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Sandman
An interesting thread. I'm wondering if Serge Benhayon has expressed any overtly political views and if so what form do they take?

He's quite critical of capitalism for being 'loveless and exploitive'. Of course, he hasn't suggested what system should take its place, and he's more than happy to own multiple properties, pocket millions of dollars a year in profits, and avoid paying taxes wherever possible by registering as a charity ('The College of Universal Medicine').

Thanks Treefern and Lifetruetome,

Regardless of what UM are putting out on their web site and trying to tell the public, it is common knowledge and I have seen it that UM through Serge / Natalie and his practioners, that they do state that if you remove EVIL PRANA from your body you will not get sick………sickness is only because of the build-up of EVIL Prana.

I have first handed seen UMers stop going to the dentist, stop going to the doctor ………………in many cases they will go to the UM practioner for Charka Puncture / re balancing / ovary and breast massage/ energy releasing to release the evil prana from their body….and then after if all this fails, they then reluctantly go to a doctor for treatment if they are seriously sick. So pro medicine I don’t think so…when they go to the doctor they feel guilty as they have not been able to remove the EVIL PRANA…..they are lacking self-love. Serge this is what you have been teaching them….so yes in one way or another you are telling them not to go to the doctor.

Also I see the UM say they don’t tell people what to eat, how ridiculous is this when they have classified food into EVIL PRANA and FIERY food groups and then go about telling their faithful followers that they should only eat FIERY foods as the other foods classified prana is bad for them. Again Serge you are telling them what to eat.

And I agree that the UMers can only do approved yoga from practioners approved by SERGE, dance the UM way as approved by SERGE, listen to only UM music approved by SERGE and we can keep on going on and on with what he has approved and what UMers can and cannot do.

Followers you are like addicts hooked on a drug called UNIVERSAL MEDICINE, you have a dependence on this drug and you need to get more and more of it through EDG, EWG, RETREATS, BOOKS, RECORDINGS, ESOTERIC MUSIC, ESOTERIC YOGA, ESOTERIC MASSAGE, SERGES TEACHINGS AND BELIEFS….you spend big amounts of $$$$$$$ feeding this addiction……….you go into withdrawal symptoms if you are not feeding this addition into your body, this toxic poison that is UM. …..you are hooked you need help to reduce your dependence on this drug.

You have all confirmed with your blogs that this drug is sold to you by a charming and nice man, a man that builds trust with you, a loving man, someone you can trust, a great guy….he has to be this type of person so you buy his product $$$$$$$, you gain an addiction to this product which you gain a dependence, now you’re stuck with this bad habit……and you will spend many $$$$$ feeding this…..wake up book yourself into rehabilitation and get help….we family and friends are here to help you through this time of your life.

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lifetruetome
Thanks Treefern for your account of EBM. Its good to hear your connection with UM.

To be honest I don't know why UM or Serge make out that women hold all this negative energy in their bodies and in their breasts. Some women don't have problems with their breasts, they infact, might even enjoy them! (now thats a pranic dark thought) Dare I say it that Serge and UM are an ultra conservative organisation.


I would love to hear from others about Serge bubble wrapping the Universal Medicine belief system in love and empowering women when infact on another level he is making it incredibly difficult for women (who follow Serges belief system), to enjoy making love with a man of their choice, enjoy their bodies through this process unhindered by thoughts of evil prana and to this end disempowering any women followers of Serge. Why can't women enjoy their sexuality? I could have this very wrong and the students of UM maybe enjoying their bodies and their sexuality but following this thread I don't get the feeling that that is happening. Serge divides his philosophy from all other energy practices and then he divides women from men. UM students can't even dance or do yoga without Serge telling them how to do it. Women being emotional by nature, not being able to show emotions only feelings. I could go on and on about food choices, music choices - doesn't sound very empowering to me for women. I can think of other belief systems that totally disempower women.... Why is it that Serge, a man, able to know what is right for women's bodies. Surely women intuitively and innately know this for themselves and don't need Serge and his very conservative belief systems, telling them how to live?

ps I do understand that not all women have had a good time at the hands of men, I really do understand that but to think this is the case for every woman is just not true.

Hi All,

MO article re the TGA investigation:

AN ALTERNATIVE therapy group has removed a number of unregistered herbal supplements – previously promoted on its website – from sale online following MO’s inquiries to the Therapeutic Goods Administration about its efficacy claims.


