Two red flags of a cult are the doublethink mentality and the thought stopping behaviors to reinforce it.

The $oka Gakkai Cult Org. is full of doublethink and silly regressing rituals (here's just one, gakkai "SoulTrain" dancing [www.youtube.com].)

CULT!



- Hitch

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One of my biggest hang-ups still is imagining those voices of those still 'in' and what they would say about my objections. That they would try to counter any argument I posted here, or, maybe its that I would like to see them cave in to some points I'm making on this board.. This whole 'win' or 'lose' thing. I'm caring too much about what others think. (Well, if you were still chanting, all this would clear up and you would be happy). But its a cult! (You've been deluded by the devil of the sixth heaven or one of the 8 winds). Well I'm angry about...(Anger is one of the lower worlds!) Yeah, but anger can be medicine, too, by your philosophy (Well, President Ikeda says,or, you are stuck in your head, why don't we do sancho?) No! (You should talk to so and so. They had the same feelings of doubt...only worse and now they're chapter leader and blah blah benefits after challenging negativity).

Yeah, I hear you. For me, it's a combination of things -

1. wanting people to agree with me,
2. wanting people to validate that I'm right,
3. the satisfaction of helping someone out of a delusion (which will coincidentally meet #1 and #2 as well)
4. the satisfaction of seeing a destructive organization weakened,
5. having more people around me to feed my confidence that I've done the right thing.

In the end, for me, again, doing the right thing necessarily has to be independent of how many people agree with you. That's what got us into that SGI mess in the first place, right?? *le wink* The best thing you can do is to enjoy your life and walk your path in the way that is right for you. Remember, no one is qualified to dictate where your path leads or how you should walk it - that's completely up to YOU.

What you may find, as I did, is that, if you express your honest feelings to a member, such as "I'm angry that..." or "The complete lack of financial transparency alarms me" or "I don't see why we're all supposed to idolize Daisaku Ikeda - he's not remarkable in the least - he's not even impressive! And his poetry sucks and The Human Revolution should be renamed The Human Revolting", they will simply avoid you from then on.

And that's actually a good thing - for YOU. They have to come out at their own pace - you can't hurry them along their path, either - so it's better for you to start making friends who can actually be supportive of you.

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Hitch
Two red flags of a cult are the doublethink mentality and the thought stopping behaviors to reinforce it.

The $oka Gakkai Cult Org. is full of doublethink and silly regressing rituals (here's just one, gakkai "SoulTrain" dancing [www.youtube.com].)

CULT!



- Hitch

These silly regressing rituals were performed best at the brainwashing in Trets. The whole concept is about giving you the feeling you are at highschool summer camp. For example in the restaurant the area was divided into vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Each table had a number of persons and the byakuren supervised the tables by a list. On the first evening she had a lot of stress caused by persons had taken the wrong area or the wrong places, so the tablequota was not fullfilled( Imagine, fellows had taken their chairs and removed it to the wrong area!). She complained about the disobedient people and that she had no time to sit down and have dinner for herself. On the second day the same calamity about two empty chairs at my table. The young woman had to look for the two missing members: one was lying in her bed crying all the time, the other woman had phone calls for hours while her cat at home made a pee everywhere. On the third chance I filled the byakurens plate with food and forced a glass of wine into her listfree hand and ordered her to eat and drink cause we are in South France, if you know what that means. Well, she stayed only 3 spoonful and left the wine behind let it rot for the benefit of the table quota.

RE: Nichiren monk shaving in the shower - that guy was AWESOME!!! What a WTF moment it was when he started "chanting"! OMG! He's got an almost gregorian chant take on it! I remember one plump young priest from the Chicago temple who would come up for the gojukais in Minneapolis - he must have been only 26 or so. He would chant "Nam myoho LENGE kyo"! I had *never* seen a non-Japanese Nichiren priest - does anyone know what sect the video guy (who's European heritage) belongs to? I thought that the NS priesthood would not admit non-Japanese. Sort of like in Kung Fu, the David Carradine series from the early-mid 1970s - he is the first non-ethnic Chinese they've ever admitted (he's half European, half Chinese).

