Access
Conciousness is a pseudoscience and quasi-religious organization – potentially a cult and often
described as a “Scientology knockoff” – founded in 1995 by Gary M.
Douglas. The group offers a plethora of books, videos and physical classes, with
memberships and accessories that will help you achieve non-specific benefits,
including wakefulness and weight loss, in particular through a set of special
head massages that will ostensibly achieve electromagnetic activation of
chakra-like “bar points”. A central part of the underlying
pseudo-theology is the assumption that there are 16 (or possibly 32) bars in
your head that correspond to different parts of your life, and which
Access Consciousness’s products will help you target. But it’s not enough to be
a mere
human to achieve the promised enlightenment; you have to be so
conscious that you’ve become a
humanoid, which is apparently a more
conscious, free, non-sheeple-like version of human. The general ideas behing
Access Consciousness are obviously influenced by concepts and ideas related to
acupressure
and
chakra
nonsense, as well as by
Scientology.
There is a detailed evaluation of the group
here.
Apparently, you, too, can dismantle the implants that
restrict you to being a mere human, for instance by repeating a set of nonsense
mantras or “clearing statements” like
“What stupidity are you using to create the old thinking you are choosing?
Everything that is, times a godzillion – will you destroy and uncreate it all?
Right and wrong, good and bad, pod and poc, all nine, shorts, boys and beyonds.”
Currently, the Access True Knowledge Foundation is working to establish a
series of Access Schools, “after-school programs or schools that educate
kids in a more expansive and dynamic way.” Some such after-school programs
already exist.
Fortunately, their webpage has a section labeled "how
does it work?" related to the aforementioned access bars.
Unfortunately, the section contains absolutely no indication of how it works
and absolutely nothing resembling scientific ideas behind the procedures,
though if you ask for the scientific basis of their claims, you are obviously
not in the target group here. They do, like woo and quackery advocates
often do, suggest that you must be receptive for the procedures to work;
criticism from skeptics can accordingly be conveniently and summarily
dismissed. Besides, “humans” who ask too many questions are just “evil
little fucks” or “demon bitches from hell” anyways and not worth the
time of True humanoid followers.
And you can of course choose your level of receptivity. In
fact, according to Access Consciousness, everything is apparently a choice,
and as “infinite beings” we always have a choice. As Access-acolyte Sarah Blumenfeld explains it:
“For instance, my [late] husband had cancer. Well, I could judge that as
wrong, but that’s what he chose and so ... the concept of
everything-in-our-life-is-a-choice upsets a lot of people.” If you’re still
unsure, she has an analogy: “If I had said that someone ate peas when they
didn’t want to, to prevent someone else from having to eat peas who didn’t want
to even more, then you would be okay with that, probably. It’s the same kind of
a concept, but to such a greater degree that it makes you uncomfortable, and
maybe you can't grasp that, and that's okay.” So, there. Commentators have
been worried that, given its increase in popularity and followers, Access
Consciousness is on the verge of turning into a sex cult.
The founder of Access Consciousness, Gary Douglas, used to
be in the real estate business until legal conflicts with (mere “humans”
in) collection agencies, the IRS, and the Department of Justice drove him to
bankruptcy in 1993. After his bankruptcy, he conveniently discovered his
channeling
powers, and for a while, he apparently channeled a number of historical persons
and entities, including Rasputin and extraterrestrials, to people willing to
pay for such dross. The information he gained from these channelling sessions
provided the foundations for Access Consciousness (i.e. Douglas discovered what
level of shit some people were willing to believe), and the organization was
developed with the help of connections provided him by his first first wife, a
Scientology recruiter, and his second wife, a former Scientologist. The group
remained obscure until its teachings were endorsed ex-NFL player Ricky Williams,
possibly because Williams was too stupid even for Scientology – or perhaps
because Williams perceived it as easier to milk a smaller organization for
influence and money. There is a brief comment on Douglas’s participation at the
MindBodyWallet Festival in Perth in 2006 here.
Like Scientology,
Access Consciousness is largely a commercial enterprise, and they have a
substantial online shop pushing books, classes, memberships, and certifications
for opening new branches. And everything is expensive: it’ll cost you 130
dollars a month (2012 figures), for instance, to obtain a “creative edge”
membership that allows you to see a telecast, “unpredictable surprises from
anywhere at any time” and “a one-hour call every month” with Douglas
or one of his associates Dain Heer, a former chiropractor
and Douglas’s number two man; Simone Milasas, an “Advanced Facilitator and
Business Development Coordinator” for the foundation; or Brendon Watt.
Diagnosis: You’d think that, at some level, Douglas is aware
that what he is doing is trying to run a cult based on exploitative nonsense.
But we admit that he really does seem to struggle to distinguish reality from
his everchanging imagination – having an army of droning acolytes affirming
anything you say may tend to obscure that distinction for you. It is rather
unbelievable that this sort of bullshit should be able to sustain any kind of
popularity, but then again, even Scientology seems to have been a successful
venture for a while.
Hat-tip: rationalwiki