Lismore-based Universal Medicine, led by unregistered former tennis coach Serge Benhayon, is the subject of multiple complaints to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) over allegations it claims to help prevent breast cancer with its “esoteric breast massage” and discourages clients from eating most food and exercising.

The TGA launched a separate investigation after MO approached the regulator about the products Universal sold online including ‘Connection Herbs’, selling at $40 per 100g, which the company said “promote fire in the lungs and therefore help to dispel any dampness in the lungs. Also good for lymphatics and sinuses”.

Its ‘Harmony Herbs’ were “good for dealing with hardening of the connective tissue especially around the chest and arms and also hardening of the vascular system. They also help to support harmony in the liver,” Universal's website previously said.

Upon announcing the investigation last month, the TGA said it was “concerned” the goods were not listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods and “have not been evaluated by the TGA as the law requires”.

The TGA had said Universal was selling some alternative treatments in dosage packs, which “therefore meet the definition of therapeutic goods as they make general therapeutic claims for use in humans”.

This week the TGA said it had worked with Universal so that its “website is now compliant with the requirements of Australia's therapeutic goods legislation”.

“Universal Medicine's website now only has one product mentioned which is a therapeutic good, and it is on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods,” a TGA spokesperson said.

“This business supplies the product by retail only and now makes no health claims about it or any other product on their website.”

Activist and La Trobe University senior lecturer in public health Dr Ken Harvey said MO was “to be congratulated” for notifying the TGA and others should do the same.

“It just reinforces that people, if they think something’s wrong, they need to send a complaint,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be an awful lot of work.”

Comment was being sought by Mr Benhayon at time of press.

A very sad outcome if people are into alternative healing and go to evidence based physicians as only a last resort:

Western medicine is useless if you DELAY.

An eye doctor told me that what broke his heart were many patients who were practitioners of Christian Science and who had tried to heal their deteriorating vision through faith and prayer.

These men and women would go to him as a last resort.

"By that time, they were blind or almost blind, and their condition so far advanced I could not help them" Dr L said. " I could have done so much more for them if they had not delayed seeing me. Instead, their delay and my inability to help them because they delayed, only confirmed that medicine was useless."

If you treat your problem with alternative medicines, do this for too long, or spend too long a time using the UM methods and then only go to a mainstream doctor when your illness doesnt respond to UM:

Too often your illness may have reached a point where the mainstream physician cannot help you out.

Without the delay the doctor might have been able to help.

In situations like this, the UM people will use it to 'prove' that western medicine is useless.

I had the missfortune of getting involved with someone whos never ending quest for answers took us on the long road to no were.

After doing other forums that are mentioned on this web site she found UM witch seemed to push all the rite buttens, I stuck it out for a couple of years thinking it would pass like the rest, but it destroyed me and the family.

The thing that strikes me is they seem to push away the people that love them and embrace the people that say they love them ie "SERG"

I accept what has happend and am moving on with my life but its hard to come to grips with the sadness this man is causing to so many people ie "EXTENDED FAMILY"

This movement is morraly bankrupt and the people involved can not function outside its relms, nomatter what they say, it destroys lives.

I guess we have all been wondering at the behaviour of the people in the group and of the man himself since the self activated burst of media activity. To everyone not affected by the group, it simply appears like a cult in action. The pro-UM blogs, blooming like stink-weed after a heavy rain, betray spooky chants of strangely like minded ‘individuals’ in cacophonous support of their allegedly infallible paragon of perfect-ness , his offspring and hand selected minion. Yet their success is their failure, as many who are reading these ‘truth’ blogs are quickly forming the view that these supporters are indeed as we have long suspected. In fact, they are far more successful than any argument we have vainly constructed hoping to reach the minds of those affected.

Serge himself has moved into a new mode of PR control. Strange for a man who long claims to have nothing to hide and is keen to speak to the world of his truths. One of his sons has even been spotted driving an decade-old clapped out car- not one of the usual sparkling-new last week model bulk bought Alfa- clearly out of concern for hidden camera’s and pesky reporters out on their ‘klu-klux clan crusade to crucify him and his family with their lies and inventions’. His words. ( did I mention now the exact words used by his ‘students’) His PR control ( some may call it propaganda) included briefing his followers of the potential people who may came out against him, and in his usual style discrediting them as being loveless, addicts, or in some other way malfunctioning and not worthy to speak if the words are not in his interest.

