[www.google.com]

[wordsonsergebenhayon.blogspot.com]

Invitiation to Add your Voice.

This site is intended for families of students who are affected by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon .

If you have been adversely affected by Uni Med we would like to hear from you. We understand that you may be concerned that by posting you will have a negative affect on your relationship. however we encourage you to post, even anonymously in order to add your voice to the growing number of concerned and affected people in Australia and the UK.

This site is not written to argue the relative merits of Universal Medicine and the so called Esoteric work as taught by Serge Benhayon. We are simply interested in hearing your story on how you have been affected.

This page has gone up quickly in response to UM's reputation management attempt so we will complete this intro at a latter date. However we urge you to become involved and add your voice to the growing chorus so that your loved one can be truly free to make 'loving' choices.

We aware of many people that are remaining silent in fear of upsetting their relationship, child, friend or workmate. Please take a moment to make a difference and bring your concerns, even for a moment, into the light. This way we can illustrate any deleterious effect that Universal Medicine is having, while claiming to bring Joy to thousands.

If you are We are looking forward to hearing your story. Please take the time to make a difference. Your voice is important.



Posted by Words from the families of Students at 21:34 Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
Labels: cult, Esoteric, Natalie Benhayon, Serge Benhayon, serge benhayon cult, Universal Medicine, Universal Medicine Brainwashing cult, Wikepedia
Location: Somerset, UK 7 comments:
Tim Smith21 July 2012 22:55
Yep I certainly was affected! I saw the article in the Sydney Morning Herald today and a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I am glad this guy is being bought to account. My marriage ended over it. Simply because I wouldn't buy into rules of UM and i certainly wouldn't follow anyone who has supernatural powers.

ReplyDelete
R.J.M.21 July 2012 23:22
Hello and thank you for starting this forum. My experience with UM came via a (now) ex partner who had been involved for several years. Despite not being particularly inclined to such New Age ideas, it soon became apparent that everything in my partner's life hinged on Serge's often bizarre, unfounded ideas. While I was never convinced of Serge's theology, I did my best to approach it with
an open mind in attempt to give my relationship the best possible chance to work. Frankly, in my
experience, living with a UM devotee was an often
restrictive, joyless experience.. The most mundane
day to day actinides were fraught with anxiety over
pranic energies, astral entities and the influence of
the so-called Lords of Form. Eating at restaurants
was very difficult, iif not impossible. Nightlife
activities were for the most part not an option, due
to strict early bedtimes or venues serving alcohol. Serge is considered to be infallible - Love
personified. A multi-reincarnated genius and a world
teacher with access to wisdom that trumps all
human understanding. Any attempt to question his
claims or his perfection was met with fierce, emotive
resistance from the student. Having read Serge's
books and attended various functions and
workshops, I can attest that his bizarre ideas far
exceed what has been reported in the two
newspaper articles today. They barely scratched the
surface. He is peddling a worldview based on fear of
possession by disincarnated spirits and astral forces, tantalizingly gift wrapped in a derivative, plagiarized New Age philosophy of love, brotherhood, honesty and integrity. These idealistic
pleasantries ring especially hollow now that Serge
has admitted for the world to see that, in fact, he
doesn't believe to be the reincarnation of Da Vinci,
despite making this claim to his followers for over a
decade. Universal Medicine, despite featuring many
ideals I agree with (love, truth, honesty, integrity) is
nothing but a money making machine run by an arrogant, manipulative conman. The sooner the
good people who have been duped by this individual
wake up to this fact and regain their lives, the better.

ReplyDelete
Anonymous22 July 2012 04:05
I was reading the Sun Herald today and was staggered to come across this article. I thought I was alone in this agony. My wife has joined this group about 3 years back and we have recently split because of my strong suspicions that it is in fact a cult.
I attended a relationship workshop at her insistence and was jolted by what I heard. I think that at that event she was hoping I would cross over to her point of view, but it confirmed my worst fears. We have a small child whom I no longer see regularly. She has moved to be closer to Serge. Her elderly parents are beside themselves with worry. Many of the things I read today are exactly as it happened with us. Thanks for bringing this cult into the open and exposing their strange and destructive agenda. I still love my wife and hope that this will help bring her back to her sense.

