These events proved initially to be relatively unremarkable. This, however, changed abruptly.
One presentation was scheduled the day after a separate presentation had been scheduled, not primarily for the AAPS teaching faculty, but rather for the Ann Arbor community at large. Someone had envisioned that parents and other residents of the city would want to attend this online event. The event was quite poorly attended. Among the several causes leading to the minimal participation was a lack of publicity about the event. It is not clear whether this was due to poor planning or an internal communications glitch inside the AAPS. It was, in any case, probably an innocent mistake or miscalculation; it does not seem that anyone intended to deliberately torpedo the event.
It certainly would have been disappointing to the administration of the AAPS that so few people logged on to see and hear the presentation by Dr. Sealey-Ruiz. It certainly was also a disappointment to Sealey-Ruiz herself, although her rate of pay for the work was not affected by the attendance numbers.
What was, however, noteworthy was anger and invective which Dr. Sealey-Ruiz aimed at the teachers at the next day’s meeting. Fresh off the disappointment of the previous day’s low attendance, and apparently unaware that teachers had not been asked to attend the poorly-attended session, but rather merely informed about it, she accused teachers of a long list of failings. More precisely, the meeting had barely been mentioned to the teachers at all, buried in a multi-page administrative email, so that a few teachers were barely aware of its existence, and many other teachers not aware at all.
It seemed not to have occurred to Dr. Sealey-Ruiz, or not to matter to her, that this was simply to be explained as a communications glitch, and not as some grand statement of intent.
Instead, she continued with her embarrassing and shocking tirade, hurling reproaches in a painful tongue-lashing. It is not surprising that she would be angry or disappointed. It is surprising that she leveled a significant degree of animosity toward the faculty and that she failed to understand that it was probably innocent miscommunication which led to insufficient publicity and the subsequent low levels of attendance.
Yet the surprise might have been predicted. A survey of Dr. Sealey-Ruiz’s published works reveals hints about her temperament. She has a rather high opinion of herself. In one passage from her book Love from the Vortex, she writes:
I have come to the realization that no man on earth will ever be able to comprehend the depths of love I have to offer.
Her work is largely affective. She refers repeatedly to a concept which she calls “critical love.” Her writing makes it clear that her concept of education is driven by emotion.
In another passage from that book, she writes:
I am truly happy that you are happy. Yet, I am also sad about your happiness; for, if you were experiencing just a little unhappiness, then it could open up an opportunity for me to experience total bliss.
Given the two quotes above, and other similar texts which could be cited, the bitter outburst, captured on Zoom and witnessed live by almost 2,000 participants, might not have been a surprise.
The lesson: It might be good to screen or otherwise look into speakers before hiring them for a series of presentations.