Interestingly, Serge is able to blame a few loveless, angry men repeatedly in his responses to the media for all of his woes, never once taking responsibility for the real reason the media wick was lit: He failed to register his products with the TGA- the TGA investigated and as they are known to do, produced a release, which went to the MO, and the rest is recent history. Ergo, Serge by ignoring the rules over a very long period ( as you do when you have total integrity), brought this on himself. No few men at a local pub as he foolishly alleged at his recent cult day BBQ. However, the salient and most interesting thing is this : Serge tells his students that EVERYTHING is a reflection and EVERYTHING is their responsibility, and not to blame outside people or events, but to look at their role in creating the event/problem... However, this doesn’t seem to apply to the master himself- at all. He has to keep blaming outside forces; it is few men upset that their relationships went bust because ( UM refrain number 1) they are loveless, abusive, not nice in their own homes, possibly drink ( that’s okay, it is a choice- but take note, if you do/have done it, according to UM your feelings and opinions are worthless) He even managed to blame some women who ‘hid behind his words’ as part of the problem. Interestingly, this major contradiction seems to go un noticed by his ‘student body’ ( and presumably those witless women ) who have all circled the wagons and are baying at the moon crying foul.

So it appears any contradiction and possibly any evidence contrary to the story that UM students have taken as gospel has two features. It is a lie or distortion and/or it can be recalibrated into the UM/Serge narrative that has been cast. This is concerning because it shows the true nature of the group by highlighting that ends justifies means takes precedence over means; ergo that any distortion, untruth, contradiction, lie can be used if it supports the ends- which is transparently the desire to remain locked in the polarised view that UM is the absolute truth and Serge is a faultless messenger from another dimension here to deliver it. In this ends trumps means paradigm non believers (partners/families/people from the past) are made villains, doubters blasphemers of untruths ( media). It is an US and THEM mentality: the protectors of the ‘truth’ and the evil ‘pranic resistors’. Exhibit A ( of many) a recent email to the flock describing the attack on the group by the media ( and others)

Like you I keep wondering at how well motivated and most often extremely nice people become blindsided and change their baseline behaviours in support of the unsupportable, and have found much information from cult support groups ( who incidentally are aware of UM and its nature) and freely available books and information.

On the subject of the idol of worship itself:

A narcissist defines himself by how others perceive him rather than he perceives himself.
He is pathologically unable to feel in the sense we are familiar- often stating that he has known no sadness or real joy, but he is able to emulate the appearance of feelings with acute recognition of how feelings 'look' in others.Therefore by manipulating his behaviour to match his self centred and grandiose views of himself as the centre of the universe.Moreover he is obsessed with his lack of feelings and bodily sensations and treats any such feelings or emotions should they arise, as almost a revelatory experience as they are totally foreign to him. Unaware of how others feel he seeks only to manipulate people around him to share his grandiose view of the world which is centred on him.


On the followers:

Humans suffer from cognitive laziness. It can be quite easy for skilled manipulators to change how people believe and how they behave because we choose not to do the work and let others do it for us. Our mind works in two modes. Stage 1 is automatic- it is good for judging spatial relationships, averages, the look on someone’s face, the intuitive rightness of a statement. It is not good at analysing information such as the length of line, 234 X 99, the veracity of a syllogism. Such acts are known as Stage 2, which requires active cognitive work. Stage 1 mind is very gullible. It doesn’t like to check facts (it will ignore lack of information- for example, not knowing everything about SB) and weight what it SEEMs to know heavily, especially if given context ( for example hearing information presented to a group where the listener believes the presenter is an expert and others are apparently agreeing) Worse still, if people are happy and relaxed ( say in a happy group massaging each other) Stage 2 thinking, if it were even to be engaged, becomes debilitated. Stage 1 mind then absorbs information as FACTS laying down new values and belief structures through which to make ‘intuitive’ assessments of the world. The problem is, that many many tests over decades has shown the stage 1 thinking, while very useful in every day life, is often very wrong and is easily tricked by cognitive illusions ( some simple examples: where three figures the same size are laid against lines converging into the distance making the furthest seem twice as large, or where a non logical argument is made to rhyme metaphorically. In these cases, a cognitive strain equal to doing the sum 25 X 67 is required to SEE the real size of the figure, or that the argument does not make sense. These tests have been done on PHD students, lawyers, doctors, blue collar workers for decades with the same results) Moreover, if a saying is repeated over and over, Stage 1 mind is affected by the Law of Familiarity- the more familiar, the more if FEELS intuitively right ( again many tests showing this is the case) which is often used by advertising companies, propagandists, and dictatorships ( take for example ‘ SB has the most integrity of anyone ever known) so that FACTS presented to the contrary appear to the mind as lies or misinformation. Think arcanes, retreats, EDG’s, books ( as they are), meetings, sayings, ad nausea.

