Discussion 2 to A Miscellany 227
Playing God with human lives
by: JT
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This whole thing gets more and more disturbing. The more I read on this, the more like a religious cult it seems.
On participant at an earlier Spiritual Warrior retreat described a game " in which Mr. Ray wears white robes and plays God, ordering some participants to commit mock suicide."[1] The sweat lodge experience was equated to a rebirthing.
Ray was reported to have stood near the door throughout the sweat lodge experience actively talking people out of leaving. The lawyer for one of those hospitalized said Ray “was very intimidating” and discouraged people from leaving, he added. “His catchphrase was, ‘Play full on, you have to go through this barrier,’ ”
One idiotic insensitive fraud who visited the site afterwards claimed communication with the deceased, and said that they had not come back because they were having so much fun.
Apparently James Arthur Ray was twittering to his other followers[2] while leading this Spiritual Warrior retreat, including while in the sweat lodge. Shortly after the horrifying deaths he deleted his twitter account. However, some of his tweets were recovered - which might indicate why he deleted that account.
The talk of death and dying is disturbing in light of the events going on around him - and directly because of him. And what about that tweet that talks of a life of honor? Suc a life is certainly not demonstrated by his actions after his followers died on his watch.
Footnotes:
- For Some Seeking Rebirth, Sweat Lodge Was End, John Dougherty, New York Times, October 21, 2009
- 2 People Died In A Sweat Lodge Last Night. And Deleted Tweets Have Surfaced. - techcrunch.com