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HowDoesItHappen
Just found this and thought it was applicable to a lot of what UMers say online. Quite a few of the other fallacies apply too:
[yourlogicalfallacyis.com]

Quite right HDIH, and if you want to see every possible logical fallacy and irrational argument there is, read any of Serge's books of "Philosophy"- they are loaded with glaring examples.

But like a lot of new-ageists, his 'rationale' is that logic and evidence is an illusion (in his case a trick of the temporal world- astral planes, entities, lords of form) and that only "spherical" thinking can lead to the "truth"

The "truth" (one-unified truth) being a very subjective world view of Serge's invention. Spherical thinking meaning "illogical" and 'without evidence or sense".

It is appealing to 'think' that there might be a 'greater truth' than what we can perceive (with out senses and analyze rationally), and I guess as you cannot disprove anything he says (or any religion/new age/spiritual construct), and despite a total absence of evidence that may support it, the appeal (what if...) is what snares people in.

We are also not taught any of these logical arguments at any stage of our lives. The media is full of them, our daily interactions rely on them, our eduction perpetuates them- so with that fuzzy, almost stone-age mindset, even an intelligent person cannot sort the wheat from the chaff. It is easier to let someone tell you they have figured it out, then to try and do so for yourself.

Really good point HDIH.

Pranic Princess has launched a new blog called The FACTS about Universal Medicine. She has her hands on some UM student notes, some of which were quoted here, and is also taking a swing at the propaganda blogs, which are easy targets.

I've just put up the first of two posts on Serge Benhayon's misandry on the UMA blog. It looks at Serge's writings beginning with the interplanetary gender war which human beings have played out through gazillion reincarnations, to the Esoteric take on modern gender politics. It winds up with a visit to Universal Law solicitors in Mullumbimby for a divorce. Woman Good, Man Evil - Esoteric gender mashing

I thought i would type Esoteric Hierarchy in google for fun to see if I came up with a picture of Serge's face.

But instead I came up with this-

[www.esoteric-philosophy.net]

Summary:

Esoteric Philosophy is, essentially, the "Science of the Soul," and provides an insight into the synthetic nature of the energies and forces lying behind Man, Creation and the Phenomenal World. The Methods and Laws governing the understanding and utilization of these energies and forces are provided throughout various writings on the subject, and a mere introduction to these concepts have been compiled in the index below. While it is in no way a comprehensive treatment of Esoteric Philosophy, the information below should provide an interesting and provocative appeal to both the rational and intuitive aspects of the reader.

"The keynotes upon which the occult philosophy is built, are:
1. There is naught in manifestation except organized energy.
2. Energy follows or conforms itself to thought.
3. The occultist works in energy and with energies."
(The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 674)


A quick perusal and I have found most of Serge's key ideas, terms, terminology, ideas...

Seems like he is in contact with the Hierarchy via the dimension of the 'internet'.

So much for revelation. I think it is more like 'revel-in-others-information"

Students, save yourself $40 bucks a pop. It's all here for free. And just as loopy, just the way you like it.

There is a clear demarcation line between cults and recognised religious and philosophical teachings.

The link in the above post is the home page of an individual. The excepts in the various topics represent the fundamentals of many Eastern Religions.

People have to be careful and differentiate between cults and recognised religious and philosophical teachings. Just because the expressed viewpoints are different to Christianity; it does not justify calling those philosophical teachings cultish.

The source of Universal Medicine teachings can be traced back to the Theosophical Society; an organisation started by Helena Blavatsky. There are many reputable organisations and individuals that use similar philosophical teachings as the Theosophical Society.

Theosophical Society:
[en.wikipedia.org]

Helena Blavatsky:
[en.wikipedia.org]

Alice Bailey is the primary source of the information posted on: [www.esoteric-philosophy.net]

Alice Bailey:
[en.wikipedia.org]

Alice Bailey's books are readily available from any good bookshop.

Lucis Trust is the publisher of Alice Bailey's works.

Lucis Trust:
[www.lucistrust.org]

The Lucis Trust was incorporated in the United States in 1922. It is officially recognised by the Federal Government (501c3 status) and by various State Governments as tax-exempt.

The Lucis Trust is registered in Great Britain, in Holland and in Germany. lt has bank accounts or financial agents in many other countries, including Geneva, Switzerland, where the European headquarters of the work is established.

The Lucis Trust is not endowed. It is a non-profit world service organisation receiving and using monies to promote activities concerned with the establishment of right human relations and world cooperation and sharing.
The financial and legal affairs of the Lucis Trust are controlled by an international Board of Trustees, aided by additional Trustees and elected Officers and members in different countries.

