A friend of mine has been going to [b:b9b79bf426]Avatar[/b:b9b79bf426] for over a year and thinks they are the best thing out. Despite trying to convince him that this is a cult, he makes light of this or jokes about going on his "brainwashing" courses.

As far as he is concerned they have taught him a lot (about how to brush away rumours of it being a cult!) and he "won't give them up" (that piece of information being unsolicited from me) - not only that his mother and sister are also involved in these courses.

I kind of wish I could just plant a word, or a seed in his mind about the danger of these courses. I have sent URLs etc. (such as [b:b9b79bf426]this one[/b:b9b79bf426]) but I don't think he even looks at them.

He is about to leave his wife as he wants children and she didn't - and is now approaching the menopause - but he loves her. There's more but I won't bore you now!

Any ideas gratefully received.

T

Hi -- I tried answering once before, and it seems my post didn't go through -- I'm trying again. I am new to this list, and am also concerned about Avatar and I know some people in it. I read a book called "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves" by Steve Hassan. I thought there were some very good suggestions for how to get people out of cults -- particularly for people who have close friends and family members in cults. I believe there are other "techniques" -- for lack of a better word -- out there for getting people out, and maybe even some ideas on this website and there are lots of book resources. You might even consult an expert, if you have the funds to do it. I hope that someone who knows more about all this than I do will chime in -- I just want to say that my heart goes out to you. I wonder if you might get more responses is you post under a different topic than "multi-level marketing" (of course that is part of Avatar.)

Disclaimer regarding Steve Hassan

The Ross Institute of New Jersey/May 2013

See [www.culteducation.com]

The inclusion of news articles within the Ross Institute of New Jersey (RI) archives, which mention and/or quote Steven Hassan, in no way suggests that RI recommends Mr. Hassan or recognizes him in any way.

News articles that mention Steve Hassan have been archived for historical purposes only due to the information they contain about controversial groups, movements and/or leaders.

RI does not recommend Steven Hassan.

RI has received serious complaints about Steve Hassan concerning his fees. Mr. Hassan does not publicly disclose his fee schedule, but according to complaints Steve Hassan has charged fees varying from $250.00 per hour or $2,500.00 per day to $500.00 per hour or $5,000.00 per day. This does not include Mr. Hassan's expenses, which according to complaints can be quite substantial.

Steven Hassan has charged families tens of thousands of dollars and provided questionable results. One recent complaint cited total fees of almost $50,000.00. But this very expensive intervention effort ended in failure.

Dr. Cathleen Mann, who holds a doctorate in psychology and has been a licensed counselor in the state of Colorado since 1994 points out, "Nowhere does Hassan provide a base rate and/or any type or accepted statistical method defining his results..."

Steve Hassan has at times suggested to potential clients that they purchase a preliminary report based upon what he calls his "BITE" model. These "BITE reports" can potentially cost thousands of dollars.

See [corp.sec.state.ma.us]

Steve Hassan runs a for-profit corporation called "Freedom of Mind." Mr. Hassan is listed as the corporate agent for that business as well as its president and treasurer.

RI does not recommend "Freedom of Mind" as a resource.

RI also does not list or recommend Steve Hassan's books.

To better understand why Mr. Hassan's books are not recommended by RI read this detailed review of his most recently self-published book titled "Freedom of Mind."

See [www.cultnews.com]

Steve Hassan's cult intervention methodology has historically raised concerns since its inception. The book "Recovery from Cults" (W.W. Norton & Co. pp. 174-175) edited by Dr. Michael Langone states the following:

"Calling his approach 'strategic intervention [sic] therapy,' Hassan (1988) stresses that, although he too tries to communicate a body of information to cultists and to help them think independently, he also does formal counseling. As with many humanistic counseling approaches, Hassan’s runs the risk of imposing clarity, however subtly, on the framework’s foundational ambiguity and thereby manipulating the client."

RI has also learned that Mr. Hassan has had dual-relationships with his counseling clients. That is, clients seeing Mr. Hassan for counseling may also do professional cult intervention work with him.

Professionals in the field of cultic studies have also expressed concerns regarding Steven Hassan's use of hypnosis and Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Based upon complaints and the concerns expressed about Mr. Hassan RI does not recommend Steve Hassan for counseling, intervention work or any other form of professional consultation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2013 08:58PM by rrmoderator.

