By: Aaron Sakulich
I’ve made some bad choices in my life. I once drank a quart of butter on a dare. I wrote an article about scientology wherein I called them a bunch of names, not knowing that scientologists regularly shoot people for such things. Even now, as I’m writing this, I’m eating sesame-covered anchovies in hot sauce, which I bought at the Chinese supermarket in Chinatown.
And what are the results of these poor decisions? It depends on who you ask. Other than high cholesterol and a blinding, irrational distaste for the state of Oregon, they haven’t had too much effect on my life. On the other hand, if you ask an Alphabioticist, they’ve had the effect of disrupting the True Flow of Life Energy into my Spiritual Consciousness, leading to a serious upset it my Right Intent.
Alphabiotics is sort of a medicine and a religion. It was started in the 1920s by a certain Virgil B. Chrane and continued by his son, Virgil Chrane Jr. The original Virgil’s grandson, Michael, is in charge of it today, based out of Texas.
The Alphabiotics Web site is chock full of information; unfortunately, none of it states precisely what Alphabiotics are. They go on and on and on about the benefits, though, from Alphabiotic sessions one can expect to feel and think better, achieve inner peace, foster a tighter connection to their inner source of power, and gain the ability to take advantage of the body’s natural capacity for wellness. Sounds good! I could use all of those things, except the tightening of my inner power source. That sounds unpleasant.
It’s seems so silly. One simply mentions the word spirituality or higher consciousness and people (Aaron) immediately assume a secret society, cult or worse?
I have been around developmental alphabiotics for a decade and a half and to even suggest that it’s a cult is so misguided.
I understand (Aaron) that it’s the age of the internet and anyone can post anything. I’m also glad that people are smart enough to make decisions based upon their personal experience. I always encourage people to follow their intuition. If they are not comfortable with someone or something, move away from that. I encourage them to not believe everything they read on-line without first researching and asking questions. Something (Aaron) you chose to evade when constructing your Op-Ed.
Additionally, it’s defamatory. One (Aaron) must be very careful when directly defaming a profession as it indirectly affects individuals, their families, their livelihood and reputation.
Aaron… to write or say something that is so erroneous and misdirected is counter productive journalism.
We all have enough in the world today to deal with. Aaron. Your Op-Ed, which was based on everything but your own experience is an incendiary that makes life more difficult for some of us. It wasn’t necessary.
In the age of the internet, these are the growing pains that any new profession will go through. It happened to acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy and so many other professions in the early days as well. In fact there a still folks out there that thing all of those professions are quack filled cults. They’re not. Truth soon enough becomes evident.
I won’t place any more thought on it beyond this post as I choose not to place a charge on it. That’s all you can do in this life. It’s difficult. But it’s the only way to good things.
Respectfully,
Neal Robert Smookler
Hey Neal, thanks for the comment;
I’m not sure that Alphabiotis qualifies as a cult in my book anyway; I.E. “any organization that systematically sanctions people when they choose to leave under their own free will (military organizations are excluded from this definition.)” Most of the time I place the moniker “cult” onto religious groups that shun people like the Watchtower Society or Scientology.
Alphabiotis, from what little I’ve read about it appears to fit better under the terms “pseudo science” or “faith healing.” This can be defined as “that which is not peer reviewed.”
What Alphabiotics truly looks like to me is a revitalization of the faith-healing practices of Chiropractics wrapped up in a bunch of new-age religious hog-swallow. Now it’s certainly OK to do that but I disagree with you that it is defamatory for someone to state their opinion as such openly.
But of course, that’s just my opinion! I enjoy looking at both sides of an issue and have no problem encouraging debate, for I believe free debate is the gateway to greater knowledge. Unless one already thinks that they know everything in which case, free debate must certainly look defamatory.
Agreed. I think the gateway to greater knowledge is through the experience. There are definite grey areas when it comes to this. But that’s neither here nor there. I think when anything new comes on the scene, especially something that really delivers – yet is so incomprehensibly simple; it tends to meet with resistance. People try to label it, assign it and when that ultimately fails they lump it into the category of least resistance. Perhaps that’s just human nature. What really disappointed me with Aaron’s ‘opinion’ was that he never actually had a first hand experience. His entire perspective was based upon anything but his experience with an qualified and knowledgable alphabioticist. I have been an alphabioticist for close to sixteen years and the work has helped so many. Individuals that were miserable, unhappy, sick, stuck, unproductive and even suicidal – alphabiotics shifted them to a better place. So when Aaron states his opinion with no real foundation – individuals that may be miserable, unhappy, sick, stuck, unproductive and even suicidal may avoid seeking alphabiotic help because of what they read online by someone with no solid background in the profession.That’s the tragedy. Journalism comes great responsibility.
Sincerely,
Neal Robert Smookler
Well I take your point up to a point, I don’t agree that to know if something is bogus or not one has to sample it. If there is really no science behind it, the thing’s is not scientific no matter how much gobily-gook one shovels on it.
Any process will have converts who swear up and down that it is beneficial. It really comes down to what has been vetted by peer review or some other means. If your alphabiotics is so beneficial than no skeptic could lay a finger on it and people would not get upset when they try.