Quote
whitemoon
I cant help laughing ...

This group is so incompetent that you almost cant take it seriously ... except for all the kids who are so seriously uneducated that they can't spell a correct word if their lives depended on it ... I know and so do you all know who know ...

Well honey...
I'm glad we all amuse you.
Laughing is good :D

Quote
rrmoderator
The good of any message board is to share information, develop a resource of information, offer support and afford an exchange of ideas.

I totally agree with that concept.

However, in just in a matter of two days, I have noticed odd things happening with me personally: I seem to have pulled myself back in time into some crazy time warp of sorts! (This is strictly MY perception for myself ONLY) I was awake last night until 3 am tossing in bed thinking about all this. Responses to make, things to tell others etc. One of my passions is to communicate...I write poetry, short stories and the like...and have been told by family and friends that I am a [i:251f4fa6ca]good story teller. [/i:251f4fa6ca]

Please don't misunderstand, everything I have said on here is 100% truth as I know it to be. But when I say things like..."can you believe this ca-ca?"... for me, it's something totally of the past, long ago history, no anger attached, no pain, just a chapter of the story of my own life that I am sharing. Trust me, there was plenty of anger & pain to go around at first. Then therapy, family, friends, and life began to move forward.

I feel a lot of frustration, and even some anger here on this forum.
I'm not The Princess And The Pea, but I don't think I can participate.
So why am I even saying all this?
[b:251f4fa6ca]Because I wanted to tell you all that I really do appreciate your exchanges with me.[/b:251f4fa6ca]
It's good to hear some of you talk, to remember chanting in the jungle, crazy time this & crazy time that.
But I can't become obsessed with this memory part of my life.
And it would be SO easy for me to do chatting away on here.

I found this site quite by accident, and it was easy to jump on in.
Now, I think I'll ramble on out.
I will check PM messages once in awhile,
as a couple of people seemed to want to talk further.

I wish you all peace & joy.
Shanti

Quote
shanti
Were you around for the warehouse days in Honolulu? I remember at one point right before I left the island, walking through metal detector doorways that had newly been installed, like at an airport, to get through the door leading down the hall to the main room. Yes, Chris' safety was taken VERY seriously. I don't know if there had been lots of threats on his life...but would not be surprised...especially since he had a talent for bashing other organizations & religions in general. His personal body guards did indeed carry guns...they had for a long time by then. I knew one of them.

Yep, I remember the metal detectors. They told us that it was to detect "beeper watches" as Siddha would have a fit if someone's watch would make a beeping noise during the lecture. I remember one time "they" made me go through this thing even though I told them I did not have a beeper watch on, and I was thinking this was getting weird... Siddha was getting to the point where he would not trust his own disciples, for God's sake!!![/color:7be5113d6e]

And yep, I know some of the disciples were into guns - some of them would hide guns in their bead bags! I remember one time one devotee showing me a hand-gun that he said was "prasadam" - i.e. it had been owned by Siddha or at least fired by Siddha in the past. Personally, I am not into guns or war.

Quote
just-googling

Quote
shanti
Were you around for the warehouse days in Honolulu? I remember at one point right before I left the island, walking through metal detector doorways that had newly been installed, like at an airport, to get through the door leading down the hall to the main room. Yes, Chris' safety was taken VERY seriously. I don't know if there had been lots of threats on his life...but would not be surprised...especially since he had a talent for bashing other organizations & religions in general. His personal body guards did indeed carry guns...they had for a long time by then. I knew one of them.

Yep, I remember the metal detectors. They told us that it was to detect "beeper watches" as Siddha would have a fit if someone's watch would make a beeping noise during the lecture. I remember one time "they" made me go through this thing even though I told them I did not have a beeper watch on, and I was thinking this was getting weird... Siddha was getting to the point where he would not trust his own disciples, for God's sake!!![/color:8128e24bea]

And yep, I know some of the disciples were into guns - some of them would hide guns in their bead bags! I remember one time one devotee showing me a hand-gun that he said was "prasadam" - i.e. it had been owned by Siddha or at least fired by Siddha in the past. Personally, I am not into guns or war.

We were all TOLD that he had threats on his life, but do any of us know if it was true or not? Actually it seemed likely because he was behind the publishing of the "Is Larry Mehau The Godfather of Hawaii's Organized Crime?". Rick Reed was listed as the publisher but everyone knew Chris told him what to do all the time and was the puppet master. Chris Butler had one of the guys with the "prasadam" guns build him a trap door in his closet that went under his house on Maui with an escape route into the jungle. The paper was written and put together on the same property where he lived. Most of the people who worked on the paper also lived in this compound. I seriously doubt much has changed in his million dollar compound now.

rrmoderator:

I am particularly curious about the fact that all of the ex-devotees of Chris on this forum are all from the same time period -- all leaving 10 - 20 years ago. The group still goes on. It's strange that no one who has recently left is telling tales. Is this a typical time period for people who have left cults - that a 10-20 year gap appears before they can comfortably share? Or is this because of the clear changes in the group in the 70's to the 80's? It seems like an exodus occured during the 80's especially. Most people left alone knowing they could not share with other members who would refuse to hear anything bad about the "great guru of gurus" anyway. There was no one to talk to about wanting to leave. Now I am finding that there were several others who felt the same as I did.

