Pyramid scheme
 

Hello all,

So I was recently invited to attend some informative seminar of a holistic and wellness company. The person who I was invited by is my energy medicine instructor who I adore and really look up to. She has really helped my healing process in life and I feel so connected with her. I felt so honored when I was one in a few she invited to learn more about the product/company she is partnering with.

When I got there I very soon realized that this was TOTALLY a pyramid scheme. Me and one of the other gals who it was both our first times coming to a seminar picked up on how this was all sales. I got every sign that this seemed off. Literally sign after sign and my gut wasn't feeling the joy in this lecture.

I guess I am just SOOOOO confused because I really trust this person. She has helped me incredibly. I am not sure if I seem like an easy target and I am vulnerable looking or because she really believes in these products and she does not see this scheme.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever had this happen with someone you trust in? Any experiences with pyramid schemes?


Thank you :)

Pyramids are not all bad. Yes, they push you to recruit, and if that's what your friend wants to do, then good for her. I don't like how you have to buy x dollars a month with some of them, but they can be good companies.

Adoration, followed by disappointment and disillusionment, followed by projecting one's values on them.

To be honest 4ever, this sounds like two personal relationships I had in my 20s and 30s. I learned something from those two mistak... um, those two growth experiences. If I'm going to choose to adore someone, that means adoring them through thick and thin, and whatever and whoever they turn out to be.

Meaning, I don't adore anybody. I am friendly towards people, but I also keep a healthy space between us.

Someone I used to work with tried to get me to go in on a pyramid scheme. You've got to put your foot down and flat out say no to it. It's outrageous that a person you've trusted turns around and tries to corner you like that. Say no politely, move on, and if she's got a problem with it, jettison her.

That's an awful lot of indignation given the circumstances, IMO. It was a wellness seminar with some products for sale. A bit more perspective might be in order.

OP said herself it was a pyramid scheme, not a "wellness seminar."

Sounds like a farce all round, and it's unfortunate they tried play you, but you didn't get sucked in, and that's good. Live and learn that people do pretend to be something that they're not in order to invoke trust in, and manipulate, others, and that's a horrible experience... but still, despite feeling a little disillusioned... all the wiser now.

bird, please, let's think about this. Many new-age businesses are just money-making schemes, it's a known thing and a kind of running joke about new-age in general. So it can be both: a wellness center can have a pyramid sales scheme going. And as Gem said, nobody lost money or was forced to buy anything. Besides, this isn't about pyramid schemes, this is about the OP upset that the respected instructor is oblivious to this product sales scheme: "She really believes in these products and she does not see this scheme."

Which brings one to the pertinent question in all this: How can we be upset with someone who doesn't know what it is they're doing? We can't. But we can be hurt or embarrassed that the person we thought so highly of, isn't the person we thought they were, and/or isn't as clever or conscious or enlightened as we made them out to be. And that's just us, projecting our personal values and needs on them.

Sometimes we need to look behind the mask. What has actually happened here? You've found out that the person you looked up to wasn't the person you thought they were, but it happens all the time. People come into our Lives and they are the right people at the right time, even though our perspectives may differ. This person has helped you, call it quits at that and move on. Often we walk our Paths and for a time the Paths of others coincide, we gain from the interaction and when the purpose of the interaction has been fulfilled it's no longer needed.

What are you miffed at? Has this person betrayed your expectations or was their intention to offer you an opportunity? They might have done it for the best of intentions but your dislike of pyramid schemes may have coloured your perception. Pyramid schemes aren't all bad, sometimes business-ways they make a lot of sense.

The question is though, what will you take away from this experience? Will you take away the betrayal which will render your time with that person meaningless - or worse? Will you allow it to erode what you have gained by being with them? Or will you see it as having the right person in the right place at the right time, but this has become a different time?

And that, grasshopper, is wisdom!