James Arthur Ray Archives

Sweat Lodge Homicides Remorse: James Arthur Ray Says He Was Arrogant

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

James Arthur Ray, the purported self-help guru who led a “Spiritual Warrior” weekend retreat outside Sedona, Arizona in October 2009 at the tune of nearly copy0,000 per participant that claimed three lives and hospitalized 18, is still remorseful, he told CNN’s Piers Morgan on Monday, November 25, months after his July 12, 2013, state prison release.

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“If I could trade places with any of the three, James, Kirby or Liz, I would do it,” Ray said.

Ray was found guilty of three counts of negligent homicide on June 20, 2011, and was sentenced to two years—concurrent sentences for each of the deaths. He was required to fulfill at least 85 percent of the term (20 months) and was ordered to pay $57,000 in restitution to the victims’ families

During the CNN interview, the 56-year-old author and former entrepreneur expressed anguish over his leadership of a sweat lodge ceremony that killed 38-year-old Kirby Brown of Westtown, New York, 40-year old James Shore of Milwaukee, and 49-year-old Lizbeth Marie Neuman of Prior Lake, Minnesota.

“I think the most difficult thing I can ever imagine is investing your entire life in helping people, and then finding them getting hurt,” Ray told Morgan. “It’s just the antithesis of anything that I had ever stood for or wanted. And so that anguish has continued every single day since that moment.”

According to prosecutors, participants in Ray’s spiritual retreat suffered dehydration and heatstroke at the hands of Ray’s urging them to remain in the sweltering sweat lodge without food or water for hours on end. Participants testified that they were told they would symbolically die and then be reborn in the sweat lodge ritual, CNN reported, and that Ray scolded them to overcome their weakness and stay inside. The 18 people who were hospitalized endured burns, respiratory arrest, kidney failure, loss of consciousness and dehydration. Several witnesses recounted people collapsing, vomiting, violently shaking and experiencing delusions. They contended Ray heard and ignored the concerns.

“Was I arrogant? Yes. I have that characteristic, I can be arrogant,” Ray told CNN’s Morgan. “And I think there’s a lot of hubris that comes in my former business. You know, people flying all over the world and asking me how to have a better life,” he said. “It tends to go to your head. You know? You tend to think you’ve got all the answers, and so you get humbled.”

Under his sentence, Ray is not barred from conducting self-help seminars or sweat lodge ceremonies. Family members of the victims have promised to monitor Ray should he try to reestablish his empire, CNN reported, but Ray says he has no intentions of trying to salvage his self-help business.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/26/james-arthur-ray-admits-arrogance-expresses-anguish-sweat-lodge-homicides-152448

Self-Help Shamster Behind Sweat-Lodge Homicides Released From Prison

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

James Arthur Ray, the purported self-help guru who went to jail in 2011 for negligent homicide after three people died in his sweat lodge, is out on parole.

The 55-year-old author and entrepreneur left state prison near Phoenix on Friday July 12, the Associated Press reported. Though he is not barred from conducting self-help seminars or sweat lodge ceremonies, AP said, “his brother said Ray has no immediate plans to resurrect his business,” though he left it open by maintaining that the tragedy was not Ray’s fault.

The deaths occurred after things went awry about halfway through a two-hour ceremony back in 2009. The incident killed a 38-year-old and a 40-year old man, injured 18 and led to the death of a third man in the hospital a week later, AP recounted.

Ray went to trial in 2012 and was sentenced to two years—concurrent sentences for each of the deaths. He was required to fulfill at least 85 percent of the term and was ordered to pay $57,000 in restitution to the victims’ families, ICTMN reported upon his sentencing. AP said that his release means he has served that amount of time.

The tragedy resonated deeply in Indian country, not least of all because the ceremony bore little if any resemblance to an actual sweat lodge ceremony.

“It was a bastardized version of a sacred ceremony sold by a multimillionaire who charged people $9,695 a pop for his ‘Spiritual Warrior’ retreat in Sedona, Ariz.,” wrote ICTMN’s now West Coast Editor Valerie Taliman at the time in an award-winning opinion piece.

Related: Selling the Sacred

Ray’s brother did not elaborate on whether his brother would try to resume the sweat lodge practice.

“At this point, he wants to get out and hide out, and start putting his life back together, which has been completely turned upside down,” Ray’s brother, who was not named, told AP just before the release. “I say that with all due respect because I know a lot of people’s lives have been turned upside down because of this unfortunate incident.”

Dozens of people were in the sweat lodge that day outside Sedona, Arizona, the culmination of a five-day Spiritual Warrior retreat, AP said. The sweat lodge’s advertised “hellacious hot” temperatures were supposed to generate breakthroughs.

“The man responsible, self-help spiritual entrepreneur James Arthur Ray, claimed the New Age retreat would absolutely ‘change your life,’ ” Taliman wrote. “It did—it took the lives of a father of three children and a healthy young woman. It also caused burns, respiratory arrest, kidney failure, loss of consciousness, and dehydration for other paying customers who were hospitalized.”