Paul Myhill Puts Future in Hands of God
McCord Letter To Bill Driscoll re:Paul Myhill 2005
One of Protandim‘s creators has this past hour published a letter which reveals certain facts that Lifevantage wish to smokescreen.
58 minutes ago, Paul Myhill said, as a way of admission, his future is in the hands of god….
For those that haven’t heard of it, Protandim is a plant based tablet that has unproven effects, but for which the MLM company Lifevantage make innuendo-based fantastic claims.
My reputation, integrity, credibility and character – All are in God’s hands. – Myhill
In short, it’s snake oil, and a scam, just like many others from that cesspit of free market capitalism, Utah.
- We’ve seen Google Treasure Chest for which Pacific Webworks and their promoters have been doubly hammered by Google and the FTC.
- We’ve Canadian seen Jesse Willms who has been hammered by Google, Oprah and the FTC yet ran many affiliates through Utah.
- We’ve seen near neighbours Monavie. Same crap, just waiting to get the FTC knock on the door. This is LazyMan’s take on them. It’s scary stuff.
Roll on the FTC. They’ve got to weigh in on these sharks soon.
Paul Myhill’s Open Letter On Facebook
Update on 24 April 2012
Rather than a comment, (which isn’t so taggable and relevant within search engines), here’s Myhill’s open letter (open – geddit? – in the fullest meaning of the word). Text follows below.
OPEN LETTER TO MY DEAR LIFEVANTAGE FAMILY
Needless to say, the company and I are not on good terms right now. Quite frankly, Doug Robinson’s email to the LifeVantage distributors is fraught with error and misrepresentation. In fact, he gave very little attention to me personally on this matter, hardly exchanging a word with me concerning it. He simply didn’t have the time for me.
It is very well documented that the company was founded on a pledge to give shares, and a percentage of profits, to the charitable cause that it helped to start – rescuing orphaned and abandoned children from being abused, exploited, trafficked and enslaved. This was my “Why?” for joining Bill Driscoll in starting LifeVantage in the first place . . . and it is a cause that he graciously took on as his own and championed also. I’m sure he’s getting many hugs in Heaven as a result of the 15,000 children who are free from slavery today because of our work together.
I will be more-than-willing to make public all that documentation, especially since it was all public information to begin with. This charitable pledge was also the basis for which I assigned my invention (not Dr. McCord’s invention!) to LifeVantage. As soon as Bill and I assigned the patent to LifeVantage the pledge was sadly taken out of company materials, almost immediately. I naturally felt quite betrayed. Again, I can provide full documentation supporting this and it can be easily verified in the public record – through company press releases, investor presentation materials, SEC filings, etc. My resignation letter was also a matter of public record and alludes to the fact that this pledge – which was foundational to the company and my very involvement in it – needed to be kept, otherwise it would represent a promise broken to the original founders and all of LifeVantage’s stakeholders. The erasing of the pledge from company materials was the main reason for my departure, which the original Board and transition management team can certainly attest to. I was quite the thorn in their sides, constantly verbalizing the need to keep the pledge. As such, there is no disputing the existence of the original commitment. It’s simply undeniable.
I have been quite clear in my communications with LifeVantage management that the company still owes the charity now known as Traffic Jam 100,000 shares as part of its original pledge to match the Founders’ donation of shares to that same charitable vehicle. This amount was supposed to match Bill Driscoll’s gracious donation of 100,000 shares that came in a couple of months late. I’m sure if he were alive today he’d be greatly disappointed that the company never followed through on that commitment . . . and other commitments. Bill and I had our differences, but I also owe it to him as my brother-in-arms to get his shares matched, as he fully expected would be done when he made his generous gift in the first place. I owe it to his memory and legacy. And I owe it to his family – to see more children rescued because of his gift and defense of the pledge.
Despite the implication made in Doug’s letter, I never approached the company to ask anything for myself. In fact, it was David Brown who suggested that I become a “Goodwill Ambassador” for the company with a job role that would give me a greater platform to share the “correct” company history and bring attention to the fine work of the Traffic Jam Campaign. It was through that process that compensation (as with any job) was sought to channel to Traffic Jam. I have quite a few emails that show that this compensation was for the purpose of supporting the work of Traffic Jam. I’m on record multiple times stating that I gave everything away . . . and would give it away again.
