James Burgess (Sufi) - You Want to Know This About Him

The James Burgess claims to be a professional astrologer, Sufi teacher, Spiritual leader, Spiritual healer, business owner and etc. and etc. I understand that he offers psychotherapy and relationship counselling sessions along with many other things he do and claims to be able to do.

He seem to be the one who endorses himself for having all above abilities. He says he has travelled a lot, met a lot of people, trained a lot, yet still he doesn't bring on a single name that his references can be checked with. 

What attracts my attention is a decision making system (7Words) which he claims to have come up with. The 7Words on the surface seem to be consistent and common sense, but I found it to be flawed in its fundamentals when he mixes simple and common sense logic of decision making with the spiritual things he also advocates (chukra, universal energy, etc. and astrology)

http://www.7words.co.uk

This become clear to me through a correspondence I had with him and through analysing some of his videos which are available on YouTube.

First thing to mention about my correspondence with him was that he only continued to correspond with me as long as he thought I was a potential customer of his 7Words system and as soon as I began to put questions and criticism of his ideas to him and requested answers he stopped communicating with me altogether.

 In his last response to me he said that I need to have “faith” in order to understand his point of views and since I don’t have “faith” I am unable to understand and he can’t therefore help me. So instead of answering my questions he offered to pray for me to find my “faith”. And that was the last time he replied to any of my emails and correspondence.

Also the highlight of my correspondence with him was when I pointed out to him the inconsistency I saw in the way he introduces himself. He often in his videos and his website describes himself as a Sufi, however when I began my correspondence with him - while he still didn’t know how I got to know him – in regards of Sufism he told me:

“It is a riddle that has lost its appeal to me. I do what I do, and people call me what they like”

So I replied to him and asked if people call him a Sufi, it is because you have a whole website describing yourself as one, and is because you keep acting as one!  And I requested that he clarifies if he considers himself a Sufi or not a Sufi finally. The reason I raised this question was that I found the way he introduces himself to be very “circumstantial” and “inconsistent” so wanted to know who he really think he is and what are his convictions.

James Burgess On-line Evasion in Response to my Questions

He never replied to my question in regards of his affiliation to Sufism and never tried to clear that up. But what happened later on was that I realized he closed down his website that he was introducing himself as a Sufi in there and removed all of his Sufi teaching and contents from there (Sufism, Zikr, DUP, Alchimical Sufism, etc.). He also removed the access to Russian and Lithuanian versions of his website with a note that he is going to Ireland.

www.jamesburgess.com

James Burgess Website before I asked him questions (click to enlarge)

(18-Aug-2013)

James Burgess Website after I asked him questions
you can see all the Sufi stuff are removed (click to enlarge)
(26-Sep-2013)

James Burgess Website after he left to Ireland
you can see all the mentions to Sufi topics and etc.
are now permanently removed (click to enlarge)
(15-Oct-2013)

The disablement of his website which was most likely in reaction to my question about his affiliation with Sufism made the situation more suspicious after all. Why he had to do this in response to my questions if he was comfortable with what he represented on his website for years about himself? Why he had to remove them if he sincerely believed those information about Sufism and Zikr and Dup where the truth? Or if he doubted their validity and value why he put them on his website on the first place?

Also another suspicious thing about James Burgess on-line reaction to my questions was in regards of the events he was claiming to have arranged for year 2013/2014 in UK on his website as per bellow screenshots:

James Burgess 7Words events before I questioned him

Number of UK events on the event list = 20 (doesn't fit on one screenshot)

(18-Aug-2013)

James Burgess 7Words event after my questions and his on-line evasion

Number of UK events on the list = 3 

(15-Oct-2013)

So as you can see he removed most of the events that he was claiming to have had arranged for 2013/2014 from his website as a part of his on-line evasion from my questions. I developed two more suspensions as a result of his particular reaction towards his events list!

1) Can it be that most of the events he had on his event list prior to my questions were in fact fake events? Just put there in the list to give a sense of being busy and popular to unaware individuals who were drawn to his website? And now fearing the publicity I was going to give him he chose to remove them?

