#627: Joseph "Joe" Dispenza

Joseph Dispenza is an author of several fluffy New-Age snowflake bullshit self-help books, and is particularly notable for his appearance in the deranged piece of pseudo-science delusion “What the Bleep do we know”. Dispenza, who presents himself as "Dr. Dispenza", is the proud possessor of a “Doctor of Chiropractic degree” from Life University, and currently seems to be in the “miraculous healing” business. He is also a follower of Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, and has produced several Youtube videos in which he talks about quantum physics the way he sees it, which has nothing to do with quantum physics (Dispenza really doesn’t even have the faintest idea what quantum physics is), but a lot to do with gibberish centered around various ridiculous forms of woo and crackpot spirituality crap.

If you enjoy torturing yourself with fluffy fogbanks of pink-tinged drivel, you may check out his DVD series “Your Immortal Brain,” which allegedly “looks at the ways in which the human brain can be used to create reality through the mastery of thought” – which does not mean anything (alludes to the Secret), but that doesn’t seem to matter much to Dispenza; like quantum physics linguistic meaning appears to be just whatever Dispenza fancies it to be at any given moment.

Diagnosis: Pretentious, delusional puddinghead who is apparently convinced that what he thinks becomes reality in virtue of him thinking it. Otherwise Dispenza doesn’t care too much about reality.

#175: Esther Hicks

A.k.a. Abraham

For reasons that may be hard for ordinary, relatively sane people to fathom, Esther Hicks has become a famous spirit channeller (or "receiver"). She claims to channel an otherworldly being called “Abraham” by using a creepy voice (actually, she doesn’t change her voice when channeling; it is just creepy to begin with). The whole thing becomes especially interesting when you start noticing that Esther has a penchant for talking about herself in third person, even when she does not claim to channel Abraham.

According to Esther, what Abraham is here to tell us is that Rhonda Byrne’s new age drivel “The Secret” is true. In fact Esther has been in some conflicts with Rhonda (over money, of course), and her (well, Abraham’s) big argument in this conflict is here. The conflict is hilariously reported here. She has actually been quite successful financially, selling numerous self-help books and holding several seminars, even receiving honorable mention by that patron of all woo, Oprah Winfrey.

Of course she is way into quantum woo. Her total ignorance of physics is predictably enough no obstacle to talking about observer effects and how that means that people can define their own realities by using their emotions. The messages from Abraham are standard fluffy feel-good drivel of the “universe adores you” and “you are the creator of reality” kind.

Her partner and manager is her husband Jerry Hicks, a former acrobat and movie stunt man. If Esther’s not a huckster, then Jerry surely is.

Diagnosis: Might be a fraud, but more likely stark raving crazy, clinically unable to recognize that wishful thinking is a fallacy. She has lots of followers, the most dangerous of whom are the more cynical ones who realize that there may be a lot of money in it (e.g. Mari Tierney).

#173: Louise Hay

Louise Hay is the founder of the Hay House publishing firm, whose vision is to make humanity as stupid as remotely possible. It is devoted to publish the most insane self-help authors, woomeisters and gurus (and is financially pretty successful), in addition to sponsoring tours, radio shows and forums. Their area of specialty is quantum woo and the Law of attraction. Among their authors are Sylvia Browne (who has already been covered), Esther Hicks (who will be covered shortly) and Doreen Virtue.

Louise Hay herself made her success with this kind of bullshit, of course (strongly influenced by “researcher” Ernest Holmes, the delusional Florence Scovel Shinn and snowflake Maharishi Mahesh Yogi) most famously with “You Can Heal Your Life”, from 1984. She is a certified practitioner of “religious science”, mixing Christian fundamentalism with the flakiest ideas from oriental spiritualism, such as reiki. The central tenet of “You Can Heal Your Life” is that those who are sick have themselves to blame for it, and if they are unable to cure themselves, it is because of their psychological shortcomings (“we are each responsible for our own reality and "dis-ease"”). A standard and devious strategy for promoting woo, favored by Oprah, Chopra and others. For instance, according to Hay birth defects are a result of bad karma in a previous life.

She also claims to have cured herself of cancer through positive thinking and woo, but no one has ever been able to verify that she even ever had cancer.

Her life has even been made into a movie.

Diagnosis: Seriously deluded crackpot and peabrain who thinks religious-based intuition is on par with evidence. Her tireless promotion of stupidity, and her resources, makes her dangerous even apart from the popularity of her own inane dribblings. Her advice does actually appear to cause concrete, physical (and psychological) harm to real people.

#18: Michael Bernard Beckwith

Beckwith is a New Thought minister and founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, California, a New Thought church with 8000 members. Beckwith was one of the featured teachers in The Secret movie (hence an automatic consideration for inclusion in our encyclopedia); teaches meditation and “scientific prayer”, speaks at conferences and seminars and is the author of numerous books. Beckwith is a prophet of the infamous Law of Attraction, a crackpot idea in pseudo-scientific dressing about how positive thinking metaphysically attracts success. When Beckwith says "There's enough for everyone. If you believe it, if you can see it, if you act from it, it will show up for you. That's the truth", it is not meant metaphorically. The same goes for "There are laws of the universe and if you practice them they will respond to you." No, Beckwith, that’s not how it works.

Beckwith’s main project is to combine the most fluffy ideas from the world’s religions with New Age thought – and then proceed to declare it “science”; the epitome of New Age flakiness, in other words.

It should be mentioned that Beckwith is a serious contributor to various charities and environmental issues; unfortunately his ridiculous metaphysical rantings might overall have more adverse consequences than his contributions to social issues have positive consequences.

Diagnosis: Professional snowflake with delusions of grandeur and a serious shortage of critical thinking skills; quite an impact, but it is unclear to what degree his metaphysical gibberish contributes to his influence.