ReplyDelete
Anonymous22 July 2012 04:28
It was only a matter of time before Serge was exposed for the con artist that he is. Our family has been experiencing the effects his brainwashing can have on a close family member for the past 5 years or so. This family member was vulnerable and was struggling to deal with recently diagnosed bipolar 2. Once under Serge's spell, she was off the medication, dairy, caffeine, sugar, wheat, gluten and alcohol free. Alcohol damages your aura you see, mushrooms make you damp inside, tampons are like sleeping with dirty men.... The crazy list goes on. I could talk for hours about this but the saddest part is the breakdown of relationships like the previous post described. In our situation, there are 2 young children involved and in our opinion, they are suffering. May his followers start waking up to themselves and realising the info he has been feeding them is just gargbage.

ReplyDelete
Eric Dobbs22 July 2012 04:34
Hi and thanks for setting up this site , I was lucky that I rescued my wife from this dangerous cult . It did a great deal of damage to our family and my wife is still haunted by it's harmful belief system. I do hope and prey that this organization is shut down before it destroys any more relationships. Eric

ReplyDelete
Anonymous22 July 2012 22:33
test

ReplyDelete
J.P.23 July 2012 10:41
My partner became lost to Universal Medicine. It became an over-whelming part of our relationship that effected every facet of it. What was truly frightening was to see a once rational and intelligent person change so much, so quickly. Our relationship, and that with family and friends quickly became secondary to Universal Medicine and the words of Serge Benhayon. It governed thought patterns, lifestyle choices, cultural choices, nothing was left untainted. There was little joy any more in our lives, and everyone else was viewed as lacking in love and feeling if they were not part of Universal Medicine.

All of the teachings were passed on in intensive 'retreats' surrounded by many others already part of that belief system - to me this is very worrying. The acceptance of ideas was unquestioning, there was no room for debate or discussion with anyone outside of Universal Medicine.

Thank you for this blog, it's good to know I am not alone in my concerns concerning this group.

Reply

[www.smh.com.au]
'Cult' cures on Medicare
DateJuly 22, 2012 Read later
Heath AstonSun-Herald state political editor
View more articles from Heath Aston

inShare. Pin ItEmail articlePrint .Ads by Google
Seal Criminal Recordswww.lawyercross.net

Criminal Record Expungements. Call 800-862-7677 24/7/365.


"The One" ... Serge Benhayon. Photo: Janie Barrett

His followers call him The One. They say he's the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci. He claims massaging women's breasts can prevent cancer. And his growing business empire, built on spiritual healing, is being funded in part by Medicare.

Serge Benhayon, a former tennis coach from Maroubra, has up to 1000, mainly female, devotees to his movement, Universal Medicine, based in the hills outside Lismore on the north coast of NSW.

Mr Benhayon told The Sun-Herald he had no medical qualifications but stood by the effectiveness of his treatments, including ''esoteric breast massage'' - administered only by women - and ''chakra-puncture''. His daughter, Natalie, 22, claims to be able to talk to women's ovaries - for $70 an hour.


Bitter fallout … Universal Medicine critic Pippa Vickery with four men who claim the alternative group's founder and former tennis coach, Serge Benhayon ruined their marriages. Photo: Janie Barrett
Mr Benhayon defended himself against claims a personality cult had built up around him, with dozens of relationships from Brisbane to Byron Bay and Bangalow breaking down as a result. The Sun-Herald spoke to nine men who blame Mr Benhayon for their break-ups.

Advertisement But Mr Benhayon said his female students had merely discovered the ''livingness of love'' from his ''esoteric way of life''. There is concern in the medical fraternity that certain treatments provided at Universal Medicine's Lismore headquarters are being subsidised by Medicare.

A physiotherapist, Kate Greenaway, and a psychologist, Caroline Raphael - both decade-long followers of Mr Benhayon who work at Universal Medicine - encourage patients to seek GP referrals for treatment. Medicare will reimburse two-thirds of the cost for long-term injuries.


Reincarnation ... da Vinci.
Ms Greenaway offers ''esoteric connective tissue therapy'', a technique created by Mr Benhayon. It promises to improve energy flow by ''allowing the pulse of the lymphatic system to symbiotically correspond with the body's own ensheathing web''.

She said about 20 per cent of her clients were funded by Medicare and hundreds had experienced reduced pain as a result. Her work, which includes ''craniosacral massage'', has no evidence-based scientific backing although a study of 50 students of Universal Medicine, conducted by Ms Greenaway, found it to be effective.

John Dwyer, the former head of medicine at University of NSW, described the claim that a lymphatic pulse exists as ''utter nonsense''.

''GPs might be sending a person off in good faith to get a legitimate therapy but what this person is getting is esoteric nonsense,'' he said.