What is interesting, is that in Stage 1 thinking, you can often feel blissful and serene. It is cognitive function, or the ability to be self reflective, which cuts in at about 6-7 years of age, that creates doubts, questions, the search for meaning and identity. Our ability to utilise Stage 2 thinking as a critical tool as opposed to a lazy companion that supports Stage 1 ‘intuitions’ without question ( yep, those three figures are way different sizes and that nonsensical statement is absolutely correct) sorts out those who are making an effort- cognitive strain- to use their ability for ‘self reflection’ as a beacon searching for truth, or those using it to support INTUITIONS that are actually predilections dressed up as insights. The bad news is that this affliction is not the bastion of people in such groups as UM- it is almost everyone from any walk of life. Tipping someone over the edge into a group such as UM doesn’t take much when the mind is lazy ( that sounds good to me!) and there is a desire for someone else to do the thinking for you. A bonus is how good you feel when you decide to switch off the cognitive effort of true self reflection ( phew... wow bliss. This MUST be true)

As I have said before, seeking the truth is hard work. Now we know you need to use your brain. Little wonder UM is no friend of those ‘in their heads’ and not ‘feeling into’ the truth. Little wonder we are witnessing the changes and the moral vacillations in those we love and the seemingly mindless defence of the indefensible. No wonder the end justifies the means. The means is not even visible any more lost in the abyss of Stage 1 non thinking intuitions.

I believe we have all been told as ‘resistors’ to the magnificent truth of UM that we need to ‘wake up’- The irony of that assertion is now even more poignant.

The Cult of the Narcissist

By: Dr. Sam Vaknin


The narcissist is the guru at the centre of a cult. Like other gurus, he demands complete obedience from his flock: his spouse, his offspring, other family members, friends, and colleagues. He feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by his followers. He punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. He enforces discipline, adherence to his teachings, and common goals. The less accomplished he is in reality – the more stringent his mastery and the more pervasive the brainwashing.

Cult leaders are narcissists who failed in their mission to "be someone", to become famous, and to impress the world with their uniqueness, talents, traits, and skills. Such disgruntled narcissists withdraw into a "zone of comfort" (known as the "Pathological Narcissistic Space") that assumes the hallmarks of a cult.

The – often involuntary – members of the narcissist's mini-cult inhabit a twilight zone of his own construction. He imposes on them an exclusionary or inclusionary shared psychosis, replete with persecutory delusions, "enemies", mythical-grandiose narratives, and apocalyptic scenarios if he is flouted.

Exclusionary shared psychosis involves the physical and emotional isolation of the narcissist and his “flock” (spouse, children, fans, friends) from the outside world in order to better shield them from imminent threats and hostile intentions. Inclusionary shared psychosis revolves around attempts to spread the narcissist’s message in a missionary fashion among friends, colleagues, co-workers, fans, churchgoers, and anyone else who comes across the mini-cult.

The narcissist's control is based on ambiguity, unpredictability, fuzziness, and ambient abuse. His ever-shifting whims exclusively define right versus wrong, desirable and unwanted, what is to be pursued and what to be avoided. He alone determines the rights and obligations of his disciples and alters them at will.

The narcissist is a micro-manager. He exerts control over the minutest details and behaviours. He punishes severely and abuses withholders of information and those who fail to conform to his wishes and goals.

The narcissist does not respect the boundaries and privacy of his reluctant adherents. He ignores their wishes and treats them as objects or instruments of gratification. He seeks to control both situations and people compulsively.

