husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
thewizarddano
()
Date: September 11, 2006 04:34PM
Hello,
I have attended the mankind project New Warrior Integration weekend.
I would like to say I don't agree with everything that happened that weekend. I do in fact regret going. It seemed like a postive idea at first, but it was an experience I could do without. The reason I went is because I was pressured by my friend and I gave into that pressure because I had been convinced that it would be something of value to me. The cost of the weekend was $650
The first thing that happens when you go there is you are brought into a dark room with men dressed in army attire yelling at you to stand there, do this, do that, in boot camp fashion. You and your bags are then searched for drugs and weapons. You are then lead into a dark trailer and made to sit on the floor in the dark with all the other men attending the weekend. As far as we could tell we had spent nearly 2 hours in a completely dark trailer.
Then they come and get you from the trailer and bring you to a meeting hall where you are asked to sit on the floor while they spew out their talk about how this weekend is going to challenge you physically, mentally and spiritually.
Then they split the group in half and have everyone stand up and tell why they are there. Some reasons were; to quit smoking, i beat my wife, i have a drug habbit, and another common one "my friend told me it would help me". After telling your problems to a group of complete strangers you 'play a game' which involved everyone running around in the middle of the woods in the dark of night carrying logs up a hill. Then everyone is made to sleep on the floor of the meeting hall.
Day 2: The first half of day 2 consists of doing workshops about what you want in life and your problems and your feelings. Then in the afternoon everyone is put through a process in which they are sometimes humiliated, injured by other men at the camp, taunted, etc. in a process they call "GUTS"
This process is designed to cause someone to mentally break down so that they can be somehow put under extreme mental pressure to change. What actually seems to happen is they break you down and then they tell you that your "warrior brothers" are there for you and you are a king amoung men. Then after everyone has had a turn to be humiliated you are all put in a small room for another hour and told to be silent. Then the staff members come in naked and tell everyone to take off all their clothes and come to the meeting hall where the rest of the staff members are dancing around a fire in a circle banging on drums naked. Then you line up and you are given a necklace and are now a "true warrior brother".
Day3: You are woken up at 5 AM and are marched outside to do a cerimoney about the sun. You are then given your daily shower. Which I forgot to mention for day 2 is a 15 second completly COLD water. After running around in the forest and sitting in hot rooms for 3 days you start to stink.
Next thing is a sex conversation. Everyone is expected to get naked and sit in a circle where a stick resembling a penis is passed around the circle and when you have the stick you have 2 minutes to talk about all of the sexually-related problems you have had as a man. After this everyone does some sort of visualization in which you are 2 different men who come together as 1.
Next is a native style sweat lodge. Then a feast... which is very well received after only being allowed to drink orange juice and water and only able to eat oranges and granola for the last 3 days.
After the feast you are taken into a room by the leader and told that what happens here is a secret amoung men. And then some things must remain secret in order for them to remain sacred. You should not tell anyone what went on, not even your wife.
Anyways that is a summary of what went on. The way my friend made it sound was NO WHERE near what happened. The only reason I stayed is because my friend told me I must trust him and it will be worth it & because you can only get $600 of your $650 back once you survive the weekend... and then I was told that I cannot get any money back since I stayed the whole weekend and it counts toward "food and lodging" (sleeping on the floor and eating bird food). Needless to say my friend told me things to get me to go to this that has now broke my trust with him and I have not talked to him since shortly after the weekend. I was constantly being called by people from this group asking me to come to their biweekly meetings. I have had to change both my home phone number and cell phone number because of this.
So... I don't reccommend going to this weekend unless you LIKE having a terrible time.
I have attended the mankind project New Warrior Integration weekend.
