I feel all cult leaders are cut and honed from the same evil hunk of steel.

I was in a little mom and pop cult. They used a business as a front and did their dirty work behind the scenes. They snagged us in by typically using our best talents to their benefit. My whole family was quite talented artistically and also really impressionable to the idea that we'd be keeping a business alive for the better of the public who would be receiving our products. So the cult leaders pumped us up and made us feel special that we were creating unique stuff.

That was only a portion of their tactics used to deceive us. Slowly but surely the process of brainwashing set in and got more and more extreme as time went by. She carefully calculated every move she made so that we wouldn't catch on to her elaborate scheme.

It's only resently how I've come to realize how evil and truly premeditated everything was.

I feel the souls of these cult leaders are dark to the core. They might as well have all gotten together and planned an elaborate scheme to see how many unsuspecting loving caring souls they could snuff out.

Huge large group awareness cults or little mom and pop variety...same thing. The leaders are clones of one another. They think they are on to something so unique unto themselves...look what I've discovered they say. I must spread the word. We must be enlightened and lift the burden of our false egos. Uncover your true self through me. I have the answers....just have faith and let darkness go from your soul.

Sound familiar?

And how long as a victim do I give these ass holes credit for screwing up my life? Unfortunately people who care and love the human race suffer at length...many many years at times. It's all that I was familiar with...being a victim that is.

I have become enlightened that it takes two to tango. Watchout...cults.

????

More information is needed. What was the "cult"? Many people abuse others for financial gain, but that doesn't meet the Rick Ross 4-point definition of a cult. I am glad you appear to be out of this "artistic cult". Could you share more definitive information with us? I would be interested to hear more facts.

Thanks in advance.

Gladly...later though. Have to run an errand...

FF

Sparky,

Not sure the specifics that you want to know?

As for the cult clones I'm talking about... Landmark vs. small cults. They all appear to use the exact same tactics as far as I can observe. Just trying to make sense out of all this world of cults and the ass wipe leaders who run them.

Look up "My Story" under "Former Cult Members and Affected Families"...says in a nutshell what my family and I went through. That was the first post I made here on RR. I was only 11 when trouble started for me. It was a long term, isolated existance for me. I could tell you more specifics if you're interested.

FF

freedom fighter,

If what I read on "My Story" under "Former Cult Members and Affected Families" is true, then you have my sympanthies. It seems (and I mean no disrespect) you belonged to a hither unknown "furniture cult". I ask if you can provide ""names"(Cult culprits only), but that can be hard if you are in a small cult and they may know who you are. It sounds more like an abusive relationship than a "true" cult, but I guess it is a matter of symantics. It sounds clear that you were terribly mentally insulted.

I ask are there other families than yourselves who are victims?

Your nebulous discriptions of the misery your were subjected to makes me think you are fearful or apprehensive to display so much information.

As all of us on RRI would wish to assist and comfort you, but without full and open disclosure of the "cult" you were victim to it is useless, except to merely comfort you temporarily.

May I suggest a private dialog with Mr. Ross directly on your "furniture cult" incidentials or perhaps, better still, a call to your State's Attorney General (assuming you live in the USA)? Hope you are well, and your family as well. Good wishes....

Quote
Sparky
As all of us on RRI would wish to assist and comfort you, but without full and open disclosure of the "cult" you were victim to it is useless, except to merely comfort you temporarily.

I couldn't disagree with this more. I am sorry Freedom Fighter for what you and your family went through and totally understand why people come out of these situations and don't want to give out information. It can be very hard in the beginning. Keep you head up and know that there are people here who support you even with out all the details.

I'm not afraid or hesitant in sharing my stuff or situation. I've actually blurted a whole lot of it out in previous posts. I have to agree with Sparky that sharing is beneficial. I posted here on RR for the first time quite a few months back. Before that I was trying to just get on with my life...didn't work. The past kept creeping in. Maybe it was post traumatic stress or just sadness or grief of what had happened. It wasn't until I faced the fact that it was truly as bad as I imagined it to be that I knew it wasn't me that was crazy. I always felt I was over exaggerating how disgusting she was-the bitch who messed up my life.

It's true,however, that unless you're ready to face shit, it won't do any good to expose it. For some it could be too unbearable. Being in denial isn't a bad thing until your strong enough to face the facts. Believe me. I've faced my facts of my past- head on, and at times I'd be crying like a baby, or screaming out the damn car window at the top of my lungs-angry at the f*** who controlled me so long. It's been a personal journey.

There are times I see how far I've really come and I sit back and say holy shit I've been thru the ringer and I still can laugh. Actually I see the twisted humor of things to such an extreme it's the only way to kick back and say I've climbed that damn mountain.

These people who keep posting who challenge RR and try to discredit him and his abilities to distinguish whether a group is cultish in nature crack me up. Piss me off more like it. Makes me want to kick some cult ruler ass. I know what a cult is. I've lived and survived one.

If there's one point I'd make clear hear is that whether a cult leader has thousands fooled like Landmark or just a small group like the one I was in, it's all the same.