It is with great sadness that I write this on the eve of my Birthday – not exactly the “gift” I was hoping for . . . or hoping to give. Since 2008, I have been pleading with the company to correct its marketing materials – to reflect that Joe is not the “Inventor” or “Creator” or “Scientist behind” Protandim; that Protandim wasn’t “developed after 40 years of research;” and that it didn’t consist of a “laundry list” of 40 ingredients that Joe whittled down to the current formula. This is all simply untrue. I’m sure the company will try to put some sort of further spin on this now and try to convince people otherwise, but the truth is the truth and will always come out in the end. Darkness can’t hide from the light.
The CORE botanical formula I forwarded to Joe included the current five botanicals, plus one additional one – all in the EXACT same proportions/weights as the current formula (all 1/3 of the original to get it into one pill), but with Milk Thistle subsequently bumped up at my suggestion. The other ingredients were part of an “all-in-one” (multi-formula) addition to that CORE botanical formula that I developed. Given such indisputable facts (and that the initial patent was filed one month before we even met Joe), how am I NOT the creator? How is Joe THE creator? The simple email record, and even a letter from Joe himself, clearly show that the current company communications are downright false and misleading . . . and, in the eyes of many, perpetuate an ongoing fraud – one that the SEC and FTC should be made aware of.
I initially stated that “nobody lied,” desiring to give this current management team the benefit of the doubt and chalking it to human error and the discontinuity of company management in general. But then, month after month went by with the same erroneous materials still being widely distributed by the company, despite their own admission to me that Joe isn’t the creator. These same materials are on the company website TODAY. I just don’t get how a company can keep doing that, with full knowledge that the materials are sending the wrong message to current and new distributors. Many times I wrote emails (which I’d be happy to share with you) and each time nothing was done to take down the offending materials.
I’ll be glad to once again share that whole “Protandim Development History” with you, which is backed up by meticulous documentation, the full email record, plus personal notes and commentaries. It spanned over 20 blog entries. I’m an “open book.” I had nothing to hide. I shared it all.
I’m sure, though, that if I were to re-post Protandim’s development history, the company would claim that I was then “giving away company secrets” and would once again try to silence the true history of the product’s creation – MY creation of Protandim – that occurred for almost ten months before I even met Joe. The reality is that the company misrepresentations have gone on for so long now that they have no choice but to try to silence the truth. Just you wait and see. I can almost hear the “cease and desist” letter being typed up right now. And I can almost picture the new “watered-down” version of the history that the company will now come up with.
Doug mentioned in his letter that I found the company response unacceptable. Well, one of those unacceptable conditions was that I sign a new set of releases (to silence me telling the true Protandim story again) and that I pull down my “LifeVantage / Protandim Founder’s Page” on Facebook which, of course, would be in addition to my blog that was already pulled down. Do you see the common theme here? Silence. Silence. And more Silence. I’m a high-justice person who stands for truth and integrity and, despite the company trying to buy that silence by offering for Traffic Jam to be featured at convention, I told them that I couldn’t in good conscience do that. I’m not signing away my voice. My “Founder’s Page” stays. My voice stays. And my appeal to get the company to meet its commitments . . . stays.
Do you want a company of integrity? Well, then, don’t let them silence the truth any more. Protandim wasn’t an “idea” that Bill and I took to Joe. It was a full formula that even Joe stated in a letter was almost at its “final embodiment.” And the company’s charitable pledges to Traffic Jam wasn’t an “idea” that I just came up with. It was represented in multiple press releases and SEC filings and collateral materials. If you don’t believe me, go to EDGAR and check yourself for at least the SEC part of it.
Ever wonder why the company took down all the archived press releases? Because it backs up what I’m saying and what I’ve been asking, not for myself, but on behalf of trafficked and enslaved children.
Given the erroneous wording in Doug’s email, I can only assume now that the company has chosen the issue of the 100,000 shares to try to discredit me – making it sound like I’ve been making selfish and unreasonable demands of the company – while at the same time trying to discredit the true history of Protandim’s development. Doug, of course, fails to mention in his email that the “great deal of material” that I posted on the Internet concerning “my view” of that development was 1.) Taken down by me as a sign of “good faith” and 2.) Was only posted in the first place after I reached out to the company multiple times beforehand – with no response.
I’m not sure how Doug can call it “my view” of Protandim’s development anyway, considering that it included hundreds of emails (that were copied or sent to dozens upon dozens of people) as well as a number of other source documents that were widely circulated. It’s not just “my view,” as demonstrated by the substantiated, well-documented evidence. Of course, if the company has its way, you probably won’t see any of that document and you’ll just have to accept Doug’s words that it was simply “my view” of events. Where was Doug during the development of Protandim? Who is he to challenge the clear evidence? Can he not see the patent was initially filed a full month before Joe even came into the picture? Does he not see whose name is on the patent?
