I have to say I am highly amused by the well-meaning but completely counterproductive "defenders" of Amma who think that somehow bashing Amma's critics will make Amma look better. These guys have put up a blog called “Cult Of The Hugging Saint” Exposed - and in it, they will mercilessly trash and slander anyone who dares post a negative review of Amma and her activities.

I don't know why these guys think doing this helps Amma. It only proves her critics right. People who are feeling unconditionally loving don't waste their precious time and energy slamming individuals who are simply expressing their free speech rights to critique.

AMMA GUYS - GET A CLUE: YOUR BLOG MAKES AMMA LOOK BAD. REALLY, REALLY BAD.

If you've followed my website for any length of time, you'll know I've been a pretty outspoken critic of The Secret for a while. This has been a tough road to hoe, because coming out against The Secret at the height of its popularity is in some respects a bad marketing move for someone in the personal development business. But I have my personal integrity, and I won't back something that I think is not true at best and harmful at worst.

It's kind of cool that you can write something and stir up an article in response to you. My blog post about the New Age Mind Fuck hit a nerve. So here is my response to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13442748/Just-do-it-When-youre-ready-that-is

Interesting article. I'm glad you still like me, but I think you missed the point of the New Age Mind Fuck completely. The issue at hand is that some new agers cynically use the idea of "empowerment" to deflect responsibility from themselves and make you doubt your own perceptions and intuitions. In the case of the cheating spouse, the spouse, when confronted by the other spouse, will use new age terminology to deny their responsibility or pretend that the cheating never happened in the first place.

I recently met a woman who is as sweet as can be on the outside but is a broiling cauldron of seething resentment and anger on the inside. (Whereas, I'd like to somewhat facetiously say, when I'm ticked off I usually just wear it proudly on my sleeve...a good justification for that quick Aries temper!)

Her emotional blockages show up in the form of over 100 extra pounds on her frame. (And look, I know we have a weightism problem in this country, but the fact is, most people who carry lots of extra weight do so for emotional reasons, and they'd be the first to tell you that.) She's also trying to become a yoga teacher, and is mostly oblivious to the disconnect between the shoddy way she treats her body and what she says she wants to teach others.

She's so obsessed with the idea of finding her soulmate that she has a somewhat frightening suicidal idea that, without this mythological man, she might as well be dead. She's clearly depressed.