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[quote=ExChela_and_Free;11857326]I'm so happy to find this forum! I was on MP for over a dozen years. When I left, I was shunned by many friends and the always loving office became cold and, well, not-so-loving! Since leaving at least a couple of years ago, I have found it difficult to trust
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This forum started about a year ago, prodded by a simple question from Shuffler: "...anybody here familiar with masterpath?" Turns out a lot of people are familiar, both former students of Gary Olsen as well as non-members who had some penetrating observations about masterpath as seen from the outside...none of it very flattering. The former students who shared here did so honestly and openly and many times painfully. And little by little a story unfolded, a book really that told of a modern day Wizard of Oz. Yes, there is a man behind the curtain and he is a fake.
Some current masterpath students have shown up on this forum too, giving a stark look into the mental workings of someone who is trapped in a cult. While it doesn't appear that they convinced anyone who participated in this thread that Gary Olsen is one heck of a guy and a true guru to boot, they did show us how brainwashed someone can become and how sad and crazy that looks to the rest of us.
It takes tremendous courage to leave a cult. First of all just to admit to yourself that you blew it when it came to trusting yourself. No "Ex-Chela" I do not mistrust those who claim to be spiritual, but I did mistrust myself when I left masterpath and that bled over into a lot in my life. It's the damage that a cult does, it undermines your abilitiy to trust yourself and encourages you to put your trust in only the master. When all is said and done, I have become a Spiritual Agnostic more than anything; I am awed by a great Sacred Mystery that I can't understand or define; I belive that love is the core of all Spiritual truth and I have a sense that one's energy may go on on after death yet I can't prove anything. Since leaving masterpath, I have found more "spirituality" in my family, my community and my dog than I ever did in Gary.
A friend emailed me recently lamenting that they felt they had done nothing while on masterpath to try and make the world a better place and now they were starting over. I too experienced beginning anew and in that "start over" moment, I began tutoring kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods after school. They became my salvation and introduced me to life again. They taught me about giving to someone other than Gary Olsen and life began to turn around for me. I'll always be grateful to those kids.
This forum died recently. A combination of battle fatigue and "what else is there to say?" What I love though is that there is nearly a hundred pages of truth written about masterpath and Gary Olsen here and it may help someone leave or never enter masterpath. For me there is not much else to say that I haven't already said. I have grown bored with Gary Olsen and his masterpath. I am much more interested in living life fully. Gary was just a Wizard of Oz side trip. At the end of the story Dorothy learns that she always had the power to go home.
So, one last post for me...a final curtain, a wrapping up of loose ends. I met some good people on this forum who helped me to heal up as I learned to trust myself again. I got to call Gary what he really is (a fraud, a theif and a scam artist) and the sky did not fall. That was as healing as anything, and an awful lot of fun too! Thanks Violet and Shuffler, End of Faith, BeenThereDoneThat09, and Soul Patriot. Thanks for the nearly 100 pages of revealing the fraud and con of Gary Olsen. I can only hope that one day he will get busted by the IRS, or be brought down by some former chela with a good attorney...and in the meantime, I will not fool myself. Regardless of what has been said here, people like to take the yellow brick road and find the wizard, hoping he will answer all the questions they have about life; hoping that the wizard will give them something that they feel they can't give themselves. It would be nice if life were so tidy, but since it isn't my counsel is to catch as many sunrises and sunsets as you can; love your family; laugh with your friends; dance until your booty won't shake anymore; give away your time and money to make your world a little bit better place and I should mention laughing again.
End of Scene. End of Act. Riding off into the sunset, the character thought she saw Gary Olsen slip on a banana peel and get caught in the pants that had fallen down around his ankles! "What a horse's ass" she laughed as she rode out of sight.
Last edited by rememberingyou; 12-12-2009 at 03:45 PM..
Reason: typos
Had friends who had other friends try to convince them that this Gary Olsen character was God's biggest gift to the world. The big Kahuna Guru. I found this poll by Deep Cynic showing only one person out of 11 thought this masterpath had any redeeming value. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.
View Poll Results: What is your opinion of MasterPath and its founder, Gary Olsen? MasterPath seems to be a legitimate path to enlightenment 9.09%
MasterPath seems to be a benign cult that is not hurting anyone 00%
MasterPath seems to be a scam, but only hurts those that buy into it 9.09%
MasterPath seems to be a scam and Gary Olsen is a fraud 81.82%
Then we found this thread! What truly damning information about an obvious liar, cheat, and mean-spirited scam artist. And a pothead to boot!! None will now join and the word is spreading amongst our friends to avoid masterpath like the plague. Wow...what a jerk this Gary Olsen is!
Thanks to all of you former students for sharing yourselves and your experiences in a way that really rings true. It saved a lot of people from joining a dangerous cult and I'm sure will continue to help turn many away from being scammed out of their money and being brain-washed by Olsen and his crew!
I've said all along: if the guy was the real deal, he wouldn't charge money for it and he wouldn't be elusive and mysterious...after all, what is there to hide from?
I said in an earlier post that it's like 'Fight Club'....the first rule of Fight Club is: Nobody talks about Fight Club. It's his way to keep control, and keep the skeptics at bay because his students are discouraged from talking about it. That's all part of the MP mystique...it's edgy and mysterious, and too complex for us 'lesser evolved' souls to even begin to comprehend...