I would like to say I don't agree with everything that happened that weekend. I do in fact regret going. It seemed like a postive idea at first, but it was an experience I could do without. The reason I went is because I was pressured by my friend and I gave into that pressure because I had been convinced that it would be something of value to me. The cost of the weekend was $650
The first thing that happens when you go there is you are brought into a dark room with men dressed in army attire yelling at you to stand there, do this, do that, in boot camp fashion. You and your bags are then searched for drugs and weapons. You are then lead into a dark trailer and made to sit on the floor in the dark with all the other men attending the weekend. As far as we could tell we had spent nearly 2 hours in a completely dark trailer.
Then they come and get you from the trailer and bring you to a meeting hall where you are asked to sit on the floor while they spew out their talk about how this weekend is going to challenge you physically, mentally and spiritually.
Then they split the group in half and have everyone stand up and tell why they are there. Some reasons were; to quit smoking, i beat my wife, i have a drug habbit, and another common one "my friend told me it would help me". After telling your problems to a group of complete strangers you 'play a game' which involved everyone running around in the middle of the woods in the dark of night carrying logs up a hill. Then everyone is made to sleep on the floor of the meeting hall.
Day 2: The first half of day 2 consists of doing workshops about what you want in life and your problems and your feelings. Then in the afternoon everyone is put through a process in which they are sometimes humiliated, injured by other men at the camp, taunted, etc. in a process they call "GUTS"
This process is designed to cause someone to mentally break down so that they can be somehow put under extreme mental pressure to change. What actually seems to happen is they break you down and then they tell you that your "warrior brothers" are there for you and you are a king amoung men. Then after everyone has had a turn to be humiliated you are all put in a small room for another hour and told to be silent. Then the staff members come in naked and tell everyone to take off all their clothes and come to the meeting hall where the rest of the staff members are dancing around a fire in a circle banging on drums naked. Then you line up and you are given a necklace and are now a "true warrior brother".
Day3: You are woken up at 5 AM and are marched outside to do a cerimoney about the sun. You are then given your daily shower. Which I forgot to mention for day 2 is a 15 second completly COLD water. After running around in the forest and sitting in hot rooms for 3 days you start to stink.
Next thing is a sex conversation. Everyone is expected to get naked and sit in a circle where a stick resembling a penis is passed around the circle and when you have the stick you have 2 minutes to talk about all of the sexually-related problems you have had as a man. After this everyone does some sort of visualization in which you are 2 different men who come together as 1.
Next is a native style sweat lodge. Then a feast... which is very well received after only being allowed to drink orange juice and water and only able to eat oranges and granola for the last 3 days.
After the feast you are taken into a room by the leader and told that what happens here is a secret amoung men. And then some things must remain secret in order for them to remain sacred. You should not tell anyone what went on, not even your wife.
Anyways that is a summary of what went on. The way my friend made it sound was NO WHERE near what happened. The only reason I stayed is because my friend told me I must trust him and it will be worth it & because you can only get $600 of your $650 back once you survive the weekend... and then I was told that I cannot get any money back since I stayed the whole weekend and it counts toward "food and lodging" (sleeping on the floor and eating bird food). Needless to say my friend told me things to get me to go to this that has now broke my trust with him and I have not talked to him since shortly after the weekend. I was constantly being called by people from this group asking me to come to their biweekly meetings. I have had to change both my home phone number and cell phone number because of this.
So... I don't reccommend going to this weekend unless you LIKE having a terrible time.
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
what2do
()
Date: October 01, 2006 02:15PM
The Wizard, your post is very informative. I have read similar versions of this from other postings here, and other forums.
Ironic, how MKP preaches integrity, yet the man who recruited you lied to you to get you to go. That is very common, from what I have read. I am not sure how one can have integrity without honesty, but MKP seems to be able to.
I am going to print this out. I have printed other stories similar to this. Thank you again for posting.
Ironic, how MKP preaches integrity, yet the man who recruited you lied to you to get you to go. That is very common, from what I have read. I am not sure how one can have integrity without honesty, but MKP seems to be able to.
I am going to print this out. I have printed other stories similar to this. Thank you again for posting.