2) He Particularly removed the part which he was mentioning:

leading to Certified Practitioner status
James Burgess and Richard Grey

What is illegal or controversial about this part that he also decided to remove it from his website? If he is happy and legitimate with issuing Certifications why he doesn't want these to be seen on his website any longer? 

James Burgess To be Exposed
Even though James Burgess stopped replying to my emails in that point but I didn't stop and continued sending more and more questions to him to give him a chance to clarify what I found contradictory and paradoxical in his ideas. However as he refused to answer my question and in a way just ignored them I am going to publish some of my findings about him and my analysis of his ideas for any other person who may become interested in future.

List of Blog Posts about James Burgess:
Why 7Words fails and has to be avoided - in context of an example of an abused wife 

(7Words a Cover to a Quackery Practice)
http://sandbadbehzad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/james-burgesssufi-7words-sceptisem-why.html

7Words and its "Basics" and "Fundamentals":

http://sandbadbehzad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/james-burgess-sufi-7words-scepticism.html

7Words and "Astrology":
http://sandbadbehzad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/james-burgess-sufi-7words-scepticism_5513.html

7Words and "demand for specifc questions" and "wrong body language" :
http://sandbadbehzad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/james-burgess-sufi-7words-scepticism_2.html

I am hereafter closing my case on James Burgess.

James Burgess (Sufi) - 7Words Scepticism - 7Words and Asterology

3:00
JB: Astrologers study the breadth and the depth of human psychology in a very specific way

JB: And you can't understand it with a rational mind

JB: it is a bit like chines ideograms
JB: you have to right brain and ....

No! astrologers don't do that!

He is deliberately trying to redefine a word with a dictionary definition, in this case "Astrology". The very good question asked by that lady pointed out the the paradox that exist in James Burgess's ideas when it comes to a rational "decision making" and a subject such as "astrology" also advocated by him.

How can you make a rational decision while you are getting Astrology involved?  This question exposed him. So he is trying to redefine the meaning of Astrology to save himself from that situation. As always circumstantial point of views by James Burgess often in contrast to other things he said just a while back.

Astrology as defined by free dictionary:

The study of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/astrology

Anything said in order to define (redefine better say) astrology in different way is James Burgess's point of view (hallucination) and without a value more than that.

6:07

JB: that's how I think astrology works!

JB: and I am not popular amongst colleague astrologist in England

JB: this is controversial

JB: but for god sake astrologers aren't rich

JB: therefore they can't predict the future!

what is this! why anyone has to care?

to me it seems that he is crediting himself for being "controversial" and "unique" as if in England he has a large audience and anyone cares what he says ...

looks like pretence! absolute pretence!

---

7:45

JB: what's the difference in highest in me and the gods

JB: if I am communicating with the gods they can only communicate through highest in me

JB: there is no difference

to me he is just playing with words! absolute playing with words! if anyone understands what he means by these 3 sentences please email me! 

---

7:10

JB: I can see you are very self expressive

JB: Like to get involve in thing

JB : you have a noble character

Typical! James Burgess is "bribing" the out spoken girl by complimenting her in order to silence her! Because her insistence was more and more exposing his limited knowledge and contradictory point of views. so he tries to make her to like him by complimenting her in order for her to stop asking exposing and dangerous questions.

You need to have grown up in Iran to be familiar with this technique usually adopted by religious teachers ...

---

8:27

JB: but did you like these keywords?

JB: optimism

JB: nobility

JB: self expression

JB: involvement

JB: is that you

JB: got ya!

JB: next question

I don't need to comment on this. Any "street clever" kid understands what is going on here. He continues to bribe the girl who asked the critical question here. Because all James Burgess did during this video was avoiding to answer her question and he is making a final escape by a "massive bribing" ! lol

no wonder he doesn't want to debate, he knows these techniques won't work on everyone!

James Burgess (Sufi) - 7Words Scepticism - 7Words Basics and Fundamentals (video 1/3)

When it comes to "Nero Linguistic Programming" in order to describe how un-serious and un-credible it is, I would like to attract the attention of whomever reading this to a "cat" (yes as pet "cat") who was registered by its owner in "British Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming (BBNLP)" as a hypnotherapist.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8303126.stm

This is important because the two basis of 7words as he says are based on:

1) NLP (Nero-Linguistic-Programming) which as per example of hypnotherapist cat is an unserious subject and it is scientifically discredited as a pseudo-science

2) Sufism; he seem to have his very own definition of Sufism (amongst many other dictionary words he tries to redefine to his own terms). I feel this word is only used for "coolness" purposes by him to give the 7words system the punch. 

