I have concluded that it is pointless, in a way, to keep identifying cults, and cult leaders...

There is a wealth of data on this site, which can enable participants to identify recurrent 'technologies'.

Yes, they, the so-called leaders are all psychopaths, really despicable people, but, we can stop being dupes.

What are the odds that even psychopaths, and their minions, devise the same damn 'technologies' cult to cult, e.g. violent pornography as de-sensitization technique, or the clitoral-stroking technology.

This stuff is weird, if you will excuse my saying so, and that it splays out across cultic ventures, and over time, is even weirder.

Disagree with Margaret Singer's hypothesis to the effect that cults can be formed around any human activity, e.g. the love of horses, horseback riding...

No, not really,...

A group activity is needed, and horseback riding is a solitary activity.

I think self-esteem has to be a component, and, I think self-esteem has to be subverted such that individual energy becomes either leader, or group-focused.

Probably not more than a couple of ways to skin this cat...pretty well-documented at this point.

Are their evil villains? For sure...

I am more interested in understanding the technology...

I think you can see the technology, piece by piece, by reading the posts and seeing the common threads. I think that the elements of thought-reform listed by Singer, Lifton, give great guidelines, and then you can look through posts and pick all those elements out, as they occur.

Then you see the sleep deprivation and room environment, add in the NLP, and there's a lot of it right there.

Here is a contribution written just yesterday.

The author registered and joined the CEI message board discussion just yesterday.

Lengthy description of One Taste. Life coaching is mentioned.

[forum.culteducation.com]

And, I have experienced the 'technology' in elite consulting firms...

This stuff makes NO BUSINESS SENSE, let me tell you.

So, I think we can kinda parse down to the 'how', but we need to understand the 'why'...

These are not random individuals, who just recapitulate psychological flaws...

No, no, no...they are CONNECTED...and, can connect.

Like not moses, I focused on the psychopath thing for quite sometime. I did this during and after Lehman Shock, because I witnessed huge corporate psychopathy prior to, and during that 'phenomenon'.

Thing is, though, true psychopaths do not possess sufficient empathy to collaborate with others, and, especially, other psychopaths...

Contrary to popular wisdom, I think there are VERY FEW instances of serial killers who pair, work with each other.

I think the answer is not about the 'how', we know a LOT ABOUT THAT, but the 'why'...

Cheerio...

Are you asking the "why," in terms of motive, or are you asking about why they can collaborate? I've actually read that some psychopaths, or at least people with a lot of psychopathic traits, are very successful in business, (just look at W.E.).

Consider that many of the people involved, at least in LGATs, did not start out as psychopaths. They actually used to be normal people. They can maybe relate to people better than the average psychopath, because they remember what it was like to be a normal human being.

Kdag, this is a huge and excellent question, and one that had troubled me a LOT..

I think that technically speaking, a true psychopath cannot collaborate...they are VERY disordered in their thinking, and, are not generally 'planful'...they are the kids who torture animals when they are young, and just go onto petty, and MAJOR criminality, disorganized criminality.

Then, as you say, there are what we call the "Snakes in Suits"...google this book, and, I have quite a library on these people, as anyone who has coached in financial services does.

These people have a kind of rogue code...a lot like mafiosi, but there is a sort of honor structure...there are some rules...I think...well, maybe...and, quite a lot of expertise is required. The Yakuza of Japan are like this...there are codes, and a LOT of expertise, really, huge social savvy is required, and they do produce results in the form of buildings built, etc. Post 3/11, the Yakuza kept order in the streets.

To me...people like W.E., and sundry gurus...well, there is something different about these people...maybe, you all can help me understand this.

They don't produce anything, and they have very little expertise, or a deep knowledge of ANYTHING...

I guess the closest analogue is the evangelical preacher, or classic snake oil salesman...or, Tony Robbins, or, Barack Obama, as far as I am concerned.

I don't think they really collaborate to accomplish anything other than leading people around in circles, and extracting a little 'change' in the process.

What makes people like Werner Erhard tick?

My guess is power.

The pleasure of being in control of a vast game of chess with humans as chess pieces, being the only one who knows about the game.

Crack addicts need to pursue dose after dose of crack to get high.

IMO people like W.E. are low bottom addicts who get high by conquering one new person after another, and spraying the same graffiti message on each soul.

Once someone has been 'tagged' with the Landmark program, the novelty is gone.

More fresh subjects are needed. Again, and again and again.

All this is just a guess.

Being creator and in control of the ever growing est/Landmark Borg must be
for W.E. a delicious thrill.

Low bottom addict, high-functioning sociopath. I have to agree.

I think, though, that the W.E.'s of the world create and collaborate with proto-sociopaths.

I think that such people cannot really get traction with groups absent indoctrination and re-wiring of its members nervous and value systems. This is where the 'technologies' are essential. Also essential is the overall dumbing down of populations, and, maybe a degree of spiritual enervation, emptiness, is necessary.

Maybe, it is about personal boundaries, too. That some people are willing to have their personal boundaries breached, or are willing to trade personal dignity for some sense of belonging. I've done it...and, I want to stop doing it.

Not sure if this was picked up else where, but I think you are spot on.

It is the "technologies" or the para-hypnotic strategies and the pattern of coded suggestions, the structure of cult curricula, the use of NLP strategies in marketing, and MLM coercive patterns that drive the development of the "closed loop" systems.
When a malignant narcissist / pedophile is at the head, he uses that "tech" (I hate that term as it seems to obscure meaning) to get psychological needs fulfilled such as mysogyny.

If you want an in depth look at the way these mind fucking technologies are abused, go run an all dates search for a member named 'The Anticult'

This message board is 20 years old* and the all dates search covers the whole timeline.

Topics to search

handshake induction
nested loops
crazy stories
crazy like a fox or just fox
shell companies
confusion
liability



*Thanks to the prudence, discretion and bravery of Rick Ross and the eminent attorneys who have given Me Ross and CEI pro Bono representation over the years.