For months, I’ve taken steps of “good faith” and have expected the company to do the same – to act in “good faith” to take down the erroneous marketing materials that were propagating that Joe was the inventor/creator of Protandim. Sadly, the company never reciprocated. The 100,000 share issue, unfortunately, has now become the easy point of contention that allows LifeVantage to not have to give credit to me for my invention. By making it so public and contentious, LifeVantage now has a convenient excuse to not have to include Bill and me in our rightful place in the company history. Something that should have been celebrated can now be easily swept under the rug because I’m the “bad guy” with “unreasonable” expectations who asked the company to honor its commitments. It now allows them to feel better about themselves somehow – for so long being negligent in getting the real story about Protandim’s development out there; for so long casting me in a “false light” by commission and omission; for so long keeping up the erroneous materials to the point of malice and great hurt.
Company of integrity, Doug says? How about keeping its original promises to match the founders’ shares to rescue children? How about keeping its original promises to give 10% of pre-tax net profits away for children and related humanitarian causes? How about filing an 8-K correction notice with the SEC every time the erroneous message of Joe being the “creator” went out? How about the promise to correct the development history while at the same time keeping up the offending materials that lead people to believe Joe was the inventor? How about David’s promise to “make it happen” for me to have a “Goodwill Ambassador” role with the company, to help further the purposes of Traffic Jam? How about the company’s constant encouragement for distributors to use the copyrighted material of ABC News for commercial purposes? How about all those big distributors who came over with down-lines allegedly “stolen” from Zrii? How about ALL the mentions of diseases when it’s clearly not permitted in the marketing of a supplement?
Integrity? Company of integrity? Actions speak louder than words.
This is a very sad day for me folks. The “petition” that Doug mentioned in his letter was merely me throwing up my arms in bewilderment and wondering why on earth the Board wasn’t fulfilling the matching pledge with a measly 100,000 shares when the evidence was so clear that 100,000 shares were missing (Believe me, I was asking for these shares long before the recent run-up in price). Even a math flunkey could see that the numbers didn’t add up and 100,000 shares were still owed. Instead of bringing the match to completion, with an amount of shares that pales in comparison to the fat stock options the executives are getting, they chose to make this big issue out of it. It could have been a cause for celebration. Instead, the company has chosen to create yet another public relations nightmare. I didn’t ask for that. They did it. And I’m baffled by it.
I started off with 5 million shares. Why on earth would I make all this fuss about 100,000 shares if it were not true? I’m a man of principle and the principle-of-the-matter is the shares are still owed. Gosh, by their reaction, you’d think I asked for the moon.
I merely responded by saying that I would put out the public information and ask distributors to let their voices be heard – for integrity and common sense. But somehow that’s now something portrayed as me being devious and destructive. Hello? Why would I try to destroy the stock of the company I’m trying to get shares from? Hello?
Conversely, I don’t believe the LifeVantage Board has acted in its fiduciary duty in this matter. I believe they are acting in a destructive manner. Why on earth would they bring about such a disruptive episode in the midst of such growth and promise? The missing shares are soooooooo obvious that they are missing from the match. I gave 200,000 shares. Bill gave 100,000 shares. the company gave 200,000 (matching mine) and, hello again, Bill’s shares didn’t get matched. 100,000 shares missing. You don’t need a mathematics degree to figure that one out. Why would the Board put so much at risk – the airing out of this laundry – instead of just issuing the shares to help rescue kids?! And celebrating it!
. . . Unless, of course, they were needing something to make me look “bad” or “unreasonable” so they don’t feel so bad about the incorrect company communications about who invented the product. And to release themselves from an obligation to correct that history in a way that celebrates Bill’s and my involvement.
. . . Now they can just quietly remove the “creator” tag from Joe and hope that nobody notices. Just like they did when they removed the “inventor” tag from him.
Doug’s letter concludes by asking distributors to not get involved in anything that “disparages” the company. Wow. I asked the company to honor its commitment with a measly 100,000 shares to stop 11 year-olds from getting raped 20 times per day; to stop 7 year-olds from having to shoot their parents before being forcibly conscripted into a child militia. Now, if any distributor goes along with supporting what is clearly in the public record, and honoring their own conscience to see the pledge fulfilled for children such as these, they are in violation of their distributor’s agreement. Seriously?
Looks like the strong arm of silence rearing up again.