Quote
dannidandi
Hi -- I tried answering once before, and it seems my post didn't go through -- I'm trying again. I am new to this list, and am also concerned about Avatar and I know some people in it. I read a book called "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves" by Steve Hassan. I thought there were some very good suggestions for how to get people out of cults -- particularly for people who have close friends and family members in cults. I believe there are other "techniques" -- for lack of a better word -- out there for getting people out, and maybe even some ideas on this website and there are lots of book resources. You might even consult an expert, if you have the funds to do it. I hope that someone who knows more about all this than I do will chime in -- I just want to say that my heart goes out to you. I wonder if you might get more responses is you post under a different topic than "multi-level marketing" (of course that is part of Avatar.)

Yes, having serached a bit further, there are other posts on the subject - just couldn't find them initially! Thanks for the book idea, I may pursue that at some point - very helpful :)

Here's the deal on Avatar:

"THE NEW PSYCHO-CULTS

[excerpts translated from Stern Magazine--October 17,
2002]

Yesterday, it was Scientology. Today the groups are
called Avatar or MOL [Miracle of Love]. They bait
their victims with esoterica and rake in millions
around the world with their false promises. In
Germany, hundreds of thousands have already fallen
into their traps. The new PSYCHO-CULTS have no
scruples: they are aggressive, totalitarian, inhuman.
In Stern magazine, former members tell of their
breakdowns in the clutches of sinister cults.

The new supermen are among us. They promise
immortality, overcoming instability, and at the very
least, solutions for all of life's challenges. The
self-proclaimed gods, gurus and spiritual healers come
right from our midst; they are med school drop-outs or
theologians, mutated psychologists or accountants who
are a few beads short of an abacus. Their prophesies
are slick, and their clientele is educated:
professors, entrepreneurs, doctors, local politicians,
business leaders, actors.

Up until recently, one name stood for cult power:
Scientology. But these days, hundreds of smaller
psycho-groups have flourished in the shadow of that
money-hungry organization, unnoticed by the public.
While they bear magical sounding names such as Avatar,
Jasmuheen, or Miracle of Love, their leaders are quite
mundane in nature. They discreetly recruit their
followers in community college courses, health food
stores or the alternative medicine scene.

Meanwhile, over 600 psycho-groups have popped up in
Germany, and the market is bullish. They are the new
danger, warn reputable experts on sects, because they
hide a new form of extremism: aggressive, totalitarian
and DANGEROUS. Accordingly, they present just as much
of a threat as Scientology.

These self-proclaimed saviors turn their devout
disciples into slaves, often practice brainwashing
techniques and psychological terror, and rip off their
followers without compunction. Victims are compelled
to break contact to their families and relinquish all
their assets as part of their pact with their
pseudo-gods. The numbers of people who even
temporarily get mixed up with these high power
psycho-cults is in the hundreds of thousands.

Some of the groups are not even publicly known yet.
Many of their former members hesitate to tell their
stories, fearing reprisals from the gurus, and are
usually ashamed of being bamboozled in such a
perfidious way. This vicious circle of silence and
shame is well known from the early days of
Scientology, when that religious corporation was still
able to loot without restrictions.

Cloaked as an aid to self-discovery or consciousness
expansion, involvement often ends in social isolation,
slavery and self-abandonment.

A mystical patchwork that is lifestyle-compatible and
high-tech: there is hardly any other psycho-group that
represents the new designer gurus better than Avatar.
"Create the reality you prefer," states the central
concept of the teachings: life is a hard drive, hit F6
on the keyboard and start over. According to Avatar
literature, 60,000 people worldwide use the methods of
this psycho-organization that is active in 66
countries. Flooding esoteric journals with their
advertising, thousands of licensed Avatar instructors
have helped to build a psycho-empire. The guru is
ex-Scientologist Harry Palmer, who founded the Avatar
course in 1987. His wholehearted message: Imagine that
everything is possible. The promise of the Avatar
Master's Course is very fitting for our self-involved
day and age: Take Control.

