***Cult Alert*** Vision Works International...
A.K.A or F.K.A 'Rising Star Communications'...this Mormon based organization with H.Q.'s in Salt Lake City, Utah and Colorado Springs, CO. is supposedly a personal effectiveness training program but seems to demonstrate cult-like methods, practices and attributes. Rising Star Communications, Inc. is an organization that has grown out of the Human Potential and Human Development movements begun after World War II by the U.S. Government through National Training laboratories. They also had a program called 'The Paper Game'. The core adult trainings consist of three levels beginning with 'Journey', then 'CrossRoads' and finally 'Horizons'. Note first of all that all of these classes are expensive and enrollers are required to sign contracts beforehand as a waiver of their enrollment fees should for any reason the recruited individual is weeded out of the program or drops out. Therefore it ends up that finances invested into the program by the enroller is forfeited should they 'Chose Out'. The first class JOURNEY is about 38 hours over a period of four days where you must adhere to a strict schedule depriving you of sleep and is sort of like a probationary period where you are not alowed to be late for any reasons what-so-ever with the punishment for being late is called a broken agreement and you lose your money and time invested thus far. Subjects are, as said above, sleep deprived, can not have any of what the 'Staff' refer to as 'mind altering substances' such as coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, sex (with a new person), for a period of 30 days (Journey is 4 days but graduation leads to the Crossroads starting a week after). The basic agenda of Staff on the enrollers is to break down any previous fixed beliefs and pre-programming in all areas of life in order to fully embrace the programs mission. Supposedly the purpose is to impose open mindedness, a deeper understanding of the self and to overcome anything that has been 'clouding the vision'. (NOTE: sound like debriefing=the beginning of mind control techniques and personal resistance break-down) Students are required to participate in playing a game called 'Red and Black' where Red is negative and Black is positive, which represents what we chose in our lives, positive or negative. A lot of people fail at this exercise because they chose negative. (NOTE: My informant is a graduate of Journey and Crossroads but 'chose out' Horizons but later re-enrolled and finished this level as well) The Journey program also consists of various lectures, group exercises, role-playing, trust games, interactive processes, etc. Essentially the program seems to break down the students identity and leave them vulnerable to what they call 'experiential' training. (NOTE: cost of class is $400) After graduating Journeys the student is pressured to sign up for and commit to yet another class (called a Level) called 'CrossRoads'.
CrossRoads is the second of the three mainframe trainings (cost $600) is also a highly intense set of humiliating exercises supposedly meant to inspire the individual to pursue a more positive and successful life. The students are required to cut their hair short (women required haircuts or fashions seemingly very conservative in nature) students are not allowed to wear make-up or jewelry. (NOTE: This all reminds me of Boot-Camp when the military forced us to part with our individuality and become uniform). Members of the class become the 'Community' and everyone is required to 'give' in other words participate in every aspect of the course. Those seemingly not meeting the criteria of the class exercises in the eyes of the staff or community are labled 'takers' who take from the community. (NOTE: also that every student entering CrossRoads is given a derogatory nick-name by which they will be identified and called the rest of the crossroads level). The Community (on the 'giving' side) are allowed to vote on who they think should stay or be rejected from the group. The focus is supposedly to teach inter-dependence for the individual (there is no 'I' in TEAM) and to create a 'win-win' environment so that there is group growth. Sometimes the students are pressured to go on what is called a 'Stretch' (for example, my Aunt who is sadly lost within this cult program was made to wear a costume of a super-hero and told to walk into a super-market and attempt to con the manager into giving her free stuff...also later she was pressured to con America Furniture WareHouse out of an expensive Oak Table for 'The Center'...also note this reminds me of gang initiation where the newbie is peer pressured into entering a store to shoplift i.e. walk out with a stolen item). 'Stretching' is what they call a wide variety of bizarre initiation rites. Students are also sent to local malls and pressured to recruit and enroll more members (sound like a money making scheme?)(NOTE:this reminds me of the 'Moonies' and even 'Hara Krishnas' {sp?}) they are also givin a quota on an amount of potential candidates to enroll out of fear of becoming a 'taker' in the program. Everything that goes on within the program is supposed to be confidential. The staff and even the members seem to become very judgemental and critical as the class progresses and the more 'mind controled' subjects begin to ostricize and weed out or judge and isolate the more strong willed (i.e. the resistant and rebelious ones). The essential agenda of this part of the program, seems to me, is for the Center and Staff to identify those who are easily controled and manipulated as if looking for trust-worthy and loyal cult members.
(will add more when my informant comes back)