Caroline Myss: Biggest Hypocrite in the World

A quick peek at Hay House's sister-website, Heal Your Life, led me to an article by one of my favorite authors (and by favorite, I mean favorite to pick on), Caroline Myss. It's called It's not Just about the Cookies. In the article, Myss describes a conversation she had with a CEO of the Girl Scouts of America (who unfortunately was attending one of Myss' events). Myss made it clear to said CEO that the only thing she associated Girl Scouts with was cookies. The CEO went on to explain to Myss the charitable nature of the Girl Scouts and how their goal is to make these girls into future leaders.

The most interesting part of the article came when the CEO asked Myss, "What do you think the biggest obstacle is to inspiring girls to becoming leaders in our society?" She went on to explain "The majority of girls feel that in order to be a leader in today’s society, they have to become liars and they do not want to compromise the values they are learning as Girl Scouts in order to become leaders."

It's clear that this idea struck a chord within Myss. In her article, she agrees that there are too many who have acquired their power through lying and that we need "worthy", honest leaders. She writes:

"Like our Girl Scouts and probably our young Boy Scouts, we should be looking for any evidence of integrity and refusing to settle for anyone who has to rely on negativity and lies in order to qualify to lead."

I can't figure out why Myss--who talks down to her audiences on a regular basis, harps about all the things they are doing wrong, and condemns them for any number of their personal faults--would want people to refuse to settle for negativity. And if people were to look for "evidence of integrity," they need look no further than Myss' suspicious "PhD" from a defunct diploma-mill no longer appears on her books (or any of her materials, for that matter). Even more dubious is her claim in Anatomy of the Spirit that her spiritual assistance led to a man being totally cured of HIV (of course, she has no proof of this). So why in the world would Myss want people to refuse leaders who have "to rely on negativity and lies"? Wouldn't that put her out of a job?

Even More Energy Work from Caroline Myss, "PhD"

Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential by Caroline Myss

I saw this book on the shelf and knew we were soulmates. Chronicling Caroline Myss’ evolution as a medical intuitive, SACRED CONTRACTS proves that there is still more energy work to be done than just the chakra work that her other books discuss. In fact, there’s a whole new “science” we have to come to understand. It’s called archetypes. Myss claims that she started realizing after her book WHY PEOPLE DON’T HEAL that there had to be something else causing illness (surely not because no one was healing because of her materials). A $17.00 (softcover) journey into understanding our sacred contracts—agreements that we must have made pre-this-life—reveals to us archetypes such as the prostitute, the child, the saboteur, and one other that supposedly is important. These all play an integral role in our bodies, relationships, and abundance and seem to have some all-important lesson to teach us. Myss’ divine wisdom is gathered from old woo that has been around since before Carol Jung used this sort of work in his teachings. A quick foreword from her hopefully deluded mentor Norm C Shealy, MD, gives this book some senseless credibility, despite the lack of empirical evidence to support any of the claims made within it.

This book, over all her others, gave me the impression that Caroline Myss was deluded more than anything else, which I sincerely hope is true. At some point in her introduction, she mentioned a man whom she had done a lot for in his “energy field”. I hope that she is not discussing the same “energy field” that Emily Rosa found no evidence for in her test on Therapeutic Touch practitioners in the 90s. Regardless, this book sold really well and started Myss’ archetype kick, which she has since strayed from—in favor of her Teresa of Avila work in ENTERING THE CASTLE.

SACRED is a cesspool of gibberish, and one of the hardest Myss books to read. It harps on and on about a topic that could have been covered in a small booklet. Alas, we have to once again endure Myss’ anecdotes and alleged miraculous healings. Steer clear of the archetypes. They are way too much work and there are other philosophies, including her own, that provide much simpler paths to enlightenment.

DISCLAIMER: As always, Myss' work does not claim to be able to heal every person, as she recognizes there are many mystical forces that could block a miraculous healing. Now, it can even be a contract you made before you came to this earth!


