We often turn to successful people for advice. Bookstore shelves are heavy with tomes adorned with photos of rich luminaries resting their head on their fist, and podcasts can鈥檛 get enough of famous stars explaining how they got to where they are.
By following their breadcrumbs, we hope for similar outcomes, but the thing is, chance plays an outsized role in success. Those who ascend to the top may not be smarter or more rational than us, just luckier.
Our Office has shone a light on Dr. Mercola, for example, an osteopathic physician who has made a fortune鈥攐ver聽300 million dollars, he admits鈥攑resenting himself as an avuncular natural health advisor while, behind closed doors, he sits for daily sessions with a marketing guru claiming to channel an all-knowing entity and blows carbon dioxide up his rear to feed the bacteria in his gut.
Moguls can be weird.
One company has recently聽聽for its CEO鈥檚 disturbing beliefs. You may know Scentbird as a frequent sponsor of YouTube channels. The subscription service charges USD 17.95 to mail you a different test tube of perfume in a plastic spray case monthly. It鈥檚 鈥渢he Netflix of fragrances,鈥� as the slogan goes. Its Better Business Bureau rating right now is a聽聽(the equivalent of聽聽if this were a school grade) due to 419 complaints lodged against the company, primarily by customers who claim to not have received their monthly shipment, to have great difficulty unsubscribing or receiving a refund.
So far, the story is no different from your typical social media sponsor, where the marketing is slick but the product or service deficient鈥攊f not outright deceptive. But the flak here has to do with Scentbird鈥檚 CEO, Mariya Nurislamova, and the things she regularly says on multiple platforms. Her magical thinking with regards to blood type, eye colour, and the foods you should eat鈥攏ot to mention her unhinged opinion on Adolf Hitler鈥攃an serve as a case study on how to think more critically about the world around us鈥� and as a warning that successful people are not necessarily wise.
Chemophobia
Nurislamova is a Russian immigrant now based in New York City whose聽聽cites a bachelor鈥檚 degree in mathematics from a Russian university and a Bachelor of Business Administration from a well-ranked college in Manhattan. She鈥檚 the CEO of Scentbird (the fragrance subscription service), drift (a car freshener subscription service), and Deck of Scarlet (a clean beauty product supplier).
Our first lesson here focuses on聽chemophobia, the irrational fear of things we label as 鈥渃hemicals,鈥� which are often substances that are artificially produced and which we fear might harm us. In truth, everything in the universe, including what makes up our bodies, is a chemical. Some chemicals are good for us; others, much less so. As Paracelsus stated, the dose makes the poison. Not so on聽, where the company has banned a long list of ingredients from being added to their products: phthalates, petrolatum, aluminum salts, even chemical sunscreens.
There is no reason to be afraid of chemical sunscreens (which contain agents like oxybenzone and homosalate instead of minerals like zinc oxide). They are聽聽and they do a good job鈥攚hen applied in sufficient quantity鈥攐f protecting us from skin cancer and from skin ageing due to sun exposure. By learning about chemistry, we can recognize natural hazards (sunlight) and embrace synthetic protection (chemical sunscreens). The world is more complicated than 鈥渘atural, good; artificial, bad.鈥�
Confirmation bias and the need to categorize ourselves
Nurislamova has a quarter of a million followers on聽, and her most popular clip right now, viewed nearly three million times, is on聽. In numerology, noticing this time on a clock is said to be significant: Nurislamova concurs, saying the illusory veil of the world in which we live temporarily drops when we spot this time on a clock face. It鈥檚 the spiritual realm telling us help is on its way.
This is a classic example of聽confirmation bias聽and rationalization. We assign special meaning to this time鈥攚hy? how do we know it鈥檚 special? because it looks like four straight lines?鈥攁nd we remember the times we noticed it and we put aside the numerous times we didn鈥檛. Once we鈥檝e decided that noticing 11:11 is special, we can decide that this act of noticing is the actual cause of any feeling or life event that surrounds it, anything that coincides vaguely with noticing the time. But in the end, it is purely arbitrary.聽
Her TikTok videos also highlight this need we feel to put ourselves in a聽category, even if it is made-up, so that the category can tell us something about ourselves. The best example is聽astrology. Here, Nurislamova practices astrology of blood types by claiming that, for example,聽聽have a lot of physical energy and are prone to burnouts, while also being pig-headed and reluctant to hear out the people around them. As someone who studied biochemistry, molecular biology, and human genetics鈥攖he actual ways in which the human body works鈥擨 can say that this is complete balderdash. Your blood type does not influence your energy levels or whether or not you鈥檙e a team player. But it聽蹿别别濒蝉听good to be assigned a group and told everyone in that group shares the same characteristics.