The Australian Medical Association said the federal government's pledge to reduce public money going to unproven alternative treatments needed greater focus.

In a statement, Medicare said: ''A Medicare benefit can only be paid where the service is rendered by an appropriate health practitioner and is 'clinically relevant' … It is up to the practitioner to determine whether a service they provide meets the criteria in the Medicare Benefits Schedule.''

Mr Benhayon insisted his movement, which has expanded to Brisbane and Britain, is not a cult but ''a matter of choice and we don't encourage the abuse of Medicare''.

The 48-year-old father of four, whose second wife Miranda is 18 years his junior, said he was being targeted by a small group of detractors.

One of the nine men who spoke to The Sun-Herald said: ''It felt like I was in a three-way marriage with Serge.'' Another added: ''And I was the minor part.'' Bangalow local Pippa Vickery said: ''Serge has a god complex.''

Critics claim Mr Benhayon is exerting control over his students by modifying their eating, sleeping, exercise and even lovemaking behaviour.

After women have received esoteric breast massage - and used Mr Benhayon's protective cream to keep bad energy at bay - they are told not to allow their partners to touch them without permission.

Mr Benhayon said his detractors had ''created momentum on a website'' - the Rick Ross anti-cult forum.

''A handful of people say what we have here is a cult. What if I can bring 2000 people to say it's not?''

Anne Malatt, an eye surgeon in Bangalow, wrote: ''Whilst some elements of Serge's teachings may seem unconventional at first, they certainly make more sense than many things we are taught, and when put into practice on a daily basis, they work.''

Mr Benhayon, who describes himself as ''pro-mainstream medicine'', rejected claims that he tells students he can cure cancer.

A former patient of Ms Greenaway, who did not wish to be identified, said she had discovered through her GP she had cancer halfway through a program of treatment at Universal Medicine.

''I went there because I felt so sick I could hardly walk,'' she said. ''After three sessions I was told my craniosacral pulse was getting better and my health was improving. On the same day my doctor told me I had cancer. I'm angry that really sick people might not be getting the treatment they need if they are believing what Serge tells them.''

Universal Medicine is subject to three complaints to the Health Care Complaints Commission



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

[www.smh.com.au]


Da Vinci reincarnated? 'I agree, it sounds absurd'
DateJuly 22, 2012 Read laterHeath AstoninShare. Pin ItEmail articlePrint .Ads by Google
Compare Chevy Sonicwww.chevrolet.com/Sonic

1.4L Turbo Engine Avail. The Only Turbocharged Engine in its Class.


Serge Benhayon. Photo: Janie Barrett
IN AN email to a friend, a student of Universal Medicine reported: ''Serge revealed he was the one sent from Shamballa to awaken us all and he alluded to the fact that [his daughter] Simone was Winston Churchill in a past life.''

The email last year demonstrated not a skerrick of doubt that Serge Benhayon, healer-in-chief at Universal Medicine, was speaking the truth.

For some time, Benhayon had been telling his students - more than 80 per cent of whom are women - that ''The One'' would be sent to usher in the new era. He chose Shamballa, the mythical kingdom associated with the Buddha, as his origin on the path to healing.

The reality, as most people interpret it, is a bit different. Benhayon, according to publicly available records, was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 26, 1964. He grew up in Maroubra where his first job was as a paperboy, going on to work as a tennis coach around Byron Bay and Brisbane.

Advertisement He has claimed to be Leonardo da Vinci and Pythagoras reincarnate but he backtracked during an interview with The Sun-Herald at his home on Friday. ''I don't believe it. Not for one minute do I believe it,'' he said. ''What I present is part of a whole and if you take one piece outside the whole it sounds absurd. I agree, it sounds ludicrous.''

That will come as a shock to some. A patient at the healing centre said she believed Benhayon was da Vinci returned to earth. A student described Benhayon claiming to enter the ''fifth dimension'' on stage. ''He closed his eyes for 10 seconds and said, 'OK, I'm there now, I can't see anything but I can feel.' ''

Feeling is a recurrent theme in Benhayon's ''esoteric'' philosophy. The mind plays tricks, so we should use the body to think, he teaches.

Detractors say relationships become impossible when everything from music to sex must be ''Serge-approved''. Benhayon said he had never told a student to leave a relationship - or stay in one.

''Some of the people saying things about me are not very nice people in their own households. Having spoken to some of these women, I'm in a difficult position. Some women may hide behind 'Serge said' when they are trying to improve their relationships at home and fear expressing themselves.''