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
efoss17
()
Date: October 08, 2006 03:40PM
My father is a different person than he was over a year ago when he started mankind project. At first it seemed good-- like he became more social, less withdrawn, more easygoing. He used to be a very rigid, uptight perfectionist and I thought maybe mankind project was helping him loosen up. I didn't know very much about MKP but thought maybe it was good for him.
However, after the first few months I noticed more changes. And they weren't necessarily good ones. Actually they are quite frightening. For one, he is putting enormous amounts of time into MKP. I fear he is putting more time into that than he is into his career. He worked many years to get where he is professionally and become one of the top in the world at what he does and now he talks like it is not important at all. I fear he may even quit, or worse, get fired.
I had no idea the costs associated with MKP until I started looking further into it. Previously my parents had been on track to retire in the next few years and now I'm hearing a different story. They are very private about their finances but I keep getting hints that they are struggling right now. I found out that they took out a loan recently in order to pay their bills (which is ridiculous considering my father's income). My father takes care of all of the finances so I am wondering if my mother even knows how much he is spending on this. He is always talking about "staffing" and all of these volunteer things that he is doing with the "I group". I had no idea that he had to PAY money in addition to volunteering his time (which is time away from his career). He is doing things with MKP on a weekly basis, probably more. Looking over the costs that I have discovered he has probably spent MANY thousands on MKP in the past year. (Where does the money go?? Has that question been answered in this forum?)
He is becoming increasingly withdrawn from me, my sister, and my mother. In fact the only one in the immediate family that he reaches out to is my brother-in-law, we'll call him John, who I am very close to. John and I have shared concerns and basically my father pressures him time and again to join MKP. It is becoming uncomfortable for John to even talk with him because he is feeling this enormous pressure. He keeps saying "no thanks" and it is only met with the response "oh, well you must not be ready yet... give it time, you'll come around."
My father has always had a strong faith in Christianity. Another concern I talked with John about is that he is now questioning all of his religious beliefs-- he has spent almost 60 years nurturing his faith and in a year he abandons it? (Since my father won't really open up to me, I tend to get a lot of information from John.)
My father is in his late 50's and he is spending a great deal of time with men in their early to mid 20's. For instance, he went over to a young man's house and spent an afternoon with him which he took a half day off of work to do. He has NEVER taken work off just to "hang out" with me, his own daughter. It's almost like he wants to be a father to them, and not to me.
My mother's father recently passed away, whom she was VERY close with. During her (and the whole family's, actually) time of grief, he seemed very distant and would disappear for hours at a time. Usually he was on the computer "catching up with e-mails". I guess this is a common thing in MKP-- the frequent and time consuming e-mailing. He was not emotionally or physically there for the family at a time of need.
My biggest concern though, is his relationship with my mother. I fear that they are heading toward divorce. They had marital problems several years ago and it seemed that through counseling they were able to overcome them but now it seems that things are worse than ever. They used to do many things together and now it seems that they are "ships passing in the night." When they do talk it usually leads to fights-- mostly about how little time my father is spending with the family and how much time he is spending with MKP. My mom and I talk regularly about this and she is increasingly concerned. Reading all of the comments on this forum has heightened my concern on this. Marital problems and divorce do not seem uncommon.
One more sidenote: I know that my father was involved with Promise Keepers a number of years ago but I believe he quit when he and my mother started marriage counseling. I was in high school at the time and really didn't peice that together until now, ten years later, but I wonder if a lot of their marital problems stemmed from that. I see the same things happening all over again. Does anyone know of any connection or similarities between Promise Keepers and MKP? Particularly their views on marriage and/or relationships/roles with women?
He won't listen to any concerns from me or anyone else in the family... he's taken on this attitude of "oh, the mere mortals of the world that don't understand MKP..." He has become very supremist and almost mocking of "the rest of the world outside MKP"
However, after the first few months I noticed more changes. And they weren't necessarily good ones. Actually they are quite frightening. For one, he is putting enormous amounts of time into MKP. I fear he is putting more time into that than he is into his career. He worked many years to get where he is professionally and become one of the top in the world at what he does and now he talks like it is not important at all. I fear he may even quit, or worse, get fired.
