Ah, the ability to deny all responsibility for deaths and injury, despite the fact they happened under your direct orders and supervision.

James Arthur Ray seems clear that people died of their own volition in his "sweat lodge" not, for example, because of being denied food or water for 36+ hours beforehand.

examiner.com has an initial story (2 dead after hours in Ariz. sweat lodge identified) but much more interesting are a pair of posts by a columnist named Cassandra Yorgey.

Transcript of private call between James Ray and sweat lodge victims has plenty of disturbing quotes from Ray. Better yet is the quote in this section from Barb, a member of Ray's staff:

This, I think, is the worst part of the entire conference call. Barb is one of James Ray’s staff members and she goes on to talk “of the two that had passed and they left their bodies during the ceremony and had so much fun they chose not to come back and that was their choice that they made.” This is going to be really hard for James Ray and his people to explain when the autopsy results are released, because people do not cook themselves to death. They just don’t. Barb implying they do is asserting James Ray’s innocence and falsely supporting that the survivors are alive because they chose to live. In actuality, James Ray had to be interrupted and the participants were physically removed from the sweat lodge because they were not capable of transporting themselves.

Read the whole thing. Cassandra Yorgey has another piece which also deserves some attention: Inside accounts of James Ray sweat lodge tragedy and retreat.

I'd like to see Ray and his positive vibes in prison.

Labels: Arizona, death, James Arthur Ray, newage, sweat lodge, The Secret

So what happens when a Newage "guru" named James Arthur Ray kills two people and puts a bunch more in the hospital from a "sweat lodge" he led? So far, nothing.

Oprah put Mr. Ray on her show several times so he must be important. He was profiled in the bestselling book The Secret.

I highly recommend reading the posts over on Pàganachd Bhandia for some insight on the situation:

Plastic Death Sweat - 2 Dead, 3 Critical, 16 More Hospitalized
New Age Death Sweat II - NYT Editorial by Dr. Al Carroll
New Age Death Sweat III - Response by Arvol Lookinghorse (Lakota)

Labels: fake ceremony, James Arthur Ray, newage, sweat lodge