My apologies for rambling on in this open letter. Obviously I’m a passionate person – the same passion that brought Protandim into being in the first place. And, obviously, I’m quite upset right now – not just by these events, but how they’ve now been represented in Doug’s email.
Unfortunately, it’s the distributors and the children who lose out because of the Board’s baffling conclusion and Doug’s irrational choice to send out his email. Quite wreckless, if you ask me. Certainly not acting in the best interests of the shareholders. They turned a public relations celebration into a public relations nightmare.
I apologize to all of you that it has come to this. It certainly wasn’t my intention.
I want you all to know that I love you all and do indeed wish you the best. I will STILL use my “Founder’s Page” on Facebook as a place of encouragement and, given this recent turn of events, as a place of clarity and truth.
Blessings,
Paul
So there you have it. Since this time, Myhill has been sat on by Lifevantage (as it turns out a kind of double-blackmail) and then stated that the shares were the thing to buy. Following this, Lifevantage have made public pronouncements about their charitable donations to Myhill’s charitable organisation(s) and there’s now, apparently, a kind of Machiavellian sweetness and light between them.
But whatever: the business is still a snake-oil pyramid scheme founded on flawed and discredited “science” and promoted by MLM-hopping get-rich-quick wide-boys. For more on these recent developments and a fuller history of investigations into the topic, see a few of LazyMan’s postings here:
- Paul Myhill: LifeVantage’s Communications are Downright False and Misleading, Perpetuate an Ongoing Fraud
- LifeVantage Bribes Paul Myhill To Hide the Truth About Protandim
- LifeVantage Used Company Insiders and Investors in Only Human Protandim Study
- LifeVantage Lies to SEC, Investors, Consumers about “Harvard” Study
- LifeVantage and Dr. Joe McCord Lied about the Creation of Protandim!
…….I won’t steal any more of Lazyman’s thunder and there much, much more on his site. But from top to bottom, the volunteers and employees of all the charities financed by Myhill and/or Lifevantage should examine their hearts and ask themselves;
What value is there to a charity when it’s financed from deception?
So what if Myhill has had his photo taken with Elton John or whoever.
So what if Myhill plugs;
Paul Myhill Entertainer Plugs
“Meetings getting scheduled with Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Slash, Myles Kennedy, and many more. The TRAFFIC JAM Campaign (Stop Child Trafficking & Slavery) will be rocking this summer!”
Our Prime Ministers and Presidents are often photographed with the pariahs of the world. Elton is one of the world’s biggest self-publicists and spend-thrifts. So is Gaga. So, so what? There is no validation there.
It’s still a charity founded on deception. It may have good aims. It may be correctly financed and regulated - though Vogel has shed great doubts over this (See here, here, here, here and here). But it is financed by a pyramid scheme based MLM using a product with no proven benefit as the bait on the hook.
When the PR folk at Lady Gaga, Timberlake’s et al label’s get wind of the deceptions surrounding Myhill, will the charity campaign still be a-rockin’? Will all of Zoe Hamilton’s (a loyal Myhill fan/worker/volunteer?) networking work be for naught? Let’s see.
Related articles
- LifeVantage Has Record Quarter (mlmblog.net)
- Brief Update: Protandim (sciencebasedmedicine.org)
- An open letter to People Who Write Open Letters (thepunch.com.au)
No sooner was the cat out of the bag, then it was popped back in again! Obviously the folks at Lifevantage (or at least those whose vested interests were affected) have got to Myhill. On another Facebook page of his, Myhill states the following on this link (although how long it stays up is anyone’s guess):
Handily, I’ve taken a screendump of the page which picks up a fair bit of the flap that has been generated by Myhill’s proof letter.
Interestingly and co-incidentally, the Google Analytics for search phrase almost exactly match for these two searches arriving at this website:
Nothing more to say, except I thought people needed to know and it made me laugh.
In the interests of completeness for the record, here are a few websites that I think may be “got at” to remove their content. This is the first.