There are hundreds if not thousand different schools of Sufism out there, each have a different often contradictory philosophy - so to use the word Sufism as a general term is wrong on the first place.

I am not sure how practical it is to try to redefine a well know word such as "Sufism" in this case and to use it to express something else ...

--

at 10:35

JB : When light is vibrating very slowly we have physical matter!

JB : thats obvious life is physical

Not quiet sure what he means when he just suddenly mentions this without any background? what does he mean by light vibration? How does it effect human mind? Why and when it vibrates slowly? who slow vibration of light effects human mind? who see or proved that it does and the effect of slow or fast vibration of light on physical matter? what causes light to vibrate fast-ly then? speed of light is equal to 299 792 458 m / s

---

at 9:54

JB: 7 plains of consciousness are expressed by different "vibration of light"

JB: this is not crazy mysticism

JB: leading edge physicists also talk in this terms

JB: and some psychologist have recognized these to

Looks as if he is trying to legitimize "crazy mysticism" as he says by involving some unnamed and perhaps imaginary scientists who he claims also confirm this! why can't he mention the names of the scientist who talk in the same terms then if they exisit?

Hard to accept scientists agree with what he says in terms of "light vibrations" effecting human mind. 

James Burgess doesn't really explain what the "Light Vibrations" are on the first place!

---

at 5:40

JB: Sufi teacher is enlightened and the students suppose to trust that!

And what a humble opinion James Burgess has about himself! In normal circumstances if someone implies that he is "enlightened" and everyone else need to trust him on the basis of the "enlightenment" he claims to have, he could be diagnosed with narcissism! this guy seem to be getting away with it for some reason! i am supprised why no one amongst the audience break into laughter. 

Maybe the audience are coercively persuaded to believe him perhaps?

---

at 05:22

JB: And yet sufism just tells you the way it is, it doesn't explain and defend its arguments at all!

So is it an advantage of Sufism that without bringing a reason dfines a way of life as he claims? Then why should anyone risk to follow someone who narcissistically claims that he is enlightened and worthy to be followed?

on what bases this trust has to develop? just because he says he is enlightened and he wears a beard and a waistcoat? 

seem to be a middle-ages way of accepting and following an ideology! based on the charisma of the person who advocate and propagate it, not its contents and what it says...

---

at 11:40

The analogy of separating heart and mind is another unscientific thing he says

love, think, awareness and all we are is in the brain - major part of the brain is its subconscious, and IMHO in ancient times as they didn't know it exist, they associated its functions to other body parts such as heart. IMHO They even made up a body part and called it "soul" and associated subconscious functions to it.

Heart is made of muscles it doesn't have any functionality in terms of feeling love, etc.

James Burgess (Sufi) - 7Words Scepticism - General Question - Body Language (video 3/3)

1:40

JB: I am saying I am not gonna deal with a general question .... 

specific question! how more specific a question can be!? she asks for an example of when goodbye is more about getting involved! And it is quiet possible to provide a general answer without taking this into discussing people's husbands and jobs! for example he could answer:

"when you say goodbye to a habit of procrastination then you are saying hello to a more concentrating  - state of mind - which means you are now more involved with things which have higher priority in your life"

And its not only this occasion  I am talking about a whole trend of refusing to answer to questions which address the fundamentals of his ideas. I think he tries to keep everything as "circumstantial" as possible in order to have a get away if things got too controversial.

Is it all just a show!?

01:10

looks more of a flirting body language to me, than of someone's who is giving professional relationship counselling...

