It has been suggested that one characteristic of a high demand group or despotic relationship is making so many demands that people cannot play or simply have fun, everything instead has to support a purpose or be a reminder of the group's teachings/aspirations.

Did your group or a group that you know of hint or push for members to adopt a particular 'look' or aesthetic in terms of interior decoration, clothing style, clothing colors, emblems?

Was there pressure to buy the leader's artwork or follow the leader's aesthetic preferences?

Did it go to a point of there being an identifiable 'look'?

Serious brahmacharis and brahmacharinis who live in Hare Krsna (ISKCON) temples are encouraged to never be completely naked, and to wear a gamucha and langota at all times, even while showering/bathing. The purpose of this practice is ostensibly to keep one's lusts in check by preventing one from seeing his or her own genitals, to cultivate a consciousness of oneself as non-material in nature, and to encourage modesty (as it is believed that the demigods can see you while you shower, and that for one to allow them to see one naked is immodest. In other words, if you are living in a Hare Krsna temple, you are never to go naked ever, even wile bathing. You wear your loincloth in the shower. More later.

In one Australian group (Universal Medicine/Serge Benhayon) from various reports there was a particular type of decor.

[forum.culteducation.com]

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Worth noting a couple of negative reviews creeping in to the reviews of "The Lighthouse" in the UK, where Universal Medicine holds many of its courses and retreats. The Lighthouse responds below one of the reviews that they do more than host the events. Worth noting the user photos for a large copy of the Mona Lisa on the wall of one of the rooms and the mention of 'healing symbols' on the pillows in one of the reviews.

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3. In our room, we were bemused by large blue logo/symbols printed on our pillowcases. In fact when I saw them, I immediately joked that we were staying at a strange Cult's HQ. This was way before I even thought about googling; maybe I watched too much Dr Who in my youth.

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In the Library area (a sitting room on the ground floor, large pic of Mona Lisa on wall), Serge Benhayon's blue books were displayed plus plus a book on Leonardo da Vinci, one called "Bridging Foods", another called "Tuning In". No other books. The room directory informed us that books by Alice E Bailey were available too, but I did not see them. I looked at a couple of the blue books and was even more alerted to the strangeness of where we were staying.

6. B&B paying guests seemed to be tolerated and were almost ignored compared to some other people there, who were perhaps part of Universal Medicine or their "clients". I can only describe the staff as, "not with it" - no chat, banter or friendliness whatsoever; We felt extremely uncomfortable. Any requests were met with flat replies and not what you would expect in a service industry establishment.

Sokka Gokkai/Ikeda

[forum.culteducation.com]

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meh
I would watch the dvd's at krg every month and look at the members there . . . all the men dressed like ikeda and all the women dressed like mrs. ikeda, and I felt that there was something deeply wrong and kind of scary.

Hitch

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Perfect descriptions and very astute observations. Diehard male Ikeda-bots do indeed emulate The Dear Leader & Japanese salaryman dress code. The WD / YWD in Japan also like to wear certain common bright pastel colors to all the official cult org. meetings. It's like some kind of "Leave It To Beaver", alternate world pretend show, time warp. Don't forget to also throw in the mandatory fake enthusiasm and default permanent plastic smiles.

More on the Soka Gakkai Cult, specifically (with photo examples of each category), the kind of dress & behavior in Japan, which becomes the standard by default in all of its subsidiary groups abroad:

When their "President" (aka: The Dear Leader) wears a necktie, so do the members. If Ikeda happens to be wearing a suit coat, but removes it, then everyone else (the men) will quickly follow the leader and do the same. The second photo also gives a glimpse of the common segregation of women on one side, men on the other, as well as the uniformity of the men's appearance and the pastel type colors of the women's clothing (understood by all, especially if they hope to sit up front where they may be photographed and The Dear Leader will see them clearly).

This is a summer version (first photo) of the same type of gakkai cult org. meeting, but with everyone sporting the more "relaxed" look (minus the ties, and with short-sleeves). The Dear Leader may also appear wearing the same relaxed look. In the second photo, you will see the hyper-feigned mandatory enthusiasm that all foreign gakkai cult members are coached in when they attend meetings in the presence of The Dear Leader. Foreign members are easily identifiable by the large white translation ear pieces that they are wearing.

(Apologies for the consecutive posts. I can only add a couple of attachments per post.)

Finally, these last few examples are YouTube clips.

The Dear Leader performing his fan dance, [www.youtube.com] and the cult members emulating it in behavior and dress style, [www.youtube.com], including the "Elementary School Division" kids, [www.youtube.com].

