"James Arthur Ray is the self-help guru. He is also a Plastic Shaman.

A plastic shaman is defined by Horton as someone who performs First Nations spiritual "services for profit, as well as personal opportunism and ego taking advantage of others due to inadequacy, a lack of moral compass, or the vain wish to be reborn within an objectifying obsession and fascination...This is to appropriate, to exploit, to steal, to acquire, to minimize, and to capture a sacred culture."

Thus is the idiocy of trying to jam too many people into a First Nations "traditional" sweat lodge in the Sedona heat and bullying them to stay inside the lodge, causing the death of three participants on Oct. 8, 2009. Ray was found guilty of negligent homicide in the deaths of James Shore, Kirby Brown and Liz Neuman.

On that day at Ray's New Age "Spiritual Warrior" retreat at his Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona, Arizona, other than the three deaths, 18 others were hospitalized after suffering burns, dehydration, breathing problems, kidney failure or elevated body temperature from attending his sweat lodge ceremony."

Get the Story:
Krystalline Kraus: Death and the plastic shamans (Rabble.ca 7/18)