Greed, Grift, & Glamour – Lessons from the Fall of the For Profit Spiritual Industry

Jennifer Hoffman – We are watching, in real time, the collapse of the guru era — the for-profit spiritual industry built on glamour, paid access, and manufactured enlightenment. This is not only about Deepak Chopra’s infamous relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, although that plays a part.

For nearly two decades I’ve witnessed people pour their faith, money, and power into authors and teachers who positioned themselves as the sole keepers of truth.

I knew it could not and would not last, something I have been saying for many years. I have been part of the spiritual world longer than most of the people who are now writing public apologies. While others built high-ticket empires and declared themselves enlightened, I did my work quietly, consistently, and with integrity. I turned down publishers, refused to share stages with those I thought were fraudsters, and never sold access to myself as a product.

So this moment of reckoning does not surprise me. The truth always rises. And the collapse of the guru economy was inevitable. Now the curtain has finally been pulled back and people are left wondering whom to trust.

My work as a spiritual mentor, teacher, and guide began by accident, first in 1991 when I started a spiritual group in Houston, Texas that quickly grew to include hundreds of members. Then in 2004, when I answered a calling that required me to give up a career I loved in business and technology. I never saw myself as a ‘leader,’ I did not want to be a ‘guru,’ I just wanted to help people find their own path and learn how to be in control of their own energy.

Since 2004 I have written 8 books, all self-published, all best sellers. No ‘famous’ author has ever written a promotional blurb for me, I was not part of their crowd. I have written over 5000 articles, started the first internet-based live weekly broadcast in March 2004 that I still host today. I started teaching online courses in March 2004, an early pioneer in online training.

I have millions of followers and students – but I do not have millions of social media followers.

You have probably never heard of me, and I am OK with that.

When I began teaching and writing on spiritual topics, which was a true calling for me. I knew I never wanted to be a leader or a guru. I wanted people to learn, heal, and grow. If they followed me it was because my work resonated with them, not because I promoted myself as THE source of information and they needed me to be their light – and pay for the privilege.

I watched as the pay to participate spiritual industry was formed, populated with people who said they had all of the answers and would share them with you, for a price that started at 4 or 5 figures.

Here’s something to ponder: If someone claims to be enlightened but charges $10K to access them, and an extra $5K for a photo op, that’s not enlightenment, it’s a pay to play business model.

What began as a movement rooted in personal healing and self-awareness gradually shifted into a business model built around high-ticket access, curated personas, and the illusion that transformation required proximity to a personality rather than one’s own inner work.

When major publishing houses approached me I turned them down because I did not like their terms or contracts. And I was not comfortable with charging exorbitant prices or sharing stages with people I knew were not authentic or aligned with my own values.

I could not promote people who I thought were, to be honest, scamming their audiences and were only in it for the money. So I did my work in the background while others gained fame, fortune and now, notoriety.

You won’t find my name on the Epstein list, or hear about me shacking up with other authors on promotional trips. I do not have to write long Substack articles talking about my errors in judgment and apologizing for my past misdeeds.

Because I never wanted to be a guru, a ‘leader’, or be known as The source. And I will continue to do the work that I have done for 23 years while they will fade into obscurity. There is value in authenticity – you do not have to apologize for yourself.

During those frenzied years, many people placed enormous trust in authors and teachers who seemed to have all the answers. Audiences were encouraged, either subtly or directly, with a shocking amount of NLP inspired language, to believe that enlightenment was something delivered to them rather than cultivated within them.

NOTE: NLP refers to Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which was started in the 1950s at university labs at MIT and Stanford. DARPA provided early and ongoing funding. It is literally language used for mind control.

And during that time I observed as people hung on every word of the likes of Deepak Chopra, and the Hay House authors of the moment, and warned that the model would fall one day under the weight of its grift, greed, and glamor. I said that the true nature of those they held up as gurus and spiritual pundits would one day be revealed and the ivory towers they built for them would eventually fall.

