who've made a cult of money and ego aggrandizement, and who've made a living out of preying on those who look outside themselves for the answers to Life's questions. They and their "followers" fit like a hand and a glove and have much to learn on their journeys together. Those who disown their power, like those who succumbed to Ray's exhortations, are drawn to those who will take their power. The flies cannot be kept from their honey. The pain they cause one another is an opportunity to learn, is it not? Perhaps through this Ray will see himself as he is, and perhaps some of the participants will wake up to the fact that they and/or their friends gave up their power in his presence. He is responsible for his actions, but those who followed his directions and trusted his exhortations rather than the wisdom of their own beings are also responsible.

No, just because one person goes off the deep end does not mean that every one who is in this industry does.

Who would set the standards? This is not about the industry this is about one man whose ego took over.

My question is --Why did not the people who worked for him see what was going on and call him on this?

No, There are too many regulations out there and who would regulate this.

I attended one of James Ray's earlier workshops and he was not at all like this.

Something happened and this is about a man not an industry, about personal responsibility for his work.

It is also about people knowing who they are and not letting someone else dictate what they do or do not do just because someone is telling them to do something.

So it is about personal responsibility as well.

No, self help groups should not be regulated anymore than religions or fad diets or "The Secret" or anything like this are regulated for health and safety. That's silly. Let freedom ring, and let adult individuals bear some responsibility for their own actions in these matters. Why would you continue to sit in a sweat lodge when you're feeling nauseous? This reminds me of my 11-year-old son spraying graffiti on a neighbor's garage on a dare. Even though other kids egged him on to do it, he (I) am ultimately responsible the his actions.

I have done years of sweat lodges and most of them looked like Ray's lodge. No problem with the lodge. Problem is not allowing someone to leave when they qwanted to leave. All the lodges I did, anytime someone wanted to leave, the flap opened and they were helped out of the lodge, where people on the outside cared for them. There is no problem with sweat lodges and sweats. the problem is someone who is not properly trained in running a sweat lodge.

As for licensing, ABSOLUTELY NO! the government needs to keep their noses out of these events. Out of the thousands of sweats done each year, for decades, this is the first with this kind of problem.

I have observed Nightline's coverage of non christian events and they always seem biased. I suggest they fire their chief producer and any born again producers so we can get honest reporting with the christian slant.

No. The self-help junkies who use this stuff need to self-regulate themselves from using self-help garbage. This is not a government issue. The government has much more important things to do, and it needs to start doing them now--fix the highways, give us a national healthcare system, give us a national pension system, secure our border with Mexico from alien invasion, etc., etc.

1st of james and other self-help guru needs to be investigated. i watch that nightline yesterday and for that coward james too live that facility that killed 3 and sent several others to the hospital, that's equal too a hit a run in automobile accident. He needs to be totally shut down, and in the segement it said this was'nt his first time with the "sweat box incident".

EVEN JESUS, INDEED, ESPECIALLY JESUS WAS NOT ABLE TO HEAL ALL THOSE WHO SOUGHT SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL HEALING. THAT GOES TRIPLE FOR THOSE WHO KNEW HIM AS A YOUTH. NO RECORDED MIRACLES WOULD BE PERFORMED IN NAZARETH OR BETHLEHEM.

IS THIS MAN A FRAUD ???

I DON'T THINK SO, B U T HE DOES NEED TO EXAMINE HIS 'SUBJECTS' A BIT MORE REALISTICALLY, BEFORE SUBJECTING THEM TO ESPECIALLY A SWEAT LODGE.

A WORD OF CAUTION ----

TIBETAN SPIRITUAL GURUS
++++ DISCOURAGE ++++
WHAT THEY CALL
"SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM."

AND RIGHTLY SO. AS THERE IS BOTH GOOD SPIRITUAL MAJICK [MAGIC], THERE ARE GOOD AND LESS NOBLE PURPOSES FOR SPIRITUAL HEALING.

WEALTH IS ONE OF THE LESS NOBLE, BECAUSE IT IS "SPRITUAL MATERIALISM" FOR THOSE WHO SEEK THIS GOAL.

US SPECIAL OPERATIONS TROOPS RECEIVE SOMEWHAT SIMILAR ENDURANCE TRAINING, BUT FAR MORE EXTREME IN NATURE. WANT THAT GO THERE.

I CERTAINLY CHARGE FAR LESS FOR SPIRITUAL TRAINING THAN 10K.

Regulate Oprah. She's the great spiritual sage who promoted this guy. Without her Ray wouldn't have had 60 people crammed into that sweat-lodge. He might have had 10 if he was lucky.