He strongly disapproves of others' personal autonomy and independence. Even innocuous activities, such as meeting a friend or visiting one's family require his permission. Gradually, he isolates his nearest and dearest until they are fully dependent on him emotionally, sexually, financially, and socially.

He acts in a patronising and condescending manner and criticises often. He alternates between emphasising the minutest faults (devalues) and exaggerating the talents, traits, and skills (idealises) of the members of his cult. He is wildly unrealistic in his expectations – which legitimises his subsequent abusive conduct.

The narcissist claims to be infallible, superior, talented, skilful, omnipotent, and omniscient. He often lies and confabulates to support these unfounded claims. Within his cult, he expects awe, admiration, adulation, and constant attention commensurate with his outlandish stories and assertions. He reinterprets reality to fit his fantasies.

His thinking is dogmatic, rigid, and doctrinaire. He does not countenance free thought, pluralism, or free speech and doesn't brook criticism and disagreement. He demands – and often gets – complete trust and the relegation to his capable hands of all decision-making.


He forces the participants in his cult to be hostile to critics, the authorities, institutions, his personal enemies, or the media – if they try to uncover his actions and reveal the truth. He closely monitors and censors information from the outside, exposing his captive audience only to selective data and analyses.

The narcissist's cult is "missionary" and "imperialistic". He is always on the lookout for new recruits – his spouse's friends, his daughter's girlfriends, his neighbours, new colleagues at work. He immediately attempts to "convert" them to his "creed" – to convince them how wonderful and admirable he is. In other words, he tries to render them Sources of Narcissistic Supply.

Often, his behaviour on these "recruiting missions" is different to his conduct within the "cult". In the first phases of wooing new admirers and proselytising to potential "conscripts" – the narcissist is attentive, compassionate, empathic, flexible, self-effacing, and helpful. At home, among the "veterans" he is tyrannical, demanding, wilful, opinionated, aggressive, and exploitative.

As the leader of his congregation, the narcissist feels entitled to special amenities and benefits not accorded the "rank and file". He expects to be waited on hand and foot, to make free use of everyone's money and dispose of their assets liberally, and to be cynically exempt from the rules that he himself established (if such violation is pleasurable or gainful).

In extreme cases, the narcissist feels above the law – any kind of law. This grandiose and haughty conviction leads to criminal acts, incestuous or polygamous relationships, and recurrent friction with the authorities.

Hence the narcissist's panicky and sometimes violent reactions to "dropouts" from his cult. There's a lot going on that the narcissist wants kept under wraps. Moreover, the narcissist stabilises his fluctuating sense of self-worth by deriving Narcissistic Supply from his victims. Abandonment threatens the narcissist's precariously balanced personality.

Add to that the narcissist's paranoid and schizoid tendencies, his lack of introspective self-awareness, and his stunted sense of humour (lack of self-deprecation) and the risks to the grudging members of his cult are clear.

The narcissist sees enemies and conspiracies everywhere. He often casts himself as the heroic victim (martyr) of dark and stupendous forces. In every deviation from his tenets he espies malevolent and ominous subversion. He, therefore, is bent on disempowering his devotees. By any and all means.

The narcissist is dangerous.

[samvak.tripod.com]

We dont know what someone's inner life is.

However, there is more than enough evidence in the form of disrupted relationships that it cries to heaven that UM -and its business practices - be investigated, and in the most holistic/comprehensive manner.

Note: anyone who is named and consulted for services as a diagnostician mental health professional, should belong in good standing to their state society for psychiastrists, psychologists or social workers, be not only trained and degreed from a clinical program that has top accreditation and in good standing, but they should be licensed by the state or nation in which they practise.

Licensure involves passing written and oral tests demonstrating up to date knowledge of diagnostic and counseling skills, but also the psychology of boundaries, professional ethics, and the current laws governing confidentiality and record keeping as well as requirements for continuing education.

Licensure is acceptance of accountability, and a recognition that one's education is going to remain a life long process, long after one has been degreed and licensed.

As an example of how professionals discuss a subject one can go here to Ullman and Paul

[books.google.com]

Note, I only post the information above out of interest and as a response to some questions that have been going around. It is not a diagnosis or opinion about SB and the information in the quoted material is the opinion of the authors. It is meant as an insight into how some cults may work.