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GTD 'cult'
duus | Sep 5 2006
so a friend of mine sent me this message. I am a big fan of GTD and find it very useful. I'm just puttin' this out there. [INDENT] Uh-oh. "J-R" seemed like it might stand for John-Roger -- the controversial cult leader and spiritual guru. And it does. http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/msia.html David Allen, his wife, and many of his employees are ministers in the MSIA (Movement of Spritual Inner Awareness), John-Roger's church: http://www.ndh.org/template.php3?ID=65 http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Ana_Maria_Gonz%E1lez/article14.html (employee quoting John-Roger) Anti-cult websites accuse GTD of being part of a program to recruit people into MSIA. Their view seems paranoid to me, but you can read it for yourself: http://forum.rickross.com/viewtopic.php?t=2193 http://forum.rickross.com/viewtopic.php?p=15025&sid=e3195755a2185f9b4710580921d3f527 Now, I'm not saying that Getting Things Done isn't a good book about priorities and organization. David Allen may have very good advice about that stuff. But I am saying don't go to a David Allen seminar, get mixed up with the David Allen Company, or get too involved with the hard-core GTD crowd -- at least not without taking some anti-brainwashing measures. Seriously. This John-Roger character and his followers are not a joke. I learned about John-Roger a long time ago, as it happens, because in high school I read a self-help book called "Life 101" that he "co-wrote" with Peter McWilliams, the poet and anti-drug-war activist. In 1994, not long after I read "Life 101," McWilliams wrote an expose called "Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You." McWilliams left MSIA in 1994 after 15 years of being brainwashed. It turned out that John-Roger manipulated him into giving him co-authorship in return for keeping McWilliams alive. You see, John-Roger had the power to keep McWilliams alive because -- and this will surprise you -- John-Roger claims to be the incarnation of God on earth. John-Roger has also made headlines in connection with Arianna Huffington -- who admits to being a close friend and who has been accused (though she's never admitted it) of being an MSIA minister as well. [/INDENT] 72 Comments
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 Hey Duus, thanks for the...Submitted by a11en on September 16, 2006 - 10:44pm.
Hey Duus, thanks for the heads up. I have to admit that it's not too amazing that some links exist between life-betterment/productivity/spirituality areas. I think we can see some of that with Covey, even though it's not clearly spelt out. As well, I think we all can see the benefits of a spiritual drive in our lives. Even if you are atheist, the concept of mental energies and focus plays a large role, and without causing havoc here, I'll kindly link this up softly with meditation and prayer. [Yes, these are *not* all equal.] I think most people are drawn to GTD merely because it spells out formal methods of organization that we all "had on the tip of our tongues"... it clarifies simple concepts with extreme flexibility that can be applied to everyone's situation. So, I think that while there may be some here that are looking for spiritual directions, I'm willing to be that 80-90% of the people here are merely looking for proper ways to organize and improve their productivity. :) I will admit, however, that I find the links between spirituality and productivity-management-systems to be slightly frustrating. Our spiritual sides are not merely tools with which to attain more in this world, at least to me. [Interestingly, Steve Pavlina has been discussing these types of things on his blog recently- namely subjective reality, I believe.] I definitely *do* appreciate the heads-up, Duus. I think links like this are appropriate to shed light upon. I do not however feel it should degrade from the useful tools that are supplied to us- only give us pause if perhaps we start hearing about organizational crystals... or next-action amethyst stones. ;) he he he. Cheers, everyone. I tried to word the above in the best way possible. :) » POSTED IN:
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