His following is, and always will be, very small and insignificant. Just enough to be his gravy train, but not so much that more people ask questions and bring unwanted suspicion and attention to his 'path'.
I think it's all pretty harmless...there will be more who buy into his B.S...I only hope that over time, more and more people figure out his ruse and call him out on it.
I think it's all pretty harmless...there will be more who buy into his B.S...I only hope that over time, more and more people figure out his ruse and call him out on it.
Wow Shuffler...You started this post so I assume that you have read all of these posts about Olsen. I would hardly call the many years wasted, money lost, psychological abuse, threats, scarring fear instilled in the hearts and minds of his students harmless! Reading the posts of End-Of-Faith, RememberingYou and others there seems to be real damage done. Its rather heart wrenching really. There are probably thousands of these phony predators out there but it doesn't minimize the damage that they do to each individual. This Olsen guy has clearly hurt a lot of pretty intelligent, sincere people whose only fault was buying into the lie that only through his initiations, paying him money and kissing his a** could they experience God. I'd say from reading all these posts that Olsen has and continues to do lots of real damage.
I hope somebody can put this creep Olsen out of business!
Harmless in the context that nobody's going to die for Gary, or do something illegal or stupid...or are they?
I don't see much harm coming from finding out that you bought off on the lies of a false prophet...that's just a buzzkill more than anything. People will be pissed off, or despondent, or indifferent....it depends on the individual. On their own or with the help of others, they'll get over it...time heals all.
I have to think there are a number of chelas who second guess the whole charade, yet still play along because they might be getting some 'value' out of it, or at least they want to believe they are.
It's only a matter of time before Gary has to lawyer up, or just disappears with all that money he's hoarding. I'm sure he has a plan, and this is why he keeps a low profile.
Nobody thought they were going to die or do something stupid for Jim Jones, David Koresh, Heaven's Gate, Moonies, etc either. How do you predict what someone will do when they have given away their power and ability to "think" for themselves? It only takes one out of balance person to act upon hearing Gary's voice in their head to do something stupid or illegal. And for all you know people on his staff have been doing questionable/illegal practices for years but keep doing it because they are brainwashed...just a hunch. Isn't this a red flag for you? It is for me.
Nobody thought they were going to die or do something stupid for Jim Jones, David Koresh, Heaven's Gate, Moonies, etc either. How do you predict what someone will do when they have given away their power and ability to "think" for themselves? It only takes one out of balance person to act upon hearing Gary's voice in their head to do something stupid or illegal. And for all you know people on his staff have been doing questionable/illegal practices for years but keep doing it because they are brainwashed...just a hunch. Isn't this a red flag for you? It is for me.
Then maybe this is exactly what needs to happen in order to bring the necessary scrutiny to MasterPath...a tragedy, or an IRS audit.
I mentioned the James Ray sweat lodge incident earlier, as our most recent example with a tragic ending.
Then maybe this is exactly what needs to happen in order to bring the necessary scrutiny to MasterPath...a tragedy, or an IRS audit.
It seems that some of Olsen's former students are in the best position to give info to trigger an IRS audit and sounds like at least a few have already submitted info to the IRS so hopefully it is just a matter of time before Olsen's whole sleazy house of cards falls all the way down.
I checked out the aerial view of Olsen's compound on Mecca Road in Morongo Valley, Cal that Peacemaker21 posted up and all those expensive trees look just crazy! Doesn't look like a "humble cottage" to me. Didn't know that 5' olive trees cost so much and that 100 trees cost about $250,000 but checked it out and they really do cost that much!
You'd think this Olsen creep would at least donate a small portion of his millions to help feed people and help with children's holiday gifts.
You'd think this Olsen creep would at least donate a small portion of his millions to help feed people and help with children's holiday gifts.
Exactly. Some of the former chelas have said Gary claims that "not a penny is wasted". Well, I suppose a whole bunch of expensive olive trees and a personal tanning bed aren't wasteful in his view. But the huge surplus speaks for itself...his nest egg maybe? What exactly is his plan for the 3+ million dollars? It'd sure be interesting to see a more current 990 on MasterPath.
What about Sky View Corp/Trust? It's been brought up here before. Looking into it online, it appears that Sky View is listed as "in care of" someone named Simmons - who is also CFO of MasterPath according to the 990 Schedule A in 2005. Sky View is a title holding company; it apparently serves to protect the property from liability in the event Gary/MasterPath faced litigation. Sky View Corp evidently held 501(c)(2) exempt status at one time but is no longer exempt. Whether or not there's a smoking gun somewhere in there, who knows. I certainly don't. Maybe someone with more expertise could investigate and offer insight.
My personal viewpoint as an outsider remains that MasterPath is harmful to the lives of it's followers and their families. There might never a be a suicide pact or a government standoff. Gary's probably too self-important to off himself and he would probably prefer to remain under the radar. Taking the millions and running might be a more likely scenario. Then again...the 2006 bird flu craziness is clear evidence that the man is unstable and can implode when things are not going his way! Maybe losing some higher initiates helped spark that paranoid meltdown, I have no idea what all was at play. But if that was a factor I certainly hope he is learning to handle the loss of his "beloved" followers better these days. For the sake of those who remain with him.
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The Final Curtain
9.09%
