On July 25, 2009, Colleen Conaway plummeted to her death in San Diego's Horton Plaza mall; an apparent suicide. She had no history of mental problems. She was by all accounts very happy with her life and her direction.
So how did the Minnesota native meet such a sad and inexplicable fate so far from home? She was participating in a James Arthur Ray Creating Absolute Wealth seminar, for which she had paid thousands of dollars.
The exercise was one in which seminar participants were directed to dress as homeless people and wander around downtown San Diego. They were not allowed to carry money, identification, or cell phones. In what would become a pattern for those who had the misfortune to be severely injured during James Ray seminars, Colleen Conaway spent many hours listed as "Jane Doe."
Connie Joy's daughter Erica participated in that same seminar and both Connie and her husband Richard attended the final dinner. None of them were aware that a participant had died.
Only Ray and his closest staffers knew that Conaway was lying on a slab in the San Diego County morgue. And they weren't telling. People who asked about why she hadn't returned were told that she was fine but wasn't coming back to the seminar.
It was over two months later, in the wake of yet another horrific tragedy on Ray's watch, that his long-time followers learned that the unnamed woman who had died in the mall that day was the seminar participant who had never returned from her homelessness adventure.
Less than two weeks after losing one of his students to a deadly fall, Ray had a select group of the high paying World Wealth Society members hiking a mountain trail overlooking Machu Picchu — blindfolded. When concerned local tour guides tried to steer the hikers away from steep drops and around sharp turns, Ray became irritated at their interference.
He was going to teach his students about the value of living life to the fullest by flirting with death and no one was going to stop him. As his group of students removed their blindfolds to take in the view from the cliff they were standing on, he asked, "Are you just taking up space or are you really living your lives?"
Ray's fascination with the theme of death was not new. But it seemed to increase rather than diminish after Colleen Conaway's inexplicable plunge. In early October, just over two months after her demise, Ray would lead his Spiritual Warrior seminar in Sedona, Arizona, in which he relied heavily on death metaphors. And three people would die from exposure to extreme temperatures in a sweat lodge ceremony.
Article comments
1 - Genaro
Well, it seems to me that it took this woman going to 27 EXPENSIVE JRI seminars to finally become convinced that Mr Ray was a fraud. Sounds like a smart woman, no?
And her book gives Angel Valley owner, Mr Hamilton, NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for not having emergency personnel on hand for the two hours of the 2009 sweat lodge ceremony conducted on HIS PROPERTY while using HIS SWEAT LODGE. Yes, thanks to this book the whole world will know that Angel Valley owner Mr Hamilton had all the warnings he needed to take special precautions for that 2009 warrior workshop conducted on HIS PROPERTY using HIS SWEAT LODGE. Just think, if Mr Hamilton had done what he should have done...NO ONE WOULD HAVE DIED!!!!!
Yes, it was common knowledge that Mr Ray liked to take risks. That was no secret to Angel Valley owner Mr Hamilton thus he had NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for not having emergency personnel on hand that day, for those fateful two hours, just in case.
NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER!!
This book makes that perfectly clear to the world. Thanks for writing it!
And God told me that she didn't exaggerate in the book AT ALL!! So you can trust that it's true blue all the way!
Trust me
2 - Genaro
CONNIE JOY WROTE: "But over time they noticed that promises made during pitches for the very expensive World Wealth Society membership were changed or discarded completely. In Orwellian fashion, there was often no acknowledgment that many of the offerings were vastly reduced from what had been promised. Since the pitches were always verbal, rather than written, there was no way to prove the change had occurred."
MY COMMENT:
In other words we will all have to trust that Connie Joy is being honest and not exaggerating AT ALL! Hmmmm. Sorry, I'm no longer that dumb
3 - Genaro
Wait a minute here!
Connie Joy is a trained hypnotherapist and yet Mr Ray was able to 'hypnotize' her into going to 27 expensive JRI seminars? I guess she's not very good, right?
4 - Genaro
CONNIE JOY WROTE:
"After his contributing role in The Secret and his appearances on Oprah and Larry King Live, Ray's monetary focus sharpened. He now spoke openly of his goal to be "the first billionaire in the spiritual arena." He claimed that he had become a millionaire as a byproduct of following his bliss but this was no longer good enough. He wanted to be billionaire as a way of "keeping score." Joy was floored."
MY RESPONSE:
Hey, I don't doubt that Mr Ray needed to get his butt kicked by the Spirit for being too arrogant. HOWEVER, considering all these warning signs Angel Valley owner Mr Hamilton had NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for not having emergency personnel on hand for the two-hours of the 2009 JRI sweat lodge ceremony conducted on HIS PROPERTY using HIS SWEAT LODGE! This book makes that glaringly clear!
