Re: The Gnostic Movement/Gnosticweb lead by Mark H. Pritchard (Belzebu
Posted by:
MasterChiefBAR
()
Date: May 30, 2010 11:29AM
I think I might have several categories in which I could go into depth. I don't know how many I could classify, so I'll start off with the general intimidation/mind control.
I was an online student, but I made the effort to learn all that I could about their "system." I bought their books, I made the effort to attend online sessions, etc. I made it to their teacher's course, but I could never advance beyond that. I would always never be good enough; they would tell me things like "you have a good intellectual understanding of the material, but you need to gain more experience," or something along those lines. I went through several rounds of their teacher's course, and always met with the same excuses. I put my heart and soul into their way of doing things and could never advance to "really make my inner work take off." Tried I did, though, to change my life for the better.
Towards the end of my time there, they began to take on more of a hostile tone. Now, I knew that as a student of Gnosis I would always have difficulties in life; that life would be full of hardships. It has always been a thing in my family to talk about problems to get moral support - that's what a good group does. I thought my fellow "gnostics" could lift me up or give me advice to help me cope with my situation. One day, after a session, they sent me a horrible email saying along the lines of "You need to stop talking about your problems and talk about how you tried to practice the techniques." Being still somewhat afraid of their indoctrination, I put it aside and tried really hard for one last stretch to make it work. I thought that what I was going through was a "test" of my devotion.
Finally, I thought to myself "I should learn about the other sides of the story." That is, I thought I should study the opposition to Gnosticweb so I could come up with rebuttals (in case I had ever become a teacher). I ran across so much dirt that I decided to leave. My old username is now blocked and I can't log on to their site anymore (funny thing, though - I can still log in to my belzebuub.com account).
So here I am, learning all sides of the story with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Master Chief
Another thing, too. The sessions and things were cutting into my job. One time, a few weeks before I left, I told them I had to go and do some work for my job and I was met with "Okay, have a good time" in a somewhat cold tone.