Quote
shanti

Okay...the "Chinese chick", really, she was from the Philippines. Chris had a HUGE following there in the 70's...and perhaps still does now...don't know. That's where the deities that were in Koolau, & later installed in the Honolulu warehouse, were made...in the Philippine Islands.

Here's how the story went as it was told to all when it came down:
She was a diciple of Chris' in the P.I....married and with 3 children. Chris declared her to be his most sincere & humble of [u:ecff67c6dc]all [/u:ecff67c6dc]his diciples...and that he "needed" to become a householder, rather than remain single, because he had SO many female diciples (which was true) and it was NOT okay for him to be associating with all these single women as a single man. Hence, get married. So, he literally took this woman from her husband & 3 children & brought her back with him to Hawaii!

Believe it or not... that was somehow OK with most everyone at the time. Unbelievable now, but true at the time. Female diciples were jealous/distressed because they felt how un-worthy they were, for NOT being that "most sincere & humble" of his diciples, hence:he didn't pick them. I don't think your _normal_ everyday sense of jealousy was the reaction...it was more like: "look, I see once again how unworthy I really am". She was seen as some cosmic being, closer to god than all the rest. If Chris picked her out of thousands of his diciples, she must be pretty damn special. From a female diciples perspective at the time, she was to be respected & perhaps spiritiually envied.

She may have been Phillipino, but she was in China and wrote him letters from there before he married her. I saw them. Also, everyone accepted it because every diciple was sent a scathing[b:ecff67c6dc] MYOB[/b:ecff67c6dc] tape about it and that it was blasphemous to question the motives of your spiritual master who is doing just what the big K [/color:ecff67c6dc]wants. He also told a story of one sanyassi that got married --- NOT that he was lustful, but that he was doing K's[/color:ecff67c6dc] will. Funny that he would become intimidated by his many single women followers -- so many of them became gay! I found his wife to be cold to everyone but Chris. She would only place her eyes on him, her ears to him. She spoke to no one. I remember mostly seeing the back of her head as she sat mesmerized looking up to and worshipping him during lectures and tapings. She reminded me of Yoko Ono as a lot changed after that.

Quote
just-googling

REGARDING SIDDHA AND CHRISTIANITY:

It is true that Siddha teaches some of the same things that Jesus taught in the Bible - i.e. the first and foremost commandment is to LOVE GOD, and also things like THOU SHALT NOT KILL etc. etc....

However whereas Jesus fed the 5000 people with a couple of loaves and fishes, it seems that it takes 5000 people to cook to feed Siddha.

And also it should be noted that the 5000 people all felt happy and satisfied after eating the loaves and fishes, WHEREAS Siddha was not happy or satisfied with the food preparations cooked by the 5000 ... PLUS the people who cooked for Siddha were condemned by Siddha and neither were they happy or satisfied also.


:?

So true! LOL :lol:

There is no pattern.

Others will probably surface eventually.

Initiate,

I went through through your thread lately, I also went through other forums outside this one. I admire your boldness. I wish I have your patience in debating issues that pertains to diversity of thoughts I too find frustratingly lacking here. But I'm still hopeful forums like these can have great potentials in battling the evil of cults and help prevent people, especially the gullible and the innocents from joining and destroying lives.

This won't be my last posting as I plan to lurk around for more and may resume participating actively as soon as the environment become more receptive to a more objective thoughts like ours. That may explain why the limited number of ex-members responding to this forum, not that there's anything wrong with the postings here, but the more limited and rigid the thinking is, the less credibility this forum will gain. In the first place, this is the very mindset we who left the cult resented in the first place. At least with Chris, he spelled right out that he was the boss and nobody can disagree with him.

Hey Initiate, all is well.

Sunglider

Quote

more objective thoughts like ours...the more limited and rigid the thinking is, the less credibility this forum will gain. In the first place, this is the very mindset we who left the cult resented in the first place. At least with Chris, he spelled right out that he was the boss and nobody can disagree with him.

Apparently when people disagree with you this means they are not "objective" and those that repeatedly disagree with you are somehow to be labeled "rigid" and expressing a "mindset."

You have been free to post here and others are free to disagree with you.

Get used to being disagreed with.

This isn't "the cult" and varying opinions are expressed here.

Your opinion is not the "objective thought" nor does it represent "the boss" point of view.

Quote

Initiate...I admire your boldness

It seems what you "admire" is that Initiate agrees with you.

Victim bashing is not appreciated here. And Initiate attempted to blame vicitms and minimize the responsibility of the "cult leader."

There have been quite a few people that have floated through this thread seemingly to disrupt it and/or somehow cause problems for whatever reasons.

It has been necessary to ban a few.

Please stay within the rules and remain courteous.