IF MR HAMILTON HAD DONE WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE DONE NO ONE WOULD HAVE DIED!!!
So there are people in the world who want to be billionaires. So what? I'm not one of them. So what, right?
5 - Genaro
You people really need to put on your Mr Spock 'logical' ears and think about this:
It was no secret that Mr Ray wanted to become super-rich. Angel Valley owner Mr Hamilton had to have known this. When Mr Ray wanted the 2009 sweat lodge hotter than ever before Mr Hamilton should have said. "Okay, but only on one condition: I have to charge you extra in order to have emergency personnel on hand just in case. I don't want to take any more chances that people will be injured on MY PROPERTY using MY SWEAT LODGE." That's what Mr Hamilton should have done. Because he took NO SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS WHATSOEVER three people died and a number of others were injured!
It's common knowledge that Mr Ray was no sweat lodge expert. Why didn't Mr Hamilton have a REAL sweat lodge expert on duty for those two-hours, eh? Ask yourselves that!
Simple enough. Logical and reasonable
6 - Jen
Narcissism is written all over this man's behavior as described. If there was an absolute no refund policy and no disclosures were made until arrival of dangers then the waivers should not be seen as binding. If Mr. Ray is granted a new trial perhaps the new judge will allow the state's evidences that were relevant such as his no absolute no refund policy along with the prior death and the risks he subjected others to. Unconscionable really.
7 - LaVaughn
@Jen, There absolutely was a no refund policy. There's a three day cooling off period by law in California and they honored that because they had no choice. But the information packets with the waivers didn't go to people until about 2 months before the event, months after their payment was final. The most people could hope for was to transfer the payment to another event but even that policy was strictly limited. There were people who went only because they didn't want to forfeit the ten grand.
The waivers weren't binding for a number of reasons. For one thing, this was a criminal trial, not a lawsuit. Another is that you can't sign away your right not to be killed. The way they were used by the prosecution was not because they were binding but to say that people knew what they were getting into which was absolutely false for a number of reasons. Aside from the fact that they got the info too late to get refunds, the information in the packets was totally inadequate. You can read the info and download the packet here if you're interested. Compared to the kind of information usually provided and required in a potentially dangerous activity, Ray's waivers are a joke. He straight out says he's not revealing too much because of the surprise factor was part of the event. Linda Andresano, who had health problems did get concerned enough by the waiver, because she has some health issues, and she was told by JRI that "James would never do anything to hurt you." She's lucky to be alive. She was severely injured in the sweat lodge.
I doubt Ray will get a new trial. Most of the complaint is on things the defense has been complaining about for months and none of it got a mistrial, despite a ridiculous number of mistrial motions. The only really new piece of business is the minute of tape that was played improperly but it was after the verdict phase and on an aggravating factor that the jury the jury didn't find anyway, so it had no impact on any jury finding. Stranger things have happened but I'd be surprised if he was granted a new trial... because it would be stupid.
8 - Genaro
In other words you agree with me that Angel Valley owner Mr Hamilton, after 7 years of hosting the JRI Spiritual Warrior retreat, had all the warning signs he needed to have a REAL sweat lodge expert on duty that day and emergency personnel on duty just in case at the 2009 event, right?
When you make a promise YOU KEEP YOUR PROMISES!!! Promises are indeed binding except to the dishonorable. If YOU are dishonorable you had NO BUSINESS being at that 2009 warrior workshop. That was supposed to be an event for the honorable WHO KEEP THEIR PROMISES!!!
9 - Genaro
YOU WROTE:
"The waivers weren't binding for a number of reasons. For one thing, this was a criminal trial, not a lawsuit. Another is that you can't sign away your right not to be killed."
MY RESPONSE:
Apparently you believe it is just fine to make written promises to take full responsibility for your actions then break those promises. In other words YOU ARE A DISHONORABLE PERSON!
I say James Arthur Ray should be forced to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR (((HIS))) ACTIONS at that workshop and the participants should be FORCED to keep their promises to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for (((THEIR))) actions at that event. Angel Valley owner Mr Hamilton should be forced to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for not having a REAL sweat lodge expert and emergency personnel on duty for the two-hours of the 2009 JRI sweat lodge ceremony. He had all the warning signs he needed and did NOTHING to protect those people attending a sweat lodge ceremony on HIS PROPERTY!
10 - Genaro
Copy and paste this into a search engine and see what the participants of the 2009 Spiritual Warrior event PROMISED IN WRITING to do. If they didn't like the conditions they should not have signed it!
JAMES ARTHUR RAY - SEDONA'S "SPIRITUAL WARRIOR PARTICIPANT GUIDE"
Adults should not be treated like mentally retarded children!!