The Lucis Trust is on the roster of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Wikipedia:
[en.wikipedia.org]

The objectives of the Lucis Trust as stated in its charter are: "To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, science and art; to encourage every line of thought tending to the broadening of human sympathies and interests, and the expansion of ethical religious and educational literature; to assist or to engage in activities for the relief of suffering and for human betterment; and, in general, to further worthy efforts for humanitarian and educational ends."

The Worldwide Goodwill group, founded in 1932, has been recognized by the United Nations as a Non-Government Organisation (NGO), and is represented during regular briefing sessions for NGOs at the United Nations. The Lucis Trust has consultative status (roster level) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

These passages from notes taken at Serge Benhayon's lectures have been posted on the FACTS about Universal Medicine blog and encapsulate a lot of the UM worldview. Misandry, denigrating life and humanity, misogyny, victim blaming, pseudoscience - evolution denial, autocratic instructions on major life decisions.

Circumcision
This is needed for an esoteric life. It is not a Jewish thing. It was around long before the Jews. When we enter the physical realm there is only so much we can deal with. While it is not our natural realm we do have to work within it. If you think of it like this we have to cut our nails, shave, cut our hair because nail growing and hair rowing is part of our animalistic nature. Sex is also part of our animalistic nature. The truth is that a man has less sex drive if he is circumcised. Making love is very different than having sex. Making love is Divine. The body we are in is part of what we need to attend to. The first purpose is love, then see the human body as a vehicle of expression. Having a circumisation is an act that says I am not here to have animalistic sex/ animalistic urges. With sex, which is rape energetically, you are being used just as you are using another. We use our body from our emptiness. We have to get to the point where we have an awareness of the fact that we have a body and then ask what does this body need to be soul-full. Side note: Having a vasectomy is fine.

When Serge presented about circumcision people in the audience became very defensive. Serge then asked us if we were DEFENDERS OF THE HUMAN RACE. A LOT OF US ARE. WE ARE NOT PREPARED TO SEE IT IN THE LOW FORM IT IS WE WANT TO BUILD IT UP. This is an ideal and belief we have to address within ourselves. (Esoteric Development Group notes taken and distributed by Esoteric Breast Masseuse and registered nurse, Elizabeth Dolan, October 2011, p.7)

From an anonymous note taker at the same lecture:

Circumcision- needed for the esoteric light. Foreskin part of the animalistic body (not part of our true form). Men who are circumcised are less sex driven (able to make love). Uncircumcised are men more likely to be attracted to other women. We are not here to procreate and have animalistic urges.
The way women use their bodies is not good. They become the man’s remedy / relief. Rape is the energy of being used

From the next EDG meeting:

Circumcision

Serge brought this up again. He spoke about it in the last EDG presentation. He wanted to make it clear that he was not telling people to get circumcised. The act of circumcision is there to remind us that we are not here to be animals. We are here on earth to get out of here. We are not meant to be here. Circumcising a baby is a reminder to the man that he is not an animal. If anyone thought from what Serge said that they should go and get themselves circumcised or have their older kids circumcised then they are channeling the Astral plane. (Esoteric Development Group notes taken by Elizabeth Dolan, December 2011, pp.4-5)

Recent posts on the FACTS blog include a response to the cult physiotherapist, Kate Greenaway targeting parents of autistic children with Esoteric healing & cult recruitment, and a link to a UK news article on Serge's stepdaughter and Ascended Master, Simone Benhayon's very non Esoteric marital argy bargy with her cult member ex husband that ended up in the local court.

Quote
VenusDarkly
These passages from notes taken at Serge Benhayon's lectures have been posted on the FACTS about Universal Medicine blog and encapsulate a lot of the UM worldview. Misandry, denigrating life and humanity, misogyny, victim blaming, pseudoscience - evolution denial, autocratic instructions on major life decisions.

Circumcision
This is needed for an esoteric life. It is not a Jewish thing. It was around long before the Jews. When we enter the physical realm there is only so much we can deal with. While it is not our natural realm we do have to work within it. If you think of it like this we have to cut our nails, shave, cut our hair because nail growing and hair rowing is part of our animalistic nature. Sex is also part of our animalistic nature. The truth is that a man has less sex drive if he is circumcised. Making love is very different than having sex. Making love is Divine. The body we are in is part of what we need to attend to. The first purpose is love, then see the human body as a vehicle of expression. Having a circumisation is an act that says I am not here to have animalistic sex/ animalistic urges. With sex, which is rape energetically, you are being used just as you are using another. We use our body from our emptiness. We have to get to the point where we have an awareness of the fact that we have a body and then ask what does this body need to be soul-full. Side note: Having a vasectomy is fine.

