Recently I have been in contact with someone who has been involved in Desteni for quite some time. They have become disillusioned with the group and with Bernard Poolman. This person is known and respected within the Desteni community but at this stage does not wish to be identified. They have provided links to unlisted Desteni YouTube videos which have not been made public before and suggested they be posted here.

Desteni appears to be focussed on "equality and oneness", but these videos only underline the fact that the group's main preoccupation is the nonsense Poolman talks about "interdimensional reality". Their only other point of focus is money and the Desteni "income plan". It is clear that Desteni is almost solely centered on the so-called "living word" of Bernard Poolman, and little else besides statements of those he has closely instructed, such as Sunette Spies and Esteni de Wet.

There are many more of these videos but here are a selection of links to some of them with commentary...

In "Desteni Background - 1, 2, 3 Portal Secrets" -- [www.youtube.com] -- [www.youtube.com] -- [www.youtube.com] -- Poolman describes how he was seeking out someone to fulfill the role of "interdimensional portal" and when he met Sunette Spies she was in a traumatized state due to abuse in her family background, death of her mother etc.

So, he virtually admits he took a traumatized youngster under his wing and proceeded to brainwash her.

In "Making things Bigger is Self-Abuse" -- [www.youtube.com] -- Poolman berates one of his followers (apparently while she is being filmed). He suggests she kills her personality, tells her she exists as "a point of evil", she's a "promiscuous whore" and: "you are fucking evil and you have no self respect".

The woman in question is Rozelle Delange: [www.youtube.com]

"Flowers as System Signals" -- [www.youtube.com] -- features Sunette Spies droning on about a 3-petalled manifestation, the resonant signature, a signalling device.

It's the kind of pseudoscientific-occult drivel Desteni specialize in, and there are plenty more unlisted videos like that.

Esteni de Wet has a stronger role in the group than it may appear from the outside, evinced by this video: "8 Feedback Deedra - Do you see inter-dimensionally at all times" -- [www.youtube.com] -- this one: "System Matrix Designs with Esteni - The Vicious-Looking Thing" -- [www.youtube.com] -- and others like them.

These videos tend to be concerned with more bizarre occult "interdimensional" hallucinations.

This series gives Poolman's view on the situation with his brother, with stories about alcoholism, violence and back-stabbing in business:
"1 My Brother" -- [www.youtube.com]
"2 My Brother" -- [www.youtube.com]
"3.1 & 3.2 My Brother" -- [www.youtube.com] -- [www.youtube.com]

In "Power of Ten - Part 5 - Birthing Yourself in Public" -- [www.youtube.com] -- Poolman states that Desteni will have 1 million people in the organization within 5 years, in 7 years they will have 100 million, and in 10 years 1 billion people when "equality becomes the living will of man".

Sorry, Bernard, none of that's going to happen, not in a million years.

"Basic Background Information on Bernard" features Poolman speaking in a reluctant manner about his past -- [www.youtube.com]

"Elite Tactics" seems to suggest he is trying to find out how to sue critics: -- [www.youtube.com]

In "Perspective on the Desteni Income Plan - Payments" -- [www.youtube.com] -- Poolman threatens that those of his followers who do not donate more money than simply what they pay for the income plan will be "exposed".

In "Process Support - Effective Linking For Google Search Results" -- [www.youtube.com] -- one of Poolman's followers explains how the group should manipulate keywords in the hope that "bullshit" links such as Cult Education Forum posts on Desteni can be made to disappear from the top level searches.

But it is already happening that the more Desteni go public, the more people make critical statements against them. They can't be made to disappear by trying to manipulate Google rankings.

I will make another post with a set of links to more of these videos later on.


Note: Any listed or unlisted videos promoting the Desteni Income Plan are against YouTube guidelines because it is promoting a pyramid selling scheme. They are "prohibited commercial use" and can therefore be flagged.

'Basic Background Information on Bernard' is interesting as he would appear to be a disillusioned newage lightworker who unfortunately found the darkside when he saw a demon, which sounds like an episode of dissociation or a possible psychotic break:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation

There is always a darkside, if we insist on only seeing the happyclappy stuff the darkside surfaces regardless in dreams, paranoia and possibly psychotic breaks.