And why's his altar in the BATHROOM???

@rattyboy: I can relate to this what you've posted before about the voices you hear and how they would talk about your objects. I often find myself creating an encounter in my mind what I would say to them. Once a friend on fb had told me, that he bumped into an ex-member on the street and they had a discussion about This and that. Afterwards he had made a story and at the next Cousin Rufus meeting his great experience had been the model of courage. His district leader had complimented him and he patted himself on the back for what an heroic encounter with a taiten! So I think you can say what you want, you can be angry, friendly,whatever, they will twist it and use it for their own needs. In the end you would stand there with an egg on your face, the disgruntled ex member and your seven future generations disgruntled too. I say,I'm glad that I have not to sit in one of these meetings and listen to their long stories. I am better off now.

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sixtyseven
@rattyboy: I can relate to this what you've posted before about the voices you hear and how they would talk about your objects. I often find myself creating an encounter in my mind what I would say to them. Once a friend on fb had told me, that he bumped into an ex-member on the street and they had a discussion about This and that. Afterwards he had made a story and at the next Cousin Rufus meeting his great experience had been the model of courage. His district leader had complimented him and he patted himself on the back for what an heroic encounter with a taiten! So I think you can say what you want, you can be angry, friendly,whatever, they will twist it and use it for their own needs. In the end you would stand there with an egg on your face, the disgruntled ex member and your seven future generations disgruntled too. I say,I'm glad that I have not to sit in one of these meetings and listen to their long stories. I am better off now.

sixtyseven, you are right, of course! Pertaining to my query about Mr. Ikeda being a Dr.---you can buy that too! I had heard that one could, but had forgotten. Honorary titles and doctorates, and a Dr. title--there you go!

Heroic encounters with taitens means more excellent karma-busting.

I found when I did speak my concerns to higher-ups, they did not know how to handle it. Maybe that's why I've been left in the dust for a longggggg time now. Longgggggg time.

@ shavoy:ikedas doctor titles are for the glossy magazins only and to make the SGI folks bow. An academic title is as we all know a long time of study/ scientific works. Ikeda quit school and had his further education by Toda I've heard. The doctor is a Dr.h.c. as far as I remember you are not allowed by law to use it for official papers, like a passport or a birth certificate but you can make the people at the grocery store bow , maybe, or was this in the last century?
Longgggggggg time = good thinggggggg.

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Hitch

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TaitenAndProud
Hey, I was just over at Spartan's site, and where's Chapter 5???

I don't believe he (Spartacus) ever finished it. What's on-line may also be just a preview for a future book (?). I can't really say, because I don't know. One thing I do know, however, is that much of what's in that story rings absolutely true.

- Hitch

Hey Hitch,

Just came across this post from you. Recently, I've been catching up on all the posts made here over the past six months or so (wow - so many new posters). I am planning on going back to work on writing Cult of the Master again, and hope to finish chapter 5 and more in the near future (before spring fever arrives with more distractions and diversions of my time). Will make sure everyone here knows as soon as I get #5 up on my website. Yes, I am hoping to make it into a complete book someday. Thanks for your comment about "absolutely ringing true"! In the meantime, i am thankful to all that have enjoyed the "preview" of my book .

Strangely enough, the ONLY people who have read the first four chapters are from this site. I can't get anyone I already know (even my girl) to take so much as a single look at it. Consequently, it has become more difficult for me to generate the motivation and energy to return full force to the project. I just can't thank all the folks from the forum enough for the wonderful support I have received in the past - you guys are the only spark that I can rely upon to reignite the fire in my belly that I need in order to continue the daunting task of putting my 30+ years of SGcult experiences on paper.

Yours in Brotherhood,
Spartacus

Oh, Spartacus, PLEASE finish the "summary"!! It's not the events so much (although they ARE delicious!), but, rather, your insights about what was going on within your own psyche and how the manipulation was affecting you. Powerful stuff. When I decided to leave SGI, I started writing a letter to Linda Johnson, a top-level national leader I had gotten to know personally. Well, it stretched to, like, 12 pages, and I got this *feeling* that, if I sent it, I might get whacked or something - the SGI can be *quite* nasty, I've heard. So I've just sat on it...perhaps I'll see if I can't post it on the hosting site you use...