DIVINITY IN SEVEN DAYS? No problem for Avatar. The
organization swaggers confidently: In the past, you
could count the enlightened people on the planet on
one hand. Today they're in the thousands. In Hinduism,
the term refers to a deity that has assumed a physical
form in order to take part in creation. And for every
new avatar, Palmer cashes in grandly. The so-called
Master's Course with its promising name "Awakening,"
costs ¨$3,000; the Wizard Course as much as $7,500.
For your money, you get (according to the advertising)
EXTRASENCORY capabilities as well as leadership and
co-creation of civilization. And if that isn't enough,
also the ability to transform society. Palmer also
holds the commercial reins and acts as president of
Star's Edge International. The profit-oriented
enterprise markets Avatar courses complete with the
requisite materials.

Still, not all of the Avatar disciples work
aboveboard, as Gabriele H. experienced after booking a
trip to Bali with an esoteric travel agency, Lotus
Travel Service in Munich. In Bali she met Regine R.,
who had enrolled directly with an Avatar vendor
without knowing what or who was behind it.

The lively forty-somethings encountered a die-hard
Avatar course group at the vacation camp. From that
point on, the centerpiece of the trip was the basics
of Avatar, not R&R: "Everything was controlled, you
couldn't even make an unsupervised phone call." The
two residents of Baden-Wuerttemberg flew home. Regine
R. got her 3500 Marks back after threatening to sue.

Even family members, friends and coworkers have to
submit to Avatar's pushy attempts to embrace them.
Ruined friendships and broken relationships are the
result. Twenty-three-year-old Aline M. from Saarland
complains: "My boyfriend's family is totally wrapped
up in it. His mother follows the tenets of Avatar
fanatically." Her relationship is suffering, too: "My
boyfriend is pretty much helpless, and is unable to
answer questions. He can't get his life together any
more. He is completely dependent in terms of his
personality, which he denies, of course. Eventually, I
couldn't even get near him."

The portrayals resemble the now familiar experiences
of cult victims on the order of Scientology or the
Moonies: inviolable leaders. Followers lose their
sense of self, eventually falling under the spell of
malicious mind control.

The Avatar courses are reminiscent of Scientology.

"We've heard that there have been nervous breakdowns
and that people have not been looked after
appropriately," says Hamburg cult expert Ursula
Caberta.

Is Avatar mostly popular in the U.S. or is there a big worldwide following? I have a friend who has been travelling back and forth to the states for several months to take their courses but I had never heard of it before although I hear a lot about Scientology.

thanks,

I'd really like to talk to you about your friend. I'm producing a documentary about people who are trying to help friends and loved ones involved in harmful groups. What have you tried so far to help your friend?

Quote
twigkat
A friend of mine has been going to [b:dd20bee0b7]Avatar[/b:dd20bee0b7] for over a year and thinks they are the best thing out. Despite trying to convince him that this is a cult, he makes light of this or jokes about going on his "brainwashing" courses.

As far as he is concerned they have taught him a lot (about how to brush away rumours of it being a cult!) and he "won't give them up" (that piece of information being unsolicited from me) - not only that his mother and sister are also involved in these courses.

I kind of wish I could just plant a word, or a seed in his mind about the danger of these courses. I have sent URLs etc. (such as [b:dd20bee0b7]this one[/b:dd20bee0b7]) but I don't think he even looks at them.

He is about to leave his wife as he wants children and she didn't - and is now approaching the menopause - but he loves her. There's more but I won't bore you now!

Any ideas gratefully received.

T

CdnGirl:

I'm not sure where you're from (looks like British Commonwealth from the spelling). They've been fairly active in Holland, Australia and Korea lately in addition to the U.S. There's some action in Germany still, but less since 2002 when the Stern article and two TV shows appeared.

The Scientology connection is dragging Avatar down in many places, since the mother cult has aroused so much antipathy. It's a pretty direct knockoff, even including exorcism of "astral entities" on the top-level Wizard course.

It also hasn't helped Mr. Palmer that he had to sign a cease & desist order agreeing to stop calling himself an educational psychologist. Apparently he made up the fake title to hide the fact that he's a high school.English teacher who ran a Scientology mission for 15 years.

You can find out more about that at [www.avatarcult.info] or the usenet group alt.clearing.avatar, which you can read through Google Groups. [/url]

Avatar is also know to other countries..

Hi twigkat,
I was wondering if you ever found out anyway to help your friend - or is he still heavily involved in Avatar.

thanks,