Here is Myhill’s interview where he first claims his kitchen sink creation of protandim:- http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lifevantage/blog/2009/03/09/inside-protandim-the-paul-myhill-interview –
[Editor's note (SP): two messages from Darlene concatenated into one]
Part 1
Hi Strangely Perfect…I am sure your name is somewhere here and I just overlooked it. I was wondering if you were friends with Paul Myhill and why you decided to post his information regarding Protandim on your page? I am also Buddhist with SGI. I am what you call a fortune baby and grew up in the practice. From the looks of it I am sure you are much more of a practicing buddhist than I am. Although one thing I learned through this practice is that negative thoughts or comments also reflect negatively on you. I do not know Paul Myhill personally but I am a distributor with LifeVantage and I have seen what this product has done for people regardless of what misunderstanding Paul and this company have had. I have seen him at LifeVantage events after all of the ruckus and for whatever reasons he and LifeVantage have reconciled. I haven’t looked further into your site I am sure it is very useful and informative but as a practicing Buddhist you should be putting your energies on the positive and not the negatives. Being brought up with SGI and prior it being called NSA (Nichirin Shoshu of America) there is always going to be controversy. Just as there was when SGI changed from NSA. Growing up with this practice has not always been easy because of the people that were always saying it was a cult. But when you post the negatvies instead of the positives you are no better than those people that use to call Nichirin Daishonin’s Buddhism a Cult. I believe in this Buddhism and I also believe in Protandim and LifeVantage and I also believe that Paul Myhill no matter what has happened looks to the future and not at the past. He has a great fight against human traffcking and I bless his heart and chant deeply for him to keep the fight going. He is fighting a huge army when it comes to human trafficking and he needs all the positive influence around him. So as a fellow Buddhist I hope you will post what will positively influence us to bring peace and humanity as Daisaku Ikeda teaches.
Part 2
As a fellow Buddhist I wanted to add a few things that I left out. I sat here and read more of what you wrote and am saddend how you slander Protandim, LifeVantage and Paul Myhill. I am not the buddhist I want to be today but I chant to hopefully become that in the future. If I was I may not care so much about how you hurt those by what you write. If I was a buddha with a higher lifestage I may dismiss it and say this is your own Karma that you need to overcome but I am not quite there yet so I do care and I do need to state what I feel from my heart and that is my Karma. It also may be our Karma that I found this site and am writing this to you. Not sure but I feel compelled to say what I have to say.
You write “the business is still a snake-oil pyramid scheme founded on flawed and discredited “science” and promoted by MLM-hopping get-rich-quick wide-boys. For more on these recent developments and a fuller history of investigations into the topic, see a few of LazyMan’s postings” First of all I take this snake oil everyday and just as I and you have seen and heard many human experiences with this Buddhist Practice. I have seen first hand many positive health related experiences with this Product. I, as many Buddhist’s are in home based businesses which you call pyramid schemes. I as a Buddhist chant daily to overcome my own obstacles and to help those less fortunate. With this product I have helped many with health related issues that they were not able to be helped from medical professionals and I have also been able to help financially those in need because I have brought in money from this company. In both those respects I don’t discredit this product or this company as I don’t discredit this Practice. Call it what you would like but growing up I heard many people call this Buddhist Practice a cult and I don’t believe that either. As far as LazyMan I don’t know if I have ever read anything positive from him. Such a negative soul who we both should chant for!
You also write “I won’t steal any more of Lazyman’s thunder” Please don’t. I don’t think this is at all what Daisaku Ikeda teaches us. I honestly don’t think LazyMan has any thunder to steal.
You also write “But from top to bottom, the volunteers and employees of all the charities financed by Myhill and/or Lifevantage should examine their hearts and ask themselves; What value is there to a charity when it’s financed from deception?” REALLY? First of all I don’t believe anyone needs to examine anything. Paul Myhill regardless of how he gets the money to fund his charity has a huge hill to climb with Human Traffciking. Watch “The Whistleblower”. He is fighting diplomats, government officials that fund human trafficking. His battle is long and hard. Instead of slandering him you should be chanting for him to help eradicate Human Trafficking. I know my heart is in the right place and I chant to keep it in the right place. I don’t know Paul Myhill personally but doing what he is doing and knowing that his life is in danger everyday doing what he is doing that his heart has to be in the right place. So please chant for him.
You also write: “So what if Myhill has had his photo taken with Elton John or whoever.” “Our Prime Ministers and Presidents are often photographed with the pariahs of the world. Elton is one of the world’s biggest self-publicists and spend-thrifts. So is Gaga. So, so what? There is no validation there.” And Daisku Ikeda is also photograped with people that are not always favorable in others eyes to promote peace and to spread the word of Nichirin Daishonin’s teachings. Paul Myhill may not be spreading the word of Nichirin Daishonin but he is meeting with people in hopes to help him raise awareness to Stop Child Trafficking and Slavery. He reaches out to those that have been blessed to help make changes, whether they do it or not, they have that power and ability to make change.
So as a fellow Buddhist let’s chant to raise awareness and peace and not negativity and slander.