View all my reviews

The Lack of Medical in “Medical Intuitive”

“Dr.” Caroline Myss alleges that she is a medical intuitive—someone who can diagnose illness using her own seeming “second sight.” Myss has no verifiable evidence of being able to diagnose illness, and she does not open herself up to medically verifiable tests, even though a medical intuitive’s abilities can easily be tested in double blind experiments. Rather, in place of evidence, she offers a continuous stream of anecdotes and testimonials.

On a more scientific note, An Experimental Test of Psychic Diagnosis of Disease (as featured in he Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine) showed no benefit in using any sort of psychic diagnosis as a form of diagnosing disease. In Emily Rosa’s experiments with TT (Therapeutic Touch) practitioners, she found that these “gifted” individuals could not even detect where a person was, let alone feel the energy of their bodies. Basically, there has been no scientific study that has been able to prove the validity of any medical intuitive’s abilities.

For something that has no medical evidence supporting it, I find it interesting that Myss would go around touting the term medical intuitive. The word “medical” seems to be a weasel word, instantly giving credibility to the “profession” by making it appear to have a science behind it. You might as well have scientific, anthropological, and geological intuitives. Doesn’t that make what they do sound like something worthy of respect? As for the term “intuitive”, this seems to be just a new, more respected term for psychic. I read a wonderful article from the Committee of Scientific Inquiry, entitled Psychics Aren’t Psychics Anymore, by Karen Stollznow, which discusses how this new buzz-word is all the rage in the New Age community. I give credit to those of Myss’ generation for bringing this word to the forefront of modern woo.

Either way, for someone like Myss, who acts like she has nothing to prove, the term medical intuitive and her bogus “PhD”, makes me think she does. So why doesn’t she open herself up to scientific testing? Simply put: she’s got a good gig going and knows she would fail any double blind experiment she was offered. I give props to her for being smart, but not for using a term like medical intuitive to deceive innocent people with a lack of understanding of how non-medical what she does is.

References

David E. Young, Steven K. H. Aung. An Experimental Test of Psychic Diagnosis of Disease. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 1997, 3(1): 39–53. doi:10.1089/acm.1997.3.39.

Rosa, Linda; Rosa, Emily; Sarner, Larry; and Barrett, Stephen (April 1, 1998). “A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch". Journal of the American Medical Association 279 (13):1005–1010. doi:10.1001/jama.279.13.1005. PMID 9533499.

xoxo

Kyra

Open Letter to Esther Hicks, Louise Hay, and Caroline Myss

Dear Esther Hicks, Louise Hay, and Caroline Myss,

You have made some extraordinary claims. Mrs. Hicks, you allege that you speak for the nonphysical collective consciousness, Abraham—who says that all ailments can be healed mentally. Miss Hay, your work claims that it can heal all sickness, including AIDs. Dr. Myss, in your book Anatomy of the Spirit, there is a story about a man who was miraculously healed of AIDs.

All three of you beautiful ladies have been teaching for nearly 30 years. I am astonished that none of you have done this already, but if you could produce—out of all your years in this business—a single, documented instance of a person being miraculously healed of AIDs or any incurable illness, I think the world would be amazed, and all of science would be transformed by such evidence. Mrs. Hicks, I will not ask you to present any evidence of Abraham’s existence, as you have made it clear that that cannot be proven. All I will ask of you is the same that I ask of Miss Hay and Dr. Myss, for I am aware that Abraham has spoken frequently on the sort of healing that can occur when we release resistance.

If your materials have truly benefited many, I have no doubt that you will be able to come up with the evidence I am inquiring about. If anyone would care to present such evidence on your behalf (beyond vague testimonials), I would be happy to see it.

Now, I understand that you have each insinuated, if not flat out stated, that you do not feel a need to “prove” anything. Yet, I suggest to you that if, as you each have claimed, these healings are based on universal truths, then I see no reason why you cannot produce a single provable case.

I eagerly await your evidence!

