Fire Fire Everywhere

Fireboy, aka Mr. Fire himself, is asking people to "Nevillize" away the central Texas fires.

Remember, kids, if you're breathing in smoke from wildfires, it's because you're not being positive enough.

And if Mr. Fire is breathing in fire (instead of spewing out sulfurous material as is his usual modus operandi), then there is only one real solution. That solution is to rally the troops. See, if people will only think positive thoughts, imagine rain, and meditate, use EFT, hooponopono, then it will help. See, he's been doing it and the wildfires in his area have increased in containment. Oh, and it happened INSTANTLY he said.

He writes:

People from all over the world sat and prayed, or visualized, or intended and requested that the fires diminish. 

What happened? 

Almost instantly a friend who had been evacuated from his home due to the fires wrote to me saying the smokes seemed to clear, the power came back on, and he was told he could return home safely. 

Friends of mine who were preparing to evacuate were told they were safe. 

Then I looked at the news and saw that while the fires were still burning and there was no rain in sight, most of the larger fires around my area of Austin, Texas were either contained, put out, or greatly improved in containment.

See? It works! Just pray and think and it will magically fix itself. Oh, but if it doesn't work, he'll bring out some crap about how he talks about action and tell people he never said that thoughts make magic happen.

But here we are again, with Mr. Fire saying that people should use the power of their mind -- and use intentions -- to make the wildfires stop. It worked for his friends!

But in other communications, he'll tell you that intentions are for wussies. Or that he never said that thoughts create magical miracles.

So. What is it? What's the truth? If thoughts, words, intentions and unconscious beliefs create reality, what is Mr. Fire creating every time someone types in mrfire.com? Fire. Everywhere. Fire. Central Texas. Fire. Joe Vitale. Fire boy.

But don't try to blame Mr. Fire for thoughts creating reality, unless it somehow makes him look like he isn't unconsciously Law of Attracting Fire to central Texas.

If you are Mr. Fire, you are using more than 2 dozen scientifical studies that prove when people hold intentions for Mr. Fire, those intentions come to pass. I'm sure all of those FLAMES on your web site wouldn't get hypnotically into people's unconscious, would they.

So. Either thoughts, intentions, and magical thinking don't have any effect, or Mr. Fire has some responsibility in Law of Attracting himself a regional disaster. The logic he uses holds about as much water as the Pedernales River has in it right now. Aka, not much.

I'm not saying people shouldn't pray for Texas. I think a prayer or two would be nice. Supporting the people who are there with tangible donations would be better.

My problem, and the reason for this blog post, is with the fallacy of logic of the past two Joe Vitale posts. It's the fallacy of logic he uses to sell everything from crappy books to overpriced, scammy miracles coaching. It's the fallacy of logic that requires criticism and scrutiny.

Instead of wussified intentions, Joe, why don't you donate some of that vast wealth you say you've accumulated in your marketing to help some of those people who lost their homes?

Also, remember that during the San Diego fires of a few years back, Joe Vitale blamed the victims of those fires for what happened. The evidence has all but disappeared from his blog, but there's enough discussion on the internet to keep your google goggles busy.

Update: Thanks to our friend, Cosmic Connie, here are some links that will remind you of what Joe Vitale REALLY thinks about people who suffer from wild fires.

http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/10/all-fired-up.html

http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/10/all-fired-up-continued.html

http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/10/putting-out-fires.html

http://shambook.blogspot.com/2007/11/mr-fire-indeed.html

Timothy Wilson versus Joe Vitale

Oh, now this is getting fun.

Joe has announced a new Abundance Network after lunching with God. Hint: Joe has in the past announced television shows such as Expect Miracles, a radio show on CNN, and a TV show on CBS. He has announced bogus charities that do nothing but feed his ego and make him APPEAR to be generous, meanwhile doing absolutely NOTHING. My prediction: the abundance network will amount to Joe's pile of dirt.

Joe has announced a trip to fantasy island, but you have to pay him $50,000 and he's not even going to dress up like his alter-ego, Tattoo. Don't worry, he'll still look like Danny Devito, and your brilliant imagination skills can make up the rest. Friend of the Pyre, Cosmic Connie has details on that.

But look what Fireboy did. He got mentioned in a book called Redirect by Timothy D. Wilson, the Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. On page 45, no less. The shot isn't completely directed at Joe, there's lots of mentions of his cohorts in the "movie" The Secret. But Joe, our fearfilled leader, takes it upon himself to defend himself and the rest of the make-believers in the Law of Attraction. You see, Joe never said anything about thoughts creating your reality. It's about actions. Actions create your reality. That's it, that's the ticket.

Oh, and I love the way Joey shows off that he learned a big word in that blog post where he defends himself against the completely unconscious Timothy D. Wilson. But then again, small minded "Got Milk" types of hucksters trying to play superior games against well respected actual Ph.D. (not the pretend Ph.D. in "meta-physics Joe Vitale asserts that he has from a diploma mill) always have amused me.

So, real Dr. Wilson says that movies like The Secret and just-think-happy-thoughts self-help books and programs that not-Dr. Vitale put out actually cause more problems than they're worth.

Joe's response:

He [the author of 'Redirect'] quotes me as saying the reason you have what you have is due to your thoughts. He apparently missed the part where I said you have what you have due to your actions. Thoughts are only part of the equation. Glossing over facts because they don’t support your underlying message is a common way to communicate...

 

...I’m not kicking the author’s shins, as I enjoyed his book and urge you to read it. But I am reminding us that we all have unconscious blind spots – even authors who try to help us see them. We don’t see them because they are unconscious. The point of life is to awaken.

I'd love to see if real Dr. Wilson would ever respond to not-Dr. Vitale. Is Dr. Wilson awakened enough to spend $50,000 of his book earnings to actually attend not-Dr. Vitale's Fantasy Island? Would Dr. Wilson be open enough to let go of his unconscious patterns and play the role of Rourke? I think not, Dr. Wilson. I think not. I bet Malcolm Gladwell, who apparently raves about Dr. Wilson's books, wouldn't invest $50,000 on Make-a-piece-off-you island either.

Let's talk a little bit about "glossing over facts," shall we? It's a common way to communicate in Joe Vitale's experience, and I agree. He experiences himself glossing over facts a lot. Like the facts about what he has really said.

Sometimes he tells us that we do things with our thoughts. Sometimes he tells  us we need to set intentions. Sometimes he tells us we need to listen to specially designed audios to set our intentions. Sometimes he tells us intentions are for wussies. Sometimes he tells us we need to neutralize negative thoughts. Sometimes he tells us it's all in our unconscious and we need to hooponopononono on it, like he just did to Dr. Wilson. Sometimes he likes to say that it is little kid's fault for attracting their killers, like he did on Larry King.

OK, now I am tired. Apparently, Joe likes to gloss over what some truths and concentrate on whatever message might be most profitable in the moment. If he was telling the truth, he wouldn't contradict himself every other minute. He'd have some congruency in the products he puts out.

My order of Redirect is coming soon. I am hoping I get to see whether or not Dr. Wilson is congruent in his message in the book. I think there will be a lot of congruency in his message that self help materials like Joe Vitale's, like The Secret, do much more harm than good.