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

Hi All,

I have just watched the ACA interview and if anyone ever had any doubt about this UM being a CULT they were able to see it first handed.
A few notes from the story:

1. What is appealing about UM the reporter asked………………………………….no answer….if it was that great the ladies should have answered the question without any hesitation…. I nearly feel asleep waiting for a response.
2. Why were UM taping the interview ….and having there PR lady present trying to control…that’s right CONTROL the interview…..CULT like behaviour.
3. Why was the PR lady kneeling down under the camera shot….though ACA did pan back and got the PR lady in the shot….again trying to influence the story…..a CULT like behaviour.
4. I wish I had his cars in my garage ….Mercedes and Audi….gee not bad for a small business….another CULT like behaviour rip off all the zombie followers and buy the best cars for yourself and family….more $$$$$$ poor followers.
5. Great to see a well-respected Doctor in Australia speak out against the treatments of UM and what they are preaching.

This weekend Serge is conducting an ECM – Esoteric Cult Meeting …..Sorry an EDG – Esoteric Development Group meeting which his followers will attend and pay more money to listen to some BS about a small group of men and some brainwashing thoughts and ideas from “The One”.

UM also stated that the doors are open for any people to attend the EDG meetings ….well this is not the case almighty Serge as the UM PR machine is now screening all people who attend the ECM…….why…..because some of the teachings come across far out there and they need to be careful who attends. (Another cult like behaviour).

Hey Natalie when you are there at your EWG meeting done after the EDG …... please tell all the zombie followers that it is ok to go to the doctors for pap smears and breast screening yearly ….and that any UM treatments are a secondary treatment please…..if you are really PRO Western Medicine you will inform your followers that this is an acceptable practice.

Interesting Essay on the minds of the members and their current behaviour.

[wordsonsergebenhayon.blogspot.com.au]

Quote
COncerned Partner
Interesting Essay on the minds of the members and their current behaviour.

[wordsonsergebenhayon.blogspot.com.au]

Thanks XO. That is a brilliant analysis.

After seeing the ACA piece and reading various blog pieces by UM students, it's quite concerning to note how many of Serge's followers claim he 'allows them to be who they truly are', which suggests they had no sense of themselves before they stumbled upon UM. In some cases this might be true, since several of the defensive pieces written by 'students' indicate that there is a certain percentage of the UM community who have a history of previous cult involvement, drug abuse and/or other issues. However, 'being who they truly are' in the case of a UM student seems to really mean nothing more than replacing everything that made that individual unique and supplanting their thoughts, personality, speech patterns and lifestyle choices with Serge's. So 'being who you truly are' in the UM world is really to forgo yourself and become a mindless clone, while assuring yourself and those around you that it's all a personal choice, and nobody is telling you what to do.

Note: It is actually wise for anyone being interviewed by a journalist to record the session. In the United States, one cannot ask a reporter to read back transcript of an interview--you need your own recorded transcript to check how the material is later used.


John Lazuras wrote

Quote

4. I wish I had his cars in my garage ….Mercedes and Audi

One problem with those kinds of cars--they eat money.

One needs access to a mechanic who knows how to work on Mercedes and Audis and the other high-end brands.

Costs money.

Add in the required insurance and that costs more money.

That essay on the mindset of Universal Medicine applies to a lot of set ups in addition to UM.

I found this item especially helpful.

That critical thinking and classical logic and systems based on these, do NOT require
that one transcend (or discard) discursive thought or undergo some sort of transcendental (or initiatory) experience in order to be competant to understand or express a viewpoint of such systems.

Recall how often one questions some guru or new age set up and the advocate replies, "Well, have you EXPERIENCED it?"

You've got the intiatiatory experience or you dont, and if you dont, you shut up.

However, I am very sorry to report that this same dirty trick is pulled in even older systems of Hinduism and some forms of Buddhism--the notion that you have to attain a right sort of viewpoint unfettered by conventional (or evidence based) thought before you have any right to point something out.

Sixty years ago, Agehananda Bharati, when a student in a Ramakrishna monastery, caught the professor making textual errors when teaching from a Sanskrit text. Unlike the other students, Bharati had enough background that he knew when the instructor was making a mistake and dared, despite being an underling, to point this out.

