Just When I thought I'd heard it ALL...

Just When I Thought I'd Heard It All... Something like SWEAT LODGE appears on my computer screen. My first thought, WTF? People paying a lot of money to be herded into a small makeshift room that's hotter than any imaginative HELL?

After reading the headline that a 3rd person had died in this sweat ceremony, my curiosity piqued and I had to find out more about those who
seek enlightenment, financial or otherwise by sweating.

HUH?

Good grief, I can't believe that a charlatan like James Authur Ray can so easily flimflam people into paying him lots of cash so they can suffer greatly (even die) in some smelly, sweaty, crowded, hot cubbyhole.

If only I could have talked to these poor souls before they handed over their wampum and health to some Nut. Maybe, I could have saved them from themselves by telling them, go live and blend in to an American or better yet, a Third World slum where there's plenty of misery, suffering and sweat, trying to survive, to see if that will bring about the financial glorification they seek?

Maybe if they would have helped just one person living in these REAL, not
conjured up horrible conditions, fulfillment may have followed.

Never underestimate the power of GIVING TO THOSE IN NEED. thinkingblue

3rd person dies in Ariz. sweat lodge ceremony case

By FELICIA FONSECA

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – An Arizona homicide investigation
now includes three deaths after a woman died more than a week
after participating in a sweat lodge ceremony that hospitalized
nearly two dozen people.

Liz Neuman of Minnesota died Saturday at a Flagstaff hospital,
Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said.

The 49-year-old suffered multiple organ damage during the Oct.
8 ceremony at a resort near Sedona, a resort town 115 miles north
of Phoenix that draws many in the New Age spiritual movement.

Authorities were treating all three deaths as homicides, but
no charges have been filed.

D'Evelyn did not provide a city of residence for Neuman, but
public records showed an address in Prior Lake, about 25 miles
southwest of Minneapolis.

Neuman was among more than 50 people crowded inside the sweat
lodge run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. An emergency call
two hours after they entered the lodge reported two people not
breathing.

Twenty-one people were taken to area hospitals with illnesses
ranging from dehydration to kidney failure. Kirby Brown, 38, of
Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee died upon
arrival at a hospital.

No one else remains hospitalized.

Authorities haven't determined what caused the deaths. Autopsy
results on Brown and Shore are pending further testing.

The Rev. Meredith Ann Murray of Bellingham, Wash., who has
completed all of Ray's retreats, said Neuman was among Ray's
earliest followers and had attended dozens of his events.

According to Ray's Web site, Neuman was the leader of the
Minneapolis-area "Journey Expansion Team." The teams,
developed by Ray's friends and followers around the country, meet
to exchange ideas on his principles. The next Minneapolis-area
meeting is scheduled for Oct. 23.

Ray had rented the Angel Valley Retreat Center for his
five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event that culminated in
the sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid between $9,000 and
$10,000 to attend the retreat.

Ray declined to be interviewed by the sheriff's office on the
night of the incident and Arizona authorities said he had not
spoken to them as of Thursday. In his first public appearance
Tuesday in Los Angeles, Ray told a crowd of about 200 that he has
hired his own investigative team to determine what went wrong.

His spokesman, Howard Bragman, has said that Ray's team and
Ray's attorney are cooperating with the sheriff's investigators.

More than 100 people attended the funeral for Brown on
Saturday at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Otisville, N.Y.,
according to The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y. The avid
hiker and surfer who had a passion for art was remembered as a
spiritual seeker.

Services for Shore were held late Saturday afternoon at the
Hubbard Lodge in Milwaukee.

Let's keep our heads, while we continue to
watch THE

THEATER OF THE ABSURD!!! thinkingblue