When I was in, there were all kinds of different uniforms for each division (Women's, Men's, Young Men's, Young Women's and even Jr. Pioneers, which was the kiddies group). Even different subdivisions within some of the divisions had special uniforms and codes of behavior (e.g., YWD byakuren, which were cult venue smiling servants had their pastel clothing and bright colorful neck scarves, usually purple / YMD soka-han, the equivalent of the cult org. police force at official events, had blue coats, sometimes even hats / other mandatory type of clothing required for certain meetings was all whites, like the good humor ice cream man and there was even an all white mafia type of suit, with standard red tie, that all members had to wear to ultra-special cult functions). I could go on, as there were many, many different types of "uniforms" used in the gakkai cult. The uniforms also changed with the location and type of venue they were promoting (e.g., cowboy hats for big Texas meetings, Hawaiian moo moo dresses for ladies and flowered Aloha shirts for men for the Hawaii conventions, nautical themed wear for a campaign that took place in Seattle, etc.). The examples are endless, with the gakkai cult org..

[forum.culteducation.com]

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Hitch

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Spartacus
I know for a fact that both the Dallas culture center and the Seattle culture center (what culture?) had an unaccessable "Presidential Office" hidden away upstairs. I am not a gambling man, but I would bet money that those secretive and off-limits-to-unimportant-members (except the privileged lackeys that do the cleaning) are still there. They are a stock feature with SGI centers in Japan, and everything about SGI.cult is crafted in the Japanese organizational model that we see repeated around the world.

Yes, they are and yes it definitely is, right down the smallest detail.

I've seen and been in these Dear Leader Ikeda rooms in two different cult kaikans in America (one big, and one small). They are treated and regarded as if one were allowed to enter The Oval Office. Very strict and very hush-hush. The knowledge of their existence is only shared with hardcore longtime trusted deep faith members. It's a hidden gakkai cult org. secret.

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Spartacus
When I joined in 1972 there was no cult.org center in Texas. The area senior leader's converted garage was used to house a few items that were meant to be placed in some future Kaikan. There wasn't much there besides boxes of cult.org publications awaiting redistrbution to other texas localities, mainly just a cheap (homemade with wall panels) butsudan with a regular small-sized Gohonzon. And of course, President Pig's desk and chair (and picture). I spent many an hour gazing at that empty chair, with my senior leader's words echoing in my head, "having his desk and chair here is just like having Senseless himself here!" What a crock of magical mystical crap! Somehow, I just couldn't make the connection. I had the same rational problem with always having a framed picture of the Old Devil garishly displayed on the wall, pretending he was magically watching us fight the sleep demons during those torturously long chanting sessions, while mystically "listening" to our prayers to the magic scroll and assessing our "life condition".

I was told this exact same thing when given a tour of the Ikeda room as a YMD. "If we work hard enough for Cousin Rufus, Sensei will feel our efforts, our daimoku will call him here and he will come visit our kaikan. It all depends on our pure faith, ichinen, and mission to respond to him. Work hard for our area to have Sensei come in person to give us guidance and encourage us." And with that, you are slowly ushered out, given one last glance as the door closes, the lock turns and the hardcore Japanese WD cult org. queen tightly grasps the key into her fisted hand and places it back into her pocket, to be put back into its special keepsake location.

I was stunned when I learned of these rooms and actually saw them. Stunned. I'm sure they thought I was overwhelmed in a positive way, but in reality, it was just the opposite for me. On the outside, I was speechless. On the inside, I was saying to myself, "Holy sh*t (!), this is w-e-i-r-d, creepy and definitely NOT normal. Whoa." I honestly didn't know *what* to think, for a few days afterwards.


- Hitch

Without a doubt. Members of Chabad dress in a similar fashion as Hasidic Jews. Our home would not have photographs or paintings. I remember going to a Hebrew lesson and the teenage boy teaching me looked longing out the window at the lot where some kids were playing baseball. When I got home I told my mother something wasn't quite right with this group. I was not able to put my finger on it at that age but I still dream of him 30 years later

Some information on pastel colors. Some groups emphasize these.

[www.google.com]

However, on RR.com message board it is well to remember we have had many reports of abuse from persons who have been in Tibetan Buddhist groups--where the color range is well outside of the pastel range.

Take home lesson is that if you sense an eerie uniformity in how members of a group dress and decorate their homes and offices, trust your perceptions.

Note: Some gnostic or New Age groups may favor decor which features tranparent glass or lucite table tops, shelving, etc.

If used to excess, glass or lucite surfaces give a sort of floating, spacey quality, enhanced if combined with silvery and gold colors, and exaggerated yet more if combined with white walls or floors.

. Some groups may favor this decor because the transparent surfaces remind them of the various 'levels' or 'planes' described in their various belief systems. And possibly the white surfaces remind them of the gnostic light of illumination.

Am just guessing.