And so it is. If you have read Lissa Rankin’s recent exposure of the dark side of this spiritual profit center, you may be heartbroken to know that your favorite author is named among those she calls out. And many people are understandably hurt, some are emotionally bereft, others, like me, are not surprised.

It’s understandable that so many people feel hurt or disillusioned now. Their trust wasn’t misplaced; it was simply invested in an industry that evolved into something that could never last over the long term. In the famous words of WC Fields , “… you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

If ‘awakening’ was their objective, they have now reached liftoff. It just happened in a way they did not predict would be achieved, as a side effect of the revelation of the dark side of the for profit spiritual industry, and that would lead to its downfall.

Greed, grift, glamour, and the targeting of the gullible is business model that does not have long term stability.

The truth is out and now it is time to forge a new path. The sad truth we have learned is that things never end well when you turn your power over to someone you think has all of the answers. And when you have to pay thousands of dollars to get close to someone, you’re probably being scammed.

Watching your spiritual heroes and heroines fall off of their pedestals, as a result of their own grift, greed, and self-proclaimed moral superiority, has angered and saddened many.

It’s a moment that we see played out in history through fairy tales – the moment we realize that the emperor has no clothes.

I have never liked Deepak Chopra, something about him always bothered me. Maybe it was the smugness, the self-importance, the spiritual bypassing on every topic. And if you have not read his recent response to the revelation of his name being in the Epstein files over 3600 times, please read it. It’s a classic example of spiritual bypassing, with words carefully selected by his legal team to avoid admitting guilt, and limiting possible future litigation. I know, I was a paralegal and I know how lawyers and PR teams work to protect a reputation. They call it ‘damage control.’

After over 20 years of spiritual glamor, grift, greed, and targeting the gullible, it’s time to get back to normal.

There was a time when spiritual teachings were about self-awareness, empowerment, and self-growth.

This was before spiritual teaching became a profit center.

Then, you did not need to pay someone 4 or 5 figures to be declared healed, whole, and free from ‘sin’. We are watching the collapse of an old and outworn paradigm in real time, to be replaced by people who have a genuine calling and who are authentically aligned with their work.

And watch out for the people whose tone is now shifting from ‘I have all the answers’ to ‘you were always your own source of information.’ Sadly, they are just trying to avoid obscurity and stay on their stage.

Their hypocrisy is truly boundless.

Here is what I see happening now. New teachers will come forward. Real people, grounded in authenticity, aligned with their teaching, grounded in the reality of focusing on self-awareness, not hero worship. These people have always been around, they have just been overshadowed by an industry that could buy press time, bolster book sales, and fund stages.

They won’t be loud or obnoxious, they won’t promote themselves as your source. You may have to look for them to find them, and that’s OK. ’When the student is ready, the teacher appears.’

And they won’t be air-brushed, retouched, AI generated, use ghost writers, or steal others’ content (that has been a problem for me – having my work stolen by so-called ‘spiritual’ or ‘business leaders’.)

What we can learn from the fall of the for profit spiritual industry is this – you really were the source of your own healing and growth all along. You were scammed into thinking that other people had the answers you needed to come to terms with the reality of your life and create your own authentic alignment

And you never needed to pay anyone thousands of dollars for answers that you could get yourself, when you learned to ask the right questions.

It’s time for a new path and a new paradigm. And whatever was blocking it just got shoved out of the way. If you have a calling, get started. The path has been cleared for you and it is time to shine your light and let others see it.

And me? I have been doing this work for 23 years, since 2004, and I am still here. I will continue to do what I have always done – write, teach, speak, and share. If you like my work, great. If you don’t that is great too – there are plenty of teachers out there for you to find. But if you want a guru, I am not the person for you. I know that you must shine your own light and I am only here to help you find it for yourself.

Copyright (c) 2003-2026 by Jennifer Hoffman. All rights reserved.

SF Source Enlightening Life Feb 2025