Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment

By Wondery

Society & Culture

What's Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment about?

When we face challenges in life, we seek answers from people we believe can help us. When tragedy strikes an exclusive retreat with a self-help superstar, many people are left to wonder: how far is too far? James Arthur Ray was an Oprah-endorsed self-help teacher who achieved fame, fortune, and influence. But friends and family members of his followers questioned his unorthodox methods, and tried to stop him. From Wondery, the makers of “Dirty John,” “Dr. Death,” and “The Shrink Next Door,” comes a story about the dark side of enlightenment. Hosted by journalist Matt Stroud. Available exclusively on Wondery+ or on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

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Introducing COLD: The Searc...

02.20.2023

Sheree Warren left her job in Salt Lake City on a mild October evening in 1985. She told a coworker she was headed to meet her estranged husband, Charles Warren, at a car dealership. But she never made it, Sheree ...

Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment episodes:

02.20.2023 Introducing COLD: The Search for Sheree Sheree Warren left her job in Salt Lake City on a mild October evening in 1985. She told a coworker she was headed to meet her estranged husband, Charles Warren, at a car dealership. But she never made it, Sheree ...
02.06.2023 Wondery Presents: Stolen Hearts Sergeant Jill Evans is a small town cop in Wales with an impressive record in her job, and a less than impressive record in her love life. After three engagements, two divorces and one affair, she’s beginning to worry that ...
01.23.2023 Wondery Presents: Frozen Head Hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart from the hit show Morbid. When 90-year-old Laurence Pilgeram drops dead on the sidewalk outside his condo, you might think that’s the end of his story. But, really, it’s just the beginning. Because ...
01.09.2023 Introducing SUSPECT: Vanished in the Snow For more than three and a half decades, the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews was a mystery – a riddle neither authorities nor her family members could solve. The residents of her cloistered Colorado hometown had scoured every inch of ...
12.15.2022 Wondery Presents American History Tellers: Presidential Assassinations On April 26th, 1865, Union soldiers closed in on the barn where Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirator David Herold were hiding. When Booth refused to give himself up, soldiers lit the barn on fire to drive him ...
11.28.2022 Introducing: I Hear Fear Nothing is as terrifying as the sounds we hear in the dark. The slow creak of a door opening late at night... or a whisper in a room when you thought you were alone... or a distant scream in the ...
11.14.2022 Wondery Presents: This Job is History Where the oddest jobs from the past meet a comedian from the present… and it’s awkward! On this weekly show, Chris Parnell (SNL, Rick and Morty) welcomes guests who have held some of human history’s most unexpected and downright bizarre ...
06.15.2020 Introducing: Guru A search for spiritual guidance leads a group of strangers to seek help from a self-help guru. He’s part of a growing number of entrepreneurs giving workshops and seminars all over the US in the 2000s. His unorthodox methods and ...