What she says about blood types is flexible enough that anyone can relate to them. My own blood type is O and if I squint I can make some of what she says about my type fit鈥� but I鈥檓 sure so could someone with an AB blood type. The way to break the illusion is to see if the description of another group fits you too鈥攍ook up astrological predictions for a sign other than your own, or better yet, recruit a friend to read you two predictions, one for your sign and one for another, and see if you can figure out which one is yours. You will begin to notice that these predictions are so generic as to apply to nearly everyone.
Barnum statements
The way to appear to be specific while being the exact opposite is to make聽Barnum statements, named after P.T. Barnum, the American circus showman. A Barnum statement is vague but feels personal. For example, 鈥測ou have a tendency to be critical of yourself.鈥� This applies to most people, at least some of the time.
Barnum statements can also say two opposite things at the same time鈥斺�渨hile you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them鈥濃�攚hich means that 100% of people will be able to relate to them while thinking that they were singled out by these declarations.
Which takes us to psychic divination.
Mariya Nurislamova wears many hats. 鈥淎s you guys know,鈥� she聽聽while advertising her first online two-day retreat over Zoom, 鈥淚鈥檓 an intuitive, I鈥檓 a psychic, I read聽, I do the things.鈥� One of those 鈥渢hings鈥� is attempting to predict the future.
贬别谤听聽for the year we just left behind are perfect examples of Barnum statements: empty, out of focus, but spelled out with enough confidence as to appear meaningful.聽鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a very fast-paced year in certain instances, and then a year of complete, almost like a pause, in others,鈥� she states as if teaching the Barnum effect to a classroom of students learning about critical thinking. She predicts tech making big strides; the fear that automation will take over jobs; weird political scandals and turmoil; and a lot of advancements in the biosciences. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a year that is actually really hard to predict,鈥� she admits, and maybe she should have stopped there.
础听聽of hers on YouTube attempts to provide her viewers with a personal forecast. She asks them to pick one or two objects from the following list: brick, river, fence, treasure chest, and seed. Let鈥檚 say I went with my gut and picked 鈥渂rick.鈥� She then explains what 鈥渂rick鈥� can mean for me in 2026: buying a house, building a house,聽thinking聽of buying a house, renovating a house, buying a new set of furniture, thinking of potentially moving. My concept of 鈥渉ome鈥� could be shifting鈥� or maybe I now feel more like a citizen of Gaia, Mother Earth, than a citizen of my own country. Throw enough spaghetti at the wall and something will invariably stick.
Sympathetic magic
An old idea of humanity鈥檚 is聽sympathetic magic, meaning that two objects are linked supernaturally because they resemble each other. Keeping a phallic object around the house will bring potency, our ancestors thought, and displaying a carved idol of a woman with birthing hips will help the family conceive. Nurislamova draws from the same well when she states that聽聽have a connection to the earth, and that聽聽looks like sunlight and therefore contains it.聽, with flecks of gold in their greenish-brown orbs, can accumulate solar energy, she calmly states. Meanwhile, if you crave聽, it鈥檚 because you miss your father. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e reaching out for that piece of baguette,鈥� she says with a straight face, 鈥測ou are craving the nurturing of your father.鈥� Hearing this, Sigmund Freud would nod and start taking notes.
This type of understanding of the world is as crude and unsophisticated as it gets. There is real magic in seeing the universe as it truly is鈥攂y learning about nebulae, and gene expression, and human psychology鈥攂ut what we are relegated to while watching her clips on TikTok is that if a thing looks like another thing, they must have a spiritual connection.
Once you believe that, anything is possible, even rehabilitating Hitler.
Moral relativism in the higher dimensions
Nurislamova鈥檚 videos are full of 鈥渕anifesting鈥� and 鈥渃hannelling.鈥� In fact, she has her eyes closed in most of them because she claims to be channelling her Higher Self from some spiritual realm or other. This is how she allows herself to say things that don鈥檛 sit right with some Scentbird customers.
