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Self-Help Has A Reputation Problem

If you want to grow, look at what gurus are doing specifically.

Eric S Burdon
4 min readFeb 12, 2025

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On the day that he died, his family told us he passed away suddenly and that his goal in life was to make others lives better and fulfilled.

This man is believed to achieve that thing, however for most people when you hear the name “James Arthur Ray”, the thing that stands out the most isn’t Arthur Ray the self-help guru.

But rather the Arthur Ray who was sent to prison in 2011 for a 2009 case where two people died and 18 were injured in a sweat lodge due to his actions.

Turns out Ray didn’t want to help those people in the sweat lodge. He promised them powerful breakthroughs and amongst cries for help he ignored them.

While that was the only time in Ray’s overall legacy, his case is part of an overarching theme throughout the self-help industry.

In an industry where certifications mean nothing and people can join in at any time, the industry is vulnerable to highly predatory tactics with little oversight. At the end of the day what creates authority in this industry is people’s own reputations and accomplishments.

And let me be the first that their reputations suck. And the fact people put their trust in most of those gurus is…

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Eric S Burdon
Eric S Burdon

Written by Eric S Burdon

I write (and sometimes do videos) about self-help for those who don't like self-help. Complete with the occasional memes and riffs on the industry that I love.

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