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sixtyseven
@rattyboy: I can relate to this what you've posted before about the voices you hear and how they would talk about your objects. I often find myself creating an encounter in my mind what I would say to them. Once a friend on fb had told me, that he bumped into an ex-member on the street and they had a discussion about This and that. Afterwards he had made a story and at the next Cousin Rufus meeting his great experience had been the model of courage. His district leader had complimented him and he patted himself on the back for what an heroic encounter with a taiten! So I think you can say what you want, you can be angry, friendly,whatever, they will twist it and use it for their own needs. In the end you would stand there with an egg on your face, the disgruntled ex member and your seven future generations disgruntled too. I say,I'm glad that I have not to sit in one of these meetings and listen to their long stories. I am better off now.

Daisaku Ikeda set the precedent of "creative license" to misrepresent *useful* individuals as important allies and fans - why shouldn't the membership follow suit? I myself experienced how a HQ leader *changed* my experience to make the estranged member involved sound both needy and beggy - when in fact she was neither. She simply made the mistake of accommodating us as a good-natured host. I hope she'll never make THAT mistake again. Just keep your distance - nothing good is going to come of it. Once you're taiten, either you're a target to be won or an enemy to be denounced - or both. Take your pick.

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Shavoy

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TaitenAndProud
You know, in reading Spartacus's analysis, I think perhaps one of the things that kept me from being drowned in the SGI was that I don't have father issues. Thus, Mr. Williams and Pres. Ikeda never appealed to me. I didn't need a father figure - I had a good relationship with my father; I was his favorite! What I had were MOTHER issues, and thus I ended up taking far more shit from WD and pioneer crones than any reasonable person should have. Of course, I believed the promises, that if I did, I would "grow" and "advance" and all that nonsense.

Taiten and Proud: No Longer Advancing in the Wrong Direction!

Very true, TaitenAndProud. People I have known in the organization who've had problematic relationships with their fathers really go for the Sensei gaga-ness. I also had a great dad, so never felt the need to glom onto Mr. Ikeda or Mr. Williams as a Master/Father figure. The cult of personality I saw never reeled me in at all, which looking back, I am very grateful for.

There have been so many great posts lately--they have enlightened me even further!

Hello Shavoy and TaitenandProud,

I lost my father to cancer when I was only 4 years old, and my stepfather was a mean ass jerk that beat me. So it would seem that I did indeed have father figure issues. But let me clarify something here - being familiar with my personal history, I was manipulated by my senior leader into believing that she was my "mother in faith" and that Williams was my "father in faith". In the confusion of my youth, I fell for it totally and allowed SGcult become my surrogate family. But I never had any sort of strong "fatherly (parental) feelings" for Ikeda, just Williams and Vaden (per cult training).

Thankfully, I was finally able to begin cracking a hole in that crock of crap after my third year in the SGcult. That's when I performed my first total disappearing act to get the SGcult hell hounds (hell bent on getting me back into the Cult) off my tracks so that I could have chance to discover and express the real me. Ever been the subject of a manhunt? I was really terrified, for I knew if I didn't succeed in getting away from the SGcult that they would have me trapped in their cultweb for the rest of my life. And they almost did... but I eventully escaped for good.

Perhaps the fact that there were so many leader underlings like myself being cult-connected to Williams instead of Ikeda contributed to the demise and vilification of Williams by the SGcult.

And now the SGcult father figure crock is more full of smelly crap than ever. Ikeda is the ultimate predator drone. Unseen, remotely operated, but extremely dangerous and destructive. Now, shut up you lowly Slave, and go write that love letter to the Master that everyone has been encouraging you to do. Be sure to use all the cult words and phrases that you've learned. And don't forget to declare your undying devotion (as a good slave) to your Master. You'll feel more secure and happy (for a nanosecond).

Thanks to all who have the courage to speak out on this forum. Keep up the good work. Long live the rebellion.

Spartacus