I've got to agree with the moderator in this instance: it seems we are being given precious little actual information about what happens (and how) in that group and a lot of personal feelings and evaluations about it. But if (and I do say "if") the group is a cult, and brainwashes people, then why should we trust the personal feelings and evaluations of people who might be brainwashed? Unless we know what actually happens in these sessions, how can we trust these testimonies? And given the fact, already admitted by some believers, that the group routinely hides its true intents, then they have nothing instructive to tell us about said intents.

And if we consider the fact that critics are not saying "no one in HP gets any good from it" but rather that, as in most LGTs, "some people are especially vulnerable and end up ruining their lives, but others end up unscathed," then what use are positive testimonies? It's the negative ones we need to hear to make an opinion, not the positive ones, because we already know there should be plenty of positive ones. It is the presence, or absence, of ruined lives that we need to look out for. Coupled with that the fact that HP, like most LGTs, does not do any triage...

Weird, I don't know how this post ended up here. It was supposed to go under the "Hoffman Institute" thread. But perhaps this is due to my mistake for typing "HP" instead of "HI" for Hoffman Institute. I apologize if that is the case.