I Wonder Alone (From Oprah Country)

Osteopathy in France: widely accepted yet based on wishful thinking

It is amazing - after spending years in France - how little other countries remark on the French's capacity for self-deception. The nation only now stopped funding homeopathy, though that cult of quackery's been known to be "a grave error" for over 200 years. (My French wife, exhibiting her native stupidity, actually ran away with one of these charlatans).

So, how do an ancient people - still ignorant to how the modern world functions - still, credibly, involve themselves in world politics? Without making a mess of things? And just how powerful IS "The Secret"?

 

From A Problem With Science And Metaphysics (To A Solution With Frank Zappa)

I'm always wondering, how is it that - in this "modern" high tech world - something can be known on one side of the planet, that NewAgers aren't aware of on the other? A problem with our satellites? For instance, here's a message from Yurp:

"Apparently, in Canada, osteopathy is strong and full of woo..."

Now, we know it surely can't be a language barrier, because this professor is in Germany, which is right next door to France - where they speak that silly oui-oui, pooh-pooh, lah-lah French - but, the Gauls are just as coo-coo-clueless as the Canadians, so what gives? How are these two nations, so renowned for their educations, modernity, and civility, not so renowned for being in-step with reality?

But, this speaks to how the whole NewAge phenomena is working, all over the world: how do some immediately know fraud when we see it, while many (if not most) NewAgers buy into whatever false "empowerment" (or whatever message) the cultists sell? And - if some people do and can spot it - why aren't they trusted? 

I think it's because, like everyone else, the NewAger's desire for power (whether over themselves, over rationalists, or the world) is stronger - and, they have more money than common sense to indulge it, so bad things happen (Which, of course, is why they shouldn't have power: they've already proven they can't handle it).

Whatever. Thinking about NewAgers makes the mind weary. So here's TMR's new answer to NewAge's problems - listen to Frank Zappa because none of it matters:

It really works. Better than any damned guru, I guarantee you. Big money bet.

Nothing Can Happen (Without A Helping Hand)

The NewAge naturopathic bullshit works every time:

"A Kiwi woman has told of her bizarre experience with a UK cult 'guru' jailed this week for rape, detailing how he danced around her bed and 'enlightened' her during an alleged sexual assault.

Michael Lyons*, also known as Mohan Singh, was jailed for 10 years after raping and sexually assaulting two female 'recruits' between 1998 and 2008.

The 52-year-old London man was acquitted of three further charges of rape, one involving the 23-year-old New Zealand woman on her OE in 2005.

She has written of her experience on a website for the Rick Ross Institute, an organisation which tracks and studies cults.

A second New Zealand woman also complained to police about Lyons. He was not charged in relation to the complaint but the woman gave evidence at his trial.

UK police said Lyons operated as a 'spiritual group leader' purporting to be a naturopath, skilled in osteopathy, acupuncture and nutrition."

Don't get me wrong:

Being a stupid enough liberal to believe in NewAge naturopathic bullshit is a great help, too.

*That is not Michael Lyons in the photo. A picture of him can be found here.

Sexual Healing

"The 23-year-old dancer from New Zealand said she had been feeling homesick and her friend said Mohan 'had healthy methods, osteopathic treatments, that will help you feel better. He's helped a lot of girls feel better by changing their energy and things like that'.

Mohan 'gave her a lot of attention' and asked her many personal questions, the court heard. She was then taken to the home of several of Mohan's female followers, which had a 'shrine' in the living room.

Mohan went round 'giving back rubs' to the women as they sat in a circle, the court heard. He then told all the girls to get up and dance to music by Michael Jackson. After an hour or two, Mohan took one of his female disciples downstairs, it was alleged.

The witness said: 'When they both came back, I remember everyone commenting on the woman, saying how much energy she gained from being downstairs and getting some sort of treatment.

'I didn't think so. I thought she looked quite flushed.'"

-- Colin Fernandez, with more on Michael Lyons (AKA "Mohan Singh") and what passes for NewAge spiritual healing methods - until they're exposed in court (click one of the "energy" links above) - and in The Daily Mail.