Quote

"I learned the stereotypical method of rebuttal common to all* traditions of religious doctrine in India: The moment discursive thought (that is, thought that is based on reaching a conclusion through use of reason and verifiable/falsifiable evidence) would jeopardize the axiomatic perfection of the text, the critic is given a simple line:

‘Your argument may be intellectually valid but what of it? Only those who have seen the light can see the consistency of the text. Only those who have experienced the truth from within can see that intellectual argument is of no avail in the end.’

Bharati commented,

"this would hardly be objectionable were the atmosphere among Indian scholastics purely non-discursive (that is if they were in a state of enlightenment 100% of the time and used intuitive, non-rational methods of thought 100% of the time). But this is not true: the theologians avail themselves of refined scholastic argument all the time, but they jettison all of it the moment their axioms are impugned.’ (Bharati, The Ochre Robe pp. 132-133)

(My note) In other words, the evasiveness Bharati described is the equivalent of a losing baseball team suddenly declaring that they are really winning, not losing, because they’re playing football, not baseball—and the other team is too stupid and unenlightened to have known this.

**What Bharati describes can be easily abused and twisted into the various ‘thought stopping’ techniques endemic to cults. What made Bharati’s observation so very radical was his discovery that this ‘shuffle’ was NOT perpetrated by just a few charlatans or rogue scholars; he found this evasion tactic was commonly practiced throughout the Indian spiritual scene.

It was a trick that could be easily exploited by charlatans, but was so much a part of 'normal' scholarship that most persons would allow themselves to be intimidated.

Bharati’s other discovery, based on his own experiences and his interviews of many gurus and monks, was that it is impossible to be enlightened 100 % of the time. You cannot function, while in enlightenment, just as you cannot function while in the throes of orgasm.

* You cannot even speak about enlightenment, or teach it unless you emerge from the enlightenment experience itself.

This means that any person who claims they are 'permanently enlightened' at every instant is not speaking accurately.

To talk about or of enlightenment, you cannot be in it.

You can remember the experience, but you cannot be in it while remembering it or talking of it to an audience. In India, Bharati learned that over the centuries, part of the guru role required that the person in that role speak in a sort of heightened language as though in the midst of enlightement, despite being in a state of mind that precluded being enlightened. A sort of heightened language, rather similar to the tone and dignified stance used by officials giving inaugeral speeches or presiding at ceremonies.

So this led to the misleading assumption one could be in a state of transcendance of discursive thought, yet do things that require discursive thought--such as lecturing to an audience.

And Bharati learned that enlightenment does not necessarily improve character and has no predictable ethical consequences. As he put it, a person who is a stinker before enlightenment remains that way after enlightenment, unless that person volunatarily does some work on herself.


Says Bharati 'Facts remain facts and their dignity must not be impugned by any motives, not even spiritual ones.'

The Ochre Robe, p 130.

Dear Readers,If you are relatively new to this site and are looking for an intelligent appraisal of Serge Benhayon and his cult 'Universal Medicine' go to page 2 of this Forum and you will find the 'cultevasion blogspot' material which was mysteriously removed this year.Herbert Kane kindly preserved it and published it there. Also on the same page (page2 by the same author- Yvonne Macillwain) is 'Bad beliefs and Fraudulent Faiths' , this is not to say that the current discussion is not informative or revealing - yours Eric Dobbs

More on the Subject at Hand-

[wordsonsergebenhayon.blogspot.com.au]

Also, if you are one of the many families affected please dont just send private messages, write a few words on this or the blog in the link.
thanks

I hope more people can speak up about how UM has affected them, their friendships or their families.

Not speaking up (in hope of preserving what remains of family harmony) has empowered UM. What is remarkable is that less than a year after this thread began, UM has gained a lot of attention from the outside media.

Eight months is blindingly fast for this to happen. It also indicates that Australia has journalism that is responsive to the needs of its citizens.

Use that. Speak up, speak out.

Here are some advantages to sharing what you have been through here, on RR.com

Others who are curious about UM and want to try it out or who are worried and running Google searches, will find this thread and your stories on it. Your stories may assist others to avoid the misery you have been through.

If enough new people post on RR.com and are numerous, your new voices will be great support to others who feel afraid to speak up.

The owner of this website and message board, Mr Rick Ross, has earned respect, and has legal advisors to assist him. This message board is moderated by him and has been online for ten years.

This website and message board started before blogs did.

Moderation of this board is done carefully to prevent trouble with spamming. Its kept distraction free. No bullying is allowed.

This board has not been hacked.

Registration is free.

The only cost is to follow the rules of the message board.