I had no idea the costs associated with MKP until I started looking further into it. Previously my parents had been on track to retire in the next few years and now I'm hearing a different story. They are very private about their finances but I keep getting hints that they are struggling right now. I found out that they took out a loan recently in order to pay their bills (which is ridiculous considering my father's income). My father takes care of all of the finances so I am wondering if my mother even knows how much he is spending on this. He is always talking about "staffing" and all of these volunteer things that he is doing with the "I group". I had no idea that he had to PAY money in addition to volunteering his time (which is time away from his career). He is doing things with MKP on a weekly basis, probably more. Looking over the costs that I have discovered he has probably spent MANY thousands on MKP in the past year. (Where does the money go?? Has that question been answered in this forum?)
He is becoming increasingly withdrawn from me, my sister, and my mother. In fact the only one in the immediate family that he reaches out to is my brother-in-law, we'll call him John, who I am very close to. John and I have shared concerns and basically my father pressures him time and again to join MKP. It is becoming uncomfortable for John to even talk with him because he is feeling this enormous pressure. He keeps saying "no thanks" and it is only met with the response "oh, well you must not be ready yet... give it time, you'll come around."
My father has always had a strong faith in Christianity. Another concern I talked with John about is that he is now questioning all of his religious beliefs-- he has spent almost 60 years nurturing his faith and in a year he abandons it? (Since my father won't really open up to me, I tend to get a lot of information from John.)
My father is in his late 50's and he is spending a great deal of time with men in their early to mid 20's. For instance, he went over to a young man's house and spent an afternoon with him which he took a half day off of work to do. He has NEVER taken work off just to "hang out" with me, his own daughter. It's almost like he wants to be a father to them, and not to me.
My mother's father recently passed away, whom she was VERY close with. During her (and the whole family's, actually) time of grief, he seemed very distant and would disappear for hours at a time. Usually he was on the computer "catching up with e-mails". I guess this is a common thing in MKP-- the frequent and time consuming e-mailing. He was not emotionally or physically there for the family at a time of need.
My biggest concern though, is his relationship with my mother. I fear that they are heading toward divorce. They had marital problems several years ago and it seemed that through counseling they were able to overcome them but now it seems that things are worse than ever. They used to do many things together and now it seems that they are "ships passing in the night." When they do talk it usually leads to fights-- mostly about how little time my father is spending with the family and how much time he is spending with MKP. My mom and I talk regularly about this and she is increasingly concerned. Reading all of the comments on this forum has heightened my concern on this. Marital problems and divorce do not seem uncommon.
One more sidenote: I know that my father was involved with Promise Keepers a number of years ago but I believe he quit when he and my mother started marriage counseling. I was in high school at the time and really didn't peice that together until now, ten years later, but I wonder if a lot of their marital problems stemmed from that. I see the same things happening all over again. Does anyone know of any connection or similarities between Promise Keepers and MKP? Particularly their views on marriage and/or relationships/roles with women?
He won't listen to any concerns from me or anyone else in the family... he's taken on this attitude of "oh, the mere mortals of the world that don't understand MKP..." He has become very supremist and almost mocking of "the rest of the world outside MKP"
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
what2do
()
Date: October 09, 2006 10:29AM
Efoss17, what you posted is eerily similar to another post. Go to the "Large Group Awareness Training", search for a thread about MKP. It has many pages of posts. Go to the very last page and read a post written by "Ginah". It is about her husband
Not knowing your age or your relationship with your father pre-MKP, it is hard to know what you should do. Have you tried to just have a conversation with him about the changes you have seen in him? Or has your brother in law tried to talk about these changes?
Do not criticize him, but just let him know you are concerned. Any criticism will turn him away. How about friends who are not in MKP. Have you spoken with any of them, and have they noticed changes?