Is the formation of Desteni Bernard's revenge on the world of his earlier newage lightworker illusions?

Quote
Stoic
Is the formation of Desteni Bernard's revenge on the world of his earlier newage lightworker illusions?

That's an interesting question. There are countless recordings of Poolman railing against "lightworkers" with real venom. He has it in for them, big-style. It's as though he imagines he's the first person to ever discover that the New Age is a load of baloney, and as though "lightworkers" have much more of an influence in society than they actually have.

Just one example: Brave Eternal Being of Light

Poolman presents an "interdimensional" pseudo-occult mythology similar to mystical aspects of New Ageism, and includes various Biblical references and references to Jesus. There are strong elements of Spiritualism, with elaborate descriptions of dead people in "the afterlife".

Poolman's Desteni is more destructive and uncompromising than conventional New Ageism and replaces the aims of mysticism or spirituality with "equality". It is not equality as it might normally be understood, but a negative, debased form of spirituality with Poolman at the centre of it as "the living word" and the embodiment of self-realised "equality".

It appears he wants all religion and spirituality to be replaced by Desteni's "interdimensional" delusions and envisions this coming about through his version of equality and the fantasy of a global government welfare state, the "equal money system".

Why he would not just reject the New Age and its mystical trappings and move on to taking a more reasonable outlook could be explained by a possible experience he's had of some kind of psychotic break.

It's all gone the other way and instead the delusions have become more pronounced, to the extent where Poolman imagines he has the unique capacity to redeem the world because he can function in the "interdimensional", "clean up Heaven", forgive Hitler and "demons", deconstruct other people's personalities, show "lightworkers" they're wrong and effect the complete transformation of world politics. He has then proceeded to deliberately manipulate others into confirming to him that it's all true, and they may be susceptible because they already believed in similarly bizarre New Age ideas.

Here are two more links to non-public Desteni videos describing Poolman's visions of "demons" and disillusionment with religion:

Desteni Background - Meeting Jehova

Desteni Background - What & How was a Demon Created



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2010 07:41PM by Sandman.

Those last two videos from Poolman are quite revealing.
In the first he describes a meeting with a real human woman who morphs into 'Jehova', classic psychotic delusion.

The second video seems to be describing Poolmans own experience of loss of his illusions and the rage that engenders as he realises that he was soundly hoodwinked by newage religious and spiritual ideas. He turns that rage outward against the world and knowingly becomes a demon.

In narrating these stories Poolman has a woman as Jehova in the first and describes the demon in the second as also a woman--to disguise the personal elements to the naive listener.
At the close of the second tale he warns against getting caught in 'polarities' of thought, extreme black and white thinking, flip-flopping from lightworker to demon--and yet that is exactly what he is doing himself--even to the extent of casting the male Poolman as a female entity.

He is only capable of simple polarities of thought, no nuance or ambiguity allowed in Bernard's Desteni world.

There was another interesting video on the page where the second vid displays:

[www.youtube.com]

The insistence on having background noise is characteristic of those who find their own thoughts to be problematic and frightening. Schizophrenics who have auditory hallucinations--'hear voices'--are encouraged by enlightened psychotherapists to use ipods and similar devices to drown out the unwanted 'voices' and give the mind something to distract itself from dwelling on the usually very negative content of the voices.

One of the coping skills that I learnt to help deal with the effects of PTSD was to develop the ability to self-distract at will, to break the cycle of unwanted thoughts and to start a new cycle of less destructive thinking. The use of background noise is a similar distraction ploy except that the reliance is on an external device, not an internal decision. I personally feel more in control as a result of an internal decision rather than relying on external devices or events or the external directives of a Poolman.

That all of Poolmans 'subscription form' videos have horrendous background noise on them, despite freely available editing software, suggests two things to me:

1. that Poolman is still suffering the effects of psychosis and needs the distraction in order to be able to sound vaguely coherent
2. that Poolman knows his target audience well and is using the overbearing background noise to distract the conscious mind of the listener sufficiently to allow his rantings to bypass the critical faculties



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2010 12:54AM by Stoic.

Some intriguing ideas there, Stoic.

