course in miricles????cult???
Date: January 30, 2005 07:49AM
Yes, you're right Hope. Certainly, they would think that I am the sadly deluded one.
I was trying to shortcut my thoughts into a few words, and perhaps expressing some frustration in there too because sometimes it seems like I'm beating my rational head against a brick wall.
What I was trying to express is that Twyman's followers seem more than willing to suspend disbelief, much like we all willingly do when we watch many fiction movies.
Like, paying for Twyman's "course" to learn how to bend spoons with your mind -- he tells you to weaken the spoon first by bending it beforehand over and over at the neck and shake it to allow gravity to work. That's mental spoonbending?! It's enough to make a rationally inclined person like myself raise my hands in disgust and ask: "What the bleep! Do you people [u:ff92340092]want[/u:ff92340092] to be fooled????" Yet he raised enough money from that course to buy 42 acres of forested property.
I have seen the excuses made when Twyman's admirers are confronted with good evidence (or even his own admission) of his lying and exaggerating and his not making sure that information he gives out is accurate. They (not all, or course) seem more than forgiving. They seem to find it easier to believe that he is being persecuted by his accusors, comparing him to Jesus and Buddha, than the clear evidence that he bends the truth much easier than he can bend metal. Some just don't care about the veracity of what he says as long as his message "resonates" with them; the rest is just details. I've seen this on his own bulletin board and on the message board for selectsmart.com/twyman.html. Those who criticize and question are pounced on for being "negative" and accusatory, or of being stuck in an old paradigm, not up on the spiritual realm supposedly proven by quantum physics, or the like.
I saw a poster on his bulletin board praise and compare Twyman to Sai Baba, and when she received a reply from a skeptic revealing the child molestation charges against Sai Baba, she struck back that she herself would never judge anyone or accuse anyone of something like that, even if she had first-hand knowledge of such abuse , and she quit the board. I pity her kids if they are ever molested!
Anyway, even though I said that I don't see James Twyman's group as a destructive cult, I do worry that we are seeing the seeds of that kind of cult being planted right now. I see a manipulative entrepreneur with a cult following, someone with a state registered Corporation Sole who seems to be in sole control of the operations and the assets, and because he has a religious following and calls himself a church, he claims he is tax-exempt. Attorney Generals usually don't wants to touch this type of thing because of religous freedom. I value religious freedom, but it can't be right that "spiritual" businesses get away with not having to pay taxes, but I digress.
Momster, I think you might be getting James Twyman's Emissary of Light/Beloved Community mixed up with some other Emissary organization. The only Emissary of Light book that I know of is James Twyman's. Or, am I wrong about that?
Thanks for reading, and thanks, Hope, for the feedback.