Here's a review of some of the unlisted videos recently posted on YouTube and linked at the Desteni public forum. Included is the series, "Process Update June 2010" which reveals something of the current focus of the Desteni organization and Poolman's absurd demands on his followers. Listening to these recordings provides an insight into the bizarre workings of the mind of a man with a desperate ambition to become a notorious cult leader. Poolman has his own peculiar idiosyncracies but his behavior is very predictable and typical of many guru-style, so-called spiritual or cult leaders.
1 Process Update June 2010
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2 Process Update June 2010
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3 Process Update June 2010
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4 Process Update June 2010
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5 Process Update June 2010
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6 Process Update June 2010
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7 Process Update June 2010
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8 Process Update June 2010
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9 Process Update June 2010
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10 Process Update - Evil Gossipers
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Having published elaborate descriptions that claim to show what "really" goes on in the world, with human behavior and with God, alongside "tools" for freeing oneself from the false conditioning of society and "the mind", the wannabe cult leader manages to convince others to take up the practices he recommends. They help promote the cause and make confessions to each other and to their leader about the failings of their personalities that get in the way of carrying out these practices effectively. They take part in group activities and follow rules to do with diet, lifestyle, sleep patterns, personal appearance etc that might appear to outsiders as weird, and this for the sake of all humanity or "oneness".
Then they are told that if they are serious about changing the world for the better then they can only truly make progress if they pay out large sums of money to join training courses that last for years and go and meet with the leader in person. So, they find themselves in a more intense situation where they are confronted again with the "mind" and what they need to do to transcend it. They are confronted with the failure of their personalities to achieve what the leader has set out for them. The followers are berated for it and told to buckle up their ideas so that the organization can expand its field of operations and become more business-like for the sake of all humanity or "oneness". And so it goes on ... It is a familiar pattern in the realms of cult-making that is well illustrated by these recent recordings of Bernard Poolman.
Just in case anyone was under the impression that vegetarianism is a personal choice to do with not supporting cruelty to animals or may be more healthy than, or simply preferable to eating meat, Uncle Bernie sets the record straight on that score: "everyone will eat more meat". He states that vegetarianism is all about "making yourself better than others so that you can fuckin' judge them". In other words, he likes eating meat and wants his followers to do the same.
He suggests posting "at least five written responses on YouTube a day", "write your bloody blogs, tag effectively". By insisting that Desteni members spend so much time on the Desteni propaganda program as well as studying the vast reams of Desteni material, he effectively discourages interaction with non-Desteni sources of information (such as this forum, perhaps).
He claims that he will continue to "reveal" to Desteni members their "deceptions directly". He reprimands some of them and tells them to disengage from others who have betrayed the cause. He reinforces an "us and them" situation and his followers' irrational fears about leaving the group by getting them to regard those who have not co-operated with his demands as traitors.
In the near future there will be a Desteni subscription forum for around 20 Euros a month which will be "very strict" for "placing everything on course for the political and economic solutions". The new forum will be focussed on business and accumulating funds, not to help the poverty-stricken, starving millions as one might imagine, but to buy the next Desteni farm.
Process Update number 7 is a little talk about "interdimensional knives" and "interdimensional metal that transfer the energy" apparently found stuck in the body of Poolman's wife, Esteni de Wet. This is the most ridiculous talk in the series, and the least convincing, yet these occult-style fictions Poolman has invented about such things as "interdimensional knives", "the dimensions", "the resonances" and "becoming a portal" are in fact the whole foundation of the Desteni process.
Followers are told that to bring forth an "Equal money system" they must visually represent what they stand for, and the most important things are for them to have a shaved head and to post promotional videos on the Internet using their real name. Desteni videos are "to insert viruses into the mind". Whether or not Bernard Poolman is his real, legal birth name is unknown, but he has stated that although Desteni members must make videos of themselves he reserves the right to only make audio recordings until such time as he decides to show his face.
According to Poolman, those who make criticisms of Desteni are "resonantly controlled to do this for process" and are telling "deliberate lies".