As you know and wrote: The only thing in the whole universe that we can really change, is ourselves. And if someone is having a hard time, we can feel concerned for their welfare, but in the end, it is their hard time. Ultimately, everyone’s life is their own responsibility and my life is my responsibility, and mine alone.
That being said Paul Myhilss life is his and his alone. His relationship with Lifevantage is their relationship and theirs alone. Don’t make it yours as I shouldn’t make this mine, but like I said I am not the buddha that I chant to be yet.
No, the only thing you can change is yourself and the only happiness that you should be responsible for, is your own.
But as you know chanting for others happiness also leads to your happiness. Its a selfless act of chanting for someone elses happiness.
So I end with Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.
Darlene
Darlene.
You are deluded. While your intentions may be good, the Orwellian double-speak from Lifevantage has got to you.
My karma is not affected adversely by talking negatively about something or someone that harms the vast majority of people. Take Hitler, for example – am I to forget the 100 million who died because of his confused ambition just because he made the wonderful autobahns and the People’s Car (Volkswagen) and thus say Hitler was a wonderful man?
Likewise, for Myhill and Lifevantage. 99% of distributors lose money for no other reason other than from the fuel of selfish greed to better themselves, because, as we all know,
Protandim fixes nothing. Yet this money (or at least part of it), apparently finances his orphan stuff?
Which is it to be Darlene? Can you not see it? Please revisit the Noble Eightfold Path which will help you. Or check out http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html for more succinct definitions…
He’s fudged information, switched stories, taken, hidden, come to allegiances, all with a business whose core is rotten because of its pyramid scheme basics and the deviant obfuscating ‘science’ cobbled together by its colluding management team. (Yes really, nearly half of the subjects used in the much quoted, very small, ‘sciencey test’ were on the board or worked for Lifevantage!)
Please check out http://www.protandimscams.com/ and actually read the words, read through the referenced links, digest fully – and you will see this truth.
And because he’s using rotten money which has hurt people in its gathering, his current actions continue to be debased and devalued. You do understand ‘value’, don’t you? The meaning of Soka Gakkai is “Value Creation Society” after all.
You cannot create real value by harming others, it’s a basic precept not only of Buddhism, but just about every other way of living on the planet.
Also, I did not say that all home-based businesses are pyramid schemes. You did. I just said that many MLM businesses are, especially those founded or run from the home of scams, Utah. It’s a basic feature of the double-speak that you’ve picked up from Lifevantage and the other things you’re involved in.
In this site I helped pull down in my small way the Google Money Tree/Treasure Chest scam, which was an MLM home based business “opportunity”, as they called it. It purported to make one rich by selling website information and the means to get more participants. See me here. The business collapsed because of its shaky foundations, not because of lack of effort of the participants. The parent, Pacific Webworks, has struggled to stay above water as they’ve had to acquiesce to onerous court orders and agreed charges.
You see, Darlene, like near neighbour Monavie (they even used the same car park until one moved building!), Xingo and others, all of these scams promise health and/or wealth and to cure all manner of diseases and conditions. Monavie has used exactly the same claims as Protandim, yet it’s just preserved fruit juice. Just like you, above, when you said “ I have seen first hand many positive health related experiences with this Product“, they’ve made illegal claims about curing all sorts of stuff – yet mysteriously, no-one actually has seen verifiable, documented, proof of it!
So which is right? Are they all right? Do they all fix you and cure you from everything? Do they make everyone wealthy and healthy? Of course not. Get a grip.
Take a guy from your own Protandim plug site, http://www.mylifevantage.com/livelongerbetter Here, you’ll see one Tyler Daniels promoting the product for you in the video.
Yet mysteriously, ’twas only in 2009 that this so-called top seller was promoting Zrii! This post and the linked court documents show that people like him flit from one MLM to the next, taking their downline with them. You have no chance of such emulation because guys like this started years ago.
Here is the quote from Orwell’s 1984 itself:
“The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them….To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.”
You may believe in Protandim (this concept is beyond me I’m afraid, but you said it), so let’s see how long this lasts. Eventually the penny will drop and the truth of it all will be revealed.
Myhill, like all of us, has his own life and Karma to back it up. How he expiates it, is up to him. However, it is our duty to point out the wrongness in people’s ways as best we can. If I’ve used hurtful language, then I’m sorry and it’s me still learning the path.
But don’t stop me doing it. If something is wrong, I’ll speak. Myhill’s actions now are still founded on a corrupt core. If I see change, I’ll say, but I haven’t yet.