鈥淭he heart is one of those energies,鈥� she聽, 鈥渢hat, if your heart is activated internally, you can heal your own body in a manner of days.鈥� Even cancer, she says. People diagnosed with the Big C or some terminal illness are, in her opinion, either ignorant of their true purpose in life or purposefully deviating from it. We had聽a naturopath in Montreal聽who thought that cancer was your body鈥檚 way of letting you know it was becoming too acidic; Nurislamova claims cancer is essentially a guardrail letting your car know it鈥檚 deviating from its one true course. This is victim blaming. Cancer is often outside of our control, but here, Nurislamova blames it on the person who has it for not fulfilling their true function in life.
Worse than this, morally speaking, is a comment she makes at the end of聽聽on May 11, 2022. Her co-host reads a question aloud: 鈥淐an a Higher Self be evil?鈥� Nurislamova sighs and contends that it鈥檚 hard because the perception of good and evil by humans is very different from, let鈥檚 say, when it鈥檚 done by 鈥渂eings in the seventh dimension.鈥� Your Higher Self, she continues, considers everything to be a learning experience: it鈥檚 neither good nor evil. Murder could be considered all good depending on the intention. If your goal is to learn about murder and upload this knowledge to the Akashic records鈥攁 fictional, spiritual library, by the way鈥攖hen murder is not evil.
鈥淎nd by the way, look at Hitler,鈥� she says, unprompted. 鈥淗e鈥檚 one of the poster children for, like, being an evil person. Do you know how many millions of souls benefited from learning from the experience that he has created?鈥� In our dimension, we may think it鈥檚 a Holocaust, but she argues that in a higher dimension, it鈥檚 鈥渙ne of the greatest sources of knowledge of, you know, of 3D planet Earth warfare. [鈥 So, is he evil? Not really. I don鈥檛 think so.鈥�
I dare her to repeat this comment, with her eyes open this time, in front of a Jewish congregation, a Romani assembly, a queer community, or any of the many groups who were targeted in Hitler鈥檚 Nazi Germany.
Survival bias聽
When she was asked to comment on the fact that Scentbird customers were now learning about her kooky spiritual beliefs, Nurislamova聽聽she thought it was a good thing. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad that it鈥檚 coming to the surface, that I鈥檓 both of those things.鈥�
The problem with irrational beliefs is that the real world doesn鈥檛 go away because you wish it to. People who pay hundreds of dollars for her online classes or thousands of dollars for her retreats or workshops鈥攈er upcoming聽聽costs USD 1,111 minus accommodation and meals鈥攎ay聽蹿别别濒听better in the moment, but this closed-eye channelling is unlikely to resolve actual mental problems, or deal with trauma, or treat psychiatric conditions. And her advice could potentially lead to disordered eating, as she flags so many types of food as聽: meat, fish, seafood (it has a vibration of death), tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, bell peppers (they bring darkness to your aura because they are the products of nightshade plants鈥攇et it? 鈥渘ight鈥� and 鈥渟hade鈥�?), and gluten from bread (because it鈥檚 glue, so it makes you energetically heavier). What are you supposed to eat? What聽does聽she eat?
And before you accuse her of just being a grifter鈥攁 liar who closes her eyes and spews nonsense simply to cash in鈥攎aking money with claptrap does not imply deception. There are true believers out there, I鈥檝e聽written about them before. There is nothing the human brain can鈥檛 be convinced of, and if there鈥檚 money involved, all the better.
That鈥檚 why we can鈥檛 try to replicate a successful person鈥檚 career path by stepping into their footsteps. It鈥檚 called the聽survival bias.聽We point to Mark Zuckerberg and how he is a financially successful college dropout while ignoring the many more college dropouts who never achieved anywhere near this level of success. We remember the great books from yesteryear which are still around聽产别肠补耻蝉别听they are great and fail to take into account the thousands of mediocre novels from decades earlier that are now out of print.
Magical thinking infects all of our minds. Eminent actors go on podcasts where they are asked about their star sign in a bid to explain who they are and how they became so famous. Tech billionaires open their minds up so much in an attempt to delay death they allow all sorts of nonsensical ideas in. Even scientists and doctors can flirt with beliefs that are not entirely evidence based.
Magic is reassuring. Believing in it separates you from the real world.
But the real world doesn鈥檛 go away and when you least expect it it鈥檒l bite you in the rear just to remind you that it鈥檚 still there.
Take-home message:
- Successful people are not necessarily smarter or more rational than others, as success often depends on chance
- If we want to think more critically about the world around us, we need to understand the problems with chemophobia, confirmation bias, sympathetic magic, and Barnum statements