When Serge presented about circumcision people in the audience became very defensive. Serge then asked us if we were DEFENDERS OF THE HUMAN RACE. A LOT OF US ARE. WE ARE NOT PREPARED TO SEE IT IN THE LOW FORM IT IS WE WANT TO BUILD IT UP. This is an ideal and belief we have to address within ourselves. (Esoteric Development Group notes taken and distributed by Esoteric Breast Masseuse and registered nurse, Elizabeth Dolan, October 2011, p.7)

From an anonymous note taker at the same lecture:

Circumcision- needed for the esoteric light. Foreskin part of the animalistic body (not part of our true form). Men who are circumcised are less sex driven (able to make love). Uncircumcised are men more likely to be attracted to other women. We are not here to procreate and have animalistic urges.
The way women use their bodies is not good. They become the man’s remedy / relief. Rape is the energy of being used

From the next EDG meeting:

Circumcision

Serge brought this up again. He spoke about it in the last EDG presentation. He wanted to make it clear that he was not telling people to get circumcised. The act of circumcision is there to remind us that we are not here to be animals. We are here on earth to get out of here. We are not meant to be here. Circumcising a baby is a reminder to the man that he is not an animal. If anyone thought from what Serge said that they should go and get themselves circumcised or have their older kids circumcised then they are channeling the Astral plane. (Esoteric Development Group notes taken by Elizabeth Dolan, December 2011, pp.4-5)

Recent posts on the FACTS blog include a response to the cult physiotherapist, Kate Greenaway targeting parents of autistic children with Esoteric healing & cult recruitment, and a link to a UK news article on Serge's stepdaughter and Ascended Master, Simone Benhayon's very non Esoteric marital argy bargy with her cult member ex husband that ended up in the local court.

I wish Serge had had his head circumcised- if you get my meaning ;-) That wasn't the most intelligent thing I have said, but it felt good.

It is scary the emphasis on 'we have to get out of here'. What if one of the 'students' decides to forgo proper medical treatment, because they are 'dumping prana' when they get cancer, so they can 'get out of here'. They are all pretty deluded that they are on a special ride... having found their way back to UM, as clear points of light, on the path of initiation, and all that claptrap. My guess is that like leaving a marriage they will feel almost overjoyed to find out they have a life threatening disease and they can 'clear karma' get Serge's blessing (and change the will at the same time) and then scarper back to Shamballah so they don't have to come back to this boring temporal brutish carnal world... or at least get an incarnation as a 5th level master.

Any way you dice this thing, it looks bad. I get flashes of Jones town and the students all singing kumbaya at some special retreat, with Serge promising a fastrack to the fiery realms...

Which reminds me. Serge's cosmology is actually 'Luciferic'. Alice Bailey was such a fan she called her trust the Lucifer Trust, then shortened it to Lucis when it was too controversial. Lucifer is of course a fallen angel in the biblical cosmology. He uses his bright light to lead souls astray and to the fiery realms of hell. Now who does this sounds like?

I have no doubt he is a devil. And I don't believe in them.

Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend has a nice article on A.J. Miller’s Jesus and Mary cult in Kingaroy Queensland. Aka 'God's Way of Love'. [www.smh.com.au]

Miller believes himself to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ no less. Sergio will no doubt loathe the comparison, heh heh, but there are a number of parallels.

Followers with scientific backgrounds rejecting verifiable scientific data for belief based ‘intellect’ and revelatory ‘knowledge’. From a former neuroscientist:

"I guess I was in my mid-20s when I started seeing the shortfalls of medicine and science when it came to explaining things," she says. "I just needed more answers." …Does she believe A. J. is Jesus, I ask? "That varies," she answers, laughing. "At the moment, probably not. Not in my heart. Intellectually, it seems like a very likely thing, but I don't KNOW it."

An emotionally blackmailing ‘love’ based doctrine that offers a path to divinity.

He believes that by examining trauma, both in this life and in lives that have been lived previously, one can move up a spiritual ladder, each rung taking you closer to a perfect relationship with God. All of the things that could impede a follower progressing up the ladder - addiction, failed relationships, even cancer and childhood illness, Miller tells me - are brought about by malign spirits who cause us to act in "unloving" ways, ways that displease God and distance us from His love.

Feeling (experience) trumps fact.

