TA writes: “Can you tell us your thoughts about Fortune Management and Anthony Robbins?”

Anthony Robbins is just another self-help guru and motivational speaker who mixes a variety of philosophies into his theories about how we can become fabulously rich and happy.  He is influenced by neuro-linguistic programming, a hokey concept of brain reprogramming that is dear to the hearts of New Age fad followers, as well as firewalking, which is the act of walking barefoot across hot coals. In fact, Robbins seminars are famous for their firewalking shows, which he claims are a “experience in personal power and a metaphor for possibilities” in his book, Unlimited Power.

As for his published works, Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement and Awaken the Giant Within, they are riddled with the teachings of Eastern and New Age gurus such as Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil and Bernie Seigel.  He also shares other New Age leanings, such as the belief that Jesus is one of several great teachers such as Buddha, Mohammed, and Confuscius.

Robbins ran afoul of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1995 when his company, Robbins Research International (RRI), Inc. agreed to settle with the commission on charges that the company exaggerated the profit potential of franchises for his motivational seminars. According to the FTC, prospective franchizes were paying him fees ranging from $5,000 to $90,000 for the rights to conduct and charge admission for seminars featuring videotapes of Robbins presenting his motivational techniques.

In this article by William T. Jarvis, Ph.D. of the National Council Against Healthcare Fraud, Jarvis calls Robbins’ notions about health and nutrition “wacky” such as his concepts on the health effects of deep breathing, distilled water, milk, fruit and vegetables, and protein consumption.”  

All in all, I would avoid anything that Robbins is selling. The key to success and happiness in this life – and the next – is complete surrender to the will of God. Every effort to improve our current condition in life should be based not on what a few self-help millionaire gurus are saying but on how to enable this process of submission to God to become deeper and more profound until we have become like clay in the hand of our loving Creator, ready and willing to become whoever He intended us to be.

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