Thanks for the travel tip/warning about the surge in lost luggage with the airlines in your recent column (From the Editor, 12/06). After flipping over a few pages and reading Jim Hightower’s “Exporting Patients,” about the new corporate trend in globalizing healthcare by sending patients needing serious operations to low cost hospitals in India, I wonder: Is it only a matter of time before they start losing patients (people) as well as luggage?
— RD, Long Beach
That’s the Secret?
Am I the only person in the whole Southern California spiritual community who isn’t enamored with the film, The Secret? Besides being plainly untrue — modern science has most certainly not found that the “only law in the universe” is the “law of attraction” — it seems to me to purvey a philosophy only a materialistic capitalist could love. What it says, in essence, is that what we want, we get, and that what we get we must have asked for. So third world peasants toiling away in sweatshops have “attracted” their poverty and exploitation, and the same goes for victims of rape, genocide, child molestation and American bombing campaigns. While American consumers — for instance, the CEOs of Wal-mart and GE and Phillip Morris, as well as the wealthy readers of your publication, who perhaps valet park their Lexus SUVs outside the massage spa and take yoga cruises to Costa Rica — needn’t feel an ounce of guilt or social responsibility for their ecological and socio-political footprints; they’ve attracted their abundance with spiritual wisdom, and its impact on the planet’s less privileged inhabitants was attracted by those anonymous unfortunates out of spiritual ignorance. If only the sufferers in Darfur all knew the secret! If Mother Theresa knew it, she could have ended disease and poverty in India with her thoughts! If the Dalai Lama knew it, Tibet could be free right now! Someone should tell him!
My belief has long been that the only spiritual “secret” is compassion, without which we doom ourselves to a hellish pursuit of selfish desires, and doom others to bearing the consequences of our selfishness. Mystified by the simplistic rhetoric of The Secret, I investigated. Lo and behold, a possible answer: The producers’ past credits include [the Australian TV series] The World’s Greatest Television Commercials.
Now it all makes sense; what we have (whether by design or by unconscious intent) amounts to a propaganda film for the advertising industry, aimed at privileged Westerners whose rising level of consciousness might induce us to spend less time at the mall and more in church or on a low-end yoga mat. God forbid. Why go that route, when we can all be millionaires if we just learn the secret?
So here are a few real “open secrets”: True spirituality is selflessness, not selfishness. You can’t, won’t and likely shouldn’t have “everything you want.” Science has yet to discover a “single law” that rules the universe. And capitalism and spirituality aren’t in harmony — they are probably opposites.
— Daniel Brezenoff, Long Beach
Lots of Shrinks in the Sea
Thank you for publishing the article “Soulful Shrinks: Exploring the Spiritual in Psychotherapy” (12/06). This was a wonderful service for readers, informing them of the many psychotherapists who practice outside of the mainstream and have been studying spirituality as long as they have psychology. Hopefully as a result of this article, more folks will be steered toward people who can really help them with their concerns.
It was perhaps misleading, however, to make it seem as though only four practitioners are practicing spiritual psychology in Los Angeles, and that this is a new development. The Association for Transpersonal Psychology as been in existence since the ‘60s, and has members in over 40 countries. Many therapists belonging to this organization have been practicing the interface between these two disciplines for decades, and have devoted themselves to “promoting a vision of the universe as sacred” — the mission statement of ATP.
—Catherine Auman, MFT, LA
Hormone Helpers
I was surprised that in your survey of natural hormone solutions, the modality of acupuncture and Chinese medicine was not discussed. Western research is already beginning to confirm that acupuncture is an excellent resource for women with fertility issues, PMS, and menopause. Acupuncturists can rebalance a woman’s hormonal system with herbs and treatments that enhance the body’s ability to properly care for itself. There are already several integrative medical centers that incorporate acupuncture with mainstream fertility treatments. It is an option that more women need to know about.
— Anna Konstorum, LA, RYT, LAc.
You Say Tomato, I Say Sensual Massage
I am a professional massage therapist and massage therapy instructor, and I was mortified to find that your publication advertises sexually-oriented services under the professional title of massage. Yes, you clarified by calling it “Massage/Sensual” and you included the disclaimer to delineate between the two, but this only serves to perpetuate the mis-education of the public that there are therapists who perform “real” massage and those who do “that kind of” massage. There is no such thing as professional sensual massage where money is exchanged, because it then becomes classified as prostitution (or adult entertainment in some cities).
Massage therapy is a strictly non-sexual healing art. Please change the category title to something more appropriate (maybe “Personal Servicing” or “Sexual/Sensual Therapy”) which does not contain the word “massage” or “bodywork.” I presume that sexual therapy is healing and I believe it has its place, but it is not part of massage therapy when money is exchanged. When sensual/sexual massage is performed within the parameters of a sensual/sexual relationship, it is not professional massage therapy, it is partner massage, which is simply a healthy expression of intimacy.
We massage and bodywork professionals who take our work very seriously in an effort to provide a safe and comfortable environment for our clients have spent thousands of dollars for training, insurance, and licensing, only to be fingerprinted, checked for STDs, and classified as “adult entertainment” in some Southern California cities. If your publication claims to be holistically oriented, then I would expect your classified ads and all articles to be honest in their representation of the healing arts.
— Anji Petruso, Tujunga
Holistic Bodyworker & Instructor
Ed. Reply: Thanks for your considered note of concern. We’ve rehashed this issue countless times over the years, going so far as to interview advertisers who list their services under the “Massage/Sensual” section, to get their perspective on the debate. Ultimately we reinstated this category partially because some advertisers seemed sincerely motivated to offer this service in the name of healing, but more importantly, our non-sensual massage advertisers requested it. By providing separate listings, we direct clients who desire a more sensual experience to the appropriate practitioners, and eliminate nuisance calls to therapists like you. However, it has been several years since we’ve evaluated this, so consider the issue re-opened.
The IRV Debate Continues
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) continued to be a popular reform across the country this fall and was approved by strong margins by voters in Oakland, Minneapolis, Davis and Pierce County, Wash. IRV gives voters the opportunity to express their opinions by ranking candidates in order of preference. Voters can support their favorite candidates without worrying about wasting votes. Ranking candidates is intuitive to voters, unlike complex weighted voting systems that are prone to strategic manipulation.
Unlike most other alternative voting systems, IRV has a proven track record of success in the US and around the world. In San Francisco and Burlington, Vt., campaigns have become more issue-oriented as candidates compete for second choice support from their opponents’ supporters. IRV allows minor party and independent candidates to run and share their views without being labeled as spoilers; however, winners still need the support of a majority of voters.
There are still many problems with our democracy. IRV is one important step to fixing it.
— Ryan Griffin, IRV America Director