In PART 1 - The History of Desteni - THE ALMIGHTINESS OF GOD Darryl Thomas begins by saying to Bernard Poolman:

"I suppose you were like a light worker type of uh philosophy, and up to the point where uh you confronted a demon."

In Darryl Visit Desteni Cult Farm Thomas explains how he had also been, like Poolman, a disenchanted "lightworker":

"After over 20 years of listening and hearing the same old, repetitive 'Love and Light' jive, I couldn't hear it any longer, because the words did not match the conditions we are experiencing in this reality."

He goes on to describe how Sunette Spies as "portal" was capable of producing much more material from a greater variety of unexpected sources and therefore to him she had more credibility than your average common-or-garden New Age channeler.

As to Poolman's cartoon monster avatar, drawn by Andrew Gable, Thomas explains to a member of the Desteni subscription forum regarding a question on "Symbolic Representations of Self":

"The "Beast" is Bernard, and Andrew's cartoon of Bernard as the Beast is specific - he stands as and speaks for them as that in fact. You would actually have to live with him in order to understand why what I say is true. To you, they can only be statements you have no way in confirming. Such as it is, you are correct that you are not a "fireswan" as that was just an idea or a concept given to you that you agreed to align a part of your identity with. Bernard isn't using the Beast image in the way others would, which is as some upgraded personality suit to make one feel special, as you well know.

I feel sorry a little bit that people do not know Bernard personally, and can only listen to his words or his writings or the writings about him by others. There's no entry into the totality of his being within that, only perceptions and opinions about what we think Bernard is doing, because we're still locked within the mind. Bernard says he's gotten out, and after living with him for nearly 2 years, I believe him. He's never, ever acted outside of what he stands for, what he stands as. If you are wondering if Bernard is being duplicitous or going against what he says, keep wondering, for I can not give you reasons that will force you to believe what I say about the man. All that's left for you is to work out your own way, alone, and get out of your mind and really change yourself into your greatest expression and do it for existence, without fear, without knowledge and to seek out and unconditionally assist others as well. Fascinating how some people who reject Bernard's assistance out of spite are often the same ones who later question his integrity."

(The above quote was sent to me as a screenshot by a Desteni group member.)

In the Desteni group, no opinions about "The Beast" (shades of Aleister Crowley again) or whatever he says are valid, Poolman himself has no opinions or beliefs and is perfectly self-realized as "equal and one" with heaven and earth; his word is "the living word" -- in "actual fact" and "in the physical".

But as Darryl Thomas puts it: "The Beast" has gotten out of his mind, and that's exactly how most people would see it: Poolman has gone completely out of his mind.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 06:55AM by Sandman.

'Poolman has gone completely out of his mind.'

Yes, I would agree with that. It also goes some way towards explaining all the Desteni gobbledygook about dimensions--the inner circle are reframing Poolman's being completely out of touch with reality (for which 'out of his mind' is a colloquialism) as a desirable state or dimension to aspire to.

As to Poolman himself having no opinions or beliefs and being perfectly self-realised as "equal and one" with heaven and earth---why then does he feel the compulsion to be all over YouTube, expounding his very personal opinions and beliefs to anyone who will listen and exhorting those listeners to proselytise and spread those very same personal opinions and beliefs?

The state of being 'out of one's mind' is a state of extreme isolation. The person, Poolman in this case, has lost any contact with reality and with it the means to meaninfully connect with anything outside of himself. He is left with the option of drawing others into the same state of isolation in the hope that he will then feel less isolated.

Unfortunately, the sense of isolation is a mental state and there is no meaningful connection possible until the person begins to re-engage with the world outside of his own head. Any Desteni-ites hoping to join Bernard in his self-exalted isolated state will discover for themselves that they are still individuals but now very isolated individuals.

I am not a religious person but this state is very well described in religious terms as being the worst kind of hell to experience, that of being isolated from god. One doesn't feel that one is god, one is aware that all is lost.

I would hazard a guess that the driving force behind Bernards compulsion to proselytise and gather companions in his lonely and isolated state has more to do with a need to prove to himself his belief that he really is the powerful Beast of Crowley's imagination and not, in truth, a disillusioned and bitter con-man peddling a pyramid scheme that is never going to produce income for anyone but Bernard.


