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Originally Posted by dor  what do people think of this: Cult Education Forum :: View topic - Abraham - Hicks In the mid 70's to mid 80's, Jerry Hicks was an Amway distributor; some diamond level, based in Fresno CA. He's from Arkansas and said he was an "entertainer" - whatever that means. His wife at the time was a charming older lady from the South,maybe Texas. They presented themselves as darling chaming southern hospitality type couple. I think she had the money that set up the successful and elegant lifestyle they used to attract new recruits to their Amway organization - always selling the dream of riches.During his presentations of the Amway business plan to groups of people at hotel and restaurant meeitng rooms, Jerry would start off with a sort of metaphysical babble about becoming who you think yourself to be, etc. etc. That you are here now doing this because it is what you always wanted to do, etc. etc. Kind of mind numbing stuff, but
everyone was in awe of him - very charasmatic and handsome - so they listened and some people bought into it and the Amway groups took on a new meta-physical dimension. Turns out that this is the beginnings of the stuff that Esther now channels' and they call it "Abraham." I guess that sells better than Mohamed, or Shiva. One of the couples (Amway was very big on married couples) that Jerry recruited into his organization about 1978, was Esther and her then husband "R", from Fresno. After a couple of years of working "closely together", Jerry and Esther left their spouses and moved in together, later marrying after the divorce dust settled. About this time their Amway groups had begun declining, but Jerry and Esther had already started switching their revenue sources to selling tapes and seminars to their Amway down-line organization, and new followers.
Jerry was doing generic 'Think and Grow Rich' seminars and that kind of thing. Jerry learned from Amway that there is always a large and financially viable number of people that need to feel involved in a warm and fuzzy clique, an 'inner circle' of people who know the truth and promote a way of thinking that holds out the hope of prosperity and happiness, but never quite gets there, so you have to buy some more tapes or attend another seminar.
You gotta hand to these two, they figured out a pretty nifty way to travel, live a luxury life, and not work too hard - problem is - it's all b.s. IMH |
That's an interesting link... and opinion. I find it interesting, the level of stigma attached to Amway or any MLM. It's so strong in most people as to immediately cause dimissal of anyone involved with it. Amway or any MLM is a completely viable way of doing business and making money. It is true that a vast majority of people who get into it don't make it very "far" up the chain... but that has nothing to do with the system and everything to do with the individual... as with all other business endeavours. I find it fascinating, once again, that the message is ignored and instead people who haven't taken the time to understand it attack the messengers. I saw James Ray and Micheal Beckwith on Oprah again today... and one phrase stood out: "mediocrity always attacks success" (or something like that haha). Meaning... those who are not successful in their endeavours tend to be hostile to those who are successful. It is a reflection in the hostile persons mindset: envy usually.
Esther and Jerry Hicks did not invent LoA. They may have invented a unique way of delivering the message... and indeed have profited by it. If making money teaching the LoA to others was their goal, then they are to be considered successful in my opinion. Congrats to them. The LoA message has been handed down in various teachers and traditions for all of our history. Some have profited by it... others offer it for free. The point is that the message is the same!
Cheers!
Chris