*** 500th Review! *** Depending on who you believe from the online universe, the Avatar Course from Star's Edge International is either the most miraculous self-help breakthrough of our time, or an opaque Scientology-inspired pyramid scheme cult. After attending their "ReSurfacing" weekend course at the request - okay, insistence - of a friend who is an Avatar "Master,"* my impression was much closer to the former than the latter. I thought it was a brilliantly designed - and harmless - combination of meditative visualizations, Zen Buddhism, free will philosophy and cognitive behavior therapy, delivered in a supportive group setting with a very low student-faculty ratio. It also required enduring the occasional dose of 1960s hippie talk. The ReSurfacing course teaches by asking students questions: good questions and lots of them, numbering in the hundreds. Questions about students' lives, experiences, opinions, and beliefs. It's incredibly eye- (and mind-) opening. The course materials could have just told me "you can't predict more than 30% of what will make you happy, the beliefs trusted people have instilled in you are often more accurate than the things you've chosen to believe yourself, and you must follow your passions," but it was a heck of a lot more persuasive to have me answer and discuss tons of questions that led to these conclusions. (Dale Carnegie fans: this teaching method is similar to Carnegie's idea of asking the other person questions and getting them to say "yes, yes." ) Though probably half of the Avatar course materials are confidential, the ReSurfacing workbook that we used is not: you can buy it on Amazon for under $15. Somewhat curiously, the "play by play" list of course activities for the weekend was confidential, and I was asked to return it at the end of the course. It was nothing more than a list of what order we did the exercises in and when we interspersed them with videos of Harry Palmer talks and readings from Palmer's other books. Anyway, none of the material struck me as particularly scary (the videos are mostly on YouTube), and it all had the tone of a particularly good talk radio host or preacher. The biggest takeaway was that we largely function through our beliefs and identities, but that we have more control over our thoughts and beliefs - and thus actions - than we might think. It sounds fluffy but when you are made to lay it out in detail about your own life it's very powerful. --- End of basic review. You can probably stop reading here --- Now, if you're interested enough to be reading this far, let me share my research and experience regarding anti-Avatar material on the internet: - Founder Harry Palmer is said to have run a Scientology mission for 15 years. In his book, Living Deliberately, he actually poo-poos Scientology quite a bit. I'd be surprised if Avatar shared Scientology's anti-meds views; organizers told students to continue taking meds (but not street drugs or alcohol) in the course, and asked if students were seeing therapists - so they could get the professional's permission. Having said that, I couldn't help but cringe when Living Deliberately put psychotherapy and Dianetics in the same bucket (page 96 if you're curious). - Palmer also supposedly used to call himself an educational psychologist, and claimed he had studied a different major in college than he actually did. The Avatar materials don't say this anymore after dispute with a disaffected former Avatar trainer. - I've been told that Avatar is run as a multilevel marketing operation, where existing Masters recruit new students and make money when people agree to take the courses, whose material is partly "secret." I wish it were run more like Kaplan, a for-profit business of test prep courses with only copyright protection to help them with their secrets. But none of the Masters I met at the course seemed to be doing this for the money. - The price curve is indeed weird: Part I: ReSurfacing (the only part I took), 2 days, $300. Part II, 4-5 more days, $500. Part III: 2 more days, $1500. - Some of the Avatar bashing might be based on quite simple misunderstanding. One of the anti-Avatar sites: (see all linked pages from here: http://jeta.home.xs4all.nl/avatar/avatar-too-many-spirits.html) argues that Avatar is offering exorcisms of dead spirits called entities. But these "entities" are probably what mainstream best-selling author and psychiatrist Daniel Amen calls "automatic negative thoughts." Amen is not a Scientologist or Avatar. - And yes, Avatar is based in FL but incorporated in DE. Pretty standard for US businesses avoiding taxes. * An Avatar Master is someone who's completed their first two full courses. read more

I have observed, experienced and followed Star's Edge International for almost 30 years. The firm spearheads a most ambitious objective: to create an enlightened planetary civilization...a dream that for many is an impossible and grandiose idea. The firm's stewardship is to manage and present its core program, Avatar. From personal experience and without doubt, I can absolutely say it is the most effective personal-development program you could experience in achieving what I term 'nxgen wealth', clarity, peace of mind and well being. Greg Johnson read more

Harry Palmer's for profit corporation offers different level, self development courses beginning with the Avatar course. I completed the first two. The Avatar beginning course is fairly reasonable in price, and I found it very beneficial. The Master's course, I found overpriced and not so beneficial. I agonized over whether to take each of these courses. I regret spending over $5000 on the Master's course, as I got little out of it, but I worked hard at it. One of the major goals of Star's Edge is to awaken the planet. My contention is that if they want to accomplish this goal, they will offer the courses at more reasonable prices, or be satisfied to help develop just those individuals of ample means, along with making Harry rich of course. Harry Palmer is someone who has obviously devoted much of his life to personal growth, and he is wise. But he is not altruistic or a saint, by any means. Yet the individuals in the Avatar organization treat him like a god and guru: thus, some people mistake it for a cult which it is not, if I understand the definition of a cult. Remember Scientology? Harry used to be part of that organization. Have you heard the stories of devoted Scientologists losing every dime to that organization? Well, Avatar will gladly have you participate in courses repeatedly and take your money. I haven't participated in several years, but I STILL receive their brochures, sometimes with a CD, asking me to sign-up for a class. Anne Click read more