Furthermore, do not ever drag Sensei’s name into this. He has no part in the discussion and your introduction of him is another case of Orwellian double-speak. No way are you comparing like with like, so stop it.
On top of that, do not slander a Buddhist. When you said,
- you really have got the wrong end of the stick and do not understand this Buddhism or a correct way to live, very much, at all. I repeat, it is our duty to point out and reveal the wrongness in people’s actions and the unjustness in the world.
Please refer to my Hitler quip earlier – do we forget all the bad? Really? That is Hitler’s karma, going into the next lifetime, is it not?
Myhill is not Hitler, obviously, and I’m not saying he is. But the continuing use of ill-gotten gains to finance philanthropic ventures is his own self-slandering, in Buddhist terms. Why should I not point this out? You yourself point out wrongness in the world, because on your twitter page you plea for an end to puppy mills and for people not to buy from them. In your terms, this is the same as blocking someone earning an honest living just because you think their methods are wrong!
Chant all you like, but your own promotion and involvement in this activity does you no favours. Get out of it.
I urge you to read, and re-read Gautama’s key words. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path
All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation. Do your best.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Rees
What a misfortune that you don’t even know me yet can say I am deluded. I am curious did I not private message this all to you? Or did I as I am doing now put it on your blog for all the world to see? What is your true motive and what do you have to personally gain in all of this? If I had something to gain or if I felt privy for the world to see I would have shared it for eveyone as you have. I have to say that you say so much I disagree with. And then you obviously spent a little time trying to find me on sites like twitter to see if you could use something I posted against me and then to state something like “You yourself point out wrongness in the world, because on your twitter page you plea for an end to puppy mills and for people not to buy from them. In your terms, this is the same as blocking someone earning an honest living just because you think their methods are wrong!” For you to think someone is earning an honest living by hurting innocent animals for their own gain is just as horrific as saying people are making an honest living by using innocent people as slaves for sex. Maybe you are for sex trafficking and that is why you want to slander Paul Myhill. I am not quite sure but I what I do know is that I am going to bring this to one of my leaders in the organization and ask them for guidance to help me understand why someone like you, a Buddhist, would use a blog to hurt people and not to truly use it for true humanity. That being said I thank you for the dialogue and thank you for teaching those about this Buddhist practice. I hope they gain knowledge and not misunderstanding.
Darlene
Darlene.
You cannot cherry pick rights and wrongs. I asked you to re-read the Noble Eightfold Path, now do so as you obviously have not done so since you’re still caught in a whirl of inward annoyance.
You cannot cherry pick the Noble Eightfold Path likewise. It is a solid, seriously thought out core, thought out millennia ago by an ordinary man searching for the truth of things. By these means he became extra-ordinary. The SGI uses this Buddhism, because, paraphrasing Sensei, Richard Causton and others, “within the ancient words from different times and places are values that are directly relevant to us in our modern world”. It’s up to the individual to accept the reality of the gods and devils on the Gohonzon, but the metaphors these represent by the words and actions of ourselves on our own (and others’) lives are clear enough.
Like a comic only being as good as his last joke, everyone’s standing anywhere, which includes the SGI, comes from their thoughts, words and actions, with the latest being paramount in affecting one’s karma. How else can the phrase 3000 realms in a single moment be relevant or valid? Being a long time member (e.g. a fortune baby, a senior leader, etc) carries no kudos, if that was your implication. Being part of a multi-million dollar business carries no kudos. Being helped with your health issues carries no kudos.
I just consider you wrong in your support for Myhill’s activity.
Considering the analogy I threw to you, your own “just cause”, the puppy mill thing. I heartily agree with the sentiment and cause – that’s not the issue.
Consider, would you be so supportive if an anti-puppy mill organisation existed that was financially supported by Columbian drug runners (say)? Compare to when you initially said,
Read carefully what I said and not what you think I said. Breeding puppies is legal, is it not? Yet on Twitter you said,
Obviously, from your blanket statement promoting a blockade of legally run pet shops I didn’t pull out the link describing industrial breeding methods and thus you totally misunderstood when I said,
That is the whole essence of my comment. The hypocrisy.
