The whole RR website is all about helping families and victims of cults. And never lose sight of the fact that current members are also victims.
I think one of the main points I want to leave on this forum is my view that all the people I knew in the group were good people. We were mostly well educated, intelligent, creative and philosophical. A lot of brain power. Look at how many artists there were - musicians, painters, writers, a few intellectuals, farmers, people sensitive to the environment. The rest were really sweet, "mode of goodness" people, even the ones who developed nasty personalities later on. We were the generation that made it so blacks didn't have to sit in the back of the bus and could eat and go to schools with whites. We started the ecology movement and the women's movement. We stopped the war in Vietnam. These were no small feats.
The destructive side of our generation came in the form of opening the Pandora’s Box of drugs and free, non-committal love which brought in a generation of damaged, unwanted and neglected children. CB got some people off drugs, (and I do credit him and ACB for this but at what price?). Unfortunately, it was replaced by a different kind of drug; discipleship, mind control and false euphoria. If drugs and excessive sex was the downfall of our generation, then the KC philosophy brought the down fall of the creative, the leaders, and idealistic of the generation.
Just like the good part of the hippie movement got perverted and off track with drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, Siddhaswarupananda got off track with his narcissism, hedonism and delusions of grandeur.
I want to say that people like Mike and Carol Gabbard were really fine people, but they apparently let go. They seem to have let their very selves become puppets. They are also victims of Siddhaswarupananda, as we all were. I'd like to see Mike's complete voting record to assess the level of cult influence. My point is that people let go of their own thoughts and let them get replaced with someone else's and then turn and change. We experienced this too, but got out of it, often by some trauma or tragedy.
I have a lot of compassion for ex as well as current followers. See the “New Scientist” article I posted on 4-19-07. Here are a few excerpts:
[b:7c722bc6c1][i:7c722bc6c1]” …such transformations are surprisingly common. You find them in just about any environment in which an individual is subsumed into a group or is reacting to what others are doing: rioting mobs, football crowds, committees, social networks, even panels of judges. In such situations a group mentality can easily take over, leading people to act out of character or adopt extreme or risky positions. ”[/i:7c722bc6c1][/b:7c722bc6c1]
[b:7c722bc6c1][i:7c722bc6c1]” Zimbardo has famously shown how easy it is to turn peaceful people abusive and hostile.”[/i:7c722bc6c1][/b:7c722bc6c1]
[b:7c722bc6c1][i:7c722bc6c1]”When any group of like-minded people get together, the result can be equally alarming. One common effect is that the group ends up taking a more extreme position than the one its members started with - it becomes polarised.”[/i:7c722bc6c1][/b:7c722bc6c1]
[b:7c722bc6c1][i:7c722bc6c1]” It is not surprising that people should be so susceptible to the dynamics of their social environment. After all, we evolved as social animals in environments where cooperation and group cohesion were key survival tools. Our reasons for being influenced by others are often valid, but if we are not careful this tendency can get us into trouble. In a classic study carried out in the 1950s, for example, social psychologist Solomon Asch revealed how the peer pressure associated with being part of a group can lead people to deny the evidence of their own senses. When asked simply to match the length of a line on a card with one of three reference lines, 70 per cent of his subjects ignored their own judgement and sided with the rest of their group who, unbeknown to them, had been primed to make a blatantly wrong choice. .”[/i:7c722bc6c1][/b:7c722bc6c1]
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board.culteducation.com]
I also think that it is possible that CB was good in the beginning but he got possessed of a mental illness – pooled with natural leadership tendencies and creative energy -- a dangerous mix.
We got out. Others, even long time members, can still get out. Adult children can still get out. But what they need to know more than anything is that it is safe to leave and there is a soft landing place when they get out. At this point they have no idea of what it is like on the outside!
I think that intimidating, aggressively attacking and further alienating current followers is counterproductive. People who leave cults walk towards a kind hand, not the threatening one. IMO the focus and goal of all efforts should be to help current members get out as well as educating potential members to the truth. Since they already feel isolated and fearful of the “outside” why play into the hands of their guru? Those that chose to remain in face of the facts will remain and there is nothing you can do. But I am fortunate to have had great people walk out with me. Who will break their fall when others decide to leave?[/quote]