This is a very mind controlling and powerful organization. Luckily, my husband never went back after graduation.
These kind of groups have a way of just grabbing some men. I really don't know what you should do.
Go read the other posts and talk to some of those people. Maybe they may have some ideas. My heart breaks for your family.
Not knowing your age or your relationship with your father pre-MKP, it is hard to know what you should do. Have you tried to just have a conversation with him about the changes you have seen in him? Or has your brother in law tried to talk about these changes?
Do not criticize him, but just let him know you are concerned. Any criticism will turn him away. How about friends who are not in MKP. Have you spoken with any of them, and have they noticed changes?
This is a very mind controlling and powerful organization. Luckily, my husband never went back after graduation.
These kind of groups have a way of just grabbing some men. I really don't know what you should do.
Go read the other posts and talk to some of those people. Maybe they may have some ideas. My heart breaks for your family.
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
GUNIT
()
Date: October 10, 2006 09:53PM
My husband of 18 yrs whom has had alcohol and drug abuse issues got recruited from a fat gay loser he worked with in the movie business last August. Since he went on the NWTA he has changed for the worse. If only he would have stuck with the 12 steps. His secret behaviors and phone calls from his so called warrior brothers and then he continued with I groups which he still does 1.5 years later, has led to a seperation for 4 months. I will not put up with this crap, not to mention the money he gives to these a-holes who prey on nice guys. He told me about the secret contract he signed, the naked sweat huts, naked romping in the forests, pounding chests, he even got a tatoo with his warrior name. What an f-in joke!! He convinced me to take him back the first time telling me he can quit MKP anytime, so I did. shame on me, we have seen counselors and social workers, hes too far gone. MKP teaches men to be a-holes and faggotts! Its all true, dont let it get out of hand and believe he will stop, HE WONT! I am meeting with my divorce lawyer next week-the ultimatum has been given-end the group or end the marriage!!
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
what2do
()
Date: October 12, 2006 11:28AM
Gunit, I am so sorry. You mentioned homosexuality in your post. That has been touched upon many times. Were you implying your husband may be involved in this since his involvement with MKP?
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
thewizarddano
()
Date: October 12, 2006 05:15PM
On the topic of homosexuality...
I don't have a problem with homosexuals first of all. One thing I would like add is that on my warrior crap weekend, more then half of the men were gay. Most of the ones that weren't gay had a problem with beating their wives.
Another thing I have thought about since reading some of these posts is my ex-friend who "recruited" me. I had always remembered him having a girlfriend before this mankind project. Thinking about things now the girlfriend he had who he was engaged to when he went to his first weekend... he broke up with her a short while afterwards. And the way he did so was in a very non-respectful, almost torturing way. It's hard to explain.
Anyways the point is he has not had a girlfriend ever since and has spent a lot of time around men.
Also, the thing about having to spend money and volunteer your time is true. To "staff" a weekend you have to pay $150
I think that anyone who is involved in this needs to get out. I got out without really ever getting in but during a weekend like that being broken down physically mentally and being in a state of dependence like that and very vulnerable while being influenced by a cult... that's not good for anyone.
I think what they do is convince you there is something wrong with you and they are the only ones who can truly fix it and they are the only ones who will support you. This is how I think they control people.
I don't know what their motivation is I just think these people are messed up and they need to be stopped if you have someone in this MKP crap get them out. Smack them around and say WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU. because this group can only do harm.
I don't have a problem with homosexuals first of all. One thing I would like add is that on my warrior crap weekend, more then half of the men were gay. Most of the ones that weren't gay had a problem with beating their wives.
Another thing I have thought about since reading some of these posts is my ex-friend who "recruited" me. I had always remembered him having a girlfriend before this mankind project. Thinking about things now the girlfriend he had who he was engaged to when he went to his first weekend... he broke up with her a short while afterwards. And the way he did so was in a very non-respectful, almost torturing way. It's hard to explain.
Anyways the point is he has not had a girlfriend ever since and has spent a lot of time around men.
