With Oprah's A New Earth class and Marianne Williamson's A Course in Miracles and the Markus Buckingham Workshop being offered for free on Oprah.com and Oprah and Friends XM Radio Channel 156, you could think this is the way spirituality and motivational speaking are marketed all over the web - but it is actually a $7 billion dollar industry according to an article in the April 14th issue of Fortune Magazine featuring James Ray, who appeared in The Secret and on Oprah's stage.

Ray is still an up-and-coming motivational speaker who is quickly moving up the ranks, hoping to reach Tony Robbins-like status. Ray's pitch combines using your spiritual power to bring financial success into your life - why is he successful? As Fortune's Richard Siklos put it:

Let's face it: Ours is a society looking for answers, or at least a good pep talk. People are working harder and longer and the media are filled with muddling imagery of tough times and high-living celebrities.

People are willing to pay $1,300 for one of James Ray's 2 17-hour day seminars and countless others buy books, CDs, DVDs and personal coaching sessions looking for direction - all of the spiritual teachers and motivational speakers Oprah has included on her show promote a number of products on their personal websites - even Oprah is profiting largely from endorsement deals for the New Earth webcasts.

The important point is to find your own personal balance, using the advice of others and not go overboard spending all of your money trying to make money.