Re: Royal Way/Jacumba/Ranch/Michael Gottlieb
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: October 29, 2008 06:38AM
Espiritu, thanks for the info.
Royal Way is charging people large amounts of money, so people have a right to know what they are being sold. Informed consumers of anything have a right to know what is going to happen to them.
But this is the exact reason why Royal Way keeps things so incredibly secretive, as that is part of their persuasion strategy.
One general point I might make, is that there are some unfortunate words we use to describe what these groups do to people. One of the words is "brainwashing" which is a powerful word, but it conjurs up images of bright lights and forced repetition.
We need new words to describe what these new groups are doing to people.
The description of the Royal Way entry level retreat shows how sophisticated they are in certain ways. Now of course, their methods do not work on everyone, and they know that. Its all about Targeting. The people with stars in their eyes, and who are kneeling at the feet of the Master are being reached on a very deep level. (they may put some True Believers into the retreat to lead people down the path).
But what these groups are doing now is highly subtle and refined. It really could more accurately be called "Seduction" or a very soft persuasion. Voluntary self-persuasion, the illusion of choice by using double-binds, and many other techniques.
They know if they come on strong, many people will resist. So they come on very soft, and plant SEEDS in people minds, like the gold rocks, and Daddy Michael's leather recliner/throne, the repetition of names, late night sessions, being late on purpose(many do that method), Trance states with meditation, and many other things. Its all designed.
Also, notice the DECEPTION they use right off the top, not telling the person its a retreat.
So its a way for Michael to sort the sheep from the goats, so to speak, that is why he is gazing at people, and sizing them up, telling personal stories, etc. They weed out people who are not going to play along.
Later on, they will figure out who has money, and who is broke. If a person is rich, they are going to get special treatment from Michael, and if they are broke, they will get the boot or perhaps end up cutting the grass, etc.
Even in this very thread, the Royal Way people made some serious mistakes and showed some of their true colors, in some very ugly exchanges, the worst from a poster named PAPRIKA, which could have been the leader of the sect. Put it this way, whoever was posting as PAPRIKA on this forum, was someone very skilled in psychological manipulation.
Hopefully more and more people will come and post specific details of what goes on in the secret Royal Way retreats. People have a right to know what is going to happen, and what is being done to them.
Also, we need a new vocabulary, as the words Brainwashing and Mind-Control are powerful, but they throw people off. The modern techniques are basically invisible and just seem like almost normal talking and situations, but are actually more powerful than old techniques that are triggered by the words like brainwashing.
One image that comes to mind is often the public think of child molestors as being some monster in a raincoat, but in reality the biggest threat from child molestors are the ones who are the nicest to the kids, the friendliest, and who build trust with the single mothers, cut the grass for the single mom, and then months later start to babysit the kids, etc. (Oprah did many shows on this).
I think its the same thing with these modern cult groups, most have moved far away from hard coercion, and now operate in very soft seduction that is almost invisible. (except for that creepy feeling people get, which they try to dismiss).
By the way, did the disclaimer for the Royal Way Retreat give them the rights to video-tape those sessions? Royal Way uses a lot of video-recording of people's private information.
So if the Royal Way disclaimers says they are going to record those intro sessions, people have a legal right to know that, and to deny Royal Way the right to record their intimate personal details.
Where does all that stuff end up?
It reminds one of Scientology, who record all those audit sessions, for "later use", if needed.