*The key to knowing if a group is a cult is very simple.
These are all that I've first hand experienced. I don't need to read them in a book. A cult is very complex but yet simply a group of people fucked with by a sick bastard evil person who loves to control and hate his/her followers. They are gluttens for being a puppet master. Just dancing everyone around on strings.

- They're groupie in nature, they exclude/ostracize certain people who disagree in the least bit.
- They are the only path to salvation.
- It's always a big argument if one disagrees with them.
- They have the secret inside scoop and they carfully dole it out if they feel you have matured enough to here it.
- An outsider is treated like the aids virus, yet they are played like a fiddle and treated like royalty so to not draw undo attention to the inside dirty dealings within the cult.
- God is accessed only thru the leader.
- There is a strict hierachy within.
- They slowly separate you from family and loved ones.
- An original thought is always wrong, it must be interpreted to mean something else.
- You're a human experiment examined in a petri dish.
- There are no set rules-they are made up at the whim of the cult leader-changes day by day to keep you guessing and confused.
- Everyone is financially drained while the leader lives high on the hog.
- Complete control of all who are under the thumb of the cult leader is the ultimate and only goal.
- They thrill in seeing you pained, when you finally cave in and submit they smother you with affection and adoration.
- They seem to feel the urge to always yell and scream in your face. Belittle you in front of other members.
- They work you like a slave to complete exhaustion

There you have it...the very basic outline of a cult. I'm sure Rick Ross would agree on these points. I'm sure a cult leader would say I was influenced by the devil. I think Rick Ross is most caring and concerned for the freedom of so many.

I think these cult leaders can just stick their head in a bucket of wet cement and count backward slowly from a thousand. Theyed be quiet then.

Freedom Fighter

Well, I still disagree with what Sparky said:

Quote

As all of us on RRI would wish to assist and comfort you, but without full and open disclosure of the "cult" you were victim to it is useless, except to merely comfort you temporarily.

Saying all of us is including everyone here and I for one do not believe that I need full and open disclosure of the cult someone is in before I can offer comfort .



I would also like to comment on something you said:

Quote
FFighter
It's true,however, that unless you're ready to face shit, it won't do any good to expose it. For some it could be too unbearable. Being in denial isn't a bad thing until your strong enough to face the facts. Believe me. I've faced my facts of my past- head on, and at times I'd be crying like a baby, or screaming out the damn car window at the top of my lungs-angry at the f*** who controlled me so long. It's been a personal journey.

I may not be understanding you completely, but I know that lots of people myself included have faced up to the reality of there situation and are not in denial, but still would not feel comfortable giving intimate details here.

The point of my original post was to point out to Sparky that full disclosure of details may be important to him, but not to everyone. I can offer comfort and to support to people with out needing the details. I think sometimes people make blanket statements saying. "All of us here" when they cannot speak for anyone here but themselves.


It is early and I am still sleepy, so I want to be clear that I am not trying to attack what anyone says, just nicely asking that people don't speak for me. And giving my 2 cents on how hard it can be to open up to strangers in a forum.

Thanks for listening.

I'm just saying it might not be healthy for an individual to talk about or expose all their issues when not ready or strong enough to deal with them. I'm talking in terms of my own personal experience. I wanted to just get on with things and didn't realize there were issues that I didn't face completely. They surfaced only when I was emotionally strong enough to face them.

As for healing and what Sparky said:

Quote:
Sparky
As all of us on RRI would wish to assist and comfort you, but without full and open disclosure of the "cult" you were victim to it is useless, except to merely comfort you temporarily.

...I feel there is truth to it, yet I agree with you that it's a blanket statement. Also, I agree that unless one gets to the core of their personal issues and faces them, it's absolute truth what Sparky said, one can only be comforted temporarily. I feel some are here to truly help and are concerned and we all sometimes get critical and technical of how things are stated.

One is free to share or not. Or to tell someone to blow it out your ear or ask questions or stomp around and have a tantrum. I for one have been too pent up in the past. This forum is a great safe place to barf up whatever. If someone doesn't like it they can say so or Rick Ross can do his moderating job. I like it here because of those reasons. In the cult I was in you couldn't even have an original thought-scary. I was always highly fearful of saying the wrong thing and getting reprimanded for it. Or saying something and getting tattled on which happened all the time. The cult bitch would call you and yell at you for a half hour. Creapy human she was.

I've been asked before to varify who my cult was that I came from and I got really touchy about it and reacted defensively-Vicluc actually was the person who asked me. Then I came to my senses and realized he too was directly affected horribly by a cult. Some find it hard to trust who's who here. You get some people who are supporting certain cults reading up on stuff here, and trying to say their two cents worth. That's where Rick Ross gets to do his handey work...he's good at spotting them quickly.

I guess the majority of us here are affected in some way. I realized not everything will be posting perfectly proper. I start to see past the critisism and blanket statements. If the care is there, why get technical?

I'm talking about me here and only me in how I view posts, and how I've evolved in my personal journey since my first post. I'm telling you this RR message board is awesome. It's helped me crawl out of my shell and most importantly...Heal. I do respect what you are saying...Thanks

FF