Russell Brand interview with Alex Jones on Syria

http://www.endalldisease.com/russell-brand-blasts-syrian-war-information-mindblowing-interview/

1) the Russell Brand guy keeps saying none sense which is impossible to follow, just talk without any substance! no one will understand a word he says because there is nothing to understand

2) Alex Jones guy keeps acknowledging the speaker by saying that it was amazing, he was fascinated with it, intelligent guy the Russell person is, how outside the box he is, he is indeed the Thomas Jefferson himself! hooray! what a great man is on the phone!

then the outcome of 1 & 2 is some sort of social pressure on unaware listener to just pretend that they understand and that they also agree with the guest speaker (Russel Brand)

this is simply abusing human herd instinct! an unaware listener doesn't understand what is being said, but understands the repeated acknowledgements the speaker(Russell Brand) receives from the presenter(Alex Jones). So this creates the pressure for the unaware listener to join the herd and agree with whatever is being said!

Also an unaware listener doesn't want to look stupid by confessing that he actually didn't understand a word (no one will understand a word because there is nothing to understand) this is a technique effectively used by priests/mullahs for thousands of years in order to gather simple minded individuals under a faith/religion flag



Alex Jones has a reputation for being  a nutter any ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r2w2TRxSLxw#t=12

Smiley Mullah Policy and David Cameron et al.

by: Sandbad

David Cameron has congratulated Rouhani as Iranian new president and hoped that Rouhani’s election can be an opportunity for an improvement in Iran and Britain’s relationship.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/07/david-cameron-iran-hassan-rouhani

And its not only Cameron who seem to be so optimistic about Iran these days. The same atmosphere of optimism is present amongst many Iranians in social media. But when it comes to regressive regime of Iran in my opinion there is little to be happy about despite all the noise Rouhani’s presidency made in media. Because in an unlikely event that Rouhani remains loyal to all his so called campaign promises there are some serious issues he never mentioned he has any plans to resolve. Some are listed below:

1) Horrendous human rights situation under Islamic regime. The suppression of human rights and women rights activists, workers and trade union activists by means of prosecution are common place under Iran's Islamic regime. Rouhani did not mention any of these in his campaign.

2) Laws and treatments such as; death penalty for homosexuals, stoning for adulterers, lashing for drinking alcohol, mandatory Islamic dress code, discriminatory laws against women and religious minorities and etc. which are part of official civil and penal code of the country and are enforced by a feared religious police and judiciary system are going to remain the same with Rouhani. He did not mention any plans to resolve these issues.

3) It is no secret that the regime in Iran is holding its grip on power by keeping a tight control over media and by leaving no space for any opposition or protest without risking a high price such as imprisonment and torture. Rouhani made no direct and clear promise to improve the situation so I expect it remains the same with him as president.

Interestingly Rouhani and Cameron both chose to remain silent about some of the serious issues which are mentioned above. Rouhani in his elections campaign and Cameron in his letter congratulating him after he so called won.

Optimism

I think the optimism expressed by many including Cameron on Iranian regime's change of political direction as a result of election  (or selection) of Rouhani is premature and misplaced and can only be a result of cherry picking the facts and ignoring the whole spectrum of Iranian political scene. Because:

1) First and foremost in Iranian political structure the Supreme Leader maintains the ultimate power and the president is just a “yes man” to him. To hope that Rouhani as president is going to change anything against Supreme Leader's wish is a hope in vain. Supreme Leader is in the position of supervising the president in Iranian political structure and has the power to dismiss him if he wishes so.

2) People who think Rouhani’s presidency is a big change in Iranian political scene because he replaced Ahmadinejad have to remember that A.N. was no exception of the rule and the Supreme Leader was also giving him directions and could change Ahmadinejad’s policies if he disagreed with them during his 8 years term as president. So if the supreme leader made no intervention during Ahmadinejad’s presidency it can only be assumed that A.N. was merely following Supreme Leader’s directions and as Supreme Leader was happy with what A.N. was doing there was no need for Supreme leader to intervene. Hence the Supreme Leader is the one to be blamed for the state of affairs in Iran not A.N. and not anyone else.

3) In fact as evidence for what mentioned in 2 the Supreme Leader gave his affirmation to Ahmadinejad’s policies especially on his nuclear and social policies on number of occasions and called them a return to revolution’s original values.