No opinions or beliefs? Don't make me laugh.

Those tempted to follow Bernard's 'non' opinions and beliefs might find it educational to research where a lot of those opinions and beliefs were lifted from:


Author and Crowley expert Lon Milo Duquette wrote in his 1993 work 'The Magick of Aleister Crowley' that:

[en.wikipedia.org]

"Crowley clothed many of his teachings in the thin veil of sensational titillation. By doing so he assured himself that one, his works would only be appreciated by the few individuals capable of doing so, and two, his works would continue to generate interest and be published by and for the benefit of both his admirers and his enemies long after death. He did not—I repeat not—perform or advocate human sacrifice. He was often guilty, however, of the crime of poor judgment. Like all of us, Crowley had many flaws and shortcomings. The greatest of those, in my opinion, was his inability to understand that everyone else in the world was not as educated and clever as he. It is clear, even in his earliest works, he often took fiendish delight in terrifying those who were either too lazy, too bigoted, or too slow-witted to understand him."


Poolman is taking a fiendish delight in terrifying those who are vulnerable- through a lack of understanding of how the nature of opinion and belief underpins each individuals worldview- to having their individual worldviews manipulated to serve only Poolman's interests.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 09:00PM by Stoic.

Something that also struck me as relevant in Poolman's own admission regarding his background is that after doing his National Service in the SA police he went into education, specifically selling teaching systems to schools for children with special needs.

He obviously aquired at least a nodding aquaintance then with more oblique (and psychologically efficient) methods of instruction and teaching than are required for imparting knowledge in the normal school curriculum.

I think he is drawing on that knowledge in the way he has presented Desteni to his prospects. He wasn't a teacher, apparently, but a salesman-- so the normal responsibility that a teacher might feel towards the most useful education of his students is absent, whilst the salesman's imperative to close the deal and clinch the sale is paramount.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 09:43PM by Stoic.

Quote
Stoic
As to Poolman himself having no opinions or beliefs and being perfectly self-realised as "equal and one" with heaven and earth---why then does he feel the compulsion to be all over YouTube, expounding his very personal opinions and beliefs to anyone who will listen and exhorting those listeners to proselytise and spread those very same personal opinions and beliefs?

People involved in the Desteni group are told by Poolman in detail how to run their own YouTube channels and blogs, and to speak or write about particular topics he brings up in his rants and to expand on them...

I'm wondering what to Vlog or Blog about

Topics to Vlog & Blog

Blogging & Vlogging with the Desteni Income Plan

Vlog & Blog Content

So, for example he will suggest they discuss the theme of "cults". At the same time he has already communicated to them his own re-interpretation of what makes for a "cult", which is basically any form of social conditioning or behavior. They comply and a number of videos appear which re-affirm Poolman's statements, such as:

And you say I'm in a cult?

Desteni cult EXPOSED by desteni insider

Cults and Brainwashing - speaking out against Desteni

Any of the videos produced at no charge by members of the Desteni group are actually just promotional videos for the beliefs, opinions and delusions of Bernard Poolman.

Quote
Stoic
I think he is drawing on that knowledge in the way he has presented Desteni to his prospects. He wasn't a teacher, apparently, but a salesman-- so the normal responsibility that a teacher might feel towards the most useful education of his students is absent, whilst the salesman's imperative to close the deal and clinch the sale is paramount.

In terms of sales, Poolman is making some pretty wild speculations. It has been suggested that he is attempting to create an organization something like the Church of Scientology, but his delusions of grandeur are way beyond that.

Not only does he prophesize that Desteni will have 1 billion members within ten years, but the Desteni pyramid scheme will help establish 'The Equality Corporation', which will be a major player in the global marketplace with sales of a variety of Desteni-branded products manufactured in kibbutz-style work camps.

Amazingly, Poolman says, over and over again, the reason he is able to make these predictions is the mere fact that 1+1=2...

The Desteni Income Plan - The Equality Corporation Part 1 of 2

The Desteni Income Plan - The Equality Corporation Part 2 of 2

Desteni work camps?