Also, the thing about having to spend money and volunteer your time is true. To "staff" a weekend you have to pay $150
I think that anyone who is involved in this needs to get out. I got out without really ever getting in but during a weekend like that being broken down physically mentally and being in a state of dependence like that and very vulnerable while being influenced by a cult... that's not good for anyone.
I think what they do is convince you there is something wrong with you and they are the only ones who can truly fix it and they are the only ones who will support you. This is how I think they control people.
I don't know what their motivation is I just think these people are messed up and they need to be stopped if you have someone in this MKP crap get them out. Smack them around and say WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU. because this group can only do harm.
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
GUNIT
()
Date: October 13, 2006 12:00AM
since my husband of 18 years has joined these brainwashing losers whom feel they need to give themselves animal names to feel like a man-he is clearly gone way too far. I have given him an ultimatium-I have spoken to psychologists and psychiatrists and they agree-either end MKP or end the marriage! I've had enough of this bullcrap-One of the gays in his group calls him f-in non-stop even on sunday mornings, no one cn tell me thats normal behvior for a married man. And yes, I have asked him several times and have even questioned his sexuality. He claims he is defiinitely straight, but I've since moved in to my own bedroom. the thought of him continuing with the stupid I groups and hugging gays and other men , is a total turn off for me. I will not be intimate with him for fear he may be lying to me. His little I group dwindled down to 3 guys from about 40 that did the weekend, but it just doesnt stop, they have convinced him to join some other f-in crazy group call truth seekers or some shit. Bottom line is, who will he miss more- his so called Warrior group or his wife. Guess we"ll let my lawyer decide this tuesday. I speak every bit of truth-perhaps if I can just save one marriage-it would all be worth it. Isnt there some legal action or a stand people like us can take to dismantle MKP and show the public what REALLY happens? Anyone that can help, please reply.
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
what2do
()
Date: October 13, 2006 02:02AM
thewizard, I also do not have a problem with gays. I have a child who is gay. I also understand many men in MKP are gay or bisexual. When I read stories of married men pulling away from their loved ones, and spending so much time with other, sometimes younger men, I have little nagging thoughts there might be more to it.
husband in mankind project...cult?
Posted by:
Dalmatian
()
Date: October 18, 2006 03:43PM
Quote
GUNIT
since my husband of 18 years has joined these brainwashing losers whom feel they need to give themselves animal names to feel like a man-he is clearly gone way too far. I have given him an ultimatium-I have spoken to psychologists and psychiatrists and they agree-either end MKP or end the marriage! I've had enough of this bullcrap-One of the gays in his group calls him f-in non-stop even on sunday mornings, no one cn tell me thats normal behvior for a married man. And yes, I have asked him several times and have even questioned his sexuality. He claims he is defiinitely straight, but I've since moved in to my own bedroom. the thought of him continuing with the stupid I groups and hugging gays and other men , is a total turn off for me. I will not be intimate with him for fear he may be lying to me. His little I group dwindled down to 3 guys from about 40 that did the weekend, but it just doesnt stop, they have convinced him to join some other f-in crazy group call truth seekers or some shit. Bottom line is, who will he miss more- his so called Warrior group or his wife. Guess we"ll let my lawyer decide this tuesday. I speak every bit of truth-perhaps if I can just save one marriage-it would all be worth it. Isnt there some legal action or a stand people like us can take to dismantle MKP and show the public what REALLY happens? Anyone that can help, please reply.
Wow you sound like an angry Woman. What responsibility are you owning in this Marrage that seems to be now failing? My advice to you is to look within, look in a mirror instead of trying to blame someone else or some group for your failures take ownership/responsibility for your own actions. If your marrage has failed blame yourself not someone else. Own your own responsibility in your situation. As far as the Gay issue you seem very Homophobic in your accusations and name calling. I once knew a guy that thought all Women with white short butch hair cuts were all Lezbos but we all know that isnt true don't we?
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