By 1, 2 and 3 this is obvious the circumstances under Ahmadinejad (in terms of foreign policy, nuclear policy, economy, etc.) were what was (and perhaps is) seen as ideal by the regime and the Supreme Leader and in my opinion it is only the pressure resulting from economical sanctions which is forcing the regime to give up on its ideals (pursued during A.N.) and to put on a smiley face again and give raise to this Rouhani phenomenon.

4) My suspicion is empowered as it is not the first time the Iranian regime is following this Smiley Mullah Policy.  I can recall in 1997 when the regime was facing total international diplomatic boycott in the aftermath of Mykonos restaurant scandal the same Smiley Mullah Policy came to it's rescue when Khatami was installed under the title of a reformists as president.

        http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9704/10/germany.iran/ 

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Khatami

5) That solved the regime’s problem at that point (1997) as international community took Khatami as a real reformist and that optimism in international scene alleviated the international boycott which was in place on Iran at the time as international community wanted to give a chance to what they saw as a possibility of reform from within to Iranian regime so all foreign representatives which had left Iran previously in protest of Iran regime’s role in Mykonos assassinations returned to Tehran when Khatami become president.  That gave the regime a breathing space to recover itself in the years that followed.

6) In Khatami’s eight years term (1997 -2005) he proved that he was no reformist. He failed or didn't want to deliver on most of his promises and by the end of his eight years term as the country’s oil revenue had increased significantly (due to increase in crude oil price in world’s markets) the regime gained an unprecedented opportunity to follow up on its lets say expansionist ideas which it left on pause in 1997 when it was forced to give raise to Khatami as a false reformer due to international pressure it faced at the time.

Thanks to extra cash which was flowing in as a result of increased oil revenues towards the end of Khatami presidency term the regime officially declared the reform period was over and under Ahmadinejad it began the period of return to real revolution values (as it was named by supreme leader himself) This return went on until it took the country to complete political and economical bankruptcy by 2013 due to economical sanctions it caused.

So in my opinion it is only under heavy economical sanctions and on the verge of collapse that the regime is initiating the second round of Smiley Mullah Policy using Rouhani to save itself again.  And I can predict Rouhani’s term isn't going to be anything but just another eight years of empty promises as it was with his predecessor's Khatami (1997 -2005 ) and on the basis of what I explained in this article I think to lay too much hope on Rouhani is simplistic if not completely stupid.

To me it seems the regime is trying the Smiley Mullah Policy again in order to alleviate the pressure it is currently under as a result of international sanctions just as it did in 1997 with Khatami. Once this goal is achieved and the sanctions were lifted it will return to its ideal Ahmadinijad-ism soon enough.

بحث با یک شخص ناسیونالیست ترک

آقا صادق! همونطور که قبلا گفتم پهلوی فرزند زمانه خودش بود! و ایران یک کشور بسیار متفرق از لحاظ قومی در اون زمانه! به شکلی که اصلا یک حکومت به سبک مدرن رو در خودش نمی تونست جا بده برای اینکه هر کدام از این قومیتها که بهشون اشاره کردم در اون زمونه ساز خودشونو می زدند. کاری که پهلوی کرداین بود که تعریف شهروندی به معنای مدرنش رو در ایران بوجود آورد. یعنی کاری کرد که آدمها قبل از اینکه خودشون رو اعضای یک قوم و یا قبیله بدونند خودشون رو شهروندهای کشور ایران بدونند.
در راستای رسیدن به این هدف شکی نیست که بسیاری از اقدامات این خاندان با تعریفهای مدرن حقوق بشر ناسازگار بود. ولی شما توجه کنید که پهلوی همونطور که من بارها گفتم فرزندان زمانه خودشون بودند. شما نمی تونید از رضاشاهی که در دوره ای که تمام دنیا تحت تسلط دیکتاتورها بود (رضاشاه هم دوره هیتلر و موسیلینی و فرانکو و غیره هست) توقع داشته باشید که یک باره خود به خود اون هم توی یک کشور عقب افتاده ای مثل اون زمان ایران یک آدم دمکرات از آب در بیاد که!