"When I claim I'm Jesus, most people automatically assume that means I'm claiming a lot of things," he says. "They assume it means I'm claiming I'm God, and I'm not. They assume it means that I'm claiming that everyone should listen to me, and I'm not. In fact, I tell people they need to always analyse things through their own experience."


Wholesale co-opting of Esoteric doctrines penned by an early 20th century spiritualist.

The Padgett Messages, which are enjoying something of an internet-fuelled renaissance, are significant for having introduced several spiritual ideologies that outlived Padgett - namely, a belief in the existence of soul mates, in the possibility of life after death and the hope of achieving immortality, and in the idea of Divine Love. Miller has co-opted, almost verbatim, nearly all of these ideas into God's Way of Love.

Only donate if you feel to.

"You don't have to give him money but if you want access, the quickest way to get his attention is to give him a donation," says Sims.

Controlling the relationships and sex lives of followers:

Over time, as more and more followers flocked to Miller and as his tone grew ever more imperious, Sims says he began to have doubts. He had particular difficulty accepting a practice that Miller continues to this day - informing some couples, even married couples, that they are not yoked to their soul mates and they'll never achieve happiness while they remain in their current relationship. (Former followers tell me Miller uses this technique to control the group, splitting up those who fall out of favour and shunning the offending partner, who then either distances himself or herself from whatever behaviour has offended Miller or leaves the group.)

No financial accountability

It's impossible to know just how much money Miller has accepted from his followers because the organisation doesn't release financial reports.

Prophecies and predictions of calamities

Miller has already incorrectly predicted the date of what he calls "Earth Changes" - a series of global cataclysms - at least three times.

Hostility to scrutiny/media coverage. Bombarding journalists and media outlets with indignant correspondence. The journalist reports:

When I leave Kingaroy, it is all smiles and handshakes. Seven hours later, though, as I land in Sydney and turn on my mobile, I find a 1554-word email from him telling me I've caused deep offence to the group and I'm to have no further contact with him or his followers until I've learnt some respect.
Over the next few weeks, I receive almost 20,000 words in hostile emails from more than half a dozen of Miller's followers. Perhaps Miller didn't like being challenged. Perhaps it had to do with my scepticism regarding his Earth Changes.

Read more: [www.smh.com.au]

Contrary to UM students' belief Sergio is 'the One', it seems there are plenty more cut from the same mold and following the same manipulation template.

Quote
COncerned Partner
It is scary the emphasis on 'we have to get out of here'. What if one of the 'students' decides to forgo proper medical treatment, because they are 'dumping prana' when they get cancer, so they can 'get out of here'. They are all pretty deluded that they are on a special ride... having found their way back to UM, as clear points of light, on the path of initiation, and all that claptrap. My guess is that like leaving a marriage they will feel almost overjoyed to find out they have a life threatening disease and they can 'clear karma' get Serge's blessing (and change the will at the same time) and then scarper back to Shamballah so they don't have to come back to this boring temporal brutish carnal world... or at least get an incarnation as a 5th level master.

It's not a joke unfortunately and more frightening again when doctors are participating. A patient of one of the cult medical specialists has shown me correspondence where that doctor talks about wanting to send the patient to 'Sirius'. The patient also remembers same doctor talking about a patient who'd died. When our informant expressed remorse, cult doctor was all smiles and said it was fine - 'the patient died happy, everyone was happy...'

Same doctor is known to 'bless' patients.

Serious stuff and regulators are currently investigating at least one complaint about that doctor.

Quote
COncerned Partner
Any way you dice this thing, it looks bad. I get flashes of Jones town and the students all singing kumbaya at some special retreat, with Serge promising a fastrack to the fiery realms...

Which reminds me. Serge's cosmology is actually 'Luciferic'. Alice Bailey was such a fan she called her trust the Lucifer Trust, then shortened it to Lucis when it was too controversial. Lucifer is of course a fallen angel in the biblical cosmology. He uses his bright light to lead souls astray and to the fiery realms of hell. Now who does this sounds like?

I have no doubt he is a devil. And I don't believe in them.

I don't believe in the devil either, but I've seen enough evil to know what it is.

Thanks for sharing the article on A.J. Miller's cult, Venus. The parallels to Serge and Universal Medicine are staggering. Apparently Serge has implied that Miranda is the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene as well, so the similarities really are uncanny.

Worth noting the following quote from the Miller article too, especially considering the torrents of e-mails and comments sent to journalists by UM cultists in response to articles exposing their own guru:


"Over the next few weeks, I receive almost 20,000 words in hostile emails from more than half a dozen of Miller's followers"

Birds of a feather.