It has nothing to do with the rightness or wrongness of caring for orphans, but wholly about the hypocritical stance of Myhill getting his money from a pyramid scheme which has done nothing but suck money from ordinary people. The duplicity has extended to good people like yourself, deluded completely by the fantasy science and a myriad of “testimonials” in lieu of real, hard, tested, repeatable, science. The “fact” of oxidative “stress” is brought up like a golden axiom when the real truth is that the scientific community is very dubious about the “stress” part of it at all – we need oxygen to live, after all. We’d be a lot more stressed without oxygen, wouldn’t we. ;-)
The company foundations and frauds are bad enough, but Myhill has twisted and turned his story and connection to Lifevantage so much that the bad karma attached to him will take a lot of shifting.
Myhill is using transferable misery to further his philanthropy. Really, the means do not justify the end which is what you’re trying to say. I urge you, again, get out of it. There are plenty of decent home businesses in which you can partake without being part of this smoke and mirrors charade.
As for your comment about privacy…..? Really. Get real girl. If you don’t want to be seen;
The T&C of my website and my motives are plain to see. I’ve infringed none of your privacy, just hurt your ego. It was your actions that brought you here. I didn’t seek you out. BTW, I found you in 5 seconds….think on that.
If I’ve hurt you then I’m sorry for the hurt, but how else am I to help and speed up the process of self-awareness and protect others from similar misfortune? Maybe Myhill will see it for what it is?
Don’t ever get Buddhism mixed up with anything else. It is what it is – a way to live. If your life doesn’t fit the advice given all those millennia ago, change your life, change yourself. Don’t try and fit life now into the path written down long ago as it won’t work. As a big example, those Buddhists working within the military-industrial complex as defined by Eisenhower need to seriously look at themselves. The US economy depends on it with all the sad ramifications that this brings to the Buddhist view. Here in the UK, it’s similar. If certain ways of living were “bad” in Shakyamuni’s time, they are still bad now because deep down under the veneer of our modern world we are the same people with the same humanity. This is what is meant by the phrase “never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself”.
Time and again I’ve seen good people with good intentions deluded in some way by misunderstanding what these words actually mean. I used to live in Somerset, near Glastonbury…. Many mix up Buddhism with the latest fad, be it crystals, dream catchers, incense burning, spirits, holistic healing, wellness, bells and nice shiny candle snuffers. Some think the chanting is magic, like in Harry Potter. The reality is that none of it matters – only the way you live your life. For Protandim I choose to put up, rather than shut up since the latter way harms people and thus sitting on my hands doing nothing is not for me. Granted, I’m not reaching concord with Myhill or Lifevantage; how could I since they are doing wrong on several counts? But I’m not being divisive. If everyone could see the harm done to thousands deluded by easy money the LV model would wither on the vine. This is my own, “right view”. It’s also a timely moment for me to utter “Right speech”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path
Guess you know by now or at least you should
There is no volunteer for the common good
Still waiting for the saviour to appear
He’s not here
And no one’s coming down to save your soul
You’re the only ones who can assume that role
But your minds are empty and you’ve lost control
To the ones who sell you dreams
To fill that hole
Some of us I know seem to have much more
Born with a key to every door
The distribution of fortune seems unfair
Same everywhere
But those who have they just want more
Using other peoples weakness to increase their score
Oh, do you really know who you’re working for
It’s not for one another and that’s for sure
Guess you know by now or at least you should
There is no volunteer for the common good
Still waiting for that saviour to appear
He’s still not here
And no one’s coming down to save your soul
You’re the only ones who can assume that role
But your minds are empty
And you’ve lost control
To the ones who sell you dreams
To fill that hole
http://youtu.be/HjEgjMIHy7c
Hello I’m sorry you didn’t run with your invention if you made the product 10 months before why didn’t you fight it then now your telling us that this don’t work for many diseases I’m stage three liver condition and its helping me my cousin is stage 1 dialysis and its helping her so how can you say it’s don’t help? Are you upset because you didn’t patent your finding and someone else jumped the gun? Now you want to air all the bad of Protandim! If you made the find then you would be liable if this is a scam. Is that what your saying the product Protandim is not helping sick people with many different diseases? Or you up set because you sat on your find and gave to another person to look at, and him knowing what he had been investigating for years and you say different. So what now your saying Protandim don’t work and its a scam than you being the founder of this mixture of herbs they are herbs right, or is that a lie too? Wouldn’t that make you liable as well as Joe McCord the scientist? So your a scientist too? I dint read all you had to say cause it sounded like your upset! I would be upset too. But like you said it will all turn around and if this is a scam then the company life vantage would have many suits on their hands, cause I m hearing many people say how it’s helping them, so what’s the down fall of being on Protandim if you invented it?
@Rosanna – I haven’t a clue what you’re on about, but from the sound of it you’re saying Protandim helps people. How, exactly?