این توقع بیجایی هست دوست من! آدمها رو باید در زمینه تاریخی که بودند در موردشون قضاوت کرد. که اگر ما بخواهیم منصف باشیم رضاشاه و پهلوی برای این سرزمین خیلی کارهای مفید انجام داد. و سیاستهای اسیمیله کردن هم اگر به قول شما در پیش گرفت این رسم اون روزگار بود! این کار توی کشورهای دیگر هم انجام شده بود! 

مثلا کردها هم در ترکیه تحت فشار قرار داشتند تا همین چند سال پیش و به آنها ترک کوهی می گفتند ولی اتفاقی که د رترکیه افتاد این بود که اونها پیشرفت کردند و دست از وارد کردن این فشارها بالاخره برداشتند. مثلا تا همین اواخر کردها اجازه برگزاری مراسم نوروز رو در ترکیه نداشتند و به تازگی این اجازه به آنها داده شده
در مورد ترکهای قبرس یک تحقیقی بکن ببین که چقدر از اوضاع فعلیشون ناراضی هستند الان شما اطمینان داشته باشید که از نظر فرهنگی آذری ها و ترک زبان های ایران به فارسهای ایرانی بیشتر شبیه هستند تا ترکهای ترکیه! ایران خانه شماست دوست من! تیشه به ریشه این خانه نزنید

بعد هم شما صحبت هویت می کنید. هویت همه ما اینه که ما همه اول انسان هستیم. نژاد و فرهنگ و زبان و ملیت همه چیزهای نسبی هست. مطلق نیستد! به قول شما در طی فرایند آسیمیله شدن این فاکتورها می تونه عوض بشه! همونطور که آذریها در یک زمانی آسیمیله شدند و زبان مادریشون که گویشی از زبان فارسی بود رو کم کم فراموش کردند و رفته رفته ترک زبان شدند. سو تفاهم نشه من مخالف این هستم که کسی آسیمیله بشه ولی به نظر من مهمتر از اینکه من و شما با هم به چه زبانی با هم صحبت می کنیم این هست که به هم چی میگیم! 

ولی خوب اگر بخواهیم در مورد مسایل عملی زبان صحبت بکنیم و در زمینه کشور ایران من همونطور که قبلا گفتم موافق ترویج زبان ترکی در ایران هستم. به نظر من اهمیت زبان ترکی در ایران کمتر از زبان فارسی نیست!
.ولی در عین حال فکر می کنم این کار اصلا به صلاح و عاقلانه نیست که زبان فارسی از حالت رسمی و زبان اداری کشور خارج بشه! اول اینکه زبان فارسی همونقدر که به فارسها تعلق داره به مردم آذربایجان و کل ترک زبانان ایران هم متعلق هست (شما برو مقبره الشعرای تبریز رو یک نگاه بنداز چند تا شاعر فارس زبان اونجا دفن شده؟)

دوما اینکه من انتظارات برخی از دوستان رو که در اینجا حتی حاضر به گفتگو کردن به زبان فارسی نیستند رو بی معنی و خنده دار می بینم! اگر چیزی رو که این دوستان به دنبالش هستند عملی بشه – یعنی هر قومیتی توی ایران به طور متعصبانه فقط زبون خودش رو بخواد یاد بگیره و ازش استفاده کنه بعد از 30 سال وقتی یک تهرانی به تبریز می ره اونجا باید انگلیسی بلد باشه که بتونه با مردم تبریز ارتباط برقرار کنه! که اگر این اتفاق بیافته همون شاعرای مقبره اشعرای تبریزکه گفتم توی گور خودشون خواهند لرزید!

پس بی جهت به فارسی نتازید. فارسی زبانی باستانی و با ادبیاتی غنی هست. زبان شما هم هست و به بلد بودنش می ارزد.

خلاصه اینکه آقا کار ما رو به دوران قومگرایی و قبل از پهلوی برنگردونید و گرنه ایران از افغانستان بدتر میشه! اجازه بدهید به عنوان شهروندهای این کشور مدرن و قرن بیست و یکمی این مشکلاتی که هست رو با هم حل کنیم و الکی با ایده های ناسیونالیستی و سکرتارین قومگرایی راه نندازید! از قدیم گفتن یک دست صدا نداره! اجازه بدید که با هم باشیم! انقلاب مشروطه یادتان هست؟