Yours truly,

Kyra

Hay House: Pseudoscience for Louise Hay's Pocket

Louise Hay’s initial success came from convincing AIDs and HIV patients that they could heal their illnesses using the mental processes that she herself had allegedly used to cure her vaginal cancer. Out of the many AIDs patients who have followed her over a span of nearly 30 years, it is remarkable that we have yet to hear of a documented case of someone who cured themselves of AIDs/HIV because of Hay’s materials.

Despite the lack of proof behind her work’s validity, Hay has managed to create a media empire, including a successful publishing house and online radio channel. Though the immense success of her business is unquestionable, the many authors she promotes are. She is the publisher of the notorious charlatan Sylvia Browne, former Amway star Jerry Hicks, plagiarist Neale Donald Walsch, and the bogus credentialed Caroline Myss and Doreen Virtue. Regardless of the dubious nature of their careers, she seems to be more concerned about their net worth than she is the authenticity of their teachings. In fact, when asked what she thought of the validity of Sylvia Browne by The New York Times, she even said, “Now don’t ask me that. She’s one of our most popular authors.” It is evident she isn’t willing to hop on Browne’s rocking boat, except to get a little commission out of the cash-cow Browne has created.

On top of her complete disregard for authenticity, she doesn’t even care that many of her author’s teachings do not agree with each other. Take Caroline Myss, for example, who regularly on her radio program dismisses the notion of doing things because they “feel good”. Yet this is a major principle in Jerry and Esther Hicks’ teachings. Myss and the Hickses are all top Hay House authors. Perhaps Hay is far too busy repeating affirmations for wealth and abundance to notice the discrepancy. On the other, more likely hand, she doesn’t care because she is just after a percentage of their sales. I would accuse Hay of being as irresponsible as Oprah Winfrey in her promotion of such garbage, but I actually give Oprah more credit than Hay, believe that she is foolishly buying into the validity of the authors she supports. Hay, on the other, in my opinion, is just after the money and is willing to let whoever manages to weasel their way to the top of the New Age circuit into her home.

With books leaping onto The New York Times Best Sellers list, people purchasing overpriced tickets to her I Can Do it! Conferences, and even more people tuning in to her online radio channel, Hay can easily retire from the responsibility of anyone’s problems that derive from following the pseudoscience of any of her authors’ materials. Now, she can sit back and let the wheels that she has set into motion continue to hypnotize people into believing the alleged validity of New Age philosophy, as borrowed from Dark Age woo. The more I look at Hay’s career, the more I become convinced that she is nothing more than a fragmented avatar of the equally inauthentic founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.

xoxo
Kyra

Entering Her Castle: Caroline Myss' Irrational Thinking

In Entering the Castle, Caroline Myss writes, "In the spiritual journey, you use irrational, invisible means to search for an even more invisible soul" (Castle 206). I can only hope that the healing that her books promise is more visible than the other things that she's discussing.

This same advocate of irrationality, wrote an article on HealYourLife.com, entitled The Gravity Factor, explaining how Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity came from a mystical experience. While Isaac Newton was a follower of mysticism, his revelations could be proven by science and made sense of through mathematical formulas. Myss, on the other hand, neither has nor tried to prove any of her principles scientifically (I guess with the spiritual journey being irrational, she doesn’t have to). Yet she continues to give lectures and workshops on them regardless. She asks you to release your silly critical thinking skills. In fact, she implies and sometimes says straight out that those who do not embrace this irrational, divine experience will not experience the healing in their life that they seek. This is the absolute worst kind of trickery I have ever come upon. Of course, that isn’t actually the case, considering in the late 80s, she co-authored a book called "Aids: Passageway to Transformation,” which suggested the sort of “belief systems” that caused people to manifest this illness upon themselves.

Myss encourages people to throw away their critical thinking skills and to blindly follow her theories and philosophies about the Divine, regardless of how dubious they may be. But considering her bogus, unaccredited PhD in “Energy Medicine” that she so eagerly touted on the covers of her books till the 2000s, we shouldn’t be surprised by any of the nonsense that she proselytizes.